A graphic of a man and a woman having transformational lightbulb moments on their decluttering journey
Episode 116 – Why is decluttering transformational

In this episode, Lesley and I are talking about why decluttering is transformational. People think that decluttering is just about having less clutter, but we know from experience that it’s so much more than that!
Episode 404 – Avoiding Landfill when Decluttering with TerraCycle
Episode 403 – 5 Emotional Roadblocks of Garage Decluttering
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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 Johnson, and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:31  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 116 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. Now, in today's episode, Lesley and I are talking about why decluttering is transformational. People think that decluttering is just about having a bit less clutter. But we know from experience that it's so much more than that. And I'm getting like, all excited. Let me to talk about this because we see the changes though we we see it up close and personal, in our Facebook group during our challenges in our membership. And I feel privileged to see it all happening, isn't it?

Lesley  1:21  
I know we're both tearing up or? Gosh, I don't know, I feel privileged that we can talk about our absolute favourite thing today, which is why decluttering is so life changing for so many people. And so, yes, we thought we devote a whole podcast to talking about our favourite topic, just in case you have not explored exactly why decluttering is a good thing. In our latest challenge that we did, there are so many transformational lightbulb moments for people, and people just don't realise just how life changing it can be. And that's what we're here to talk about. today. We're here to talk about the basic things that you've probably already thought about and already know, we'll skip through those. And then we'll really dig deep on why it's transformational. And what we have seen,

Ingrid  2:09  
because the thing is, Lesley, people think that decluttering is just I'm going to put something in a bag, and I'm going to bring the back to the charity shop or the charity or the Goodwill or the op shop or whatever it is. And I'm decluttered. But it's everything around that that then happens. When you declutter more and more. That's really where the transformation starts, isn't it?

Lesley  2:34  
Exactly. In some ways, the actual decluttering of things and putting things into a charity bag and sending them off to wherever you're going to send them is almost a byproduct of the job that we do. You know, people are really professional organiser, is that actually a job? It wouldn't be a job if we were just putting things into bags and selling them to the charity shop. That's not the skill. The skill is guiding people through this journey of transformation and change in their lives. That's what we do. And that's what we do so well. It's about emotions that but it's about connections. It's about habits. It's about changing mindset completely. It is not about putting things into a bag and send it to the charity shop, although that's part of the process, isn't it?

Ingrid  3:15  
Of course it is. And the thing is, when people start on a decluttering journey, like, I just want to have less piles to step over. That's my aim here today. I want to declutter, so I don't have to kind of tiptoe around my house, trying to kind of get oh, step over things. And I want to be able to find items I just want to feel is have less clutter. But once you start to kind of then look at that. It's like, oh, wow, I'm actually when I'd be cluttered, and everything is in my cupboards. I have extra time, because I'm not constantly looking for things. Where are my keys? Where's my bag? Where's my phone? Where the lunchbox is from the kids? Where are their shoes? Where is that talk that I was supposed to have washed and ironed. And that's somewhere gone missing in the house. So the first thing people see is that they start to save time, isn't it? Yeah, time

Lesley  4:14  
is a big one, isn't it? I mean, there's some crazy statistics about how much time you spend every day looking for things that you've lost. How easy is it for you to put your hand on things that you need as you're running out of the door on an errand. A lot of people spend so much time looking for things like keys, looking for hats and gloves when you're going out with your children in the morning. Looking for paperwork that you need all of those kinds of things. You need to have a defined home for things so that you don't waste our precious time looking for things that you need to exist on a day to day basis.

Ingrid  4:47  
Yet because we all have the same 24 hours in a day. I think because we are organised Lesley and we have we are declawed, Simba or organise, we can get a lot more done because we know where everything is. So we can spend that time very wisely. And people start on the decluttering journey, like, Oh, my God, I'm just having all this extra time because you don't waste it looking for things. Now, the other thing I think we see all the time is that people really start to feel less overwhelmed. And that's, I think, the big thing that everybody says to us. I'm feeling so overwhelmed. I don't know where to start anymore.

