A graphic saying Happy New Year, Welcome to an organised 2021
Episode 118 – How is 2021 going to be different?

In today’s episode we're discussing how 2021 will be different. Our resolutions and priorities will have changed with the new year. There is also hope this year will be better!
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Transcript of this podcast episode
Intro  0:07  
Welcome to today's episode of The declutter of podcast, your channel for super easy, no nonsense advice on how to declutter and organise your home. Please welcome your hosts professional organisers, Ingrid Jansen, and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:31  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 118 of the Declutter Hub Podcast. I'm Ingrid. And I'm Lesley, if you have clutter and want to sort it out, this is the show for you. In today's episode, Lesley and I are talking about how 2021 is going to be different. And it is the first of January today. So Happy New Year to you, Lesley, and to all our listeners.

Lesley  1:00  
Happy New Year. Ingrid, how are you?

Ingrid  1:03  
Yeah, I'm really, really good. Thank you very much. How are you doing?

Lesley  1:07  
I'm good. I'm good. Excited about 2021? In fact,

Ingrid  1:12  
I know we've got we've got lots of plans, haven't we? We've got lots of things that we are going to do, and that we have set ourselves that we want to accomplish this year. So it's going to be another big year for us, isn't it?

Lesley  1:25  
We have set our goals in true declutter hub style, haven't we Ingrid, we've set our goals. And now it's over to you guys to set your hours. And that's what today is going to be all about, isn't it?

Ingrid  1:35  
Yes. Because let's be realistic. 2020 was a bit rubbish.

Lesley  1:42  
I know, I'm glad to see the back of it. And it's always gonna be the year that was really rubbish. But let's not dwell on that. Let's talk about 2021. I think an awful lot of people have got a lot of hope about 2021. I mean, that's quite nice.

Ingrid  1:57  
Yeah. Well, that's good, because we deserve it that we need it. And I think I'm just so happy that we were able, I mean, so many people say when they listen to our podcasts, they're like, Oh, you're like my, my Brightspark of the day, I love listening to you guys, you're always so positive. And I'm really glad in 2020, we were able to keep that up and bring so much laughter and fun. And hopefully, a bit of light hearted entertainment, because the culture is hard enough as it is that we could continue that. But I must say, I'm kind of glad we got 2020 now done. Now it's all about 2021. Yes, so hopefully, let's not for a better year, because I think we all deserve it.

Lesley  2:41  
We definitely do. And I want to talk a little bit, I don't want to go too much about how rubbish 2020 was, because we all know that we don't need to sit here and say that. But I think in terms of decluttering, it was generally quite a positive year. Now for some people, people saw the opportunity to do something with their homes, they were in their homes much more than normal, much more than they would want to be surrounded by clutter. So a lot of people like right, I'm gonna set to and I'm going to do something about my house. Now, for some people that was decluttering and organising. For other people, that was renovations a huge bumper year for renovations in 2020. Because people really wanted their homes to be nice and a nice place to be because they were in them so much more. So there's no escape from them. So you really need to make sure that your home was your sanctuary. And it reflected exactly what you wanted it to be. Now some people got to the end of 2020 on all those hopes and dreams that they had back in March, April, May time when we were right at the start of the kind of locked down season, let's call it had great intentions, but it didn't quite happen. And so we now have then another opportunity in 2021. To really think to reframe those goals and to make sure that this year, that kind of positive focus and energy on our homes is actually going to happen.

Ingrid  4:03  
Yeah, I think so too. And of course, you know, I mean, on the first of January, a lot of people do make New Year's resolutions, right? It's kind of, it's the start of a new year. It's kind of okay, right? What happened in the past is now behind us. What's the plan for this year, I'm going to and then you get a whole plethora of things that I want to do. I'm going to do a dry January, I'm going to lose weight, I'm going to exercise more. I'm gonna stop smoking, I'm going to eat better this year. You know, all of those things that we all say, on the first of January. This is what I'm going to do this year. It's a lot. We we we actually people who have like lists of all these things that I want to do and I'm like, Okay, that's a lot.

Lesley  4:51  
Okay, so we're not averse to a New Year's resolution. In fact, we embrace new year's resolutions, don't we? Because it's a it's a way to sort of put a mark in the sand Almost move forward from that. But what we're saying is, be realistic about those resolutions, aren't we and make sure that they're actually achievable. Now, we talked about goals all the time dealt with the declutter hub. And we really wanted to talk a little bit about that today to make sure that you what you're going to set out to do on the first of January, you're actually going to be able to achieve so that you don't feel worse at the end of 2021. Than you feel today, when you're full of hope, and excitement, really, for the future.

