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Secrets on Getting Organized
40 Plays2 months ago
The sisters are getting their houses ready for holiday company, which means organizing and decluttering everything. They speak with Rebecca Dunkle (AKA Dunk) a professional organizer who gives them some secrets, tips and tricks on how to tackle everything from your overflowing clothes closet to donating kids’ toys.
Why Decluttering is Important for Self-Care and Wellness
https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/why-decluttering-is-important-for-self-care-and-when-it-isnt/
What’s For Dinner
Fried Rice
Inspired by Bill Granger’s Sydney Food
3 ½ TBS vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic, finely diced
2 eggs lightly beaten
3 Cups of cooked white rice, preferable cold
¼ Cup of green onion, finely sliced
¼ Cup sweet onion, finely diced
¼ Cup of carrot, finely diced
1 Cup of cooked diced chicken
Mirin
Low sodium soy sauce
Sweet chili sauce – for serving
Place a wok over high heat. Add 1 ½ tsp of oil and reduce heat after a min. Add eggs and partially cook. Remove to a bowl. Clean wok, add 2tsp oil. Add garlic, onion, and carrot and cook for several minutes. Add rice. And stir-fry for 3 min. more. If dry, add more oil. Add a splash of mirin and soy sauce. Stir fry for 30 more seconds. Return eggs to pan. Add diced chicken. Add green onion. Check seasoning. Serve in bowls and top with sweet chili sauce.
We want to hear your comments and questions! Send an email to 3lfpod@gmail.com or leave a comment on our Instagram @3lfpod and be sure to follow us on our YouTube page www.youtube.com/@threelilfishes
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Transcript
Humorous Anecdote and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Somebody asked me to organize an S&M closet. That was different. What? Somebody asked you. Somebody asked you to do what? I don't think I heard you right. Yeah, you did. So how did you do that? I put gloves on. I put gloves on for you. Everyone I put on the phone, I have to figure out if I could talk to them. And I enjoyed talking to the person, went there. She told me it was an exercise room, which technically I guess it would be.
00:00:33
Speaker
Welcome to Three Little Fishes, where three sisters who grew up in the Midwest together but have since spread across the country. I live in Los Angeles. I'm in Nashville. And I live in Philadelphia. We are all married with children. We've all had careers, but now we stay at home with our families. We've all been through ups and downs that come along with life and have always helped each other through.
00:00:57
Speaker
shared stories, and laughed together. We welcome all of you into our daily conversations and hope you have some fun with us. So let's jump in. What's up, fishes? What's up? Hello. I'm just going to
Fishes Bitching: School Challenges
00:01:11
Speaker
jump in. I feel like I want to do a new segment that I'm just going to spring on you called Fishes Bitching. Okay. So I am feeling ah kind of annoyed. So I was on campus for school yesterday or not yesterday, last week. um And I ran into my daughter's teacher and she is in fourth grade. And her teacher is super nice, super lovely. But it happened, to you know, I ran into her and she was saying how Johanna was doing. And I feel like last week might have been particularly like a little prickly.
00:01:49
Speaker
Johanna had a tough week. She had to get a blood test. um They're checking to just make sure that she doesn't have a gluten issue. I don't think she does, but she has to go through all the things, so that wasn't fun. yeah And um they adjusted her diet a little bit, which she didn't like. And she just is worried about it. yeah She's emotional, like me, a little bit. and We call that big feelings. She's a big feelings person. Yes, Johanna was having big feelings last week for sure. And like rightfully so. So um I feel like maybe classroom, she was loud, more loud than normal. And she does have a big personality and a big voice. Again, I think she comes by that honestly. um ah and So there's that there's that layer.
00:02:43
Speaker
But then the teacher was talking about um her schoolwork and academically how she goes in waves, which she does. like She does really well, and then she might fall down on a quiz, but then she comes back up. But she's doing just fine, like nothing that I'm totally worried about. But she does have to work hard. you know Math does not come easy for her. And her teacher did ask me unprompted, do you notice if she flips her letters? And I say sometimes.
