To me decluttering is the easy part, the rush I get from open spaces is addictive. The hard part for me is when I’m done with every square inch of my house and there is nothing left to get rid of! That’s when I start slyly eyeing up my husband’s spaces like his closet, bathroom and desk and he won’t let me “help” him get rid of stuff!! Decluttering is very adrenaline producing till you are done and still have the “urge to purge” and have nothing left you don’t really need to keep. Maybe I’ll check out the garage…..
Your comment is exactly how I feel. I'm done decluttering my stuff, but my husband doesn't want help and wants to keep alot of his things. I don't know where to put all that adrenaline. I also watch decluttering videos as a hobby! 🤣 We should be friends. Lol
I have taken photos of hundreds of things we got rid of and I go back and try to remember the items, only to see the photos and not remember most of it. It really is freeing to live with less.
"Feel the fear, do it anyway, and we can know that we will be okay." I'm going to tackle my back bedroom--the dumping place for stuff that should be sold (not gonna happen), extra organizing bins I can't use, & children's toys & books for grandchildren (they've outgrown them, & I don't think any more grandchildren are in my future)....and I'm going to repeat that sentence out loud while I'm going through stuff. I've been putting it off out of fear. Your videos are always so helpful & motivating. And btw, LOVE the hair.
The guilt is real.... I just keep telling myself that someone else will use and appreciate it. I recently for a "store" for people and families going from a shelter situation to a home. They can shop for free to set up their home. I can't tell you how my attitude has changed because of this. Thank you Rachel for talking about this. It will pass
If we don't get rid of all our crap, how will anyone know which items are important to us? If we treat our important items like crap, on the floor or shoved in a closet, how will anyone know it's not crap?
Im glad i found your channel a few days ago. I can’t begin to tell you how hard it’s been the last 15 years of Downsizing and loosing my husband. Im down to the hard stuff now. 18th century furniture nobody wants, they want ikea. I don’t have room. Beautiful practical dishes but i dont have room. Beautiful clothes but I’ll not wear them again. I have a large bag from today to bring to goodwill. Funny when you said let the go and bless someone else. That’s what I was telling myself. I feel better and now want to do more. Im over it and simply tired of it. It’s been years of downsizing! It’s the stuff now that is worth something but i cant let it be a weight. Thank you for what you are doing.
You are exactly right about negative emotions. I have had a couple not so good relationships and I always felt that "stuff" related to those relationships carried negative emotions. I thought something was wrong with me wanting to ditch everything I could related to those situations. To me it is removing toxins, lol. Feels so much better don't even miss the stuff.
Hit the nail on the head - hard! When you said it's easy to keep the "stuff" packed up than to deal with the emotions - bingo! There it is, that's why so many of us keep the boxes of all that useless stuff, it's easier to avoid the emotions than hit them head on. I also hate crock pots...I don't even cook. This was an excellent video! TY
thank you, i am in a life transition and i feel so hard.. not the physical act of bringing out the stuff but the emotional process in fact.. but diving into it, step by steps help me to face and heal.. but i feel i need to do it, to move on, and allow to let space and flexibility to move, for the new season of life and feeling that it will bless others, really help me to let go :) thank you for your message, it is helping 🙏🌟😘
Great comment, Rachel. This is one of those videos to watch over and over for encouragement and for a "refrersher course". I especially appreciate your comment about your Christian faith and not making decisions based on fear. --- I and a disabled sibling are the only people left in our family and I'm thinking about donating two very old family Bibles and a 1764 German devotional book with hinged covers to a local museum. There are no relatives to whom I can pass on these family treasures. It would be strange not having these links to ancestors from two and three centures ago but something has to be done so the books don't just end up in a second-hand book sale or even the trash.
Thank you Andrew. That would be so great to donate them to a museum, it is helpful if we can decide what to do with things so they can go where we want them to, instead of waiting until it's too late.
I really appreciated the possible things one can say to oneself regarding donating things, especially “It has served its purpose in my life. It can go bless someone else now.” Thank you for what you do, Rachel. It’s been really helpful for me in getting rid of more than I ever thought I could. And valuing what I do keep as I’m paring it down to the essentials.
