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Episode 248 – Getting the balance right when decluttering

If you are on a mission to declutter your home it can be hard to get the balance right. In this podcast we are going to chat through some of the things to consider to make sure your decluttering projects are successfully in balance and result in a harmonious outcome.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
[00:00:00] Ingrid: If you're on a mission to declutter your home, it can be hard to get the balance right. In this podcast, we're going to chat through some of the things to consider to make sure your decluttering projects are successfully balanced and result in a harmonious outcome.

[00:00:19] Voiceover: You are listening to the Declutter Hub Podcast, bringing you tried and tested, no nonsense tips and advice from the lead in experts in decluttering and organizing your home. Now here are your hosts, Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman.

[00:00:50] Ingrid: Hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid. And I'm Lesley. If you're new to the Declutter Hub podcast, you're so welcome. What you'll find is that we try and find a fun factor in the serious business of decluttering, and if you've been here for a while, you know exactly what we mean. So thank you so much for listening.

[00:01:10] Lesley: If you'd like to get involved in conversations relating to this podcast, it all takes place in our Facebook group. So come and join our lovely, warm, supportive community. To find the Facebook group, go to declutter hub.com/group to find out more. Or you can search for the Declutter Hub community on Facebook.

So before we get started, Ingrid can I come back to the way you so beautifully read out the introduction and you don't, she doesn't even know what it is that I'm talking about, right? Because anybody who did English grammar back in the day, back in the kind of seventies and eighties knows that before in age H put an N. Now most people, when they're going. A, would've said and result in a harmonious outcome. And actually an harmonious outcome is absolutely grammatically correct from an English perspective. You said it right. Most English speaking people would say that wrong. So well done. It was nice to hear. you.

I haven't really heard, you know, it's, it's really only people that are quite well spoken that would put an N in front of an H. So I think that you're in that, in that realm. Am I, I mean, tell me listeners, am I wrong?

[00:02:18] Ingrid: I'm just doing my best here, Lesley?

[00:02:20] Lesley: you, are you aware though, are you aware of the, an harmonious,

[00:02:24] Ingrid: No, I don't think so. I just, I don't know.

[00:02:27] Lesley: Well, you must be aware because you said it.

[00:02:28] Ingrid: Yeah. Well, yeah.

[00:02:30] Lesley: It's gone back into the depths of 1983 with Ingrid Jansen learning English. What age did you start learning English?

[00:02:38] Ingrid: I think when I was eight, we had it in the primary school, and I remember that at the time we couldn't go into the school. We had to go to a parent's house who lived close by, like on the other side of the little canal, and we had to, the whole class had to up sticks, go to his living room to watch the English lesson that was on TV at the time.

[00:02:58] Lesley: Ah, that's nice. So you started learning English at eight and then?

[00:03:02] Ingrid: Eight or nine I would say. Yeah.

[00:03:03] Lesley: But do you think you really came into your own when you spent your year abroad when you were 16? That's when you became fluent.

[00:03:09] Ingrid: Yeah. I think so. And I mean, uh, because when I, when I, um, went and lived in America for a year, I was like, hello, my name is Ingrid. How are you?

[00:03:22] Lesley: Yeah.

[00:03:23] Ingrid: Then the lady in the shop said, oh, hello. How, how, how are you? And I'm like, I am fine.

Thank you.

[00:03:29] Lesley: But now you think in English, don't you?

Yeah. 

[00:03:33] Ingrid: of the times. Yes. I sometimes can't even think of the Dutch word sometimes. I'm like, what is the word for like, radiator? You know? I mean, when I'm like talking about something, I'm like, I don't think I can remember the Dutch word sometimes. But yeah, it's, it's, it's in this, it's just in, in the brain now. 

[00:03:49] Lesley: I was talking to, I was talking to a couple of, um, we will get started with a podcast in a minute, guys, but, uh, just as a little aside, um, yesterday I was talking to my, um, builder and, um, his friend who's an electrician that he got doing a building job for me, and they, they were talking in Arabic and it was really interesting, my love, listening to other languages anyway. So they were talking to him themselves in Arabic, and every now and again they, they'd say something, something, something Arabic, and then they'd go extractor fan and then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, radiator, like it's a good example. And I was like, isn't that an Arabic word for extractor fan?