Lesley  5:35  
Yeah, exactly. Overwhelm is a huge emotion. That's one that we absolutely want to take away, who wants to feel overwhelmed, we need to take that away. We need to feel calm, don't we? And that comes from decluttering. Yes, having less stuff, organising the stuff that you've got, so you can find it. Again, we jump back to this idea of that being organised is gonna save you time in the long run, it's really important, that's what makes us overwhelmed is this lack of control that we have? That is what makes us overwhelmed. Our stuff overwhelms us, because it controls us. And we're not controlling it.

Ingrid  6:11  
Very wise words, Lesley, I think and it's very interesting to see. Because once people also have less clutter, and they feel more in control of their stuff, they then also then feel more in control of their time and what they do and in control of their home. It's it's the vicious circle starts to become a positive one and kind of one is like a World Wind that people feel constantly dragged down by, it's like almost a tornado. While if you start to go, Okay, I'm going to go into the centre of this, and I'm going to work on it from the inside out, then you start to kind of go, Wow, this feels so much better. And then what we see is, then it starts to impact other things, isn't it less the it's in the beginning, it's like the time and the end the overwhelm. But then once that is under control, then we start to see all the other benefits, which makes decluttering and having a less cluttered house feel transformational? Yeah,

Lesley  7:17  
exactly. And let's not think that we're only talking about homes with huge volumes here and chaotic volumes. That's not the case, because everybody's level of tolerance of clutter is different. So you and I Ingrid Yes, for the most part, our houses are clutter free, kind of in a normal ish way. Definitely not minimalist, that's not what we're all about. Our houses have defined homes for things we can find what we need. But sometimes in those 24 hours that we all have, you and I have crazy weeks. And sometimes there are things that we would like to do on a day to day basis that get missed because other things take precedence. And things start start to become a little bit more chaotic in our world with our standards than we would like and the overwhelm starts to build for us. And so it might be your, your desk in your office that you've worked with for two or three days. And things just start to pile up every now and again, we need to do that little reset on our desk. And that makes us feel so much better for the day ahead. So we're not just talking about people with huge volumes here, we're talking about your definition of what chaotic is. And that is different for different people. There are lots of people around who live with huge volumes of stuff in their house and like it that way that don't feel overwhelmed by the stuff that's in their house. And there are people who who have very few things in their house that feel completely overwhelmed as soon as any kind of disorganisation starts to take hold. So let's talk about some of the very tangible benefits that you can get from decluttering. Your house. Number one, Ingrid.

Ingrid  8:53  
Well, what we see is that people start to really feel really proud of themselves, don't they? They're like, Yes, I did it, I can do it. This is so nice. I've done this drawer, I've done this cupboard, I've done this wardrobe. And they can build that they can then build on that, on that. feeling proud and feeling that achievement of having done something and finished it. And then you've got that motivation to then go on, I'm going to try another cupboard, I'm going to try another core corner cupboard, or another chest of drawers or another bedside table or another toy box, because they're like, I have successfully done this one thing, and I'm going to build on that I'm going to do the next thing.

Lesley  9:40  
And I think that's probably because for a lot of people who have decluttered many, many times and have not done that in what they would consider it to be a successful way decluttering has defeated them. And so when you achieve it, you know it's golden that you do that because you believe and are told so many times from other people who have judged you and let's face We are judged by a lot of people a lot if we have cluttered homes, from people who don't understand the why, why has this chaos started to take over in your house. And we've talked about in many, many podcasts before all of the different traumatic things, and things that life throws at us along the way. Those are the kinds of things that cause the clutter in the first place. What we're talking about in this podcast is how it feels once you actually take a hold of that. But ultimately, that judgement that we've had from so many other people, makes us feel very down about our ability to achieve that. And so when we do even if it's on a very small level, and that is what we are big advocates of here, take it small, break it down into small chunks. When we achieve that draw that wardrobe, that cupboard, that junk drawer, that stationery drawer, whatever that is, we feel a huge sense of achievement and pride in what we've done. Yeah, and

