A graphic of a chaotic office with overflowing bins and a lot of clutter and disorganisation
Episode 153 – How to Declutter & Organise Stationery – 10 Things To Do

Episode 422 – Time for a September Reset?
Episode 421 – Why an Organised Freezer Changes Everything with Kate Hall
Are you a stationery lover? Stationery drawers are often full of things that will ‘come in handy’ one day. In this episode we go granular.
We discuss 10 things that you may never use again and why it makes sense to declutter them so you are left with stationery that represents what you need TODAY!
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Transcript of this podcast episode
[00:00:00] Ingrid: Stationery has a habit of breeding and sticking around for years after its usefulness. In episode 1 53, we talk about the 10 things you can declutter from your stationary.

[00:00:14] Lesley: So Ingrid, stationery. That's what we're here to talk about.

[00:00:18] We love a bit of stationery, don't we? 

[00:00:20] Ingrid: Oh, I'm a paper girl. What can I tell you? I love stationary. I know. 

[00:00:25] Lesley: Maybe, maybe you won't like some of the 10 things that I explained because you are a paper girl. You're not really a digital girl. We were just talking before we came on this podcast. I have to drag Ingrid kicking and screaming whenever we make.

[00:00:38] Any changes whatsoever. So she's like, I don't want to do it like I don't want to change. So yes. And paper is your thing, isn't it? And with paper is your thing. You love a little bit of paper, but I did convince you not to print something off and to have it on your screen. So how's that going? 

[00:00:57] Ingrid: It's going well so far, but I'm like now scratching my head thinking, why did I agree to this podcast?

[00:01:03] Why am I actually talking about 10 things to Nicolette from stationery? I love stationery. This is not good, but you're true. It's right. I have. A few bits of stationery. I don't have boxes and boxes full of it. And we know that our listeners love a bit of stationery too, don't we, Lesley? 

[00:01:23] Lesley: Yeah, so we're talking about stationery and the reason why we're talking about it because it has a habit of sticking around for years and years.

[00:01:30] And yes, doesn't Ingrid. And we keep it because we think, Oh, it's going to come in one day. It's definitely going to come in. And some of these things will come in one day, but in the meantime, you might have kept hold of them for like 30 years or something, and they've been cluttering up your space for all that time.

[00:01:46] So that's what we wanted to talk about today. We love a bit of stationary, don't 

[00:01:51] Ingrid: we? Yes. And I think you're right. We need to be realistic. We do far more digital than we've ever done before. We don't need it. excess amounts that we used to have in our houses. A couple of bits is plenty. It will see us through.

[00:02:08] And if we actually then run out of something, we can go, you know, let's buy one or two more things, but we don't need to have hundreds and hundreds of bits, all lying about cluttering up drawers, cluttering up cupboards. And then we can't even find the thing when 

[00:02:20] Lesley: we need it. I know talking about not being able to find things, the number one thing that you can't find in your house when you need one is a pen.

[00:02:28] Am I right? Yeah. Like we have, so we go into people's houses that have hundreds of pens dotted around, but when you want one, you can never, ever find one. So the first thing on our list is going to be pens and pencils because... They need to be looked at, don't they Ingrid? They want, they're on the list of things that we can get rid of out of our house.

[00:02:49] Why are they on the list? 

[00:02:50] Ingrid: Well, I can tell you one even better. When you then do find a pen, it's not working. I can bet you bottom dollar you have finally found a penny like, yes, I can write something down on a piece of paper quickly. And then the pen doesn't work. And because when you need a pen, nowhere to be found.

[00:03:08] Lesley: So how do we fix that then? So I guess what we need to do is we need to. Gather all the pens into one place. When we're decluttering, it's quite often something that we need to do, isn't it? We need to gather everything together. So we've got a feel for how many we've got. Now, pens are going to be everywhere scattered around the house.

[00:03:25] Gather them all together. Do a simple test of those pens and get rid of the ones that are not working. It's a laborious job, but boy, oh boy, is it satisfying when you've done it? Isn't it? And pencils are the same. Really identify. Do you actually use a pencil? There are pencil users and non pencil users. I would never dream of writing anything in pencil.