Like, why have you gotta use the English? It was still interesting to listen to where the English kind of terminology comes in, but we digress before we get started. Well, we haven't even got started yet and we've digressed. This is not a good sign. Ingrid not a good sign. But as we've done in a few previous podcasts, we want to talk about a little email that we got this week in from Emily. And thank you so much, Emily, because it's really lovely to be able to share this. So Emily said, thanks for making your podcast and all the free resources for those who can't afford to access paid contents at the moment. So thank you so much Emily, for saying that. Cause it's really important to us to, to get the balance right, which is a subject of this podcast today, Ingrid in our world as well. So it's important for us to put free content out there in the form of the podcast, mostly in form of our, in, uh, our Facebook group, free checklist and things like that, that we put out there to help you because we fully understand that some people don't need or don't want to pay for a more kind of in-depth decluttering journey. So, um, yeah, it's important that people recognise that we tried to get the balance right between free and paid, and ultimately our paid content is, if we're being really honest about it, Ingrid, the very thing that then allows us to put the free content out there because putting a podcast together doesn't come for free. It involves a lot of energy, a lot of investment, a lot of time and so on. So we really appreciate you calling in Emily to safe to say that cause that made our day as all of your reviews do and emails.

[00:05:44] Ingrid: Exactly. So yes. Don't forget, I know we've been banging on about it a little bit, but the reviews are really so important for us not to only read how you feel about the podcast and what you think about our episodes, but also, if people leave a review, it's really good because other then the podcast machines think, Ooh, these, these, this podcast gets a lot of reviews, which is good because then it.

Offers our podcast to other people so we get more listeners, which is good because then we know why we keep on going. And we we're getting up to podcast 250. Lesley, we're getting close. It's getting near and nearer.

[00:06:20] Lesley: And Ingrid, I don't believe that we have mentioned that we are finalists for a podcast of the year award.

[00:06:28] Ingrid: Yes, I know.

[00:06:29] Lesley: How cool is that? We've never mentioned it on the podcast, so we've mentioned it in our Facebook group in different places, but if you don't go into the Facebook group, you won't know. So I think it's important for us to say, can you believe it?

Can we actually believe it? We are finalists in the digital women. I like to think of us ourselves as a digital women. What? What do you think?

[00:06:46] Ingrid: Yeah. The digital women podcast.

[00:06:49] Lesley: I am no digital woman like dragged kicking and screaming into the digital world. We are up in the final of Digital Women Podcast of the Year, so we will keep you posted about that.

Anyway, Ingrid.

[00:07:02] Ingrid: Today we're going to talk about getting the balance right when decluttering, because I think what's really, what happens a lot with people who want to declutter, they get into this whole all or nothing situation, that's what we don't want. We want you to get that balance right because we have seen that when you get a little bit better balance with decluttering, you have more success when decluttering. And that's what we want, isn't it?

[00:07:27] Lesley: Yeah, it's the same scenario, really. You know, with this all or nothing thing. When you go through any kind of transformational journey, and probably the easiest one to compare it to is like weight loss, where people kind of think, I want to lose weight, and then almost go into kind of starvation mode and the weight comes off.

But it's not long-term change. And that's what, that's why we want you to get the balance right, to make sure you've got a consistent, sustainable, long-term mindset change journey. So really, really important to get the balance right. So what we're going to talk about today, some of the things where we see sometimes the balance goes a little bit off kilter.

And so hopefully by raising these things today in the podcast, you're going to recognise those things in yourself, becomes self-aware, which is very, very important when it comes to your decluttering journey. So let's get cracking, Ingrid.

[00:08:14] Ingrid: Yes. I think what we wanted to talk about definitely is energy levels, isn't it, Lesley? Because different people have different levels of energy. Let's be honest. Some people just have always mounds of it. A lot of people think, uh, think of me as a person with a lot of energy because they always see me you know, going around doing things, sorting things out, helping other people showing up and things. So I've got a lot of energy, which, which I'm really delighted about. But unfortunately not all of us have that due to lots of different reasons. So when you're decluttering, you have to really look at your own energy levels and not use it all up by going all guns blazing.

[00:08:55] Lesley: I mean, to be fair. In our world as well. You and I are both very energetic people. There is no doubt in that. But even we go too far sometimes with the balance and then we're exhausted and then it takes us a while to get back up to speed and that's it. So we need to, you know, practice what we preach.

Maybe Ingrid one day Yeah, that would be useful as well. But you're absolutely right and I think in terms of energy levels, it's very important to know yourself. And so it's finding the, getting the balance right is all about, okay, so in general I lack a little bit in energy and certainly I lack in energy when it comes to decluttering cause it's not something that I naturally love.

