Episode 377 – Photographs, memories and decluttering with member Sabine

Ingrid: Every once in a while, one of our wonderful Declutter Hub members wants to share their story on our podcast.

And today we are joined by Sabine. Sabine is an internationally awarded environmental lifestyle and brand and wedding photographer with over 20 years of experience bringing stores to life through beautiful imagery. She began her career as a zoologist and underwater photographer with work featured by National Geographic and Recognition from Martha Stewart Magazine.

She runs a thriving photograph photography business in California. Alongside her creative career, Sabine has been transforming her home, both on the inside and outside, inspiring her fellow declutter members along the way.

Ingrid: Hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid.

Lesley: And I am Lesley. Now, if you are here for the very first time today, or you've been listening in for ages, we want to say a huge thank you we have a little favour to ask.

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Well, hello and welcome Sabine. Thank you for coming onto the podcast. I finally managed to get you on the podcast.

I'm so happy.

Sabine Scherer: Me too. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Ingrid: absolutely wonderful. So. You have been an absolute shining star in our membership and preparing for it because I always prepare whether, you know, 'cause although I know a lot about you, I always prepare and I actually went into our, forum, which is like our internal message board in the membership.

And I thought, 'cause I know a lot of what you've done now for the, the, the, the past, time that you've been in the membership and it's absolutely astonishing you have done. So, so, so well, you are a true inspiration. So my question first is, how did the clutter come into your home? And then how do you feel, you know, how do you, how what happened?

Sabine Scherer: part of. What made me realize of how things were coming in was actually thanks to the Declutter Hub, basically because it, no, it's true because you, what you guys do so well is talk about the psychology of things, and so it made me really go in and think about why I am bringing so much in, not so much bringing it, but also keeping stuff.

That was my biggest thing, just keeping stuff,

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: So

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: do a deep dive, deep, dive into myself and figure out, okay, why am I holding onto things? And I realized it was a lot about guilt. it was a lot about environmental reasons. it was because. Both my husband and I were very creative, so it was a lot of aspirational clutter. we just saw things and we were like, we can use it in the future. We can build something from it. it had monetary value. When I started up my business, there were some lean years, so we're like, we'll keep it. We can use it. sometimes we did. Most likely we did it. and so a lot of these things just stuck around and never left.

And when we moved from the east coast where we live in the States, when we moved from the east coast to the west coast in 2008, we got rid of almost everything and started fresh in California. And it was just, it

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: feeling to start with so little and it's amazing how quickly the stuff just. Piled back in. And then, I guess it, we've been, I've been with the Declutter Hub close to two years. and, yeah, so thanks to the Declutter Hub, I no longer have that issue.

Ingrid: Now when you came in, the first room you did was your, room of doom, right? You, you were like, right, I've got this room guys. And we were like, start with the kitchen. You were like, no, no, no, no. I'm doing this room. Was there a certain reason why that was so niggly for you? Why that had to be the first thing you were doing?

Sabine Scherer: so that our Room of Doom is our all purpose room. So it was a creative room, it's a guest room, and it's the, I don't know what to do with it, just dump it in their room. it had some gear of mine in there, and so anytime I needed to work, I needed to go through it and just pick my stuff out. we had guests, I had to stuff shuffle things. It would take at least a weekend just to clear it out if a guest would come in and it just, it, was such a mental load and just so annoying that at one point the. enough, the, straw that broke the camel's back was I couldn't find a, pump to inflate our guest mattress.

And I know we had it, and it, I looked for a whole week and I couldn't find it. And I was like, that's it. I need to do something. And that's when I was doing the, I was listening. I wasn't doing it. I was listening to the Declutter Hub challenge, and I was like, all right, I'm just gonna join. I need to do something.

Ingrid: So you joined Indeed in January, right? When we all, you know, when we, when we, we did our reset your home challenge. So you were kind of following along a bit and then kind of thought, you know what, I need to join these girls. They know what they're talking about and I'm just gonna dive right in.

Sabine Scherer: definitely. And,

Ingrid: Great.