[00:03:48] Would you? Nope. Never use a pencil, but we still have them dotted around. And particularly if we've got young kids or have had young kids, and this is why. We have had young kids in the past probably and they're still sitting there 20 years down the line after the pencils that they were using in year one.

[00:04:05] And so we really need to look at those pens and pencils and say, right, are these past their best? Are they not working? We need to. Let go of them. So number one on our list is pens and pencils. Yes, definitely. 

[00:04:21] Ingrid: And a nice one to follow on from that actually, Lesley is one of the stationary items I actually don't like at all, which is crayons.

[00:04:30] I don't know. I have something against crayons. I don't know what it is, Lesley, even when the kids were tiny and they got like these, these, um, coloring in sheets and they also get a little box with crayons. And I always went, Ooh. Oh, I don't know. Um, what is it? Do you think I haven't even figured this out myself?

[00:04:48] Is it maybe the fatty substitute in the pencils or in the crayons or a 

[00:04:54] Lesley: bit of a way? Honestly, I think you've got a bit of a weird thing about crayons. I'm not going to lie. Every time we talk about them, you have a massive aversion to crayons. I know kind of a little bit odd, but yeah, I kind of get you.

[00:05:07] They just break down, especially the Crayola crayons and all that kind of paper on the outside starts to rip off and then sometimes they're really small. I think the thing is with a crayon, they look fabulous when they're new, but once they start being stubby, they lose their kind of appeal, don't they, to children alike.

[00:05:22] People want new, kids want new crayons, don't they? So I think there's a bit of that, but crayons, if you've not got a child under Seven in your house or a grandchild under seven in your house. It's likely that you're not going to use a crayon again. Good news is that there are crayon recycling schemes out there.

[00:05:42] So do check in your country and you can send all of those crayons off to some nice person who's going to do something really fabulous with them. So that always makes us feel better, doesn't it? Yeah, 

[00:05:52] Ingrid: because it's really kind of a tricky item to get rid of as well. So we were delighted when we found that there are companies out there that actually meld them and then do other stuff with them.

[00:06:01] It's like, yes, then it feels less wasteful because a lot of times thieves have been used maybe once, twice, three times, and then it feels wasteful just to throw them away. But we can't really give them away to other people either because they always become a bit manky for some reason. So it feels good that they can go somewhere.

[00:06:22] Lesley: Yeah, definitely. And there'll be everywhere. There'll be in pencil cases from your, in your kid's bedrooms, there'll be in stationary cupboards, there'll be in craft boxes, all of those places, gather them all together and ditch those crayons. And related again, into pens and pencils and crayons, we have got, uh, rubbers.

[00:06:40] Or erasers, if you are not in the UK, that's always a contentious word here, because it has a different connotation, which we have found out, haven't we? And pencil sharpeners. So things that kids use typically at school, or if you are, if you are a pencil person, of course you will use a pencil sharpener, but so many of us are not.

[00:07:04] So really be honest with yourself, whether you need that same amount of let's call them erasers. And pencil sharpeners, because we gather them along the way because there's a things that when your kids are little and using pencils, we need a lot of, but we don't need them all the time, do we? 

[00:07:21] Ingrid: And you know what, Lesley, one eraser and one sharpener.

[00:07:25] Is not the other. I think really, in this case, quality, you can really see over quantity. If you buy a better brand, they erase better, they sharpen better. If do you still remember getting those kind of packages from when the kids were little and it had like an eraser, it had a sharpener, it had different colored pencils, it had like a coloring in sheets, and they're always rubbish.

[00:07:51] But they, they look cool because it's like a frozen package or a Marvel package or a, whatever package is cool at that time. And they do like the characters on them. So it looks really cool, but it's all really cheaply made. So then you try to actually sharpen a pencil and the whole thing is just crumbling apart, isn't it?