Decluttering is easy. Sentimental items is not too easy to get rid of it. The hardest one is collection of decluttering items that can't be sold or donated, they make space in home. Get rid of them is not easy since they're still in good condition but no one wanted them.
Do you ever regret giving something away? When we moved I gave away dolls my grandmother and parents had had when they were children, and they had given them to me. They were deteriorating, and I only have sons, so I gave them to Goodwill. I panicked several times after that, dreading that my folks would ask to see them again, and I also missed them too. You're right, those feelings pass within moments, but I still have slight regret. But I'm less cluttered!
I'm 27 and go to counseling and sometimes your videos are so spot on that I swear it's a spiritually led counseling! Haha This video once again spoke exactly yo some feelings I had been dealing with. You're great! Thanks for taking time to make these! ☺️💓
I really loved the idea that extra staff won't help with emergency. In my country emergency is always a possibility, and this concept will help me greatly. Thank you!!!
We gave up our home and belongings 4 years ago, to live simply to make it easier to enjoy our old age together. Nothing left for the other to sort out. Of course we still have a few treasures but most things that were difficult to part with we kissed and thanked for its service and passed it on for others to enjoy as we have.
Looking forward to this! Dealing with sentimental stuff is the hardest of all because of the emotion involved. As usual, your written introduction above is absolutely spot on! You are a very wise and insightful woman. 🙂
Wow! I think this is the best video i've seen discussing letting sentimental and tough stuff go. Thank you so much. I will watch it again when I get to this category in my decluttering process. Thank you for your channel and your words- they are so hope giving and helpful. Have a lovely day :)
I love your channel and videos! You are very wise and have a very comforting tone. I have been decluttering for over a year, going through parts of my home several times. It gets easier and I have faced several fantasy selves that I have let go. I’ve accepted that I can’t expect my husband to feel the same, but I do think he is starting to let a few things go. There are still a lot of screw drivers though! 😂 My last big thing to tackle is photos. Wish me luck! Thank you for helping me make progress! ❤ PS, your hair is super cute today!
and what i notice.. i feel happier to feel it will be used directly by others... this help me really to let go. and more i let, more i notice, that life brings us what we need when needed.. it improves confidence in life 🙏🌟 the first steps were easy.. then i arrive to a state of contentement and feel more space and time to dive into passions and relationships more than caring the stuff that made me overwhelmed, more than blessed. so i feel it a shame.. to feel that way indicates me i have to offer, let all these blessings for others, as i had more than enough, for sure. even if not in an apparently luxury life style, i had enough for sure. so it shift to feel so much love and gratitude for life.. and since it shifts the feeling.. (i do not know if i success to express it clearly) then, an unplanned situation... calls me to let all nearly... i felt it unsettling at first, but i feel to let go will allow to start new as i feel i have to move in another place.. as where i rent accumulates situations calling me to go.. attachment to what the stuff represents, is what is hard to process but when focusing on the new that it will allow, this shift of focus idea is what help me too to let go.. if my little experience can support encourage others too, as reading listening others help me in this process. with no judgement for those doing this or that. we do as we can, step by step, love for everyone 😘🌟🙏
What is a good way for families in poverty or low income to approach minimalism? When we allready have so much less than most anyway? The just in case talk is very real for low income families.
When we were low income, we had so much stuff - people gave us clothes and toys and all sorts of things because "we needed it." I was grateful for kids clothes, but at some point we had so much that I forgot all we had for the kids to grow into and I would buy what we needed at thrift stores and find clothes I had saved years ago, that were now too small. So I stopped trying to manage all the extra stuff and acknowledged that it wasn't hard to acquire things. The things we always needed were school supplies, toiletries, clothes and food - nothing else actually helped us. And the clothes issue- well, if I had been a minimalist, it would have made it much easier to organize excess clothing and know what I had. Too often we buy because we feel we need to buy when it's cheap and "save money," but if we buy and have excess, spent more money than we would have if we had just purchased only the needs, when the need arose.
