A graphic on a blue background with balloons, streamers, party hats and gifts around the edges with the text in the centre reading 'Let's celebrate! It's our 100th PODCAST BIRTHDAY!'
Episode 100 – Questions from our listeners

To celebrate our 100th podcast we are doing something different. We asked you "our listeners" and our Facebook Group Members to send us questions you would like us to answer! So we have selected the 7 best to chat about in this special edition.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
Intro  0:07  
Welcome to today's episode of The declutter hub podcast, your channel for super easy, no nonsense advice on how to declutter and organise your home. Please welcome your host, professional organisers, Ingrid Johnson, and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:31  
Ingrid's what's happening. What's happening, Lesley, we are recording our 100th podcast.

Lesley  0:42  
Amazing, and you never told me to bring a hat.

Ingrid  0:46  
Hello, and welcome, everybody to Episode 100 of the declutter hub Podcast. I'm Ingrid. Lesley, if you have clutter and want to sort it out, this is the show for you. That's the last time I will do that. Lesley it trust me.

Lesley  1:06  
Because it's weak. Its weak. That blower is weak. But it's better than no blower, which is what I've got. But thank you for all your effort, Ingrid, because you look amazing. Oh, I didn't even know. I tried to find something. But because my house is clutter free. Which is no good, really. But anyway, so much today all about then. Oh,

Ingrid  1:28  
I know. We are so excited because it's a really exciting episode, because it's our 100th podcast. And before we're going to tell you what we're going to do exactly. We just realised we wanted to celebrate this milestone. And we've got still so many wonderful topics for you to come in the future. So this is not going to be the last one. This is this the the celebration of everything we've done in the past two years. You know, Lesley, can you even believe it? We've recorded 100 podcasts.

Lesley  2:02  
I mean, I remember that day. So I came down to London, we sat in your living room didn't live with our microphone, not having a clue what we were doing with gains and technology and just hoping for the best and recorded about four or five in one go, didn't we? So we had a few to put out and we didn't neither of us dare even listen back to those first few podcasts. I'm sure some of these listeners have binge them right from the beginning or like they're still with us, hopefully. So they can't have been that bad. But I dare not go back and listen to episode one. So I hope it's okay. Let us know whether episode one. Okay. I'm sure it was bad. But anyway, yeah,

Ingrid  2:41  
we had we have had our ups and downs with technology, haven't we, Lesley. And of course, we have not been able to see each other in person for a very long time. But we see each other all the time on Zoom. So we're recording back and forth. And we're taking audio out. And we've had all our struggles with technology. But we've survived it. And we are 100 focus in and we're just so delighted that you our lovely listeners are still with us because Lesley, we have nearly got 200,000 downloads. Can you believe that?

Lesley  3:17  
I think that the way that things normally go by the time this episode goes out within a couple of days of our 100 podcasts we will have at those $200,000 words, which is incredible, isn't it? It's an incredible amount. And it probably doesn't mean anything to a lot of people who are not in the podcasting world. But it really does put us very high on the overall podcast listens. And so it's very exciting. We're obviously we're very niche podcast, because not everybody has got problems with clutter. So we are super excited about that as well. So we want to thank you all for being here and listening every week because we know that you'll love it because you give us loads of fabulous reviews. So thank you so much.

Ingrid  3:54  
Definitely am because we are so grateful to each and every one of you for listening. For the past two years. We have decided to do a giveaway. Oh my gosh, I love a giveaway. Lesley, I do love a giveaway. Maybe it's because I'm Dutch maybe because I like free stuff. I just love a giveaway, because we just wanted to say thank you to you. So it is super easy to win. Right. So what are we going to do? We are going to give away one room by room bootcamp worth $79 What do you need to do? You need to write a review for us. And then email us a screenshot of that review to Hello at declutter hub.com Before the first of September, and then we will draw one name out of a hat and you will win a free room by room bootcamp. Because we were like we like so grateful you're here. So we want to give back to you to celebrate our 100th podcast

Lesley  4:59  
and so Notice that our giveaways are not clutter, either Ingrid. Yeah, they're still all about decluttering. So I get away. So we'll never be giving you something that that's going to clutter up your house. It's exactly the opposite. So, yeah, that giveaway, post a review on wherever you listen to your podcasts or on our website. And as Ingrid says it, just pop it on an email to us so that we know that you've done that review and you're in the in it, you've got to be in it to win it. And then hopefully, you'll win our boot camp, which people absolutely love. Yeah,