[00:08:11] But we kind of keep them together with the little, um, um, like the little measuring, um, what do you call them?

[00:08:21] I was, I was thinking in Dutch, I couldn't think of the word, um, together with like a matching ruler and it's all just not great quality. So if you're doing a bit of a declutter of these items, really test them out and keep the better quality ones and it will pay really often. You only need a couple and then you're sorted for, for a long time.

[00:08:43] Lesley: Yeah, you're so right. This is all to do. We talked to the beginning about keeping hold of these things forever and a day, and this is what it's all about. We talk about having things in your life that serve you now. And if you don't have those little children at home anymore, then you don't need rulers and erasers and pencil sharpeners.

[00:09:00] Do you anymore? So that's, that's about the passage of time, really, that's going to dictate. Of course we need one or two, but we don't need loads and loads. And typically when we do have those young children, we have lots more of them. So, there's a good one coming up, isn't there, Ingrid? I will let you divulge our next one.

[00:09:18] Ingrid: Yes, Lesley, I've got indeed a very good one, which is paperclips. When was the last time you've used a paperclip and I'm actually thinking out loud here, listeners. I can't remember when the last time was I used a paperclip. Lesley, can you remember this? 

[00:09:38] Lesley: I think, I think it depends on what kind of person you are really.

[00:09:41] Um, so we, we. We love a stapler. And so we're more stapler people than paperclip people. And I think that some people are indeed paperclip person. It depends on the way that you've been, um, brought up, I guess. But I suppose, or what you've been brought upon. That's, that's what I mean, I'm sure that's actually, um, parenting skills are not to do with paperclip usage.

[00:10:04] If I'm really honest, I don't think that's, that's the critical part. parenting, but I mean, you, you, you emulate them what your parents did typically. So paperclips or staples might've been something that you picked up from somewhere along the way. I think that, yeah, I think it's important to think about, you know, are we using paperclips and how many boxes of them have we got keep one box of paperclips, but don't keep several boxes.

[00:10:29] I bet everyone's like, really, are we really talking about going down to that granular level of decluttering and we're saying. Yes, do that. If you're doing your stationary draw, do it well. Pass those paperclips onto somebody else. If you've got a pot of paperclips that are like 500 or three, there's hundreds in there, you know, that's enough.

[00:10:51] You know, we're not saying keep 10 paperclips. We're saying, keep the box of paperclips that you have, but if you've got several boxes, then do yourself a favor and get rid of some. Um, So yeah, it's down to a really granular level. And honestly, your stationary drawer will thank you for it because what you'll have then is you'll have a really nice orderly stationary drawer that you can find everything that you need in.

[00:11:12] And if you've got three or four pots of paperclips, then that is not quite so orderly. So that's what this is all about, isn't it? 

[00:11:18] Ingrid: Yeah, it's about thinning it out, isn't it? And about being realistic about what do I use? What makes sense? And what's the stuff that's been lurking in those cupboards for years that never gets seen the light of day?

[00:11:31] And why is it still in there? Donate it to somebody else. There's lots of people who love paper clips and can do something. a good with that instead of it being in your cupboard, taking up space. So yeah, I'm, I'm with you all the way. And definitely we are staple people, Lesley, which actually is very funny.

[00:11:48] Like we have to admit like all these things on the podcast, we have now realized we are staple people. 

[00:11:56] Lesley: We'll get like a, we'll, we'll have a kind of 50, 50 people be fighting over what's wrong with a paperclip. I love a. If you love a paperclip, do tell us, put a comment on and let us know that you're a paperclip person or a staple person.

[00:12:10] We might, we might split the world in half, 

[00:12:12] Ingrid: mightn't we Ingrid? You know what, Lesley? We're going to probably get emails saying, I want to be in your stapler gang.

[00:12:21] I see this happening. I know there's after this, after this podcast, people are going to email us. Can I be your stapler gang? I'm a stapler person too. 

[00:12:30] Lesley: So sad that we made people that they want to be in our stapler gang, but I'm sure there's other things that they can come into our gang for. We digress as usual.