Sabine Scherer: guests arriving and it was just, it was too much and I was like, I need to do something fast, which is why I started with the Room of Doom instead of the Kitchen Roadmap, because I was

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: quick and it needs to go. And we need to have people come in.

Ingrid: Yeah.

So you came into the membership and, I think we can, I, I think we can safely say that you've just been, been flying ever since you've come in. Right. You've done so, so, so much. But why did you, why did you think you came a declutter member? And you know, I mean, 'cause there's so many things out there, there's so much information, you know, on socials, on YouTube, you know, decluttering courses.

What was it that made you think they, I need to come to them?

Sabine Scherer: I've always. I'm half German and I feel like my German side is strong in me in terms of I need to have things organized, like hyper organized. I

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: everything is, and if it's of

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: it drives me nuts. And so I've tried

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: Kondo, I've tried. I tried so many different trips, tricks and tips of like how to get rid of things and, start on certain things, especially like wardrobe and kitchen. Great. half our house is immaculate. Perfect. And then we've got three room of dooms. And so, I never, could clean those up. Never could get them organized, and it just drove me insane. And so I was listening to your podcast. And I just resonated with you. And a, big thing was you didn't just do a surface. These are the easy top 20 tips of how to declutter or clean something. You guys went into such detail about every little, not only items and categories, but also mentally thinking about why is it in the house? Why are you bringing it in? What's your relationship with these things? And so it really makes you

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: it and get. Dive deeper into the reasoning, which made it so much easier then to actually go and declutter things and change my relationship with things and objects that I couldn't do before. 'cause before, when you just listen to podcasts or watch YouTube or something, it's always, it's, quick clicks.

So it's like top 20 things, quick and easy. You can do this in a day, and it's just not the way it is in reality.

Ingrid: So, well that is absolutely fantastic and indeed, you know, it's lovely to hear that our material is, is helping you so much because you've been on a proper, proper journey through your house, haven't you? So where did you go after that? Room of doom slash guest room slash catchall room. What happened then?

Because you've done so much.

Sabine Scherer: once I got through the main part of that, I did go down the roadmap. So Declutter Hub has a, roadmap where basically it's super organized and I also realized I needed that structure, and accountability. So that was incredibly helpful. And so I just started with the first item, which was the kitchen. Worked my way through that, that roadmap, and so what I found was super helpful was rather than me flitting around from room to room or project to project, it really kept me honest and saying, okay, I have to finish this, check it off before I move on, which I also didn't realize was something I needed, my brain needed in terms of just to stay on task and not to get, distracted.

I'm very

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: and so it, it helped with the checklist and keeping me on task. And then what I realized, and the beauty of that was I actually saw results a lot faster because I would actually finish a room, I would finish a project. move on. Whereas normally I would get to 80% or

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: and then I'm like, woo, it's over there. And I never really finished it and saw the results. So this way I actually saw the results, that room was finished and I could move on, which was wonderful.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. And all the while you are also have been, furniture has left your house, you've been redecorating. It's not, you've not only focused on the decluttering, have you?

Sabine Scherer: So I was, I guess in a nesting mode. so a big part of it was not only did I wanna declutter, but I also wanted to make our house super functional and make sure everything had a space. So once I was actually done with the room in terms of decluttering, I would go in and say, okay, how can this room, or how I want to use this room, how can I make it functional for me?

How can I make it easy to keep clean? Everything organized? And so that meant sometimes furniture had to leave because I just had it because I've always had it and it was in good condition and I didn't have the heart to let it go. which harks back to the guilt, did not want anything to leave because I was like, it's perfectly functional.

I don't wanna spend more money. but it wasn't serving me. It wasn't serving the space, it wasn't serving what I wanted to do. And it, it made it a lot easier to. Get things out, rearrange things, and I realized that with the less stuff, I also didn't need to have all that, organizational system because I just didn't have the stuff to organize anymore, which was awesome.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. And I know when you explain it like that, it like, it sounds so logical, right? But you know. Yeah. But because a lot of people think that you need to buy more Organising baskets. To get more organized. So one of the things we get asked all the time, like what kind of, baskets and containers do I need to buy to get more organized?

