I decluttered 1,000 books (planners, journals, notebooks & more!)

Today I am back in my childhood bedroom. I'd done one other video here, but it's been a while since I wanted to come back and finish it. So today we're going to body double, we're going to work together. There's a lot of things in this room that can hang us up, like books and sentimental items, childhood artwork, all these things that are like, but what do we do with it? So we're going to work together, get through it together. So I've actually been working through this space in our mentorship group. We do a lot of body doubling in there, setting goals, working together, answering questions together. And so I want to take you along on one of our recent sessions where we were working on books together. So this whole bookshelf was crammed with books and most of them weren't mine. They were Diana's, but today we're going to work on them together. We made so much good progress. Uh, last time we, we did our book challenge. I got this huge stack of books here, but they didn't leave. So I, uh, I got some boxes. I decided just to purchase some boxes from Walmart, just their smallest size. They're only a dollar each. And so even though they're going to get donated, they're a good size for books because you can't fill them too full. I mean, I'll still probably have to do her. They have handles on the sides, which are nice and they'll be nice and uniform in size. So I have that whole stack to box up, but that's probably only half or a third of what I'm still hoping to donate from the lower shelves. I wouldn't always purchase donation boxes, but there's my justification for that. Right. So good morning. Yeah. Good morning from sunny Minnesota. It's so good to see this. We've had it spent a little grayer earlier this week and it's man, that drains your energy. So yeah. Grateful for the sunshine today. Good morning. All right. Well, I would love to know today, what space do you feel like you most need to work on in your home? And so you pick and then that's where we're going to work. I think today too, I'm feeling just a little under the weather. I don't know. I think it's like allergies or something. I think today's be more work like actual work time. I really want to get these books like packed up and out of here. And then for sure though, I will leave time for questions a little bit more towards the end. So let us know where you're working today. I'm going to start filling up some of these boxes and see if we can get these boxes loaded up. Let's see where my tape go. Oh, there it is. Okay. I tried to like reinforce them and tape them up really good on the bottoms to knowing that they're going to get filled up. Um, what's kind of heavy stuff. I'm also trying to decide, do I have to like, see, I'm not so good at this. Like some of you would be very good at like doing a Tetris thing to get them to fit really efficiently in here. I don't know. I'm just going to, you know, it's just better that they get out. I am going to leave some of these lower ones to the side. Those would be good filler. All right. I also have to put the blinders on. I'm even just noticing that I'm like, I'm like second guessing a few books I put on here. No, we can't do that. We don't have time for that. There's so many other books. Like it's a, it's going to be okay. So like I said, I had actually already done an hour session in here. So in our mentorship group, we do a lot of body doubling, which is just working alongside one another. But we had this really fun weekend challenge where we were trying to declutter enough books as tall as someone in your household. So you could pick any member of your household from a pet all the way down to the tallest person. And initially I was like, Oh, I'm just going to see, like I'll get Gage to come up here. He's the shortest one in our house. But as I kept going, I was able to stack it as tall as me. So all of those are books to get rid of. And throughout this video, I'll share like my criteria and how I was making these decisions. That might be the only downfall of our challenge is getting your piles to be stable. This is getting a little sketchy here. Oh, darn it. Shoot. I don't know, Jackie, our challenge might have a flaw in it. Darn it. Um, did you and Diana... Okay, I'm going to put it into the corner. That's what we're going to do. I don't think any books were harmed in the falling though. It was amazing how it stacked up, but it was a super fun challenge. It was really fun for us to do it together and to like cheer one another on. But then like I said, these books were still here and they needed to get boxed up and to get out of here. But let me remind you again about body doubling. So and why it's so powerful. I feel like I've just been telling everybody this lately, but all body doubling means is that you're working alongside someone else. And what is so cool about it is that you can do it virtually, right? We can do it through YouTube videos. Uh, we can do it through like our mentorship group. You can have somebody come over and do it with them in person. I mean, that's probably still the best, right? But it does work virtually. And it really plays on our human need for connection and community. And that we really do work better when we're working alongside someone else. I think it's a huge time multiplier. It makes us more productive. I mean, it's scientifically proven that you get more done when you're working alongside others. And so it's such a good tactic. And we do it almost weekly inside of our mentorship group, because that's what I've found is the number one most helpful thing. And so it's cool that we can connect with people from around the world and do it together. And everyone's like-minded. We all have the same goals. We're talking about books. We're all going through the same struggles, right? And so it's been so cool and so powerful. And someone did ask the question too, like how does it feel being back in your old bedroom and going through all your old stuff? And I'm going to answer that coming up. But honestly, growing up, we weren't actually in our rooms a lot, inside a lot. We were always outside playing, exploring, or camping. And some of my fondest childhood memories are of camping as a family. And so we're so thankful for today's sponsor, rvmattress.com, where right now they have a huge Memorial Day sale going on. You can save 25%, but you need to hurry. It's just through the end of May. But most likely if you have a camper RV, you need to upgrade the mattresses. We've been so fortunate over the last few years to upgrade all of our mattresses. And we can't speak highly enough of RV Mattress, because when you need to upgrade them, here's what you're looking for. They have to fit the wonky sizes that come in RVs. They have to be comfortable and they have to be lightweight. So RV Mattress knows this. 