[00:12:40] So now it's time to go to number four. Five on our list of things to declutter from stationery. And this is one of my absolute favorites and it is envelopes. Now life has moved on quite significantly in the last two decades. Would you agree, Ingrid? Yes. And we have become. Digital people generally, rather than paper based people.

[00:13:01] Now that is not exclusive. Some people are still very paper based, but one thing's for sure. The world has made us become digital. So people or these companies don't want letters anymore. They want emails or they want you to fill things in online or whatever that might be. And so the need for envelopes has really taken a nosedive, hasn't it?

[00:13:21] But yet we still have these envelopes that we've had for decades. Often that we keep because we think they're going to come in and they will come in at some point. As I said at the beginning of the podcast, but that might be 50 years down the line. The envelopes may outlive you. Let's say, let's say that.

[00:13:41] And I literally have to prize envelopes from people kicking and screaming when we're decluttering and saying you really don't need 500 spare envelopes because you're never, ever going to send that. So. Envelopes is one to look at and you need to be brave, but send them out, send them to charity, pass them on to somebody else who will use them because somebody might need them and will welcome them.

[00:14:02] So envelopes is something that you can declutter from your station. 

[00:14:06] Ingrid: You know what, Lesley, this made me think, I mean, you were chatting and it made me think about my mom immediately. My mom is, is. I, I, I, you think you've got a hard job getting me into the 21st century. Let, let me try. Me and my mom is like a whole different level.

[00:14:22] Bless her heart. I mean, she's doing her, her bits, but she's a person who still wants to write a letter. So when she's got something to say. She will actually try and hunt down their address and send a letter in an envelope. So I think decluttering envelopes with my mom is never going to happen, but yes, we are now all doing so much more filling in forms online, filling in all these things online.

[00:14:45] We don't need that many envelopes, a couple of small envelopes, you know, a stack of 25 in a little pack, maybe a couple of A4 ones for if we have to send the old document. And that's about it. We don't need boxes and boxes full of stuff. Even, you know, I think at work, a lot of people have changed as well, but we still, you know, have all these things and they take up that this is takes up a lot of space.

[00:15:10] It really does. It 

[00:15:12] Lesley: really does. And let's face it. If we run out of an envelope, is it really that much of a hardship to go to the supermarket and buy another pack of 10 envelopes? Not really. Do you know what I mean? This is not going to make or break our budget for the year. And so do yourself a favor and create some space with those envelopes.

[00:15:29] Trust me. Once you let go of the envelopes, you'll never look back.

[00:15:35] Ingrid: Welcome back to the 10 things to declutter from stationary, and we are going to go to number six, which is actually one of my favorite things to talk about, and it's lever arch files, but lever arch files can definitely be decluttered, especially. If they're bad quality or don't close properly, I love a lever arch file.

[00:16:00] I'm a lever arch file girl. My whole paper system at home here is based on lever arch files. I think they're fab, but not if they're not closing properly, because then they're really annoying and you need to throw them away. 

[00:16:12] Lesley: Something's just popped into my head. I feel like I've got to say it. So is it lever or is it lever?

[00:16:20] You see, I would say lever arch files. And so if there's a thing, you know, and, and I know you're Dutch and it might be, that was the way that, um, other parts of the world say it might say lever. I dunno, but I know you say lever arch file. I would say lever as in lever, yeah. Lever arch file. But I dunno, I don't know whether, whether I'm saying it wrong, you, well 

[00:16:41] Ingrid: maybe, uh, it's very highly likely that I'm not saying it right, Lesley.

[00:16:46] No. So 

[00:16:46] Lesley: tell us, please tell us, put this to bed for us. Is it lever arch file or lever Arch file. She's not gonna change saying it. Change it. I know. That's it after 20 years anyway, so don't worry about that, but it adds to the, to the, you know, to the excitement, Ingrid, that you say these things in a slightly different way.