Great video Rachel you get right to the heart of difficulties of decluttering and minimalism. I sent your videos to my daughter who lives in a small farm house hoping she will understand decluttering simplifying help with anxiety of people seeing it. She is dIscouraged but cant seem to move forward. Thank you great information,
I came from having nothing so when I worked so hard to overcome my challenges and acquire the things I always wanted and needed it's hard for my husband to say it all can go or it needs to go.
I sort of have the opposite problem with the crockpot. I could really use one, I love soft “textureless” food, but I still haven’t bought one yet because I don’t want another thing crowding up my tiny little kitchen. 😂
For me getting rid of things has never been an issue, its bringing stuff in thats always been a problem. I love buying stuff for my family guess its my love language, i finally reigned it in this past year 🙌
@@Nourishingminimalism i was mentioning to my husband about how long it takes to clean clutter in our house and my husband said "every item we buy takes a chunk of your time everyday to maintain it" total lightbulb moment for me
Your screw driver thing reminds me of the old movie “conspiracy theory” where Mel Gibson is compelled to always buy copies of Catcher in the Rye reminds me of my husband and his compulsion to buy snow scrapers and socket wrenches 😂
I really struggled to let things go just in case I need them. I have about 7 sets of different hair straighteners but rarely straighten my hair. I am trying to sell some On Facebook coz they are new. But I find that people want you to give things away. They don't want to pay what they are worth. Which makes me want to keep them.
I have a question, not about decluttering, but about a minimal take on setting up a house. My husband and i have recently moved in a surprisingly large house, with room to have house guests! What a blessing! Also very needed as we have a large and loving extended family. But we've always lived in tiny apartments and really kept our stuff paired DOWN. Now I'm struggling to figure out how to add stuff to this enormous place without it becoming chaotic or cluttered. Help?
I would just stick to the essential furniture for the extra rooms and then close the door and pretend it isn't there until someone stays with you. 🙂 There is no need for extra decor or things to fill it "because it feels empty" if you enjoy the decor, feel free to add what you enjoy but focus on function, and once the function is met, don't shop for anything else.
I agree with Rachel. A variation on Parkinson's Law is that your belongings will expand in order to fill all of the space that you have available. Even without consciously buying anything, you'll find it will soon fill up!
@@Nourishingminimalism thank you!!! Yes, there's almost a whole wing I can close the door on...My mom also suggested I just furnish the master bedroom first and then we wouldn't have any more money in the budget, haha.
It's not so much about the stuff . it's more painful because of a feeling of not being needed anymore by children or others. Our talents and treasures are no longer needed Or wanted. There a sense of having much less time left Compared to how much time has already passed.
Also, check out the channel The Hoarder's Heart and start with the older ones first and then see how far she has come. It will take time but you can do it!
"As a Christian I don't want to be making decisions based on fear," is so helpful and really food for thought. Thank you.
The worst is when someone passes away. This video was perfect. Thank you 🤗🍃🍂🍁🎃💗✝
I like your comment that yes, it takes time to declutter but in the end you gain time. So true and a new way to view the process.
To me decluttering is the easy part, the rush I get from open spaces is addictive. The hard part for me is when I’m done with every square inch of my house and there is nothing left to get rid of! That’s when I start slyly eyeing up my husband’s spaces like his closet, bathroom and desk and he won’t let me “help” him get rid of stuff!! Decluttering is very adrenaline producing till you are done and still have the “urge to purge” and have nothing left you don’t really need to keep. Maybe I’ll check out the garage…..
So then you need a hobby that gives you that same satisfaction 😊
@@Nourishingminimalism I have a hobby that doesn’t create any clutter: watching decluttering videos on UA-cam, haha
Your comment is exactly how I feel. I'm done decluttering my stuff, but my husband doesn't want help and wants to keep alot of his things. I don't know where to put all that adrenaline.
I also watch decluttering videos as a hobby! 🤣
We should be friends. Lol
@@taniayoungson5614 me too 😊
I agree with both of you! 😂
I have taken photos of hundreds of things we got rid of and I go back and try to remember the items, only to see the photos and not remember most of it. It really is freeing to live with less.
