Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - It’s Tough Love Declutter Time - Grab a Trash Bag | Clutterbug Podcast # 297

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

If you’re tired of clutter, chaos, and holiday stress, this tough-love decluttering pep talk is for you. I’m sharing how I finally stopped blaming myself for the mess and started getting mad at the real problem — the stuff stealing my space, time, and peace. In this episode, I talk about what it really takes to get ruthless with your home, set boundaries before the holidays hit, and finally break free from guilt, shame, and “what-ifs.” You’ll learn how to declutter fast, say no without feeling bad, and make room for the things (and people) that actually matter. I’m also diving into how to simplify Halloween, prepare for Christmas early, and protect your energy during the busiest season of the year — all while keeping your home calm, cozy, and clutter-free. If you’re ready to take control, ditch the overwhelm, and fall back in love with your home, grab a trash bag and let’s do this together.     You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/   #clutterbug #motivation #toughlove #declutter #decluttermotivation #motivation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, clutterbugs, welcome back to the clutterbug podcast. I'm bringing some tough love today. I want you to be ruthless. I want you to grab a trash bag and I want you to grab a spot for donations to go in. And honestly, I don't even care if you donate anything and you put those donations in the trash because today, you are saying enough is enough. I am tired of living in a messy house. I am tired of stuff shuffling the clutter. I am tired of managing the mess. It leaves today. I want you to pick a space in your home and I want you to ruthlessly get all the things out you don't use in love because at the end of this podcast, I want you to have a clear space. I want you to be proud of yourself. I want you to look around and say, wow, this looks good and I'm awesome at this. And it's

going to require a little bit of tough love. It's going to require a lot of bravery, but you can do this. I recently did the all-day declutter with Take Your House Back, and during my sessions, I get really passionate. And we did this all-day declutter, and I was in the bedroom with clothing. And I found myself, I don't want to say yelling, but kind of yelling, because it gets to the point, it really does. Like, now that I'm on the other side, it gets to the point where I just want to shake you all. Do you know what I'm saying? because I get to experience life without the roadblocks, without the friction. I get to see how much extra time I have, how much happier I am.

And I want that so freaking badly. Like it's such a night and day transformation that when somebody says, oh, I know these jeans don't fit me and they make my muffin top look, but maybe like if I, and I'm just like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Every morning you wake up, you drag your butt out of bed, you go to your closet, and you have to play which of these jeans don't give me a muffin top. Not only are you stealing minutes of your life, which, that's a day, which add up to hours, which add up to days, which add up to years, which add up to your entire life. not only are you stealing the most precious thing on the planet that you have, which is your time,

but also you're allowing your closet to call you fat and tell you you have a muffin top. I'm saying this because this is me. Okay? This is me. I go through my clothing and even though I've decluttered, all of these little friction-causing things are just stealing from me. And when do we say enough is enough? When do we get to the point where like, I'm not doing this anymore? I am not allowing these inanimate objects to take from me, to call me names.

Let's get rid of them once and for all. And so I want to bring that energy into today's podcast. I want to take the gloves off and be a little tough with you because I needed this in the beginning. I needed to get to a place where I stopped blaming myself. I stopped being mad at myself for the mess, calling myself names. And I started being mad at the real enemy, which was the stuff. I started placing the blame where it belonged.

And that is on all the junk that not only is stealing my space, but it's stealing my time. And most importantly, it's stealing myself love and self-worth with all the nasty things it's saying. Because every time you look at a pile of clutter, you are telling yourself that I need to get to that. Why are you so lazy? Why is that here? Every time you look at clothes that don't fit you, you're saying, why am I not working out? Why did I eat that extra cookie? Every time you look at a space that feels like chaos, what it's really saying to you, what you're saying to yourself is, I'm not good enough and I don't deserve a clean home. And I say, what if you change the narrative? What if you get mad at the squatters? You left your front door open and a bunch of random squatters moved in. And what are you?

