Embark on a transformative journey with me as we navigate the cluttered corridors of our homes and minds, setting the stage for a serene and structured oasis. With the turn of the calendar page, I'm opening up about my personal voyage through the trials of health, the triumphs of sobriety, and the heartfelt celebration of family milestones. As I reminisce about a year well spent, free from hospital corridors, and gear up for my 36th year of sobriety and my son's 29th birthday, I invite you to revel in the joys and challenges that come with each tick of the clock. The road to recovery and a gleaming home remodel have infused my life with a newfound passion for order, one that extends from the neatly arranged shelves of my living space to the meticulously planned details of my travel kit—ready for adventure at a moment's notice.
Step into the world of decluttering with actionable steps and sage advice, tailored to usher you through every nook and cranny of your living space. We'll tackle the nitty-gritty of organizing life's essentials, from the chaos of beauty products to the conundrum of crammed closets, employing the trusty four-box method to distinguish the keepers from the clutter. But it's not just about what lies within our walls; I'll guide you through the responsible disposal of e-waste, ensuring your personal data remains secure while contributing to a greener planet. As we sweep through these topics, I'm eager to hear your decluttering stories and welcome your suggestions for our shared path to a clutter-free existence. Together, let's embrace the peace that comes from a place—and mind—put in perfect order.
Embark on a transformative journey with me as we navigate the cluttered corridors of our homes and minds, setting the stage for a serene and structured oasis. With the turn of the calendar page, I'm opening up about my personal voyage through the trials of health, the triumphs of sobriety, and the heartfelt celebration of family milestones. As I reminisce about a year well spent, free from hospital corridors, and gear up for my 36th year of sobriety and my son's 29th birthday, I invite you to revel in the joys and challenges that come with each tick of the clock. The road to recovery and a gleaming home remodel have infused my life with a newfound passion for order, one that extends from the neatly arranged shelves of my living space to the meticulously planned details of my travel kit—ready for adventure at a moment's notice.
Step into the world of decluttering with actionable steps and sage advice, tailored to usher you through every nook and cranny of your living space. We'll tackle the nitty-gritty of organizing life's essentials, from the chaos of beauty products to the conundrum of crammed closets, employing the trusty four-box method to distinguish the keepers from the clutter. But it's not just about what lies within our walls; I'll guide you through the responsible disposal of e-waste, ensuring your personal data remains secure while contributing to a greener planet. As we sweep through these topics, I'm eager to hear your decluttering stories and welcome your suggestions for our shared path to a clutter-free existence. Together, let's embrace the peace that comes from a place—and mind—put in perfect order.
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to the AJ and A for Sissy's podcast. My name is Marcy Bacchus and I am your host. Well, let's see, first week into the new year, we're going to talk this week a little bit about decluttering, getting control of your life, getting control of the clutter in your house. Now I've done a couple of different podcasts. We did the Death Clean and I've done the Downsizing podcast. If you haven't heard those, those are way back in the beginning Go back and look at my first few podcasts. But aside from the Death Clean and if you haven't heard that one, go back and listen to it and Downsizing, I have some other ideas on helping you declutter and getting control of your life, because if your life is cluttered, your mind is cluttered. I can't get people to believe that enough. We'll talk about that. But before we do that, we are going to check in on my week. See what's been going on. That's first week of 2024. All right, well, this first week of 2024. I hope your week was a good week. My week was an average week, which I'll take. I'm just so thrilled that I made it through last year without being admitted to the hospital. That's the first time in several years, so yay for me.
Speaker 1:
I hope you set your intentions. Last week we talked about setting our intentions and I hope you did that. I did set new intentions for myself. I've got my physical well-being handled. I'm going to do a little work on my mental health. Just because you're working on your mental health doesn't mean you have super big mental problems. I just think we need to keep track of our mental health as well as we do our physical health, so that is going to be a priority for me going into this new year. I didn't do much this week. It was a quiet week. I did make it to the gym four times that is my goal every week, or my intention every week, let me put it that way and doing my water aerobics, hanging out with my pool pals, which are just a really great group of women that I've come to really enjoy. We have our new year's gathering coming up on the 19th, let's see this week barring no shots of tequila or champagne or anything else.
