Decluttering can be hard to START and FINISH

when it comes to decluttering and organizing and just maintaining a section of your home for example my desk which sits in our living room it can be hard to know how to even start but it's a mess and sometimes it can be really debilitating because I have not wanted to start and the longer and longer I waited the worse this got because all I kept doing was putting stuff on here for me to do later it's a habit that sometimes is needed when you have a busy life or you don't feel like dealing with it and now it's just to the point that I can't even sit here and work or do anything so I have to make some progress on this so I start with a category like do I do all of my returns do I do I put all of my lessons plans where they belong do I organize and make my content plan for YouTube and for the for the blog do I do the action paperwork that's over here requiring my attention when we when we're decluttering or working on an organization project or just a little area of our homes that is needing our attention it can be hard to start because it's so much and you've let it get to be so much day after day and you don't start it because it's too much and then you may keep adding to it because you don't feel like dealing with it but you just keep putting more things for years for you to do later onto your desk that's what I do and that's where I'm standing sitting here today with my desk is what needs to be done so I'm just going to start and we're going to do it together and maybe this will motivate you to tackle one little area of your house too today I'm tackling my desk I'm Erica Lucas the vision of this channel is to share videos that help you declutter one day at a time and simplify your life a little bit one day at a time okay the first thing I'm going to do is put all the returns behind me on the couch because those are kind of easy I have a lot of trash I should have brought a trash bag over we're getting I'm just gonna put the trash up here in the fireplace sometimes getting started is is annoying not something we want to do because we know it's going to be time consuming or we know it's just going to be too much decision making that needs to happen and so we don't do it and then we'll just let it build and build and build and that is what I've done here I don't even know what is the situation what I don't even know how to print it oh yeah okay so these are the upcoming lessons for music I'm gonna have a good bit here that's lesson planning that belongs over in our dining room for school so I'm just gonna start a pile for that this is a book a library book that I went to the library and stood in front of the librarian and said I honestly cannot find this book in my house I have turned it inside out I I cannot find this book I need to buy it from you because I don't have a way of returning it for you I've checked it out we've lost it and now I need to buy it and the library gave me a credit they just said you get three you get to do that three times before they start charging you at my library I found it so now I have to go back to the library and give this back to them and we'll talk about this for one more one more second here this we have a process in our we have a system in our house for library books the library books live in one um now that I'm just talking about it my system had some holes in it [Laughter] so I was going to say one place well there's Library returns they go in the pink bag hanging by the front door there's library books that we're presently using in school they're in the dining room there's library books that go in a basket that's in our family room um that we're not using but we intend to read and then sometimes library books wander into the kids rooms and get lost so my system has holes and has failed me more trash more school well that that did good on this little section here didn't it do you ever sometimes feel like there's a bug crawling on your skin but there's not like ghost bugs the stuff that goes elsewhere is what I'm making a platform and then this is something that's going to stay here it's a work thing this is just a random Post-it I wrote myself okay this is an action item I talked about this recently in 17 things to declutter as you approach the holidays because you know it's in the back of your mind right now that it's October but you know it's coming those holidays are coming and uh this was like number 16 I think magazines get rid of get rid of magazines you don't need I don't know how I got on this one back Backwoods Home magazine I do not know how I got on the subscription subscription they have my name and address correct it's everything it's not like I'm getting somebody else's magazine but I don't want this so the action is for me I guess to contact them and then put this in the recycling bin so I need a pile of things requiring my action this is a bit usually I like to write the check for these right away whoopsie okay I got bifocals last time I got lenses in February uh I got bifocals and I'm still here in October trying to figure out like where my head goes so I can see out of the bottom or the top part of my bifocals still trying to like figure that out anybody else have that problem plus I have a mailbox where I receive letters and gifts from you guys um they sent it to there and it's just a thank you note for having this Channel and these I love comments like that and I love letters like this that I I don't know you you're a stranger to me but I'm not a stranger to you and I have said something or done something that has helped you and that for me is so powerful and so motivating and on those days that I I don't know that I want to do this anymore because it is something that is time consuming and I have to figure out where