But you're exactly saying you actually need less stuff. And once you have less stuff, it's much easier to decide on the places where it needs to live. And actually. Some of the furniture that I've been using to put all the stuff in can actually go, which makes it easier for me to move around the room, which makes it easier for me to clean, which makes the room work better for me.

Sabine Scherer: the time saver. the amount of time I spent

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: moving stuff around, cleaning it, inventorying it, I had the whole inventory in my head, so whenever my husband was like. Hey, do you remember where the little Velcro strap is for the camera strap and, the little piece of tape? And I'm like, yes, go downstairs. It's a left drawer in the cupboard on the right, and I'm like, why? Why am I using brain space for this? This is not necessary.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, definitely. So where did all the stuff go, Sabine, because of course, you know, you, you've let go of a lot of stuff. What were your outlets.

Sabine Scherer: 'cause that was another sticking point for me. Why I kept a lot of stuff is I hate throwing stuff away. I do not want things to go into landfill. and also thanks to the clutter hub, I really did a deep dive of why I have this issue. And I realized, parents, they worked internationally quite a bit and, we traveled to a lot of third world countries and I saw a lot of slums when I was very young. even where I live in Oakland, is a lot of poverty here, and so throwing stuff away that's still viable and usable is just painful to me, and I can't, I just can't do it. So I was, I'm fortunate in the stuff that even though I let a lot of stuff go, it was not an overwhelming amount of stuff where I just had to be like, I'm just gonna throw it away, A lot of outlets where, Facebook Marketplace, I gave it away for free. I donated stuff, by nothing. Groups were really helpful and I'm very fortunate in where I live. I have a little stonewall right by a sidewalk, and so that little stonewall now in our neighborhood is known as the free wall. So I just put stuff out on that wall and

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: by and just pick it up and I don't even need to do anything.

it was trash, it would go out in the trash. It was fine. And I, there were things where I'm like, okay,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: if I work really hard, I could probably fix it or do something. But I'm like, it ha it's time, it served its purpose, it's time to go. And you just have to throw things away and it is what it is.

but yeah. Goodwill, obviously here, I try to find places that are reputable. are a lot of local ones that give, give back to the community, like out of the closet for California if you're here. But I know internationally there's so many good organizations that help women and children and homeless people that you can donate to.

I did research quite a bit and always had that in mind before I started decluttering. So if I went into a room and I'm like doing

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: then I was like, okay, I know these are the organizations I can give clothes to that can use them, or this is where I can, bring my

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: to that will be recycled. So I wasn't actually just adding to the landfill. So I was very good about finding these locations before I started going through everything. So that way it all had an outlet. that was another thing I realized. I decluttered put things away on the side of the room and I'm like, we'll take care of that later. which did not help because it was still in the house. so having that beforehand really helped.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. That is such a good, good advice, for, for everyone and for our listeners as well, because I think that that exit plan is super cr crucial, right. But we get so kind of caught up with I need to declutter like a time, but we don't think about, okay, how am I gonna. Finish this cycle of success, just throwing some Declutter Hub terminology there at you listeners.

but these are all the things that we talk about and it's like exactly what Sabine says. It's super important to think about where's this stuff gonna go, when I'm finished with this room or this day, or this project, or this drawer, or whatever it is that you're doing. Because otherwise it just gets churned.

Into another place in your home, never leaving the building, and then it feels it's not finished in your head and you're not seeing yourself, um, making any, steps forward, obviously. So, oh my gosh. I have so many more questions because I definitely, I know you've done so much more. So let's go for a quick break and we'll come back afterwards because, um, Sabine needs to share more stories with you listeners.

We will right back.

Well, hello listeners. Welcome back. After your little break, we are chatting to Sabine, one of our fantastic Declutter Hub members, all about her decluttering journey, and she's given you some great ideas about where she has been letting go of the items that she's been decluttering because she's been doing her room of doom.

She's been going through the kitchen, she's been in her living room, and in your living room, you had a very special project, didn't you, Sabine?

