Transcript Podcast Episode 14: Declutter 20 Things in 20 Minutes
Declutter 20 Things in 20 Min.
Wannabe Minimalist Show Transcript Episode 13
00:00 Welcome to the Wannabe Minimalist Show, episode number 14. On today's show, we're doing something just a little different. Today is all about building a little momentum as quickly as possible so your home and life can be lighter. How quickly you ask? Well, as the title promises, 20 minutes, that's right after today's episode, you will be able to declutter 20 items from your home in 20 minutes all in honor of the year 2020.
00:30 [Music].
00:34 Welcome to the Wannabe Minimalist Show. I'm your host Deanna Yates, and each week on this podcast we will talk about what it really takes to be a minimalist with a family. I believe minimalism is a mindset for how we see stuff, but more importantly, being mindful of the items we let into our lives, homes and relationships. Let's do this.
01:02 Oh, hi there friend. Welcome back to another episode of the Wannabe Minimalist Show. I'm your host Deanna Yates from littlegreenbow.com the idea for today's show was inspired by you and my 21 day decluttering challenge. It's coming to an end of this week and while there have been a lot of you that have joined in and are making amazing progress, there are a lot of you also who said that you wanted to join the challenge but you just were not able to commit to the full 21 days this go round.
01:33 I hear ya. I would be lying if I said that the challenge had been easy for me. Well let me take a step back. That's not quite true. The actual challenge and the daily tasks that you know they were broken into, they were these really small bite sized pieces. The plan was made to build up like a snowball. It builds on itself every day. And honestly the plan works really well. That part was easy and it was all laid out and so each and every day there was a disc, a different task, checklists, an action plan. So from a pure 21 day decluttering challenge point, it was pretty simple.
02:12 However, I had a lot of other things come up in January. I mean things that I was not even expecting and those extra things took a ton of my time and energy. They made this a really tough month. And, you know what? That happens a lot. We all have these big plans and life just has a way of getting in the way. The best thing we can do though, when that happens is to do the best that we can in any given moment. Keep progressing just one foot in front of the other and that is what I've been telling myself this month. But even though it was tough, I will say that the work of decluttering my home has been totally worth it. In fact, we had people come to our home last night and I was not embarrassed one bit for them to walk in the door. Of course before they arrived, I did do a quick walk around my house and I straightened up a little bit here and there.
03:07 However, it honestly only took me five extra minutes on top of putting away the dishes that were in the dishwasher and needed to go away and my house was clean. I even was able to make dinner and pop it in the oven and have it roasting before they showed up. But the real win, on top of dinner being ready when they left, was that I didn't stuff anything into my closets. Nope. Everything went back into its home. So I got to continue to enjoy the space even after my guests were gone as the best feeling. Right? And that would not have been possible without my 21 day decluttering challenge and going through each of the rooms in my home. Now, I don't say this to brag and honestly I am super proud of myself, but I say it to let you know that it is possible.
03:59 You can have a decluttered home no matter what else life throws your way if you wanted any work at it, even if it's just a little bit at a time, as long as you are mindful and do not continue to bring things back into your home faster than you use them or discard them. Okay? So that's why I really wanted to bring this quick decluttering task your way today. Everyone should be able to handle the task we're talking about today. It's completed in one day. It only takes 20 minutes. Nothing you tossed today should be emotionally draining. So there should be no sticking points along the way. So are you ready to get started? Great. Let's take a look at 20 things that you can declutter in 20 minutes in honor of the year 2020 Oh and one quick thing though before we dive in, I forgot, I wanted to tell you about the updated minimalist starter kit.
04:53 So I added a cheat sheet for today's task. So if you haven't picked up a copy of the minimalist starter kit for families, now is the time in the starter kit, you will find a 20 things to toss in. 20 minutes cheat sheet, our five favorite decluttering methods as a family, a guide for getting rid of paper clutter once and for all, and a list of 10 mindsets that are holding you back and keeping your home cluttered. It's totally free and you can get it by going to littlegreenbow.com/starterkit. Again, that's littlegreenbow.com/starterkit.
