Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to make decluttering a habit. If you have
Speaker 1: a little more stuff than you probably need, don't think
Speaker 1: of decluttering as some huge process involving an entire weekend
Speaker 1: or requiring you to take time off work. A little
Speaker 1: bit every day, including a little bit of time for maintenance,
Speaker 1: even when your home is looking better. We'll all add up.
Speaker 1: So even if you are tidy or don't love shopping,
Speaker 1: if you have lived in your home for a while,
Speaker 1: you have probably accumulated a fair number of things you
Speaker 1: may no longer notice. The old shoes in the back
Speaker 1: of your closet, or the dried up pins in your drawer,
Speaker 1: or the stacks of papers and places where there shouldn't
Speaker 1: be stacks of papers. You probably have books you didn't
Speaker 1: love and will never read again, or clothes that fit
Speaker 1: once but just don't anymore. For some people, spring cleaning
Speaker 1: energy means taking hours and hours to clear everything out.
Speaker 1: And if that sort of heroic decluttering is speaking to you, great,
Speaker 1: But I think there is an approach to decluttering that
Speaker 1: is far more manageable, and that is to make decluttering
Speaker 1: a habit. If you are getting dressed and pull out
Speaker 1: a T shirt and realize it's stained or stretched beyond wear,
Speaker 1: throw it away. If you get a dish towel as
Speaker 1: a gift and it doesn't fit in your dish towel drawer,
Speaker 1: pluck a towel you are not attached to from the
Speaker 1: drawer and put it in the donation bag. If you
Speaker 1: buy a new book and your shelves are full, give
Speaker 1: away a book you already have. If you need lemon
Speaker 1: juice for a recipe in your lemon squeezer just isn't
Speaker 1: doing the job, throw it away. If you are in
Speaker 1: your pantry looking for artichoke carts and you spot the
Speaker 1: jar of preserved lemons you bought for a recipe and
Speaker 1: never used, make a note to find a recipe to
Speaker 1: use them. If you are standing in the kitchen waiting
Speaker 1: for something on the stove. To get to the next step,
Speaker 1: you could even empty a drawer out or a cabinet shelf,
Speaker 1: wipe it down, throw away anything out of date, and
Speaker 1: put everything else back. It doesn't have to be dramatic.
Speaker 1: It's just a mildly more productive way to pass the time.
Speaker 1: You really don't have to systematically declutter. Just make a
Speaker 1: habit of giving away or throwing away things you encounter
Speaker 1: that you don't need, using things you'd forgotten about, and
Speaker 1: giving away things that you have more of them than
Speaker 1: you have space for. And if you're feeling especially motivated,
Speaker 1: pass the time by cleaning out a very small space
Speaker 1: instead of just scrolling around on your phone. Will you
Speaker 1: get the satisfaction of opening a drawer and seeing gorgeous spaciousness, Yes,
Speaker 1: perhaps in rainbow colored order. Well, probably not, But without
Speaker 1: much effort, you will keep your home under control and
Speaker 1: avoid the need for a heroic purge. And that sounds
Speaker 1: appealing to me. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.