Ingrid  5:27  
yeah. And a lot of our members did the boot camp and then became members didn't allegedly because they loved it so much. And they want to be in the VIP membership. And we're going to tell you more about that later. But for now, let's explain what we're going to do this 100th episode. Let's see, because it's a bit different than normal, isn't it? Because normally, we decide on a topic, we do a deep dive on a particular thing. And we chatted about it for 30 minutes. But because it's our 100th podcast with a you know what, we need to do something different this time. And because in our VIP membership, we do a live q&a Every other week with our members, and they can ask us questions, and then we answer them specific on their particular situation. So in the Facebook group over the last couple of weeks, we've been asking our Facebook group members, what would you like to ask us which questions are burning? And that you would like to know the answer and we have whittled it down to the seven questions. We're going to do seven questions. How long are we going to be here? Lesley?

Lesley  6:40  
Kind of just said that our q&a is yeah, do we normally do more than we like to talk? Don't wait. So our normal half an hour podcast is definitely going to be an extended version for today.

Ingrid  6:51  
Yeah, for sure. So let's get cracking them. Because Question number one is coming up. It's from Liz. Brilliant question. And she said, I would like to know Lesley and Ingrid, what is your favourite part of the decluttering? Process? Oh, what's not to love? What's not to love, Liz? Oh, my gosh, Lesley.

Lesley  7:13  
Now, we love it all down. About why we love all of the decluttering process. I think, you know, it really starts with that realisation that you need help, or you need to take action. And so even that light bulb going on, which is enough's enough, I need to sort this out, because I can't go on anymore with this, just to admit that you need to take action is a huge part of that learning process and that moving forward process, but actually, it's the whole of the cycle all added together. When you think about your thought process. You think about the rooms that you're going to tackle, you start to declutter, you start to donate things, but slowly but surely the real, the real part of it that I absolutely love is when the light bulbs start to go on and keep on going on. And that mindset completely starts to shift. So we started to have a completely different relationship with our stuff, not about the stuff. It's never about the stuff. It's always about the change in mindset. And that's certainly what we're all about with our one to one clients and with our members and with you guys in the community and on the podcast as well. It's about looking for that complete change in mindset. So that's my favourite part of it. It's when the realisation hits that you can do this, and that it's not as hard as you thought and that you are making fantastic progress. So for me, it's the mindset shift. What about you, Ingrid?

Ingrid  8:37  
I think Lesley from me, I love everything about the whole process. You know, I love the preparation stage. I love the decluttering itself. The categorising is I think one of my favourite things that you really start to see, oh, wow, this belongs here, and that belongs there and you've got larger categories, and then the sub categorising, but for me, it's really when both that my clients and the members in a membership say, oh my gosh, it has a home, I can find it. It's so easy for me to get out of the house in the morning. I'm going on holiday and packing has just become a breeze because I know where everything is. Wow, I had no idea how much I had of stuff. But now when I put it all together, I suddenly realise I've got loads and any definit out I'm going to save so much money. It's different parts in the cycle a thing that hit the spot for me. And I think that's just so amazing to see that change that people realise they have more than enough in their house that just need to put it somewhere that it makes sense to them. And then they can use it and love it and finish it and use it up.

Lesley  9:53  
Yeah, and I think as you know, it's fair to say that it's different for different people as well, isn't it so there's no one one part of the day decluttering process that really sticks out, it's not your kitchen or your bedroom. It's very different for different people. So, but there will be that milestone and that that kind of that barrier that people break through. And that's very different, you know, often it's a room of Doom or gloom of terror, you know, dumping grounds, whatever. And that tends to come at the end of the process. And when that's done, it's such a weight lifted off people's shoulders, and it's, it's taking that fear away. And getting that hope in place, I think really so. Good question, but tricky one to answer, because we love it. All.

Ingrid  10:37  
Right, so question number two is all about decluttering and organising recipes. So thank you so much, Carol, and Carrie, for both sending in this question about recipes. Now, Lesley,