You're on the right path and a brilliant role model to your children. Life is NOT about things.
"Feel the fear, do it anyway, and we can know that we will be okay." I'm going to tackle my back bedroom--the dumping place for stuff that should be sold (not gonna happen), extra organizing bins I can't use, & children's toys & books for grandchildren (they've outgrown them, & I don't think any more grandchildren are in my future)....and I'm going to repeat that sentence out loud while I'm going through stuff. I've been putting it off out of fear.
Your videos are always so helpful & motivating. And btw, LOVE the hair.
The guilt is real.... I just keep telling myself that someone else will use and appreciate it. I recently for a "store" for people and families going from a shelter situation to a home. They can shop for free to set up their home. I can't tell you how my attitude has changed because of this. Thank you Rachel for talking about this. It will pass
I am so glad that I found you on UA-cam.
If we don't get rid of all our crap, how will anyone know which items are important to us? If we treat our important items like crap, on the floor or shoved in a closet, how will anyone know it's not crap?
I've started sorting through things whole listening to you!!
Im glad i found your channel a few days ago.
I can’t begin to tell you how hard it’s been the last 15 years of Downsizing and loosing my husband. Im down to the hard stuff now. 18th century furniture nobody wants, they want ikea. I don’t have room. Beautiful practical dishes but i dont have room. Beautiful clothes but I’ll not wear them again.
I have a large bag from today to bring to goodwill. Funny when you said let the go and bless someone else. That’s what I was telling myself. I feel better and now want to do more.
Im over it and simply tired of it. It’s been years of downsizing!
It’s the stuff now that is worth something but i cant let it be a weight.
Thank you for what you are doing.
You are exactly right about negative emotions. I have had a couple not so good relationships and I always felt that "stuff" related to those relationships carried negative emotions. I thought something was wrong with me wanting to ditch everything I could related to those situations. To me it is removing toxins, lol. Feels so much better don't even miss the stuff.
Hit the nail on the head - hard! When you said it's easy to keep the "stuff" packed up than to deal with the emotions - bingo!
There it is, that's why so many of us keep the boxes of all that useless stuff, it's easier to avoid the emotions than hit them head on. I also hate crock pots...I don't even cook.
This was an excellent video! TY
thank you, i am in a life transition and i feel so hard.. not the physical act of bringing out the stuff but the emotional process in fact.. but diving into it, step by steps help me to face and heal.. but i feel i need to do it, to move on, and allow to let space and flexibility to move, for the new season of life and feeling that it will bless others, really help me to let go :) thank you for your message, it is helping 🙏🌟😘
Love how you describe motivation; waiting for it to come. Nope, not how it works.
Great comment, Rachel. This is one of those videos to watch over and over for encouragement and for a "refrersher course". I especially appreciate your comment about your Christian faith and not making decisions based on fear. --- I and a disabled sibling are the only people left in our family and I'm thinking about donating two very old family Bibles and a 1764 German devotional book with hinged covers to a local museum. There are no relatives to whom I can pass on these family treasures. It would be strange not having these links to ancestors from two and three centures ago but something has to be done so the books don't just end up in a second-hand book sale or even the trash.
Thank you Andrew. That would be so great to donate them to a museum, it is helpful if we can decide what to do with things so they can go where we want them to, instead of waiting until it's too late.
I really appreciated the possible things one can say to oneself regarding donating things, especially “It has served its purpose in my life. It can go bless someone else now.”
Thank you for what you do, Rachel. It’s been really helpful for me in getting rid of more than I ever thought I could. And valuing what I do keep as I’m paring it down to the essentials.
Thank you Rachel ❤
Decluttering is easy. Sentimental items is not too easy to get rid of it. The hardest one is collection of decluttering items that can't be sold or donated, they make space in home. Get rid of them is not easy since they're still in good condition but no one wanted them.