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And so upgrade the mattresses, sleep super well, and rest assured, knowing not only do you get that 120 night sleep trial, but beyond that, they also have a 10 year warranty too. And they are completely fiberglass free and they're award winning too. How about this? RVMattress.com's Dream Foam Essential Mattress, which we have some of these in our campers, just won the Good Housekeeping's 2023 Family Travel Award. And remember RVMattress.com, those mattresses are by Brooklyn Bedding, which is the same company that makes our Helix mattresses that we love. So you get to take the comfort from home on the road with you. So if you're looking for a new bed, check out RVMattress.com. You can click on the link below or go to rvmattress.com backslash minimal mom and get 25% off your mattress with code minimal mom and it helps support our channel. Okay. I am pulling out one book. I don't know why. This is why it's important to box them up the same day. I'm not eager to clutter them. And I'm sorry, my voice is still kind of scratchy. I'm in that point where I'm like, I feel better, but like my voice hasn't caught up yet. So, but I didn't, I wanted to still record all this and visit with you while I was still fresh in my mind of, you know, just doing this because, um, books can be tricky, right? And so it's been, like I'm really glad that we've been able to go through them as a group. I've been surprised how many different things have come up through some of the books of like, Oh wow, now I remember that season or things to grieve of like, Oh, I thought things were going to play out this way. I thought things would look this way and they don't. And it's not necessarily bad. It's just different. Right. And so, um, yeah, I don't know. I had thought like, Oh, I've been through these a few times and I've been around this stuff. Like, uh, nothing's really going to hang me up. And then I'm like, Oh, or maybe not. So, so again, that is the nice part about doing it as a group. You know, the temptation is just to make it so full when I'm trying to reset. If you don't want to waste boxes, but also I just know I'm going to regret it if I fill them too full. The three second rule. Um, we talked about this yesterday as well, but I heard this from a gal who, um, she does decluttering and organizing and cleaning, but she specializes in people with ADHD and chronic. And she called it, I think she called it chronic clutter. Is that what she called it? Cindy? Cindy had sent the real to me and it was really good. I think it was chronic clutter and ADHD is, is are the people she specializes in. And I'm like, that's brilliant. That is so smart. So, but she was kind of going through her process and when she is helping people make decisions, she has the three second rule. So you want to make a decision in three seconds about any one item. And if you hesitate, you keep it. And I'm like, if you hesitate, you keep it. What? That like flies in the face of my, it's a, if it's not a definite yes, it's a no, right? But books can be tricky. And so I actually like this rule and I think a rule like this will make us more likely to go through something like this. If we can err on the side of keeping things and not feeling like we have to get rid of everything. So I think for things where they wouldn't necessarily be super easy to replace, some books are, some aren't. I think this is just a really great rule. Sentimental stuff. Um, other stuff we're just not sure about. The three second rule is great. All right. Also if you're coming across anything that you need to like tell the story of or share about, use the comments for that because I do find that very helpful. I know last time I talked about how I was coming across books of like, it was like wayward kids, juvenile delinquency, like helping teens. And I was just like, Oh, that is still something that I would love, love, love to be able to do more with. But I also know it's not the right season and so it's okay. Like it's definitely something to grieve, but you know, it feels, it also feels right just to let those go right now and trust. Like when the timing is right, I'll be able to find plenty of resources that I need for it. So I'm going to tape up another box. You know, I got 10 of these boxes thinking like, Oh, for sure. Like that'll be extra. I don't know. They're, they're probably all about two thirds to three quarters full to be like the right weight for me to manage. And so we might need all of them. We'll see. And you know, initially I was just going to include decluttering books in just like one overall video for this room. And then I was like, you know, let's just slow down a little bit because this is the tricky stuff. I don't know for many of us. And so I'm like, let's spend a little more time on these things. And I will tell you, I have found the book Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff by Matt Paxton to be so helpful. We went through it in our mentorship group earlier this year and everyone was like, this book is gold. So in an upcoming