The Decluttering Process: A Journey from Chaos to Calm

As I embarked on my decluttering journey, I couldn't help but think that I was making a terrible idea by emptying out the closet and bringing everything out into the open. The thought of sorting through every item, deciding what to keep, donate, or discard, seemed daunting. But I knew it was necessary, and I was determined to get it done.

I started by setting up an organization system, which I had previously installed in the closet. However, as I looked around, I realized that it had completely fallen apart. The shelves were bare, and the floor was cluttered with clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous items. It was overwhelming, but I took a deep breath and began the process of sorting through everything.

One of the first things I came across was a collection of old cellphones from 2013. They brought back memories of my past life before motherhood, and I knew that I could easily replace them if needed. I decided to let go of the ones that no longer held sentimental value. Next, I tackled the shoes, most of which belonged to Ryan. I asked him to sort through what he wanted to keep and donate, and together we made some tough decisions about what was worth keeping.

As I continued to sort through the closet, I came across some baby items that I wanted to store in the garage for future reference. These included extra diapers and wipes for Carter, as well as a little container for miscellaneous smaller items. I also found some sentimental items, such as photo albums and folded-up picnic blankets, which I decided to keep for their emotional value.

After what felt like an eternity, I finally finished sorting through the closet. The space was now empty, but it felt strangely liberating. I left room to grow, knowing that Ryan would be coming home with some boxes soon to help me complete the task. As a reward for my hard work, I treated myself to a fresh-baked cookie.

The Decluttering Process: What Works for Me

One of the most important things I've learned about decluttering is the importance of leaving room to grow. It's easy to get caught up in the idea that everything needs to be perfect and organized, but the truth is that our spaces should evolve with us. As a mom, my priorities have changed over time, and so has my living space.

I've also found that it's essential to reward myself throughout the decluttering process. Whether it's taking a break to enjoy a snack or treat, or simply taking some time for self-care, I remind myself that I'm doing this for my own well-being. Decluttering can be emotionally draining, but with the right mindset and support, it can also be incredibly fulfilling.

The Benefits of Decluttering

Decluttering has had a profound impact on my life. It's helped me to feel more organized, more in control, and more at peace. By letting go of items that no longer serve me, I've made space for new experiences, relationships, and opportunities.

One of the most significant benefits of decluttering is the sense of clarity it brings. When our spaces are cluttered, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and uncertain about what's next. But when we take control of our belongings and create a space that reflects our values and priorities, we can feel more confident and focused.

Decluttering has also helped me to develop a healthier relationship with material possessions. As a mom, I used to feel guilty about getting rid of baby items or clothes that were still in good condition. But now, I know that these items are holding me back and preventing me from moving forward. By letting go of what no longer serves me, I'm making space for what's truly important.

The Power of Letting Go

Letting go is a hard concept to grasp, especially when it comes to sentimental items. But as I sort through the closet, I realize that holding onto things for too long can actually be damaging. By letting go of items that no longer bring me joy or serve a purpose, I'm freeing myself from emotional baggage and creating space for new experiences.

I remember one time when my old cellphones were still working, but I had already bought new ones. Holding onto the old phones was making me feel stuck in the past, whereas letting go of them allowed me to move forward and focus on the present. It's a lesson that applies not just to physical possessions, but also to emotional ones.

The Importance of Self-Care

As I finish up the decluttering process, I take a moment to reflect on how far I've come. It's been a journey, both physically and emotionally, and it's required me to confront my own habits and thought patterns. But in the end, it's been worth it.

Self-care has played a significant role in my decluttering journey. Taking time for myself, whether it's enjoying a snack or taking a break to rest, has helped me to stay focused and motivated. It's reminded me that I'm doing this for my own well-being, not just for the sake of others.

The Lessons I've Learned

As I look back on my decluttering journey, I realize that there are many lessons that have been learned along the way. One of the most important is the importance of leaving room to grow. It's easy to get caught up in perfectionism, but our spaces should evolve with us.

I've also learned the value of letting go. Holding onto items for too long can be emotionally draining and prevent us from moving forward. By letting go of what no longer serves me, I'm freeing myself from emotional baggage and creating space for new experiences.

Finally, I've come to realize that decluttering is not just about physical possessions, but also about emotional and mental clutter. By taking care of myself and creating a space that reflects my values and priorities, I can feel more at peace and in control.

The Future of My Space

As I finish up the decluttering process, I know that there's still work to be done. Ryan will be coming home with some boxes soon, and we'll need to complete the task together. But for now, I'm content to enjoy the feeling of calm and clarity that comes with a clutter-free space.