And so it's about the balance is finding a way to move slightly out of your comfort zone. So to push yourself from an energy perspective, but not go too far. We see so many people who do nothing for ages and then go hell for leather over a weekend and then are completely wiped out and don't return for another six or nine months.

What we want is something where you break it down, where you think, I'm going to do an hour a day, and if you feel that you're doing a great job, build it up from that stage, but don't go from nothing. To eight hours a day over a weekends because you're naturally going to probably stall before you're finished and not enjoy it, not have found it, a positive project and give up.

Am I right? That's the problem, isn't it?

[00:10:17] Ingrid: And the thing is you probably give up when you're not completely finished yet, so you can't get to that enjoyment stage of the decluttering and go, oh, I'm so happy with what I've done. But it still feels kind of messy and half finished and the things are cluttering up your hallway because you haven't built in time to go to the charity shop or donation, whatever it is.

And it's like, it's it, you can't get that satisfaction of a job well done. You've just, you can just look around and go, I've just done eight hours and I still, it's one big tip here. And then it's just, it's, it's, it can be a bit soul destroying, and then you kind of, you kind of lose all the oomph that you had you've, you've overdone it.

[00:10:58] Lesley: Yeah. And I think, you know what is interesting in, in our world, Ingrid of um, decluttering with clients in their homes is that quite often one, once people set their mind to something, they really want to get it done right. So we'll have either, we either get people who go, I couldn't possibly do more than an hour because that's their experience of trying to do it themselves and being exhausted by it.

Or I'd really like to come at eight o'clock in the morning and carry on until it's done. If that's eight o'clock in the evening, I've got, I've got 12 hours. That's fine. We'll just carry on. And it's finding that mid ground, isn't it? And so typically a professional organiser who's working with you one-to-one will only do somewhere between 3, 4, 5 hours depending on the person.

So that's, so even though our clients possibly want to do less or more, we will try to push you a little bit out of your comfort zone to perhaps more than you expected to do. But not go too far and do eight hours in a day. So I think that's quite typical because we know how exhausting this can be when you're making decision after decision, after decision, then you throw the logistics into it, you throw the emotion into it.

This is something that takes, its emotional and physical toll on you, and so you need to make sure that you are in the right zone and you can pick up tomorrow or next week or whatever and carry on. Very important to recognise that, isn't it?

[00:12:16] Ingrid: Yeah and I think in, in a, in a kind of extension of that lesson, so it's also knowing when to stop. So, even if you feel that you've got some energy left, go you know what, this is the right moment to stop before I wear myself out completely, I, I know I've got something left in the tank, but you still probably, if you've been on, if you've been work decluttering on a Saturday, there's still probably some dinner to be cooked or some tidying up to be done, or, uh, uh, uh, you know, other things that happened throughout normal life.

So you don't want to get that tank completely empty and drained, so you can't move for the whole evening because the other things still happen as well. So knowing when to stop is also very important.

[00:13:01] Lesley: Yeah, and I think one of the things that we do quite a lot as well, Ingrid, when we're working with clients is that we see that tipping point of somebody towards the end of a session because it's all about managing expectations. So if we say to somebody, we're going to move with you three hours. By the time you get to two and three quarter hours, you probably, you're on the home straight and you're waiting for it to end.

Or if we say five hours, four hours 45, then you're on the home straight and you're waiting for it to finish. It's all about managing expectations, isn't it, really of what that session looks like. But what we see when someone's on the home straight, all they want is for it to finish. Mostly like, you know, people enjoy it and enjoy the transformation.

Do people enjoy the journey? Probably not that much to be fair. Which is why it's useful to have someone by your side. And so, but what we see sometimes towards that end point of a session, people will start to make rash decisions and so don't they, Ingrid? We can see it's like, I need to just get this job done and I need to kind of fire through the decision. So sometimes we will stop a session because we see that the decision making is not controlled. All we're trying to do in a, in a decluttering session is to make sure that that session, those decisions feel quite controlled. And if we feel someone's not making decisions that come from a place of control, that's when we'll start to, we'll start, maybe start to kind of, you know, pull back a little bit earlier on, won't we?

[00:14:21] Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think I, I look a lot at my, my clients at that how, how they're reacting, how they're responding. Are they still, you know, are they still you, can you see them thinking and making like, thinking through the decisions that they're making, urgh. You can see that they've had enough.