Speaker 1:
On January 11th, I will be celebrating 36 years of sobriety, which is something that I'm extremely proud of. I've gone basically my whole adult life facing trials, tribulations, happy things, sad things, not drinking All the time. It's been pretty easy, barring those first couple of years where you're getting used to things. But I wouldn't lie if I wouldn't say on a rough day I wish I could just be as normal as you and have a glass of wine to unwind. But I can't, never will be able to. I have a sickness of the mind and an allergy of the body, and those two combined together just make it impossible for me to ever drink. I know there are some people in Craig's social circle that think, oh, it was just something that when I was young they actually said that to me and I'm like no, no, no, no, no. I know what I have and who I am. So I'm looking forward to that coming up this week.
Speaker 1:
As far as last week goes, and Monday, the eighth which this will be airing, is my son's 29th birthday, when I am planning a trip to Colorado. We're going to celebrate our birthdays together next weekend. So I'm going to spend a little time with Alec helping him sort out a few things in Denver and celebrate our birthdays together. I'm excited about that just mother and son time. So I'll be heading into that, trying to think there wasn't a whole lot.
Speaker 1:
I will tell you this I don't know if you remember when I first did the podcast, I was constantly at the doctors. I had doctors visits for this, that and the other thing. I'm telling you it is my intention to continue to stay as healthy as I am and get healthier. It's a great feeling to not have to be at the doctors, have doctors appointments, all those things that last year plagued me in the year before. My intention is to not have that this year. So, with that being said, that's what's going on with Marcy, and now we are going to dive into the world of your home and see what we can do with that.
Speaker 1:
Oh, also, while we're talking about the home, I am loving my remodel. So we did remodel our kitchen and our bathroom over the month of December. I don't ever suggest doing it just before Christmas, but it's done. I love it. We have a walk-in shower. I think I shared this before, but I'm just telling you I love it. I love all of the materials we picked. I am enjoying it immensely. So doing something new to your home always gives you that energy to clean up and although all the view that know me I live in a small space, I keep it super neat and clean, but let's figure out if we can get that done.
Speaker 1:
So those of you that know me or have listened to my podcast know me very well. There is nothing that gives me greater pleasure than organizing. I did it today in the afternoon. I have a container that has all my travel items and anytime I get lotions or potions in small sizes, I have them all organized and every once in a while it needs to be gone through. So today, while I was watching Dr Death on Netflix which I listened to the podcast so I'm loving listening to Dr, I mean watching Dr Death I brought it out and set it on the bed and went through all of it and got rid of lotions, potions, shampoos that are beyond the expiration date, excuse me and organized all of my travel goods that way when it's time to travel, I get my little case, I grab a deodorant and a shampoo. I do all that. I have everything at my fingertips and have myself ready to go on a trip. So I am in a constant state of organization and that doesn't mean I'm constantly organizing. What it means is every once in a while I'll see a space that needs to be hit again. So when we talk about this organizational and decluttering today just because you do it once.
Speaker 1:
It's something that has to be maintained, like your hair color. You can't color your hair once and go, oh yay, it's all done. No, you need to maintain it. So when you do your closet or your bathroom or whatever you do, or if you do your whole house, it needs to be maintained. Now, the beauty that is the better you get at this, the more you do it, the quicker a maintenance session is. It doesn't take very long.
Speaker 1:
I need to go through my closet. I'm finally at a point where I've lost enough weight that, yes, some of my clothes are too big. I had gone through and taken out that I was buying clothes that were too big for me when I was heavy, so they were obviously too big. And now that I've lost most of the weight I wanna lose, I have a few more pounds to go. I need to go through my closet and I need to do that. It doesn't mean I need to buy more to replace it. I don't, I have too much anyway. But I wanna be able to go in my closet, put on a pair of pants at the top and have them fit, and not have Craig say I look like I'm oversized again with my clothes not me, my personal body he never would say that but my shirt's too big or my pants are too big. I had to put a safety pin in my pants last week that I wore to church because I didn't want them to fall off when I went up for communion. So if that gives you a hint, that's my maintenance now going through that. But last week one of the maintenance things I did is it's winter, I've gotta wear socks here. I hate socks. My socks were kind of at a disarray so I just went through, took me maybe 10 minutes, paired them all up, got rid of socks that I didn't like, made sure when I go to grab a pair of socks that they're not holy, that they're there and ready to go. So, as you can see, there is this little bit of maintenance, but you can add it in to like sitting and watching TV or listening to a podcast like this. It doesn't have to be a separate time.
