L. called me yesterday with another interesting, good (and expensive) idea, and while she was talking about it, she told me about a book she’d been reading – ‘The Slight Edge’ by Jeff Olson. The basic idea (and I’m paraphrasing HER paraphrasing now) is that baby steps really do get you somewhere in the long run. She gave the example of her backyard – her initial inclination was to dive into the project of fixing it up and not ‘come up for air’ until it was done – but she decided to act differently this spring – she took on little portions of the yard at a time, on a consistent basis. Now the result is that the yard looks amazing, and she didn’t wear herself out getting it done.

Another idea that L. gleaned from this book was to end whatever you’re doing on a high note – L. works in an industry where she has to occasionally do some prospecting calls, following up on leads. Sometimes the callers are receptive and sometimes . . . not so much! She’s started making it a point to end up her calling sessions when she’s had a good call with someone (and not ending the calling sessions with challenging calls).

L. mentioned to me that these things reminded her of what I tell folks with decluttering – to take it in ‘baby steps’ – clutter a portion of your space that you can do in a defined period of time (1-2 hours), AND end on a high note – when that portion of your space is decluttered and everything is put back where it belongs (vs having a ‘half-baked’ decluttering project strewn about your space – definitely NOT a high note).

So, friends – let’s all listen to L. and get that SLIGHT EDGE in your decluttering, by taking it in baby steps – a portion at a time, and end on a high note!

As I researched the topic of ethical decluttering and looked at what you were saying about it, I found a lot of references to guilt, and people holding onto things because they felt guilty about the environmental impact of getting rid of the item. 

I have a few thoughts on that:

• First, remember the item is already out in the world – it’s already been produced and much of the damage is done
• Second, when we experience guilt, were focusing on something in the PAST. The fact is – we can’t change our pasts, but we can use our past as a TEACHING MOMENT
• Third, we can dispose of items as responsibly as possible, and modify our behavior going forward so that we mitigate this issue in the future

Our ethical decluttering discussions started with clothes and continued with accessories and undergarments. We finished up talking about ethical decluttering for other home items. I mentioned some specific tips and tricks, but basically everything fell into three categories:

Donating / Gifting /Selling

• Be specific about where you donate items – smaller charities are often better because you know more about how the item will be used 
• Consider specifically giving to different charities, where particular items will be better used (for example, I give furniture items to a local charity in Raleigh that helps people recovering after homelessness, crisis or disaster; I give my clothes to my local rescue mission; you could give dressier or specialty clothes to a local school or theater for their costume department)
• Consider giving items directly to people that need it
• An item is more likely to continue to be used if someone pays money for it, so for more ethical decluttering, selling is a consideration 

Disposing of Items that are no longer useful

• Repurpose parts of the item when you can (cut up fabric for cleaning cloths, to use as pillows/trim, garden ties, masks, etc.)
• Recycle responsibly (vs. simply trashing the item). Check out the EARTH 911 website for ideas of where to recycle various things in your area

Start with the end in mind

• Before you buy something, consider the environmental impact and the lifecycle of the item
• Buy the best quality that you can, and keep it for a long time (or consider buying vintage or secondhand and give a well-made item a second life)
• Choose sustainably made items when you can (they use less resources and chemicals in their production)
• Keep your items in good repair so they’ll last longer

There was a REASON that we kicked off this ethical decluttering discussion with clothes and spent two Facebook lives on items we WEAR and one on all the other items in our home.

Clothes and accessories are EASY to load up on and buy indiscriminately (think about it – we don’t buy a new SOFA each season . . .), and the PRODUCTION of these items really does add up to quite an environmental burden:

• 25% of the world’s chemicals are used to produce textiles
• A simple T-shirt takes seven bathtubs of water (~300 gallons) to produce from a cotton plant to finished product (a pair of jeans takes typically 2000 gallons of water to produce)
• Over 8000 chemicals (several are potentially toxic) are used in making that simple t-shirt
• That t-shirt travels an average of 37,000 km (~23,000 miles – or roughly 10 trips from NY to LA) before you get to wear it
• It’s carbon foot print is ~20x it’s weight

I’m NOT saying any of this to make you feel guilty or make you think that you have to hold onto items that no longer serve you. Just consider these numbers when you buy clothes and make better decisions – start with the end in mind!