[00:14:41] Lesley: Now, a few weeks ago on the podcast, um, we did a podcast with that hoarder and I also went on her podcast as well to talk about what it's like to work with a professional organiser. And she asked to, you know, check it out if you've not listened to it. Cause again, it's quite an interesting podcast as well from a different kind of perspective than the other one that we have on our podcast.

But I think that she asked me very, she asked me about pacing and how do you pace a session, pace a client when you're working with them one-to-one and you say the right thing. Cause I was like, and it was a very hard kind of question for me to answer because it's all in that emotional connection to somebody all in that emotional intelligence.

We can look somebody in the eyes and see and sense when it's too much or sense when they're are glazing over or had him off enough or being emotionally tired. And so there's no right or wrong way to pace it. And some people, if, if people have got momentum going and are happy and we feel those decisions, even if their very fast decisions are controlled, then we will let it go as fast as as we can.

Do you know what I mean? Cause if that's what the client is happy with, then that's what we'll do. But there comes a point where, It kind of, we need to reign it in, we need to take a break, we need to come back refreshed. All of those kind of things. And I think that's what this is all about, getting the balance right.

It's all about that self-awareness, isn't it? Ingrid?

[00:15:57] Ingrid: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And indeed moving out of your comfort zone, you know, because sometimes decisions will be hard, but you're going to have to go, okay, I'm going to, you know, not put it to the side and look at it again another time. Sometimes you know, that the decision has to be taken and that it's the right thing for you.

So, getting the balance right is tricky. So I hope, I'm hoping this, this, us talking about it, it's helpful for our listeners, Lesley.

[00:16:26] Lesley: Yeah. Cause I think there's probably, it's probably a mistake that people have made in the past. It's certainly something that we see people talking to us about, about the way that they have done decluttering in the past is that they have devoted a whole weekend and with a view to getting whole house done.

And then sort of not achieved what they've set out to achieve. And I think, you know, you will have heard us talking, um, about our cycle of success before, and I think it's important as well to get the balance right in each of the different components of the cycle of success, isn't it? So to know when to, you know, particularly the, the starting bit and the end bit.

So we, at the end of the cycle of success, we go through the whole process of decluttering and organising. Do check out our podcast about that. If you want to know more information. But I think it's, we need to be able to pace ourselves around it to get the balance right, to make sure that we don't miss out any of the critical components of the cycle of success.

Because what we do is we get fed up at the kind of ask stage, which is I think 0.3 or something out of eight on the cycle of success. That's when we get exhausted because it is emotionally exhausted and physically. And then we give up and we never get around to the fun bit, which is the transformational piece where we get round from to the finish stage and the enjoy stage where we make the final bit of progress that is going to make us continue on tomorrow.

[00:17:46] Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think enjoyment and being proud of yourself and being happy with what you've achieved are crucial and that it doesn't have to be a whole room. It can be a drawer. It can be a bag, it can be a a little side table, but just kind of going, Hey, okay, that was good. Really, you know, great job. Well done me. But it's so awkward. We feel so awkward, don't we, to give ourselves a pat on the back. But I think it's really important to celebrate your wins and your successes, and even if it's five or 10 seconds to go. Yeah. Great job, me. Well done. Let's go. Let's do, let's try a little bit more, or, you know what, that was enough for today.

I'm coming back tomorrow and I think that makes all the difference.

[00:18:31] Lesley: It definitely does, you definitely need to see that transformation. And I think, you know, just jumping back to talk about self-awareness as well, Ingrid, I think it's really important to understand where your balance has been off before in terms of, so we talk many, many times about got people who run out to buy storage, people who love the kind of labeling and the organisational bits, but don't do the decluttering, you know, so it's like, Where do you sit in your comfort zone and people are really good at the labeling and the organisation and the storage bit of it, but not quite got the decluttering bit of it right?

So it's about understanding where your balances off when we're talking about a fully rounded project, which involves all of those things. It involves planning. It involves asking yourself difficult questions, going a little bit deeper, moving things to the right place before you've even got to storage, making sure we put things away, moving things to other rooms, getting to the donation stage.

So we need to do all of those things within a decluttering project. And it's about recognising where do I fall short of what's required to make this a fully rounded project. And so recognising that is all about that balance as well, isn't it?

[00:19:41] Ingrid: I love it, Lesley. I love it. Well, let's go for a break and let's talk some more after the break. See you soon.



