68. The 7-Day Decluttering Challenge - One Small Win Each Day

If you've been waiting for the perfect weekend to get it all done — we have news for you. That weekend isn't coming. But one small win today? That's completely within reach.

This episode is your guided 7-day decluttering challenge. One focused task per day. Fifteen to thirty minutes. No pressure, no guilt, no marathon sessions. Just a week of small wins that quietly add up to something that feels a whole lot like freedom.

We walk you through every single day — from the one drawer that's been driving you crazy all year, to the pile of "I'll deal with it later" that has quietly grown into its own zip code. We also get into the emotional side of decluttering — how to handle sentimental items without grief, how to tackle digital clutter (yes, that counts), and how to keep going when it feels hard to let go.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• Why breaking big goals into small daily actions works — and the research that backs it up
• Ground rules to make the challenge actually doable (and guilt-free)
• Day 1 — The First Win Drawer: Start where the victory will feel biggest
• Day 2 — The Visual Victory Zone: Clear one surface you walk past every day
• Day 3 — The Emotional Backpack: One sentimental item, one decision
• Day 4 — The Digital Pile: Email, photos, or downloads — pick one
• Day 5 — The Forgotten Zone: Under the sink, inside the car, out of sight no more
• Day 6 — The Clothing Quickie: Five items to release (you won't miss them)
• Day 7 — The Someday Stack: That pile. Yes, that one.
• Mindset coaching for what comes after — and how to keep the momentum going

Whether you're preparing for a move, working toward a downsizing transition, or just want to breathe a little easier in your own home — this challenge meets you exactly where you are.

You don't have to do it all. You just have to start.

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to Follow our show so you never miss a new one. We're here for your downsizing questions — on the podcast, in your community, and when you're ready to move. As Realtors®, we can connect you with the right specialists to make your next chapter smoother.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review and Follow our show so you never miss a new episode. We’re here for your downsizing questions — on the podcast, in your community, and when you’re ready to move. As Realtors®, we can connect you with the right specialists to make your next chapter smoother. We’d love to hear from you!

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

Transcript

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.

Heather Fisher 0:17

Hi, welcome to Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. We have one of my favorite kinds of episodes today. We've got a little challenge, a seven-day decluttering challenge with one small win each day for a week.

Jodi Rosko 0:31

I love these. These are the best because I think they just really help people build momentum. And we just play games like, you know, e each one's different, and you just play the game of getting started. And I think getting rid of that overwhelm and tricking yourself into it if that's what you need to do.

Heather Fisher 0:51

That you got on your chart. Right. It's just a little way to keep yourself accountable to some small wins. And then once you realize, oh, that wasn't so bad, you can keep going and little by little take those small bites that add up to a huge amount of progress.

Jodi Rosko 1:09

Yeah, I think it changes your mindset by doing, you know, the being consistent or learning to start to be consistent changes your mindset around it, gives you that momentum, makes it feel like I can do it.

Heather Fisher 1:19

Yeah, I can do it. I can do it. And just picking a habit and sticking with it. Today we've got kind of a grab bag of uh different things each day, which I think is perfect because you could go through this week and see which one, you know, really changed your mindset, or which one really has a lot more in that category that you need to tackle, or which one felt easier than you thought it would be. And so after this, you know, one week challenge, this seven-day challenge, then you can take that that one piece you're you're focused on and build a new challenge, you know, repeating that one over and over.

Jodi Rosko 2:00

Maybe pick the easiest one and stick in that category for a little while and really get some momentum going or something like that. So yeah, if you're feeling stuck or scattered or unsure, keep listening today.

Heather Fisher 2:10

I'm Jody Roscoe. I'm Heather Fisher. Let's get started. This one, um, like we said, it's seven days of small challenges. Um we're gonna go through them like in the order we have here, but you could mix and match, you could do them in a different order, you could do, you know, one of the seven every other day, you could do one a week, wherever you're at, make it yours and just get started.

