The Stuff We Keep Is Keeping Us Stuck | How Decluttering Creates a Better Life

What if decluttering your home could change your life?

In this episode, I sit down with professional organizer and minimalist expert Melissa Welch to explore the powerful connection between our physical spaces and our emotional well-being.

Melissa shares how embracing her lifelong passion for organization led her to a more purposeful life—and how helping others simplify their homes often helps them reclaim their time, energy, and happiness.

We talk about clutter, guilt, sentimental items, and why letting go can be one of the most empowering things we do. This conversation goes far beyond organizing bins and storage solutions. It's about creating space for the life you actually want to live.

And in a surprisingly emotional moment, Melissa helps me realize it's finally time to let go of something I've been holding onto for years.

If you're ready to clear the clutter—in your home and your life—this episode is for you. 

Melissa helps people declutter their homes, shop more intentionally, and take control of their money so they can build the life they truly want inside the Happy Home Community

This episode is sponsored by Dude Wow Cocktails — bold flavor, real ingredients, and yes… it’s really good.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Before we get into the episode, shout out to the sponsors supporting unscripted turbulence, dude wow cocktails. Now I love it's Letty Mary mix without alcohol. So you could really make it your own. I've had it both ways. Even made a Mezcal martini with it. Shout out martinis with MEGI. Smoky, sultry, honestly, so good. If you're curious, use my code Turbulence26 for 10% off. The link is in the episode description. Take what lands, leave what doesn't, and please follow or subscribe. It helps more than you know. All right, let's get into it. Wow, are you excited? I'm excited. I can tell. Yeah, it'll be funny. This will be fun.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Yeah, I'm trying to be chill.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

Oh no, no, no. This is this is like Zen times 30. Good. Everybody's gonna want to hear about this. Alright, so shall we get into it? Yeah. Okay. Welcome to Unscripted Turbulence. I'm your host, Reagan Medgie, and today, if you feel stuck, if you feel all out of sorts, you're kind of drowning, you don't know what to do, you don't know where to go, this is going to clear things up for you. I'm joined by my sister. My new sister friend, Melissa Welch. Hello, Melissa.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Hi, Reagan. It's so nice to be here. Thank you for having me. Oh my gosh, absolutely. I'm really excited to talk to you.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

Oh my gosh. So here's the thing. Melissa is one of my best buddies' sisters. Now, if you have been following me on the Fox Five Trail, Fox Five New York here in New York City, when I was working there for what, six years, I became friends with your brother, Chris. So um, Chris is actually, and he's listening right now and watching, and I'm a little nervous. I feel like he's my producer because he's watching in like the back room where you can actually see all the monitors and see, you know, the back room is like next door, but yeah, so he's gonna be hopefully not critiquing me. No, he'll be critiquing me. Okay, that's fine. I'm okay with that. So now uh this is Melissa's first time in the podcast studio, like many other people, and there's three different cameras here. So you can, this is the one that gets both of us. Okay. That gets just me. Okay. Now, if you want to get aggressive and lean in, you can get in my shop, but that's not gonna happen. And then there's this one that points directly to you. Okay. So whatever one you want to look at. Okay. I just happen because of being TV trained, I happen to always look at my friend over here. Yeah. Camera number two. Okay. Whatever. Okay. So um the reason I have Melissa on is because Melissa has inspired me with my great spring cleaning purge of 2026. She is, what would you call yourself? Like, what's your title?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

So I am a professional organizer. I love it. But I help people declutter and I just sort of try to help people feel better at home. I think that is everybody's sort of human right, and then it can really help people level up in their life. And that's why I'm excited to be here because I think your audience is all about leveling up and doing new things and enjoying their life and having kind of the life that they want.

SPEAKER_04 3:20

Oh, yes. Not the life that they're stuck in. And sometimes we're finding that when we are stuck in a place is because we have too much shit around us. Yes. Yes, and we can curse on this podcast. Great. You don't I don't find you as a very uh heavy cursor, but if you happen to need to purge out some curse words, by all means, okay? We're gonna throw those curse words away. Um so yeah, so I I wanted to bring um Melissa on because I I really just seeing what you're doing like through the Instagram and like your tactics and lessons and everything, it just so inspiring. And when I was on the phone, because we do a I call it's not like a pre-discovery call, it's just like a get to know you call and how the podcast works call. I am not lying when I tell you. She helped me figure out my business plan a bit more. And she's a professional, like organizer, purger, sorter. I mean, there's a lot to this organizing a room because it's not just organizing a room. Yeah. But you didn't start here. So I always like to turn back the hands of time and talk about where you're from, all that kind of jazz. Um, but we're gonna do a heavier load in talking about the organizing. Yeah. Um, because I think you know, you and I are in agreement with this that this is it's a hot topic. You are my version of Marie. Is it Marie Kondo? Yeah. You are that is high praise. Thank you, Reagan. Yes. What do I say? Konichiwa. I think she's Japanese. Konichiwa. Okay, so um, all right, so where are you from?

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Because you're not from here. I'm not from New York. I live in Omaha, Nebraska. I love it! Yes. A corn corn husker? Yes, cornhusker, go huskers. Okay, okay. So Did you go to University of? I went to the University of Nebraska. Oh we moved around a lot growing up and when my husband was sort of in training for his job. Okay. But we ended up back in Omaha for we've been there for about seven years now.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

And that and you were born and raised in Nebraska?

SPEAKER_00 5:13

No.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

No, where were you born in?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

We were born in, I was born in Chicago. Oh. Then we moved to South Dakota, then we moved to Omaha, then we moved to California, then we moved to Omaha again. You were in California? Yeah, just for like six months in high school.

SPEAKER_04 5:27

You and Chris?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Uh, Chris, that was his first year of college.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

Oh, so Chris didn't get.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

So Chris came for a summer.

SPEAKER_04 5:34

Yes, Chris, we're talking about you. And I know you're shaking your head, and I probably can hear a giggle. Chris is not. I heard something. Chris is not part of this conversation, but I'm making part of this conversation. And if at any point he wants to just hop in and say hello, he can. He's not going to. Maybe he will. I don't know. All right. So, all right. So then you, all right. Chris is older than you. Yeah, he's three years older than me.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Really? Mm-hmm. Do I give off elders' daughter vibes? Yeah, I do. I know that's about myself.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Oh, so Chris, Melissa, and I are gonna be going for lunch after this, and I'm sure I'm gonna hear a mouthful from Chris about his participation in this conversation, which he isn't present. He's in the other room. Okay. So, all right, so then you ended up in. You think she's older, that's it. I do think she's older. He just came in. I do you want to say hi to the camera?

unknown 6:21

I like this.

SPEAKER_04 6:22

Okay, well, the hand waving. You can come over here.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

You want to hi, hi, hi, hi.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

If you remember Chris from Fox Five, what do you think about this? I love this. You do? I love it all. Oh my god, this is great. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

But I'm telling you, like, she's she knows what she's talking about.