[00:17:01] Yeah. But, um, yes, you're absolutely right. It's lever arch files, um, that don't work and need to be ditched. And we keep all of those because we think they're going to come in. And so our kids do something at school. Don't know. They do a project at schools at school. They use a lever arch file. They empty all the stuff out of it, took it away.

[00:17:18] Kids do because they don't want anything like they don't keep like 20 million things like we do, because they're not really bothered about that kind of stuff. And then we keep the file don't we? Cause we think, Oh, they can use that again next year. And quite often it doesn't close. It's no good. And leverage files, empty ones take up a lot of space again, don't they?

[00:17:39] So if it's broken, it's absolutely needs to go. And even if it's not broken, really ask yourself, particularly if your kids have all left school now, are you ever going to use a lever arch file in your life again? Yeah. And how many do you need? Cause quite often we might keep 10 or, you know, so you might say, well, I might have a use for it.

[00:17:57] And it's actually quite a good one. So I'll keep a couple, but don't keep every lever arch file that you've ever had. Really important. These are big bulky things out there, 

[00:18:05] Ingrid: Ingrid. Yeah, for sure. Lesley. And I think it's also, it's very interesting if you do have them in your home office and you've got them on a shelf or a bookcase or something like that.

[00:18:16] It's nice if they're kind of the same color instead of having all these different colors, but lever arch files kind of come into your life indeed through projects or school, or let's quickly buy one because there's a project due and we need to put that all in together in a lever arch file. And then you've got all these different colors, but if they don't match with what you have, or they're very.

[00:18:36] old or they're falling apart or on the side on the kind of the, the, the way you kind of scribble on what's in the lever arch file. It's been like crossed through four times. It just doesn't look nice. Doesn't it? So you kind of have to think about this. I mean, I, at one point went right. All my personal filing is all in black leverage files and I decluttered loads in random colors and I gave them away.

[00:19:00] I didn't throw them away because they were still in good condition. They weren't broken. So I donate them to somebody else who was really happy to, to receive them for their office because they didn't mind that it was a green one and a yellow one and a red one and all of those things. But if you're like me and I like to have them all in one color, then it's nice to have it all looking kind of in the same style because it looks less messy.

[00:19:24] Lesley: I was struggling to listen to what you said because I was so impressed that you say Lieberach.

[00:19:32] I just, I don't know what you said for the last minute. Oh, 

[00:19:36] Ingrid: bless her. She's actually saying, I do listen to you, Lesley. I 

[00:19:41] Lesley: do listen to you. It's going to be like, no Ingrid's right. And then you're going to be very confused because you won't know whether it's lever or lever. Yeah. Anyway, 

[00:19:49] Ingrid: let's move on to the next one.

[00:19:51] Let's just move on to the next one. 

[00:19:53] Lesley: Right. Okay. So, um, number seven on our list. I quite like our, our 10 things. We like our 10 things podcast. Don't we? Anyway, number seven on our list is. Notebooks that are the wrong size. Now, if you're a notebook lover, you're a notebook lover, and we know you're out there.

[00:20:09] Now let's go to number seven on our list of things to declutter. We do love our 10 things podcast. Don't we Ingrid? And we're going to talk all about notebooks. Now, if you've been with us for a while, listening to our podcast, you will know that we have a whole podcast just on notebooks, but we just wanted to repeat a kind of what we said in that podcast, which is you really need to analyze what size of notebook works for you.

[00:20:34] Cause there's lots and lots of them that absolutely don't aren't there Ingrid. And so really think that through. We have these little notebooks that we pick up from places. We have free notebooks. We have A4 ones that we don't quite like. Ones that are too bulky. Ones that don't open up. One that we bought that's graph paper instead of lined paper or whatever is our wants.

[00:20:53] We have loads and loads of notebooks that are hanging around that we're never, ever going to use because they're not fit for purpose. Do yourself a favor and start to declutter them. So notebooks is a biggie. And again, one that takes up lots of space, isn't 

[00:21:07] Ingrid: it? What I will definitely do, Lesley, in the, in the show notes, I will put the link to the, this podcast in it.