Lesley  10:50  
I think it's really about a level of honesty with yourself about how you actually cook. And so things have changed quite a lot over the years in terms of the way that we seek out information about recipes. And so we used to use cookery books, we used to use things out of magazines, we used to store things out of magazines, we used to have things handed down through the generations. And that is still the case. But quite often. Now, we will also use an online version of a recipe, because and the reason why we do that is because it's so easy. So basically everything is indexed and categorised within Google. And so it makes things an awful lot easier for us to see things. So if we want to cook something with an aubergine, we might have hundreds of different options online, or we can be more specific. And so online is the easiest way for us to get most information these days rather than paper based. So first things first, you need to look at how you're actually devouring that information. And then once you've done that, it's about looking at the recipe books or the recipes that you've got. And honestly, the ones that are the cleanest tend to be the ones that you're not using. So there's a bit of a giveaway there isn't there in the dirty books, the ones that have got all the food splattered all over them, they tend to be the ones that you use in most of the time. So it's a little bit of a giveaway. So decluttering is about a level of honesty and looking through those books with exactly the same decluttering questions as you have for everything else. Do I use it? Do I need it, too? I love it. What is it about those, that means that you want to keep so many, maybe use a number strategy. So say I'm going to keep five of that one five of that one different different things like that. There's different options for cookery books, it's quite complex books is a complex matter. And cookery books sometimes is even more complex than regular books. So once we've decluttered it's getting down to organising them, Ingrid. So have you got any ideas about organising?

Ingrid  12:40  
Yeah, I actually did that project with a client of mine. So that was really nice. And we actually sorted out. First of all, we went through all of the she, she would tear out kind of recipes from magazines, and copy them from cookbooks and copy them from books that you borrow from friends, etc. So we first went through all of them and kind of decided do I still really see myself cooking this dish or not. And then what we had left, we actually categorised into different like starters, mains desserts, kind of more party foods. And then within the mains, we kind of divided into beef and chicken and pork and fish and vegetarian. So it was really much easier for her to find that the recipes and then we put them in Polly Pockets, those are kind of the plastic folders that you can slide something in from the top, and then put them in a lever arch file or in a box file. What you could also do if you've only got maybe 10 or 20 recipes, maybe by display folder and put them in there. So it's really easy to flick through. And the paper itself does not get food stains on them. But you can just still wipe the plastic clean. So those are a couple of ways. If you still work with paper based things from cutouts from magazines, that might be a way to move forward. But of course the other way, if

Lesley  14:01  
you want the best, you can always capture that information that's paper based at the moment and make it digital so you can scan it, you can take photographs of it, you can use apps like Evernote to gather that information. Some of the apps that are recipes, stroke, meal planning stroke shopping, actually have the option for you to import your own recipes as well. So look into things like Yun Lei and me lime. It sounds like it should be meal time, but it's meal and which are two of the main kind of meal planning apps that are out there. So there's lots of different options out there. But the main thing is about honesty with yourself as to how you actually cook and where you go to seek out that information.

Ingrid  14:40  
Yes, I know literally because if you see something in a magazine, you think, oh, you know, you're hungry at the time you think oh, that looks good. I'm gonna say that I'll keep it. But then actually, when you look at the recipe list and you go, Oh my god, two ingredients. I don't even have two thirds of the stuff in my house and you need to start buying all these ingredients and it gets too complicated. and maybe you just want to cook some simple meals. Why are you keeping all those recipes in the first place? So be really realistic keeping it real. That's our motto. As you all know, we're all about realism here. If you see yourself cooking it and you're actually are going to cook it, by all means keep it but if it's too complicated, let it go. And maybe we search for an online option that is easy to do that gets you the same sort of results.

Lesley  15:26  
Good question. No recipes is a tough one. I mean, we could go on for a long time about a lots of different emotions that are involved in cookery books. Yeah, we would be here again for another hour. Just talking about

Ingrid  15:37  
one's wallet. One question. Well, that's why we've got a books course in our membership and also in our boot camp. Don't be Lesley because we know how tricky it is to declutter books, and especially recipe books. So there's a reason why it's in our membership for people to learn from us how to deal with it. We've just given you a nutshell of information. Let's move on. Great question from Carla. Carla, thank you so much. What, if anything, do you regret letting go as part of your decluttering? Lesley, is there anything you regret ever? decluttering? No,

Lesley  16:20  
not that I couldn't remember. If I'm truly honest. Not that I couldn't remember. Because I think the key to this is all about feeling in control of your decision making, isn't it? And so, obviously, we we declutter for people. So we are, you know, professionals and experts at leading people through the decluttering process. And so we're not wanting to make a decision lightheartedly. So, and I take when we're, when we're working with people, one to one or whether we're talking our members, whoever we're working with, is, if you're not sure, keep it, you know, so we've not big advocates have, put it in a box and leave it for six months and make a decision, then we are much more if you know, don't want it, let it go. If he were wavering, and that wavering takes more than a couple of hours during that decluttering session, keep it and return back to it again. The next time you declutter, don't put it in a box because that you know, keep it with your normal stuff and see whether or not you will use it because that's it's that fear. Isn't that stopping you from making that decision? Well, I'm not quite sure whether I should or shouldn't. And, you know, fear and anxiety is a huge emotion, when it's about decluttering. That's what holds us back so many times. And so I think it's about having control of that decision making. And again, that's something that needs to be learned over time. So I haven't regretted letting anything go, that I can remember, but I've not got a great memory, if I'm truly honest. But there's nothing that I can put my finger on. But I do feel that I've been in control of all the decisions that I've made over time. What about you, and

