47. How to Downsize with Confidence Using the One-Week Rule

If you had to move in one week, what would you take—and what would you leave behind?
This simple question can change the way you downsize, declutter, and make decisions.

In today’s episode, we’re introducing the One-Week Rule—a mindset tool that helps you get clarity fast. It’s not just a thought experiment. It’s a powerful downsizing filter that cuts through overwhelm and helps you feel more in control of your home and your next chapter.

Whether you’re preparing to move soon or still in the early planning phase, this episode will help you:

• Sort through emotional clutter with less stress
• Decide what actually belongs in your next home (and what doesn’t)
• Apply a room-by-room filter that brings clarity and momentum
• Take action with one simple challenge you can start today

You don’t need to wait for a move to downsize with intention. You just need the right mindset—and this episode will give it to you.

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Let’s simplify, declutter, and create space for your next chapter—together!

Transcript

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Jodi Rosko 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast with your hosts Jody Roscoe and Heather Fisher. We're talking about all things downsizing, from our own experiences with clients to guest experts. Let's make downsizing easier, one conversation at a time. Hi, welcome back to the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. Today we're going to talk about downsizing with confidence using the one week rule. Confidence. Confidence using the one-week rule.

Heather Fisher 0:28

Yes. Should be a good one to build some momentum and really evaluate things quickly.

Jodi Rosko 0:34

We're going to strike some fear first and then we'll go from there.

Heather Fisher 0:36

Yes. Yes. So I'm Heather Fisher.

Jodi Rosko 0:39

I'm Jody Roscoe.

Heather Fisher 0:40

Yeah, we're excited to have you here listening this week. Um I I think our challenges always are fun for me because it gives some action plans and you know we talk a lot about mindset, and then you can get busy and and forget that part. But this is one more challenge that'll give us some confidence, some action, um, and some ways to move forward.

Jodi Rosko 1:04

Yeah, yeah. So imagine that you have sold your home and um you have seven days to move out.

Heather Fisher 1:11

And you haven't started yet.

Jodi Rosko 1:14

And you just look around and you go, Oh my gosh, no way, how am I gonna get this done in seven days? And as you're walking through the rooms, you know, you're seeing all these different things, and you know, does that time frame kind of make you be able to more easily evaluate what you want and what you don't? And I kind of think it does.

Heather Fisher 1:32

Yeah, absolutely. I think that um anytime you have a time frame, you you don't have time to push it off and delay. Um, I think, you know, luckily here where we are in Ohio, we don't have this a lot, but there's probably listeners in other parts of the country or the world that experience this with weather and you know, a storm is coming, what do I pack up and take in my car with me? What do I what are the things I grab? Because you have to prioritize. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 2:05

So and you can't take it all.

Heather Fisher 2:07

Yeah, it can be a bit of a drastic mindset like that to get you realizing that you can make decisions.

Jodi Rosko 2:13

So if that sends you into a panic and you're like, oh my gosh, there's no way I could there's absolutely no way I can make that happen, that would totally not be happening. First of all, I will say anything in life, if it needs to happen, you will make it happen. So that's number one. Like that is totally a doable thing. But secondly, then then you probably do have too many things that you couldn't just kind of, you know, easily pick the the best ones and or easily have already filtered through and have only the best ones to move. You probably have lots of things there that you could let go of.

Heather Fisher 2:44

So that's the key. We want to encourage you to be ready so you're not ever in this actual situation. Right.

Jodi Rosko 2:51

And so when you are ready to move, it it isn't isn't panic inducing, it doesn't feel totally overwhelming and impossible. We don't want people to feel like that. And so if you even if you're not moving, if you kind of go through this exercise and get yourself to a place, um, then if if moving is something that you have to do quickly for whatever reason, that's not going to be a hard a hardship.

Heather Fisher 3:14

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 3:14

Yep. Absolutely. So um it's not about loss, right? It's about rediscovering your freedom and yourself and who you are now and maybe stuff that you used to do and don't do anymore, or you know, things in your life that um have passed their usefulness for you, and just letting that stuff go so you really are only surrounded by the things that um you need and that you want and that you love to look at.

