Decluttering Tips

Join us on this episode of Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises as we explore the rewarding journey of decluttering your home. Melody and Candi share their personal experiences and strategies for simplifying and organizing living spaces. Starting with small tasks like cleaning out a single drawer, they gradually tackle larger areas such as closets, highlighting the sense of relief and satisfaction that comes with decluttering. Listen in as they humorously recount stories, including Melody's husband's attachment to an abundance of screws and the challenge of letting go of old shoes and stacks of paper. Together, they discuss practical tips for disposing of common household clutter, from expired medications and broken coat hangers to outdated spices and dried-up paint cans.

Transcript

0:00:00 - Melody

Hi, I'm Melody and I'm Candi and you're listening to Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises. So on this episode of Quirks, Bumps and Bruises, I am just trying, Candi, to declutter my home, and I'm doing that because, if the Lord decides to take me home, I don't want my kids to just have to go through a bunch of stuff. 

0:00:23 - Candi

Yeah, I get it. 

0:00:24 - Melody

Yeah, and so just kind of going room by room, drawer by drawer, closet by closet, and getting rid of things that I just don't use. And I kind of have a mental test for that, and that is this If I have not worn something in a year, I'm getting rid of it because I'm probably not going to wear it Right. And then, if I haven't used something, in 10 years I'm going to get rid of it. Yeah, now my husband has a little bit harder of a time with this. You got to do that when he's at work, because he literally has a box that has 4,627 screws. 

0:01:03 - Candi

Oh, my soul. 

0:01:04 - Melody

I'm like you've got so many screws that if you needed a screw you couldn't find the screw. You'd have to go to Walmart and buy it. I know, I know it. So, anyway, just trying to declutter just a little bit at my house, and so I've got a few things you and I, Candi, we've got a few things we want to help you with, to help throw away, to kind of do some quick decluttering. 

If you're in the same boat as I, am Awesome. If you're at home, it's cold in the winter and you can't get outside as much. So it's just a good time to work on it a little bit at a time. It feels so good when you do it oh, it feels so good it does and if you look at the whole picture, like your whole house at one time, it's too overwhelming. So start with a drawer, yeah, and you'll be surprised how that drawer will make you want to do another drawer, absolutely. And then that drawer, that drawer, will make you want to do a closet, that kind of thing. So let's talk about a few of these. Do you keep expired medications? 

0:01:59 - Candi

me. Yes, no, but I mean honestly, I can't tell you when I've gone through them to get rid of them. 

0:02:04 - Melody

I, I have a little Lazy Susan in my cabinet that has medications, and the other day I said you know what I don't know. The last time I looked at what this is and I literally had some meds in there from like five years ago. 

Wow so get rid of those expired medications, shoes that are old and worn out. My husband has got shoes. I medications, shoes that are old and worn out. My husband has got shoes, I kid you not. If he puts them on and walks, it flaps. You can hear it flapping. But does he still wear them? Not really. No, he may put something on to walk outside, to do something, but no, is your husband a hoarder? No, he's not a hoarder, but he just struggles with throwing stuff away. But what about broken coat hangers? 

0:02:46 - Candi

I don't understand why you would have that Like once it breaks, let it go. 

0:02:50 - Melody

Yeah, I don't either. Kitchen gadgets. Do you have a lot of kitchen gadgets and you just don't use them? Yeah, there's nothing wrong with them. Though there's nothing wrong with them. It's nothing wrong with having a strawberry hauler. Not one thing wrong with it, which I have, I do too, but how many times do you use that? Oh, I couldn't tell you Because I usually just use a knife. 

0:03:08 - Candi

Yeah, the last 10 times we've had strawberries I've not used it. Yeah, yeah. 

0:03:13 - Melody

Here's another one that we need to get rid of at my house Dried up paint cans, things where you've spray painted or even gallon and you keep it for a while because you think I might use that for touch-ups Right, but 10 years later you're not using it. No, it's too old to use. So getting rid of that stuff. Like we talked about outdated spices, you know, I'm pretty sure I've got spices that came over with Noah, I'm pretty sure Same here. Do you have a drawer that has? 

0:03:42 - Candi

about a hundred takeout menus. No, I got rid of all those. I did declutter all that because now everything online, just Google it, because now you can go to your phone, right, all that stuff. 

0:03:49 - Melody

Okay, here's one, and we talk about this at Christmas, I tell you because, as a former teacher, I know what teachers love for Christmas, right, and it's not mugs. Okay, it is not mugs. 

0:04:00 - Candi

And so do you have an excessive amount of mugs, because I tend to have to do that every year is clean out mugs yeah, and it's so frustrating because you go to clean them and you don't have the proper space to put them up and if you just use a couple, you just need four to rotate wash. Yes, I know, I know, but they're so cute. 