doing, you're offering them beverages. They're random people just laying all up on your furniture, curled up on a floor on the corner in your living room. You got them stacked on your kitchen counter. And you're like, excuse me, do you need a snack? No, you need an eviction notice. Enough is enough. Your crap has to go. It is mean. It is a toxic bully and it's ridiculous that you are allowing it to stay in your home because you feel bad. You don't want to hurt its feelings. Or you feel bad that you should or could or someday use it. Take Your House Back is a course that I run with Dawn from the Minimal Mom and Dana from

a slob comes clean. And we've been doing it now for, I think, like five years. The three of us came together because we were all slobs and we all found our path to a clutter-free, organized space. But we came at it from really different approaches. So the three of us got together and we kind of teach how to have it in your own home. And then we decided, what if we declutter live all day with everybody who's part of the team? And now we just had our 14th all-day live declutter. And I found after doing this like 14 times, I get less nice each time. Like I just want the transformation so bad, I want a shortcut to the end. Like, can we skip to the good part for people?

Because there's 30,000 members as part of Take Your House Back. And during these events, they're posting their before pictures. They're posting their progress. They're posting their after. And I'm seeing these incredible transformations that can happen in a day. In one day, there are rooms that people can't even walk in and at the end they will post pictures of them sitting in there with their family. There are pictures of people who can't even sleep in their bed. And at the end of the day, it looks like a freaking hotel. I see this and I know it's possible, but I also see the pictures of people who spent all day and have three things gone. Right. We have to be tough. We have to be ruthless. and we have to make that mindset shift of today's the day, I say no more.

So I do an hour and then Dawn does an hour and then Dana does an hour. And then we do an hour with the three of us together. And then we rotate back. So I'll do two hours of coaching and then two hours with Dana and I. So four hours total. And the whole time that's running, we also have this Zoom meeting that's open for body doubling. while people are also decluttering all day as an entire community of 30,000 of us all at the same time. And it's motivating because I declutter the whole day too, whether I'm live or I'm watching

Don and I'm watching Dana. But I'm also really in the comments like watching the pictures because that's where the real magic is for me. It's seeing what people can actually accomplish when they decide today's the day. When they say today's the day, I'm picking up a trash bag and I'm making a difference. And you will see people who have said, my house has been cluttered for 15 years. I haven't been able to use this room or I haven't been able to see my floor over here. And in one day they changed their lives. In one day. And that's the kind of transformation I feel like anyone can have when they decide to get tough. I know that the most I've ever had on one live with me was 15,000 people.

15, like try to picture that many people in a room and they are all together doing decluttering at the exact same time, which is a massive amount of people. I am definitely the meanest because here's the thing. Dana takes this, she has this no mess method and she's like, we're not having any emotion. It's all logic. We're taking stuff where it is now and we're removing things to make room and we're not dealing with anything stressful. We're just logic. And Dawn is like, it's your season and you love yourself and give yourself grace. And I'm like, then it's my turn. And I'm like, what are you doing?

This is ridiculous. You hate your bedroom. You're sleeping. Some people, I mean, I used to do this. So I can't even. I'm not judging. We're like curled up on a corner of our bed because most of the bed is covered with piles of laundry that need to get put away. Like this is redone. Why? Because all of that clothing doesn't fit in the closet. Also, redonculus. So it's like, when does it get to the point where you're just like tired of living like this? And it's time to make a change. Where does it get to the point where you can say, tomorrow I'm going to wake up to a clean bedroom? And that can happen faster than you think when you are brave and strong enough to say, I'm not letting this stuff that isn't earning its place be in my home any longer, period.

I'm filling bags. I'm filling boxes. I'm trusting my gut and I'm getting it the heck out. And some people don't want to hear that. Some people don't want to hear that. And they're not ready. But if you are, maybe it is this tough love approach you need. I needed a tough love approach.