Heather Fisher 3:39

Yeah, all of these exercises are just meant to fill your life with a little more clarity and intention and and finding your purpose of what you want that to look like.

Jodi Rosko 3:49

Right. So by the end of the day, by the end of this podcast, hopefully you'll know exactly what really deserves to come with you in your next chapter and how it's gonna define uh you and your future.

Heather Fisher 4:00

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think if you look around your house, the um easy categories that we talk about, um those items, uh the decisions are easier because they can be answered with, do I still use this? Does it have a purpose? Does it have you know life left in it? And it's the more emotional ones that if you evaluate each one on individual merit, you tend to answer with, yes, I love that, yes, I you know, want that, yes, that's important to me. But when you have that parameter of you only have one week to choose or you only have one box to fill, it causes you to, you know, prioritize and rank items and you see quickly which ones have that true importance and which ones you're you're maybe just holding on because you've had them a long time or you own them and and all of those things we've talked about before.

Jodi Rosko 5:01

So walk into your living room and just quickly in the first you know minute think decide what three things you would pack first. Just just quick what three things. And you know, that will give you some real clarity on what's important to you and what isn't important to you. And you know, uh if I I also think like if you were going to spend lots of money to move it, would you? Like think think you know, thinking things like that. Um let's say you were gonna move overseas or move to Hawaii or somewhere where you actually had to like pay uh a significant amount of money to move things. Um, what would you want to take with you? And what what would be like, no, I can get that when I'm there or I can get that at the next place, or I don't need that, right?

Heather Fisher 5:43

Yeah, there's gonna be a portion of things you take for their usefulness um and your day-to-day needs, but beyond that, there's so much that we end up taking when we transition to different places that just bog us down and when they're in the new spot, they don't bring us the joy that we uh envisioned that they would because we didn't choose them with intention. We just delayed making a choice of will this make my new space better? Will this have a place in my new space? Do I truly need this? Or is the memory and story of having it at one time enough?

Jodi Rosko 6:24

Yeah, yeah. So what about your kitchen? You know, what when you walk into your kitchen, what drawer gives you like, ugh, I hate that drawer? Like I, you know, which one? So for me to the today actually, I was um putting away stuff from the dishwasher and um I opened the drawer that has it's just kind of random stuff. It has like cheese knives and just kind of like extra utensils and you know things like that in it. And it was overflowing and I was like, what? So I pulled everything out, because that's what you do, right? You pull everything out of the drawer, I put it on the counter so I could really look at it. And I ended up having four sets of cheese knives, like four full sets of cheese knives, which I mean, cheese knives aren't actually even like you know something that you must have in the first place. But then on top of it, I had four sets of them. So I was like, oh, girl.

Heather Fisher 7:12

I should have talked to you first, because we had the conversation over the weekend with we have new silverware, and you know, we were talking about utensils, and my husband said, we don't have any of the small knives. I will order some. Should I talk to Jody first?

Jodi Rosko 7:27

I could give you a whole set.

Heather Fisher 7:28

Yes, talk to your friends.

Jodi Rosko 7:30

Someone has extra for sure. Oh, that's funny. So anyway, but that door was bugging me, right? And so it when you re- dig into it, you realize it's bugging you because it's overfilled with things that you, you know, don't need. Pick your favorite cheese knife set or whatever it is, and you know, the rest of it can go. And if you don't eat cheese anymore, then that that's not even what you need. But we do do charcuterie boards.

Heather Fisher 7:52

So I mean there are some things consumables that having a little backstock, not you know, too much, but you have extra rolls of toilet paper and you have toothpaste, those are things because you eventually will go through them. But there are other things we accumulate through life that you will never have a party big enough to need four sets of cheese knives and things like that. But I think all of us have those categories where we've gotten them as gifts or bought them from different occasions or inherited them from other places. And there's never a time when you will need that multiplier effect put on some of the items that we end up with three or four of. You won't need three blenders at one time ever.

Jodi Rosko 8:39

Yeah, and I think that I mean, I'm just guilty of what I say everybody, like we all do. We'd bring it in. So I'm sure they were gifts. Um, and I might have bought one set, but I'm sure the other ones were, you know, gifts which were beautiful and I loved it. And but then I just throw it in the drawer where it goes, and I don't think to be like, oh, do I want to let go of that other one? Like what, you know, so d all in, no out.