Sabine Scherer: a camera, or I still have it, a camera, box, from my mom who was a journalist during Vietnam War. and she was an independent journalist and she had quite the story of how she even got there. integrated herself with a family, stayed with a family there locally. She was let in places she couldn't.

was there, but she was invited in because she was this gorgeous, fabulous woman, and very rare as a journalist during the Vietnam War. And so everybody's with us, let's show you things. she wasn't a helicopter, she was on the front line. She was on aircraft carriers.

she basically, she saw everything. and I have her camera from that time because she was a photojournalist during that time. and I have a bunch of her lenses and everything and I was like, I just don't know what to do with this. 'cause the bag was falling apart. I always had her camera displayed, but I just, didn't know what to do with it.

So I put this question to the Declutter Hub forum and I was like, this is highly sentimental. I don't know if I should try to fix it, if I should try to donate it to a museum, if just I was at a loss. I was at that point where I'm like, I just wanna clear things out, and it's just sitting there and not doing anything. and so the Declutter Hub was amazing, and Ingrid and Lesley were amazing, and, they actually took the time to answer and really talk about it. and the Declutter Hub community was really supportive. And in the end, what I actually did was when my mom came over to visit me, we did a little interview and I asked her about her time.

I asked her about how she got, Involved in the war involved as a photojournalist. we went through pictures of her where you can see her camera with her. There's this one picture of her where she's perfectly coughed. I don't know how she did it. everything like makeup, everything.

she looked amazing. And she's sitting in the helicopter, her camera's like across her body and she's looking out and she looks so bad. Badass. I dunno if I can say that on a podcast, but, Okay.

Ingrid: Yeah, she can, she did look so like pH, but it's a phenomenal photograph and we were lucky and I've got goosebumps you telling this story because it was, it's like a phenomenal photograph of like such, you know, just a, a a, a incredible moment in time and her being in that helicopter being just so. Cool and so ahead of her time and what with her camera and that camera you still have, it's absolutely amazing.

I'm so glad you had a chance to talk to her about it and, and record that interview and, and have those stories because that's what it's all about, isn't it?

Sabine Scherer: and the memory and we always have the camera displayed, and so now what I did with the extra lenses and her caring case that she had with her in Vietnam is also in the picture. I have that with my camera gear and so every time I go get my cameras for my own work, I see it.

It's right there. And so it, it serves just as a reminder and inspiration, which is lovely too. So that was, rather than just being

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: in a box, something I pull out and I'm like, oh, it's taking up space. It's something that is now displayed. It's with my own gear. And so it has much more meaning that way, which is really lovely.

Ingrid: Yeah, I completely agree. Completely agree. And of course you kind of. Through working in the living room, you kind of jumped ahead to sentimental items, but you were really stuck on it. And we just gave you some other ideas, and not only me and Lesley, but also the other fabulous members in our, in the decal community.

just lots of ideas and kind of go, have you tried this or maybe that, or, wow. And I think we all agreed like, you cannot declutter this.

Sabine Scherer: that's that it, it's,

Ingrid: too special.

Sabine Scherer: in the moment in your own head, you don't see these solutions that seem very obvious to everybody else. And so just to have that outside

Ingrid: Mm.

Sabine Scherer: and

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: yes, this is really special. just to take a step back is,

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: helpful.

And when you're in your own head and doing it by yourself, you don't have that, you don't have that support group. So that's really invaluable.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. Got it. Got it. now of course you are a photographer yourself as well. I mean, talking about passing on, you know, the, the baton to the next generation.

It's so interesting, Sabine, isn't it? Because of course you know your mom was a photographer. You are a photographer. The baton has been passed on, so you need to come clean. Now for our listeners, do you struggle with photographs and slides and those kind of things because they're like the last step on the roadmap, right?

I mean, you make hundreds, thousands of pictures, right? So how do you do that? Can you declutter them?

Sabine Scherer: I have two baskets for that. I have the professional photography and the personal photography. The professional is actually very easy for me because I do it on the daily and I can just be like, that photo, bad photo, photo. But there's not the same emotional attachment.

