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Clutter sucks, doesn't it? Today, we're going to give an easy guide to decluttering, how to make it a habit, and more! #declutter #decluttering #homehacks #cleanhome #aul
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and if you got a little bit of today's
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video this morning you got a tiny teaser
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of what we're talking about today for
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the rest of you you're gonna have to
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wait till after the intro so please stay
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put and let's have some fun
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[Music]
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thank you
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know what guys clutter sucks doesn't it
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just trash and garbage or not even
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trashing garbage just stuff and no don't
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say anything about my back I got stuff
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there that's important I know it looks
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clear but it's got good stuff back there
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it's good stuff back here so clutter
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sucks now what is clutter well Miriam
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Webster dictionary defines it as to fill
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or cover with scattered or disordered
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things that impede movement or reduce
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effectiveness
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leave it to the dictionary to make it
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sound like it's so much more clinical
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than it should basically it's a bunch of
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crap that makes it impossible to get
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something done whether it's physically
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or emotionally so today we decided to
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give you a little how-to guide on
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decluttering but first let's talk about
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why it's important shall we
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so
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everydayhealth.com a very interesting
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website that covers all sorts of topics
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wrote A Blog called why decluttering is
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important for self-care and when it
1:30
isn't this is written by Stacy colino
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and medically reviewed by Allison young
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that's one reason why we like this
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website actually because it's reviewed
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by people in the industry that actually
1:39
right what they're talking about right
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so generally decluttering is important
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for multiple reasonings however
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sometimes it can go a little overboard
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so why does clutter affect our
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well-being
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they say it to various reasonings first
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one is clutter in the office can make us
1:56
less productive and more burnt out so if
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you guys watched a few months ago our
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burnout video burnout basically is when
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you come to the point where you just
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can't do it anymore you just basically
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fizzle well apparently too much stuff in
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the office can make you burn out as well
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I'd say reasoning behind that probably
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because you're too busy trying to figure
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out where the hell everything goes
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you're not getting anything work done
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hence why you're also less productive I
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try to keep my desk clear of anything
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that isn't necessary other than some
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things that I like to look at or things
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that I'm actually using for the video
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hence why everything is behind me and
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not in front of me because it looks
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better that way doesn't it
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um and you've told me before it's one
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years you only have the things on your
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desk that you use and the stuff behind
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you is basically stuff that's Decor or
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useful to you personally while you're
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doing what you're doing
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so the perks that come with declutter in
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the physical space aren't just the
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physical space but also for things like
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attention concentration and if you don't
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do it it might drain those cognitive
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resources like being able to well reason
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and think
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so
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I think it was you or maybe something I
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read that said at certain time at some
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point offices literally told you only
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put things on your desk that were only
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there for purpose and nothing else while
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it seemed a little weird to not have a
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picture of your family I can kind of see
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from the perspective of the office why
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that might be a thing do you think for
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that period of time that maybe just
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maybe a little bit they wanted to make
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sure you were more focused on your work
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so the less you had
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the more you did I I think it was a
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misguided
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um approach to be honest I think that a
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lot of people just like you know you
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might have a picture of Krista on your
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desk or your pups or things that make
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you feel good and helps you be
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productive because you feel like you're
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in a safe and kind environment so I
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think that was
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um yes that actually happened you could
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not have anything on your desks at all
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and in fact it was around the same time
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that they took people out of their
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offices and put them into like the space
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in the middle of the you know the the
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office with all these little Cubbies and
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you would literally be out with