Heather Fisher 9:01

Yes. It's uh you when you come off of a holiday where you've received gifts or you know, you've been out for new shopping, whatever, you always should be doing that, this or that. Okay, I have this now. Do I like it enough to replace the same thing I already had? You know, make that decision and move on quickly from that decision so that one is going out, whether you know you're fine with what you already had or you're keeping. You're regifting. Yeah. Yeah. Regifting, exchanging, whatever needs to happen. Yeah. Yeah. That guilt is not a gift. So you do not need to keep it. Yeah. If it's not the one to serve serve the purpose.

Jodi Rosko 9:45

Yes. Um, so anyway, uh um you can journal some of this, or you can create a work sh workbook or worksheet. You know, you can have a little binder that says, you know, must go with me, um, and then hard to decide which ones you're struggling with, maybe, or probably ready to let go. You know, you it's basically the same thing as our boxes, you know, the maybe box and then the donate, you know, and then the key.

Heather Fisher 10:06

Yeah. I was thinking about this when I was looking through our notes to get to get ready for this. And I feel like I love these three piles being, you know, the yes, it comes with me, the maybe meaning you need to reflect more, or the no, I've outgrown it. Because I feel like with the other piles, sometimes we end up spending so much time sorting through, you know, box three, the no, I'm not keeping it, into should I sell it? Should I donate it? Is it trash? Overthinking what to do. That we're spending so much on that that we don't get enough moved into that pile because we're too busy dealing. Where should it go? What should I do with it? Yeah, uh the one by one by one that maybe we should not maybe, definitely, we should start with this system first, and then get that whole pile of we'll figure out what that next step is, but here's the pile to deal with. That's a great one for an outside resource because you have them look at the pile. Can you sell any of this in an estate sale? No, okay, can the donation guy take it? Some of it, whatever, and then you know, you do that three-step process. But I do think we can get held up at the one item by uh one item that we take out of a drawer, getting sidetracked on whether you could sell it or donate it.

Jodi Rosko 11:31

For sure. So I mean, I think that that sh putting a short timeline on anything will just give you very, very quick clarity. Yeah. So kind of, you know, freak yourself out a little bit there and be like, if I only had, you know, a week, what in here do I need?

Heather Fisher 11:46

Yeah. What would I grab? What would I pack? What would uh I mean, honestly, is there anything you'd be glad if it got lost in the process? Oh, I'm shooting like yeah, I should look around the room, like start there. Yeah. Like, oh, I don't want that, you know, recliner to come or things like that. Maybe those are the first things to to give away.

Jodi Rosko 12:07

Yeah. So there's a couple categories of stuff that when you start looking at the room, you'll the stuff is going to fall into a couple different categories. So one of the categories is what you were saying, functional must-haves, right? We need to have a sofa to sit on or chairs to sit on or whatever. We need to have a table to eat at. So there's functional um daily must-haves. And you can look at those and think, you know, if I moved to a smaller space, that still might not be something that you keep. Um, depending on the size of the rooms that you have now and the size of the rooms that you might have later, um, furniture's the scale of furniture may need to change. So your big, you know, eight-foot sofa may not fit in the in the new in the new place. So even though that is a functional must-have, you might get a new one, which could be fun um when you move to a new place. Um, or it may be like I love that sofa so much, and that is I'm gonna find a place that has a big enough room, yeah, you know, a big enough room to fit that sofa, and um and that's a must-have for you. So um functional must-haves, um, you you need dishes, you need, you know, silverware and those kind of things. How much of it do you need? Something to think about, right?

Heather Fisher 13:17

Yeah, we did a an episode on that months ago on just how much to take for each room, for each category of things, how much do you really need if you are um downsizing and single or a couple moving to a smaller space? You don't need a china set for 16. You know, you might need dishes for six and you know, rotate those through. Um, so it's really good to look. And also if you know where you're going already, using a floor plan and space planning and making decisions based on exactly where it will go in the next place, if you know that already, can help so much from the well, I love that chair.

Jodi Rosko 14:02

Yeah.