Jodi Rosko 2:37

Yeah, I think that the the number one thing we hear from people is I just feel so overwhelmed. I'm totally overwhelmed, I don't know where to start. Um, this feels too hard. So these are just you know games that we're gonna play to kind of get you started and make it a little bit fun. Um so uh, you know, let's let's just figure out which one works best for you.

Heather Fisher 2:59

Yeah, everything we're gonna talk about really should be like 15 to 30 minutes maximum uh on each day of the thing. So we can all do this.

Jodi Rosko 3:10

Yeah, and why it's gonna work is you know, there's no perfect time. There's no perfect, you know, you're people will be like, oh, I gotta wait until I have a whole weekend, or I gotta wait until, you know, whatever, because that's just procrastinating because you just feel overwhelmed and you don't know how to get started. And um and we have a study that found that 76 people, 76% of people are more likely to reach a goal when it's broken into small, specific actions with daily accountability. So make yourself a little chart, put the gold stars on it if that's what you need to do, you know. Yeah. Big star, check it, whatever it is that you need to do for your seven days, and make your, you know, keep yourself accountable to it, but we'll help you break it into what those pieces are, and then you can get it, get it started.

Heather Fisher 3:53

Yeah, absolutely. When you just say, Oh, I should start downsizing. It's too big, too big. Too big. What does that even mean? So um any chance you have that you can define, you know, I need to clean out this drawer this day, then you're just done, and then you move on and um you make progress because you know what you needed to do and you did it, and you move to the next step and the next and the next until suddenly, you know, your house is lighter, you've decluttered, you're ready for that next fun opportunity as to you know what you're gonna do with your time or your resources or where you're gonna live.

Jodi Rosko 4:33

I think what you said is so true. You know what to do next is what you just said. And so breaking it into small little things um gives you that framework to know when you're done for the day and feel accomplished for it, because if you don't do that and it's just this giant thing, it you can do do something and never and just feel like I that didn't even make a dent. Like that wasn't even, you know, anything. And if you're like, nope, this is what I'm gonna get accomplished today, it reduces your decision fatigue. It makes you feel like, look, I did what I said I was gonna do, and you know, I'm done for today. I can celebrate that instead of this whole like I need to do the entire house and this little speck that I did barely made a dent. Honestly. It's totally different.

Heather Fisher 5:14

Yeah, and honestly, what happens is when we're looking at that big mountain that's undefined, we do nothing. We just keep thinking about I don't know what to do. Kick the can. And years can go by and then you know your time frame for actually wanting to make a downsizing move might be upon you more so than it was, but you've not moved down the road at all, and that's when it truly is overwhelming and harder.

Jodi Rosko 5:43

Yeah, for sure. So um so with ground rules. So each of the challenges, so it should take 15 to 30 minutes max. So we're not saying it's an all-day thing for seven days. This is a quick 15 to 30 minutes. You you don't need to finish a whole room. We might it might just be a corner um, you know, of mental clutter. There's things that you walk by every day that you're like, you know, oh, I need to deal with that. And you just you just don't. So set a timer if you need a boundary so that you can be know that you're done. And if you miss a day, it's okay. No guilt. We're gonna pick it up the next day. It's all right.

Heather Fisher 6:21

Yeah, absolutely. Those boundaries uh really help having that timer or um you know, just the one surface, however that's defined.

Jodi Rosko 6:30

Yeah. Some stuff that you probably need to have on hand just so that you can focus and get get what you need to have done is a donate box um or trash bag or some and then a recycle bin. So we're there will be things to donate. There will be things that are trash, um, and you know, maybe there's some things that you can recycle or or whatnot. And and maybe you you might also want something that we're you're giving to somebody. You know, there might there might be some some that you're willing to just share with somebody that you care about.

Heather Fisher 7:00

Yeah, using um post-it notes or having some painter's tape nearby is helpful so that once you've made a decision on something, if there's a reason it's still sitting there for a little bit, you don't have to revisit the decision. You just need to take action on where it needs to go at a later date.