I've learned that my living space should reflect my priorities and values, not just the external world. By creating a space that is peaceful and organized, I can feel more connected to myself and the world around me. And as I move forward into the future, I know that I'll continue to nurture this sense of calm and clarity, letting go of what no longer serves me and embracing what's truly important.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome back to another weekly vlog so I asked you over on Instagram what topics you wanted me to cover in this week's vlog and it was a very close match between a day in the life of Carter and doing a massive declutter so I decided we're gonna do both I'm gonna show you what Carter's been up to and then during his second nap we are going to dive into one of the most daunting decluttering projects I've been avoiding for well over a year now and frankly I'm embarrassed to show you how bad the situation is it is our hallway closet aka the Bermuda Triangle because you put stuff in that closet and I've never seen or heard from again so that would be a little bit later in the vlog but for now let's check in with Carter and see how he's been doing so now is our morning ritual where we get his new box of toys yeah that's the tiger ring ring someone's calling is it no nut say hello say hi Nona hi Nona so this we've been using to help him learn his colors who wears the color yellow yellow yes where's blue where's blue blue where's red good can you rock out oh my god alright so he's been playing up a storm here as you can see so it's 10 a.m. it's time for his first nap I still have him on two naps I tried to put him on one nap and it was a ultimate utter disaster so we're back to 2 that was time for my book recommendation of the month I am working with audible on this video and they are giving you a free audiobook when you start a 30-day trial using my link its audible.com slash best sore or you can text bus or 2 500 500 if you're on your phone I feel very strongly that learning is the absolute best use of your time and money I'm a huge advocate of that and with audiobooks you can multitask and listen to your books while you're doing other things and with summer coming up it is perfect because if you're on vacation if you're on the beach if you're traveling somewhere you can listen to your book at the same time my recommendation for this month is very fitting with the theme of this week's video which is the life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo so I read this book a few years ago I really liked it I even did a video on it but it's been a while and I decided to listen to the audiobook and I found that I enjoyed it so much more as an audiobook it was very relaxing to listen to it's almost like ASMR she's talking about how to let things go in your life and how to simplify and I found it not only relaxing but extremely motivating which is why we are tackling a major decluttering project this week so if you're looking for motivation to simplify your life and distressed declutter then you need to listen to this book and you can listen to it for free if you sign up for a 30 day trial using my link which again is audible.com slash tresor or by sending a text of vessel to 500 five hundred so you should definitely take advantage of that offer okay so little man is not happy right now I'm not making his lunch fast enough okay time for lunch okay so check this out my younger brother has a little side business where he prepares organic meals so I'm now a customer of his so he made these stuffed peppers with a bunch of vegetables some brisket this vegetable soup so it's pretty awesome you okay now you okay you've got some new animal sounds to death now we're gonna do monkey me yeah good monkey what sound does the horse make good what sound does the cow me with understood shoot me by the Wizards alignment what sound does the chicken mate yeah to know what's on the dog me what sound is the cat me yeah love the animals no baby alright so Carter is down for the second nap it is time to tackle our massive decluttering project we're racing against the clock I have an hour and a half to get this entire project done I was gonna sit here and give you this whole long story about how this closet came to be in such a state of disarray but here's the thing I realized nobody cares and it doesn't matter and that's the first step in decluttering don't make excuses don't feel guilty just deal with it are you ready to see the world's messiest closet maybe slight exaggeration here she is alright so here it is and all its glory the second step in decluttering is assess the situation what in general am i dealing what kind of buckets of items am I going to need to be sorting through I'm gonna empty out the closet and bring everything out into this area so the things that I want to keep I'm gonna put in these bins the items that we're going to donate and sort through are gonna mostly code the floor here and then things that are going to be thrown away are gonna go in these trash bags so the good thing about this closet is a while back I did have these shelves installed so theoretically there is an organization system it's just completely fallen apart and the other thing about this that's very daunting is it goes back all the way back under the stairs alright it's go time we're gonna go from top to bottom let's do it this is drawing that Ryan and I had done at a party when I was pregnant they definitely got my cheeks raised love it that's the point in the decluttering process where the only thing running through your mind is why did I decide to do this this was a terrible idea and that's right about where I am why did idea that okay here's something that I'm gonna give away to one of you watching this is the juvie spoon Walker very nice expensive Walker that Carter never really used so I'm gonna give your wife one of you want it leave a comment down below now one of the things I tell myself when I'm decluttering to help the