I spent so long wringing my hands. I spent so long with a messy house. I was everything I would touch, I would say like, oh, but I'm not sure. Like maybe, maybe I'll use this. Or maybe my mother-in-law will be upset if I let it go. And I don't want to make a mistake. And it was expensive. What if I have to buy it again? Oh, my gosh. And here I am giving so much power to every object that I haven't used and I don't even like. I'm giving my time. I'm giving it the space. I had to get mad. I had to get really freaking. angry, not at myself, but at the stuff and for it just existing in the first place. And when I was

able to transfer that anger at where it actually belonged and get mad at the stuff, it was a lot easier to get rid of it because I saw it as a squatter. I saw it as a thief of my joy. And it was very easy to then just get rid of it forever. I just like literally 10 minutes ago got off a virtual call. I'm helping a client and she's doing a great job. But she has so much. much to get through. And she also has so much identity clutter, whether it's crafting. She loves bags. She had so many. And everything I could see, the hesitation, she picked up this bag, and she was like, it's homemade, and it's from Nepal. And it was a gift, and it's homemade. And I know her brain is saying, this probably took 20 hours to make. And she's seeing the love poured into it. And she's seeing,

you know, all of this, all of this pressure. But when I said to her, do you like it? You know, it? Not really. Do you love it? No. What would you wear this with? There was these cracks. There was these cracks through the guilt and the shame to the real root, which is that item is not earning its space. That item is not worthy of a place in her home because she doesn't use it and she doesn't, you know, it doesn't matter who made it. Holy crap. It doesn't matter if you don't love it. And then she she was able to say, yeah, actually this can go. And I think sometimes we do need that push. I think sometimes we do need to have that bit of tough love to get through the shame, the guilt, the pressure, the obligation, the what if, all that narrative that society tells us in our parents

of like, we don't waste. We have to reuse. Keep things that are spent. You know what I mean? There's so much pressure to keep. Sometimes we need to push back and push back hard. to break through to the simple solution, which is like, do you love it or not? And if the answer is no, what the heck is it doing in your house? The holidays are coming up. I feel like the holidays amplifies the pressure because it comes with, you know, the sentimentality and the traditions and the gifts. There's like so much excess, right? It's not just the Christmas decorations, which is a ton. It is the wrapping paper. It is the old gifts that we've received. It is the things we now buy to give to other people. And we think about the tradition aspect too. Like, are we supposed to

bake cookies with the kids? There's just so much pressure. Do we need new cookie cutters? Do we know where our old ones are? Let better. Oh, my, all of it. All of it is so freaking stressful. And what's crazy is this is supposed to be the most magical time of the year. And if you speak to most women and ask them, what is the most stressful time of year, they will say the holidays. We have this crazy love-hate relationship with this time of year, and the hate comes from the excess. The hate comes from the pressure. The hate comes from the guilt and shame. And we really don't need any of that if we just got a little tougher.

If we put boundaries on our time and on our home and in ourselves and said, no, no more. boundaries are more than just like I put boundaries on my space by saying I'm not allowing things into my home even if it's a gift if I don't love it and I won't use it but also we need boundaries on our time on our calendar on our day on how much we schedule we can't go to every Christmas party we can't go to every event that's in the community where they do the lighting of the tree and we have to take our kids to cut down it there's just so much pressure that we have to have to to be really ruthless and say no to the things we don't absolutely love. And there's guilt. I don't want to hurt people's feelings. And I don't want to, all of that, we need to just say,

that's not priority. The priority is myself and the things that I love. It is. Everybody always says, like, you know, as the mom, when you're on the airplane, and those things drop down, you know, because, like, you're going to crash and the mask drops down from the ceiling and you're supposed to put it on yourself before you put it on your child and everything in us is like, I'd better put it up, make sure my kids are safe first. But without you having oxygen, you've passed out and everybody's dead. That sounds morbid and horrible. But the reality is, if you're not taking care of yourself, if you're not happy, if you're not feeling at peace and rested, and you're not chaotic, like, right? If you're chaotic and everyone's suffering, you're a better mother, you're a better partner,

you're a better friend, you're a better neighbor when you put yourself first. A few years ago, five years ago now, I created this holiday home challenge. It's totally free. I'll put a link in the description below, but you can go to clutterbug.com slash holiday home and also download it. It's a workbook that walks you through step by step different spaces and it allows you to start like today with getting ready like for guests and cleaning out the pantry. Like these small little things that we always procrastinate till right before the holidays and then we're in this horrible rushed state. What if we spread this out?