Ingrid  10:52  
it's all about giving yourself that pack, pat on the back and celebrating those wins. What we see a lot is like, Oh, I've only done this drawer, and we're like, no, you've done the drawer, yay, which thing are you going to do next? Pat yourself on the back, be kind of yourself, celebrate that win, and go to the next thing. Because you can't do a whole house in a month. That's just not feasible. You have to break it down exactly what you're saying, Lesley in small, small chunks, because then you can have that achievement. And exactly be proud of yourself.

Lesley  11:30  
Now there's one thing as well, Ingrid that a lot of people don't really talk about. And this is a huge benefit. Because it's a big problem for a lot of people, which is all about saving money. You know, we've talked about saving time, we've talked about the pride and sense of achievement. Let's talk about money. So we save money by decluttering. And how do we do that, then?

Ingrid  11:51  
I know it's interesting, because we think, Oh, you're just giving everything away. But actually, when you have less clutter in your house, you know, far better what you have. So you then don't have to buy it again. And you don't need to have 12 spares because they're scattered around the house, you know that one or two spares is plenty you know where they are, you know, when they're running out. And you then buy it again and kind of going in the shop and thinking Oh, have I run out or not, haven't got Hansel, that body wash run out, because then those volumes build up enormously. And then they go off because they've been in your cupboard so long. And that's what we see a lot with in our membership as well that people see our members start to use up the products because they're all putting it in one place. And like I had no idea of the volumes, that of stuff that I have in my house. And by putting it all together, I now see this. And this means actually I have had a massive wake up call. I don't have to buy this again, it's not only with shampoos and body wash, it's with everything, toothpaste, pasta, washing up liquids, washing powder, you name it, the volumes are enormous, because if it's in different places, you just can't oversee how much you have. So you really save money in day to day items is well, it's not only about clothes, or books or technology, it's also in the day to day items. And that kind of money really adds up, I believe.

Lesley  13:28  
And of course, once we go through that process of gathering like we'd like and starting to use up the things that we have, particularly if they're consumables, we then get that sense of achievement again, which we jump back to, when we feel proud that we've been able to do that. There's, there's nothing as satisfying as using up things that you have got, and not having to go out and buy more, we feel that that's a window away. And that's something that we see all the time. So decluttering saves you a lot of money because you reconnect with the things that you have, you don't go out and buy things that you don't need. You don't go to the shops and think I do know that I've got handsoap somewhere at home. But I'm not but I can't spend two hours this afternoon trying to find it. And so therefore I'm going to buy anyway. So sometimes it's not that you can't remember sometimes it's even that you know it's there. But you haven't got the energy or the time to go through and try and find it. So it's an interesting one, the money one because it's not something that people really think about is it they think about waste and getting rid of things and how wasteful that is, but actually, let's, let's start let's put a stake in the ground, get rid of the things that we don't need anymore and start to focus on using what we have already reconnecting with our stuff and making sure that the stuff that we have is the right stuff for us.

Ingrid  14:47  
I think one of our members actually didn't buy toiletries for like seven months. She found so much once she was decluttering our house and she put it all together she was listening to our advice Given the membership, and she's like, I actually can't believe it. I think it was seven months in the end or something like, she had not had to buy one bit of toiletries, because she was using what she had. It's incredible.