There are some professional pictures, especially my landscape work and my wildlife work. Where I am very attached. And so that's, I guess that's the gray area, the personal stuff is very hard because, it's a moment in time. and I started off with, analog photography. I, learned how to do the darkroom stuff and so that you have a lot less images.

And so those images, you took it for a reason. It wasn't just the quick phone picture. So you know, the slides. Especially my underwater photography. That's something I'll never be able to see again. I'll never be able to do again, just 'cause also the environment changed so much. So a lot of the reefs I photograph, they're bleached now and they don't have the same, vibrancy to them and wildlife around them.

So it, even though the picture is cracking, it is hard for me to get rid of because it's a moment in time and I have a lot of slides

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: of prints that it was very difficult to go through, so it was very good for me to stay, keep it to the very end, which was also part of the roadmap is slides and pictures were actually after sentimental.

And it's a very last thing and I, and just actually in that process of going through it I realized how much easier now it is to go through these things, having gone through the whole roadmap. Because, as, they, as you guys

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: build up that decluttering muscle. And so now to go through it, I'm like, okay, why?

Why am I holding onto this one picture? Is it sentimental? Is it, is it saying something? Is it something I would spend the time scanning and printing? Is that how I wanna use my time? And so I've gotten rid of pictures that a year ago I would have never gotten rid of because I would just, feel like I need to keep it

Ingrid: Hmm.

Sabine Scherer: and now what I have left is actually something I can easily just overlook.

It tells the whole story. It has all the poignant and important moments in it, not missing anything, which I never would've realized before.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That is so true because you do build up that decluttering muscle over time and it does get stronger, but it's not a quick fix, is it? Sabine you, like you said, you've been here nearly two years and you've gone through all of the stages and all of the phases, and I mean, along the way you've also done your wires and your hard drives and computers and.

And you know, in your office, in your paperwork, you've really, really. Chipped away at it at a regular basis. You, you join in for the one thing a day that we have in the forum. You join in for our challenges as a little boost. You really are a star pupil because we can see how over time, you know, you've become so much stronger in your.

Decision making and really understanding the quality over the quantity. Right. which is tremendous. And, you know, you do also, you do your monthly goal setting. You know, you, you write in the, every month we set up, you know, we set up a thread in our forum saying, hi guys, what are you going to work on this month?

What's your plan? It can be three things. You can make a whole list very detailed. It doesn't matter how you do it, but Right. And you do that and you might know that you might not. Do all of them, but you think about it and you start to plan and build it in, in your, in your day to day, right?

Sabine Scherer: now also become in terms of resets, which are super important. and just in terms of how we let things even come into the house has changed tremendously. so all these things have completely changed of how, not only our relationship with stuff, but how we organize it at home, how we deal with it and how much easier it is to let go.

So anything that comes in the home, basically now we say, can it have a home immediately? Does it already have a home? And if not, is it worth it to make a home for it? which is a big, which is a huge thing for us. then also just if it doesn't serve a purpose anymore, it's much easier to let go so that whole ha part has changed for us so much.

And in terms of the resets, which is also a big thing for the Declutter Hub, is just basically resets are, just making sure everything at the end of the night is put away, everything's clean. just takes minutes now and I don't have to spend at the end of the week a full day cleaning anymore.

It's, it's just, it's done at the end of the night and our whole, our house is basically clean and we can start in the morning with a fresh start, so that's been fabulous.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And what I love as well, Sabine, is that you've not only focused on the inside of your house, but you've also done a tremendous amount around your home. Right. Can you please tell us a bit more about that? Because I know you're a kind gardener d iy. Shed owner, project person. I mean, you can fix lots of stuff.

So tell us a little bit more about that, about the big shed, project.

Sabine Scherer: that we have a little sp space outside of our home. we affectionately call it the project shed. And basically it was packed with wood scraps, with, projects we picked up from the side of the road. 'cause we're like, where can, we can fix that? We can build something out of. My husband's a big tinkerer. He loves to 3D print things, and he's just like this super creative mind. So both of us just shoved all our projects into this tiny little shed to a point where we couldn't even move in there. it was like, it was this like project overload. And so the problem with that was too, we had so many projects going on that we ended up not doing any projects because there was no overview anymore.