And this is exactly what the holiday home challenge does. It maps it out for you so you can chip away at things. and so that you can put boundaries on your time so that you can strategically tackle the holidays without the excess and have a real plan for a stress-free, tidy, clutter-free holiday season. And there is going to be a ton of stuff coming into your home during the holidays. Everybody gets you gifts and it's crazy, pants. But we can do things now to mitigate the clutter after the holidays. And some of my favorite things to do are actually go through your own things and do a light

declutter and go through your kids things and declutter not only to make room for what is to come, but also to get an idea of what you need. When you have excess everywhere and you're like, what do I want for Christmas or what are my kids need for Christmas? It's really hard to know when you haven't taken actual inventory. And the act of just going through your stuff and deciding, yeah, I love that or I don't. can open up those like holes in your inventory like, oh, actually my kid doesn't have any pants that fit. Or he would actually love a new video game because he got rid of these three that he doesn't

play anymore. It's important to do this. It's important to make room for the things that are coming and not to wait to do it after you already have even more stuff. One of the, okay, how do I say, I'm just going to say it. I hated Christmas for a really long time. And here's why. I have divorced parents. And this sounds awful, but all my parents' parents were alive. So I had, and Joe's parents, and then Joe's parents' parents were all alive. So we had like eight Christmas parties that were just family every year. There's what, four weekends in December and all of them wanted it like the weekend before Christmas. Okay. So then everyone's inviting us. There were years where we would go to three to four Christmas parties in a day. And it was

literally just rushing from place to place. And I was panicking the whole time. The whole time I'm at one Christmas party with like Joe's grandma. I'm just, my mom's texting me, when are you guys getting here? We're waiting to do it. I'm like thinking about having to go to the next party. I didn't enjoy any of it. And then we would literally have to take two trips to take everything back to our house because our van was so full of all the gifts people would bought it. It was a nightmare. Okay. The holidays had turned into this gross nightmare of pressure and clutter and just guilt and shame. So I had to get to the point where I said no. We're not. And guess what? The hardest no was the fact that Joe's mom said to me, I always want to do Christmas morning with

my kids no matter what. I want my kids to wake up in my home Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. So I had Isabel and I would sleep at her house and then I had a second baby and here I am lugging all Santa's gifts. Santa's came to Joe's mother's house plus all the other and it and what the I'm sleeping on the freaking floor. And then one year my daughter Abby had the flu. She's throwing up all over me all night and I'm getting up putting a smile on my face at somebody else's freaking house doing Christmas morning and I started screaming like a mad woman. I'm not doing this anymore. I want to be in my own home. And here's the thing. I was thinking this the whole time. I just wasn't brave enough to say it like a human being in a calm way. I was people pleasing and

people pleasing until I hit the point where I just lost my crap and was look like a little. lunatic. And after that, I have boundaries. I do not go anywhere on Christmas Day. I sleep in my own bed Christmas Eve. Sorry Joe's mom sucks to suck. I am a mother. I make the decisions for my own children. And guess what? She comes to our house and she goes and she travels and that's what she likes to do, but it's okay to put yourself in your own happiness first. And I think more than anything, I model this now to my children because I don't want them to ever feel that pressure to. I want them to be able to stand up for themselves and say, I don't want to do this. I don't want to go to that party. Guess what? Just because I invite you to come to my house for a party, I might not want