video, I'm going to talk more about that book. Talk about creating your legacy list because I do have a lot of like childhood treasures in this room. And that lens has been so helpful for me when I'm looking at like my old porcelain dolls and my 4-H ribbons and my old scrapbooks and my old artwork. And so I'm excited to talk more about that kind of stuff with you in upcoming videos. But if you have not read that book, I would, I would recommend getting a copy. Lots of libraries have it, but it might be one worth having on hand too. Both to go through your own sentimental stuff, but then also if you have inherited stuff, if you have parent stuff or grandparent stuff, or if you're going to help a parent go through their things, it like provides such a great framework. And I just feel like it's done in such a like honoring way that you'll be able to like, you could share the book with them. You could have them read it too. You could go through it together. But I just really feel like they will feel respected and honored through the process. And I think that is so important. So, um, just a heads up, we will be talking about that more in weeks to come. So if you want to get a copy, I really think it would benefit you a lot. Diane also has a surfing book. She always wanted to learn how to surf. So I did ask her about these. She said it was okay to let those go. When you're deciding to keep or donate, what goes through your mind? This book was helpful to me. I may want to reread it again. Yeah, great. I think it's that like, um, it's like the feeling I'm getting from it. My utmost for his highest. I'm like, yes, like I love this. I, I definitely would go back and read it again. I would share it with somebody. This one, I haven't read this, the ragmuffin gospel, but I feel like I've heard good things about this. I don't know. Correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm like, Oh, that looks interesting. Like a Saturday, if I have nothing to do, right. I would, this book, I would, I would definitely grab this book off of my shelf and like sit down and start reading it. Especially if my shelf is simplified and I can actually see it and I know that it's there. Some of these others developing the leader within you. I'm sure this has really great information in it, but I, I wouldn't consume that type of information from this anymore. I would look for a podcast by John Maxwell in this one too. I'm like, I don't know. There's just nothing about it that said to me, I have a day off. I'm going to grab that book and read it. So books are, it's very personal, right? But I'm just kind of going by like, what is the likelihood on a day off? I would pick that book up. And you know, honestly, like usually like, Oh, don't judge a book by its cover, but the cover the way it's like packaged and presented, I actually think it does make a big difference. It's heavy, but I just want to put more in it. I guess it's hard for me to even spend a dollar on a box. There is a cost of decluttering sometimes though, right? It is, it is what it is. All right, box number three. Thoughts on keeping books for our kids to read. I know I won't read again, but want to save for my daughters. I think that's totally fine. Even some of these I'm aware of like, well, maybe our kids would, a couple, I don't know. Um, but again, we just got to contain it. We have to understand how much inventory do you want to keep in regards to that limited, put some kind of boundary around it. All right. So, so I'll show you where I'm at with this shelf. Okay. So these are the shelves we cleared off last time. And if you'll recall, and then there was another row in front of them too. So it looked kind of more like this one. And this one I've been pulling from, this one was totally stacked too, like full with books. And then we also have this one on the bottom. So these all still need to be going through. So that's what I'm going to work on right now. It does feel nice that I have boxes now so I can just do it directly into the boxes. So I am so, Oh, yearbooks. Yeah. If it's so special you put it in your memory bin, then yes. But otherwise, um, some people just pull out certain pages that have like pictures or signatures on them that they want to keep. Otherwise complete permission, um, to let them go. You know, I think something else I've been thinking about that can be helpful for a space like this is that, uh, I've been imagining what this room will look like when it's all done and pulled together. I, uh, went to Goodwill and I found, uh, well, I went to my other favorite thrift store at first, but I didn't have any left there. So I went to Goodwill. Um, just their prices are so much higher at Goodwill, but I found a little bench to put in here. And I think it will be nice because like when you do come to spend the night, usually you have some kind of like travel bag or something. And then I still want to find a piece of artwork. There's actually no artwork, um, hanging up in here. So I want to find something kind of like vintage-y, um, to hang on this wall in here. And then I'd also like to find like a bedspread just used somewhere secondhand that goes with like the colors in here and stuff. And so it's fun for me, um, to like imagine what this space will feel like when it's all put back together. And that helps me then to make some of these decisions of like, well, should we keep it? Should I not? And then like, ultimately I want this space to feel peaceful. And if there's still tons of clutter on here, and this is the first thing you see when you walk in, like it's not going to feel that way. So how does it feel going through your childhood bedroom? Lots of mixed emotions. Yeah. Um, like there's lots of good things that I like look back on and smile. And then there's some things too, where I'm like, Oh, that didn't like play out how I expected it to, right. So it's been good to do it in chunks. Like I really appreciate that. And so I think what's really good