And so going through that was a Yeah.

So we. Had to go through pro projects that were like, is this worth our time? No, let's let it go. This project's been sitting for five years. Let it go. Are, am I gonna use these wood scraps? No, they're tiny lip and go. And so it, but that process, we've been on and off doing it for, I wanna say eight years and made no progress.

the, shed was mainly my husband's domain. 'cause that was like he was. Big project creative person, and I just stored wood and like heavy machinery in there, basically woodworking stuff. And so I was like, okay, you, it's your space. You do you, but if you want help, let me know. and when he saw the progress in the house, he is you know what, like last year he's let's maybe do this together for the first time, like we can. Walk through the space, things are becoming organized. We had to pull everything outta the shed to actually fix the foundation. normally that would have created so much chaos 'cause there was so much stuff in there. But we were able to pare it down enough and get the guest room clean enough that we could actually, the stuff we wanted to keep, we had a space to put it in. and not go absolutely bonkers. So it, that was a huge, thing. And now, so the bonuses now projects are also so much more fun because we can find stuff. We have space to do it. And so it's been a real joy.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. No, it's been absolutely incredible. And of course the, the nice thing with you, Subin, is that you have taken pictures along the way, so, and of course you hope for that, right? Because it's so inspirational for other people When you share your updates and you share how you're breaking it down into small, manageable tasks, and that every once in a while.

A big day needs to happen of course, but you can now chip away at it and so much more realism I think, in what do I want to spend my time doing, and also the realization. We can't do all the projects that we want to do. We have to pick and choose. Just like you have to pick and choose your sentimental items, your quality over your quantity.

Exactly the same with all of those projects. And people who are crafters might go, this sounds very familiar, because, but you do it with like woods and fixing things and projects and, and hands on things. But same with people who, who sew and knit and, and are super creative, but there's just not enough hours in the day to do it all.

Sabine Scherer: and that's a big problem. It's a whole aspirational clutter. It's the, I can do this in the future, I want to do it.

Ingrid: Yeah,

Sabine Scherer: three years later, you're like, I never touched that project. so getting rid of aspirational clutter, I

Ingrid: yeah.

Sabine Scherer: Clear the mind and the space for what you actually wanna do now or within the next year.

So that's been awesome.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's been absolutely phenomenal. So, how is it, you know, so has your, I mean, I'm sure you're, you're gonna say yes to this question, but how has it changed, like, your relationship to clutter and the whole just mental load

Sabine Scherer: It

Ingrid: in, in the past two years?

Sabine Scherer: and figured it would when I started it, but I did not fully comprehend how much it would change. I did not realize just how anxious it made me. How much space in my mind it took. So by the end of the day I was exhausted because I just spent so much time stuff shuffling, cleaning, Organising, and then on top of work. At the end of the day, I didn't want to be creative anymore. I didn't want to do projects. I was burnt out. And and by the end of the week, after a job on the weekend. spent that Sunday cleaning because our place was a mess 'cause everything just either didn't have a home or I was just too tired to climb over stuff.

To put stuff back. And so our space cleared, having an easy way of putting stuff back to its home, was like a breath of fresh air. it was a huge, Yeah.

And I feel like it also, made me calmer. I feel like I'm less snippy with my husband when he asks for where things are, so I'm not sure he would agree, but I'm hopeful I got better, but I feel like I've just become a happier, calmer person and I just don't spend time where I don't wanna spend it. So now I am like, if, we

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: have people over. Or people knock on our door from our neighborhood and need something, I just say, come on in. I'm not embarrassed. Or, I'm not worried about our place being a mess because it's, clean or as clean, semi clean, nor normal living clean.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: But, it, it's, it gives you so much more freedom. and that I did not realize

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: stuff hampered me. so that, that was a

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: win and also helps moving forward in terms of keeping it that way. also that it's, not a one and done, it's continuous. and, it's, part of our life now and it makes it much easier just to move forward as well.