Jodi Rosko 7:19

Yeah, because the way that you can make something take 15 or 30 minutes is not touching the thing over and over again, right? You touch it once, you make the decision, you put it where it needs to go. It needs to go in the donate box. I'm giving it to Shirley, you know, whatever that is, it's it's trash. Um, it needs to go in another room. Don't go in the other room. Just put it, you know, where you need to have it go in the other room because you'll get lost in that if you do that. So have, you know, air you're gonna make some areas to do it, and then um, you know, you might need a uh phone or a notebook to jot things down. You need to take take some notes like or or some follow-up tasks, or maybe you take some pictures of things before they go, or you know, something like that. Write write some notes or do something with your phone.

Heather Fisher 8:02

Yeah, that list will help you after the week is over to know, you know, what's next um project-wise or what what was on your mind uh for what needs handled to take it full circle and be done. Yep. Okay. So day one. The first win. So very simple. Uh choose one area that bugs you the most and start where that victory, where that win is gonna feel the biggest. Yeah, a drawer. Pick your drawer.

Jodi Rosko 8:33

A drawer, um, you know, something. Your drunk junk drawer, the nightstand drawer, your bathroom drawer. Yeah. Which one is you're like, oh my gosh, I don't even know what's in this, like, or this I can't even open it fully. Like this drives me crazy. I think all three of those could be defined as junk drawers.

Heather Fisher 8:52

That's right. That's true. That's true. I think there's no difference. I don't I don't know what it is about nightstands collecting the most random assortment of things and bathroom drawers collecting just too much. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 9:08

Well, you get something new and you don't let go of whatever you aren't using or didn't like or whatever's happening there. And so it just starts accumulating. That's what happens, that's how clutter accumulates in the first place. So and drawers are places we hide things. So that's if you're a shover, you're shoving it in drawers. Yeah. Or cupboards or whatever. But definitely a drawer. So pick a drawer and um the one that irritates you the most and take everything out of it. This is your your victory is gonna f feel so good because it's the one that bugs you. So then when you open it the next time you're gonna be like, ha, yes, right?

Heather Fisher 9:42

Motivate you to do more and more because you are visiting your win.

Jodi Rosko 9:46

Yes. And so take everything out, right? We talk about that every time. Um, it looks different when it's outside of the drawer. You can't just sift through it in the drawer and try to take remove the things that you don't need or that you want to go in a different place. Everything comes out, lay it out on the counter or w t floor, whatever, wherever works, and then start tossing and grouping things and re-homing them. Like, is this where this should live? You know, do you have batteries in that drawer, but also batteries in a different drawer? You know, start collecting like things together. Um, so you're grouping things. Don't don't be leaving the room though, right? Yeah. If it needs to rehome in a different room in your house, then you're going to put it near the door and you know, make a note if you need to of where you're gonna where it's gonna live now. And then only put back the things that belong in that drawer.

Heather Fisher 10:38

Yeah, as you're grouping things, um don't organize them at that moment. You know, stay focused on where you're working, and you could go group and you know, dump those batteries where the other batteries are, um, but don't start buying bins or finding storage for all of them together. You're gonna find more in other places. Just start that loose grouping. Yeah. Um, and if that's not the category you're working on right now, or the drawer or cupboard you're working on right now, just let it live there for a minute, you know, till you get to it.

Jodi Rosko 11:12

And ask yourself, does it make sense to have this thing in this place? Right. Yeah. So if you have batteries in your nightstand and or or batteries in your bathroom drawer, you know, but you also have them in the mud room, you know, like where are they gonna live? And then that's it. You just know that it's not here. Yeah. Like that doesn't make sense for them to be here.

Heather Fisher 11:32

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, and then you know, this first win, this drawer is just designed to prove that it's not as hard as you can.

Jodi Rosko 11:42

Yeah, 15 minutes, 20 minutes.