about that is it's all rolling around the back of my mind. Like, okay, my porcelains that are in here, like I have a game plan for those, like the artwork that's still under the bed. And then Diana has a bunch of stuff in here. And my mom and I were already talking like that's going to her house. Right. So I got boxes for that too. Like I wanted to make sure I had all the tools that I would need. Uh, my hope really is by the end of the weekend to have this room totally pulled together. So it's been good to do some smaller chunks in the beginning, but now I feel like I'm now I'm ready where I'm just like, let's just get it done. So it's been good. Oh my, I'm moving this weekend after my husband passed away. I have no, I no way to take care of my three bedroom, two bath or garage house. I'm going to a one bedroom apartment. Lots of stuff has been decluttered, thrown away, given away advice. Don't wait until you have to declutter. That's so good. Yeah. I hope your move goes really smoothly this weekend. Um, you know, it's a good sometimes to have those reasons we have to, um, declutter so much. But yes, I do think because it is like an emotional process to not have to wait until the end to do it all to, to gradually be doing it. Um, it's, it's so important. It's so good. Oh, nice. I'm working on gathering donations for our churches yard sale, which is tomorrow. That's awesome. That makes it so much easier when you have like a reason that you're, um, getting all your donations together. I was looking at cause we're going to go back to our basement too, because I've not finished that. Um, and there's so many things down there now that I'm like, I'm just going to donate this to grace and glory because like, I love what they're doing. Um, and it would be better for someone else to get to use it than just to, to sit in our, our basement. So unclutter your mind. One minute tips. I'm like, Ooh, I think I might need to like go through that. I think that could be good. All right. And then this is like a cute, super cute little journal, but it's never been used. So that's just going to get donated. I don't think any of us probably need more journals, but I could be mistaken. How do you deal with yearly planners where you have notes, interesting tidbits? Yes. Let's talk about like a planners. See, now I don't want to stop though, guys. I'm on a roll. Uh, okay. Planners, notes, conference notes, journals, right? So we talked about this a little bit last on our last live too. So a couple of things, one, the act of writing secures things in our brain. So if we're looking at Bible study notes, conference notes, um, it's the writing that's really important and helps to, to cement things into our brain. And so often we don't need the actual notes anymore. And so we have to be really realistic. Do, are you the type of person that goes back and reviews these notes and these Bible studies and all of that? Or is it, uh, like a fantasy self thing? Like, well, maybe someday, or I would like to, Oh, that conference was really life changing. Like I should, I should go back or whatever. And so being really realistic, and then also setting boundaries for it. So if you're the type, like some people like to keep old planners because it's like a memory thing. And it's interesting to go back and look at that. So then we just have to know what's our container, where is it going to be stored? Because here's the thing. We can keep anything. We can keep anything that is special to us, but it has to have some kind of organization around it. It's when it looks like this and it's, they're all stacked wonky. And then there's like some paper stuff mixed in with it. That books are stressful. If they're neatly lined up on here, it's not overflowing the shelf. Even the shelf was like starting to bow a little bit. Um, so then you're like, Oh crud, like that's not good. Right. That's stressful. Like walking in and seeing this is not a good way to like start the day. Right. But I can keep books. I can get them neatly organized on here and have a book collection. Um, and so you can have a planner collection. You can have a collection of old Bible studies or notes, but where are you going to store them? How are you keeping them organized? And let's be really realistic. Are you the type of person that is actually going to go back and visit them again? And I shared this last time too, but one of the questions I'm like internally asking myself as we go through this is if it's a Saturday afternoon and I have nothing to do, like, is this a book that I would pick up? Like would it draw me in if I'm like kind of scanning the bookshelf and I'm like, Oh, like, yeah, why don't we sit down and read that? But if not, if it's like myth, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go after that. Then I'm letting it go because when else would I ever read it? Right. Like I think we all worried during COVID for a little bit of, Oh no, like if we lost all internet or TV and couldn't consume media, like we'll all go back to reading books. Right. And we're going to want like a big library of books. So we'd never run out. And that didn't happen. Right. And even I had mentioned that book, uh, that I've been reading and um, that took place, it's like 1924, but the gentleman in there loves to read. And he talks about his like Zane Gray Westerns and stuff. And, uh, he had, I think if I don't, if I'm not mistaken, he had 13 books total. And then he would just go back and read them again once he got done with all of them. And I'm like, isn't that fascinating? Like if I paired this down to 13 books, that would be like hardly any, right. And so we forget that like we would read books again, we would exchange them with a neighbor. He was exchanging them with other people then. Right. And so we just, we always have this mindset of like, but no, I have to have it all for me, you know, and have it at my fingertips. And that's not actually true. I often think too, like if you actually