0:04:16 - Melody

All right, I'm going to go through a few more so we can move, because there's a lot. Okay, scratch nonstick cookware. Yeah, toss it, scratch, you need to get rid of it. Of course. Expired canned goods that you're not. You know, you're not going to eat Old magazines and newspapers or unwanted promotional things that come in the mail and you put them in a pile. Yeah, now I'm telling on my husband a lot. I act like I don't have any faults, but I do. I do. I have a lot, but I don't know what it is. But he loves stacks of papers. We have a stack of paper here and we have a stack of paper there. It drives me insane, absolutely drives me insane. All right, what about duplicate kitchen appliances? Like maybe you got married and you got three of one thing and you just kept them all three. 

0:05:02 - Candi

And maybe one's a spatula and you keep them all I get it. I do, you never know. 

0:05:06 - Melody

Now let me ask you about this one, because some people think it's terrible that I do this. I'm going to tell on myself because I have kind of a two-way street on this. Let's say it's your birthday and you get 12 birthday cards. What do you do? 

0:05:20 - Candi

with them. I hate to say that I get rid of them. Yeah, they go in the trash. I will set them out for maybe a week so I can reflect that's what I do. And then I get rid of them. That's what I do as well. 

0:05:32 - Melody

Now, in my cubicle here at Joy FM where we work, I do have a wall of cards. Yeah, but I've run out of space, so you're going to have to start cleaning. I'm going to have to, like, redo the wall or just start throwing everything away. 

0:05:44 - Candi

Yeah, because you just can't keep all that. You can't and you Take a picture of it. 

0:05:48 - Melody

Let's face it You're not going to go back and look at that stuff Expired batteries Like why would I guess you think you can still use them? But batteries do have an? 

0:05:57 - Candi

expiration date? They do, but I still use them. If I've not used them, I'm going to try them, you are Okay. 

0:06:03 - Melody

Unused pet supplies. Now I don't have a dog anymore. My dog passed away. We did not get another dog. You have dog Candi, yeah. Do you have a lot of unused pet things that you really don't need? Yeah, like 17 leashes you have that too I do. Yeah, this may apply to you as well. Old, worn out handbags. 

0:06:22 - Candi

No, if they're old and worn out, I get rid of them. 

0:06:25 - Melody

Okay, but I do. Candi's got a new handbag every other week. 

0:06:35 - Candi

Old phone books like who? Why do you have a phone book anymore? Do they even do phone books? I don't think so. I mean whitepagescom now and different. Yeah no, I don't think that you need those. I don't think they distribute those yeah, all right. 

0:06:44 - Melody

So I'm going to say a couple of quick things here. Empty, dried out nail polish bottles, unused wedding or party favors. You go to a wedding and they give you a little something and you hate to throw it away. So they kind of pile up Outdated travel brochures, if you're thinking about traveling somewhere, broken or incomplete puzzles If you can't. If you got two or three pieces of a puzzle missing, you got to get rid of it and don't donate them to. 

Goodwill Throw them in the trash? Yes, because then that person buys, buys. It can't figure it out either. Expired makeup. 

Oh yeah, I probably got some I know I have some of that uh, torn bed linens or towels that you just don't need anymore. How about candle jars that are empty now and you just hate to throw them away? I know especially the pretty ones and unused or broken jewelry I'm bad about if I lose an earring. I put the earring that I still have back in my little jewelry box, thinking you may find it or I'll fix this one day, and you never do, because you just forget about it. 

Broken umbrellas, expired suntan lotion, holiday decorations that are broken, but you hate to get rid of it Worn out socks. What about expired condiments in the fridge? 

0:07:57 - Candi

I couldn't even tell you how old our ketchup is. 

0:08:00 - Melody

I did a refrigerator clean out not too long ago and I was ashamed. Oh, I'm sure Like I was ashamed. I had so much stuff in there that I had just forgotten about and not used. Expired teabags, like why would you keep a teabag? I'm not sure why, but unused luggage, outdated textbooks, I mean, there's just so many things. People keep event tickets, like what you going to do with that? Maybe put it in a scrapbook down the road? Yeah Well, I don't know about that. But glue that's dried out. You'll stick it in a drawer and you just don't use it forever and it dries out, anyway, I could go on and on and on and on. Oh yeah, but decluttering, I think it just gives you a new feeling. It just makes you feel so good. 

0:08:45 - Candi

It does. And then my frustrations are I keep so much stuff and then I can't find what I need or I don't have a place to put what I really need, because it's the space is taken up with stuff I don't need. So, yeah, you have encouraged me, inspired me that this weekend I think I'm going to do some cleaning out. 

0:09:03 - Melody

Now let me say I think everybody does need a junk drawer. Everybody's got to have a little junk drawer right. I have a little junk drawer. Right, I have like seven. You have seven. I have like seven junk drawers. Yeah girl, you got to get busy.

0:09:17 - Announcer 1

Thanks for listening to the Quirks, bumps and Bruises podcast with Candi and Melody. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and share the podcast. You can learn more at joyfm.org.

0:09:31 - Announcer 2

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