SPEAKER_04 6:37

She knows what she's talking about. Well, yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

And I know I'm biased.

SPEAKER_04 6:41

They're like looking at your crotch. Do you want to come down and okay? That's all. All right. Thanks, Bizzy. So in TV world, that would be like the producer coming in at the with their headset, being like, hey, by the way, I never had that happen, but I'm addicted to it and I love it. All right. So, okay, so now you are you're in Omaha, uh, get married, kids, whatever. What did you go to school for though? Because I'm thinking, okay, you went to school to organize that.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

No, so I went to school for sociology, actually, got a master's degree in sociology, worked in research for a really long time. I got another master's degree in business administration, um, like grant-funded research and kind of managing research projects, like the NIH funding, basically. Okay. Um, so I worked in that for over 10 years, and I loved it. It was really fun. But then there was always something kind of in the back of my mind because I was a child who enjoyed organizing. Like I was organizing my bedroom, like helping Chris declutter his whole life, like all the time. Like we were just, I was just like an odd child in that respect. And then um about 12 years ago is when I sort of stumbled upon the idea of minimalism. Okay. As sort of a philosophy, and it really resonated with me because it's really, it's not like a certain look of needing to live in a van or have an all-white house or one fork, but it's more just what is really important to you. Yeah, yeah. And let's recognize and sort of take away what is distracting you from that. And I kind of just had a new frame of mind for noticing like, okay, our my stuff is actually taking my time, it's taking my energy, it's taking my money. Here are other things that I actually do value in life, and I want to spend more time doing that. And so it was, I think, 2014 when I discovered that. Oh, really? But you were still at your job. And I was still at my job, and it just sort of shaped my life. And I started having kids, and after I started having kids, like that having that philosophy really helped me to like, I think, enjoy my motherhood experience a little bit more than I would have normally. And yeah, I was still at my job. And how is that job?

SPEAKER_04 8:53

I mean, doing research or how like I'm not judging, but how do you go into school being like, I want to be a researcher and I want to be a survey.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

I was just really like, I always said growing up I wanted to help people. Yeah. And in college, it was like, I don't really know how I'm gonna do that. But I just really loved my sociology classes. They were the study of people.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

I worked because it's not psychology, it's sociology.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Yes, it's groups of people and sort of how people interact. And I just loved it. I worked with homeless populations for many years, people who inject drugs. Just lots of different areas. And it did get eventually to be where I was when I was working with those populations, I got a little burnt out of how could you get a little sad.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

I can't imagine. I mean, when you were working with that population, what did that entail?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

It was surveys? Like surveys, um, qualitative research where like we sit down face to face and have interviews with them. Like you'd go out in the street and have interviews, and usually we would bring them into somewhere, like our office or something, and like have a meal and yeah, talk.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

What would you talk about? I mean, I d I know this is not the I just I have to ask because I, you know, there's obviously a homeless population in New York City, and I yeah, every and maybe this is something you know I'd really like to hear your thoughts. Every time I see somebody who's homeless, I just want to ask them what was the choice? What happened that made it go left for you?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Yeah. And it it it's always something. Like it, it's usually just bad circumstances. A lot of times I worked with homeless youth populations, and that was I mean, it was it always came back to caregivers, right? Like they did not have a stable parent figure or you know, someone like that who was with them. It was people they were in and out of foster care. They just had a lot of transitions in their life in that respect and did not have, you know, somebody to sort of help them along.

SPEAKER_04 10:54

So when you would be talking to them, I'm sure it was exhausting because uh for me, I'd want to rescue them and save them and be like, oh, well, if you go into this program and just stay with it, but that is not as easy as it sounds.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Right. And honestly, the people that we were talking to for the surveys most of the time were in utilizing services, right? Utilizing some of the, you know, shelters or outreach programs and things like that. So that was good.

SPEAKER_04 11:20

Oof, so for 10 years you were I mean, I ooh, that's heavy. I mean, as a reporter, we see different we see all walks of life and all situations and stuff, but never that close day in, day out with something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

So I was working in sociology research for probably about five years, and then I got kind of burnt out on that and moved into a different area of research where I was more not actually boots on the ground doing the research, but more helping with the administration, the operations, managing the budgets, helping, you know, submit the proposals and stuff like that. So more of the administrative side of it. Um but which that I I always worked with really great people. I worked at universities and medical centers, and I had great coworkers. It was really awesome. It was fun. Um, but I always sort of in the back of my mind had just a little bit of every time I would meet somebody who was a professional organizer or I would hear about somebody who had made that their job, I felt like this little twinge of jealousy. And eventually I was like, oh, this is telling me something. This is this means I'm having I that's something I want for myself. And at a certain point, I was like, Where what would be more fun to actually go out and try to do this and help people? Um, or sort of stay in my safe, safer kind of role. Um, and it honestly like it feels like a calling to me. I guess sort of the catalyst was when I had kids and then I started talking to other moms, especially, who were drowning in their stuff, so overwhelmed, had no time, they just were really struggling. They would feel like they couldn't relax at home, that they weren't, that they didn't deserve to relax. This is something I hear a lot that they don't deserve to relax because their house, like they need to declutter, or they need to clean the kitchen, or they need to do the laundry.

SPEAKER_04 13:21

Yeah, you're almost like an autopilot trying to get everything done day in, day out.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Yes. And that, and that just broke my heart. And I realized like I I am pretty good at this. Like I have this skill. I actually can help people with it. And so that's sort of when it changed for me. And I was like, okay, I need to, I need to do this.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

And it wasn't an overnight thing, though, right? It just started with right. When people are like, I want to do this, I want to do this, whatever. But there's like a slow burn. Like it's not like, hey, one day I'm at my job, then hey, I'm leaving everybody. I have a little party, bye. I'm like full throttle ahead, making all the money, my new thing. That does not ever happen in anywhere. No. Based on the research and surveys I've conducted. Ever. Okay. So yours was small steps. Overlapping kind of.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yes. And it's just like I started slowly. I still had my regular job. It was all like I had no plans to leave that regular job. I was just, you know what? Next right thing is I'm gonna help some of my friends and on the weekends or on the And they asked you.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

You weren't like, hey, you need help.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah, no, they asked me. Can you imagine?

SPEAKER_04 14:27

Oh, I didn't know organizers were like that. Oh, she's vicious savage.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

No, I wonder. And it was just started slowly. Um, I started to share a little bit more about my life and my house and kind of our systems on Instagram. Oh, and it was sort of snowballed, like Yeah. Cause I and so I just kept doing that. Like, next right thing, what is the next right thing? And then eventually I did come to the point where I realized, okay, I think I need to leave my full-time job.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

I just like had this feeling of at what point though did you say I think I need what what was the uh I'm getting more clients, or uh my gut is telling me my my focus is not at my job?