added up how many hours it would take to read all of these books, I think none of us have that kind of time. And it just, or just want to be what we would choose to do. Some of you would, and that's okay. Have any thoughts on letting go of Bibles that I used a long time ago? I have a current Bible I use. It seems silly to hold onto old Bibles. Yes. The only reason we keep extra Bibles upstairs in the boys' closet, just for the thought of like, would there be a time where we want to share them with others or would we ever donate them on a missions trip or bring them with on a mission trip? Or, uh, I mean, you have to be going to an English speaking country, but I have decided for myself to keep Bibles just because who knows what could happen. But that's, that's just me. And that's my own like thoughts around it. I'm not trying to push that onto anyone else. So. And then of course too, the other thought that's always coming in is like how much money was spent on these books. They were all bought secondhand. I mean, remember when like Amazon, you used to only get like cheap books on there. Some you still can, but I know, I mean, probably most of them were not even when shipping was not more than like $5. But still, if you start to add it up, like that's a lot, you know, all right. I really shouldn't put many more in here, but it's just like, it's not, it's not totally full. So it just makes me want to like maximize the space in here. Right. But I'm going to resist. Matt Paxton in his book, Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff, you know, he'll talk about telling the story of things and, um, like we just, we really do need to be able to share it with somebody. Right. And so it's nice when we can do it in a group and share it together and share those memories together, share questions together, like, where are these books going to go? Right. So we'll definitely talk about that too. So it's, it's, I don't know. It's just, I'm not trying to turn this into like a commercial, um, for anything. I just don't know how effective it is. And I want you to be successful in your decluttering because I know how awesome it is on the other side. And so I just want that for you so much. And so if it's like, Hey, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to sign up for a group for $15 a month for a few months so I can get through this stuff. I just think it's such a worthwhile investment. And if I would have had something like this when I was decluttering my home initially, it would have been so helpful. It would have been awesome. Like I know it would have catapulted me and I would have been able to do stuff so much faster. So I just know the power of bringing community and other people around you in this process. Okay. So this feels good. We've made a lot of progress on here. So, I mean, we should with four full boxes, right? So, all right, let's see. I want to answer your questions. I also want to keep going a little bit. So go ahead. If you've posted a question and I didn't see it, go ahead and answer it again and we'll, I'll answer it. Yeah. I love this. I'm so guilty of having too many books. I never read and I legit have 10 books in my save for later Amazon cart. Well, and that's the other thing is we don't imagine, I'm always coming across new books that I want to read, right? Like we forget like, Oh yeah, there'll probably still be more coming in too. And Oh yeah, there's that thing called the library that we can go to. It's fun. Like I'll add, like I'll request books and then I'll just like, forget about it. Then you'll get the notification that it's in at the library. And I'm like, well, I've totally forgot about that. So that's always kind of a fun surprise. Let's see if you have a ton of books, sometimes we will take to half price books or similar small town bookshop to purchase and whatever they don't take immediately drop at donation. That's what I was thinking was to take these to half price books. Are they selective? I guess I thought you could just drop them all off. Do they like pick and choose? That's maybe something I need to look into. Um, cause if they're picky, then I probably would just take them to the donation center. Um, shoot. I was thinking too, cause there's a lot of faith based books in here. That maybe I would take them to the, to my favorite donation center cause they are like a faith based organization. But then I don't know. I don't always like to, are people going to go buy them there and read them? I don't know. Right. Like sometimes I feel like I'm just finding my like clutter off on somebody else. So, Oh, they go through them. Oh, Hmm. Okay. So, so what should I do? Should I take them there? And then like, do they just call you to come pick up? Is it like when you go to a consignment store and then they like, we'll call you to come get the ones that they don't want. Yeah. What about donating them to your church library? Um, our churches have free. So I mean, there's probably other churches, you know, it's so tricky though with faith based books, isn't it? Because each church has their own thoughts around everything. And so that just always doesn't necessarily, um, Oh, okay. So you go there usually takes less than 30 minutes and they tell you right away. Okay. So probably I'll do that. And then I'll just take the rest of the donation center. Thank you. That's very helpful. Our library takes books for their store. It's a great fundraiser for them. Yeah. You know, I think the library is a great option too. I think especially if you had like a lot of fiction books or if you had how to books that were more general, I'm thinking like, I would say 80% of these are faith based. And so I don't think they'll want those. So I am liking the idea of just going to taking them to half price books, letting them pick through, pick the ones they want. And then I'll just take the rest of the donation center. Yeah. Janet says over spring break, I decluttered a ton of school stuff. I