[00:19:54] Ingrid: Hi, everyone. Welcome back after your break, we're talking about getting the balance right when decluttering. Lesley, that also means getting family members on board, or maybe they're not on board or they are on board and they're not doing what you want to do.

[00:20:09] Lesley: I know that old saying that old chestnut about getting family members on board. You know what? This is probably one of the hardest things that we ever have to talk about, and we don't really have the answers really do we in terms of other people that are involved in, or should be involved in the decluttering process.

This is a tough one, but I think like any kind of transformational journey, we need to go in kind of. Softly softly. So just because you want to do a decluttering journey and you are going all in, does it mean to say that everybody else is at the same emotional or action place as you are? So I think it's really important to lead by example and to hope, and I do say hope, and we shouldn't really use hope in the decluttering world.

But when it comes to family members, it's pretty much all that we can hope for, isn't it? All the family members will see what's happening. We'll see the transformation that we've been talking about, and we'll start to get interested and excited by having the same kind of, um, emotional and practical journey themselves.

Tricky, but I think we sort of believe then that everybody else should just jump, jump on board at the same time, don't we?

[00:21:21] Ingrid: I know. I know, I know. And I think it's really important not to resent your family members for not go jumping on board immediately when you're ready to do all of this, it may take them days, weeks, months before you actually, suddenly go go, oh, actually there have an inkling of interest in what I'm doing. But don't resent them.

You just do your own thing. Do your own stuff. Do your own thing. And let's not worry about anybody else at the moment because you, you've got your hands full with your own items and your own, your own journey that you're on. So, so don't let others influence that balance in that decluttering because you're just going to be frustrated and angry, and that's just energy that you can really use for focusing on yourself.

[00:22:06] Lesley: It's amazing when people do come on board. I mean, we've got CJ in the Facebook group who, if anybody's in the Facebook group, you'll see that she's going on a journey of decluttering with her husband. They're both completely on board. It's fantastic. If you've not seen it, do check that out in the Facebook group because it's a great example of a couple working together towards a common goal and, you know, taking it slowly but surely through and making fantastic progress.

Knowing when they need to stop knowing when they've had enough. It's a brilliant, brilliant. Thing to watch, isn't it? To watch unfold and it will take a little bit of time yet, but it's, but the nice thing about it is the togetherness of it, which is fantastic. I think that even I, and I completely agree, Ingrid, that you can't expect other people to be on board at the same time as you are.

But I do feel that there can be a communication which is, you know, with the rest of the family to say. Look, this is what I'm doing. This is important to me. Um, and so just so that you know, this is what I'm doing, I would like positive feedback on that. I don't want any negativity. I don't want people saying, oh, you've been there before and you've never managed to succeed before.

Or, oh, here we go again. You know, all that kind of jazz that people say all the time. I think there might be, if people do want to get involved, it might be if somebody says, how can I help? It might be not a decluttering side of it, but. Trying to get people on board in terms of other things that need to be done, like donations, like charity shop runs, like, you know, helping with, um, you know, high shelves or whatever.

So it might not be that you need to get somebody on board the decluttering process, but don't be afraid to ask for help in other areas. You know, other people are not going to jump on board and start decluttering all their stuff, but that doesn't mean to say that they can't help. And so I think that's where the, the, you know, that's all about getting the balance right as well, knowing.

You know, picking your battles a little bit is important in any family life, isn't it? And knowing how far you can go with people without going too far and alienating people. Really, really important. But we're not family mediators, are we, Ingrid?

If only we knew the answers to that.

[00:24:05] Ingrid: If only, if only, yes. Oh, and another thing, Lesley, that is important when getting the balance right is that sometimes we can get really hung up on finding the best place for all our items to go. We want everything that we have in our house to be given to the right person, donated to the right place, sold in the right thing, get the best money for, you know, we've got all these things, but sometimes.

We just have to conclude actually this item is broken, not suitable to give away to anybody else, and it has to go to landfill. And a lot of people interesting, a lot of people who have clutter, but the environment has gotten more and more and more into everybody's mind, especially over the last decade, decade or two, but, we have to create landfills sometimes and that a lot of people find that really struggle really with that.

[00:25:05] Lesley: Yeah, definitely. I think that. And it is, it is very important. So we're not saying go willynilly and just chuck everything away. Absolutely not. I mean, if, if people start talking about skips and things, you know, we are like, oh, is that really necessary? We barely use skips, do we? When we're decluttering with clients, because there's so much that can be donated and as soon as it goes into a skip, then it's.