Heather Fisher 11:44

Done, win, success. Yes. Day one over.

Jodi Rosko 11:48

Yep. Okay. So we've got our first drawer. We have a win. We're starting to get in momentum.

Heather Fisher 11:52

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 11:53

Okay, day two. Visual victory zone. Clear one high traffic area. That could be where you drop your papers, it could be the mud room, it could be the kitchen counter, dining room table, the dining room table.

Heather Fisher 12:09

Drop zones for people. Um, even if you have a designated drop zone, it can be very messy.

Jodi Rosko 12:16

Just have too many things.

Heather Fisher 12:17

Everything gets dropped and nothing gets picked back up. Right. Yeah. We we moved uh back uh uh probably five months ago and I realized uh as I was cleaning through my office over the weekend, I s had at our last house that last week we were moving, I scooped up that pile from you know the the drop zone of mail and papers and whatever random stuff into a you know plastic grocery bag and that bag is still sitting in my office. I never even unpacked it to the new drop zone. So that's on my list. So we're we're all there. I mean, this is what we do all the time, and uh it still is easy to fall into that trap of piles that you don't address.

Jodi Rosko 13:04

So it's probably the place where when you have stuff that you don't know what to do with and a guest is coming over and you sweep it to that place, that's probably the place that you need to start. Yeah, right? If it was all on your kitchen counter and then it goes to another place, like mine goes to my desk, my home desk. Yeah. Um, that's the place that I need to start.

Heather Fisher 13:25

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that those places that are in the traffic zone as you come in for the day often become the place where, you know, when your kids were at home, they dropped their backpacks and the mail gets dropped, and the oh, I need to RSVP to this, so I'll put it here to remind myself. Those are the zones, but they're often multi-use, and so you stack it all when it's time to eat dinner or when it's time to do something. Um, it's often somehow in the vicinity of the kitchen and dining areas because that's a flat surface that's convenient. Um, but if you're just scooping it up and stacking it, it really could be handled in a couple minutes. Yeah. Ever if you make that a habit every day.

Jodi Rosko 14:16

Yeah. And we're not trying to come up with a whole system on this one. We're just literally trying to um declutter for visual peace. You want it to look peaceful and clean and you know, if it's a bunch of junk mail, throw it away. Like if it, you know, if if it got into the house when it shouldn't have, or what that looks like, if it's something that needs to be, you know, handled, you need a little spot where all the mail that needs to be handled goes that's not on the kitchen counter.

Heather Fisher 14:46

Right. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Jodi Rosko 14:48

Okay, so you've got day two, the visual victory zone check done.

Heather Fisher 14:53

Yes. You'll feel calmer every time you walk by. Yeah. Day three. The emotional backpack. This is dipping our toe into something emotional that maybe you've been delaying a decision on. Um it's not big, it's not a whole category, it's not every photo, it's not every box, you know, in the basement of family heirlooms. But if there's something you've just been kind of waffling on and not quite sure, or um you've decided that you want to give it away or or need to, but you haven't taken action and it's still sitting there, that's that's the one to address today.

Jodi Rosko 15:34

Yeah, one sentimental item. It could be a card, it could be a keepsake, it could be something that's handed down from your family, um, you know, uh uh somebody's from a loved one, it could be something that you took from you know somebody who uh was a loved one. Um and you the thought the options are you're gonna keep it with intention, which means that it's gonna be in a prominent place where you look at it all the time or you use it, yeah, and you're gonna care about it and love it and enjoy it. Um you repurpose it so uh it goes somewhere else. Um you photograph it maybe and let it go. So those are those are some of the options of what you can do. Yeah. Um maybe it's donate it, maybe maybe it's give it to somebody who wants it, but they have to want it. We're not just giving, right? Guilt's not a gift, right? So we're just um trying trying to figure out why why we're keeping it. Do we love it, or are we keeping it because we feel guilty or we think we should keep it?

Heather Fisher 16:35

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 16:35

If we love it, keep it. If we don't love it, where's it going?