Speaker 1:
But let's talk about, let's see here, let's talk about decluttering our life. Does it have to be a major thing? No, you can pick one thing that you want to declutter and focus on that. So making the decision to declutter is not the hard part. It's actually doing the decluttering. That's hard and coming up with a system. So I'm gonna give you a system today. It's one of the systems I've used in the past. I don't need to use it anymore because I am at that point where everything is pretty well gone through and organized, so I don't necessarily need to use this.
Speaker 1:
So let's kickstart decluttering. How do we kickstart it? Pick the simplest room first. If it's your living room, if it's your bedroom, decide on what you are doing. Are you decluttering or are you really going through and downsizing what you have, or are you doing both? So the best way to tackle a decluttered room is to have a system.
Speaker 1:
So let's talk about the system. We're gonna talk about the four box system. So you're gonna have boxes that are gonna go to room to room with you. So the first box is gonna be trash. I would line it with a trash bag. This is something that's definitely going straight to the garbage. Then you'll have another box that's a giveaway or slash sell. If you can do a garage sale, do it. If you're gonna give it away, I would still line it with a trash bag. I would Not put it in my car and drive around for a year with it in there, though I would make sure I know where my local drop-off is and take it directly there. I never leave things in my car, never leave things in the home and the bags Finish the deal. Finish it, put it in your trunk and figure out your next route that you're going to be going by the giveaway place Storage. So this would be for a box.
Speaker 1:
I'm very good about having my seasons. Even when I lived in California I had seasons. So I have fall winter clothes, fall winter shoes, then I have spring summer, fall spring. I mean spring summer shoes and clothes. Sometimes in California it may not necessarily be weight of the clothes, it may be color. So you're, you're more warm, fally winter colors, you swap out with your bright summery colors. So it may be something as simple as that.
Speaker 1:
But things that you need to store. There may be things that you want to declutter out of your kitchen that you don't use except for at holiday times or for me when we moved here. How I did my kitchen, because I am very low on space but Craig and I still entertain I created a box that goes into our storage here at the condo and it's an entertainment box that has all my platters, my big bowls, things like that. I have a couple right here in the house so I could do small gatherings, but if we're going to do a barbecue or something like that, I have all of that organized in for storage. Also, if you live in a warm like a climate like Chicago, where I'm at, in the winter you need gloves, hats, scar, so I don't need that stuff in my house during the spring, summer it's just a pain. I bring out my pool bag and that kind of thing. So I do a swap. So that's what might be in box number three, things that are going to go into storage and put away. Box number four is if you are decluttering your bedroom and there's things that go back to the kitchen or there's things that go in the kids room or there's things that go in the bathroom, they go in the put away box and then you can go around and put those in the proper rooms. So with your organizing system, the four box system or whatever system works for you in place, we begin. So where are you going to start your bedroom? Are you going to start in the bathroom? So let's think we're going to start in the bathroom.
Speaker 1:
Purge your beauty products. Go through them Honestly. If you haven't used it, you're not going to. If you have a young niece or a girlfriend that might use some of your things, I mean, I don't know how many of us buy beauty products. We don't like them, they've never been used and we don't take them back. And that's what I'm going to tell you. You can take back open to beauty products. Now. You can take them back to Sephora, Ulta, cvs, walgreens. You can take back beauty products. So if you open something you use a lipstick, you don't like it, return it. If you try face cream, you don't like it, take it back, return it. Don't make that. You know something that you just keep, but I know we do, because a lot of us thought we couldn't return them. So go through your medicine, go through your beauty products. Go through your hair products. If you've got things you don't like, get them out. I don't care if it's a full can of hairspray. If you didn't like the hairspray and you don't have anybody to give it to chuck it, it doesn't need to sit in there just because it's full. Keep that in mind, even if you have a big bathroom, pretend you have a small one and keep things that way. So let's talk about it for it. We finished the bathroom. We go through there One of the things you may have cleaning products in your bathroom.
Speaker 1:
Let's talk about decluttering cleaning products, which is something I'm going to do tomorrow. Even in my little place here, I've got cleaning products in the hall closet. I've got cleaning products under the sink in the kitchen and I've got them in the bathroom. Now, when I had a big house, I had cleaning supplies in each bathroom to clean that bathroom. Well, I've got one bathroom. I don't need it. I need just centralized cleaning products. It's making me a little berserk having cleaning products all over the place. So that's something that I have on my list to do tomorrow. So if you haven't gone through your cleaning products, do make a list of what you need your closet. You're going to use that same four box system for your closet, but you may change it up a little bit Clothes that need repair, clothes that are going to be donated, clothes that are seasonal, that aren't in the season we're in right now. So if you're going through your closet now, get your spring summer stuff out of there or create a section, section your closet off.