you to come. Okay. This might be an obligation. We are all just trying to people please each other when really we all just want to order Chinese food and stay home. Okay. So let's be honest. Let's have boundaries and let's not feel bad for having them. It isn't mean. It isn't rude. It is the real way to have a happy, fulfilled holiday. I'm spiraling right now. And I'm, apologize. We're talking about the holidays. It's, it's not even Halloween yet. We have a few more days until Halloween. But I feel like if we see the decorations in the stores while there's still pumpkins and skeletons, we see Christmas decorations, it's okay to get a jumpstart on the planning and the talking. But yeah, we still do have to also talk about Halloween. It's just one thing after

another. And then in the U.S., you guys have Thanksgiving coming up. This is a bonkers time of the year. There is so much packed into such a short amount of time that we have to be strategic. We have to have a plan. And we have to be proactive instead of being reactive. That is our normal state, right? We react. We react to the clutter. We react to like the drama and the chaos that comes up.

What if we can be proactive and like stop it before it starts? I want to share some proactive things that you can do. to like get a handle on it. But since it is just a couple of days to Halloween, let's talk about some ghosts and ghouls we may encounter while we're taking action on your stuff while you're decluttering. Because there is, there is like, I mean, I'm being cheesy and tying it in, but decluttering can unearth some scary, spooky, horrory things. Like coming across those ghosts of money long wasted. The ghost of like I shouldn't have, ooh, I found that protein powder that I spent 60 freaking dollars on. I cracked it. I tasted it. It tasted like absolute butthole. And yet I left it in my

cupboard because $65, right? That is a ghost haunting you. Every time you see it, it's haunting you. It's haunting you. It's like the ghost of $65 from the past. What if we, exercised those demons and ghosts. What if we said enough is enough? It's leaving. And I'm not just talking about the wasted money. I'm talking about the things that are bullies too. Those like, you know, those nasty, horrible cheerleaders from your high school, their ghost dressed as cheerleaders telling you you're not good enough that you have a muffin top and that your bat wings look extra bat-wingy in that shirt? Why are we keeping?

Why are we keeping things that make us feel bad about ourselves? Ridiculous. We're ghost busters up in here. Let's zap it. It's all slimer. It's leaving. We're getting tough. I'm getting a little off with the ghost things.

But it is. It's all the toxic, nasty feelings of guilt, shame. I should keep it. This was sentimental. my uncle Bob, my uncle Fester gave it to me. I don't actually like it, but I don't want to hurt his feelings. Boundaries. It's okay to say no. It's okay to say no about things coming into your home. It's okay to say no about things that I've been in your home for 20 years. It's okay to say no, you're leaving because I deserve better. And you do deserve better. And you're not going to

organize your way out of a messy house. It's just not happening. You have too much stuff. Your things will never fit in the house you have today. You have too much. It has to leave, period. And when we break it down to its easiest part, we are exercising, we are eliminating, we are getting tough, we are evicting only the things we don't use and the things we don't love, period. Every year on Halloween, we go to our friend's house. We have a, like, a costume, family costume party. So I have to find a theme costume where everyone in my family were all the same theme. I go overboard, okay? I go overboard. Joe gives me a budget. I spend every last freaking dime of it. And this year, Milo gets to pick the theme. So he wants to go to Spirit Halloween, whatever he wants to wear with trick-or-treating with his friends. We're going to base our family car. costume around at that. Last year we were ghosts. It was bad. It was a bad. I was very tired. I was

horrible in the firefighting. But the year before that, we were like beetle juice. It's just, it's such a joy. It's such like a bright spot in my day. And I'm really passionate about Halloween, like a giant freaking nerd about Halloween. But that also leads to clutter. I have five totes filled with costumes that I definitely should declutter because I'm certainly not wearing the same family costume two years in a row, right? I need to get tough on myself too. So here I am like, you need to let things. I also need to declutter and let things go. Let's do it together. Let's say enough is enough. We're going to make our life easier. And we can still enjoy the things that we love, like Halloween or hosting Thanksgiving or having a big, wonderful Christmas. But we can eliminate the parts of it that