feel so free. I love that because Janet's a homeschool mom. Um, and that stuff is can be difficult, right? To part with, but the freedom that comes afterwards is just so good. So I'm so glad to hear that, Janet. Oh yeah. Michelle says we have a committee for our church library. I'm on it to weed out unsuitable offerings. We donate them to a local faith based charity. That's cool. Yeah. Oh, half price books. We'll get rid of the rest of your books. So you don't have to take the leftovers. Oh, well then that's a great idea. That's awesome. Okay. Well that solves that problem. Then thank you. That's super helpful. They will take them. They have a religion section. Okay. Awesome. Okay. I need to grab a sip of coffee quick. So keep working. Uh, if I'm missing your questions, go ahead and post them again. I'm going to see if I can get one more box filled. Okay. So I've learned a little more now. So we were talking about like going to half price books. I didn't even realize half price books pays you for the books. I'm just trying to think of the best place to bring them. So my friend Robin said that, uh, at least in our area, she's familiar with our half price books here. She said they don't really take much for faith based unless they're like the real popular ones. So it's probably kind of like any books. Like they just want the popular ones, right? Which is totally fine. But she said they will dispose of them for you, which just means shredding them. So that I didn't want. So, um, she told me another, uh, the thrift store if you're in the South Metro of the Twin Cities. So she said they take faith based books or all books. And so I am, I'm going to call ahead just to make sure before I bring like eight boxes of books there by the time we get these all boxed up. Um, so I'm going to call ahead just to make sure, but then I think that is where I'm going to go with them. And so that feels really good to just know that I have a good place, uh, to be bringing all these books to. The articulate executive learn how to act, to look, act, and sound like a leader. That's awesome. Uh, could you remind me that I am a creative teacher and will make do if I get rid of curriculum that will help a future student? Yes. I've heard so much last summer. So this layer of the onion is harder. Yes, yes, yes. So, uh, for teachers or homeschoolers, um, the curriculums, right. Uh, I, you know, when I just look at how little we actually use year in and year out, like, it's just, it's not as much as we ever imagined that it's going to be. And the idea of like saving stuff for others or other people's kids or all that, it's just for most of us, it's too much inventory to manage. Like we just have better things to do with our time than continue to manage all of this stuff. And it's much easier to acquire it than it used to be on marketplace or through other homeschoolers. And so I don't think we have to be so fearful of getting rid of that kind of stuff. Ideas on how to store children's books, not in rotation right now. That's a good question. I don't know. I'll ask you guys cause I've never rotated children's books. Um, something interesting from when we visited with Kim John Payne was, you know, he talked about how kids, they don't need a lot of books and they really enjoy the repetition of the stories and the books. So we often feel like, Oh, we need a lot of variety to have well-rounded kids that are really great readers and all this. And actually, um, that's not necessarily the case. And you might find your kids read more when you highly simplify their books, your young kids, like your children's books. Um, I've heard that from many parents. So, uh, just a note on kids' books too. Like I'm noticing here too, this was a book we, uh, we grew up with. So like we keep this, this was, I don't even know. I should ask my mom where it came from. It's been on our bookshelves. Oh, to Dawn and Diana from Great Grimmer. So like, so I do understand. I'm going to sneeze now. Uh, Cupid, excuse me. Um, you know, some sentimental books, like this should really make it into a memory. Been the world's best, uh, fairy tales. Like we're kind of, I don't imagine I would read them to my kids. Some of these fairy tales are like, I don't know, shouldn't be read to kids. Right. Oh, oh man. Um, but so this would be a good like memory box item. And yes, Diana and I often had to share things. So we're pretty used to that. It always be like, well, who gets that one? You know? So it's fine. Okay. Who are you really? And what do you want? Don't we all just want to answer that question? Oh, that's awesome. Let's see. I have a few almost done decluttering projects going and I'd like to finish them, but I can't bring myself to go back and complete them. Any motivation advice for me? Yes. So I found it helpful. So like even for this project, like this isn't super top of mind for me because it's not even in my house. I don't even see it every day. Right. But it's still been hanging out here cause I want to, I want this room to be a guest room for my mom, uh, my parents. And so it was very helpful for me to list out. What would I need to finish it? Um, and then again, to think about what, like, what do I want this space to look like? What might I get for like a couple of decorations and how will it feel when it's done? And so even just doing a little bit of planning. So like if you have a spare bedroom or attic or something like to actually walk to that space and just to look at it and to say like, okay, what would it take, um, to finish this? What would I need? What tools might I need? Do I need more donation boxes? Do I need help moving this big piece of furniture? Like to actually write it out and then also estimate like, okay, based on my experience now, how long would it take to finish this? And so often we've built it up in our head because it has taken a while to get there that the finishing is going to take a long time, but you have built up your decluttering muscles. You