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Like, where was that like it was a little bit of both, actually. Okay. That that I was finding that more and more going into my job was less fun. Like it was less stimulating to me, it was less exciting to me. And then I was very much on the side loving what I was doing, but also feeling like I was very time poor. Because I have two kids, they're five and seven now. They were little, and I was like, okay, if I'm working a full-time job and I'm trying to do a side hustle, like I cannot do this forever.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

No.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

And I was tired of working, you know, after bedtime every single night, and you know, trying to trying to share and trying to build stuff like that. Because I I do think, and that maybe this is part of it too, where I started to feel like this is more my calling, where I was really helping people, and it feels like this is the work that I meant to do.

SPEAKER_04 16:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

As as woo as that sounds. No, I mean, you're talking like the queen of woo-woo. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_04 16:07

I'm talking crystals. I brought you a woo-woo book, by the way.

unknown 16:11

But you did.

SPEAKER_04 16:12

Oh, I get a gift. You hear that everybody? She even gives gifts. Just kidding. You're like, no, you're putting me on the feet to the fire. Oh my gosh. I can't. Okay, we're not talking about I can't wait though. Yeah. I can't, I can't wait to see what it is. Do you have it with you right now? Yeah. It's in my background. Yeah. Okay, we'll wait.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

But yeah, so that's sort of kind of how my career changed. And I did, and I and I gave myself a long runway too. When I left my job, I did not say, I did not expect to like, oh, I'm gonna, you know, make a full-time salary right out the gate and like be totally fine. I had a lot of savings and I fully expected that you know I'm gonna have gonna have a runway.

SPEAKER_04 16:51

Uh-huh. My runway's getting shorter. All good. It's part of the process. It's part of the process.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

It is have a runway?

SPEAKER_04 16:58

It is.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Don't put pressure on yourself.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

No at first. Yeah. No, see, she's already therapizing me. This this pot is taking a turn, folks. By the end of this, who knows what's gonna happen. Um, so you ended up unplugging from your full-time job going into this full this organizing full-time in 2014. No. No, no, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

No, I uh did I did the unplug from my full-time job in October of 2024.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

No, kidding. So this is new. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay, because I remember seeing your Instagram, I think it was at Fox 5 at the time. Yeah. In 2023-ish. Yep. 2024 I was at and at the end of 2023, I was at ABC 7. And then 2024 I saw, and you had you're doing decent, and then some publication reached out to you. Yeah. And now you are like you are really doing well and thriving in terms of how many people are are following you. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Like, I've had a decent amount of just partially or great organic social media growth. Like, I started there was one reel that I had about how to clean out your closet, and that one was very viral for me. Like how millions and millions. I have no idea. It just happened. It just happened. So okay. And it honestly, like, it didn't happen right away when I posted it. I posted it and then like a month later, it was like I well, one of my videos went viral. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

Yeah. Uh it's uh after a run, there was a uh there's a Greek Mediterranean store in Astoria, Queens.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

And they had a grill for sale during Greek Easter, and there is a drawing, a rendering of a sheep on the grill. It wasn't a real sheep, it was a rendering of one, and it was spinning. Now I looked at it and I go, there's no way I'm seeing what I'm seeing. Oh, indeed there was. And one by one, my fellow Greek community loved it. And then now it is viral. That's funny. And that is what I'm gonna be known for. That's okay. I'm doing a podcast. I'm doing a podcast, I'm talking to people about life transitions, but my rendering of a sheep on a grill is what is gonna give me my name in bold letters on product. You know, you never know. Never know. Um, I'll post a video to this, maybe. I'll just go on my Instagram, you'll see it. Um, okay, so now you are full-time doing this. I mean, it started off just organizing, just how? Organizing a room, a closet. I always go with a closet.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, so I do space by space. It depends on my client what they want to do. So a lot of my clients are whole home clients where we will do pretty much their whole house. Like we'll go through together and declutter together, organize everything together, but it sort of just depends. I like to ask clients, like, okay, what is the most stressful for you?

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Um, you know, what's what area is the most stressful for you? And that's kind of how we decide where to start. And that's what we do. We just kind of go through together. Um, but if really there are people at home who are interested in doing this and they want to declutter and they want to start, but they don't know where to start, that's that's a place that trips people up a lot. Right. Where it's overwhelming to start, it can be difficult to know, you know, how do I even do this? Where do I even start? But I always tell people the first step is you need to get clear on what you're making space for. So sitting down, setting a little intention of what do you want more of in your life? How do you want to feel in your home or in that space? If you're doing a closet, how do you want to feel in your clothes and go from there? Because it can be a little exhausting. Like it takes physical energy, takes a lot of mental energy. It's more emotional than people realize. I didn't think it was so emotional.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

I it is my closet purge, yeah. I was exhausted after the second day because I, when I go through a purge, I'm a very nostalgic person. Yeah. Like if whatever you have for me, I will keep for the rest of my life. Because it means something, there's a depth to it, there's a timing, there's the woo-woo, the stars are in alignment with something. So there's always a connection. So I tend to, I'm a nostalgic keeper, I guess, or whatever you classify that as. So it's hard to get rid because you're thinking, oh, I remember when I was X, Y, Z wearing this.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 21:39

How do you break people of that? Is that something to be broken, or how do you handle that part?

SPEAKER_00 21:44

So I think it's okay to have a certain amount of, you know, sentimental clothing as long as it's stuff that feels good to you. As long as they're happy memories and good memories of like, oh, this is what I was wearing when I first met my husband, or I have my shirt.

SPEAKER_04 22:00

So, yes, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Yeah. I think, you know, that's a that's a very much an okay keep forever item. Okay. Um, but I don't think you should have a lot, a lot of it. I think keeping an eye on volume and looking at your space prioritize having space for the stuff that you, you know, want to wear now and things like that. But I also think clothing has some energy too. It's the closest thing to our body, right? It's in our energetic field every day. Yeah. I'm in, I'm in, I'm in. And so it can also hold on to and kind of really remind us of and kind of put us back in negative states of mind. Or if there were things that happened when, you know, you were going through something difficult, that clothing might be something to get rid of. I I call that the good energy or the bad energy clothing. And like personal example, after I had my first child, I had postpartum depression, like pretty bad. And so there were just things that I wore a lot during that time period that I had to get rid of. Because I'm thankfully in a better place. I'm all good now.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

Thank God.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

But I needed to get rid of that stuff because it would, when I would put it back on, it would still remind me of. It would bring you back to that place. Yes, that place, that headspace a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 23:18