00:03:13
Speaker
So we have been watching that, but I've been watching that from the time that she's been in school. And this is severe and dyslexia yeah because I have severe dyslexia. That's right. Um, but no other teachers ever mentioned anything. They've never said that they feel like she has, um, even a winkling or a wink of a learning disability. But this teacher is saying,
00:03:36
Speaker
She is emotional this week. you know I sometimes notice that she flips her letters. you know She concentrates really hard and she really has to focus and takes her a long time, sometimes on work.
00:03:49
Speaker
but she's like, that's okay, but just that's something. And, you know, she, again, she is emotional and she gets distracted. So I said, okay, so what does the school, so you're saying you might see something, it makes sense, I'm severely dyslexic. You know, what here at the school do you recommend? Do you feel like she's a candidate to test her to see if she has dyslexia? Oh no, we wouldn't do that. I'm like, I'm sorry, what? She's like, oh no, we wouldn't do that until she was failing two grade levels.
00:04:20
Speaker
And I was like, what? That doesn't make sense. Right, she has to fail two grade levels before the school will test and intervene. So she has to be behind two grade levels in order for them to intervene yeah with their social worker and test her first learning disability.
00:04:39
Speaker
Correct. That's a big fail. i mean you're richt I mean, not only are you failing school, but there's like a big emotional component to that, I would think as well. Yes. That seems like extreme. Yeah, so you can just hand her test it privately.
00:04:56
Speaker
for sure my takeaway was though and we will be able to do it but it's thousands of dollars to have these kids tested like it's super expensive which is fine if that's what she needs we'll end up doing it but my my big takeaway was like Johanna will figure it out and we'll keep watching and maybe testing. We'll have to do that for her. But like, what if, what if she doesn't have parents that can do it? You're literally going to let these kids fall so hard on their face before you're going to intervene and give them support. I honestly, my, makes me crazy. What are we doing? What are we doing?
00:05:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's not right. You go to a public school. You go to a public school. I do go to a public school. Yeah. But I also want to support the public school. Like, what are we doing? Like, we have all these people talking about how important public school is and how we need to support our kids. But it doesn't seem like we're doing that. So I just, that is my, what are we doing? I don't understand. I'm just surprised by that. Because I thought public schools actually support people with learning, you know, challenges more than like private schools. Well, I mean, I guess what I'm learning is they really have to fall on their face and then it's like not only falling on their face, but then you're going to crush them emotionally before you're willing to give them intervention. It is bananas to me. And I just question, what are we doing? So I just, that's my, that's my little, that's my little bitch session. I'm sorry that I said bitch on, yes.
00:06:35
Speaker
That's okay. I'm sorry you're going through that. All right, friends. I just want to thank everybody who's taking the time to listen and join our conversation. I just want to remind you to please rate, review, subscribe to wherever you're getting your pods, and please invite three of your favorite fishes to jump in on the conversation.
TV Show Recommendations
00:07:01
Speaker
You guys, I'm going to just move us for just one second. um I want to tell you that i have I love TV and I just wanted to tell you that I found two new shows that are actually airing on regular TV.
00:07:13
Speaker
And Tim will probably laugh at me because like growing up, I used to love to watch the old show, Mad Lock, you know, with... Mad Lock. Mad Lock. Yes, Mad Lock. And so they rebooted it with Kathy Bates and I watched the pilot and they did like an interesting spin on it.
00:07:31
Speaker
And I am in. I'm interested. And it's airing on ABC again on Thursday, on Thursday nights. And I think I'm going to make a conscious effort to watch it. And then also on ABC, I don't work for ABC, but you think I would. But I also have high potential with Caitlin Olsen. Yeah, that's cute. but really It's actually really cute. So let's question like likes some fun shows.
00:07:55
Speaker
um Yeah, think I wish that too it's cute. like it I also have a show I just finished watching. It has four seasons. I think it's been renewed for a fifth. It's really smart. It's called slow horses. It is set in London. So everybody's British. So if you can, I put on the closed caption.