Heather Fisher 14:03

Where is it going to go? Does it fit? Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 14:06

Yeah. And if it fits where it is now, that's great. If you're if your house already is like lined the all the walls with furniture, you know, maybe it's okay to start getting letting go of some things now so you can get some breathing room. Um, and so it could be a stepped process of like, I never really did like that, you know, whatever it was that you got inherited from somebody and you've just been sitting in the corner all this time because they gave it to you and there it sits. Um, let it go, right? Let that let some of that go. Um the nether the so functional must-haves is one category. Emotional keepers. This is um this is another category that shows kind of your relationships or your history, um, you know, people that you care about. These are the sentimental, you know, kind of things. And some people are super sentimental, and some people aren't sentimental at all. And so um that's that's your level of that is something that you're gonna have to judge and and keep, you know, to some of your to your level of that, right? So if you're a very sentimental person, I'm not saying you necessarily still keep everything just because you're sentimental, but um, but maybe your percentage of what you would, you know, keep in or have in your house of sentimental stuff is is higher than the than what somebody else's is. And that's okay. Um as long as those are the, you know, if you're like, hey, I'm gonna keep this because it was my mom's, you know, maybe you tell yourself, again, parameters make all the difference. Maybe tell yourself you're gonna keep five things that your mom that were your mom's or ten things, or if you could only keep three things that were your mom's, what are the three things you would keep? And that will give you clarity on what it is you actually really love and what you're just keeping because it was your mom's.

Heather Fisher 15:48

Yeah, I've talked about this before, but when we were getting ready to move and we had someone helping us with some of the decorating decisions, and she asked us to make a list of what you we uh you know absolutely had to decorate around that we, you know, not our day-to-day stuff, but what items held so much importance that we wanted to visually see them and have them as part of the decor. I, you know, I I felt like, oh my gosh, that'll be so many things. And when I really boiled down to it and had to write them down and send her a picture of them and think about why I wanted it displayed, it was five things. And I still feel like our new space is my home. It still has things I love and I still have, you know, the same feeling when, you know, our family's over there and you know, it's still home, but I didn't, you know, it was easier to let go when I had to to prioritize and say to somebody else why I thought it was important to keep and I wasn't just kicking the can down the road.

Jodi Rosko 16:59

Yeah, I love that idea of um defending it almost in a way, right? So it's like, you know, you have to give give it like I'd have to tell you why it's important to me and you know why I why I want to keep it.

Heather Fisher 17:10

Yeah, and and I had to picture it being in a new space and like, do I love it that much kind of a thing? But you know, I was still able to honor things that I love and and are included.

Jodi Rosko 17:23

So that's super cool. So emotional keeper stuff, and then the third um one is identity items, which is kind of you, who you are, what your legacy is, do you love to cook? Do you, you know, love to do yard work? Do you what you know what is it that you love? Um maybe it's quilting. We went to we just went to um a client's house who did beautiful, beautiful quilting. Um and she had quilts all over all the walls, and um, they were like art. They were just incredible. And so that's you know who she was, right?

Heather Fisher 17:58

And so um I love her plan around it too. They were planning to downsize, and so she'd already invited her family to um, you know, choose ones that they might want to have so that everybody had what they they wanted. But I what I loved so much is when we were looking around the house and talking to her, she had claimed her favorite before anybody came. Before she let the family come. Before she let, you know, she had her name clipped to the one that she just you know made her heart happy to see every day and she loved it so much. Like she was honoring herself and and choosing first. So I love that so much.

Jodi Rosko 18:36

Yeah. So of course she's gonna want to keep those and her family will want, you know, some of them. Your family may or may not want some of those things, but um or friends, there's you know, always that too. So um, yeah, we've been to some clients' houses that were really, really artistic lately. Yeah. Um we had another one that um had a loom and she, you know, made um beautiful scarves and things. So um, so w w whoever you are, whatever it is that you do, um, that's stuff that you want to keep, especially if you're actively, you know, doing that as a hobby, whether that's cooking or, you know, like gardening or whatever. Yeah. Um and um woodworking. I don't know. We've had so many different people who had different things. People are so talented.

Heather Fisher 19:19

I wish I was more on the creative side. I don't think anyone wants to like have my spreadsheets hung on the wall or I love your spreadsheets. The things that you know I do for hobbies, you know, not framed artwork, but we have had some very talented clients.