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everybody so you talk about distraction
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forget the stuff that was sitting on
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your desk you had all the other stuff
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going on around you so I think it was
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misguided because I think that you know
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there's a there's a medium somewhere
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happy medium right
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don't put it now they're going to say
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some of the uh psychiatrists they talked
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to said that you know things like
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indecision procrastination can be that
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much worse when you have things there
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now they did put on a point that I don't
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know if I agree with but their one of
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their points was the reason you have the
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stuff on your desk is because you can't
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really part with it which can also cause
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more problems of procrastination and
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indecision that might be a separate
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decluttering issue that might be one of
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those things where if you have a problem
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getting rid of stuff in your house
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that's a super thing I don't know if I
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really buy how it deals with the office
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but just I throw that out there
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interesting second Point here clutter at
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home and lower happiness and make you
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feel less secure
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don't know if I agree with the secure
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part however if you do have a lot of
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stuff at home that's kind of just there
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it could possibly affect how you're
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feeling generally in a paper published
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in 2016 a survey response from adults in
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U.S and Canada revealed that clutter can
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have a negative effect on subjective
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well-being and happiness though home as
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they quoted is typically considered safe
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and secure they say compromises your
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security mainly because you just have
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junk around and maybe just maybe
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it might lose your sense of security
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because of that they go on to say that
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because of clutter you can lose control
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of your physical environment and leads
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to things like stress depression and
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anxiety
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you see how that can kind of work in
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circumstances
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um you know again not knowing where
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these people were doing this article
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where they were doing the survey it's
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hard to pinpoint what exactly they were
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looking at right if they took enough
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people from both the US and Canada and
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most of them said that they were
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disturbed by clutter obviously there's
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something there you know they talk about
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the cortisol level stuff like that
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compared it to women versus men but
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overall it seemed that the majority of
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people that they they surveyed said that
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the more junk that was there the worse
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it made them feel yeah I mean it
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it makes my OCD like go crazy when
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things are not in where they're supposed
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to be when they're not that'll put back
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where I started out with them and so I I
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need to have my desk clean I need to
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have the countertops clean because when
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they're not I'm like a bundle of anxiety
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it it's like I I I don't feel like I'm
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in my spot so I don't know about you Rob
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but you CL you know you just said you
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don't have a lot of stuff on your desk
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and you have stuff now the next part
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actually is really important to me
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because of my OCD but clutter can be a
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safety hazard for multiple reasons as
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well it could be a problem of tripping
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over it could collect dust and grossness
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that you don't want in your house so not
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only can affect your mind but it can
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literally make your house just a gross
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mess I don't know if anybody remembers
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that show hoarders from way back when
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that is the perfect example of clutter
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now obviously that is a whole nother
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right psychology behind it but the
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general visual gives you an idea of what
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it could be if not now this morning I
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want to throw out one of the articles I
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read about ways we think we're
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decluttering but we're not and one of
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them was moving from one thing to the
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other doesn't count to cluttering it
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basically just means reorganizing and
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again if you think about it use the
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garage as a place to store stuff but
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then what happens to your garage and I
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say this personally to you because you
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know but then one of the things was oh
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well when your garage is full go over to
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your parents house and fill their garage
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with stuff right all you're doing now is
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basically just separating the junk yeah
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and you know Rob I mean that's the other
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thing you know when when you're you're
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Elders your parents your grandparents