aren't serving us. I want to take a second to thank today's podcast sponsor, Cozy Earth. Years ago, I switched to Cozy Earth bamboo sheets, and honestly, there's no looking back. I say this over and over again, but it feels like luxury when I climb into bed at the end of a long day. They're so soft, and no matter how many times I wash them, they're still just like the day that I got them. I also love that their temperature regulating. So I stay cool. I never feel overheated. Even when I pile on the duvet. Absolutely gorgeous. But then I've tried their pajamas and their hoodies, their bamboo clothing. All of it is incredible. I absolutely recommend. And if you want to give it a try, Cozy Earth has a 100-night sleep trial so you can try them out. Their sheets, they're betting. If you

don't love it, you can return it, hassle-free. And they also come with a 10-9. year warranty. Go to cozyearth.com and use my code clutterbug to save up to 20% off because home isn't just where you live. It's how you feel. Let's go home with cozy earth. Now it's time for my favorite part of the podcast, which is talk to Cass. Let's hear from Angela. Hi Cass. When I was decluttering my aunt's house, she was a hoarder and she left the house to me and I had to clean it out. and I found a switchblade in the Christmas decorations, right there amongst the ornaments, a pearl-handled switchblade. Weirdest thing. That is weird and also kind of cool.

Was she like a ninja or a spy? You know where they have to hide weapons all throughout the house in case some... I don't know if that's just a movie. Like in case the bad guys break in, they're like, I'm decorating your tree and like, quick, oh, evil people. Get the switchblade. Probably not that. She probably just stuffed it in there and forgot about it, but we can imagine that she's a spy. Next, let's hear from Danny. Hi, Cass. My name is Danny, and I wanted to tell you a little bit about my story and how much you've helped me. In March of 2024, I had a baby, and I had a really hard time with postpartum depression. And then in May of that same,

year, I lost my job. I was a teacher and I lost my job along with a bunch of other people because of budget cuts. And my husband, who was subbing at the time, got a lot of his hours cut for the next year. So we wouldn't be able to live off a bit. And after that, I started teaching piano lessons and I created my own business. I kept my own books and taxes and marketing and a bunch of other things I didn't really know how to do and hadn't really planned on doing so soon in my life. And it also took my husband over a year to find a new job that would support us because, you know, he's competing with all these other teachers that also had, you know,

the same background as him because we live in a pretty small area and there was a lot of people that got let go. So that was kind of difficult for us. It was a hard year. But I found your channel earlier this year, earlier in 2025. I was just watching organizing tips for like the 10 millionth time. I mean, I don't have a ton of stuff. My house has never been super messy.

And I work really hard to keep it as clean and tidy as it is. But it's never perfect and it never stays perfect. And that has always bothered me. It makes me feel like I can't be perfect when my house isn't perfect. And that has always really bothered me. I've had really bad anxiety my whole life and after my baby was born it got a lot worse and it affects my health in so many ways. And so anyway, I found you earlier this year and I took the test and the first time I got a ladybug and so I was, I've been organizing to be to like a ladybug. And it's been really helpful.

But the last time like a couple like last week, I was like, I don't know if all of this is really working for me. So I took the test again and I was a cricket this time, which I thought was interesting how it like shifted. Once I'd done some decluttering, I had realized that other things were important to me. So I retook your test and it had changed. Yeah. So after watching your YouTube content, I started listening to your podcast. And I especially loved the one that you did with Courtney Carver. And I've been listening to her book and it's been helping me so much with especially with my anxiety.

And from listening to you, my house. is slowly starting to get more consistent, which is really nice. I've been allowing myself to do things crappy and that's been very, very helpful with my self-worth and dealing with the clutter in my house and also the clutter in my life. I told you that I started a business and it was it was hard with a baby and to also start a business where I had a lot of people coming into my home to do piano lessons. and with doing all of my own things, you know, I had to learn how to do taxes and I had to learn how to do all these things that, like I said, I'd never really planned on learning how to do. So I just wanted to tell you that, like, you've helped me a lot with dealing with the clutter in my life. And this current school year, I had the unexpected opportunity to start teaching again.