So oh geez, now I'm thinking about my TV dresses. That's literally where mind is going to the TV dresses right now. I got rid of, oddly enough, I got rid of a lot of them. Did you? And I donate donated a lot of them. Yes. And I thought about the assignments I was on or who I was filling in for. And it was weird. Not before even talking to you. I did like kind of start thinking. Now looking back, it's like, oh. And I felt lighter after I did. And now I'm thinking, what do I still haven't? Because you know, I keep things. Yeah. Now, pilot, the husband, would say that I'm a hoarder. I'm not a hoarder. You're not. Although when he first said that to me, I thought he said whore. And I go, What did you just say to me? It was not that hoarder. I like, I have some piles. I'm getting much better. But I now I'm gonna kind of I feel like I need to have another edit of my TV dresses to see what is still attached in terms of negative energy.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Yeah. I mean it's helpful. Or the if if there were particularly hard conversations that you had over your TV career, yeah. What were you wearing during those? Like you know what I mean? Yeah. Okay. Just with the transitions and all that stuff. If there's some that you're like, oh, that's what I was wearing when I had this experience or this negative experience.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Maybe that should go. Maybe you're ready to part with that.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Oof, okay. Unless it's like a really expensive item of clothing, maybe we sell it.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Or we keep it because it might I say with that, you can do either. I'm totally fine with that. But for people listening, think about your capacity. So if somebody right now is listening and they're like pretty far underwater where they don't have time to do the things they want to do, they're feeling overwhelmed, their mental health is not in a great place, they're pretty anxious or pretty depressed or any like any number of things going on, right? I would say they're not at their full capacity. And for anybody who's not at their full capacity, use the easiest way to get stuff out of your house. So just finding a donation center that's the closest to you that takes almost everything, take it all to that one spot. Don't try to sort stuff for your sister-in-law or for your neighbor or for, you know, your friend down the street, or don't try to sell stuff even though it was expensive, because that takes time and energy too. And all of that extra sorting just takes more effort.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

And you don't have effort to give. Because I think the most important thing for people is to be at their full capacity. Once they're at their full capacity, you have a lot more space to give, like even environmentally, or you know, you're just better able to give and share your gifts with the world than keeping yourself stuck in, you know, the state of overwhelm and stress and still trying to do those things perfectly. Like that's not worth it, I don't think.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

I love that you said that because there was a moment while I was sifting through everything, not only the closet, but like bins and the desk, and I will get there and like the kitchen, everything. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm looking at all the items and I'm thinking I could probably make money on some of this stuff. And then I thought, okay, but how much time is that gonna take? And I felt guilty just donating.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

Even though I can afford things, I felt guilty because it's like, oh, well, maybe I could have done better with the opportunity of getting, I don't know, some kind of a little bit of like spending cash. But the fact that you're like, no, like you just need to, it's okay to release, even no matter what value of it it is, it will be more valuable to somebody else who's actually gonna use it versus it just like staring back at you, reminding you that you're still overwhelmed and you're anxious and you feeling stuck.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Exactly. So when you're thinking about expensive items, okay, I don't think guilt is a productive emotion. Number one. It doesn't do anyone any good, and it doesn't do you any good to do to have that. But also, expensive items really bring our energy down because if you have something expensive in your closet, but you never wear it because it doesn't fit you right or it's kind of itchy. I have that. I have that, and you know that you have it, yes, and it's in the back of your mind, making you feel a little bit bad constantly. And especially when you open the closet and you see it and you get that little hit of, oh, I should have worn this. Like I wish this would have, you know, fit me better, or not been a scratchy material, or I wish I wouldn't have impulse purchased this, or whatever the case may be. Uh-huh. And that kind of brings your energy down a little bit. And you don't need that. You're going to feel better. You're going to open your closet and meet the day better in a better place with better energy, feeling good about yourself when that is gone. So I always say, like, it was expensive, the money's already gone. Like, that is sunk cost fallacy. The money's been spent. Yeah. You are still paying for it every day with your piece by holding on to it. So you don't need to do that. Okay. Full permission. Please, please get rid of your expensive shit that you're not wearing. So you're still holding. What was that line? You're still holding. You're still paying for it with your piece every single day. You're cleaning around it, you're moving around it, you're seeing it, you're trying to reorganize so that you have enough space for it. Oh. It's dragging your energy down. Even if it's in a closet, even in the back of the closet or on the top shelf where you don't like necessarily have to move it every day. A lot of my clients tell me, oh, they know exactly what's in there. You know, they know. Oh, that's I know that's a or something that they bought and meant to return, but then miss the return window. Then there's a lot of guilt from that too, of oh, why can't I, you know, do this better? Or why couldn't I manage my calendar better? Or why did I make that mistake? And then they just continue, you know, we are the meanest, the harshest critics to ourselves, right?

SPEAKER_04 29:15

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

And so just sort of thinking about that of you should please don't beat yourself up. Please just let it go. It's okay. Everybody's human, everybody makes mistakes. Okay. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 29:29

Yeah. Okay. So a lot of truth bombs here. Um, so um, when clients reach out to you, like what is their first initial like ask? Because they feel like they're drowning, they just need to clutter, declutter, or whatever. And then you kind of go back and forth with them, what they want to do, and then you come over to their house.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Yeah. So I work in person and I work virtually. So we do sessions. Both of them are pretty much the same. The only difference with virtual is that I'm not, you know, able to physically move the items. Right. But we talk like have the same conversations. We're talking through every single thing. I'm looking at your closet with you. I'm telling you, okay, let's start here, pull out this section. How do you wear this? You know, what do you think about when you wear this? What make, you know, all of the questions. So, but I also, before we start anything, like I said, we do set an intention. And I always remind my clients and anybody who wants to declutter, please approach it from a positive place because that's the energy that you infuse the space with. And it's tricky, right? It's emotional. There's a lot of guilt, there's a lot of shame. Oh, yeah. It's definitely more emotional than people think. And there, I don't know, especially as women, we are very we hold a lot of emotion, and and look, it can happen that there's shame around, you know, how did how did I get let my space get this bad? Or why did I buy all this stuff that I don't need? Or just all that stuff where it's not productive to continue beating yourself up. And I also see this a lot where people will be, you know, will find stuff and they'll be like, oh, I was looking for that and I just bought that again, or I didn't even know I had that. I feel so guilty about like those type of things. And I just shake, it's okay, shake it off. Like this is a kindness to your future self. This is gonna make life better for your future self. This is gonna make life easier for you. And it's okay. It's all okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

You know, we when we were on the phone, we talked about the the future self and and all of that a little bit. And you know, um, when I was doing my big uh purge, um, I I happened to look into Chat GPT for a little bit of this, and it told me two things. Um, you know, the one thing that really resonated with me was when you're looking at your stuff, that you that you're having a hard time just saying, okay, I got I gotta let go of it. You're letting go of your old self.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Yes. And you're making room for your new self.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

It's unbelievable. And they're really, I mean, I really I do feel much lighter. I do. That's great. And it made it easier for me to dress today. I have new jeans. Great, by the way. Thanks, by the way. I'm kind of sucking my stomach because my stomach's kind of rolling over these jeans. I'm just gonna roll. I'm just gonna pull them up a little bit more underneath my boobs. We'll be fine. Um, do you always start with a closet?