05:33 Okay, now let's get to that list of 20 things. I'm breaking these up into where you would find these items in your home. So once you have this list, grab a trash bag or a box, turn on some upbeat music, set a timer and get going.
05:48 It really should only take you about 20 minutes if you keep a good pace and you can do this without getting sidetracked. And can I let you in on another secret? 20 minutes is less time than a regular PBS kids show. So even if you have kids at home, you have time to get that set up to keep the ener, the kids entertained if you need to while you're doing this quick decluttering task. Okay? Are you ready? All right. Three, two, one.
06:16 Let's start in your living room or where you watch TV. So the first thing I want you to declutter are old newspapers and magazines. Honestly, you do not need these hanging around if you get behind on newspapers, especially in magazines too, it can be super difficult to catch up. You know you've got this whole stack there, you feel really guilty for not going through them and they just pile on top of each other.
06:40 So do yourself a favor. Get rid of the old ones and start fresh. Now I also recommend actually getting rid of your magazine subscription. I talked about this in another episode, but it only makes you want more when you are looking through these perfect living rooms and these perfect rooms and all this wonderful stuff. It's like a giant advertisement. It makes you feel really bad about where you live and you want something different and that coveting of something else, just it really starts to eat away at you. So honestly, if you're okay with it, I would get rid of those magazine subscriptions and then after today, actually see if you can get your newspapers or your magazines online if you definitely want to keep them. And of course that's better for the environment because they're not printing the paper. But you know what? It's also better for the environment of your home because it's getting those things out of your home.
07:32 It's getting rid of that visual clutter. So that's number one. Let's declutter old newspapers and magazines. Item number two to declutter our outdated media. Now I'm looking at VHS tapes and audio tapes, cassette tapes, you know, any of these old technologies that we just don't even have the devices to play them anymore. Get rid of those. I mean, unless it's one that's a family, um, video and you want to get that digitized, then I highly recommend putting that in a project folder and doing that. But if you just have like old Disney DVDs or something like that, get rid of it. You know? Honestly, this was something somewhat painful when I ran across my niece's old collection of those Disney movies. Do you remember when like giving a movie was a good Christmas present? I know, right? I don't feel like I'm old enough for to have these things like this, but in my life, but I do and you know, we ran across this huge box of DVDs and my sister wanted to give them to me for my daughter and I honestly don't have a way, I'm sorry, I said DVDs.
08:33 I met VHS tapes. I don't have a way to play them. I do not have a VHS player, so it's time to let him go. You know, we got over it. Now we have Disney plus and honestly it has all the Disney shows and all the movies plus it's super convenient and it's not that expensive when you compare it to Netflix or Amazon or something like that. So we really like it makes it super easy and I don't have to worry about storing these things or having a way to play them. Honestly, let go, let them go. You will not miss those. So that's item number two. Get rid of your outdated media, like VHS tapes, cassette tapes, and things like that.
09:13 Item number three to declutter is still in your living room and we're talking about books that you have never read. Oh boy, this can be tough, but you need to let go of those good intentions. And if you decide to read it later, the good news is that you can always either repurchase it probably for less than $20 you can purchase the Kindle version so you don't have the physical book in your home. You can get an audio book version through audible and I actually will link, I have a free coupon for two free audio books, so I'll link that in the show notes if you're interested or you can get it from the library. There are so many other ways to get these books that you've never read and honestly if it's still on your bookshelf, there's a reason you haven't read it and it doesn't make you a bad person to let this go.
10:02 But I know for my own experience, when I see things on my shelf or just around my house that I had good intentions of doing or reading or completing and I don't do them, it actually makes me feel really bad inside. And so getting rid of these things will free up that negative energy that you feel and honestly, those bad things that you tell yourself when you see it on your shelf. You may not even be consciously aware that you're doing it, but deep down you're telling yourself, Oh, I don't have time for my own dreams, or, Oh, I'm such a bad person cause I forgot. Keep forgetting about that. And those things really do add up. So just get rid of it. It makes it so much easier. Trust me, I got rid of a lot of my books and it feels amazing to look over on those bookshelves and see them clean and clear and not have this old old to do list of things I wanted to do for years now.
