Declutter with Me! Does Your Stuff Tell You THIS, too?!

The only item I've ever missed is a turkey baster! I'm in my 70's and don't want to leave a mess for my kids and grandkids to go through. My house is so easy to keep clean and I love the space. I wish I had known all this when my kids were little. Life would have been so much easier.

Let go of the $$$$ thought and think real estate, constant management of inventory, actual use ! Peace of mind is invaluable

YAY!! This was vintage Erica from the old house basement declutter, talking out loud of why and where and accomplishing the difficult task

6:05 I know I've said it before, but thank you so much for being honest about how difficult it is to get rid of items!❤🤗🌻 It is so frustrating watching other YouTubers say, "Just get rid of it all! No problems!" 😅 Love your videos and how real they are...it is much more helpful to see an ACTUAL decluttering process and all of the thoughts that go into it. 🎉

Erica. I hope what I'm about to suggest is helpful for you. Have you read the book, "Goodbye Things" ? If so, go back and re-read. My thought process is A LOT like yours is with all of the questioning. Fumio says that if you want to declutter something 5X's but never actually follow through, it is time to part with it. Save yourself all of that back and forth questioning and angst and just let it go. Donate Donate Donate. Bless the other parents in the CO-OP. We humans are not built (with our 5 thousand yr old brains) to deal with all of this stuff and the sheer amount of questioning that goes along with it. Free yourself!

Hi Erica, I'm several years into my decluttering and simplifying journey and generally feel like I have good systems to lean into to help me keep making progress. I watched this video last week and today the "this stuff is lying to me" mantra has helped me finally overcome a decluttering hurdle that had been haunting me for years. The end result is a full bag for the charity shop, a pile for the recycling centre and out of the contents of 2 large archive boxes, just a few items will remain in our home. These however will be put away properly, not left cluttering a surface annoying me every time I used that room. As an added bonus, the space I have created and the visible improvement I have made has made me want to continue making progress in that space. I just wanted to reach out and say thanks. It's always a joy to share part of my day with you, but I'm especially thankful for you and your lovely little corner of the internet today. Sending you lots of love from a very cold and wintery South Wales, UK xx

I used to keep things for my grandkids because I know quality goes down not up but tastes change and things I thought were neat my grand kids could care less about. They do like my old books though so we read and I draw and write silly poems or stories but the rest is mostly gone.

I love how you process in front of the camera! I was saying “DONATE THE BINDERS Erica!!” You made some very good decisions. Love you.

I love watching you process your items. Probably because I have the same conversations with myself when I'm processing mine! And when you decide to get rid of them, I literally cheer out loud at my phone!!! Thank you for being so open with us, Erica. Decluttering is a hard process and definitely not for the weak!

You did it!! You took a deep breath, and did it! I enjoy how you talk yourself (and us) through your decisions! It's very helpful. Well, well done!

The binders fall into the 20/20 rule… if it can be replaced in 20 minutes for $20 or less it can go.. :)

I am a homeschooler as well. The thing that helped me the most was going on a trip for 2 months with the only school supplies being notebook & pencils. Maybe a few chapter books. We went to museums & learned. The kids wrote narrations in their notebooks & learned. We hikedin the forest & learned through observation. We used our pencils & spirals to sketch. I did buy watercolors & watercolor paper along the way when a storm kept us inside for a few days. Unlimited possibilities. We told stories. Free. No supplies. The kids made up games. We played on stumps in Maine. You have a garden- free nature studies. A really helpful question I ask myself now is, “If I didn’t have this (math fraction manipulative or whatever, what COULD we use to learn this? Then sit in the discomfort of need for a minute. Think. You are creating. You will probably come up with 10 ways to teach fractions if you didn’t have that item. Apples, pizza, cutting paper, nature, Googling ideas, library, chalk, etc. See what solutions you could create if you didn’t have the “educational “ supplies. 😁 I think the more you get rid of the more creative your learning will be.

This is a great video... I too used to struggle with the price I paid for things when it came time to declutter... I had to change my mindset. Now I ask myself did I get the use out of it. If I paid $150 for an item, used it for 5 years for 3 kids, that would breakdown to $150/5y= $30 year/3 kids= $10 per kid per year... yeah, I would say I got my use out of it and I would donate it... thinking of it in that way has made it so easy for me to let things go.

I remember when you did your first whole house declutter bc I did it with you. The past few months I'm feeling the same way I was back then. I have ADD so I legit either see the mess and only the mess, or I see right through it. And when I'm hyper focused on decluttering and organizing I overthink EVERYTHING!!! Anyway, thank you for sharing and being such an inspiration. ❤❤❤

Let it go! Erica not worth the worry! You are rubbing off on me! I am learning and absorbing what you say and do!

As I was mentally saying "Donate the binders Erica", I was also justifying why I kept one I'm not using and have no forseeable use for. 😅😅😅 Thank you so much for sharing your process with us. That binder is out of here! ❤️

My grandson gets overwhelmed with too many things.

Good Job Erica !! Now, to find a spot to keep what you want to keep. You're so fun to listen to and I love when you question yourself and then the answer comes to you.

The full donation bin screams success to me as everytime you identified how the kid(s) DO and DON'T learn and whether or not that item was inline with such. What doesn't work is just as vaild of data! It's not a waste or unexpected! You found what DOES work and are providing for that instead of insisting on these other materials and you carry that data with you into future purchases 😉

I love the question "is my stuff lying to me", I'm going to be using that question. Thank you for your honesty of feeling over whelmed.