SPEAKER_00 32:22

No, we kind of start with, I like to start with a space that is high impact, so a space that you're in pretty much every day, you use often. So primary bathroom, closets, entryways, somewhere that there's not gonna be a lot of sentimental stuff. And and so I don't usually actually start with closets. That's usually like a secondary uh I say that level two of organizing.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

That takes a lot of time.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Because that takes a lot of time, and clothes are pretty sentimental. But like kitchen stuff, pantry, entryways, clo like linen closets or bathrooms, things like that are good places to start because they're high impact. They're not a lot of sentimental stuff. And we talk through just, you know, the fact that every single item that you do get rid of is gonna give you back more time. And that's a very kind of concrete, like, it's just fact. Like you, yeah, it will be easier. It's gonna it removes a lot of the tiny friction points. I think often we don't understand, like sometimes laundry can be really hard or doing dishes can be really hard for people. Just like, you know, the day-to-day, uncool, unsexy tidying that has to be done.

SPEAKER_04 33:34

Oh yeah. And unless we're something sexy, then it could be sexy. There you go. I had to go there. I'm sorry. So the unsexy parts, the pantry, the high energy, like the high frequented traffic areas where you're like, all right, I gotta like clean this stuff up because it's not gonna get clean by itself. And then eventually you get to the closet space where you're like and that's where a lot of you know listen, every time I do the closet, pilots always like this again, nothing ever changes. But this time things did change. So I'm very happy about that. So, how did you become so good at the organizing? Because is it so I mean, you always have been doing it since you were little.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

So you read a lot of books about it and just like because you don't take a class on this. This is just something that you're seeing based on Yeah, just something that I've noticed in my own life, like things that work and things that didn't work, and then things that work with clients and don't like I there are just things where we prioritize trying to move through the space efficiently and you know, as easy as we can make it is what we should do. Especially a lot of my clients have ADHD, and there are ways that you can remove the number like lessen the number of steps it takes to get something out and put it back. Whereas, like, for example, if you have ADHD and you have something inside of a lidded bin and there's another lidded bin on top of that, this is common. That is like six or seven steps to like, okay, I gotta take the first bin off, I gotta open the lid, I gotta get the thing out, I gotta put the lid back on, I gotta put the second bin on top. Then when I'm ready to put it back, I have to take the bin, the top bin off again, open the lid, put the thing in, put the lid back, put the other one on. Whereas if you have an open bin with no lid at all, it's just in, out, in, out. It goes down to one step then. And so there are places in the house where we can kind of look and see like, okay, how do we reduce the friction here? How do we reduce the number of steps?

SPEAKER_04 35:32

I mean, I'm visualizing if I had H ADHD, which I don't believe I do. I think maybe sometimes I do because I go like squirrel. But um, no, that I but there are there are things I will say to Shay, my friend, because there are things in my apartment where it is so much effort to get to the thing, and it's like, oh, for the love of God. So then it becomes like an air, there's like a holding space. Yeah. Like, you know, the wings. Yeah. There just kind of there's a pile that'll go, and then eventually I'll get into that. Like I have a memory box. Yeah. Which I have now. This this is I'm probably gonna need a little intel on this one. So I have a memory box.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Yeah. Like one would. Yes. I do think everybody needs to have a memory box or sentimental bins, something where you can put the special stuff. Right. Now, this box is like a trunk.

SPEAKER_04 36:15

So it's not really like a box, like you're thinking like a shoebox. No, no, no. We're like looking at like it's a huge trunk. So I've got cards in there, I got all these. How do you sort through something like that? Because I want to keep everybody's like little sentimental anything.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

Yeah. So you still have the memories, even if you don't have the thing. So that's just something to keep in mind. You still have the memories of that, you know, good thing. Okay. You don't have to keep every item. Also say the same thing about gifts. Just because somebody gave it to you does not mean you have to keep it. The gift, gift giving is an energetic exchange. It happens at the moment of the gift giving. Someone is giving you their love, you're receiving that and thanking them, giving them love back, right? So it doesn't really have anything to do with the physical item itself.

SPEAKER_04 37:06

Oh my gosh. Okay. Okay, thank you. Because I did that recently and I felt really bad about it. But I'm like, no, like the intention was there. I enjoyed that. Yes. But I'm not gonna need this.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

And somebody else will. That's the other thing. Somebody else will have it. To keep in keep in your mind when you're decluttering, somebody else is going to you like use this and need this and love this. And you can, you're just passing it along. We all go through phases in life, right? Of every era needs something a little bit different. And as you move into a new era, that's a great time to declutter and trust that the universe is gonna provide for you. And whatever your new era looks like, like you'll get what you need. You know what I mean? You don't have to fear what if I need this someday, or what if this could be useful?

SPEAKER_04 37:55

You know, it's interesting you said about the universe like kind of like shifting and and providing for you because when I was doing the the great purge of 2026, um, I met with a a friend about, you know, like a business plan, just kind of, you know, we talked about that a little bit, but yeah, um, and she said, You know what's happening to you right now? I said, No. I said, She's like, You're purging a lot. I said, Yeah. She goes, It's because you're ready to accept what's coming towards you. Exactly. Ooh. And now I got like want to get rid of everything. Like now I'm on a little different of a high, you know. I'm thinking, ooh, because I have, I have like there's certain things like I have, I'm like, I really don't need that. It really does, it's addicting, but it's good, but you need to know how to just really do let go. Yeah. So when you started really going into this, have you seen the change? First, starting with you, have you seen yourself get lighter? And like, what was it for you that you started seeing things were going in the right direction with decluttering?

SPEAKER_00 38:56

I mean, I had the same sort of experience of okay, what do I actually want more of in my life? What do I want to make space for? And so when I was making space for, you know, I I want to help people with this. I want to help people feel better at home. Yeah. This is sort of feels like my mission and this is what I need to do. And so yeah, I sort of did the same thing in my closet. I, you know, got rid of my my research clothes, my like corporate, you know, I'm not gonna be really wearing that. It's crazy. I always think like now I'm wearing, you know, this a t-shirt and a denim shirt and usually leggings, but you know, I put on jeans for you. Well, thank you for that.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

No, that no, it's like the leggings. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

But you got rid of all your corporate stuff. Yeah. You don't ever have to do that. I didn't have a ton of it, but like, I mean, because I wasn't on TV every day. So I didn't need to look that good. But yeah, there were things where I'm like, this is this is, you know, not probably something that really represents the next phase where, you know, yes. And same thing in like my office, like I had to sort of go through my little desk nook and you know, what are the books that I want to keep?