00:08:20
Speaker
Rich, my husband hates it when I have closed caption on, because he doesn't have one to read and watch at the same time. But I sometimes have a hard time hearing accents. But anyway, Slow Horses is very, very smart. um It's kind of like a spy show. And it has Gary Oldman in it and Kristen Scott-Thomas. And they are it's very good. So I highly recommend Slow Horses. If you like spy genre stuff, it's good.
00:08:48
Speaker
i like I'm excited. The Lincoln lawyers coming back. Oh yes. I think the end of this week, Netflix makes you be patient because they just, they're, they don't, they're not very quick about getting their shows back. So I'm excited.
Organization and Decluttering
00:09:08
Speaker
All right. Today we are talking about all things organization and decluttering. because Linda, you particularly was, this is on the top of your brain because you're hosting your in-laws for Thanksgiving and you're trying to wrap your your head around that. Yes. I don't know if anybody else experiences this, but whenever I have sleepover guests, I always feel extra motivated to make sure the house is put together. And it may be my own thing, but I like for the guest room to be
00:09:42
Speaker
you know, of course, pick and span and the closets organized. But if I'm having guests for like multiple days, then I also want the pantry clean and the kitchen clean. And like, I want people to be able to find things or me say, go somewhere and you can find this. So I have like a little bit of crazy when I have company.
00:10:05
Speaker
And I'm going to have multiple rooms used because it's a bigger family coming, two families actually. And I'm starting to think about it, which I sort of naturally declutter in the fall and the spring anyway, but I'm going to do like the deep dive. And um so we decided to talk about this. And later in the show, we are interviewing a friend of mine who is a professional organizer on like, that's her side hustle.
00:10:35
Speaker
Unfortunately, the the sound isn't perfect. So bear with us there. But she gave us some really good tips and tricks of the trade. But I was looking up decluttering and there are physical and mental like benefits. And um we'll put a link at the end in the show notes about that. But like, physically,
00:10:58
Speaker
you know, it's good to get rid of extra stuff because you have less dust, less dust mites. So that leads to less allergens in your house if you have allergies. So it's kind of good to kind of clear the deck a little bit. But then also this is something that I really feel is there's an emotional benefit you get rid of the visual extra stuff in your life and it gives you less anxiety. And if you work for home from home, which a lot of us do, clearing off your desk, even if you're a visual worker, like organizing and visually kind of clearing off your space makes you more productive and you're more efficient and you're less anxious. And there's just this emotional component to decluttering that is
00:11:48
Speaker
you know, really powerful. And I actually feel that whenever I fold all the blankets and get everything organized and clear everything up in the space that we live in every day. I mean, it just lifts a weight that it's really nice. So we decided to talk about decluttering. Yeah, I'm always happy when my desk is clean. And it's not at the moment, but I'm happy.
00:12:14
Speaker
So are you girls pilers or filers? Like I file things away, but my husband is a piler. Like his desk has piles of papers and it drives me insane. Cause I'll be like, I can't even dust because you have so many stuff going on, but he feels like he knows where everything is. Are you a piler or a filer? Well, I'm a filer and my husband's a piler.
00:12:44
Speaker
I think that I'm surprised to hear that because Peter has all these folders for our listeners who don't know him. He has all these individual like label folders for like whatever they are. so I think that I'm shocked to hear that he's a filer, not a filer. Well, that's interesting. Yes, he is also a filer.
00:13:08
Speaker
But that comes later. That's like a pile is first on his desk. And then he'll eventually file it. And it may be yours. It could be a long time. You know, my problem is we don't have a ton of space. So if it's super important, I have a file for that. But a lot of times I'm just putting it in a drawer and just I don't want it out. I just want to put it somewhere, which makes Tim in insane. He's like, you just shove things and you don't find a home for them. And then we need it later and you don't know where you put it. And he's not wrong. I do do that. But my thing is don't leave it out. If it's important, if it's important, then you file it somewhere. Otherwise i I can't be responsible for it. You know, it's funny too. Peter will come in the kitchen and I, you know, organize things in the kitchen differently.
00:14:05
Speaker
And maybe sometimes I'll leave a few things out because I'm going to file it or put it away somewhere, but I know it's there. He'll come in and like rim take it and like put it in the cabinet or something. I'll be like, did you move that really important you know paper or whatever? And I'll be like, I don't think so. Well, maybe I did. I'm like, don't touch my stuff.