Ingrid  17:53  
I can't really remember anything specific, I think there have just been a couple of items that kind of maybe my husband would say, didn't we used to have, and I go, yes, but I think it's decluttered. Now, so I didn't really regret it. But it was more and I'm not one to kind of then linger in that, you know, I think the decision has been made. Now what I do say a lot is that decluttering isn't perfect, you will make a wrong decision sometimes, and you might sometimes regret something that you decluttered but on the other hand, there's no point then in dwelling and, and staying in that because it's gone, you can't get it back. So if it's that important to you, maybe reorder it, if you actually really think that was a wrong decision, see if you can reorder it, and buy it again, or borrow it from somebody else. But unlike exactly like you if you're really, really in doubt, keep the item until your shirt and if it's a keeper or a goer and if in doubt, you don't throw it out. You keep it until you feel better about the decision you're going to make. But sometimes, you know, you think you're ready, you let it go and alleged you think should not have done that, but should have doesn't really get you anywhere. It is what it is. And nothing really comes to mind that I think, Oh, if that was a bad decision. If it's a bad decision, it is what it is. And I just move on. After that. I think

Lesley  19:30  
the area that you might have problems with is a sentimental area. And so certainly when we're working with people sentimental comes way down the line, you know, once you've really worked out you are the decision making on the more standard things that you've got in your house. And the most standard things that you've got any house tend to be able to be report. And so if it's really expensive, you're going to at that point you're going to think maybe not you must mean so maybe the question is Has something gone missing during the decluttering process that you have struggle had to come to terms with you know, there's things like that because things get lost in a cluttered house really quite often. So it's things like that. But I think you've really got to focus, as Ingrid says, You've got to focus on the positive things. If you have decluttered, 50 items and taken all that all of those items out of your house, and all that clutter has gone from your home, what can you regret one thing you need to focus on the other 49? Don't you and not on the one that you made a mistake on?

Ingrid  20:26  
Yes, let's the I think we're both really big advocates of progress, however little is still progress and you're moving forward. And he can't go back to the past and change the decision that you've made, you've made the decision to the best of your abilities at the time. And now you just need to move on and take the next step. It's never about having a perfect house or having a perfect room and having everything perfect because that will just I think completely debilitate, you're moving forward in the process. So of course you can regret something sometimes but have staying hung up on it doesn't let you go anywhere. It's it is what it is and you just move past it. And you hope that by decluttering more and more your developer decluttering muscle, you develop your decision making process and then you start to make better decisions all the time and like the whole decluttering journey that's a process as well. So next question Lesley question number four

Lesley  21:36  
we put this in on purpose Didn't somebody asked him we were like yeah, we need to shake things up a little bit here because this is one of the very few things that Ingrid and I disagree on.

Ingrid  21:50  
That's why I'm laughing That's why I'm laughing already. I'm like, This is so funny because we agree on so many things Lesley but this one we do not agree at all. So let me tell the question. It was like a general chat in our Facebook group but that's why we thought okay, this is perfect. So somebody said what do you do with half worn clothes? They are not dirty enough to go into the wash, but are not really clean enough to go into the wardrobe. Where are they? So you tell me you go first. Lesley, you want to how do you feel about halfword clothes.

Lesley  22:26  
For me it's very simple. If they're clean enough to go on your body, they're clean enough to go back in the wardrobe. And so I would always hang them up either not necessarily on the night or sometimes I might take them off and just put them on a chest of drawers or something if I can't be bothered to hang them up there and then but they will get hung up straightaway. The next morning when I'm doing my room resets which is what I do first thing in the morning once I've made my bed I'll do a room reset to always you know, tackle that at night but it would always go back in the wardrobe. I don't have half worn clothes hanging around that because I just I don't I don't get it Ingrid. I don't get it. You said difference you said

Ingrid  23:08  
yeah, what I don't have is a chair in my bedroom with piles and piles of clothes on it. But on my top landing I have a little Bannister where I have a pile of things that need to be ironed because it has to go somewhere in my house. And there is where I have a pile of some half worn stuff and I'm not talking 25 items of clothing here I might talk about a pair of jeans that I can wear again or some other trousers maybe a pair of shorts in the summer. Maybe I mean my tops I normally only wear one day but maybe it's like a T shirt that only wore for like one or two hours and I think okay I can wear that again over the weekend or something. So we're not talking 30 or 25 pieces of clothing here we're talking about a couple of items, but I just don't want to put them back in the wardrobe because in the wardrobe everything is clean in my opinion. So the only thing that I would hang back half worn is like jackets. Or like he says what

Lesley  24:13  
about what about trust if you went out for a night out because you're gonna wash your dress, I might wear a dress 10 or 15 times before I washed it. Going out dress.