I got hired like the week before school started. and your tips have helped so much in my classroom as well as in my home. And I wanted to tell you that listening to your content, especially your podcast, gives me a lot of happiness and comfort. My husband now works a job where he works a lot of evenings, which are a little hard with a one and a half year old, especially after a full day of teaching where I come home and I'm alone. But I will turn on your podcast and I won't feel quite so alone.

Thank you so much for giving me that and also giving me such a more consistent house and more consistent, like, self-worth. Thank you. A while ago, like a long time ago, actually, you asked that people share jingle ideas with you, and I've had one bouncing around in my head for weeks, and I decided I didn't want it to go to waste, and I wanted to share it with you in case you like it. So here it is. Welcome back to the Clutterbug podcast. Grab a bag and the trash and we'll throw it out with Cass.

Thanks. And I really appreciate you. Bye. Danny, that's good. I love that jingle so much. Also, I just want to say, like, I love your fight. So you lost your job and you had postpartum depression. And you literally were like, well, my husband also was.

and earning money, I'm going to start a business and figure it out. And it's that like badass energy in women that I just love so hard. Okay. So you're amazing and I'm proud of you and you're talented and just keep on being awesome. Let's hear a story from Anonymous. This one time I was cleaning and I found a paper about an account and I kind of had kind of normal it had existed. Anyhow, because I was cleaning and found the paper, I finally called on it and found out that there was, because it had been so long, and it was in, like, a 401K account. I actually had $4,000 in it instead of the $3,000 or $300 that, the statement that I found said I had. So that was a fun surprise.

Wait, stop. Wait, so like you thought you had $300, but you let it sit so long that it grew into $4,000? Girl, lose that paper again for another 10 years. You'll be a millionaire. Just throw it back into the pile. Okay, throw it back into the pile to discover that later. That is the power of compound interest, which I did not understand for a long time. And now that I do, I really still don't, but it's magical so I don't touch my money while it grows.

That is a cool thing to find when decluttering. Good for you. Let's hear from Jenny. Hey, Cass. I'm really glad to be part of your organizing experts group. And I just wanted to share my favorite decluttering dinosaur with you. About 12 years ago, I was helping my mom clean out her craft room, clean and organize her craft room. And at the beginning of the project, I was doing a lot of tongue biting because I was looking at this stuff.

A lot of it was just leftovers from projects, all kinds of stuff. And I was just biting my tongue because I was standing there thinking, Mom, why have you kept all this stuff? But I bit my tongue. But as we continued, it started to become. what I would call almost like an archaeological dig. And we found fabric. And my mom was looking at the fabric like, oh, what was this?

And I was like, Mom, remember? That's when you made that beautiful wall hanging for your friend who was getting a new dining room. And, you know, we just were going layer by layer back through the levels of this. It really was like an archaeological dig. and we came across fabric. My mom didn't recognize, but as I looked at it, I saw this was the fabric that you used to make a suit for my oldest brother when he was a senior in high school. So we're talking like 1980, maybe, somewhere around there. And so, you know, just layer upon layer. This was

really just the museum of my mom's life. and, you know, she had just been sewing for people and, you know, doing crafts for people for such a long time. And so it was really, it started out as seeing a mess, but it turned into like really seeing my mom. But even better as we kept on going, we actually came down to, we were going through a filing cabinet. And there was an envelope that had my mom's high school memories. So my mom probably graduated high school around 1958, maybe, something like that. And it had pictures of her friends and there was even like a senior memories booklet that had been professionally put together, but it had my mom's handwritten responses.

She was describing her senior trip and her high school crush, whom I had never heard about in all my days. and it was just really seeing like a whole different side of my mom. She was terminal at the time, and it was just a very precious time to spend with her. I was spending the week with her while my dad had a trip out of town, and my mom was doing pretty good, but we didn't want her left by herself, and she couldn't really take the trip. So I got to spend that precious week with her,

and this was like the culmination of it, was finding these high school memories, of hers. It was just really cool to, most particularly just seeing my mom and her life and getting to know parts of her and her life that I hadn't known before. And it was really cool. So that's my decluttering dinosaur, just the most precious thing. And yeah, I just wanted to share that with you. Thank you so much for our organizing group. And, um, just your energy and inspiration that you give us. Bye. Thank you.