Heather Fisher 16:40

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 16:40

Because it can't stay here.

Heather Fisher 16:41

Yeah, and that sounds simple, but it really is as simple as that. It's just making that decision. The decision, um the the stress you have around making that decision is not going to change. So just uh be like today's the day I'm making a final decision and then it it w it will be okay.

Jodi Rosko 17:02

Because clutter really is um many, many delayed decisions, right? You just didn't decide what to do with that thing and it started to pile up either in cabinets or in drawers or actually out on surfaces, like it has just started to pile up because as things come into the house, you made you did not make decisions on what to do with it. So it's all delayed decisions. So this day, the emotional backpack day, the purpose of that is to start using building that mental muscle of just making a decision instead of delaying the decision. And that's that's it. We're just we're starting to like teach ourselves, hey, I can just decide on this, like I can decide what I'm doing here and move on. And it does that can take this day can take five minutes or longer if you feel like you really are struggling with it. But it really doesn't have to be a long day.

Heather Fisher 17:53

Yeah. Journaling about something is um a way to make that decision become clearer, you know, why do you love it or why are you you know, hesitating on giving it away? Um, what does it mean to you? What's the story around it? And if you're struggling to write the story or to answer those questions, then that is essentially making the decision for you.

Jodi Rosko 18:21

Yeah, you if you don't even know what the story is around it, it is not meaningful to you, probably.

Heather Fisher 18:25

Yeah, yeah. So pen and paper can help you.

Jodi Rosko 18:28

Yep. Okay, emotional backpack check. We've we can learn to deal with sentimental items. Yeah, three days.

Heather Fisher 18:34

We're almost halfway.

Jodi Rosko 18:35

Almost halfway. Okay, hump day is so day four, the digital pile. So clean out one digital category, your email, your photos, your downloads. And I'm not saying clean out the whole thing because good Lord, if you would say much more than yours would be no, like I mine. I'm scary. Yeah. Whenever I take a picture of something on my phone that shows anything where I have the numbers of emails or what whatever, people are like, oh my gosh, that would make me crazy. But um, so practice what you preach. But anyway, um pick something and and um I would just do this on a timer. I would do this um for 20 minutes, 15 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on what that is. Um focus on one folder of of your, you know, or one account, or you know, certain number of pictures or whatever. Because think about pictures. I mean, you have the same picture, like six or seven of them. Pick the good one, get rid of the other ones, you know. May either set a timer or set like I'm gonna let go of a hundred pictures because you're not even actually letting go of that memory because you're just getting rid of all the extra pictures that you took that weren't the good ones, right?

Heather Fisher 19:49

Yeah, and I I think email is the same way. You can to keep this as a small manageable task for just this one day, you could uh decide I'm gonna unsubscribe to 20 emails today, and that would be accomplishing the task. Like you're just getting started. Um, you could just mass delete it if if you're you know, my personal email is just junk. And so, you know, getting that, I've gotten that uh we talked about this category on an episode a few months ago, and I've worked so hard to keep my email boxes empty and and delete things and unsubscribe, but now I'm like ready for that next category. Tet photos will take much longer than a day, and I feel like I have a I have too many apps in my digital world. Like I download apps and then decide they're not they weren't it, but I don't delete them, or I have apps that I'm not using on a daily basis that are giving me notifications, and it's like little pings of digital clutter all day long. Yeah. Um, so I think that that'll be what I tackle next is apps and notifications.

Jodi Rosko 21:05

But not paprika, because you gotta keep that one.

Heather Fisher 21:07

That's my favorite app.