Ingrid  24:24  
I don't have going out dresses.

Lesley  24:27  
To Ingrid Of course you have going out dresses I've seen you wear them

Ingrid  24:31  
are not really addressed.

Lesley  24:34  
When you've worn dresses, I've seen you in dresses. So you have got dresses and so you wear a dress, you know, whatever, you know for a meeting for a talk for a conference or whatever. I'm going to pull out photographs of you wearing dresses by the way.

Ingrid  24:51  
I put I put them in the wash I put them in because I always I'm a very warm and sweaty person. I'm always I'm always hot so I just then add because I see it more than as a talk that I've wear only once and it goes into the wash.

Lesley  25:08  
It's interesting, but I do have and I've, we've had this discussion many times in the q&a and in the membership, I do struggle with you. Not that I am in any way judgmental about my fellow Declutter. But the thoughts of you having clothes spread around on your Bannister upstairs is you know,

Ingrid  25:31  
I've heard of people who've got like, a couple of hooks inside of their wardrobe. And that's where that kind of hooked so close that so that could be I would not do that. But that could be an option if you because maybe if you've got like this chair, or you know, one of those things that you like, is suit hangers that some men have, you know, or maybe business women, they can like work. But there's never just one trouser in one jacket for some reason. There's like ties on them belts, another jacket and another shirt, and it's kind of it needed starts to topple over. And I think I would not want to look at that when I'm in my bedroom. And I want to be relaxed and when I don't have room for a chair anyway. So I don't have really a large bedroom. So. So that's kind of out of the question. But

Lesley  26:17  
what about your kids? And so what about your kids? So you've got so this this your husband, your two children as well. So did they do the same? Yeah. So that's a lot of clothes. That's for people's clothes, maybe three or four items each? Yeah, so we're talking maybe 15 or 16 things plus your ironing?

Ingrid  26:34  
On the fast? No, no, no. It's only me and my husband on the bannister and Anna Max have got their own room. They've got a little place where they put stuff that they want to wear again.

Lesley  26:48  
I think I think I'm gonna have to take you to task hearing, right? I really am. I know. But you know, what we what we have learned because we've had these conversations many times is that people that are really split down the middle on how they do this as some of them I would never put something day back in the wardrobe. And you know, and people like me, I'm like, I would never put something on the bannister. Or I'm not I'm not saying My house is perfect every night and everything's put away. But it is the net one. I want to reset it. There's nothing out. Everything's away due to me. Yeah. So we're never going to agree our way now maybe I'm going to I don't know. I'm going to try I'm going to try really hard to break the mould to change you. Convinced but

Ingrid  27:26  
you know, I think it you know, it doesn't matter as long as it works. You know, if I would have 30 pieces of clothing on a Bannister and I would have like this massive mountain you know, I don't have a utility room. I don't have a laundry room. I don't have so you need to compromise and you need to work with the space you've got. And I think that's really important. Do what works for you. And if the chair in your bedroom with 50 items of clothing and socks and belts and ties and shoes under it and thinks is driving you absolutely nuts. Then think about how you can solve this problem. My Bannister is working perfectly for me with three or four items of clothing that I think okay, I can wear those jeans later in the week again, fine. And I think it because it works for me. It's fine, and it doesn't bother me. And I think you need to find out what works for you. I think that's

Lesley  28:22  
yeah, now you make me feel bad as if I'm like, you know, not an understanding person. And then you're throwing in the sympathy but I'm not gonna utility room or a laundry room. I can see you're throwing everything out at me now. We just agreed to disagree and move on.

Ingrid  28:38  
We're keeping it real. We're keeping it real. Okay, let's move on. Question number five. Oh, Timna. We love your question, too. How to keep your mojo to keep going because I think she's gone back to work. And she had one last time. And now she's gone back to work. She's like, how do you do at all? How do you keep your mojo to keep going?