I love that. This is my favorite part of decluttering is the stuff you find because when we have all this excess, we forget about the really good stuff that is mixed in with all the other stuff. Like, yeah, the fabric's cool. But under there was like this incredible, incredible stuff. about your mom that you didn't know. And if you hadn't gone through and decluttered and like went through your archial, archie, arque, something, like you were not a paleontologist, but the other one

that does human stuff that digs in dirt, if you weren't that, you wouldn't have found those awesome memories. So I love that so hard. And I will say you're also brave because there are two people that if when I was working with clients, if they would call and they would tell me they were these things, I'd say, sorry, I'm full. And the first is a crafter. And the second is a teacher. If they're, I was like, what do you do for a living? If they say teacher, I'm sorry, I'm booked until 2047. And if they're a crafter, they get the same response because those two people want to keep everything forever. Crafters, especially sewers. Oh, with the fabric.

Like, they'll keep every scrap, every square, because maybe they made curtains, but they kept the scrap. For what? Nobody knows, but for something. Ooh. Last but not least, we have Rachel. Hi, my name is Rachel, and I really enjoy your podcast. And I had a funny story. We moved in 2023. And I had this brand new cupboard that my brother built for. me is basically just for the appliances and it started smelling something awful but I didn't know what it was and I took the air fryer out and I cleaned it but every

time I used the air fryer it wasn't that so I put baking soda in the cupboard and we're just busy getting settled in so it was nearly five months later January when I decided you know it's been long enough I think I'm going to go ahead and make the sourdough bread again when I got the Dutch oven out. I forgot that I had put potatoes and onions in that bowl to transport to the new house. Oh my goodness. It was onion-flavored potato broth.

It was so bad. Dumped it out. Finally found the stench. So that was funny. But yeah, I really enjoyed your five love language series you just did. That was quite interesting. I am definitely physical touch, but then did not realize that I am also probably words of affirmation. Because of, yeah, like you said, the bullies in the closet that I can't get rid of.

But I also don't like to wear them. So thanks for that. I guess I will work on that. Is there any tips on how to quit beating myself up when I do make mistakes? Yeah, that's my question. So, yeah, it does make me feel really good when I get it right, but then I didn't realize I was beating myself up. So, yeah, we'll have a good day.

Thanks. Rachel, if you don't like the clothes in your closet, you grab a trash bag right now and you go to your closet. and you pick up those clothing and you say, you nasty B-I-T-C-H, you call me names, and you throw it right in the bag. There's no making a mistake. There is no mistake. There's no, you can't do decluttering wrong.

And even if, because you're at war, there's a couple casualties and maybe you're like, actually, I do want to wear a shirt that makes me feel terrible about myself. Okay, Rachel. But if in some way, you can just go to the thrift store and buy a, another shirt that makes you feel terrible about yourself. So there's no mistakes here. Okay? There isn't. The only mistake is allowing this stuff to stay in your home. What are you doing? You queen? Fix that crown. Stand up for yourself. Grab a bag. Why are we hyming and hoeing over this? No more. It's leaving. Also, you washed out that Dutch ovens. You're a better human being than I am

because I would have just thrown the whole kit and caboodle in the trash because potatoes is rotting potatoes. Is there anything that smells worse? I'm not sure there is. I hope you're feeling proud of yourself. If you aren't quite feeling proud about yourself, go throw something in the garbage right now. Like be a freaking warrior. Are you a warrior or are you a wuss? Warriors throw stuff out. They stand up for themselves. They have boundaries. And that means also on your closet, closet, on your entrance way, on your whole entire life. It's time to be tough because you're amazing and you are the boss and you are the leader. So put on your cape and be your own hero. Okay, there. I love you guys. And I'll see you guys next time.

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