Jodi Rosko 21:09

Guys, that's the one. Side note, we'll tell you about paprika someday. Yes. Ask us if you want to know. Yes. Um, okay. So so yeah, so digital clutter, I mean you don't see it, it's not physical, but it is there is a mental load to it. And so um, so if you can start cleaning out, whether that's your voicemails, whether that's your email, you know, pictures, whatever that is that feels, you know, maybe it's your text strings you have a lot of, you know, things. Whatever it is, start working on that. And I would just set a timer on that one. And because that one's not going to be done in a day. That one's just we're starting to to create a habit around handling handling or whatever that looks like. Yep. Okay, digital pile. Yeah. All right, day five. The forgotten zone. Pick a n a neglected space like Under your bathroom sink or inside your car or yeah, yeah, like your glove com your glove box or you know, like something that you're a console. Yeah. Of randomness. Right. Things areas that you don't open up very often. Um, but stuff will have been shoved there for, you know, whatever reason. So pick an area like that and they just quietly grow grow clutter because y things will get shoved there every once in a while and kind of randomly, and so you will end up with a bunch of weird stuff like in these places.

Heather Fisher 22:32

I think in in a lot of people's homes, if you're now an empty nester but it you're still in like your family home, this could be like the the hallway bath that you know maybe your kids used and went through the house, and it never it's not like you've clean that out down to empty when your kids move out, or you know, your powder room bath that things just get shoved under there, but it's not your daily use that you're coming across and realizing whether it's organized or chaotic. It's the what like when was the last time you opened those cupboard doors in some of those spaces.

Jodi Rosko 23:14

And I think what you'll find in these is they're they're quick and easy because there's stuff that's expired, stuff that you you know forgot you had. Like, you know, there's just gonna be trash, stuff that's been abandoned products that you have, you know, that you just don't use or don't need because you don't look in there very often. And if you aren't looking in there, that means you aren't using it. Um and you don't have to.

Heather Fisher 23:33

It's not even your products, likely. It's someone else's isn't there anymore. And um, this could be like the the linen closet with um you know, all the towels and sheets, not your daily use, um, you know, places like that that you're not going into. Um closets in those extra bedrooms where stuff gets shoved.

Jodi Rosko 23:57

Yep. So the neglected zone, um forgotten zone. Okay, day six, the clothing quickie.

Heather Fisher 24:04

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 24:05

Just choose five things and let them go.

Heather Fisher 24:07

That's it. Yeah, five minutes. Yeah. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 24:10

Yeah. Don't overthink it. Look for stuff that's worn out, um, you know, might be your favorite, but it has holes in it, might be time for it to go. Or stuff that you have you don't wear. You if you look at it and think you, I don't even know the last time I put that on. It can go. Um, no longer your style, it's not in style, doesn't fit you, you know, doesn't make you feel good. Like there are things that you put on and then you like and then you take it back off and we put them back on the hanger and put them back. Why? We we are not gonna wear those again.

Heather Fisher 24:40

Yeah, the way this is laid out, this is such a good one for that momentum we were talking about because normally our tip around your closet is take everything out and make every decision. Um, but this is not that today, it's just a quick like guarantee there are five things in every closet you could ever go to that you could just make a quick decision. So the harder ones, the ones you're not quite sure of, that's for another day. This is just give yourself those empty hangers back, five items um quick. It's the same as um that quick 100 that we've talked about that I used to do with my kids over over the house. It's not the things that you have to fight yourself over or fight someone else over. Should we keep this, should we not? It's just that quick surface grab of okay, I I had some wins, I got rid of some things really quick.

Jodi Rosko 25:37

So I'll give you a couple other tips for your closet if you're gonna keep that momentum going on that. So um for with your other 15 minutes, because that only took five today. Um take everything in your all the clo all of your hangers in your closet and turn them backwards. Um and so when when you wear something and it goes through the laundry, take take the hanger. Okay, I don't know if you do this. I t ever every time I take my hanger, it goes in a soup a same spot in my closet. It does not like live in the middle of the clothes where it was. So work on that habit, because that is actually really helpful to not have all the empty hangers in between the clothes. So so you take it off the hanger, you put your hanger with the hangers where they go on the side, and then when you wash it and you put it back on the hanger, you put the hanger in the right way. And so in six months, you know, make a note in your calendar to take it to check that. And everything where the hanger is still turned backwards means you haven't worn it in six months. And so it's probably time for it to go. Like all of that can go. You aren't wearing it. And so all you're doing is leafing through it while you're trying to find the clothes that you do want to wear, and that's mentally annoying. You might not realize it, but that it causes a mental weight.