[00:21:14] So it's really helpful for our listeners. So check out declutterhub. com forward slash 153 and you will there find the link to that podcast. But yes, Lesley notebooks is, is. A minefield because there's so you indeed you're right. There's lines, there's graphs, there's ones that you can basically draw in that are not really suitable for writing, but still still people write lists into them.

[00:21:37] Then you've got the ones that are have like a ring so it's easy to kind of tear a paper out while others don't, or you've got the tiny ones are huge ones. There's a whole podcast about notebooks. What can I tell you? It's a thing. It's a thing and some people have hundreds of them because a nice notebook with a beautiful pattern never lets you down, does it?

[00:22:02] Lesley: No, until it does, until it's got too many nice notebooks with too many patterns. But yeah, hearing that people are like, no, of all the things that you're telling me to get rid of, it's notebooks. So notebooks, can't believe it's number seven. It's snuck through to number seven. But anyway, let's go on to number eight.

[00:22:18] And this is a big eight, I think. This is something that we absolutely keep. For decades, Ingrid, would you like to enlighten 

[00:22:26] Ingrid: us? Yes, definitely. And it's a thing called paper fasteners. Now you might think yourself, what, what, what do they mean with this? Well, we mean the bulldog clips. We need, we mean the treasury tags, you know, the little Green kind of, what are they called?

[00:22:48] Like green rope with the little iron thingies on the end. I've got, I've got no idea how to explain this. They're called 

[00:22:55] Lesley: treasury tags. It's what they're called. 

[00:22:57] Ingrid: I know, but I'm trying to explain what they are. People think, what is a treasury tag? But they're like, yeah, they're 

[00:23:02] Lesley: those things that like. loop through.

[00:23:04] So you've, you punch a hole in the middle of it, don't you? And then you want to keep them together without completely fastening it. And so you put this kind of metal thing through, thread it through, and then there's like a string where the hole is. Yeah. So we have a lot of those, don't we? Hanging around because we used to use them ages ago and there are loads of other things as well.

[00:23:26] Yeah. Split pins is another one. So they're the kind of things that you. Put through and then you, I mean, it's just crazy that we've got, we don't even know what these things are really called or what the purpose is there, but they're all to do with holding bits of paper together, a bit like paper clips, but different versions of a paper clip.

[00:23:44] And generally for paper, many more sheets of paper. I think that's it. So for bigger volumes of paper, any more that we can think of. Yes, these clip 

[00:23:54] Ingrid: on clips, this kind of tiny little kind of gray, mentally kind of things you can do on the top of a paper. You've got these durable fasteners. Do you remember those iron things when you got the two things sticking up and you can kind of.

[00:24:08] Put them down. I mean, I'm glad this, I'm glad this is being filmed because people are probably going, what is she doing with her hands? But you know, the little things and you put the thing on and you can bend those other bits over there and durable fasteners. I mean, you can't even explain, and I know they're not massively big, but if you've got these all random boxes in, in your, through your stationary and you never, ever use it.

[00:24:37] Why is it there? 

[00:24:39] Lesley: I know they typically would be things that we get from work. Um, you know, like we didn't always work from home in the way that we do now. So quite often these things would come home from work when we were doing reports. And if we were doing that at home over a weekend or something, we bring a box of them home from work and then they hang around and we think, but we have to realize that time's moved on and very rarely, and I'm not saying not ever, but rarely do we have.

[00:25:04] Big pieces of paper that needs to be bound together in that way. So it's interesting, really. And so we've not been very clear with what we mean in terms of the terminology, but literally they're all called paper fasteners. And so we Googled them and they were like, that's a paper fastener. This is a different type of paper fastener.

[00:25:21] This is another type of paper fastener. So we were like, we're going to have to try and explain it, but you know, the kinds of things that we mean, and this will probably be going back to the nineties, I would say, um, that these, cause it's a long time since we've been doing things in a digital way. Um, so yeah, paper fasteners are, yeah, something to.

[00:25:42] Kind of get rid of really, aren't they Ingrid? 