It’s always been that way, but we may not have noticed. Before our covid pandemic hit, if our home was just too much for us, we had the option of leaving and going somewhere else (the office, the movies, to our friend’s house who has less clutter than we do) – but now, we can’t easily escape this environment we’ve made for ourselves, and we’re much more acutely aware of how the clutter makes us feel.

If your home is currently NOT supporting you and instead draining your energy and motivation, here are a few quick and easy steps you can take to ‘turn the tide’ a bit:

Play the ‘garbage bag’ game – get a garbage bag, set a timer for 15 minutes and see just how much stuff you can throw out before the timer rings. You’ll be surprised how much you get done, and your home will feel ‘lighter’ once you’re through

Start a 10-day ‘Declutterathon’ – Grab a box and label it ‘Donations’. On Day 1 of your declutterathon, pick ONE thing to declutter, and drop it in the box – on day 2, pick 2 things to declutter, day 3 – 3 things . . . and so on, until you get to Day 10, when you’ll seal the box and drop it off at your favorite donation center (try Good Will, or a thrift shop that supports a local charity – I love donating to our Raleigh Rescue Mission thrift shop). At the end of the Declutterathon, you’ll have decluttered 55 items, and gained some space in your home. If you’re ‘rolling’ after the 10 days, don’t stop . . . keep going!

Start a gratitude practice – every morning, think of 3 things you appreciate about yourself, then follow up with 3 things you’re grateful for – this will focus your thoughts away from the clutter and it’s negative impacts in your space, and will help you get to a place where you want to start decluttering these things that aren’t working for you in your space

The summer that I was 6, I was pretty good at dog-paddling around the pool, but I’d never jumped off of the diving board. This was something that I really wanted to remedy. So – Mom and Dad attached my little floating swimmer bubble tight around my waist and shoulders, walked me up and onto the diving board, then Dad and Jody (the son of the motel owners) got in the pool to catch me when I jumped. I tell ya – I was SO EXCITED to jump, but also really, REALLY scared! I’d walk to the edge of the diving board (it looked about 100 feet high from where I was standing ) bounce a bit . . . get ready to jump . . . .then get scared and scamper back toward the ladder. That went on for a time until my dad figured I just wasn’t going to jump so he got out of the water, supervised my climb down the diving board ladder and headed back to the room. After he left, I stood there, looked at that board, looked at the water and figured – I HAD to jump, or maybe I never would. So, I marched back over to the ladder, climbed resolutely up to the top . . . and JUMPED!!!! Fortunately, I still had my little bubble on, and Jody was still close by – he high-tailed it into the pool and made sure I was OK. I was SO GLAD I’d done it – yes, it was really really scary – I truly wasn’t sure it was something I could do- but when I finally jumped, it was SO EXHILARATING and REWARDING!!

I’m wondering how many of you are thinking about ‘jumping in’ . . . are going up to the ‘edge of the diving board’, but just not taking the leap. Maybe you’ve been considering decluttering your space for a while – you thought about doing it before – you ‘got to the edge of the board’ but you walked back. Or maybe this is the first time you’ve thought about it, and you’re scared – you’re not sure it’s something you can do.

I’m here to tell you JUMP!! You CAN do it . . . and it will be EXHILARATING and REWARDING (just like my 6 year old leap off the diving board)!!!

For me, what started as a simple task to find something fun and pretty to wear (I’ve got a DATE with a new guy on Friday night, so I wanna look the part, you know!) turned into a complete closet overhaul! I started pulling out clothes to try on and realized a lot of them were too big (a result of my focus on eating anti-inflammatory foods for my arthritis – a great side benefit for me has been weight loss), and there were a good many items in there that I never wore! So now my closet is nice and lean and has ONLY things in it that I WANT to wear, DO wear and LOVE to wear.

How’s your closet doing this summer? Is it time for you to do your own overhaul? If so, I’ve got a few tips for you, based on what I did in my own closet.