SPEAKER_04 40:06

Oh, the books. Don't even get me started. The books, the worst is like, okay, I still have some books where I'm like, the books, when people write in them, I need to keep them.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 40:17

Oh, yeah. All right. So child here, Melissa, because I don't so there's like, I got rid of a couple of books and I was able to rip off what they wrote, say thank you, and then I love that.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

I ripped off.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

I'm not gonna, I don't know of my friends who are listening, but listen, the books are with people who really need them. But I got the books and I ripped out what they said to me and I held on to it. I read it and I remembered and I said thank you, and I recycled because it needs to go back to the earth now. Because I'm still friends with these people. It's not like I ripped the thing out, and now all of a sudden, like it's a divorce of a friendship. No. Yeah, but you know, there are those sentimental books, which that's what gets me. And I was able to get rid of a couple of them, and I thought, you know what, you need to go to another place in another space, not mine.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

Yeah, I think that's a perfect way to do it. It is hard. But books are also a great thing to declutter because somebody else like they can be read by a million different people and impact them in a million different ways, and it's just sharing that message, right? Like you, and you can always get it, but you can always borrow a book from the library or you know, to read it again if you wanted to reread that certain book, but you don't have to keep every book that you've ever read or been gifted because books are a great thing to just spread. You give them to somebody, you donate them to the library, donate to the street, don't to the thrift store. Like people love shopping for books at the thrift store, it's a great spot for books.

SPEAKER_04 41:46

Well, the thrift store should be called Reagan Medgie Central at this point because I've got everything that I own. What do you do about shopping? Because Melissa did something wild.

unknown 41:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

A while a little recently. What was that?

SPEAKER_00 42:02

So I did a no-buy year. Uh-huh. And it turned into it turned into a no-buy, I think I'm on like 16 months. I did like about two weeks ago is when I bought a streak. I broke the streak and I bought a couple of replacement pairs of black leggings because those are a little harder to find secondhand. Oh, yeah, yeah. But yeah, so I have that was, but it was great. It was a very eye-opening challenge and like experience for me of just sort of sitting with, okay, yes, I'm a minimalist. I don't shop all that much, but I still found myself wasting a lot of my time just by scrolling on Instagram and seeing something that somebody linked or recommended or the targeted advertisements, the sale emails, like all that stuff. I was just finding myself looking at and being like, oh, well, do I need this? Like, will this make my life better? Is this sale gonna end? Is this gonna be the best price? Should I just and just you know, doing the mental gymnastics of thinking about it and back and forth. And then I noticed that most of the time I, if I did buy something, I would end up returning it. And then that took forever because you gotta repackage it, you gotta maybe print a label, maybe you don't, you gotta go to the UPS store.

SPEAKER_04 43:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

So I just decided, you know what? I just wanna not do that anymore. I want to get my time back. I think we all have collectively plenty of things. I think there's enough stuff. I'm a professional organizer, so I've seen a lot of people's houses. I think there's just enough stuff where if we actually start using the secondhand market, it will really help the environment.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

Oh, we talked about the lamb cells too.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

Oh there's just plenty of stuff already made that's perfectly good and perfectly useful that, you know, for needs, that's what I did. I would buy secondhand things and like yes, I had okay some needs, but not excessive and I would find them secondhand and

SPEAKER_04 44:01

And the secondhand stuff worked fine. It worked totally. Because it's just like somebody like you giving up their, I don't know, pasta maker or something. Like, I'm not using this. I gotta just like donate it.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:12

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

So it was good. And it just taught me a lot about shopping and how to sort of frame that. And it's helped me work with more of my clients to talk through that. Because when we're decluttering, yes, it's great to declutter, but if you don't also think about your relationship with shopping, think about your habits about shopping, you're gonna just do it again in six months. And that's right.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

Like the space isn't meant for you to buy more stuff. The space is meant for you to operate on a better, higher level of yourself. Yeah. Yeah. So did you this is what I would do. I'm that I'm like getting it itchy to do this. Would you? And you're no buy year and a half of what you did. Do you ever just like want to go to the mall and just pretend shop? Not actually go in and buy something and then like three seconds later return it. I'm saying, like, go in and go to like the department stores and try things on.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Never.

SPEAKER_04 45:06

No. No. I didn't spend a whole day just like trying things on. It's like a big closet. Yeah. Knowing that you can't walk away with any of it. You never know that never.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

No. Maybe I was not.

SPEAKER_04 45:18

I'm on an island on this one.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

That did not sound really that does not sound like fun to me. No, it doesn't. Although I will say, like it does for me.

SPEAKER_04 45:27

I don't know why.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Back in 2014, before I became a minimalist and kind of identified with that, shopping was literally my only hobby. So I guess 2014 meme would have probably done that.

SPEAKER_04 45:38

Oh, so I got a way to go. But I got I got a way to go. I got I haven't bought really anything since.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

No, I don't think you have a way to go. You have you have hobbies. What are things you like to do?

SPEAKER_04 45:47

Talking to people, apparently, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Talking to people, uh running. I do like to run. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:55

My head's clear, you know, now that I have like less stuff to go run or journal. I do the journaling.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 46:02

Yeah, I cooking. Yeah. There are a lot of things that it does make space for. Yeah. And like I feel clear now that I'm trying to figure out my business plan. Right. And like, where's this podcast going? Because this podcast is connected to an LLC, right? So eventually, like it would, it's like a company. Yeah. So it's like, you know, I remember like before the purge, pre-purge and post-purge. Pre-purge, waking up and like just there was like dust in places. And I was like, I have to get that. And I had a weekend that I had designated for the great purge. And up until that weekend, I just remember feeling like lagging, dragging, kind of like in in mud, like slogging through it, trying to figure it out. And then once I got through everything and I dropped everything off. Now the thing is, my girlfriend was coming to visit, my friend Katrina, who's been my best friend since like kindergarten. So she came to visit me. She's a mom of three, so she needed to get the hell out of the house, if you know what I'm saying. She needed a break. So she came to visit me, and I said, you know what? I got to get it all out. I I that's my deadline. Yeah. I had a deadline to work with. I was scrubbing, like, what is it? Is it? I don't think it's called crown molding, but it's on the baseboard. Okay. I live in an apartment. What the hell do I know? I'm scrubbing it like it's my job, and everything is so sparkly and clean. And I come home to my apartment, I'm like, oh my God, I feel like I can breathe. Yeah. I can think more.

SPEAKER_02 47:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:24

Katrina loved it. I mean, she like I like she's really going to be looking at the baseboards. You know what I'm saying? She's the mom of three. She's not looking at the baseboards. She's like less. She can care less. Yeah. But man, I was like, oh, and I got all this stuff. It was in my car and I dropped it off at the thrift store. Yes. I had to keep it moving and getting out because the longer it stays in a pile or a space, the more I'm going to start second guessing. Because I have done that before. I have gone in. I'm like, I really actually need this. This doesn't need to go. Then you feel, and it's funny, you feel the stagnant energy coming back. And you put it back on the shelf, and you're staring at it and you're like, Am I really I'm going to need it one day? Like I had these college books. Yeah. Okay, mind you. There still is a college book. I don't think I'm going to part with, but there was one that I was like, what am I doing? It's called like on on writing well. It's like a mind you, your brother's probably in the other room, being like, she got rid of that writing well. That's some journalism book.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

And I thought, what am I getting? I'm not using this. Yeah. I am not using this. Yeah. You know how to write well. You've been writing well. And I speak well sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 48:28

Many, many years. Yes. You don't need the book anymore.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

No. Thank you, book, for teaching me that when I was 18. And now I also have the intranet. And I have Chat GPT. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:38

Who helps me often. Yeah. Chat and I go, We're gonna have a hot and heavy relationship. We have for about a year now.