have skills and tools. You have accountability. We have work sessions like this every week this month. And so it, you, you probably have more tools at your disposal than you ever have before and more mindset shifts that have happened. So I think if you just do a little bit of planning, I think it would make a huge difference. Yeah. Kristen says time blindness is real. I've been putting off a tidying task for ages. Stepping around stuff in the upstairs hallway took 30 minutes to clear. That's awesome. Kristen way to go. I love that. Yes. And don't forget to take the before and better pictures. That's, that's super good. I love that. Yeah. Let's see. Elizabeth says I've been more open to doing more planning too. It does help to write things down. Yes. And that's never been my tendency, right? I'm not like, uh, let's make a game plan and then execute the steps. But there is something about like breaking it down in your mind into smaller tasks. Even this, I'm like, you know, I don't feel that great today. Like I don't want to do any deal with any of the big stuff in here, but I can box up books and I can go through a few more books. Like that doesn't take as much energy. And so looking at it in smaller chunks can be really helpful. I've mentioned it before, but my apartment complex does a book exchange. Two times a year, people bring and take what they want. Then at the end of the day, the books are boxed up and brought to the senior center, women and children's center, et cetera. It works really well. That is so cool. I love that. If I had more bandwidth, I would do like a range of book exchange. Wouldn't that be so fun? I like a community book exchange. I'll be so fun and like talk like together with about books and have coffee. Like, I love that. I think that's a great idea. Yeah. The sticky note concept too, where you can break down your project and write it on like write tasks on sticky notes. It's a very gratifying when you accomplish a thing to take it down and tear it up. I love that. Yeah. So basically I'm not sure what that is. So just look at your space and break it down into smaller tasks and write each one on a sticky note and then put them there. And so this gives you a game plan, right? So then when you do walk back into the space, because often we're getting interrupted and whatnot, you can just look at it and know where to start next. And so, yes, that's a great idea. Yes. And five minutes really do matter. If you'll just start with five minutes, you will be amazed. Amen. It is amazing. It's the just getting started, right? We know this, like we know, but we still need that reminder sometimes. Right. So and using times like this to body double using my five minute video is the other days of the week to body double. It's like, it really does make a big difference. I've been telling my mom, my sister, I'm like, you guys like for real body doubling is like, it's where it's at. Like it's just the most effective thing I think for most of us, maybe not everybody, but for most of us. Yeah. I think I get stuck because I'm down to the gray clutter items. Yeah, for sure. And that's just right. Um, and just keep being reminded of why are we doing this? How much inventory do I actually want to manage? And I think when you're to that point too, you can think about like, what are my goals with these spaces? Sometimes early on, I don't find it helpful to think about what is my ultimate goals. But I think once you get down to the gray area, I love the idea of like, if you had a free Saturday, like tomorrow, your house is decluttered and clean because when your house is decluttered, it's easy to keep clean and you could do whatever you want to do. Would it be a craft project? Would it be reading? Would it be going out with friends? Or, I mean, I would probably, my perfect day would involve a mix of sitting in my chair with a cup of coffee and reading and then going out to lunch with friends and then probably coming back home and having more alone time, like planning my garden or working in the garden. So that would be like a great Saturday for me. It's a family in there too, right? But you know what I mean? And so to think through like, okay, so what of this stuff would I choose to do because seasons change? Uh, what would I choose to do? And what other stuff has that, like that's just a fantasy self. It's not actually something I would choose to do or to finish or to complete. I think that can be really helpful for self. Maybe not. I don't know. Let me know though. So yeah, I haven't, uh, what are the great items classified? So great. We just say, it's not a clear yes or no. It's, you know, uh, like, well maybe, you know, my mom has some stuff up here from a cabin they want to have. And is that ever going to be realistic? I don't know. Right. So then we kind of get hung up on those things and then we have to ask ourselves like, well, how hard would it be to replace it? And if we really did, if that dream did come true, is it better to store it up or is it deteriorating in storage? Would it be better to let others use it in the meantime? Um, and then again, when that season comes, then we'll reacquire it because none of it's actually that expensive. Or is it like, you know, I have the space, this whole upstairs is empty 99% of the time. So to put it in some boxes and to keep it is not harming anything. Right. And so it's, it's tough because it's different for everyone based on your season, based on how much storage space you have, based on if that clutter weighs on your mind and bothers you or not. Yeah. I would have a mix of people time and alone time and alone time is essential. Yes. Elizabeth, we can be friends, right? We'll go for lunch together and then we'll have our alone time. It'll be wonderful. I'm in a season where I have no opportunities to sit and read physical books. I do only audio books and podcasts. I have books I like by authors. I still enjoy and would likely read someday, but I have no idea when