Do you ever regret giving something away? When we moved I gave away dolls my grandmother and parents had had when they were children, and they had given them to me. They were deteriorating, and I only have sons, so I gave them to Goodwill. I panicked several times after that, dreading that my folks would ask to see them again, and I also missed them too. You're right, those feelings pass within moments, but I still have slight regret. But I'm less cluttered!
I'm 27 and go to counseling and sometimes your videos are so spot on that I swear it's a spiritually led counseling! Haha This video once again spoke exactly yo some feelings I had been dealing with. You're great! Thanks for taking time to make these! ☺️💓
I really loved the idea that extra staff won't help with emergency. In my country emergency is always a possibility, and this concept will help me greatly. Thank you!!!
We gave up our home and belongings 4 years ago, to live simply to make it easier to enjoy our old age together. Nothing left for the other to sort out. Of course we still have a few treasures but most things that were difficult to part with we kissed and thanked for its service and passed it on for others to enjoy as we have.
Looking forward to this! Dealing with sentimental stuff is the hardest of all because of the emotion involved. As usual, your written introduction above is absolutely spot on! You are a very wise and insightful woman. 🙂
Wow! I think this is the best video i've seen discussing letting sentimental and tough stuff go. Thank you so much. I will watch it again when I get to this category in my decluttering process. Thank you for your channel and your words- they are so hope giving and helpful. Have a lovely day :)
I love your channel and videos! You are very wise and have a very comforting tone. I have been decluttering for over a year, going through parts of my home several times. It gets easier and I have faced several fantasy selves that I have let go. I’ve accepted that I can’t expect my husband to feel the same, but I do think he is starting to let a few things go. There are still a lot of screw drivers though! 😂 My last big thing to tackle is photos. Wish me luck! Thank you for helping me make progress! ❤ PS, your hair is super cute today!
and what i notice.. i feel happier to feel it will be used directly by others... this help me really to let go. and more i let, more i notice, that life brings us what we need when needed.. it improves confidence in life 🙏🌟 the first steps were easy.. then i arrive to a state of contentement and feel more space and time to dive into passions and relationships more than caring the stuff that made me overwhelmed, more than blessed. so i feel it a shame.. to feel that way indicates me i have to offer, let all these blessings for others, as i had more than enough, for sure. even if not in an apparently luxury life style, i had enough for sure. so it shift to feel so much love and gratitude for life.. and since it shifts the feeling.. (i do not know if i success to express it clearly) then, an unplanned situation... calls me to let all nearly... i felt it unsettling at first, but i feel to let go will allow to start new as i feel i have to move in another place.. as where i rent accumulates situations calling me to go.. attachment to what the stuff represents, is what is hard to process but when focusing on the new that it will allow, this shift of focus idea is what help me too to let go.. if my little experience can support encourage others too, as reading listening others help me in this process. with no judgement for those doing this or that. we do as we can, step by step, love for everyone 😘🌟🙏
What is a good way for families in poverty or low income to approach minimalism? When we allready have so much less than most anyway? The just in case talk is very real for low income families.
When we were low income, we had so much stuff - people gave us clothes and toys and all sorts of things because "we needed it." I was grateful for kids clothes, but at some point we had so much that I forgot all we had for the kids to grow into and I would buy what we needed at thrift stores and find clothes I had saved years ago, that were now too small. So I stopped trying to manage all the extra stuff and acknowledged that it wasn't hard to acquire things.
The things we always needed were school supplies, toiletries, clothes and food - nothing else actually helped us. And the clothes issue- well, if I had been a minimalist, it would have made it much easier to organize excess clothing and know what I had. Too often we buy because we feel we need to buy when it's cheap and "save money," but if we buy and have excess, spent more money than we would have if we had just purchased only the needs, when the need arose.
I appreciated this video. You hit upon my fears.
Great video Rachel you get right to the heart of difficulties of decluttering and minimalism. I sent your videos to my daughter who lives in a small farm house hoping she will understand decluttering simplifying help with anxiety of people seeing it. She is dIscouraged but cant seem to move forward. Thank you great information,
Thanks, Rachel.
Btw, you've slimmed down so much recently, that I hardly recognized you. Congratulations!