Jodi Rosko 19:36

Yeah, yeah. So, so um, and then pick pick your favorites. That again, you ask yourself if I if this, you know, if I had to leave in a you know a couple days, which ones of these would I grab?

Heather Fisher 19:47

Yeah. It's such a good mindset to just put that priority and that parameter around it.

Jodi Rosko 19:54

And so on some of those things when you're trying to figure out if you don't know obvious, if it's not obvious what your legacy is or what that is, when you're looking at items, ask yourself, does this re represent who I am becoming or who I want to be in this next stage of my life? Or is this somebody that I used to be, right? So I used to be super crafty with the kids. I do all kinds of crafts with the kids and Christmas ornaments and all you name it, we're doing crafty things. And I don't really do that anymore. I mean, the kids are grown up and I don't seem to be crafty without them. You know, I mean, I pr I probably could, but I don't. I just that's not what I'm spending with.

Heather Fisher 20:35

I mean honestly your enjoyment came from the connection with your kids.

Jodi Rosko 20:39

Yeah. And so I had a lot of, you know, craft things, pipe cleaners and little balls and ribbons and you know, glue and all kinds of stuff. And um we made all kinds of cute stuff and they have good memories of it, I hope. And um I have good memories of it. And so, but it that is somebody who I was. So that's just kind of an example of of something that I enjoyed and loved, but then I ended up with a whole bunch of stuff and I ended up um donating it to teachers who could use it in their classrooms. Um But um just think about that. Is it that it's who you were or who you're going to be?

Heather Fisher 21:19

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 21:20

Um so that's that's one question.

Heather Fisher 21:22

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 21:22

And then another question is are you keeping it for yourself or for you know, someone else's memory of who you are? Like is is it are you have you put yourself in a little box and you aren't letting yourself grow out of that little box and you're like, oh well this is, you know, what I used to do, so I need to keep it because that's you know what everybody thinks of me and or my kids will want it someday. And they have told you they don't. And so you know, keeping it for them.

Heather Fisher 21:57

I think it's so important to remember that anytime. We give ourselves space and room to grow, we always do. Yeah. And so if you're so cramped into a life that doesn't quite fit right anymore for hobbies that you don't have, you know, your kids doing with you or you just can't do as well, when you can release and leave that breathing room, something wonderful always fills it. Yeah. And so I try to look at things from that mindset. And sometimes something unexpected, you know.

Jodi Rosko 22:32

And so yeah, leave leave the room for growth or make the room for growth, right? Because if you aren't if you are all packed in with all the old stuff, you don't have room for growth.

Heather Fisher 22:41

Yeah. I think always we can leave a little space and not have to know what's going to fill it until we let that happen.

Jodi Rosko 22:49

Yeah. And then again, we've talked about this too. If you have stuff that is very sentimental to you, um, journal that story, reasons why, so that you know your kids can read it later and see, you know, where that dish came from or, you know, whatever that is that's super sentimental to you. The story, the story makes the stuff, you know, if the stuff doesn't have any story, it's just stuff.

Heather Fisher 23:12

Yeah, and display it, use it, tell the story over and over again as much as you can to intertwine that into your family legacy of that story, not of the item in a box.

Jodi Rosko 23:26

Right, because again, we've we've we keep saying the same things over, but if it has no memories from your kids because it was in a box somewhere and it's being saved because it's special, quote unquote, um, and then they will not relate to it later because they have no memories of it themselves.

Heather Fisher 23:43

Yeah, absolutely. So important to remember.

Jodi Rosko 23:47

Yep. So okay, from your thought experiment, oh my gosh, I'm gonna freak myself out, to decision making, right? Um the one-week rule as a permanent downsizing filter, here's some questions that you know we can ask ourselves.

Heather Fisher 24:01

Yes, tell us.

Jodi Rosko 24:02

Okay. So would I pack it if space was limited? Which it probably may be limited in the next place. So but if I could only take, you know, three boxes of stuff or five boxes of stuff, would that go in the box?

Heather Fisher 24:17

Yeah, parameters. Would I buy this again today?