[00:25:44] Ingrid: Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Uh, but just be, be ruthless here. Be ruthless. Keep one or two or five, but that's it. You don't, you don't need hundreds of these. Two, you know, we've moved on. We've moved on. Let's move on to number nine, Lesley. I, I agree with you. We love, I love these 10 things, podcasts.

[00:26:06] It makes me happy for some reason. Number nine is rubber bands. Rubber bands. This is also something from, I think, the last century, isn't 

[00:26:14] Lesley: it? Yeah, I'm getting, I'm getting nervous now in case rubber bands is not the correct terminology, um, for people not in the UK, but you know, elastic bands, elastic bands.

[00:26:25] Yeah. I think, yeah. So that's what we mean. We mean those. Elastic bands. That's what we mean. And so we used to use them a lot more than we do now. Like I don't even have a single elastic band in my house. Do you Ingrid? I have not got a single elastic band. 

[00:26:39] Ingrid: I might have four or five lying about, but that's about it.

[00:26:43] You know, you know, what we find all the time, those balls. Where people create a ball out of elastic bands. And then when you actually say, when was the last time you used an elastic band, they kind of look at you going, I can't remember. And then when you try to take one off, they all break because they're disintegrated completely.

[00:27:01] Lesley: I'll tell you who does use those elastic bands, Ingrid, is the people who deliver our mail because they put them, they gather. The mail for one house together with an elastic band. And then what's, because there's a big thing at the moment that I read about where people are finding these elastic bands all over the floor because they're getting discarded by the delivery people.

[00:27:21] Not all delivery people are hastened to add. But, and people are finding them. Cause I know that my kids used to make those rubber bands balls when they were teenagers, and that's where they would pick them up on the floor. What other reason would there be for elastic bands to be out on the floor? Other than the people like that, that are using them.

[00:27:35] So, and obviously they're, they're not great for the environment and for pets and all that kind of stuff. So the less, the less the

[00:27:45] better, in my opinion. So let's get rid of some elastic bands. And some people will use them. There will be some people who are like. I love an elastic band and I could not be without one, but you need to work out whether that's you or not, or whether you're just keeping them. All of these things might be something that you do still use.

[00:28:03] And if you do, that's absolutely fine, but we would challenge probably 80 to 90 percent of the people listening to this podcast will have these things in their home and they're not using them. There's always exceptions that prove the rule on there, 

[00:28:15] Ingrid: Ingrid. Yes, for sure. For sure. So then let's move on to the last one, Lesley, the last one.

[00:28:22] Drum roll. 

[00:28:26] Lesley: So the last one is jiffy bags. And so, yeah, it carries on quite nicely from our postal worker, um, discussion, doesn't it? Yeah. Jiffy bags tend to be something that we get in, in deliveries that we have, and then we keep them in case we want to send something out. So what we really have to think about is.

[00:28:44] How many things do we get in versus how many things do we send out? And unless you are somebody that's actively selling things on eBay or sending packages out on a regular basis, then most of the time we get way more things into our house than we send out. And so what we find all the time, Ingrid, don't we, is that we, people have got boxes and boxes full of Jiffy bags that they've kept.

[00:29:07] Just in case. So yes, of course you need to keep one. If ever you do want to, um, send something out cause you don't want to go and buy something new, but you also need to recycle them. And there are people on local Facebook groups and things like that, that absolutely will want them because they will be using them all the time.

[00:29:25] So people are selling on eBay as a good example of that will like a Jiffy bag and we'll gladly take them off your hands, but don't keep them in your own house. If you're just a regular. Person that's not really doing that, which is typically most people, isn't it? Yeah, 

[00:29:40] Ingrid: I think a couple of, you know, you've got kind of small ones and then larger size ones.

[00:29:44] A couple of each is plenty and you know exactly what you say, unless you like have got an Etsy shop and need to, or you're super creative and sell stuff, then it makes sense to have a whole box of them. But if not, You don't need that many. So use your Freegal, your Freecycle, your Olio, your Facebook group to get rid of some of those and they get, they will get snapped up and these actually do take quite a lot of space as well.