10:53 So you'll thank yourself later. Get rid of those books that you've never read. And number four, I put these in the living room, but they could honestly be anywhere in your house. Get rid of dead plants if you have dead plants, get them out of your house as soon as possible. Again, talking about this negative energy, when you have dead things in your house, it really does not promote the life that you want. And so just let them go and buy new ones. Or you could even let your kids help you plant seeds so that you can watch them, you know, grow and you can see this new plant come to life before your eyes. Now this is something I want to work on in the future. I have a pretty Brown thumb and so it's definitely something on my to do list for this year.
11:34 I don't have any dead plants in my house cause I've already killed them all and gotten rid of them. But um, hopefully we can start planting some new ones and find a new place for those in our home. So that's number four. Get rid of dead plants. So this is going pretty quickly, right? We're already 20% done. So let's move on. Uh, we're getting out of the living room now or moving on to your office. So item number fine to declutter really quickly is instruction manuals. I guess I should say our instruction manuals now. Honestly, if you have instruction manuals in your house, how often have you referred to them in the past? Probably not these days. We have Google, we have ways to find stuff online and it's actually so much easier than digging out the manual, looking it up in the back. Um, you know in the back index of what your problem is and then trying to find the answer.
12:26 And those manuals usually are not written by somebody who's having the problem. There's somebody that's designed the product or somebody that works in the health field and so they don't generally speak in normal human easy to understand language right there was that just me. So you know, usually I will just go to Google and I will type in the problem I'm having and honestly I'll usually find a YouTube video that is way more helpful. Somebody will have already had that problem. They've solved it, they've documented, they show me exactly the steps, bingo Bango I am done. So I now make it a point to just throw out all of those instruction manuals. I will never need them. And if I do, I can look it up. So that's number five. Get rid of instruction manuals, number six, old cell phones. Now this is one we have definitely been guilty of holding onto in the past because you just don't know what to do with them.
13:20 But nowadays it's great because when you go to get a new phone, a lot of these companies are recycling your old ones or buying back your old ones, stuff like that. So now I feel like they've got a plan in place for these cell phones before. You know, I probably have a few still in a drawer somewhere that I haven't quite gotten to because I haven't decluttered that space. But technology moves so fast and so if you have the opportunity to unload your old technology, do it as soon as you can because that's the only time it's going to be worth anything monetarily. Um, obviously make sure that you clean off all of your own data. That's a whole nother topic. But, um, I just wanted to make a point to say it here and then you just get rid of it. You can also consider passing it down to your kids.
14:06 We have done this, um, for an old phone, um, of ours and we've given it to our daughter. Now it does not have cell capability anymore. Uh, we took out the SIM card so it's only wifi enabled and she can use it for um, playing a game at home on the wifi or listening to um, sounds when we're traveling it becomes our sound machine and we can use it also as a monitor if we need to. Cause we have an app that will work over wifi. So those are some things you can do with old cell phones, but that is number six. Get rid of your old cell phones and other technology to be honest. But cell phones are really easy. So we're sticking with that today. Number seven of things you can get rid of are your receipts. I have covered this in the past, but you really do need to keep receipts that are not business related.
14:55 Now if you need to return something or you buy something and you think you're going to return it, I put all of those receipts in one centralized place so I know where to find them and I only can keep those for a certain, you know, amount of time and I clear them out every so often because you usually can only return things for either 30, 60, 90 days. Or in the case of Ikea, you can return things up for a year. Nordstrom has a really good return policy too. So I generally try to shop at shops, shop at shops, goodness shopping stores that have a good return policy. Um, if that's going to be an issue for you. But other than that, um, just go ahead and get rid of those when you can. You don't need those little pieces of paper everywhere around your home, but if you must and you really want to make sure that you're tracking all of your expenses.
15:46 I have recommended keeping those receipts and checking them against your credit card statements. And then once you have verified that the amount is correct, it is on your credit card statement, it's not a receipt you're going to need for tax returns or business purposes. Get rid of it, toss it out. Okay. That's number seven. Receipts. Number eight are expired coupons. Now these are not useful anymore. They're expired. They no longer hold any value, so recycle them for those receipt. Um, not receipts, sorry for those coupons that are still valid, go ahead and keep those in your wallet, your purse or in your car. Put them somewhere where you are not going to forget them or when you're out and about, you can say, Oh, I have a coupon for this place and you can pull it out and use it. Otherwise, there's no point in having it.