Lesley  29:00  
I think you need to feel supported, don't you and your journey. And that can come in lots of different ways it can come through. So what we can do it we can only talk about what we can do, really. So how can we keep your mojo going? By there's lots of people who listen to the podcast while they're decluttering. So decide what they're going to declutter put the podcast on. And it's kind of like a friendly voice hopefully, in your ear while you declutter. And so that's one thing. I think drawn a community before and afters, give yourself accountability. So post what you're gonna do that day and then because the nice thing about this community which we've got loads of different communities, whether it's podcast, community, membership community, the Facebook group community, people are supporting each other and saying, that's amazing. And isn't it nice to have a pat on the back when you've done something well, so I think that can be a big motivator for a lot of people to get your mojo back as well. And you've got another thing that you suggest quite regularly having you as well.

Now I could edit this out. I could edit this out in when I'm actually gonna leave it in just because you were so mean to me before. You do have one that you wrote down on our notes when we were doing the podcast before. So what is that? Ingrid?

Ingrid  30:22  
I can't even remember literally. Well, I've got an excuse. I've just come back from holidays.

Lesley  30:30  
Why don't you it's on your notes. Why do you look? So when I edited version for everybody,

Ingrid  30:40  
you wrote on my behalf to to promise yourself tweets. That's, that's what you wrote down for me. All right. All right. All right, I got you, I got you. Yes, I've got the perfect option here to get your mojo back, promise yourself a treat. And it doesn't need to be stuff it can be to get yourself a nice haircuts or get go out for a walk, or call a friend or just sit down and read a book. I mean, it can be complete mayhem around you, but just sitting down, and just reading a book or reading a blog, or listening to a podcast or just sitting there. And just doing nothing for ones with a cup of tea can be incredibly helpful just to kind of calm yourself down again, control the overwhelm. And just think, you know what, okay, what's my plan here? What's my goal? How am I going to do this? And how am I going to break it down? And I think, when you lose your mojo is because you feel super overwhelmed. And you're like, Oh, you're trying to flit from one thing to the next. And I mean, for me, I mean, I'm a list maker. As you know, Lesley, and a lot of our listeners noses. Well, I mean, I did the same thing. I said, I've just come back from holiday and had all these things in my head. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, I got, there's too much going on. And I just started writing some stuff down. And I'm not expecting myself to do this whole list within the next two days, because that's impossible, because there's so much on there. But for me, it was just a way to call my brain think, okay, it's on the list, it will get done at, you know, somewhere this week, probably, but at least it's not clogging up my brain, the end the brain power that I need to use to kind of focus and go right, okay, this is my next step that I'm going to do. So sometimes just sitting down and just doing nothing for a while can really help you go okay, I've got some energy back now. Now what I'm going to do and how I'm going to take the next next step forward.

Lesley  32:50  
I'm just really lucky. Because I just got this vision in the middle of you talking that you look like tin man

so I was struggling to. To man, the which ones to man, the one who's got a brain? Is Tim on the one with a brain? Yeah.

Ingrid  33:16  
Yeah. There you go. Well, maybe I'm like Dorothy, Dorothy with with the slippers.

Lesley  33:26  
You need to start working on your list and stop trimming your house up and wearing 10 Man hats. That's what you need to do to get through your lists. Anyway. So but mainly Timna. The most important thing if you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, don't go for something that's going to take you four hours, go for something that's going to take five minutes, you know, really, really break it down just to keep that momentum going. So we know that you've got your mojo back, Tim now we know we know that you'll get that back. So

Ingrid  33:55  
Oh, yes. Anyway. Oh, yes. Next, sorry.

Lesley  33:59  
Am I being mean am I being mean to you now about the about the tin man hat just because I have not got a hat. You see, I'm jealous. All I see Mike see my neck. I got stung by a bee. You see it? I read it is yeah. That's a spacing. They are not nice about these things

Ingrid  34:15  
know that they hurt. So I'm feeling very sorry. Okay, but you've got flags you've got you've got Happy Birthday flags behind you said that.

Lesley  34:27  
You do have flags? Yeah. Anyway.

Ingrid  34:29  
Cool. Next question. From Lee. Thanks, Lee, for your question. decluttering technology, what do you do with laptops and mobile phones and some are broken and some are not and I don't know how to recycle them. And how do I get the data of them and I'm so confused. And because I'm confused. I'm not doing anything. So have you got any advice for me? Oh, my God. This is this is a different this is a difficult question. This is I think one of the hardest things Lesley as well, I think.