• If you separate clothes by season, get any fall / winter stragglers out of the closet. I pulled several thicker long sleeved tops, a few heavy sweaters, and a pair of pants out and stored them with my fall / winter gear.
• Next, look at what’s left – if there are things in there that you constantly bypass and just aren’t wearing, pull them out! There were a few tops like that for me, and I pulled them early on.
• Now, pull out the clothes that don’t fit. If you’re not sure try them on (full disclosure – I actually tried on everything in the closet – but it’s not a step you have to take if you don’t want to – I can be a bit anal-retentive at times!)
• Finally, take a look at what’s left – anything obviously stained or ripped or worn? If it just needs a good cleaning or some repair, pull it out and get that taken care of. If it can’t be repaired or cleaned, get it out of your closet – you deserve clothes that are in good repair.

A few other thoughts around closets and clothes. Last year I tried out the idea of a capsule wardrobe. What’s a capsule wardrobe? It’s basically choosing a small ‘capsule’ of clothing pieces ( a certain number – anywhere from 33 to . . . – well, you get to choose – but if you’ve got a lot more than 50 items, you’re probably missing the point) that you wear for typically a 3 month period – and that’s it! You don’t deviate or go shopping for more things – you wear what’s in your capsule wardrobe. The clothes need to be interchangeable, so that they make several outfits. And – you want to make sure that all the items in your capsule are things you love and enjoy wearing (‘they’ tell us that we typically wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time – the idea is to get rid of that 80% we’re not wearing, so that our wardrobe is made up of the things we ARE wearing).What you’re said to GAIN from a capsule wardrobe is more time, more money and more energy for the things you really want to do. I really enjoyed doing it, and it did sort of make sense for me. I did it for a few ‘seasons’ (3-month periods), then got out of the habit of doing so. If you’re struggling with your clothes, it may be something you want to try. For more information on capsule wardrobes, check out >> PROJECT 333 << by Courteney Carver (she put capsule wardrobes ‘on the map’)

And some OTHER thoughts on clothes and decluttering and do we ever really finish . . .I personally think that we are always going to be decluttering and releasing things from our lives – we change, our priorities change, and what we need/want to hold onto and what we are ready to release changes. So I don’t think our decluttering is ever really ‘done.’ That said, there are some cluttering experts that disagree with me. Their ‘school of thought’ is that once you get decluttered, you take a look around you at what’s left and what you need, and then you never exceed that number of things – one in and one out. Doing that, you can keep the clutter at bay and maintain what you’ve done. For me, that process is just a little too rigid and doesn’t allow for the ebb and flow of our lives. However there IS something to be said about getting rid of things that don’t work for you when you bring in new things!

What do you think?

>> Can you get decluttered and maintain it by the one in-one out rule?

>> Or is decluttering an ongoing, organic process for you as what you need in your life changes?

I got to thinking about our conversation and how folks often have a hard time with their decluttering – getting things decluttered and organized, only to fall back into the same old pattern.

Well, I can give you lots of tips and tricks and strategies – and they ARE helpful – but unless you have a mindset change and start thinking about your space and your clutter DIFFERENTLY, you’ll have a hard time maintaining what you’ve done. 

We really need to spend time on our mindset and get to a point where we realize that all this STUFF in our space isn’t serving us and in fact is a burden that is holding us back from the really good things in life. Sit a minute and think about your ideal life – how you REALLY want to spend your life. What are you doing? Who are you with? How are you feeling? I bet all that clutter isn’t anywhere in that vision. In fact, that clutter is almost certainly STOPPING that vision from becoming a reality!

So – CONNECT with that vision of what you want your life to look like. The next time you’re wondering about whether or not to get rid of those tchotchkes or old papers you’ve been saving, or those sweaters you’re not quite wearing, really THINK about that vision, and whether those things are keeping you from it. Doing that may just make it a little easier to let go.

Truth be told, all the closets in my house (with the exception of my master clothes closet) could use a little ‘upleveling’ so I used my tried and true ‘where to start’ quiz and figured out this laundry closet was the place! It was the place that would make the most difference for me and it was one of the spaces (of all the various closets) that I used the most. 

So I took it shelf by shelf, pulled things down, decluttered, and put the items that stayed back in the space in a more organized manner. Here’s the result!

Much more organized and functional! I’ve still got the bins at the top, but instead of being stored up there and looking suspiciously like CLUTTER, now each one of them is labeled and contains some sort of cleaning or household item. Full disclosure here – there were some cleaning items and supplies in the laundry closet to begin with, but not a lot. I actually dug into the linen closet right across from the laundry closet, pulled out all the cleaning items and supplies, decluttered them, and stored all the remaining items in those top bins that you see (now that linen closet has lots of room, and is ‘ripe’ for it’s own decluttering story!).