16:31 I cannot tell you how many times before I got myself organized that I would be somewhere out and I would say, Oh my gosh, I have a coupon for that place or I wanted to use that or a gift card or something. Sometimes I wouldn't have kept those in my wallet either and then I couldn't use it. And then the time had passed, it expired and I lost out on money. So keep um, coupons where you can use them and get rid of them as soon as they're expired. And the last thing we're going to look at in your office, um, are duplicate office supplies and number nine are to get rid of those office supplies that you cannot or will not be able to use in the next year. Just let those go. Think about if you have duplicates as some things, you know, keep your favorite one and toss the rest. I'm looking at things like staplers or a hole punch, um, binders, things like that. You know, sometimes we just have the tendency to keep things and not even think about the fact that we never use it because we favor one certain one. So keep the one you love the most and get rid of the rest. That's number nine. Duplicate office supplies.
17:37 Okay, we're moving on to the linen closet. That's our next stop number time. Get rid of your worn bedding. Here is a good rule of thumb. So if you would not let your guest sleep on it, you shouldn't either toss anything that is super worn out, torn or stained. Now I see some lists that tell you to get rid of top sheets that don't have a flat sheet mate for us. We actually like to keep those. They're really good for building forts. I love to put them on the couch when we're going to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie and eat popcorn. They're much easier to keep clean. Um, then my actual really nice couch. So I actually like keeping those extra top sheets. They're really useful for our family, but I toss out anything that's really worn or just gross, you know, from years or that's decades old.
18:26 Yes, I'm getting that old and I do have things that are decades old at this point. So get rid of those things. Toss those out. Um, to get rid of your worn bedding. Number 11, get rid of towels with holes in them. The same rule applies here. If you would not give it to your guest to use, then why are you treating yourself so poorly? Be kind to yourself and get new, fluffy, cushy, wonderful, warm towels, things that you are excited to use when you get out of the shower. They are really simple little luxuries, but they go so far. Now remember, you only need to keep about two to three sets of towels per person. So let go of the worst ones and then replace those old ones when you can. And as you get a new fluffy set, get rid of an old set and just keep doing that until you have that, all the nice towels that you want.
19:19 So get rid of those old towels with holes right now. Immediately though. Okay? That's number 11 okay, we're off to the bathrooms and medicine cabinets next. So number 12 of things that you can declutter quickly in 20 minutes are old medicines and vitamins. Now if they are expired, you should not be putting these things in your body, right? There's a reason they have an expiration date. So if they're old and you need to get rid of them, you want to do so because you're not going to use them and you want to get them out of your house in a responsible manner. So go ahead and take these things to your local pharmacy. They should be able to take those off your hands and dispose of them properly or tell you how to dispose of them. But we don't want to just toss those because they can end up in the wrong hands and you don't want to just throw them down the toilet because they could be bad for our oceans and water systems and things like that.
20:14 So take them to your pharmacy and get rid of those old medicines and vitamins. Okay. Number 13 is sunblock from last year. So as you're looking through your medicine cabinet or in your bathrooms, in your bathroom cupboards or drawers, get rid of the sunblock from last year. Now in our family, we are big sticklers on sun protection, in sunblock. We lost my father in law to melanoma. And this is one thing that we have really taken to heart is we make sure that our daughter wear sunblock and that we try to limit our sun exposure. So contrary to the belief we had when I was growing up, sunblock does actually go bad and it should be replaced every season. Now I know this stuff is expensive, but it's totally worth it when you think that the flip side could be getting melanoma. And honestly this is stuff that your kids will, you know, deal with later in life.
21:07 So this is not something that, you know, you don't see the immediate change immediately. Huh? Sorry about that today. Um, but this is something that you were doing for the health of your family and your children for the longterm. So get rid of this sunblock that is from last year. Make sure that you're using enough. When you use it, you need at least one ounce. That's a shot glass full for an average adult that has a lot of sunblock. So you're probably not using as much as you should. Think about it. Your eight ounce bottle, that's eight applications of sunblock, so make sure you're getting rid of your old stuff, getting new stuff and using it properly. All right, sorry for the little soapbox and PSA, but I'm really passionate about that subject as number 13 sunblock. All right, how are you doing or over halfway done?