Ingrid  5:30  
Yeah, and I love your saying, I mean, you normally always say this, when you always do what you've always done, nothing is going to change. So you need to do things differently. If you want 2020, you want to be different?

Lesley  5:45  
Yeah, you're right. And it's interesting. So where do we are we are we going to have to sort of fight for our supremacy as decluttering being the number one resolution that people get no, forget about losing weight, and being healthy and all that we want you to focus on decluttering. We want you to do everything. But we know how hard it is to focus on multiple things at once. I think our experience is that if you focus on one thing at a time, the rest kind of has a habit of following on doesn't it particularly their health and the weight, and the embracing a different kind of lifestyle, or a more positive outlook? If your home is a happy home that you want to be in? In general, the other things will follow as a matter of course, won't they?

Ingrid  6:30  
That is so true. And I think that's something that a lot of people don't realise that actually. When you start to declutter and organise your home, the other things come. And that's what you see. And I think in our membership with our members who've been with us who take out a yearly membership, in the beginning, they focus on the decluttering, and organising, which of course is fabulous. But then later in their journey, they're like, oh, wow, actually, all of those pennies are dropping here, I am changing, I am more mindful when I show up. I do feel because I'm not losing time searching for stuff all the time, I can now put in a walk every day that I've never had, I've always planned to do but never got around because I was always chasing my tail. Hmm, I actually feel that I'm shopping better because I know far better what I need, than just kind of going to the shops and going I'm just going to randomly buy some stuff because I know exactly what's in my wardrobe. I know I want to shop for a black top, or I want to know I need to have a nice pattern skirt or anything like that. But also, food wise as well. I have a far better handle of what is in my pantry and what's in my freezer. And I am now trying to meal plan a little bit and make a list. When I go shopping, I waste less foods. It's these all these far reaching things that start to happen. Because the home is more decluttered and organised. And I think that is I think so wonderful to see when people are decluttering.

Lesley  8:07  
Well, I think your home is the foundations on which everything else can build, isn't it? It's the bottom line. Yeah. And we know that because you have to feel comfortable in your home. That's where you entertain your family. You do your hobbies, you eat dinner, you entertain people, you know. So it really is fundamental to everything else that's going on, isn't it? I wanted to talk about one of our members actually, Sue and Sue came on the podcast last year. So you will probably towards the tail end of last year, you probably listened to sue on a podcast. And she's talked about an interesting shift in her mindset. She has been a member with us for over a year now hasn't she? And she, she feels that she's still got a long way to go in terms of the decluttering and organising of her home. But she's starting now to shift into that kind of what about me? What do I want to be? Because we talk a lot in the declutter hub about your home, your things, the things that you gather around, you have to reflect the current view. And so she's really okay, well, I've done the basics. But now I'm really starting to think about what is the current me. And so it's that mindset shift that we talk about. And so she's gone through the basics, she's been able to kind of come up for air a little bit, if you will, and now she's really been able to focus on but what's next? What's the 2021 me? And I think that's really, really interesting, isn't it? So just jumping back to what we were talking about before. It's really critical to get your home right. So on that basis, we are going to try and Trump ourselves and put us as number one on your New Year's resolution list that we integrate.

Ingrid  9:36  
Yes, of course because of course it's the new year. So we are doing a challenge of course at the beginning of the year. We want you to come on board on this decluttering waggon. We want you to join us because we want you to kick off 2021 with a bang and go right. I am going to put decluttering on the floor. Front, this is important to me. And what better way to start and to start with with a challenge. So it is the first of January now. And on Monday, we are starting a five day, reset your home challenge. We absolutely love it. Because we see the light bulbs going off, we see the changes, we see the Oh, wow, I had never looked at it from this way before. We've had fantastic success with our research challenge before and we can't wait to do it again and to inspire you to a fantastic start in this new year.

Lesley  10:39  
But you know, we like to start our challenges on a Monday. And when we were planning this, we were like, oh, what's the first Monday in January? Oh, it's the fourth. That's quite soon, isn't it? And so you really are going to have to try and avoid that procrastination and get stuck in on Monday starts soon, isn't it? Barely Have you got over the New Year celebrations. And we're going to be straight in with that challenge on Monday. So do join up straight away, so you don't miss out.