Speaker 1:
Dressers and drawers same things. One of the things I hate is in my dresser drawers. My pajamas and my workout clothes are the only things that are in dresser drawer. So I went through the other day and went through well, this is probably months ago and did my pajamas and I laid out the shirt, put the shorts or the pants in with it and folded it all up to create a package. So when I go in and I grab my pajamas out, I grab that package. It has whatever was a part of that pajamas. Same thing, similar thing with my workout clothes. I fold them and I lay them in standing on end, by the way. I fold them and I keep long pants, capris and then tops, and that's how I organize that. Because when I go in and grab it okay, this is another thing when you're going through your pajamas and your workout clothes, if they're old, if they're ratty, if they're tatty, time to go people Go through your underwear, your bras.
Speaker 1:
Get out the ratty, tatty stuff, because I'm going to tell you you feel a hell of a lot better when you put on cute underpants and a nice bra or clean, no holes, no stretchy, extra stretchy, elastic, and if you have to dig through old, gross stuff, nobody wants to do that either. Get rid of it. People Go through your panty drawer, your bra drawer, your pajama drawer, your workout drawer. Even if you just organize those things, you're going to feel better. So, dresser drawers, your nightstands, go through your nightstands. I got really two great things from Amazon. I got a phone and watch charger. It's black. My nightstand is a black cube Sits on there, looks really nice. And then I got this little box that kind of turns around where you put remote controls and I put my retainers in there and hand lotion and cuticle oil and it's in this beautiful leather box so it doesn't look nasty on my nightstand. So go through.
Speaker 1:
Get rid of old sheets. Since we're talking about the bedroom, make sure you're crawling into a bed that makes you happy every night. Make sure your pillows are good. Make sure, if you haven't gotten a new comfort in a while, treat yourself to a comfort or a duvet cover. That's your bedroom. Finish up your bedroom. Let's talk about what can we talk about next? We talked about the bathroom going through that, getting rid of all the things in there.
Speaker 1:
Okay, your living room. You want to make sure that you have gone through books, toys, magazines. Get rid of that stuff that you don't need. If you've got kids and you have to share that room with their toys, find an organizational system that will work for your kids. I'm telling you, if you teach them and you ask them to do it, they can do it. Reduce the amount of knickknacks. This is when you get down to decluttering and also when you want to downsize. Knickknacks are the worst. They knickknacks books, all of that collect dust.
Speaker 1:
Make sure you have your favorite things. If you have too much, what does it matter? If you have all this crap from all these places, do you get to enjoy any of it? Put some in a box and rotate it. Also, do that with your kids' toys. They don't need everything they're getting for Christmas or their birthday. I used to put stuff up in the closet and then, as the year went on, I'd bring things down and they'd get a new toy. It's pretty exciting. It's overwhelming for kids to get all those birthday and Christmas presents.
Speaker 1:
Use it to your advantage. If you have a home office, oh, also back in the living room, get something that holds your remotes, like this leather box that I have that can sit on the floor. Get something that holds your remotes, like this leather box that I have that can sit on your coffee table. Collect all the remotes and those types of things. Home office if you have a home office, you're going to go through that sort through documents. Scan what you can become as paper-free as possible. You don't need to keep things If you have create your digital closet of them and if you have been a person with a digital closet. I just went through mine a couple months ago because I saw things that I had scanned in for Boy Scouts, this and the other. I don't need that on my computer anymore.
Speaker 1:
Got rid of all of that. Organize your desk drawers. Tidy up unruly cords and cables and that's in all your rooms. I cannot stand cables. I cannot stand cords. Things need to look nice. They have flat plugs now that can go behind things and not push it out. They have nice looking chargers. They have all kinds of things, so try to neaten that up.
Speaker 1:
I think the last thing we'll talk about is that garage. How's that garage making you feel? Make you a little crazy when you drive into it? Ours was even organized, but I had so many boxes because of just moves and things like that. It made me crazy. Make it a family. If you've got a family, if you don't grab your spouse, your partner and go through the garage, get rid of everything that you are not using and I'll tell you, no matter where you are in your home, get rid of furniture you're not using All of that.