Jodi Rosko 24:22

Right. So it might be something useful, but you don't use it very often. Um and if you didn't have it, you would find a workaround, right? Right. Like maybe you have a pancake griddle that you plug in and you use it once or twice a year. Um, but you could still make pancakes in a skillet on the stove, right? Yeah. Like it that's kind of the idea we're talking about.

Heather Fisher 24:43

Yeah. Uh would I pay to store or move it? You said that earlier in the episode. If you're going a long distance or you just pretend you're going a long distance, I know you moved from Ohio to California and and back at one one point in your early years.

Jodi Rosko 25:01

And I paid to move stuff and I didn't want most, like I would say like 80% of it when I got back when I got here, I didn't want it. And I didn't spend the time to think about what my future might look like once I got here. I just was like, oh, this is my stuff and it's I'm gonna move it because it's my stuff, you know.

Heather Fisher 25:18

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 25:19

Um and so still before you do any of this stuff, you gotta do the the work in the beginning of what is my life gonna look like, who do I wanna be, what things do I want to be spending my time doing, and and what do I want my house to look like? Maybe your house, you know, hasn't changed and you decorated your whole house 20 years ago and loved it, loved it, loved it, and now you're just used to it. And maybe you really are ready for a change. Yeah. Maybe not. Maybe you're sentimental and you just want it to, you know, feel cozy and the same as it does right now. Either way, it's fine, but you have to put the time in to think about what it is so that you can make good decisions.

Heather Fisher 25:58

Well, we've seen clients that m have that mentality that they want it to be the exact same as their larger house in their new space. And we've seen the end result that they didn't make enough decisions and they're then living around boxes and piles, and they just can't ever get to that settled feeling because they brought too much. But on the same vein, if you really are wanting it to still feel like home and you're not the kind of person that wants a brand new everything, we just had clients that we visited this past week that came from, you know, a very large house and they're in a much smaller space, and they did such a good job thinking ahead and planning that their comment to us when we went to go see their new space was we feel like it feels like home. And their grandkids came to visit, and their first comment was, it still feels just like your house. And so their family that, you know, had uh their grandkids that had come up through their family home and spent so many holidays still felt that comfort of it being that way, but they did such a good job of still paring down that it felt like the coziest, cutest home.

Jodi Rosko 27:18

Yeah, their bedroom, they basically did transfer their bedroom. They had a beautiful rug that my daughter wanted, but they were keeping it. And um put that under their bed, and you know, that furniture the bedroom was a big a good size, I think, and the family room was a good size. So the steel scaler of their furniture worked. Um and then they did just didn't bring a whole lot of other stuff. And so it did work, it did feel great, it did feel very similar to their other room, um, but in a good way.

Heather Fisher 27:46

Yeah, they didn't take their giant sofa, they took some chairs instead that were from their home, and they just did it in just the way we try to encourage all of you to do it. They were so thoughtful on what they were going to use the new space for and making decisions of all their things in the larger space of what was able to put this the new space to new use, leave behind the stuff they were no longer going to be doing, and still have it feel like their home, but new and not overcrowded, and textbook example of how to do it.

Jodi Rosko 28:25

It was good, yeah. So, and then the next question is does it fit in my next home, which is what we were literally just talking about, um, your neck your next lifestyle um and your goals of what you want that next thing to be. So to know that you have to do the thought process first. Yeah. And you know, figure out what those goals are gonna look like and what that's gonna look like. Um, and I think I think the more we talk about deciding on stuff, no matter what the parameter is, whether it's time or number of boxes or you know, size, whatever it is, putting parameters on it really, really helps to define it.

Heather Fisher 29:03

Yeah. And the earlier you can start doing that and just living that lighter life while you're preparing for a move or just planning to stay where you are and just wanting to feel less burdened, it's so much easier. You know, you can when you come up against that true timeline of one week, you're just like, okay, I I don't have time to slow down and make these decisions, and you start the frenzy of grabbing. Just throw it in a box, just grab it.

Jodi Rosko 29:34

You do it the other way, instead of making the decisions, you just take everything, which we have seen people do, and that isn't that's a disaster. So create mini reality checks for yourself. So in the closet, what if you only had one suitcase? One suitcase, that's it. Yeah, what are you gonna bring? What are your favorite clothes?