that season of life will ever come. Would you just let everything go that isn't sentimental? You might decide to do that. I, I, until recently kept very few books and what we don't know is when you get into a season, like I really am in a season now that I can read more, but I'm not going back to the old books. Like I don't even miss any of the books I decluttered that I have new interests and new authors and new things that I want to check out and read. And so I think that's the hard thing with books if we're thinking like, Oh, but when I get, you know, time again, so that's where I'm like, I'm only keeping it if I really believe that I would pick it up on a Saturday afternoon, you know, and sit in my chair with a cup of coffee and read it. If like I can imagine that, then it's like, okay, that's worth keeping. But it was a very small collection for many years and now I'm expanding it a little bit again. But again, the books are much different than if I had decided to try and keep ones from the past. Oh, I know this. It's like a real dusty. Oh, that's funny. My dad and I were always going to make like glass doors for it. So it wouldn't get so dusty. We always did. We didn't make it that far. Awesome. All right. Well, we are going to wind up for today. Like I said, body doubling is huge. So we have multiple sessions of this scheduled throughout the month. Replays are always available. All right. I love you. Have a really good weekend and I will see you again soon. Hello. So good to see you today. Well, um, when we left the Facebook live on Saturday, we talked a little bit about like, how are we going to organize these shelves? I had totally run out of steam that day, but today I'm feeling rejuvenated. And I think we should work on this whole bookshelf, getting it pulled together, um, because the room's coming together. And I think that's going to feel really good. Okay. I had to put my hair up. I was getting hot. I think we'll just start, um, at the top and work our way down. This shelf does not have very many books on it. I'll go through that. This was a jewelry box that we got. I got, we each got one. This was mine for our 16th birthday. So this, I want to keep and it'll stay on the shelf. We have to move it while we clean. And I did have this like grandiose idea. Um, and you can't even see how dirty this actually is. It is like, it's pretty dirty. Um, that's okay. That's what happens when you don't clean a shelf for a gazillion years. Okay. So, um, I had the thought of dividing up the categories of books. So we have fiction, self-development and spiritual. I don't know. It doesn't really matter. But for right now I have to take them off to, to be able to clean this. I don't think, did I go through these ones? I think that, I actually have a donation box right here. Um, I don't know if we'll keep all of these. Okay. That is why I kept that box there. Well, let's do it. We'll put all the fiction up there and see where that gets us. Okay. So as I'm going through these, I'm making another decluttering pass. So again, when I was choosing which books to keep, I was using the three second rule. And so if I hesitated on, I was like, not sure, maybe I want to read it, maybe Diana might, then I was like, I'm just going to keep it. And I kind of figured I'd be making another pass when we did come to organizing the shelves and cleaning them and all that. So I was trying to just not feel like I, you know, feeling too pressured to get rid of like all the books. And then I was also using a container concept. I knew I wanted everything to comfortably fit on here and I didn't want it to be jam packed. I want there to be room for future growth as well. We might not add books in here, but any space in our house, we have to anticipate that over time we're going to add to it as well, right? So I got rid of about 10 more books as I was going through this. And I am able to organize it with all the fiction are on the top shelf. I put a few more up there. And then spiritual stuff is on the middle shelf. The next one is Bibles, devotionals, and commentaries. And then on the bottom I have a few more Bibles. And then that's where the self-development, self-help books are. There aren't actually that many of them. And some would argue the Bible is that. So anyways, but we had decided we'll just keep all the Bibles for now. I don't know. You never know when you might need those. But this is looking really good. It actually feels really good to be getting this all organized. Okay, so I can finally close up the final book box. This is box number six, I believe. I think it's six. It's six or seven. I think it's number six. So lots of books going to get donated. Hopefully someone else will actually read them and they won't just be sitting on a shelf getting dusty, right? Also, I counted because I was curious, I counted how many books were left here and there are 75. And so even if you imagined, I don't know, how long does it take to read a book? Say four hours for each book times 75. So 150, 300. So that's 300 hours of reading. And if you read an hour a day, it would still take you a year to get through all of these books. And some of them are longer. Some of those definitely you couldn't get through in four hours. So there's still a full year worth of reading here with everything that we left behind. So I feel pretty good about that. I think that's definitely an adequate amount. All right, let's get this box out and I will show you the finished product. Doesn't it just look so much better? Look how good this room is looking. I'm like, I needed this. This keeps me going, right? So we just have a little bit more stuff to deal with here, but I'm feeling good about it. Like I said, I'm going to Diana's house on Wednesday, tomorrow. So let's get this stuff loaded up and I'm going to deliver it to her house. That will also feel so good to get this stuff out of here. But I love you. I hope you have a really good day and I'll see you again tomorrow.