process is if it's been in this closet for over a year and I haven't needed it or thought about it then I probably don't really need it and worst case scenario if I do I can always replace it so we're being rude my cellphones from like 2013 before and after everything is out of the closet now I'm just gonna go through and vacuum it out these are shoes most of them are Ryan's I need him to sort through what he wants to keep and donate we have some baby stuff that I want to put in storage this is all donation and I'm actually gonna give this away to one of you like I mentioned this is stuff that I want to store in the garage we have our trash things that could not be salvaged this is what we are left with that I am putting back and we're keeping in this closet so this first bin is tools and other household items these are my books I don't have that many hardcopy books anymore because I do audiobooks for mostly everything but these are some of my all-time favorites this is going to be an outside bin so we have hats Bardot's leash little fanny pack so things that you want to grab when you're going outside extra diapers and wipes for Carter this little container I'm gonna keep for miscellaneous smaller items this is our fold up picnic and beach blanket and then just a couple little sentimental items photo albums so now we're gonna put it all back all right we're done this closet looks so empty and I love it that's one big tip I have is leave room to grow so Ryan is gonna be coming home tonight with some boxes so I'm gonna load up all of the donation items I'm gonna schedule a pickup in last stuff which I think it's very important in this process is reward yourself we have a fresh-baked cookie I think I deserve it I'm exhausted okay I cannot tell you how relieved I feel right now to have this closet cleared out so let me know in the comments what is that one area in your house that you most need to declutter and I'm challenging you to get it done this weekend just knock it out give yourself a little reward after and you so glad that you did all right here is our sensory activity for this afternoon just to keep him occupied for maybe maybe 10 minutes so yesterday at the grocery store not one not two not three four different people thought that he was a girl four people so we are here at one of my favorite places to come to it's so cute and quaint pretty much empty today so I want to try and get some cute pictures of Carter check out Carter's new shoes yeah they matches that those shoes Carter can you say hi mama we picked up a couple little snacks fresh-squeezed lemonade there's actually a coffee roaster on site here so I got some of this coffee it is orange and lemon creamsicle flavor which looks interesting I got coconut water for Carter and then a little cookie shortbread cookie all right so that is going to be it for this week's vlog I really hope you enjoyed it and you enjoyed seeing Carter back on my channel it's been a little while since he's been on so if you did please give this a thumbs up and also don't forget to use my link down in the description box to download your free audio book thanks again to audible and all that said I will see you guys on Sunday with a new video byehello everyone and welcome back to another weekly vlog so I asked you over on Instagram what topics you wanted me to cover in this week's vlog and it was a very close match between a day in the life of Carter and doing a massive declutter so I decided we're gonna do both I'm gonna show you what Carter's been up to and then during his second nap we are going to dive into one of the most daunting decluttering projects I've been avoiding for well over a year now and frankly I'm embarrassed to show you how bad the situation is it is our hallway closet aka the Bermuda Triangle because you put stuff in that closet and I've never seen or heard from again so that would be a little bit later in the vlog but for now let's check in with Carter and see how he's been doing so now is our morning ritual where we get his new box of toys yeah that's the tiger ring ring someone's calling is it no nut say hello say hi Nona hi Nona so this we've been using to help him learn his colors who wears the color yellow yellow yes where's blue where's blue blue where's red good can you rock out oh my god alright so he's been playing up a storm here as you can see so it's 10 a.m. it's time for his first nap I still have him on two naps I tried to put him on one nap and it was a ultimate utter disaster so we're back to 2 that was time for my book recommendation of the month I am working with audible on this video and they are giving you a free audiobook when you start a 30-day trial using my link its audible.com slash best sore or you can text bus or 2 500 500 if you're on your phone I feel very strongly that learning is the absolute best use of your time and money I'm a huge advocate of that and with audiobooks you can multitask and listen to your books while you're doing other things and with summer coming up it is perfect because if you're on vacation if you're on the beach if you're traveling somewhere you can listen to your book at the same time my recommendation for this month is very fitting with the theme of this week's video which is the life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo so I read this book a few years ago I really liked it I even did a video on it but it's been a while and I decided to listen to the audiobook and I found that I enjoyed it so much more as an audiobook it was very relaxing to listen to it's almost like ASMR she's talking about how to let things go in your life and how to simplify and I found it not only relaxing but extremely motivating which is why we are tackling a major decluttering project this week so if you're looking for motivation to simplify your life and distressed declutter then you need to listen to this book and you can listen to it for free if you sign up for a 30 day trial using my link which again is audible.com slash tresor or