21:51 So we're almost there. Let's make our way to your kitchen. Grab your bag, grab your box. We're going to go look in your pantry and your refrigerator. We're going to get rid of expired food. Yup, that's yucky. Now you're not going to eat expired food, so get it out of your house as quick as possible. But here's a little tip. If it's going to stink up your house, you know like your days away from your garbage pickup, just go ahead and put it in the freezer and then dump it in the garbage can. You know, on the next pickup day, that's what I did today. I have a special spot in my freezer where I put all the food. That's bad. I cut chicken up, I put the, you know, chicken fat parts and all that yucky stuff. I put that in the freezer. And then on the day for garbage pickup, I just put it right in my trashcan.
22:37 I take it out. It never stinks at my house and it's super easy to do every week. So highly recommend that little tip. That's number 14 get rid of your expired food. Number 15 go ahead and get rid of duplicate cooking utensils. Open your drawers and take a look. How many wooden spoons do you have in there? Can you get rid of one? What about spatulas or measuring spoons or wine openers? Now these are the examples I'm using because when I recently decluttered my own kitchen, these were the duplicates I had and honestly, we do not have that much stuff. So I know that if I have these duplicates, here's a good chance and probability that you do too, and you really will not miss them. So go ahead and get rid of your duplicate cooking utensils, just like with your office supplies. Keep your favorite ones.
23:29 Those are the ones you use every single day anyway. You won't miss the crappy ones that you're going to get rid of. All right? Okay. Number 15 duplicate cooking utensils. Number 16 get rid of your old kitchen towels. Do you see the theme here with these linens? If you're embarrassed by your kitchen towels, get them out of your house. Anything that stained, ripped, worn out, you won't miss these things. So just one of my favorite things to do is just to get a new talent. Every time I get a new one, I just get rid of the old one. It keeps them nice and fresh and ah, I just hate old kitchen towels. So try to replace those frequently. You will really thank yourself. All right, just a few more to go. Our last op is in our own closets and dressers. Now these are both yours and your children.
24:22 So number 17 get rid of any socks, undies, stockings, or bras that have holes are stretched out or are meatless. No, obviously not all of those need a mate, but you get where I'm going here, right? So have you ever passed over a pair of socks because you were going to a friend's house and you were embarrassed by them because you know they're worn out or they have a hole in and or they're okay, but you're not going to wear them to a friend's house. Those are the ones I'm talking about. Get rid of those socks. I laugh and I say it that way because I'm guilty of this myself. You realize that, right? I tell you a lot of the advice that I also give myself. Okay? But while you're at it, get rid of any other undergarments that are worn out. You know those old underwear that you've had forever and you're just too lazy to go to the store to get new ones.
25:11 Yep. Raising my hand, you deserve to feel great every day. And I honestly believe that that includes wearing things that maybe no one else will see. You know they are there. It affects how you feel about yourself. So get rid of those. Get rid of those things that you just, you put them on and you're like, Ugh, I'm grumpy. Like frumpy. Mom. Don't leave from me, mom. You can do it. Get some nice underwear. Okay. All right. Those numbers. 17 Garrett of those things that are stretched out and have holes in them. Number 18 Oh, help. Grown baby clothes. All right. I said none of these were sentimental. All right. This one could be a little sentimental, but just get rid of one outfit. Keep your favorite ones. Get rid of one. You can do that because you're not, you're probably not looking at them anyway.
26:03 They're probably tucked in the back of a drawer. All smushed up, all crumbled up. So get rid of one that you're not gonna miss. You probably have, this doesn't even have to be baby clothes. This could be just anything in your kid's wardrobe that has holes in them. You know the knees are all stained there. They've outgrown them. I mean, my daughter is constantly growing and even this morning she said to me, these pants are too small, mom. So we get to go shopping again this weekend and get her some new ones because she has already outgrown pants that we bought at the beginning of the school year. So you can find something in your kids' closet that they have outgrown and that you can get rid of number clothes that make you feel bad or uncomfortable. So back to item 17 but more of your general appearance to the public.