Heather Fisher 29:51

Certain number of hangers, so yes. Yeah, I have my hangers and that's it. Something's gotta go if they're full. That's plenty.

Jodi Rosko 29:59

Yep. Um, which you know, which kitchen appliances do you use um that are sitting on your county or which ones are dusty? Like which ones, you know, have you not used? And be honest with yourself, you know. Garage, you know, do you uh is the garage have projects that you were gonna do and you're not, and now you just feel guilty that you bought the stuff but you didn't do it, and so you're just keeping it because of that? Or, you know, are you actually you know using whatever's in the garage? So Yeah. Yeah, so um, you know, we've all kept appliances that we, you know, I have an ice cream maker. Um I still haven't let it go. I need to let it go. Um but um that I thought I was gonna use and I haven't. So it's okay. It's uh it's okay. Let it go.

Heather Fisher 30:39

Yeah. I think gosh, I don't know how many years ago, but I grew up in a household where things were on the countertop, the toaster was on the countertop all the time, and the toaster uh yeah, the toaster was on the countertop, the coffee pot, things were on the counter, and you know, you kind of get that line of the small appliances, so you lose counter space. And when I, you know, met my now husband and it, you know, he kept his toaster like in the cabinet, and I had never heard of that before. I just grew up around people that that didn't, but you know, I started doing that, and now we're you know, married and in the same home and and we have it put away and you get it out when you need a piece of toast. And it I'm like think back and I'm like, oh my gosh, that was taking up so much space on my counter for so many years, and I literally make toast maybe you realize once you put it away how little you you think when it's sitting out.

Jodi Rosko 31:37

Oh, I use the toaster.

Heather Fisher 31:38

Yes. The coffee pot, different story. We use that every day, it stays out, but if you don't, you know, put it away and don't, you know, move that clutter um and you'll realize that you don't need it as much as you you thought, but it when it's in your visual line of sight, it just becomes something you have to have because you own it.

Jodi Rosko 31:58

Right. Yeah. Yep. Lots of lots of good tips there. So um, okay. So um what do people have you've done this, what do what do they learn?

Heather Fisher 32:09

I mean, people when you get through the process feel like they're keeping things for a life they no longer live. They realize, gosh, I really put some intention around this and I have a lot. I don't I don't need it.

Jodi Rosko 32:24

Yeah, they get clarity over what is happening, you know, what they what is important to them. Yeah. Excuse me. And, you know, it doesn't feel like they're losing out on things um because they're making decisions about and so then it's not like, oh, I have to let that go. It's like, oh, I don't I didn't need that anyway.

Heather Fisher 32:42

Yeah. You c you might find out that letting go gives you more breathing room than you expected. Um we use we hear that all the time. Yeah. And it's stuff is heavy. Stuff is heavy. Physically and emotionally. Yes, that was the best comment when someone's like, Yes, it is heavy. We know the dresser's heavy. Um, but I think learning to just live with a little space, like we talked about, until it fills itself instead of having to immediately fill every space. If you clean out a drawer, it's okay to let it live empty.

Jodi Rosko 33:19

Oh, that is so hard for people. You just want to fill it up.

Heather Fisher 33:23

Yeah, if you cleaned out a closet or a a full dresser or clean something out, if you're able to totally empty it, just leave it that way. And don't take like a dr if you're have a bedroom with two dressers and you go through everything, you downsize down to enough for just one dresser, move one of them out, get move that away. You don't need it, but what most people's instinct is to take the smaller amount of stuff and just divide it up into you know all the drawers and a little bit here or there, and they think, well, okay, I still need that dresser.

Jodi Rosko 34:03

Yeah, and then they'll end up filling it up again, little bit by little bit.

Heather Fisher 34:06

Yeah. What's that stat in our class that the um average American home has tripled in size in the last 50 years? And what you always say in class is, you know, more room for more stuff. And so as you've been in a bigger house, you've filled every nook and cranny, not necessarily because you needed all of that stuff, but we just have an instinct that the space isn't okay.