Ingrid  11:05  
Come and join us in the front. And I agree with you, Lesley, it's Sunday is like really quickly. I haven't even taken my tree down yet my tree still there. So it's probably going to be a bit a bit longer than normal. Because we're going to be focusing on the challenge and start with lots of decluttering fun and laughter. And it is it always makes me laugh. Everybody's like decluttering. Is that actually fun? Yes, it is. Trust us. We have we always do, you know, really nice lies when we had lots of laughter. And everybody's like, Oh, wow, I really enjoy listening to the two of you, just like I am on the podcast, you are really like that in the lives as well. They were like, yes, we're exactly the same. So let's start off 2021 with a brilliant decluttering challenge. I love it.

Lesley  11:52  
I can't wait, I can't wait to get started. And so we just wanted to cover a couple of things that we that we talk about in that challenge and just reiterate the importance of them really. So before you get before you get started a little bit of preparation to do before Monday, I want you to think about a couple of things. So number one, we talk about kindness. Now, we're not going to go into it in too much detail here, because we're going to talk about it on Monday. But what we want you to do is don't worry about what went before New Year's resolutions are all about wiping the slate clean and starting from scratch again. And moving forward. The important thing is that we put a stake in the ground and we say right, that was then and now we're own we can only go forward, the only way is up. And that's what we're aiming for. So be kind to yourself. Don't berate yourself over how bad you were in the past or have been like this for years, it doesn't matter. What's important is that we're moving forward. So be kind to yourself. Number one important thing we are mega report that higher than decluttering. Be kind to yourself. The 2021 can go as number one can't say and declutter your house can go as number two, are we are we are we happy with that? Ingrid?

Ingrid  13:01  
I think so I think because we get emails all the time, right from from members, of course, but also from people who are in our Facebook group. And they're like, Oh, I've only done this one thing. And I'm like, Well, you've done something that is really positive. So celebrate that win, be kind to yourself. You've you've moved that step forward. And this is this is a marathon, this is not a sprint, if you've had like a messy house for a very long time, you're not going to have a super tidy super organised duper house. And at the end of January, you know, it's going to take a bit of time, but it starts exactly what you're realising it starts by being kind to yourself and going, okay, New year, new me, I'm going to look at his positive and every step forward and I'm going to make a positive one. Will you have a day that you think, Oh, I can't be bothered. This is like too hard. Yes. That's normal. That is part of, you know, you can't always move towards the rest. Sometimes she got a day off, you know, I mean, that's normal. We're all humans, you know. So, don't think that because you're going to start doing this challenge your Monday, you're gonna be decluttering every day of the whole of 2021. That's not the plan. That is definitely not the plan. You're so

Lesley  14:20  
right, Ingrid. Absolutely. That's not the plan. We want to do this in a kind of slow, methodical way, don't we? So we actually achieve it and achievers wins. One of the other things that we talked about in the challenge is tracers. And so this is an interesting one, really, because we've talked already about what's been number one and number two and what comes lower and things you know, and so we're automatically saying you need to make choices about what you're doing here and they need to be the right choices for you. And so I guess the important thing is if you're here, how high on your list is decluttering your home, we believe that it's the foundation for everything else you need to choose to make that difference you need to choose to prioritise decluttering and organising your home only you can make that choice. And so a lot of people say, Oh, it's not a choice. You know, there are a lot of people out there that have got lots of things standing in their way of achieving what they want to choose, you know, mental health issues, physical health issues, all of those kinds of things conspire against us to take choices away from us. And we're well aware of that. But we can do things in a small way. And we can try. So choose to try, if you can't choose to just do it, it's not as simple as that, we completely get that, but choose to try to focus on decluttering. For this year, we're going to talk a lot more about choices aren't waiting next week, exciting. I'm excited already.

Ingrid  15:39  
I know, three days away, I can't wait for the challenge. And we're gonna have our first kickoff session on the Sunday evening already. So we're on the countdown on the countdown to start a new challenge. And it's going to be really good and fun. And the thing is, we are going to celebrate those wins those small wins that are going to give you that pat on the back and one small win will lead to the next small win. And that's how you can see that decluttering can be very, very positive. And we're going to focus on what are we going to keep? Instead of what are we going to declutter. And I think that's really important in finding those things that you love and want and need in your house. And so you can actually then spend the time doing the stuff that you want to do. And I think that's gonna be a fantastic goal for 2021.

