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TERRI: Hey, I'm Terri Savelle Foy Your Cheerleader of Dreams.
Hey, if you've never subscribed to this podcast, just push the
little red button right down there to get consistent teaching
tools and tips to help you live your dreams. Today, I want to
talk to you about six easy ways to declutter your home. You
know, what exactly is clutter? Well, it's the accumulation of
things that impede your ability to just feel relaxed, at peace,
and confident about your living space. It's when you can't fully
rest in your haven because your home has evolved into this never
ending to-do list in your head that constantly just nags at
you. Well, this removal or clearing out will help you find
what you need when you need it, allow you to fully enjoy your
living quarters, and give your mind rest from the overwhelm
that clutter produces. In fact, Julie Morgenstern, she's written
some amazing books, Organizing from the Inside Out is one of
them. She believes that if you can find what you need when you
need it, you're happy with your space, and you don't feel like
your clutter is just getting in your way, then you are
sufficiently well organized. However, if you are ashamed,
embarrassed, feel guilty, and just avoid time at home, then
those are indicators that your clutter needs to be cleared out
and put in order. And the thing is, most of us realize we have
too much stuff. However, we tend to think we just need more space
and then we could get better organized. Well, according to
the National Soap and Detergent Association, yes there is such a
thing, statistics prove that 80% of household clutter is the
result of disorganization, not a lack of space. Now listen to
some of these startling statistics. This is from Joshua
Becker, who he wrote some different things on being a
minimalist. It talks about the need to purge our possessions a
little bit. Now listen to this. There are 300,000 items in the
average American home, 300,000. Well the average size of the
American home has nearly tripled in size over the past 50 years.
Still, one out of every 10 Americans rents an off side
storage unit to house the extra possession. Is that crazy? In
fact, toys. Hey, would you throw me a toy real quick? I read
where the average 10 year old owns 238 toys, but get this,
they only play with just 12 of them. That's crazy. In other
words, we like our stuff. Well at the same time, all these
objects just piled up around us, are negatively affecting our
productivity, our time, our budgets, and our mental health.
Well, I want you to know purging is therapeutic. In fact, I want
to share some decluttering tips that organizing experts
recommend. Now listen to these to see which one maybe you
identify with as being a good strategy to get you going.
Number one, the first one I want to share, and these are all in
my book on Declutter Your Way to Success, but the first one is
the 12 month rule. The 12 month rule. Now, many professional
organizers suggest that this tactic will help you make
strides in your clutter free home. One of the biggest reasons
we accumulate so much stuff is because we have so many old
items that haven't been used in years. Now, this could be due to
fond memories or I may need it one day, that mindset. Well if
you haven't needed it or used it in the past year, the general
rule is to toss it. Give it to someone else, throw it away, or
give it to someone who will appreciate it and even utilize
it. So, that's the first one. Number two is something old,
something new. Now when it comes to clothing, research shows that
we only wear about 10% to 20% of our items hanging in our closet,
about 80% of the time. I'm pretty sure I wear more than
that, but that's not my point. The point is do we really need
this many clothes if we aren't even wearing them? In fact, many
decluttering experts recommend you only give yourself
permission to purchase an item if you remove a similar item.
See, if your closet is already over-stuffed, it's cram-packed,
then remove a pair of shoes before you add another pair. So
for everything you buy, you must remove a similar item. If you
buy a new set of Tupperware, remove the old Tupperware, you
know the ones with the lost lids. Here's the cool thing.
Your old items could be something new to someone else,
so give it away. Number three is the do it now process. The do it
now process. When you take your clothes off at the end of the
day, complete the ritual by either putting them in the dirty
clothes hamper or hang them back up. It's a one step process when
you follow-up immediately. Otherwise, you throw them on the
floor or across a chair, only to be attended to at another time,
but when you're constantly thinking, "Do it now. Just get
it done." It's the same with dishes. Don't stack the dishes
in the sink after dinner because you're just making things harder
on yourself by having to return to that chore at a later time
and tidy up. Load the plates in the dishwasher as soon as you
finish dinner. It's done. And don't create those extra steps
for yourself that only welcome more overwhelming feelings of so
much to do. Just think, "Do it now. Do it now. Do it now." In
fact, just for an example, when you bring in the stack of mail
from the mailbox, immediately toss, just start throwing away
all the junk mail instead of putting them in a pile, looking
through them. You know it's junk, but then you've got to go
back through them again. No. Just think, "Do it now." And
this behavior will instantly reduce clutter and stress that's
building up. In fact, Sarah Felton calls it the 30 second
rule. She said, "If a job takes around 30 seconds or less to do,
do it immediately." Like, put the shoes away. Throw the junk
mail in the thrash. Carry the towels from the laundry room to
the bathroom. Just think, "Do it now." Number four is stop the
junk. Do you know one simple way to cut down on paper clutter is
to cancel the junk mail from being delivered to your mail box
all together. I read where the average American receives nearly
15,000 pieces of junk mail. Well, how much of it is lying on
your kitchen counter right now? We can eliminate this whole
process by going paperless. You could actually have your bills
electronically emailed. It not only eliminates all this
paperwork of decluttering, but it saves you time by not having
to open each bill and sort through them. You could also
automate your bills. If you want to simplify your life even more,
have your bills set up for payment automatically.