Ingrid: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. So, if you now look then at the membership as a whole, are there things that you're like, that's my favorite? I love that. That's so, or is it like nearly hard to choose?

Sabine Scherer: every time I'm like, that's it. I'm like, no, but that's also great. I would say that the biggest help probably was the roadmap, which was, it kept me honest, it kept me on track,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: there were times I burnt out and I, or I was so busy I couldn't continue, but then I knew exactly where I left off and I could jump right back in when I needed to. If it was too overwhelming, I could then pick little categories and break it down. so the roadmap was really

Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

Sabine Scherer: part of it because it really went. It started with the

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: of it and then how to go through things item by item, room by room. And so without that, I think I would've been completely lost. again,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: I guess that was the most helpful part. But I guess the support also from the forum was invaluable is just because you have cheerleaders, you have the support group, and the community and the Declutter Hub are just. Absolutely wonderful people. there are just sweethearts, amazing people and who are going through the same thing you are, and so it's just, it's invaluable to have that as well, and

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: keeps you motivated.

That's like the motivational

Ingrid: Yeah.

Sabine Scherer: it, which is wonderful.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. I know we are so you are gonna make me cry. I mean, we're so like lucky, you know what I mean? We have such phenomenal people in, in, in our community, in the membership and also in our Facebook group and all the podcast listeners. We, we feel so lucky that we, we are at the helm of this Wonderful, well, well.

Movement, I dunno how else to call it, but it's like so lovely and, and you are such a big part of that as well, so Absolutely. Fantastic. so let me then close this podcast with what, what's your next step? Sabine, you've been here nearly two years. Please don't tell me you're leaving after two years because we can't let you go.

But what, what are other things that you're kind of thinking that's still what things that I want to do? Or are you kind of, I'm getting there now. I'm really getting there.

Sabine Scherer: I'm on the last step of the roadmap. I'm going through pictures right now. And I'm, I've done the fir, I've gone through everything once. and so now I'm going back to areas where I see like little problem areas forming up again. So I wanna go through it again with a more fine tooth comb. and I realize they're problems, not problems, but projects that still. like the garden and the shed and things like that. It's gonna be ever evolving and I just, I really wanna fine tune it. so again, like it's gonna be never ending. It's gonna be continuous, but, as long as I can finish the slides and the sentimental that the room of Doom, currently a little doomy because of all the stuff of the shed in there. And, my husband and I are looking at it and we really wanna make it into something special, like a really cozy guest room that's also part classroom and part everything else, but like super organized. so that will end up involving, like tearing down walls and putting in a sliding door and everything.

So projects to come.

Ingrid: I knew you would say that. I knew you would say that. yeah. Super. You're an inspiration to, to, all of the members and, really, really appreciate you coming on the podcast and, and sharing. All of this with our listeners as well. if, people wanna find you, Sabine, if they kind of maybe wanna look at some of your photography or things like that,

where would they wanna go?

Sabine Scherer: on my website, sabine Scherer.com. that's probably the best place. Or also via Instagram at Sabine Scherer photography.

Ingrid: Lovely, and we'll definitely put both of those in the show notes as well in case people wanna, check out your, your photography work. absolutely. great. And it's been absolutely phenomenal. To have you here on the podcast. Thank you so much for being here. Absolute pleasure. Keep going. You're doing absolutely fantastic.

And listeners, are you inspired by Sammi? Sabine's? Fantastic work. Are you like, oh my gosh. I need to check out the DeLaura membership. I've been listening to the podcast for ages, but I need to take those next steps to check it out on members dot Declutter Hub dot com. All the information is there. And, yeah, we would love to hear from you, in our show in, in, in, leave a comment, tell us what you felt about how you felt about this podcast.

But, I've really enjoyed it. thank you for being here, Sabine. And, yeah, keep decluttering.

Sabine Scherer: always, you and Lesley and also the Declutter Hub are just amazing and I'm so grateful for you all.

Ingrid: Thank you. We love having you here too. So thanks listeners. Thanks for being here, and we'll see you next week.