In the ‘before’ picture, there were four red bins on the right-hand side of the closet. The top two bins were for two different categories of laundry, the third bin contained paper bags and the fourth bin contained plastic bags as well as some items to be recycled (old batteries, old medicine). You can see in the ‘after’ picture that I used a pair of clear plastic multi purpose bins from The Container Store (you can find those bins HERE) to store the paper bags, and I repurposed that third red bin for a third category of laundry. I got the old batteries and medicine out of there, and culled my plastic bag collection to a smaller number, and stored them in a wall mounted plastic bag holder (HERE’S the one I used . . .). It’s currently mounted in that linen closet across from the laundry closet.

This wide shelf contains all my laundry items – I can easily access everything. Note about the little lamb – I have wool dryer balls in my dryer, and they came in a gift set with this cute little lamb. I’m thinking at some future time, I may get some sort of clear glass or plastic container to hold those dryer balls, and I’ll put the lamb in there with them, for a little comic relief! You may not have been able to tell from the ‘before’ picture, but I had a lot of towels stuffed in the back of this wide shelf. These are towels I use for laying out and drying things, dusting and cleaning, and mopping up spills (like I had to do the other day when I left the sink running in my master bathroom . . . but that’s a story for another day!). They’re now stored in the middle bin on the top shelf of the closet.

I ‘decluttered’ my big, heavy ironing board quite some time ago and replaced it with this smaller countertop one that you can juuusst see here next to the washer – and I can assure you that I have NOT looked back since I did so. My mother LOVED to iron, but I assure you I did NOT inherit that tendency from her. I much prefer using my little steamer to get rid of wrinkles in fabric, and only iron under great duress, so this smaller board fits the bill. In the ‘before’ picture, you can see it in the upper right corner of the closet – I never liked it stacked up there, and have been looking for a better solution for it. I found that I can just slide it in next to the stacked washer/dryer, and hang it on one of those 3M Command hooks. A PERFECT use of space, I think!

Well, there you have it – my Laundry closet uplevel. It took me a few decluttering sessions, but I was able to get it to the point that I really like it and think I’ve made much better use of the space. Now I DO have a few more cosmetic tweaks I’ll make to the closet (I really hate that all the fabric bins are different colors – I’m thinking that some fabric paint will take care of that and will give me a nice matching set of bins), but functionally, it’s working perfectly!

What small space can YOU take on that will make a difference in your home?

So, what are we going to do to make this shift?

Here are a few steps you can take to start shifting your mindset:

• First, spend some time figuring out WHY you’ve got clutter – what is that clutter doing for you? Maybe that cluttered office is keeping you ‘safe’ from doing something scary like starting your own business or starting that book you’ve been going to write; maybe keeping all those tchotchkes that your mother and law gave you is balancing out the guilt you feel for not going over to see her as often as you think you should; maybe keeping all those sizes of clothes in your closet are a ‘safety measure’ in case you ‘fall off the wagon’ with your new healthy living lifestyle; or maybe it’s something else . . . YOU get to spend some time digging into it and being HONEST about what that clutter is doing for you.
• Second, figure out HOW you can address these issues in a way that doesn’t involve clutter. Maybe it’s time to take a few small steps toward starting that business or writing that book; maybe it’s time to realize that keeping the things in your space from your mother in law doesn’t have a bearing on your relationship with her – they’re two different issues and keeping things in your space that don’t serve you aren’t really addressing any relationship problems that you might have; maybe it’s time to truly BELIEVE that you can and will maintain your healthy lifestyle, and keeping clothes that don’t fit isn’t serving or supporting you (hint – this works the other way, too . . . all those clothes in your closet that are just a size (or two or three) too small??? Not doing anything for you! Get ‘em out).
• Third, start TAKING those steps you identified above – once you start addressing the issues that clutter was supporting, you’ll find that there’s less and less need for any clutter, and you’ll be more ready, willing and able to release it.