Speaker 1:
Go on Facebook. You can join the giveaway groups on there. I deplore getting $2 and $3 for things. I'd rather just give things away. If you are a, you love a two and a three and a $5. Do that on Facebook marketplace, but get rid of it. Don't let it sit around and oh, I'm going to take it. I'm going to take it. No, get rid of. That is my final words. No matter how small or how much you declutter or organize. Whatever you've decided to give away, give it away ASAP.
Speaker 1:
Find your local. You know salvation army. I prefer them over goodwill. Goodwill throws away 90% of what it gets, no matter how good. They don't even look at it. I had some horrible experiences donating to them during the move. I much prefer salvation army. But you may have homeless shelters that could use the things you have. You could have a battered woman's shelter. Look around in your area, see where you can bring these things and donate them, that they may bring some good to someone. I had several bikes that we donated when we moved and a gentleman came and took them and he didn't care that the brakes didn't work on one, because what he did is he fixed them and gave them to underprivileged kids.
Speaker 1:
So these are the things that you can do with your items. You don't have to just throw them away. You can find people that take them. But I encourage you to pick a room and start, and before you know it, if you do a room a week, you're going to have it all done and then you'll start the maintenance. And that's just going through things.
Speaker 1:
Everything gets a little disheveled. Your kitchen gets a little disheveled. Oh, we didn't even talk about the kitchen. If you've got a bunch of appliances that you can use to clean up your kitchen, if you've got a bunch of appliances you don't use, donate them. Go through your cupboards, go through your refrigerator. Make sure that the dates are correct on things. Please get rid of things where the dates are not good. You don't need that in there. Just make you sick Some of the things. So I suggest that, well, we're starting 2020 four off in a good way. We're all starting it off with intentions, whether that intention is to tidy up your house or your garage or your backyard, or whatever your intentions are for the new year, I hope and pray that they are good for you.
Speaker 1:
I appreciate you listening to this podcast. Your listening meets the world to me. It gives me the energy to keep going and keep doing it. Hang on and we'll have our seat All right.
Speaker 1:
So maybe you've got something new for Christmas a new phone, something new electronic or maybe you have old electronic devices you just want to get rid of and you don't know how to get rid of them, because you waste, you just should not throw in the garbage. So here you are You've got some computers, you've got some things. You're not sure how to get rid of them. So what you want to do is go on your city's website Each city has a website and look for e-waste E as an elephant waste and they will tell you how you can get rid of your electronics. Now, mind you, you want to make sure you've cleared off the information and if you don't know how to do that, go online and look up your electronic and follow the directions and, like I always tell you, it's a great way to test your knowledge and wipe out the drive and make sure there's nothing on it. If you have grandkids or young friends or somebody that will help you, do that, have them help you. There's also, I know, in most cities they have a day where you can drive up and and deliver the e-waste.
Speaker 1:
Getting rid of TVs is not easy and things like that. I know they're big, especially for the elderly, to get rid of. So go on your city's website and see what your city offers. Anything that is like a calculator, a cell phone, a GPS device, home printers, personal computers, routers all these things need to be disposed of properly. The same with paint and things like that.
Speaker 1:
Where I lived, the the dumps that were near us took e-waste and they also took paint. You can also find that some of your paint stores will take paint back. So if you have some things that are hard to get rid of like those, look on your city's website. It will be a ton of information. Same thing with fluorescent bulbs, small appliances. We don't want to put this into our trash. We want to make sure that it's taken care of properly.
Speaker 1:
So if you have any questions about that, you can email me at agingfastone, the number one at gmailcom. You can also get information on my website at aging8forcissiespodcastcom. Again, that's aging8forcissiespodcastcom. You can send me notes either way. You can send it through my website. You can send me information at agingfastonecom.
Speaker 1:
If you have ideas for the web I mean for the podcast please let me know. I love your ideas and it helps me. It's hard to always come up with new content, especially because I don't have a partner that I talk with and I don't like to just talk to you about nonsense. I try to give you good information every time you come. It's what keeps you coming back. I hope so. I'm going to go ahead and give you a quick look at the podcast. It's what keeps you coming back. I hope so. This senior moment was brought to you by eWaste, and make sure that you're taking care of your eWaste properly. Don't just throw it in the trash. Also, if you're getting rid of computers, let's make sure we've wiped out that memory so that we're not giving away information that could come back to bite us. So again, I can still say happy New Year. Happy New Year. I hope that your intentions are set. If not, set those intentions for the new year and I'll talk to you next week. Remember what I always say aging ain't for sissy.