Jodi Rosko 34:34

Our daughters are getting ready um to move out, you know, and have spaces. So um I was looking in my kitchen. Well, you the ch I'm obviously I have a set of cheese knives for her, so you know for all the college girl parties that you need all the charcuterie trays she's gonna make in college. Um but I was thinking too, like, if I look in my cabinet, the top shelf stuff, you know, I mean, I was looking at it today, I haven't gotten it all down, but like there are big, you know, containers like for food and you know, things that just are up there that are fine, perfectly good, but I clearly don't use them. I can't barely reach them. And so um maybe that whole top shelf should just be empty. You know, if you're gonna have empty spaces in your, you know, I can't reach it anyways, and whatever's up there is just hanging out.

Heather Fisher 35:21

Maybe you pull all that down into some maybe boxes and three months from now if you haven't needed to go search for anything, they just go straight out.

Jodi Rosko 35:29

Well, it's just gonna go to her house if she wants it. Yes. We'll see. Yes. But like I said, some of it's fine, it's good, it's still very useful, and I but you I have too much. Yeah. Too much of it.

Heather Fisher 35:42

Yeah. I think um, you know, some uh takeaways and small steps that you can get started with. Um, you know, just pick one spot, one drawer, one shelf, one closet, and ask that if I had to move in seven days, would any of this make the cut?

Jodi Rosko 36:00

Yeah. And if they And write down some some three things that surprised you, right? And yeah, and uh if you journal it a little bit, it will help you um understand w who you are today and what you what you what really does is valuable to you today. Because sometimes you get you get asked that question and you're like, I don't know. Like I you know, I don't know. But if you can do that super quick decision making, it will reveal itself.

Heather Fisher 36:27

Yeah, and I think that in our classes in person, so many people have so many questions on the the sentimental items and you know, photos and antiques and family heirlooms and and all of those things. And I really think an exercise that is so helpful is to just take a sheet of paper and you know, make 10 lines or five lines or 20 lines and just make that and sit, walk around the house or sit and think, and just think off a you know, quick time frame. What are the 20 things I would fill these lines with? What are the 20 items that come to my mind first? And then as a second step, prioritize, you know, rank them in order. Yeah. If I could only take one, what is it? If I could take two, if I could and that list itself will bring you more clarity on what you're really worried that someone is wanting you to throw away versus a whole category. You'll realize what didn't make the cut might be okay, even though it's a harder category.

Jodi Rosko 37:34

Yeah.

Heather Fisher 37:34

What's okay to start with because you've got the off limits, you know your priorities.

Jodi Rosko 37:39

Yeah. So not about um stress or really loss, really just about clarity and choosing what you're gonna carry forward instead of you know just trying to bring everything.

Heather Fisher 37:50

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think that can be really helpful.

Jodi Rosko 37:53

We would love to hear from you about what your what your things were that were surprised you or what your three top things is that you took with you. We would love to hear what it is.

Heather Fisher 38:03

You're asking me for a lot of things. No, I want our audience, got it. So I was like, wait, share it with us. Yes.

Jodi Rosko 38:09

Once you've done it, share it with us, let us know.

Heather Fisher 38:12

Yeah, it's a it's a good exercise and really brought us some clarity. And actually, for me, one of the five things uh we did bring, it was a little table that my husband and I both loved, and it doesn't work at all in our new space. And and but like we're both comf, you know, it was like even though we thought like, oh, we love that table, let's put that there, like, yeah.

Jodi Rosko 38:35

Yeah it's okay, you know. You love it less because wherever it was in the old house, it was into the perfect spot for it. Yeah, and so that's why you loved it, and now there isn't the perfect spot for it. That's funny.

Heather Fisher 38:47

That's funny. Yeah, your list can get even smaller than you thought.

Jodi Rosko 38:50

Yep. Um, if you need us, reach out on downsizingroadmap.com. Um, like I said, share share your your experiences with us. We would love to hear from you.

Heather Fisher 39:00

Um, and we would love it if you followed our podcast and left us a review. If it's helpful to you, if there's any uh tips that you've loved the most, just let us know. We love hearing from you. Yep. All right, until next time. All right, thank you. Thanks for joining us on the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might need a little downsizing inspiration. Have questions or ideas for future episodes, reach out to us on our website, www.downsizingroadmap.com. Until next time, let's keep simplifying and moving forward.