Lesley  15:14  
And, and super satisfying. I mean, I love nothing more than using things. That's what I like the I like, No, I love I just love it. And when Pete You know, my you I will share with my husband's a shopper who loves to buy things in bulk and five things at a time. And I'm like, No, don't do that. But that's what he does. And so I love nothing more than do then using things up. It gives me great satisfaction. What about you? Do you I do think we are we a bit strange that we get great satisfaction out of using things up? I

Ingrid  15:43  
absolutely love it. And I actually will also tell to my other family members don't even they're opening up a new packet until this is properly used up. And I actually also turn the bottles around. They're like the shampoo bottles. And you're like, No, no, no, you turn it around for the day. And then you can at least wash your hair three more times. Because it's just yeah, I just really kind of, I don't know if it's from my from my family that we always used to do that as well. But you can get the toothpaste and you're like No, no, no, no, you roll it up like properly, you can get at least four more days of teeth brushing out of this toothpaste. I think it's just, yeah, less waste. And that makes me happy. And that kind of takes us neatly into the environment, doesn't it, Lesley, because we know a lot of people feel guilty sending stuff to landfill that they no longer want or need. And that's what it's a really big problem. And we're all getting far more environmentally conscious. So when you feel I think that you've actually really used something really finished it, that feels good. And that you can then empty that recycle that empty shampoo bottle and put it in the recycling bin. You know, that feels good. I know plastic isn't great, but at least if you can recycle it, that's a great thing, then.

Lesley  17:03  
Yeah, exactly. And I know a lot of people get huge set amounts of satisfaction from sharing things around. So things that they don't want anymore, that are, you know, the products of their decluttering process, they share on Freecycle, give things away, send them to charity. And some people get great satisfaction out of sharing things, sharing it around. So people are not buying new, we're using what's already in existence in the world, rather than going out and buying brand new things. So I think I think the decluttering process because we reconnect with our stuff, because we tend to be faced with the overwhelming amount of things that we have bought in the past that perhaps we didn't need. I think it allows us the opportunity to really reconnect with the environment, and what we are doing to the world with our buying and things like that. And so I know one of the certainly one of the things for quite a lot of people is focusing on a more environmentally sustainable journey going forwards.

Ingrid  18:03  
That's I think, then once your house has less clutter, there's also more room in your brain almost to kind of go Okay, what else can I do now? That makes me happy? Do I want to I don't know, go to hand soap? Or do I want to get different products that are better for the environment or because you've got the almost the brainpower to kind of go, I want to take that next step now if you if that's important to you. And then it gives you the opportunity to opportunity to explore that. And to kind of look into that. And I think that's, that's so interesting.

Lesley  18:35  
It's hard, isn't it when you're so overwhelmed with so it's all about breaking things down. And when you feel that overwhelm when you when you're inundated with stuff and overwhelm and chaos at home. worrying about whether or not you use the hands up is low and lots of people's agendas. And you have to go through that full process of kind of discovery, self discovery, about your own shopping, what you've done in the past, how emotions have altered how life is different now, because we all go through journeys, and life is not the same. Now as it was 10 years ago, or even five years ago, we have changed in the way that we view things. Our lives have changed, our children may have left home, things shift and we shift with it. And so it's about that sort of journey. I think decluttering because everything in our home is something that in principle we have chosen to invite into our home. It reflects what we have been in the past what we want to be in the future and what we are now. And so it really is a very enlightening journey and not one that people think about at that deep level when they actually go into that journey. Would you agree and Greg,

Ingrid  19:37  
I think you really see that within the members and people who are committed to change on a longer term. It's not they don't see it as a quick fix. They see it as a process that they're moving through. And in the beginning it's all about those really full rooms and how am I going to do this and all this clutter and but once the amount of clutter After starts to grow smaller, you see the kind of opening up of wow, I the other opportunities almost that arise far more the Where do I go from here? What's important to me? How do I want to spend my time, which people do I really enjoy hanging out with? What are the hope is that I love to do what's always been lost on the list from myself and that and now I'm finding the time to finally get around to doing people who want to spend more time in nature, people start to move on a healthier lifestyle. Because when your kitchen counters are clear, and you can actually prepare a meal from scratch, and you can do a better job, grocery shopping and other wasting fruit and veg because you don't remember what you have, you can start to meal plan and you know what's in your freezer and all those things. You can see be like, Oh my gosh, I'm really reinventing myself, I'm really enjoying the cooking again, or the baking again, or it's so relaxing to prepare a meal and then eat something healthy instead of picking up something randomly. All of those things are starting to come into people's lives. It's it's beautiful.