00:14:31
Speaker
like No, I don't go in your office and like move stuff around. But Kathy, you and Peter, and I don't really want to talk about this right this second, because we talk about it with Dunk late in the later segment. But you and Peter are kind of locking heads a little bit on your closet. So that will be fun to see if you get any help with Dunk moving forward with your conflict. I feel like he and I, we just organize things differently. And it's funny, we even organize
00:15:03
Speaker
We feel about our kitchen like refrigerator. we I'm more a thrower outer and he's like, oh, that's still good. I'll eat that. I'm like, no, you won't.
00:15:16
Speaker
but You ever eat leftovers. Like, but he thinks that we waste food a lot, which I am conscious about that. But I mean, there are times that he'll be like, I saw you throw away something that was like, I mean, it was like hidden in the garbage. Like, how did you find that? hi yeah I sometimes do that with like, something that the kids or rich, you know, want to hang on to. But it's like,
00:15:43
Speaker
rips, there's whole, like something is a muck. Like you can't even donate whatever this is and I'll throw it out and they will fish it out of the trash sometimes. So I have to do it when they're gone because they're crazy. Yeah, Peter said to me all the time was like, you know, I think this is such a common thing because everybody's lives are constantly in movement. When you have little kids, don't you remember those years where you were the kids were constantly outgrowing clothes. So I would have bins and I had them labeled like 2T, 3T, 4T, 6X, like, and I would move the girl, I have two girls, I would move them through those clothes, but then one boy and then I would be donating. It was like a full time job to rotate kids clothes and donate. And then there were a couple of like Christmas dresses that I insisted on keeping and I do have them in a bin.
00:16:36
Speaker
I don't know what I think I'm going to do with them, but they were like nice and cute and I wanted to hang on to them. So I have, you know, a few of those things. But now we're in this phase that is also emotional for me. And that is the kids are moving on out of their lives into young adulthood and getting apartments. So I recently bought new omelet pans and I was trying new brands, which will be a whole nother segment one of these days.
00:17:05
Speaker
And I took the old omelet pans and I put them in the basement in our storage area so the kids could have them when they have their apartments. And my husband went into the storage area because we almost got into a big row even last night because he has a show and he was looking for this particular thing with his drum set and he couldn't find it. And he was like deflecting that I had somehow moved his stuff And he couldn't find it because he would never put it, blah, blah, blah. you know He was like looking for an hour and getting all spun out about it. And I was like, I haven't touched room stuff. I haven't moved it. He's like, you always move my stuff. But anyway, we are he had to go into the storage room. And he was like, this place is a mess. And I'm like, yes, it is.
00:17:57
Speaker
It's definitely do for a redo. Yeah, because we keep moving things around the house, Kathy, like you were doing. Yeah, because people are moving in apartments, then they're going overseas, then they're doing this, then they're going to the dorm. And I, you know, I don't know what to do with my stuff. So it's a real issue. And I need to spend the next few weeks sort of like going through things and using some of the techniques that we learned yeah with our friends. But there's also stuff I feel like I have that are nice things. Like I have these ceramic pots that I thought maybe someday I'll bring it out and put a nice, you know, plant in the living room or something and I never gotten rid of it but it's like
00:18:48
Speaker
It's too nice to pitch, right? its Right. it I feel like it's too nice to get rid of. And I have like brand new, I mean, you guys are going to laugh, but brand new like picnic baskets that my husband and I got for our wedding, like they still have the wrapper on them. From your wedding? Yes. From your wedding? Like 25 years ago? I have one of those too. And you know, I love it and I i can't get rid of it. And it has all the accoutrements in it. like China up and
Interview with Rebecca Dunkel
00:19:19
Speaker
all the things. And it's amazing. But you know why I don't use it? It's heavy. Yeah. The picnic basket's heavy and awkward. So I use my rolling thing. But I can't get rid of it because it's so nice. I have this big problem. Oh, that would be so nice to actually have a lovely picnic. And so I'm not going to get rid of it. sorry But what I have in my basement. I just have stuff. Wow.