26:52 Anything that you feel uncomfortable in has got to go. So if there's something in your closet that you look at and you keep passing it up day in and day out, that's the thing that needs to go. If there's something you put on and you feel like frumpy, mom, get rid of it. Pick one thing in your closet, you will not miss it. I promise. Get rid of one item of clothing that makes you feel bad about yourself or makes you feel uncomfortable when you wear it. And number 20 this is our last thing. Our last item of 20 items to declutter in 20 minutes for 2020 are free advertising tee shirts. Now, in the past I was super guilty of wanting free things and expos. There's activities at the kids' school. You know, I would go to these conferences and things and they would give you the gift basket.
27:41 And you get excited, you get a rush. You kind of are with the group. It's feels good when somebody gives you a gift. But you know what you are advertising for other companies. Every time you wear their logo or you are getting, giving up your precious space to how's this thing that someone gave you that you didn't even ask for? So when you get these things, you really want to take a look and see what's useful, what's not. Get rid of the other stuff. Do not feel guilty about it because remember, nothing is truly free. You are giving up something. You're giving up space, you're giving up. Um, you know you're giving free advertising. So you want to make sure that you are thinking of those things. And one last little point, usually that free stuff, those free tee shirts, they don't look very cute either.
28:28 So keep one for painting or cleaning and ditch the rest. Alright, there you go. 20 items that you can declutter in 20 minutes to start off the year of 2020 better than before. Now I promise you will not miss these items. These are things that you can let go of so quickly and so easily and your house wheel will feel lighter. I promise. Honestly, only good can come from getting rid of the stuff that you do not need around your home. The 20 items listed here are definitely not serving you or helping you or your family to become your best selves. So let's practice letting go of these dingy old things that we definitely do not need in our lives. And as with anything, practice makes everything easier. Now I say this all the time to my child and I'm pretty sure that you probably say it to yours too, right?
29:27 So let's take a dose of our own medicine and practice letting go of our stuff with just these 20 items. And once you see how easy this step is, you will be able to tackle the harder stuff. But it is one step at a time. I'm so proud of you. So let me know if you've done this. I really am curious. And don't forget to download that minimalist starter kit for families. It has some amazing tools in there to get your family on board and to help out, you know, including our favorite, our family favorite decluttering methods. It's got 10 mindsets to help you in your decluttering. It's of course, got the 20 things to declutter in 20 minutes that we listed today, that paper clutter Gehring of your paper clutter once and for all and so much more. It's free and you get access instantly.
30:18 So grab your copy littlegreenbow.com/starterkit. Again, littlegreenbow.com/starterkit. All right, and now it's your turn. I really do want to know which of the 20 items are you most excited to toss when you go through your home. So come on over to my free Wannabe Minimalist Facebook group and share the one thing you are most excited to declutter because of today's show, I can't wait to hear from you and help encourage you on your journey toward less stuff and more happiness. So jump on over to the Facebook group and let me know what you're thinking.
30:54 Seriously, jump over there. It's the Wannabe Minimalist Facebook group. And let me know. It's totally free. I want to meet you there and hear about your journey. Learning from all of you is one of my favorite things so I hope to see you there. Again, it's the Wannabe Minimalist Facebook group and I'll be sure to leave a link in the show notes to make it even easier for you to find us.
31:15 And one last thing, if he liked this episode, I will love it if you would subscribe and leave a comment or rating so others can find the show too. It makes my day so thank you so much to those of you who have already subscribed and to those who have left me comments, they fill my heart with joy. You guys are the best. And that wraps up today's episode. I'll see you next week here when we are talking about more things to declutter so that you can live your best life with your family. Cheers.
31:50 So this episode might be over but we don't have to say goodbye just yet. Head over to my website littlegreenbow.com for tons of great resources, freebies, courses, and a link to join my free Wannabe Minimalist group on Facebook. Let's tackle this thing together, and if you love this episode, it would be really helpful if you left a rating and a review so more families can find the show to your awesome. Thanks and see you next week.