Lesley  21:17  
I think, you know, you sums that up so well that Ingrid, which is all about, it's about the opportunity as well. So the decluttering process is what it is. And it takes as long as it takes for some people. And it is truly transformational. But the nice thing is taking that journey to the next step into that healthier lifestyle into one way you embrace the hobbies that you wanted to do 10 years ago, and you've never been able to because you've always been having to do chores at home, as you say, going out walk and spending more time with friends wanting to really focus on experiences and not stuff, you know, for so long and that we are just a product of society. So society in the kind of 80s 90s naughties. It was very consumerist. I think there's a shift away from that a little bit at the moment. And people and particularly with COVID, as well, where we've been able to or force to then effectively spend more time with family and doing things in nature and going outside and embracing the outdoors. It's made, a lot of people see the light, and kind of like, it's not really stuck stuff shouldn't be the thing that defines as it should be our relationships. And our goals in life in a different way, are not just buying nice things, I want to say nice things are not nice. Of course they are, you know, we all need things. And we all love things. And there are things that make us really happy. So we're not we're not about embracing a completely minimalist lifestyle. But it's about getting that balance, isn't it. And I think going through a decluttering journey, you can identify that balance and reshift that balance a little bit more,

Ingrid  22:51  
when you have a lot of clutter. It almost complete, like you said, we said earlier, it controls you. So you're constantly shifting stuff around from one place to the other. And it just eats up the time. And by creating that time, you can then finally decide, I'm going to spend it on things that I want to do. And that's different for everybody. For some people might go, I'm finally going to go to the gym, or I'm going to read that book. I mean, I love to read books when I was young, but I never get around to it anymore now. And that hour, I'm not spending shifting clutter around I'm going to sit down and enjoy reading a book. It might be I love crafting, but I'm really, my craft room is so cluttered, I've now decluttered I can actually explore my creativity again, or I want to use that moment to exercise and to be healthy and be outside. Whatever floats your boat, you're going to get that by having less clutter, but it's not something that people realise when they start on their decluttering journey. It's all that comes later. But that is what is so wonderful. It is

Lesley  24:00  
we're getting all excited, okay. So I hope that we've given people real food for thought about how decluttering is so much more than putting something into a bag and donating it. That's not what his what this is all about. The aim is for decluttering to be life changing, for your mindset to completely change so that your life is better. And it's not defined by the stuff that's in it. And so if we've not convinced you in the previous 115 podcast, we hope that today's podcast, I've explained and reiterated and cemented for you exactly what we feel and what we see and our experience of decluttering is.

Ingrid  24:40  
So Lesley, thank you for summing that up so nicely. Yes, don't be on the fence. Come and join us. That's what that's why we're here. We're here to help you. Check out our membership. If you're thinking to yourself, that is exactly what I want. I want to transform a life. I want to be in 2021 the year that I'm going to take I call this clutter in my house and all the things that listen to Ingrid talk about. sound fabulous. And that's what I want to. That's what I want in my life. So, listeners that's it for this episode. We really hope you've enjoyed listening and are inspired to take action because that's what we love and are all about. And thank you for for taking the time to be with us every week. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please share it with other people who think might need some inspiration too. And of course, if you want to have some more handy tips and advice, come and find us in our Facebook group, the declutter hub community, or an Instagram where you can find this at declutter hub. If you'd like to have more information about our membership, go to members. Dot declutter help.com. If you don't want to miss the next weekly episode, please subscribe to the declutter hub podcast and it will pop into your notifications each Friday. We've been asking for reviews and oh my goodness, how fabulous are those reviews? Thank you so much. We really appreciate you taking the time out to write this review. And if you haven't done that yet, please feel free to do so. So thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you next time.

Outro  26:14  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of The declutter hub podcast. Check out declutterhub.com for more inspiration, and don't forget to tune in next week.
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