00:19:46
Speaker
wow So we're we've been talking about decluttering. We interviewed a good friend of ours, Rebecca Dunkel. She's at a professional organizer and we did a little interview with her yesterday. So take a listen.
00:20:06
Speaker
Welcome, Dunk. We're so happy you're with us today. Thank you so much. Welcome. Is there like a special time of year that you think is better to declutter your house? I think since I've always been a Midwesterner, I usually go when it snows to give me some kind of level of production. And then in the summer when I realized I'm never getting into the summer clothes from the year before, the year before that, and the hopeful file is no longer hopeful.
00:20:36
Speaker
a yeah one things like in a I'll do little decluttering like when I'm looking for a wallet or something that I feel is going to make me look 50 pounds thinner in the outfit. But um yeah, I do two big ones, twice a year. And then I do little ones here and there as a distraction or procrastination.
00:20:55
Speaker
Well, part of the reason that we also start thinking about this, Kathy, can I just put, can I just throw it, throw you to the wolves? And do you want to just like, introduce?
00:21:08
Speaker
so do So you have cleared that in a little bit of a, a little bit of a tiff over your closet. Do you want to, do you want to talk about that and ask her maybe for some professional guidance or help? Yes, I would love to get Dunk's opinion about this. So my husband and I share, I mean, a pretty big walk-in closet. He has his side and I have my side. And then we kind of share a middle, like a row in the middle.
00:21:37
Speaker
that is like for hanging clothes and then we can share the shelf space on top. I mean, you would think it'd be plenty of space, but I have found that he's kind of running out of space and I'm running out of space. But recently I went into our guest room And he said he had like thinned out his closet, and he was like kind of proud of himself. And I was like, great. like It's normally a feat to get him to draw away things. So I ended up, I was in our guest room because we were getting ready to have guests. And I see two racks full of his clothes are in that guest closet. And I was like, what are you doing? like That's not for you. It's for our guests.
00:22:24
Speaker
He's like, who cares? We only have guests like a couple times a year. I said, well, it bothers me. like That is for our guest room. You're like that movie Turner and Hooch. This is not your area. This is not your room. Why is he, can I ask, like why is there spillage? You have a big room and a big closet. I've seen it. So why is there spillage? To be honest, I think some of those clothes were because They're not fitting him quite the way he would like them to. which i relate But you can't keep hanging on to years and years of clothes that don't fit. That's the professional, can you? Can you and should you hang on to clothes that don't fit anymore? I think the hardest thing, I think so many people are guilty of that because you can't say to a loved one, are you holding onto that because you think you're going to fit into it? Let's be honest. Everyone has a little section like that. but
00:23:23
Speaker
I mean, this is a big section. um not Pack it up and be like, hey, I'll make you a bet. Like, let's pack it all up. And if you are itching to go in there within three months, you could take this many items out. And then if you haven't done it in three months, because you're probably going to notice if it does, see six months. And then you kind of realize, okay, I haven't gone in there.
00:23:50
Speaker
And it's hard to do because it's a significant other and you don't want to insult them because they think they're going to hold on to it. Or maybe the clothes legitly have some kind of memory to it.
00:24:01
Speaker
One of my, somebody was telling me, and I don't know who said it, was like, you have the memory from the picture, or you have the memory of what you wrote in the journal. Do you really need to keep a jacket that's super thick? Setting a time limit for it and going back and looking and seeing, okay, it still doesn't fit. I haven't used it. yeah So setting some sort of time limit. Would you do that, you think? Yeah, I actually think I will present that to him.
00:24:28
Speaker
Do what he thinks. And it's actually kind of a good idea for all of us, right? Because there's, oh, we all, like I have some long dresses that I probably am not going to wear again, but I have hung on to. um Like three or four of them, not a lot. They don't take up a lot of space. But you know, the clothes that you know are not going to fit because if you, it takes you a year, the style's out.
00:24:56
Speaker
Right. Sure. Yeah, but maybe your girls will want to wear them later. They'll become their vintage, you know? Their vintage. Yeah, everything I have is vintage. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Well, it's interesting, too, because I actually, on my side of the closet, kind of am in a similar situation where I have I'm running out of space. And I don't know. I think my golf clothes have increased, which is pushing the rest of my clothes to the max.