Heather Fisher 26:49

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 26:50

So that's one trick. And then my other trick is put a a a donation bag in your closet, and when you put on something that doesn't fit right or doesn't feel right, you take it off, it goes in the donation bag. It does not go back on a hanger, you do not put it back. It just goes in the door, it's not right anymore. For whatever reason, it doesn't fit right, whatever it is.

Heather Fisher 27:10

Yeah, I um have a certain number of hangers, and you know, it this is good for after you've done that clean out when you're down to like this is enough clothes, I have what I need, I have whatever. When I get new stuff, um you know, I have there's maybe I'm pretty exact right now because I have, you know, brought in some new stuff, and um, but if I'm out of hangers and I want something new, you know, I've brought something new in, something has to go. So I know that it fits in my closet, it's not overstuffed, it's plenty of uh, you know, the amount of clothes, but if I needed something new, it's because I wasn't finding what I wanted in the choices at home. Um, so it's time for something to go. Yeah. So that one in, one out works really well with that limited number of hangers. And I just know I keep my hangers with nothing on them all in one spot too. So I'm like, okay, I have three hangers available and I can buy now when all the laundry's done. I'm really at that edge. I'm not sure I have any extra, but something will go next time something comes in.

Jodi Rosko 28:23

And it will honestly, it'll be easier to get dressed because everything in there will be something that you love and feels good to wear. So the mornings will be easier, and um again, that's something that you don't realize is irritating you until you do it, and then you're like, Yeah, that was annoying.

Heather Fisher 28:37

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 28:38

Yeah.

Heather Fisher 28:38

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 28:39

Okay, we are six days in, we have one more day.

Heather Fisher 28:42

Yeah, the someday stack. So this is um that pile of I'll deal with it later items. This is that um, you know, grocery bag of papers from my old house that I need to deal with now. Need to go through. Someday is now. Um but it it it could be papers to file, it could be mystery cords, unread mail, a random box in the garage. I think I have all of these categories. Yeah, I exactly. We probably all do. Um, but today on day seven, it's just finally picking one. Um, I think that they last for so long because there's not an urgency to address it, you know. Yeah. Random chords, they just exist.

Jodi Rosko 29:27

Yeah.

Heather Fisher 29:27

And you don't realize that that's you don't even know what they go to anymore. Yeah, but you don't realize that level of overload that all of this stacks on top of each other.

Jodi Rosko 29:36

Um I think papers falls into this category so much. I think we, you know, don't need we don't want to deal with whatever it is that's happening with the paper. Um, and so it just gets a piled. Um and so I think those piles are often um something that you need to deal with. I think everybody has boxes in the garage or the basement or the attic or the storage area area that haven't been opened for a long time. Like pick one of those and go through it and get rid of that box.

Heather Fisher 30:03

Yeah, especially when it's an assortment of random things. Uh get it grouped with other like things and get rid of what you don't need and just uh move through those decisions. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 30:15

And so you're gonna sort that into keep, toss, to-do, um, or unsure you might need a maybe box. And so, you know, I think everybody should always have a maybe box going if you're gonna be working through the house. Um the maybe box is um uh you aren't you can't quite make the decision about it. And so it goes in the maybe box and um you close up that maybe box and six months, you know, make it put a date on it. If you don't need it, um whatever's in that box, then you just donate it straight without opening it, because you've already looked at it, so you have pretty much made the decision. You just weren't a hundred percent sure on your decision, and um so you can uh uh with you know, knowing that there's not a hundred dollars of cash in there somewhere and you're donating it, you know, you know what's in there because you've already looked at it. You don't need to look at it again.