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when they they want to leave you all
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their stuff right so I mean we've done
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it with you and and but we stopped
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because you're very clear I don't want
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that but yeah I'll take that and I think
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that we have a tendency to think that we
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should keep everything because the
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memories are wrapped up in those things
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that we're keeping and of course our
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children want us to hand it down to them
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not so much
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no now at the end this they did say you
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know what is too much or what is not
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enough and they really said they used
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the eye of the beholder for you so
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really this is one of those questions
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where again
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it's up to you you don't want to make it
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so much work becomes and obsess a
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compulsive thing where you literally
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have to do it every time that obviously
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is a is a bad thing however if you
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notice that let's say for instance you
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guys just cleaned out your garage you
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probably feel so much better you know we
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don't have a garage sure it wouldn't
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matter but let's say we had an attic
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space I probably wouldn't be so anal I'm
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sorry we do have a garage here but you
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know I wouldn't be so in I was thinking
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wait a minute but I wouldn't be so you
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know about if I threw something in the
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Attic because it's kind of out of sight
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out of mind and I really wouldn't care
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what's up there personally for me the
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declutter that bothers me is the stuff
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that's sitting in front of me that I
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have to get rid of however knowing that
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I do have the impulsiviors of OCD I have
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to have it myself to make sure that what
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I'm doing is you know healthy generally
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so that's kind of their no guide the do
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not do this but it also gives you an
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idea of the difference between what it
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means to clean declutter and all that
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now what we're going to go to next guy
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you you're like you know you like this
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guy a lot you know him well Mr Joshua
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Becker wrote a great blog on uh his
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website for Connie middlewist.com and he
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wrote 10 creative decluttering tips AKA
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how to declutter your home
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so let's see what he says and what we um
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think of now before we go into it he
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wrote down there are reasons to make you
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feel better why first off less to clean
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less declutter less cleaning guys isn't
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that great nobody wants to spend time
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cleaning nobody wants to spend time
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doing any of that so why not declutter
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beforehand
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sorry guys
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um and clean afterwards also less to
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organize yay also great less things to
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have to put away less things you have to
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make disappear less stress as he says
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the nausea and reducing sight of your
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home becoming cluttered can cause you
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stress less debt you're not busy
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spending more money because you can't
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find the things that you probably
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shouldn't have lost to begin with so
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there you go you just saved some money
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which leads to more financial freedom
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and more energy for other things so what
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are his 10 creative tips number one
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start with five minutes
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I say this all the time
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excuse me I get very excited here
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whatever it is you're gonna do do it for
11:16
a few don't take so much time and just
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do it for a couple minutes right right
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number two give one item away each day
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that's crazy that's 365 items
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um this I guess it kind of works in your
11:30
own personal uh what you're gonna do you
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might not have something to give away
11:34
but give something to maybe Goodwill
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give something to a friend give
11:40
something to your parents whatever you
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want give something Away by the end of
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the year you're going to have 365 less
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things or if you want to double it 730
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items which I'm glad he did the math
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because I would not do that
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number three fill an entire trash bag as
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I just mentioned you can go to places
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like Goodwill fill that trash bag or
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reusable bag or your car with stuff
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the more you get rid of in one sitting
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the less you're going to have to do
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it's a good deduction too if you donate
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your stuff you will get a tax deduction
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as well so there's a benefit for that
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there you go there you go donate your
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clothes this is number four again
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something that you don't think about
12:25
getting rid of but you probably should I
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mean I know I look for my closet I got
12:28
to go get some new clothes so I'm gonna
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Purge out what I don't but donate them
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anybody can use them most people you
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know places from Goodwill they will