00:25:25
Speaker
And then I asked my husband if I could share a little part of his closet for my summer dresses.
00:25:33
Speaker
Yeah, we've been having a little like closet war or whatever. you Can you store your stuff differently? like Instead of hanging everything, is there a way it could be folded and stored differently so you maximize your space? we We do have a basement, but I feel like our basement is now getting cluttered.
00:25:55
Speaker
with just stuff we don't want at the top of the house, so it goes to the basement. really it's like a cycle. Are you becoming a hoarder? Are there are you all becoming hoarders? Is this a whole other podcast episode that you need some intervention? I don't know. I think we definitely, we need Doug's help with like, what should we get rid of? Because yeah we do have a nice place in our basement and it's like, should we really get rid of that? But we really haven't used something for 20 years and it's still on our basement. But you have an emotional attachment.
00:26:29
Speaker
And that's what can be tough. And so sometimes it's like a timer. You set a timer, make a decision. Here is this sweater. one You count to 10 seconds. Donate, keep, or toss. And then in 10 seconds, you got to make a decision. Next.
00:26:45
Speaker
You gotta be a little mean sometimes. Oh. That's what you need, some tough love, sounds like. So you know what I kind of struggle with sometimes, and i'm and our mother struggles with, and I want to hear your opinion about this, is the pantry and the refrigerator. Now, I just cleaned my pantry, and I did have some expired canned goods. And I actually ended up throwing them out because,
00:27:13
Speaker
some of them were like four years expired, but I emptied out my, yeah, I emptied out my pantry and I wiped down the shelves and I put everything back according to like product type or whatever. And I looked at all the expiration dates. I did, I will say keep a couple of like dry goods, like beans and stuff that are in a bag that probably expired six months ago, but I just felt like you're dried beans. Like how bad can you go? So what is your, like, do you have a process for the pantry and what's your take on expiration dates? The pantry is a sneaky little devil. You go in there and I'm like, why do I have four bags of almond flour? Like, did they multiply? What happened? And then you realize it goes bad. And so sometimes I just put, straight like, I try to make a strike on it. Like no more pantry items at the grocery.
00:28:06
Speaker
until I downsize. It's expired, it's expired. Like I really don't mess with it. Even though I probably would be fine if I didn't expire, because I probably have enough alcohol in my blood to kill anything. I toss. I usually toss. And I'm like, I just don't want to risk it. Okay. So then do you do that too in your pantry, like to organize by category or? I'm not like, you're blessed with being a good cook. I could, I could plate something.
00:28:36
Speaker
but I'm not a great cook. So I don't have that problem, so I don't really have as many things around. Where I get into trouble is like the things I think I'm gonna do, like the arts or the creativity part, clothing, totally. Like I'm a sucker for something on sale, but then I'm like, okay, something's coming in, something's gotta go out. So that's kind of a good tip too. So if you're buying a t-shirt, a t-shirt needs to go away.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah, I do. I try to do that. Do you have like tips of best way to keep like your but your t shirts? Is there a best way to store them and to keep them? I fold them. I don't love to fold but for me it was a space option. So I just fold them a certain way. Like I tried to watch that Marie Kondo and it was too much. If it It shouldn't be that hard. Don't think that hard. It doesn't make sense. Right. So I just kind of folded what worked for me and what was the best bang for my buck in space.
00:29:36
Speaker
Do you ever have um clients that come to you? So I got in trouble a while back and my child still holds on to this that I did this, but we had moved um and he had all these lovies, you know, lovies, we call them stuffed animals. He had so many and we're getting ready to move. This was years ago. So I put them all in a big,
00:30:03
Speaker
trash bag and I'm just like, well, I'll see if they notice that these loveys are gone. And, you know, if not, I'll just donate them as we move. So we get to our new place and months has gone by and but he comes to me, and he goes, mom, where are all my loveys? Where are all my loveys? And I said, I donated them and you would have thought I cut off an arm. And he still brings it up to this day that I donated his loveys. But honestly, he did not even notice that they were missing, I would say for six to nine months.