by sending a text of vessel to 500 five hundred so you should definitely take advantage of that offer okay so little man is not happy right now I'm not making his lunch fast enough okay time for lunch okay so check this out my younger brother has a little side business where he prepares organic meals so I'm now a customer of his so he made these stuffed peppers with a bunch of vegetables some brisket this vegetable soup so it's pretty awesome you okay now you okay you've got some new animal sounds to death now we're gonna do monkey me yeah good monkey what sound does the horse make good what sound does the cow me with understood shoot me by the Wizards alignment what sound does the chicken mate yeah to know what's on the dog me what sound is the cat me yeah love the animals no baby alright so Carter is down for the second nap it is time to tackle our massive decluttering project we're racing against the clock I have an hour and a half to get this entire project done I was gonna sit here and give you this whole long story about how this closet came to be in such a state of disarray but here's the thing I realized nobody cares and it doesn't matter and that's the first step in decluttering don't make excuses don't feel guilty just deal with it are you ready to see the world's messiest closet maybe slight exaggeration here she is alright so here it is and all its glory the second step in decluttering is assess the situation what in general am i dealing what kind of buckets of items am I going to need to be sorting through I'm gonna empty out the closet and bring everything out into this area so the things that I want to keep I'm gonna put in these bins the items that we're going to donate and sort through are gonna mostly code the floor here and then things that are going to be thrown away are gonna go in these trash bags so the good thing about this closet is a while back I did have these shelves installed so theoretically there is an organization system it's just completely fallen apart and the other thing about this that's very daunting is it goes back all the way back under the stairs alright it's go time we're gonna go from top to bottom let's do it this is drawing that Ryan and I had done at a party when I was pregnant they definitely got my cheeks raised love it that's the point in the decluttering process where the only thing running through your mind is why did I decide to do this this was a terrible idea and that's right about where I am why did idea that okay here's something that I'm gonna give away to one of you watching this is the juvie spoon Walker very nice expensive Walker that Carter never really used so I'm gonna give your wife one of you want it leave a comment down below now one of the things I tell myself when I'm decluttering to help the process is if it's been in this closet for over a year and I haven't needed it or thought about it then I probably don't really need it and worst case scenario if I do I can always replace it so we're being rude my cellphones from like 2013 before and after everything is out of the closet now I'm just gonna go through and vacuum it out these are shoes most of them are Ryan's I need him to sort through what he wants to keep and donate we have some baby stuff that I want to put in storage this is all donation and I'm actually gonna give this away to one of you like I mentioned this is stuff that I want to store in the garage we have our trash things that could not be salvaged this is what we are left with that I am putting back and we're keeping in this closet so this first bin is tools and other household items these are my books I don't have that many hardcopy books anymore because I do audiobooks for mostly everything but these are some of my all-time favorites this is going to be an outside bin so we have hats Bardot's leash little fanny pack so things that you want to grab when you're going outside extra diapers and wipes for Carter this little container I'm gonna keep for miscellaneous smaller items this is our fold up picnic and beach blanket and then just a couple little sentimental items photo albums so now we're gonna put it all back all right we're done this closet looks so empty and I love it that's one big tip I have is leave room to grow so Ryan is gonna be coming home tonight with some boxes so I'm gonna load up all of the donation items I'm gonna schedule a pickup in last stuff which I think it's very important in this process is reward yourself we have a fresh-baked cookie I think I deserve it I'm exhausted okay I cannot tell you how relieved I feel right now to have this closet cleared out so let me know in the comments what is that one area in your house that you most need to declutter and I'm challenging you to get it done this weekend just knock it out give yourself a little reward after and you so glad that you did all right here is our sensory activity for this afternoon just to keep him occupied for maybe maybe 10 minutes so yesterday at the grocery store not one not two not three four different people thought that he was a girl four people so we are here at one of my favorite places to come to it's so cute and quaint pretty much empty today so I want to try and get some cute pictures of Carter check out Carter's new shoes yeah they matches that those shoes Carter can you say hi mama we picked up a couple little snacks fresh-squeezed lemonade there's actually a coffee roaster on site here so I got some of this coffee it is orange and lemon creamsicle flavor which looks interesting I got coconut water for Carter and then a little cookie shortbread cookie all right so that is going to be it for this week's vlog I really hope you enjoyed it and you enjoyed seeing Carter back on my channel it's been a little while since he's been on so if you did please give this a thumbs up and also don't forget to use my link down in the description box to download your free audio book thanks again to audible and all that said I will see you guys on Sunday with a new video bye\n"