Lesley  34:58  
Yeah, I think it's one of the hardest thing It's one of the hardest things for us to deal with as well, isn't it when we're out and about with clients, because it's not something that you can do there. And then it's something that needs action. So it's something that needs action and after your decluttering process, so yes, gather them together, put them somewhere where you know that you need to do something with them, put them on a list and try and take action as soon as you can, after you've decluttered them. Sometimes these things take a while. So if you've got to wipe a harddrive, it might take a while. The other options that you've got, if you don't want to go down that process is that a lot of the confidential shredding companies are the ones that take your confidential paper waste will also take things like hard drives. And so I'll make sure that those are confidentially destroyed. And you can take things to a computer shop as well. And they will wipe your hard drives for you if you feel nervous about that. Or they will take the stuff off the hard drive and give it to you in a different format, so that you can then put it back on to your new computer. But it is something I understand why, why it's hard, because what happens is that we declutter, will leave them to one side, thinking about what we're going to do with them. And then we completely forget what it was that was on them in the first place, if that's a camera, or a computer, and we're not sure whether it has got something or it doesn't have anything, and then we feel nervous to get rid of it. So the most important thing is don't procrastinate on this, this is something that needs action straight away. If you know that you can't take action now. And then make sure you write notes. So put a post on it, attach it to it, put it in an envelope with notes on what's on there, and what you what you're intending to do with it. It's really important to do that. And it's a really, it's actually a really great feeling. When you do do it. Get rid of all that technology from your home, isn't it Ingrid?

Ingrid  36:38  
Yeah, I think it's one of the trickier things to do within your house, you can also affect re reset, I think we'd phones that works quite well. And probably a quick online search can help you for your making your model how you factory resets, but of course, you probably need to charge the battery first. And the trick is what we do, we get our new thing. And we're like all excited about a new mobile phone, for example. And we're like filling away and transferring things. And then kind of the old one kind of gets left to the side, instead of going okay, my new ones up and running, I now need to make sure that I finished up the process with the old one. And I now immediately delete the contacts or delete the emails for information once I'm sure that everything is on my new device, and we kind of leave it there and we kind of move on with life. And that's when you get a mountain of old technology. And it's not only things with products as well, Lee it is old cassette tapes, it is old videos from that we can't play anymore with a with somebody's wedding on it or a party or something you recorded on a video camera. So yes, this is not something you can do when you are in the middle of decluttering your house. It's exactly what Lesley said, if you find these items that need an action and that needs investigating information, inquiries, finding out people or companies that can help you put it to the side, put it in a box, put it all together, and then go right. When I'm done in my main the culture of my house, this is a separate project that I'm going to do but then gathered all of my items together from everywhere around the house, and everything is in one place. And then you can kind of move forward with that separate project. But I mean, I've got a little company here in my town where they can help us a little computer shop, they can help me as well, if I would struggle with something to get the data off. So good luck Lee with that. And don't forget that anything like that is empty, no longer use, you can donate it, you can bring it to the recycling centre, there is loads of companies where you can send your mobile phone to and maybe even get some cash for it if you're lucky. Maybe an old computer again, make bring happiness to somebody else if it's not really that old, but you've upgraded for other reasons. So don't just leave it lingering in your house somewhere. You've got a mountain of wires and a mountain of electrical, electrical equipment. And nobody knows anymore What's going to happen with it. Right now, Lesley, our last question is from Victoria. And she wants to talk to us about what if items. Now you might wonder what what if items aren't she means seasonal entertaining stuff, coffee table books, clothes that don't fit any more collections that you've collected in the past, but they're no longer interested in. What if? What do you do with this stuff? It's a tricky one,

Lesley  39:48  
isn't it? It's not something that we can really answer easily because that is the crux of a lot of decluttering the deeper emotional connection to stuff that we have is all about that what if when we would call that worry or anxiety or fear of letting go. So that pervades most of the areas of your house? Or I'm not sure whether I want to keep it, what happens if I need it? What happens if somebody else needs it? There's so many different things and services. It's all wrapped up in the thought process that you need to go through when you're decluttering your home, to take yourself out of your comfort zone and learn about making the right reasons that represent the life that you're living at the moment. That's the important thing. Let's not worry about what the past presented and what's in the future. Let's worry about now. Does that item fulfil me in the life that I'm wanting to live today? Not yesterday, and not tomorrow. But today? And that's the important thing. And that's something that really helps with a lot of people.