00:30:39
Speaker
It's, I think there's that joke about like if you throw out a kid's crayon, you have to do it like a Mexican drug cartel when they don't notice because the things they notice or not. yeah i I'm working with this one family and she had a surprised third and she's getting rid of it. And so I went to pick up some of this stuff and she donates, she donates a lot of it to my school that's in our city and her four-year-olds running after it, like it's gold.
00:31:08
Speaker
And I felt bad and as politely as possible, I told the four year old, it's going to kids that might not have a chance to get toys. And I said, today I know it's tough, but like, you know, if they send you a picture of the kid with your, with the toy, is that going to help you? And so I did that. So I don't really think it's the actual stuff. I think they just want to be included in a way, but then it's tough because they're little and you have to power clean.
Advanced Decluttering Tips
00:31:33
Speaker
Can I ask you another question regarding the pantry? Like I like in space. So my husband and I get into this a little bit there. I have this lazy Susan cabinet, like I have a cabinet and a lazy Susan top and bottom inside. And on the top of the lazy Susan, I have like Tupperware and you know, containers and the bottom are like to go cups and whatnot, but it's not that much space. And I can't like put the tops on the Tupperware containers and store them. So I have to kind of like put the containers inside of each other and then put the um tops, yeah you know, we're underneath.
00:32:14
Speaker
And it's kind of messy and you can't always find a top, but it's there somewhere. And my husband, Tim was like, this is the most crazy system and it's terrible. You can't find anything in here, Nancy. You're so disorganized because the running joke in my family is I don't like clutter. So I just shove it in ah i just shove it in a drawer.
00:32:37
Speaker
a drawer and it's gone. Um, so he's like, this is like more of the same, but I don't know how to store it any better because I don't have that much space. Like, would you have a tip for me or someone like me or how you would manage that? The lazy Susan, I always think is more efficient for food or goods that you're going to go to. And you're trying to be efficient in grabbing them.
00:33:01
Speaker
And the water bottles, I think there's always a swear word where to put those water bottles between the straws and the tops and the shakers. But what's the most important thing? Usually, Lazy Susan's, it's whatever you're using the most, if it's canned goods or different services.
00:33:18
Speaker
And, you know, i I hear you say a lot too. It's like you have to set some boundaries and parameters for yourself for all items in your house because we are kind of excessive. I mean, I'm kind of an excessive person. if I like something. I have a lot of it. But the reality is you don't need a lot of stuff. You just need like a few items for kind of category, whether you're talking kitchen or bathroom or clothing, it's kind of all the same thing, right? Right. You know what I struggle with is the linen closet. Like towels, I do them color coded and I fold them but like figuring out how to keep the hand towels and the washcloths
00:34:08
Speaker
like stacking them because they kind of fall over. And then the bedding is a hot mess. Like I always think, okay, I'm going to get it figured out and I never do. And I'm looking for sheets and I can't find the right size because of course I have like three different size beds in this stupid house. Any tips on the linen closet? Cause that's a nice space. I would be bins. And one then is for the Queen's One Ben is for the King and one Ben is for the Twin Order.
00:34:39
Speaker
because then you just grab like the bin for it. For towels, I i don't even fold the damn towels. So I roll on. Oh, you roll on? Yeah. um they know and So then you stack them on top of each other. And I just stack them on top, because then they don't fall. And then it's kind of easier. like I never have thought about rolling towels before. And it might be easier. It might take up less space, too, in the closet if you do roll them. I'm going to try that tip.
00:35:06
Speaker
Yeah, I like that idea. I'm going to try that too. You could experiment with how you roll it. Like if you loosely fold it and roll it or whatever. And it's just easier. My buddy who's doing an Airbnb out in kind of by Wisconsin Dells, we did that. Like they had all these, their place sleeps 16. So they had linen's galore. And that's what we did. She used a labor maker and we just did twin. And everything in this larger container was for the twin beds. And then We stay to organize that. yeah It's tough if you have a larger house. That's a good idea. I should do that. now What do you think about, like give people an idea, like say you haven't decluttered your house in a while and you have some spaces that you have a lot going on. Right. What are some tips that would help somebody start a decluttering process when they haven't done it in a while? I think make sure you have something that's going to de-stress you.