SPEAKER_00 48:43

But yeah, no, it was it was it all of that. It really does. I think decluttering makes it so much easier to start any kind of habit. Like if you want to start a new positive habit or if you want to break yourself of an old habit that's maybe not serving you, like changing your environment, changing your space is the way to do it. And like you said, the clutter is stagnant energy and it kind of keeps you feeling stuck. It makes it harder to get momentum to like actually get up off the couch and go to the gym or go for a walk or anything like that. It's crazy. I have a lot of clients who say, like, oh my gosh, we just did, you know, a couple sessions over the weekend, and every single day this week I've been to the gym. Or I started walking three nights this week and I haven't, you know, been walking out.

SPEAKER_04 49:28

After they have a session with you?

SPEAKER_00 49:29

Yeah. That it like hat tip. Yeah, you just getting it out, clearing it away, makes it easier for you to get positive momentum for the things that you actually want to do.

SPEAKER_04 49:40

So now you also have a new thing in place. Do you want to talk about that? This new pla business plan of yours. Yes. Because as we were talking about business plans and how does one make a business plan? Because if one is deciding that they want to leave their career, like I did, and morph it into a new career path, you know, there's a lot of things in the air, and you're trying to figure out the organization of it. So to organize your life and purge is a good just a hint hint. If you're all out there thinking, I want to, I don't know, do a little something different with my jobs. This is a good starting off point.

SPEAKER_02 50:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 50:16

Maybe clear your space first to get your ideas exactly straightened out. Yeah. Then now we're into the business planning phase. So Melissa and I were talking and you know, trying to figure out like, okay, you have a a plan of what you have known to do for so long. And now we're trying to figure out how do you make what you know to do when other people have seen what you're doing and they like what you're doing. How do you make it into something greater?

SPEAKER_00 50:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:39

Right?

SPEAKER_00 50:39

Yeah. So one of the things that I kept noticing with clients is that my clients who had the most success were the ones who really sort of talked with me a lot. And we kind of talked a lot about mindset. We talked a lot about shopping habits as well. And so that's why I decided I started a community where I'm teaching people how to declutter, but I'm also teaching them how to change their relationship with shopping and to sort of become intentional shoppers, where they're buying stuff that supports their life. They're not buying stuff mindlessly or out of habit or to fill space out of space or to fill space or because they're bored. We're kind of doing both of those things. And also it includes a money school too, where you know, we're putting our money towards the stuff that we really value and not towards stuff that really doesn't matter in the long run. So it's all intention and values-based, and and it's a place for people to have virtual organizing with me at a low accessible price point because that's another like I said before, I think it's everybody's human right to live in a space that feels good for them and to be able to live a life that feels good to them. Oh, I love it. And so that's why I created this because I know that, you know, the hourly rate of having someone one-on-one with you sometimes is out of reach budget-wise. Right. And so this is a community space where I'm in the community. We're live on calls for four hours a week. And people are showing me their spaces, they're asking me their questions, we're talking through decluttering decisions, we're talking through organizing decisions, we're talking through shopping impulses, like we're all in it together. And it's all like-minded people who are supportive of each other and just like having that group camaraderie is also really an awesome aspect of it that I did not necessarily expect going into it. I wanted to make it accessible, but yeah, having other people sharing their wins is really motivating for others who are on the same journey and just sort of have that same goal of wanting to live a life that actually feels good. Because I think a lot of us live a little bit on autopilot of, oh, you know, it seems like we should do this, or we've got to keep up with the Joneses, or if the influencers look like this and they're wearing this. Yeah, yep, yep. And you don't have to. And so it's it's just sort of uh an alternate sort of space that we can talk through all of that and set your space up.

SPEAKER_04 53:10

It's like talk purge therapy. I probably maybe should have leaned on you a little bit more. Well, I mean, I guess you can help me purge again because you might look at myself and go, Whoa, I don't know what you purge, like Pilot says. But no, all of these things that you're doing are things that you've actually done for years and realized it works. Yes. And that's what you're passing on. It's not like Melissa just woke up one day and goes, you know, I just want to be an organizer. No, this is like stuff like you've been jotting down, knowing, like seeing, like, oh, this is a pattern that works, and then seeing like your clients would have been like coming to you constantly, yeah, falling on your lap, and you're like, all right, well, maybe this might be the right way to do it. Yeah. So anybody anywhere can call you and just be like, hey, yeah, FaceTime live calls and stuff like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

So it's uh it's basically like a Zoom live call where you know you're on the website, you just hit the button, it's on the calendar, it's two hour time blocks twice a week. We have them scheduled a month in advance, and you know, it's it's you can't.

SPEAKER_04 54:11

And you talk them through.

SPEAKER_00 54:12

Talk them through. Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_04 54:14

You're needed. I could have totally used you.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

I'm not cute. Yeah, and it's just a it's a membership, so you know, once a month, you know, membership or annual. But so people can just be in there and they don't have to worry about paying by the hour or anything like that. Um, it's very affordable and I hope I hope it is helpful. I am really excited about it.

SPEAKER_04 54:35

Well, yeah, I mean, if anybody, I mean, there really is some magic in the fact of like, hey, I cleaning up my space is like cleaning out your mind. Like I always say for like I like to run. Yes. I did the New York City marathon in four hours, 19 minutes, and 35 seconds. That's right. I I wore my, I had a I interviewed somebody recently and I had my medal on me because not often can you wear your marathon medal. We were talking about running. Oh, yeah. Running helps me declutter my mind. If there's one thing, like if I'm going through something, if I'm running a lot, that means I'm going through something a lot and I need to like figure it out. There's a lot in there.

SPEAKER_01 55:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:14

And I'm finding that when I would do my mental declutter runs, yeah, it was very the the high I felt. This is gonna sound, I could say it sounds woo-woo, but if you're listening or watching, you know what this game is all about. The same high I get when I do the mental declutter run is the exact same high I have consistently right now walking into my bedroom because it's so much cleaner. That's so great, airy, yeah, open, organized, not cluttered. I don't have bad energy attached. Well, there's I do have a pair of shoes. Now I don't know how. Okay, here's here's one. Okay. Here's one. Yeah. Now I don't have a lot of money, but at this time of my life I save to do this. I have a pair of Christian Lou Boutin shoes. They are the worst, the most uncomfortable shoe I have ever had in my entire life. Yes, those shoes with the red bottoms, your girlfriend got them. How much did I pay? $845. Because at that time I was working at Fox Five New York and I said, Oh, I finally made it. I wanted to get myself a nice pair of shoes. Fine. It was a celebration for me. I'm glad I have them. I still am glad I have them. Yeah. I'm not glad when I wear them. Those are shoes to be seen at, seen in, sitting at a bar or whatever. God forbid you have to walk 10 feet down the street.