the balance in my life is letters like this just make me realize that were not alone in this world and we all struggle with stuff and we all struggle with organization and it's okay to be honest and real about it so I save every single one of these in a little basket in my um office closet upstairs so this is goes elsewhere and that's this file I'm also acutely aware of the dust that has built on my desk okay more trash now that I've cleared some things away I'm aware of the Dust okay this is the dog's vaccination most recent vaccination and his little chippy taggy thing this is paperwork to be filed that'll go here because it goes elsewhere yikes is this another better with me yep okay these are those medical copay bills that you get some insurance stuff and I'm like oh yeah okay I'll pay that pop it on my desk and then I forget [Music] it's a lot of trash I should really go get a trash can I don't feel like doing this but it has to be done let's work also work I have a lot of little like ideas and notes for the blog and then for this Channel or just like things I'm trying to understand better in analytics for both of those things and so that's what all these little notes are for my little notebooks very clever book if you're a Stanley Tucci fan it's it's just a really great book about his background his upbringing his grandparents and his parents and how they came to New York and um in here he has some really lovely simple basic recipes Italian recipes from his parents and his grandparents and I also have his cookbooks so this just has to go on the bookshelf this is goes elsewhere so you just need to go in the taxes folder four trash it's very satisfying to crumple a piece of paper and throw it up on the fireplace I need to get it together this is three weeks until maybe a little longer worth of uh things requiring my attention anyway cards oh Andy gave this to me for Christmas it is a gift card for a massage place it's October and he's reminded me probably 10 times he probably has a monthly reminder to remind me to go get my massage gift taken care of so I'm just gonna move this right to the top of the pile requiring my attention book the massage things I need to talk to Andy about that's what this stuff is right there okay all right great so we have this is a work pile that needs to be organized I'm refining my process still on that guy all right this is School I'm gonna throw this one out because that's fun to do there are envelopes right now this is the 100 envelopes savings challenge so anytime I have some extra cash in my wallet I've just been like counting what the amount is these are mostly tens and fives I've just been counting the amount and then scribbling it off on the thingy um so if it's one dollar you you cross off the one if you put in 18 you color in the 18 block and once you get one through a hundred you have five thousand dollars I thought that was just fun my other envelopes if you're curious date night that guy's empty right now oh I'll be in here oh I got one two three four I got a hundred dollars in date night well that's that's great news doesn't cover the cost of a babysitter but we need date night for us is about 200 to 300 depending on what you want to do uh most of that goes towards the babysitter because she's got all three kids and the dog I got gymnastics that's empty swim that's empty dining out like you know dry Chick-fil-A that's empty uh some Christmas I got saved up here I got some money in Christmas I have two hundred dollars saved into or the Christmas Father it's good because it's about that time um I had I had this idea that I would save a hundred dollars a month set aside for new glasses that I need every year February February March I usually get that done there's no money in that wallet let's do this I feel a lot better about my desk right now so the first thing I'm going to do is put stuff that belongs elsewhere elsewhere that's really easy because all of these things have a home in my house this is my pile requiring my attention and what should be on top the massage so I have two two big action thingies here one my work pile I just need to organize you know what blogs I'm writing next what videos I'm recording Next Step that's what that pile is this is just the basket that stays here all the time this is a love note from my husband makes me smile and then this is all things that require my action and I should really honestly do that right now and then I have to throw the trash out so I'm gonna do that I'm gonna throw the trash out and then I'm gonna attend to this that's what I'm gonna do right now because I'm gonna see this through the reason it got like that was because I was avoiding this pile so I'm gonna stop avoiding it I'm gonna force myself to finish this um and sometimes it can be hard to start and sometimes it can be hard to finish when you're decluttering and organizing your house if you are struggling with feeling stuck while you're decluttering I in this video talk about a way to reverse that and try to think about stuff differently and think about what to keep instead of what to get rid of and I don't want to keep this pile anymore so I'm gonna do it

Channel: Erica Lucas

Views: 11,052

Keywords: decluttering, declutter, how to declutter your home, declutter with me, how to declutter, decluttering and organizing, decluttering minimalism, minimalism decluttering, minimalist living, practical minimalist living, minimalist lifestyle, minimalist home, minimalism, minimalist, minimalish, how to be a minimalist, minimalist house, minimalism lifestyle, daily clutter, simplify your life, erica lucas, minimalism journey, how to simplify your life, decluttering tips

Id: e5Lu6xOeClQ

Length: 14min 15sec (855 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 10 2022