Everything from your electric bill, your gym membership, your
savings plan, your phone bill. That's a huge stress reliever.
Number five, consolidate. Do you really need seven frying pans or
32 cleaning products? Or what about 17 tubes of lipstick piled
in a drawer. 27 pairs of socks with 11 mismatched, you can't
find them. We tend to unconsciously collect so many
items that can simply be merged or purged, condensed, and even
tossed in the trash to free up more space. If you discover that
you have too many of an item, purge it. And the last one I
want to share, number six, is to take the 30 day challenge. Now,
I did this one and this can be so much fun. This is an activity
that many who consider themselves minimalists have
employed into their lifestyle of living with fewer material
possessions for the purpose of just finding more freedom. Now,
I'm not advocating or opposing this lifestyle. I'm simply
promoting a clutter-free peaceful environment. Well
here's the challenge. You simply remove one item each day that
corresponds with the day of the month. For example, on the first
day of the month, you just toss one item. You declutter one item
from your possessions. On day five, you remove five items that
have no use to you. On day 15, you declutter 15 items that are
taking up space. On day 30 of doing this decluttering
challenge, you will have removed 500 unnecessary items from your
domain. Isn't that amazing? I actually did this, and it is
very therapeutic. That's major progress, and it's a little fun
in the process. Well, I've discovered that successful
people are organized. So, if your believing God for a new
car, a new job, a new house, a new ministry, a career, one of
the greatest strategies for success is to act as if you
already have what you want to have. Practice excellence on
your way to where you desire to be. Excellence, you know, is one
of the character traits of God. In fact, in Genesis we read,
Genesis 1:31 says, "And God saw all that he had made and that it
was good." Notice it doesn't say, "And God saw all that he
had made and it was average," or, "God saw all that he had
made and it was acceptable or mediocre." No, it says it was
very good. So, we should look at our surroundings, our work, our
home, our pantries, our closets, our cars, our endeavors and have
that same sentiment where you say, "It's very good." So, I
want to encourage you to have fun with this. Get your kids,
your family involved, and watch the atmosphere, the mood, the
environment is gonna change and improve from chaos to peace. I
hope you enjoyed this today, because I really want to help
you develop that clutter-free home. In fact, I wanted to
recognize our subscriber of the week. This is Terry Elizabeth,
Terry with a Y. Terry says, "Thank you for your ministry,
Terri." She said, "I launched my book, an organizing channel, and
your encouragement has a lot to do with that." She said, "I
purchased one of your series in the past and gave it to a
homeless man who dreams of pursuing an acting career." I
love that. "I binge listened to all of your videos when I was
ill and recovering. I put all your videos on a giant playlist,
and since I had to let my own spaces go while I rested.
Whenever I was feeling better, I would turn on my Terri Savelle
Foy playlist and get my spaces back in order." Gosh, I love
that. She said, "I'm naturally organized and passionate about
organization, so it was all your teaching on goal-setting and
pursuing your dreams that got me to the point of finishing my
book." She launched it and is finally starting a YouTube
channel. "You have truly been a blessing to my life. I am very
grateful for you and your team behind the scenes. Many
blessings to you." Well, I am so proud of you, Terry. And to be
honest, I kept saying she because I'm a Terri, but it's
Terry with a Y, so this could be a man. I'm not sure. But I am so
proud of you, Terry, for taking action, decluttering your home,
and living your dreams. In fact, I want to help all of you with
not only getting your surroundings in order, but
getting your life in order. That's why I'm giving you, two
chapters of my latest book, Declutter Your Way to Success,
completely free. Now, you can find the link in the description
to download vital keys shared in this book, but I believe it's
gonna give you the help you need to get started with a simple
plan to declutter your life. Now, for more consistent
motivation, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and
Pinterest. You can find my handles below, or click the
little red subscribe button for weekly videos to make
this your best year yet. Thank you so much for
watching, and I'll see you next week.
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