Decluttering Momentum is KEY for Sentimental Clutter

My two LOL moments were "If you see this in a later video, then I changed my mind" and "I don't type here. I don't know why I did that..." Thanks for the giggles!

It took Dana 12 years to let go of the music box! "Go declutter something easy! SKIP things that are sentimental if they are too hard! Get some momentum going !" Love this! Thank you for your honesty and wise words, Dana! So, so helpful ! <3

Dana, your the Best! I can NEVER again say to myself " I don't know WHERE to start" Begin with the EASY stuff, garbage. Give the decluttering muscle, exercise. The container decides, Where would I go first to look for it? Take it there, Now! Will it fit there? Make room, take sometime away, You are remarkably smart. Thank you for teaching me by sharing your wisdom & experience. Grateful in Seattle.

I have kept a wedding vase (which was a wedding gift) for almost 30 years, mainly because it's also in my favorite color. However I had a falling out with the person who gave it to me....20 years ago!!! Everytime I look at the vase I am reminded of how she betrayed me! Lately, I've finally felt ready to get rid of it despite the fact that its pretty. Its ugly inside. 🙃

I think it's so interesting that when we go through a feeling of change in our lives, that's when we're finally ready to let some things go, and so many of those feelings of change aren't really something we notice at first!

Oh my gosh - we have a photo of me at five years old and ironing with a big smile on my face! Still love ironing - probably because it smooths out wrinkles — when life seems very “wrinkled!”

As I declutter, new things surface, float to the top, in my brain. Almost like there hadn't been room before for them to be considered.

Reid's comments at the end are literally one of my favorite parts of your videos lol

I'm finally over the sentimental stuff hangup. I'm so tired of all the clutter, I am letting go of most of my sentimental stuff. I like the idea of taking pics to keep instead of the actual sentimental clutter.

Great video! I was going to say, you could take a picture of your ironing board and hang it in your laundry room in an artsy way (for example, a black and white photo) that matches your decor, or keep it with your other photos as a memory.

I love you Dana. “I don’t want to talk about it”. Lol. We have soooo many unfinished projects in our house. Thank you Lord, I’m not alone.

Second video of yours tonight that has really hit home with me. My mom died 9 years ago, and I still have pretty hardcore grief going on, but once I started decluttering better in my house and getting big chunks done (hello, closets!), I decided I would finally go through her stuff. I made myself a promise that if it got too upsetting for me, I'd stop and try again some other time. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I went from 2 huge boxes down to 1/2 a box. But there's still a lot of pictures left because I went through it so fast. I'm holding on to that stuff to declutter again later so I can gain more ideas about what the use the things are. Some I'll keep forever that nobody could ever understand, like 3 of my mom's shirts, but a lot more pics need to go and there are probably some other things I can get rid of because I can get a second look at it all. The momentum was the biggest helper! I'm one of those people who are like "this needs to be done right now or I will never get it done." I didn't stop and ruminate or get distracted, I just kept going. She taught me to clean and loved it, so I think about her every time I clean. Decluttering is different, though, because she was the personification of minimalism and I'm not. So I had a little to get rid of the last time we moved, but it wasn't much at all. Sorry for the long post, I just did that 2 days ago and l don't think anyone else gets it.

I look forward to all of your videos! I love how you discuss the thoughts behind your decluttering process! That is so incredibly helpful for me. Decluttering has always been stressful for me, but you have simplified it for me to where it is so fun now! And…you always make me “laugh out loud” and I love that. Thank you for all you do!

Thank you for mentioning that you’ve had regrets. I’ve heard others say they’ve never regretted anything, but I have, so thank you. And also thank you for saying that you got through it. Because I’m getting through it too! ❤️

And I love correcting yourself from "I thought of" to "No, my brain thought of..." Gosh yes my mind has a mind of its own! I lost momentum and really needed help. Thanks!!

You're absolutely right. I've been doing a little bit of decluttering every day for a few weeks now. Just a few items every day that I put into the spare room and then I package up and donate once I have a little pile. It's working so well! And I haven't even touched sentimental items yet.

Omg! I always get frustrated because for me everything is sentimental but, not everything really is, so I try to put that in my mind when cleaning but I just can't and I'm tired of that.

"there's never an end to decluttering" true. I'm focusing on progress or my life will stop until perfection is reached... But I rarely finish projects though 🤔

Just one more thing, a good repurpose for those old ironing boards is they are great for setting up a buffet table, it is space savingly slim, put a disposable (or not) table skirt around it, & you can put hot serving dishes on it & it folds away & stores easily.

The majority of my sentimental items are paper - ticket stubs, cards, photos and post cards (so many post cards). I have limited myself to two large plastic bins to house these items. Every couple years I go through them and get rid of things. Yesterday I started going through my filing cabinet (I wanted to clear out the bottom drawer to store my scrapbook paper) and I came across a whole bunch of sentimental paper. I got rid of the duh items (old car insurance paperwork, old vet bills) but I think I may need more time to go through the other stuff. I figure as long as it fits in the top drawer (organized in different files) I can revisit it another time when things aren't so stressful in my household.