I was thinking the same thing! Very noticeable
For me decluttering is hard because I regrets quite anything I have decluttered.
Thank you for this. I really enjoyed everything you said and realized how true they are. You are motivational and that's great!! 🤗
Never had a Crockpot 😅absolutely loved this your channel is amazing 🤩 so much help & wisdom love it 🥰 thanks Rachel ❤
I came from having nothing so when I worked so hard to overcome my challenges and acquire the things I always wanted and needed it's hard for my husband to say it all can go or it needs to go.
Excellent minimalist video. Very thought through and helpful! Thank you.
I sort of have the opposite problem with the crockpot. I could really use one, I love soft “textureless” food, but I still haven’t bought one yet because I don’t want another thing crowding up my tiny little kitchen. 😂
For me getting rid of things has never been an issue, its bringing stuff in thats always been a problem. I love buying stuff for my family guess its my love language, i finally reigned it in this past year 🙌
Good for you! How did you do reign it in? That's difficult for so many.
@@Nourishingminimalism i was mentioning to my husband about how long it takes to clean clutter in our house and my husband said "every item we buy takes a chunk of your time everyday to maintain it" total lightbulb moment for me
That's excellent!
Your screw driver thing reminds me of the old movie “conspiracy theory” where Mel Gibson is compelled to always buy copies of Catcher in the Rye reminds me of my husband and his compulsion to buy snow scrapers and socket wrenches 😂
😂 We all have our thing!
@@Nourishingminimalism for sure!
Really great advice!
Your very wise, I am really enjoying visiting with you. 💕NonnaGrace 🐓
I really struggled to let things go just in case I need them. I have about 7 sets of different hair straighteners but rarely straighten my hair. I am trying to sell some On Facebook coz they are new. But I find that people want you to give things away. They don't want to pay what they are worth. Which makes me want to keep them.
Thank you for your words of wisdom. Also, you look slimmer. Have you been working on slimming down? Will you share details? ❤
I got away from watching your videos. I watched this one and a couple more and actually got a box of stuff cleared out of my bedroom.
Wonderful! ❤️
I have a question, not about decluttering, but about a minimal take on setting up a house. My husband and i have recently moved in a surprisingly large house, with room to have house guests! What a blessing! Also very needed as we have a large and loving extended family. But we've always lived in tiny apartments and really kept our stuff paired DOWN. Now I'm struggling to figure out how to add stuff to this enormous place without it becoming chaotic or cluttered. Help?
I would just stick to the essential furniture for the extra rooms and then close the door and pretend it isn't there until someone stays with you. 🙂 There is no need for extra decor or things to fill it "because it feels empty" if you enjoy the decor, feel free to add what you enjoy but focus on function, and once the function is met,
don't shop for anything else.
I agree with Rachel. A variation on Parkinson's Law is that your belongings will expand in order to fill all of the space that you have available. Even without consciously buying anything, you'll find it will soon fill up!
Feel free to take 200 books from my house to fill yours! 😂😘
@@Nourishingminimalism thank you!!! Yes, there's almost a whole wing I can close the door on...My mom also suggested I just furnish the master bedroom first and then we wouldn't have any more money in the budget, haha.
Timely ... as I need to Declutter faster & having deep pain as lost my wonderful blessing , my mother suddenly,, so it’s quite heavy...
I have no problem decluttering. I tell myself 6-10 items daily. I end up tossing 30+ daily. Eventually I'll get to items that are harder to unload.
It's not so much about the stuff . it's more painful because of a feeling of not being needed anymore by children or others. Our talents and treasures are no longer needed Or wanted. There a sense of having much less time left Compared to how much time has already passed.
You lost weight and look great! What did you do?
❤
The Soup tureen...is that a Homer Laughlin? Its beautiful. Are you the lucky owner?
Hi I am Anne, I am a hoarder. I really need help. I am a train wreak.
Also, check out the channel The Hoarder's Heart and start with the older ones first and then see how far she has come. It will take time but you can do it!
You look like you have lost weight. Makes you look taller somehow. 😊