Ingrid  40:52  
Yeah, I think so too. And you? It is? It's a phased approach here. That's really helpful. And I think a lot of people who are overwhelmed by their stuff, think their whole house is full of what if items? And they're like, What, I can't let declutter anything, because everything is important. But once you start to learn, and that's a big part of our VIP membership, isn't it, Lesley, it is about those emotions and those decluttering questions you need to ask herself. Once you start to learn what kind of questions you need to ask yourself. And that's the feedback we get from our members. Like, we love your emotions, videos, when you talk about emotions, videos for every category of books, or bathroom items, or clothes, or we do an emotions module. And that's what really resonates with because it gives them clarity in their thoughts and what they're worried about, and how they feel about an item. And it gives them clarity themselves then and a lot of the what if items suddenly become I really want it or I actually don't need it at all. And the what if items are much smaller than they thought at first. And I think that's really interesting.

Lesley  42:18  
I think the really interesting thing about the questions that we've had today, Ingrid is that they've all a lot of the questions that came in were about stuff when they were about books, coffee, table books, recipes, laptops, mobile phones, all about different items. And actually, the answers that we've given, for the most part have not been about individual items. They've been about the emotions that drive our need to keep those things. And so the important thing to learn out of our q&a today is that it definitely is the emotions moving out of your comfort zone, tackling the things that we've spoken about anxiety, fear, overwhelm, worry, getting your mojo back, procrastination, those are all the things that stop us in our decluttering tracks. And it's never about the item. Never about the item, it's always about the emotions, as to what we say quite often is actually the stuff that goes out in the charity bags. Of course, that's the tangible benefit that we see. But it's more about what's up here. That is the mindset so that the getting rid of the bags of stuff. Of course, we want that to happen. But that's one of the byproducts of the decluttering process. It's all wrapped into one. So hopefully, today's questions have given you a little bit of insight into the way that we work certain way and the way that our mind then works. In terms of the decluttering process. If we go all the way back to the very first question, what is our favourite part of the decluttering process is mindset and going through the whole cycle to get you to a point where you have a completely different relationship with your stuff.

Ingrid  43:50  
Yes, Lesley. It's all about mindset, isn't it. And that's why we are so excited that we're going to run another challenge again, on the 14th of September, Lesley and I are starting a five day decluttering free challenge. And we're going to have daily lives. We're gonna have a Facebook group, we're gonna have workbooks. And we'd love for you to join in and we're going to share everything with you about a reset your home system. So if you'd like to know more, go to declutter. hub.com. And then you'll find all the details about the challenge.

Lesley  44:26  
Some of them were nearly convinced the end of our 100 podcast episodes actually, that isn't the end all be all to celebrate now until we get to 200 and that's another two years away. There's quite a lot of work to do before we get to 200 Isn't it? Oh, no, it's fine. We are so actually we're celebrating again next week because it's weird. Our membership is one year old, isn't it? So we're celebrating again next week. That's fine. But just wanted a quick reminder about a giveaway that we mentioned at the beginning. So if you you need to be in it to win it as they say. We are going to ask you to do something for us in return for the giveaway which is to post a review of our podcast on Europe. Our cast player or on our website, reviews a fantastic and getting word out there, that we do a podcast that hopefully you will enjoy and that other people will love. So post a review on there, screenshot it, or copy and paste it wherever you want to do, and send it to Hello at declutter hub.com/ingrid. And I know that you've posted that review, and we can then put you in a hat and we can draw them out by I think we said the first of September. So most of September is the deadline. If you want to win access to our room by room bootcamp where $79 That's what you need to do.

Ingrid  45:33  
We would love to see your views and we hope a lot of you actually come and join us. And we can't wait to make somebody really, really happy. So that's it for this episode. Lesley, do you I love my bunting. I'm going to keep it up. I think I'm going to keep my little bunting up until next week, because then we're celebrating like a one year membership. Like you said, I'm not going to wear the hat for a whole week because it's I'm really glad I could take that off that soon. But the bunting is going to stay up. So Lesley, that is it for this episode. I wanted to say a really big thank you to everyone who has submitted questions. And if you think yourself, I want to submit a question to less than Ingrid. Come and join our membership. We do live q&a Every other week. And you can ask us within reason, whatever you want. So thanks so much for listening. We really appreciate you being there. And if you know anybody who might enjoy this podcast, too, you'll find the sharing buttons on the show notes on our websites. And of course, we'd love to see you in our Facebook group, the declutter community, we are on Twitter, and on Instagram as well. And if you don't want to miss the next weekly episode, subscribe to Nicotra have podcasts and it will come into your notifications each Friday. Thanks so much for listening, and see you next time. Bye.

Outro  47:01  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the declutter podcast. Check out declutter hub.com for more inspiration, and don't forget to tune in next week.
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