In January I experienced what I THOUGHT was a pulled groin muscle in my left leg. At the time, I was going to physical therapy for my shoulder (it’s all fine now), so we switched from shoulder PT to leg PT. “No problem – I’ve had this before – it’ll be fine in a few weeks” . . . or so I thought. Unfortunately the PT wasn’t helping – in fact, with PT (or in spite of PT) the leg was just getting worse and worse and worse – so I went to an orthopedic surgeon who diagnosed me with arthritis in my hip, which was inflamed by the groin pull. At first, I didn’t believe him – oh I had no doubt that I had arthritis – I’ve got it a few places in my body – but it doesn’t HURT like this. To make a long story short, I started seeing a new physical therapist, and she made me realize that the symptoms I’m experiencing ARE arthritis (seems like arthritis often presents like a groin pull . . . who knew??). Anyway – I am finally beginning to get a bit better, but I think it could be a long road (and just may end in a hip replacement).

And what does this have to do with Let’s Ace Your Space?? Well, as my leg got worse and worse, my productivity PLUMMETED. I can’t sit for very long – in fact, I can’t sit at my desk chair at all – something about that chair and my hip just DO NOT play well together right now. I’ve just recently implemented a new ‘productivity plan’ – I’m doing 2 or 3 1-hour stretches a day at the computer – which will allow me to connect a little more frequently with you guys while I’m going through this leg thing. So, look for a bi-weekly newsletter from me, and also bi-weekly Facebook Lives on Thursday. And if you haven’t done so, please do join our Let’s Ace Your Space Facebook group – I’m planning on doing more engagement in there going forward.

HOMES BY L & L

To complicate matters even more, and compete with those productivity hours, a few months ago (before the leg got bad), I started ANOTHER company – Homes By L & L – with my friend Lisa (L and L – Lisa and Leanne) – we’re flipping houses here in Raleigh (for those of you not in the U. S. and not familiar with that term, we buy older houses, rehab them and sell them for a profit). 

This past week, we closed on our first house!

Here’s a picture of our ‘beauty.’ She needs quite a bit of work (and one of the FIRST things we’re doing is taking down that tree that’s smack dab in front of the house), but we’re excited about the potential. We’re going to be opening a Facebook group and are planning some interesting things to take folks along for the ride while we ‘flip.’ As we get these things set up, I’ll be giving you links to all the ‘stuff’, so you can follow along if it’s up your alley!

As both of my entrepreneur friends were recounting their oddly similar stories, both of them came to the conclusion that the experience was a good teacher – it taught them not to be lax with their online security AND it allowed them to shore up and fortify their online ‘game’ so they feel ready to ‘play even bigger’ in life!

One of our friends, Denise Stegall with Living Healthy List set out some really great tips for how to protect ourselves online. She’s graciously allowing me to reproduce them for you here:

“I had gotten complacent with my online security. According to AARP magazine, (Yes, I read AARP Mag.) most adults have about 200 online accounts that require a password. Think about it… your bank, Amazon, supermarket and well, FB are just a few.

Does each account have a different password? Probably not. I’m guilty. Obviously! So, I did a little research, spoke to a lawyer and a fraud manager at Amex and wrote down the things they told me. I don’t want you to go through what I am so I want to share them with you.

When it comes to passwords here are the top 8 things to do today to protect yourself.

Passwords

1. Use a unique password for every account
2. Upgrade weak and similar passwords; use upper & lower case, numbers and symbols.
3. Keep a written list of passwords. Do not store on your computer.
4. Use a password Manager like Last Pass, Keeper, McAffee True Key.
5. Appoint an emergency contact and let them know where they can find your passwords.
6. Review your computer every week for malware.
7. Don’t open documents or click links from anyone you don’t know well.
8. Do not log into sites with FB or Google. Use a unique password.

Using a credit card online is part of everyday life nowadays so you need to be thoughtful about it. Here are the top 3 things suggested by both the lawyer and Amex.

Credit Cards

1. Call your credit card company and learn about their fraud protection.
2. Get a low limit credit card for online purchases.
3. Do not store credit cards online i.e., Amazon, PayPal. Enter the card each time you use it and do not allow vender to store. It is convenient but if they get hacked your information is vulnerable.

Do these things today! Your online health and your security depend on it!”

Wow – as I read Denise’s words, I’m pretty much guilty of . . . oh maybe 99% of those bad habits!!! I actually HAVE a Password manager program that I never figured out how to use. I think it’s time to revisit it and get it set up!

What about you? What steps are you going to take to protect your online security??