Heather Fisher 31:04

Yeah, absolutely. Um and all of these steps, I mean, they're an ongoing process for all of us. So having that that rolling maybe box and you know, the donate bag uh handy in the in your closet or somewhere else in the house, all of that um is taking these small habits and wins and just keeping them going uh for a few minutes each day to keep everything under control.

Jodi Rosko 31:32

Yeah, so you created now, seven days later, you've created seven moments of clarity or peace, or you open that one drawer and you're like, oh, that's so great, you know, and that's all of those are wins. Everything about that's a win. There's a pile that's been sitting there forever, it's gone. Um maybe your kitchen counter looks great now. Um you know, so um every all of those little pieces will start to stack and start to just make you feel like I can do all of this, like this this can happen. Um so and you won't have everything done, and that's okay. You're you're just starting to create habits and um know that it feels really good when you get it done.

Heather Fisher 32:09

Yeah, on the flip side of not having everything done, you also don't have nothing done. Right. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 32:14

And which is where we go because we we go over get overwhelmed and then we just don't do any of it.

Heather Fisher 32:20

Right, exactly. Exactly.

Jodi Rosko 32:21

So small steps in the right direction are still progress, right?

Heather Fisher 32:24

Yeah, yeah. If you um need some extra layers of uh getting started, this is a great way to um, you know, have a friend be doing it at their house and just Oh, accountability. Yeah, accountability each day. Hey, did you do this? Here's what I did. Um, you know, we find success in that in so many things in life when we're just checking in with someone else. Yeah. Um, so whether that's a spouse or a partner at home that's on board or just a friend to text or call and and say what was your little mini challenge each day, that's a great layer to add on. Um and then revisiting if you've been keeping any kind of a list of things that hit you that you know might be a little bit bigger project um along the way. How are you gonna break that down into the next seven days or the next month and uh just continue to bite off small pieces?

Jodi Rosko 33:22

Yeah, you could literally just rotate this one again, you know, for the next week and just do another drawer and then another, you know, visual zone, or you could be like, you know, uh it was really easy to do those hidden ones that I haven't looked at in a long time, and I really felt like that, you know, got a lot done because I didn't need that stuff anyways. I'll do all of those right now, like, you know, day after day. Um, or you know, I'm ready to go through my pictures or whatever that looks like, you know, pick some you can either pick up a category and and just but the point of it is make a daily habit, right? Yeah. Do something for 10 or 15 or 20 minutes every day, and you will be surprised at how much progress you can make in in 15 minutes.

Heather Fisher 34:02

Yeah, absolutely. And if you just need that extra boost of the structure of a challenge, we've had plenty of episodes uh with some other challenges that might resonate with you in different ways, but still give you that that accountability from Jody and I, you know, giving you some direction. Um, some people really thrive in in just having a system around it. So check out those episodes. Uh, we would love to hear your wins. Yeah. What what did you accomplish in your seven-day challenge? Um, you know show us the before and after of the junk drawer or whatever it is. Yes, we would love that. Absolutely. You can find us on Facebook, on our Facebook uh downsizing roadmap group. Um, you know, post your photos, show us Yeah, we'll put the link down. Yeah, we'll put that in the show notes, and um, you know, we would just love to hear how it goes. The challenges are my favorite because people just get those wins and progress so easily. So um I think that's it for today. We will be back next week. If there are any resources that we can help you with, um downsizingroadmap.com and if you'd like our free guide that gives some more ideas on how to get started, um that's also on our website, downsizingroadmap.com backslash guide. Um, that's free. We'll send that out to you and we would love to hear from you.

Jodi Rosko 35:24

Yep, and if you're thinking about downsizing or helping a parent anywhere in the country, reach out to us. We we help people connect with trusted agents nationwide. So uh downsizing roadmap backslash help.

Heather Fisher 35:35

Backs backslash, backslash. Not backsplash. Backslash help. Yes, awesome. We will see you guys again next week. Thanks. Bye-bye. 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.