Make decluttering a habit

A little bit, every day, gets the job done

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to make decluttering a habit. If you have
a little more stuff than you probably need, don't think

(00:24):
of decluttering as some huge process involving an entire weekend
or requiring you to take time off work. A little
bit every day, including a little bit of time for maintenance,
even when your home is looking better. We'll all add up.
So even if you are tidy or don't love shopping,

(00:45):
if you have lived in your home for a while,
you have probably accumulated a fair number of things you
may no longer notice. The old shoes in the back
of your closet, or the dried up pins in your drawer,
or the stacks of papers and places where there shouldn't
be stacks of papers. You probably have books you didn't

(01:06):
love and will never read again, or clothes that fit
once but just don't anymore. For some people, spring cleaning
energy means taking hours and hours to clear everything out.
And if that sort of heroic decluttering is speaking to you, great,
But I think there is an approach to decluttering that

(01:26):
is far more manageable, and that is to make decluttering
a habit. If you are getting dressed and pull out
a T shirt and realize it's stained or stretched beyond wear,
throw it away. If you get a dish towel as
a gift and it doesn't fit in your dish towel drawer,
pluck a towel you are not attached to from the
drawer and put it in the donation bag. If you

(01:48):
buy a new book and your shelves are full, give
away a book you already have. If you need lemon
juice for a recipe in your lemon squeezer just isn't
doing the job, throw it away. If you are in
your pantry looking for artichoke carts and you spot the
jar of preserved lemons you bought for a recipe and
never used, make a note to find a recipe to

(02:09):
use them. If you are standing in the kitchen waiting
for something on the stove. To get to the next step,
you could even empty a drawer out or a cabinet shelf,
wipe it down, throw away anything out of date, and
put everything else back. It doesn't have to be dramatic.
It's just a mildly more productive way to pass the time.

(02:31):
You really don't have to systematically declutter. Just make a
habit of giving away or throwing away things you encounter
that you don't need, using things you'd forgotten about, and
giving away things that you have more of them than
you have space for. And if you're feeling especially motivated,
pass the time by cleaning out a very small space

(02:52):
instead of just scrolling around on your phone. Will you
get the satisfaction of opening a drawer and seeing gorgeous spaciousness, Yes,
perhaps in rainbow colored order. Well, probably not, But without
much effort, you will keep your home under control and
avoid the need for a heroic purge. And that sounds

(03:14):
appealing to me. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

(03:36):
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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