Lesley  16:28  
I think the important message really is, you know, just jumping back to my little phrase that I love all the time, which is if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got, my advice to you would be come with us on this journey. Let's do it together. You know, a lot of people, you if you're if you're in our Facebook group, if you've done one of our challenges before, if you're in our membership, the thing that is more clear than anything else is that doing it with a like minded community of people who are all going through a similar thing is absolutely critical to success. Ingrid and I will guide you, the rest of the members will guide you and your be in a like minded community of people. And that is the important thing come with us. And we can fix this for you. So having said that, Ingrid gonna completely put you on the spot now and say, What's your 2021 New Year's resolution?

Ingrid  17:26  
I think my first news is actually to go on holiday this year.

Lesley  17:32  
You are resolved to go on holiday. That's in your control.

Ingrid  17:37  
I know. But I really, really hope to see my family. I mean, all my family is in the Netherlands. And of course I live in London. So I really missed them. Of course, I didn't go home for Christmas. So I was really sad about that. Of course, I've seen them on Zoom. And we did zoom parties and zoom bingo and all of those things. But yeah, it would be really nice to give my mum and my dad a very, very big cuddle as soon as I can. So as soon as some sort of quarantine rules are lifted, I am sure I am in that car, I will probably drive back and forth within two days and just kind of kind of go, I need to hug you. So yeah, that's going to be I think, for me very important. Yeah, it's absolutely

Lesley  18:21  
critical, isn't it? Because it's what we do for certainly holidays. I mean, you and I are the same. We're aligned on this. And we love travel. And we love holidays. And we do that as often as we can. And we that has been slightly curtailed in 2020. So we definitely need to get that back in business. But for me, I think it's all about self care and balance, I think. So I think that general things that were fun, kind of got ripped away from us a little bit, I think in 2020, some of the things that I had heavily relied on in the past, going out with my friends. And I don't just mean going out drinking and eating. And I mean, going out and seeing friends and enjoying getting ready to go out and then join the chat the day after about the night and all those things are kind of gone. And so whatever we can do to get those back, and if they're not going to come back, then I need to find a different way for self to self care, and to see my friends and to reproduce that in a different way. I think we played a bit of a waiting game, but it particularly though, the latter part of 2020 in the UK, we've all been a little bit on hold waiting for lockdown to end and then it is we're in we're out we're in we're out. We don't know what we're doing. And so I think, you know, self care to me is going to be really critical. Just to get that balance, right. I think you know, you and I both know in 2020 We probably the balance was skewed very far the other way with work and thankfully we have lovely work like you know, sitting here doing these podcasts doing our challenges. Being in a community. That's what certainly got me through 2020 It was lovely to do that. But it's still still really important for me to reconnect with family and friends in the way that I have done in the past

Ingrid  19:59  
editor. Aren't of luck that I did really well on walking every day. So that's fallen a bit by the wayside because of course, the kids have come as I walked with my daughter in the first part of lockdown every day. So I really need to up my game on that and not just go for one bicycle ride in a week, I really need to, to get that back into my planning system is just to do a bit more exercise. So but that's I find that hard. I find it hard because you know, there's always so many other things to do. So it needs to become a priority. Definitely. Definitely.

Lesley  20:32  
So that is it. So we are allowing then be kind to yourself as number one, closely followed by decluttering your house? Is that what we're saying?

Ingrid  20:45  
Of course it is we love decluttering. And otherwise, what what are we going to talk about? I mean, this whole podcast is about decluttering. And we love it. So thank you to everybody who has been with us through this. You know, we've done noon, the podcast now for 117 episodes. This is episode 180. I mean, it's been absolutely phenomenal. But we actually so appreciate if you're still sticking with us and you're listening in every week and that you're enjoying it and that you're giving us such wonderful reviews. So if you're listening and you think oh, I've never done that before, I actually want to give a lesson England a review. Please feel free to do so we love reading them. But it's also really good for us if people leave reviews because that means that more people will find our podcast. So thank you so much for listening today. We wish you a wonderful 2021 A very, very happy new year. Please come and join us we can't wait to see you in the challenge. And of course if you would like to have more handy tips and advice, check out our Facebook group the declutter hub community. If you don't want to miss this next podcast, just subscribe to the clutter health podcast in your podcast player and it will pop into your notifications each Friday. So thanks for being here, and we'll see you next time.

Outro  22:04  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the declutter hub podcast. Check out declutter hub.com for more inspiration. Don't forget to tune in next week.
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