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gladly take them off your hands and
12:40
again like she just said
12:42
more deductions for you
12:44
number five excuse me create a
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decluttering checklist
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pick what you got to do maybe do kitchen
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and drawers
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for us maybe Game Room bathroom
12:57
right
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I don't know whatever it is make your
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checklist and pick the things off that
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you want number six I don't know if
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you've heard of this one the 12 12.
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locate 12 items to throw away 12 to
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donate and 12 to be returned to where
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they were supposed to be to begin with
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before they started getting cluttered so
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first two are probably easy 12 things
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you can throw away newspaper stuff uh
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mail you don't need whatever
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12 things to donate again clothing pet
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stuff
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um dishes whatever it is
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and then 12 things to bring back to
13:35
where they go only problem with that one
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is is if you can't remember where they
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went you're gonna be screwed because
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you're going to be like where was this
13:42
to begin with and that hitch just make a
13:44
drawer maybe label it and be like
13:46
scissors and pens only and there you go
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I don't know that's a joke
13:51
um next on his list view your home as a
13:53
first time visitor would you want
13:56
somebody to come in and go what the hell
13:59
but no it's actually a great way to look
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at it look at your house as if you've
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never seen it before
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and write down your first impression if
14:08
you look at that impression and it's not
14:10
such a happy thing
14:11
it's probably time to declutter you know
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I do that I what sometimes I'll I'll
14:16
move something in the room or put
14:18
something and then I'll walk out and
14:19
close my eyes and then walk into the
14:21
room to see if I like what I did so I
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think it's kind of the similar thing
14:26
with fresh eyes right new eyes look at
14:28
it with new eyes exactly this one's
14:30
pretty funny take a before and after
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photo of your room I think you said you
14:35
did that once but take a picture what it
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looks like before with all the junk and
14:39
then take a picture afterwards maybe put
14:41
it on the wall I don't know but it's
14:43
actually pretty funny because I've seen
14:44
picture of this on the internet and it's
14:46
like it's the before and it's the after
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and it's crazy right how different it
14:51
looks even if you're just doing one room
14:53
in your house that one room looks so
14:56
much different
14:57
from the hour that you took to do so
14:59
take a before and after maybe use it as
15:02
you're you know like don't do this again
15:04
your motivation it's your motivation
15:06
there
15:07
next one get help from a friend family
15:09
member or if you live with somebody with
15:11
them as well make it a family affair
15:14
sometimes it's hard to do it yourself
15:16
for multiple reasons but if you have
15:17
somebody they're doing it with you it'll
15:19
probably take half the time you got some
15:21
extra motivation and they might be able
15:24
because they know you of what really to
15:26
get rid of and what to keep because they
15:28
probably will know you better than you
15:29
know as you're doing it right the last
15:31
one on this list is the four box method
15:34
this is kind of like the 12 12. one box
15:37
labeled trash one box labeled giveaway
15:40
one box is keep and one is relocated
15:43
which is kind of funny because in the
15:44
other video relocating is not what you
15:46
want to do but I guess in this case and
15:49
those four boxes are going to be exactly
15:50
what it is one box will be strictly
15:52
garbage that you can take out to your
15:53
garbage when you're done one box will be
15:56
donation slash giveaway whether it's two
15:58
Goodwill or two somebody you know
16:01
what is your box of keep and one is
16:04
relocate
16:05
um in this case I'd say do room to room
16:07
so do your kitchen first go through your
16:09
stuff your pots your pans your
16:12
Tupperware your whatever right see
16:14
what's in there that you don't need
16:15
maybe you know somebody who actually
16:16
Cooks more than you
16:18
offer to give them your set of pans or
16:21
your pots if they're sitting there doing
16:23
nothing maybe have them go to a home
16:25
that actually will get some use out of
16:26
them right and then of course relocating
16:28
and keeping will just be basically what
16:30
you know you're going to use regularly
16:32
and if you don't need it now maybe pop
16:35
it in your garage for the time being
16:37
until you have a permanent home or
16:39
solution right this guy's pretty smart I
16:42
mean I know if you have his book I think
16:43
you're going to give it to me at some
16:45
point um yeah I have both of his books
16:47
the other thing that he says is and it's
16:50
kind of an alignment with the four boxes
16:52
but one of the other things that he I
16:53
think he said it is that when you bring
16:55
something new into the house you make a
16:57
commitment to take something out so if
17:00
you buy a new pair of pants
17:02
a pair of pants goes
17:05
or something else goes so that you are
17:07
never bringing in more than you already
17:09
have right now I've tried that
17:12
and for the most part it works because I
17:15
don't I'm not a big shopper anymore I
17:17
used to shop a lot so I'm happy to get
17:19
rid of some of the clothing as well it
17:22
feels it's very cathartic I don't know
17:23
about you Rob I know that you guys I do
17:25
know what you guys do you like to
17:27
declutter and you have your checklist
17:28
and you go around and you you do room at
17:30
a time and it makes you feel good right
17:32
and I think that that's kind of why I do
17:35
it and I think it's why a lot of people
17:36
do it once they start and they realize
17:38
how good it makes them feel
17:40
they want to keep going right
17:43
you know and I mean it feels good when
17:45
you get you know you get the new clothes
17:47
in you put the old clothes out
17:49
um it works for pet stuff too when you
17:51
need to get a new leash or collar you
17:53
you get rid of that stuff sometimes it
17:54
gets so worn out you can't get rid of it
17:56
you got to try excuse me trash it or
17:59
let's say your dog grows but you have
18:01
the puppy collar and you know somebody
18:03
with a new dog give it to them what
18:05
color will fit almost any size you know
18:08
Critter so just the little things like
18:10
that if there's things that you know
18:12
that somebody might need to use ask her
18:14
if they don't need it great just test it
18:16
yeah or you can do a garage sale I mean
18:18
there's a lot of things that you can do
18:19
like even a community garage sale here
18:21
where we live twice a year they let you
18:23
know that they're going to do a
18:25
community-wide all five thousand houses
18:27
if they want to do you can come down to
18:29
this place in our community and bring
18:31
your stuff that you want to sell at the
18:34
garage sale
18:36
um so it means lots of different ways to
18:37
go through your your stuff and there's
18:39
lots of different ways to minimize and
18:41
to declutter there's lots of people out
18:44
there that are doing a lot of good stuff
18:45
obviously Joshua Becker is one I am a
18:48
huge huge fan of his one of his books
18:50
Robin this is one I'm going to give you
18:51
is the more of less the less you have
18:54
the better and the more you feel right
18:55
and so I think that it's a great it's a
18:57
great concept
18:59
let us know what you're thinking guys
19:01
how do you declutter in your house what
19:03
do you do in your house do you do you
19:05
declutter or do you not declutter you
19:07
you count on your kids to clean up the
19:09
house probably not we probably don't do
19:11
that don't do that not at all any last
19:13
thoughts Rob Before We Say Goodbye
19:17
um yeah I would just say uh good
19:19
practice make habit and I actually want
19:20
to read off our quote of the week even
19:22
though it's just kind of a general quote
19:23
but Abraham Lincoln said whatever you
19:25
are be a good one in this case be a good
19:28
declutterer there we go see you soon
19:31
everyone bye-bye
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