[00:30:10] So if you're struggling for space, this is something that you can definitely look into. 

[00:30:17] Lesley: Definitely. So we've done our 10. We've raged war on 10 stationary items that we don't feel should be in your home anymore, or certainly not the volumes that we've got at the moment. Quite enjoyed that. I love that. I love doing a stationary draw for people because it's like a light bulb, isn't it?

[00:30:36] That goes on, you know, you said, cause they're just there aren't they? And people don't worry about them too much, but when you do do them, it's. So satisfying because all of a sudden you've just got this one nicely containerized draw with a few things that you need in it that serve you well and make your life a lot easier.

[00:30:52] And people are like, wow, I love my stationary drawer. So it's a job well done. So do go ahead and do your own stationary draw this weekend and see what you can. Recycle, donate, or dare I say it, ditch. 

[00:31:07] Ingrid: You know what? I agree with you, Lesley. I do really enjoy decluttering stationery, you know, because it's, it's, it's a part of the whole, especially if the home office is quite chaotic or the desk is quite chaotic.

[00:31:19] It can be really satisfying to, to do that drawer or that, that kind of set of drawers under the desk or. Anyplace else that I've got in a home office. It's a nice place to start in a home office because as soon as you kind of have all your equipment sorted, then it almost feels more manageable because you know, then where your, your, your staples are.

[00:31:39] If you need a paper clip, I have, you're not looking for this kind of stuff all the time when you need it, when you're going to tackle that paperwork or tackle that desk. And when you start to do those drawers, stuff can be cleared off the desk to be put away. Ah, I love it. I 

[00:31:56] Lesley: know. So that's it, Ingrid. What is coming up on the podcast next week?

[00:32:01] Ingrid: Well, Lesley, I'll tell you, I'm very excited because we have a guest coming onto our podcast. It is Chris Lovett, and he is going to share us his story and his journey into minimalism. And he has written a book called The Discovery of Less. And he's going to tell us all about it on the podcast. So I'm really excited.

[00:32:19] So that is coming up next week. So thanks everyone for being here. We appreciate you listening to our podcast and we can't wait to see you next week.
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Episode 422 – Time for a September Reset?

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Episode 417 – How member Michelle Decluttered Her Way to a Fresh Start one floor up

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Ann Magee says:

5 September 2021 at 8:01 PM

Here I am listening to the Podcast 153 . Ingrid & Lesley, I just found a whole box of HB pencils. Being a shorthand writer you need a good pencil. Paperclips – 2 round drums, 1 drum coloured, 1 drum chrome. Envelopes, not too many. Old pens they need to go. Elastic bands make great folder holder, mail delivery they shouldn’t be on our streets as birds choke, I thought I saw that we can put them back in letterbox in UK so Mr Postman can take back to sorting office. I recycle jiffy bags for gifts to friends, or leave at charity shops. Bye it was good hope everybody else inspired. Ann Magee📨🖍🖊📁

Reply
1. Lesley Spellman says:
  
  5 September 2021 at 10:02 PM
  
  Hi Ann = you're right.You can just pop the elastic bands straight back into the post box
  
  Reply
Deborah says:

3 September 2021 at 8:00 PM

Fun podcast! I am pretty sure it’s lever to rhyme with leaver, as Lesley says (sorry Ingrid!) – probably because they do indeed have a lever!

Reply
1. Lesley Spellman says:
  
  5 September 2021 at 8:01 PM
  
  Thanks Deborah – I believe it's American English v British English so we're both right!
  
  Reply
Episode 153 – How to Declutter & Organise Stationery – 10 Things To Do

Episode 422 – Time for a September Reset?

Episode 421 – Why an Organised Freezer Changes Everything with Kate Hall

Episode 420 – 10 Small Clutter Problems that Create Big Stress

Episode 417 – How member Michelle Decluttered Her Way to a Fresh Start one floor up

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