SPEAKER_03 56:50

I am not kidding you. These things are the worst shoe.

SPEAKER_04 56:54

Now, the designer, they are, I don't know if it's a he or she, I don't know. This is how much I don't know about designer things. But they're great. They're doing what they're doing, but those shoes are horrible. Now, maybe it's the ones that I got. I don't know. But they're terrible. Have I said they're terrible? They are. They feel like plastic. You know what they have? It's like a Barbie shoe. You know, Barbie? Yes. Well, she's plastic. Yeah. Put her little foot in the shop. And her foot is shaped like this. Oh my yes. It's not like that. And then your foot is shaped like that for however long you wear these damn shoes. Anyway, so I have them. I don't want to get rid of them. Okay. Oh God, here we go. I really don't because they mean something to me. Because it was like a they are nice, they're a nice shoe.

unknown 57:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 57:34

But they hurt like hell. Right. What do you? I know you've had a conversation with people. Okay. So we're yet magic, Melissa.

SPEAKER_00 57:42

What do you want to do about this? I don't know. Here's two things. For first, you I mean, you went on and on about how they're awful. Oh, they're awful.

SPEAKER_04 57:53

They don't feel good at all.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

They're the worst. And so to me, that was like, oh man, her first instinct is a little bit like get rid of them. But then you're talking yourself back into it of oh, but they're mean something. They represented this, you know, celebration for me. Yes. So uh most of the time, general decluttering tip, most of the time your first instinct is correct, and just don't second guess that. First thing you think of when you're, you know, going through stuff is usually right. But I'm gonna just offer you some tips, some ways to think about this.

SPEAKER_04 58:29

Go on.

SPEAKER_00 58:30

You don't have to keep them just because they were, you know, your first celebratory purchase after getting your Fox Five New York job. You don't have to keep them for that reason. You can get rid of them, and you still had the job. You still were, you know, that TV person who made it in the news. Yes. You know, that's that's not tied to the shoe. You still have that experience, that memory, that celebration. You can take a picture of them and keep that. Or you can say, you know what? No, I really need these physical shoes and I want to keep them in my sentimental, your memory trunk. Your trunk. It might be room for the shoe.

SPEAKER_04 59:19

Now I'm gonna have to now that means I'm gonna have to make room for the shoe in the memory box.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

Which I mean, so yeah, you can keep them. You want to keep them. I think that's okay. They don't have bad memories tied to them, they're just uncomfortable, and you're not gonna wear them. So make sure they're not they're like very high up in your closet, not the shoe where you know they're not taking up prime real estate in your closet. I don't want them like right front and center. Okay. You know what I mean? Yes. Because you want to be able to see the stuff that you actually like putting on your closet. Yeah, yeah. More than 10 foot. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_04 59:54

I know exactly where those shoes are. Or now that you're making me think about this. What if I try to sell them, the money I receive from them, I can buy a shoe that represents my current chapter.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:11

I love it. Or a small piece of jewelry or something like that. Yeah, yeah. Unscripted turbulence, like a little gold necklace or something.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:18

I can't probably five dollars because I've scratched them up and people are gonna be like, I'm not gonna want these, but whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:24

But yes, you can absolutely that would be great. It's like transmuting that energy, that celebratory energy of you know Oh, I like it. You list them, you sell them, you sell them to somebody for a great price, somebody's gonna be pumped about you know, scoring a pair of Lou Batons.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:39

Until they try to walk, until they try to walk and they go, whoa. And then they're gonna be like, shit, this was yeah, yeah, yeah. I hope, I hope I've yeah, then you buy something that more better represents your current current era, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:53

Yeah, it's uh yeah. Not to be confused with Taylor Swift's heiress tours. No, no, no, but the current era. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:01

Because we all have Airis, Taylor and all of us. Oh she won.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:05

I mean, I have a hard time with Taylor. Just I'm sure if I met her, now if there's any Swifty listening to me, I'm gonna have like people outside my apartment calling for my like me to be canceled. But listen, if I if I met her, I'm sure I would love her. I'm sure we would be friends. I don't care for her. I don't care for Taylor Swift. Why? Because I had an executive producer at a news station at one point in my career.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:32

Super fan.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:33

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:35

He was a man in his late 40s, super fan. There you go. I just and I just he ruined it for me. He ruined her for me. Little by little, I'm starting to find the music better. The further I get away from the situation. Yeah. But don't force it. Oh, it was like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

So I just very understandable.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:56

Mm-hmm. It's the connection. I'm not there yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:59

Don't need to don't need to be there.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:01

Who knew? We were gonna talk about Christian Louis Vuitton shoes and Taylor Swift in the same sentence. I didn't. All right. Uh, any lasting thoughts about decluttering? Because we're coming up to an hour and we have to wrap this puppy up. But is there anything, any last push of maybe something you learned or an advice if somebody wants to get into decluttering their spaces or an about face with their career because there was you know, you're obviously thriving in what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:30

Yeah. So I think I would just say again that your space really does have an effect on you consciously and unconsciously. And so if you want to change in your life, start making a change in your space. Doesn't have to be drastic. And starting small is absolutely a-okay. Like it doesn't have to be a whole weekend thing. Start small, do one drawer, do one foot section of the closet, and you know, just start there. Get the stuff actually out, easiest methable method possible for most people. Um, and see how you feel. Well, I feel I I'm excited because I I love that your listeners are, I feel like they're very, you know, we're all into yeah, into transition, into leveling up. Oh, and elevating. Just sort of having that upward spiral, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:20

Oh, absolutely. No downward spiral. If you're on the down, I'm here to lift you back up. Yeah, so because yeah, decluttering your space is totally, it's about letting go of what no longer serves you to make space for stuff that is going to just elevate you.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:37

Yeah, because I I think everybody's home should support their life and not the other way around. Like you're you should not be working in service to your home. Your home should be working in service to you and really like lifting you up, lifting your family up. Um, you know, also partners are not always on the same page of like what's the great level of stuff, but just having open conversations really helps that go a long way. Of here's how this makes me feel, here's how this makes me feel. How can we meet in the middle and kind of communicate on about that?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:09

Right, or your partner can call you a hoarder, and then his quarters looks like a hotel room because he's constantly flying, and then you understand why it looks like a hotel room. Very sterile. Anyway, that's fine. All right, well, thank you so much for stopping by and just like sharing in this space and magic and just I feel lighter just talking about the decluttering. I really do.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:29

I'm glad. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to hear about how the decluttering has impacted you and just like how good you're feeling from it. That's amazing. It really is so excited for you in this new chapter. You're amazing. So gonna be great. I know it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:45

We'll wave to the camera goodbye, and that's it for all this. All right, thank you, friends. Bye.