I'm not saying there's definitely recycling that goes on with skips, but not really donating. So if there's things like that, you know, do be careful going down that skip route. But equally, as Ingrid says, recognise that sometimes things have had their usefulness in life and are just at the end of their life.

And the only thing that can happen is that they go to landfill and try and kind of put that guilt to one side. You know, we talk about this all the time, but you know, if something is not fit for purpose, it's still landfill, whether it's sitting in your house or sitting at the recycling center, it's still not got any useful purpose and it's still landfill in your house, unfortunately, and that's not what we're trying to create.

I think you need to know that you're doing your best for the environment. You're doing way better than many other people. You're doing probably doing way, way better than you did previously in the past, in decades gone by and comfort yourself that you are doing the right thing for most of the items that you need to declutter and sort of let that part of it go.

I think it's really important, isn't it, Ingrid? 

[00:26:22] Ingrid: Yeah, yeah. And because you can otherwise really can get bogged down by, by all of that, and, and it can really, um, stop you in your decluttering tracks if you, if you hang onto that too much. So we're all for recycling and donating definitely. I mean, even stuff, the recycling center, the tip, there's so many subcategories there.

That it still can be reused. It might not be reused by another person, but it can make it to something else or something new, so, so don't be afraid to do that. So try and get the balance in that as well.

[00:26:54] Lesley: Now there's one that's always a biggie for me, Ingrid, which is finding the balance between decluttering and making money from your unwanted stuff.

Really important to get the balance right on this because honestly, if there's one thing that we see holding people back from a successful decluttering journey, it's a kind of, um, a desire or a need to make money from the stuff that they have, kind of wasted in inverted commerce money on or perceived to wasted money on in the past.

It's so important to understand what your goal is and if your goal is to declutter your house, try if you can and not everybody can. And there are some things where it's not sensible to do so, but in general, know that trying to make money for it is just another job that you need to do, which is going to hold you back from your end goal or indeed, get the balance right and go, okay, I'm going to give it a week on eBay or whatever, however you want to sell it. And if it's not gone, then I'm going to go to Charity Shop. Also, balance or, um, yes, everything that I'm really happy to donate stuff, but I've got some stuff that's expensive, more expensive than others. And that's the stuff that I'm going to invest the time on trying to, eBay, it's so important cause we see it so many times, Ingrid, don't you? People are churning stuff around their homes because they've decided that it's no longer fit for purpose, and then they put it in a bag and then it sits under a desk, so it's never leaving your house. And more often than not that, putting things on eBay doesn't happen.

So if you've got those bags in your home that are sitting there, have been there for 6, 9, 12, 2 years, um, then really think about whether that's the sensible thing for you to do or whether it's holding you back from achieving your goal. So, so important to get the balance right in that, isn't it? 

[00:28:35] Ingrid: Yeah, absolutely. It's, it's really, is it the space or the stuff you have to think about? Is it the money or can you let it go? And does the space, is the space more important? And um, yeah. Getting the balance right on that is super important because we don't want to find bags of stuff for a, a, a one day to put on eBay pile because it's just, it, if you never get around to it, then the stuff gets really sad in those bags and then nobody can use it anymore, which is deflates the whole point, I think.

[00:29:04] Lesley: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. 

[00:29:06] Ingrid: All right. Um, last thing we wanted to talk about, about getting the balance right is I think really important, um, is. If you're going on this journey with decluttering, do it for yourself. Make yourself a priority. Don't do it for anybody else. Don't do, because other people in your life have said that your, because your house is messy and they don't like coming around, or whatever it is, or you know it, there's been frustrations within the family or, because then you need to get behind the decluttering with yourself. You can't do something if somebody else forces you to do something. I mean, we do get phone calls, don't we, Lesley, from other people that say, well, my mum, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, or my sister really, da da da, da, can you help? But it's like, well, if the person themselves are not on board, then it's really hard.

So doing it for yourself I think is really, really important and, and find that strength in yourself to, to keep going and not look at other people to, to keep you moving. Do you understand where I'm going, Lesley?

[00:30:18] Lesley: Yeah, no, I do. I absolutely do. And it's finally, yeah, I don't know. It's more like a sort of. It's a tough one to kind of explain really, isn't it? But if you are not in the right mental head space, any transformational journey is just not going to happen. Or you're going to be half-hearted in that journey. So you need to be, we all know that we need to be ready and something needs to click in, and it might be starting that journey that allows that to click in and go around the cycle of success and get into the finish and end joy stage.