00:36:05
Speaker
Like if you're like, okay, I have 45 minutes timer. You take everything out, you clean, and then you do three piles. And then you, you look at your time, maybe after 45 minutes of your favorite CD or whoever, I mean, podcast, whatever have you after 45 minutes, you check in. And if you feel like you need a break because you're getting too stressed out, then you need to take a break, go for a walk, like do something for five to 10 and then go back into it.
00:36:35
Speaker
I do better if I have music when I organize because it I get less overwhelmed. yeah yeah It's real easy to get overwhelmed, real easy to forget that everyone has a different level of organization that works for them. And your three piles again are keep Toss, donate. But you have to set a timer. If you're in doubt, count to 10 or I take a picture of myself in it and send it to like Lynn or someone who's totally going to be objective. And you could tell by that first word they said, Oh, that they're being nice, but that's a heck no. Get rid of it.
00:37:18
Speaker
So consistently what I hear from you is set time limits for yourself when you're either decluttering or you're organizing or you're cleaning something out. So set a a set timer and also get yourself three either bins or bags or whatever. One is keep, one is toss, one is donate.
00:37:44
Speaker
and set yourself up. That's a secret to success. Like setting yourself up for that success is getting yourself organized even before you start your organization. And throw that donate in the car ASAP.
00:37:57
Speaker
Because if it sits by for even two hours, you might go through that. My husband would, he'd be like, oh, are we getting rid of that? What? Oh, that's why I have to do it when people are gone. say It's secret. You have to do it. it's great and know my My family joke, they are saying, oh, mom loves to throw things away. Do I love to throw things away? But we don't have the space to just have it take up room.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it's interesting because my family accuses me of the same thing. But also I have heard all of my people say at one time or another when I go in and clean their room and they walk in and you can see the floor and everything is lined up and organized. They feel more calm and they enjoy it more. So I think there is like a visualization thing that is yes stressful if you have too much happening in your space. I love that this is, yeah, I mean, this this was amazing stuff, Donk. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with the listeners, like any other tips or tricks or ideas or stories that you want to share with them? I don't know if I could say this when you might edit it out, but somebody asked me to apply as an S and&M closet. That was different.
00:39:19
Speaker
What? Somebody asked you, somebody asked you to do what? I don't think I heard you right. Yeah, you did. So how did you do that? I put, I put everyone I have to figure out if I could talk to them. And I enjoyed talking to the person went there. She told me it was an exercise room, which technically, I guess it would be. And for Like, I went in, and she's she was very cool. She's like, are you still game for it? I said, yes. I said, but I am trying to ask. i said this is She goes, how would you organize something? I said, how often do you use it? She's like, that's what I was thinking. So she literally had to help me. I didn't know what some things worked. And um yeah, we organized it. She wanted clear bench, so she could see everything.
00:40:12
Speaker
um Yeah. So sometimes it's just someone that needs a plus one to help them organize. And there's no judgment. There's no judgment in organizing. And she was totally good. She's like, it's just organizing. It's just something different that you're organizing. I was like, true. like Did she get rid of anything? We can't donate any of it.
00:40:34
Speaker
Right. All right, girls, anything else? No, this is very helpful. Thank you, Donk. Thank you, Donk, so much. This was so fun to have you on and give me some tips. Good. Kathy, I want to hear what happens when you say that to the husband. Let me know. I will. I will let you know.
00:40:53
Speaker
It was great to spend some time um listening to Donk give us some tips and tricks of her trade of decluttering and organizing. Thank you so much. We hope all of our listeners Had a couple of takeaways from that, and we appreciate her sitting in. Let us know if you have any tips or tricks that you would like to share with the fishes. All right, y'all, what's for dinner? Well, tonight I am going to go very simple. We're having chicken fried rice and a side salad. I have a recipe that I will share in the notes. um It is a family favorite, so that and a side salad. Sounds good.
00:41:31
Speaker
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