Or making sure that you pace yourself and you've got the, the energy bit of it right, or making sure that you're focusing a little bit more on decluttering and less on labeling and storage. And so it might be that just by getting the balance right, it encourages you to go down that journey and to look out for yourself and to be kind to yourself and to go.

You know what I'm doing this for me. It's so, it is so important to really want it and to recognise that the, you know, you are enhancing your life. And even if it's, you know, if you share your home with other people, you're still, you are enhancing your relationships. You are enhancing your environment. You are enhancing your purse strings, or you are, you know what I mean?

You're saving money. And so there's so many things that mean that you can recoup that balance in other areas of your life. That's what this is all about. If you get the balance right in decluttering, hopefully the balance will resettle in other areas of your life and that's the way forward. That's what we're looking for at the end of the day, isn't it Ingrid? We're looking for people to go, do you know what? I'm going to spend all this time decluttering my house? We don't, we, I mean, we do want you to declutter for now, but we don't want you to spend a lifetime of decluttering. Yes, we want you to manage and understand maintenance and resets and all those kind of things and not let it build up again.

But ultimately, we want you to live a life doing the things that you want to do when having the balance right in other areas of your life, but it involves just that little bit of effort now.

[00:32:04] Ingrid: Yeah, I think exactly, then you can really go, I'm doing this for me because I cannot do the stuff that I, that is, are important to me that I want to spend time on. And, and you know, we, we. ask questions in our Facebook group as well, and, and somebody said, I would love to do my, if I had a magic wand, I would love to do my room because I want to get my loom out because I, I think that's some sort of machine where you can kind of do, it's like a knitting thing, I think, but it's like, You know, don't let the decluttering and all the clutter stand in the way of that.

We want you to do that. We want you to find that balance in your life of, you know, being able, you know, you're probably working hard or volunteering or doing lots of things. We want you to also enjoy the nice moments and get that balance right between the stuff in your house and doing the things that you want to do.

[00:32:55] Lesley: I know important, really important, isn't it, to get the balance right, so, so yes, I enjoyed another podcast, Ingrid.

[00:33:03] Ingrid: Yes. And

[00:33:04] Lesley: Getting closer to episode 250, aren't we?

[00:33:07] Ingrid: I know, I know. Can you believe it, Lesley?

[00:33:12] Lesley: No, it's funny, really, when we're recording our podcast, because we, you know, we, we record a couple at a time, don't we? And you know, it's kind of like, here we go and I'm like, oh, you know, we've done our podcast for the next little, and then you're like, oh, that's got another one before it comes round. Before, you know, it doesn't it that we need to record, but we never struggle with something to say.

I think that much is true, isn't it, Ingrid?

[00:33:31] Ingrid: That much is definitely true, and we can't wait to hear from you listeners, what you think about this podcast. Have you cut the balance right or have we made you think, which we really, really hope? Share with us on declutterhub.com/248. We'd love to know how you feel about it and where you can work on your balance and what's a bit.

Out of whack at the moment and when you actually thought Yeah. Hmm. to work on that. That's a good point. We would love to know. Tell us. So thank you so much as always for listening. Podcast 248. Wow. Only two to go for the big 250. Yeah.

[00:34:08] Lesley: I know, we've got something special. We've got something special for two 50, haven't we?

[00:34:11] Ingrid: That is the plan. Yes, that is the plan. So we're not telling anything just yet. You're going to have to wait, but next week we're back with episode 249, so thanks so much everybody.

[00:34:23] Voiceover: Thanks so much for listening to the Declutter Hub podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us in your podcast player so you don't miss an episode, and we'll see you next week.
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Recent Posts
Episode 390 – 10 changes that make the biggest impact in your home

Episode 389 – Overcoming mobility challenges when decluttering with member Rory

Episode 388 – Start as you mean to go on – plan 2026 for decluttering success

Episode 387 – Our 2025 year in review – the big Declutter Hub round-up

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Episode 248 – Getting the balance right when decluttering

Episode 390 – 10 changes that make the biggest impact in your home

Episode 389 – Overcoming mobility challenges when decluttering with member Rory

Episode 388 – Start as you mean to go on – plan 2026 for decluttering success

Episode 387 – Our 2025 year in review – the big Declutter Hub round-up

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