Does going from chaos to clarity sound like a pipedream when your desk is drowning in papers and your mind is overflowing with endless to-dos? You’re not alone. That “I’ll deal with it later” pile is doing more than just collecting dust—it’s secretly sabotaging your business growth and inner peace. In this eye-opening episode, I sit down with decluttering expert Lisa Geraci Rigoni to uncover why we cling to clutter and how to break free from the habits that keep our minds and spaces in disarray.
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Show Notes | Transcript“Most of us don’t want to declutter. It’s time-consuming. It’s sometimes stressful, and it doesn’t make a difference in people’s lives until it does.” – Lisa Geraci Rigoni
As Chief Declutter Officer of The Organizing Mentors, Lisa has gained a wealth of experience from 15+ years of helping clients reclaim their space, both mentally and physically. In this interview, we explore the emotional roots of clutter, the fear that keeps us holding onto things, and the transformative power of letting go.
Discover how to:
- Apply the LITL system to declutter your space and mind
- Overcome the “Someday Syndrome” that keeps you holding onto unnecessary items
- Navigate the emotional challenges of sorting through sentimental objects
Key insights include:
- Why fear often prevents us from tackling our clutter
- The importance of taking small, manageable steps in the decluttering process
- How to balance practicality and sentimentality when deciding what to keep
Lisa also addresses the challenges of decluttering family heirlooms and children’s artwork, offering practical solutions for each. Plus, she shares her perspective on the deeper meaning behind our attachment to possessions and how letting go can lead to personal transformation.
Whether you’re a busy entrepreneur drowning in paperwork or a parent struggling with an overflow of children’s mementos, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on creating space in your life—both physically and mentally. Tune in to start your journey towards a clutter-free, more intentional way of living and working!
Resources:
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Connect with Lisa Geraci Rigoni:
Website: TheOrganizingMentors.com
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TRANSCRIPT
Namaste. Is your desk drowning in papers while your mind overflows with endless to dos? You’re not alone that I’ll deal with it later pile is doing more than just collecting dust. It’s actually secretly sabotaging your business growth and inner peace. And so today’s guest reveals why. Why actually we cling to clutter and how we can break free from the habits that keep our minds and spaces in disarray. But first, I do want to welcome you to Live Love Engage, especially if you are new to the podcast. I am Grace the Light messenger and I work with spiritually minded entrepreneurs ready to break free from self doubt and step into their highest potential. And using my proven love method, I help them build unshakable confidence, attract premium clients and create a soul aligned business that thrives. So as I said, I’m going to be bringing up here in just a moment the amazing Elisa Geraci Rigoni. She is a best selling author, owner and chief declutter officer of the organizing mentors and she’s been helping her clients reclaim their space mentally and physically for over 15 years. And I know she’s going to have a lot of good wisdom for us today. So welcome Lisa to Live Love Engage.
Thank you, Gloria. Thank you so much. And I love your introduction. That’s, it’s, it’s so important to take time for yourself and really acknowledge what, you know, what we’re here for.
Yeah, you know, absolutely.
No, I love it. Thank you. Thank you so much for honoring me to invite me to your podcast.
I’m really glad to have you because, you know, cluttering, decluttering, I should say, is something that I have gotten better at the declutter part as opposed to the cluttering. I was really good at doing that and my desk is in a semi state right now. I still could do a couple things to tidy up, but I know that this is something that a lot of people have, you know, have some challenges with. So I thought maybe we’d start right there. You know, why is it that so many people find it challenging to get rid of clutter whether it is physical or mental or even I should add digital as well.
Yeah, good point. Very good, very good. Well, as I said before we talked, I or before we went on looking at my background. Right. It looks cluttered. We just moved. So I unpacked everything in my office, but. And everything doesn’t have a place yet on there. But that’s my new bookcase that I didn’t have in my old house. So I’m like, I’m trying to play with where I want things, but everything is useful. That’s my. I’m on the other side. That’s my drawer of all my materials, my paper and pens and notebooks and stuff. And so it might look cluttered. And this is one thing that we don’t judge. When we walk into someone’s house, they’ve called us for a reason. People come to you for a reason. Right? Okay, How. How can we help you? How can we mentor you? And I think I grew up, I always say, I come to this business honestly. I’m 58. My parents would be 90ish right now. And they. I call them collectors, or I call us, most of my clients, lifers, not hoarders. Right. Hoarders usually don’t reach out for help unless they’re referred to us by a therapist or a family, you know, family friend. And they have to be ready to let go. But also with them, we. If anybody with that, struggles with that, we start simply not okay, we got to clear this whole house out. It’s a mess. You. No, no, you can’t do that. Right. You just. I mean, people do. We don’t. But you walk into a house and you say, okay, you’re struggling. How can we help? Most of it is. And like I wrote in my book 17 Spatulas and the man who Fried an Egg, most of us, I don’t want to declutter like, this has been here probably a week. No, I don’t want to come home and do my own house. You know, it’s time consuming sometimes. It’s stressful, and it doesn’t make a difference in people’s lives until it does. If that makes sense. Until you take a moment and look or you’re moving, you take a moment, you say, like you said, well, my desk has some things, but it’s still. I can still function mentally, right. If it gets to be to the point where, for me, myself, and most of my clients is. I can’t even find my pants in my closet. And yet you have 75 pairs of pants. You know, I can’t find something like, it’s just. It’s too much. And most people kind of. I don’t want to say, want to time out or, you know, just say, oh, forget it. It’s too much. It’s. How do you eat an elephant? I say this all the time, one bite at a time. You walk in your closet, you look at your house, and you say, it’s too much. You know, because you’re looking at the whole elephant. What I teach, and it’s in my book, the LITL System. The name of my company used to be Leave it to Lisa. And like I said, I have add, so I love acronyms. And Leave it to Lisa is L I, T, L, the LITL system. L, I, T, L, the “little” System. So the first L is let it go. What are the things in your life you know, you don’t want? So when you walk in that closet or you look at your desk over the weekend, Gloria, maybe you’re sitting there and you’re like, okay, Lisa had some good things to say. Let’s let. What can I get rid of? Or what doesn’t belong on my desk at this time? You remove it, you throw it away, you move it to where it’s. You want it to be. And you’ve released a little of that energy and you’ve given yourself a little confidence to say, hey, I can do this. It doesn’t have to be the whole elephant. You know, we don’t have to do the whole garage in one weekend or in one day. And I think that’s what stops people. Most of my clients, they’ve tried to themselves or they. It’s like starting a diet, starting quitting smoking. You know, sometimes you need some guidance. You need a plan. You know, I’ve. I’m still holding on to the COVID 19 from how many years ago that I’ve gained weight. And it’s like, okay, yeah, I know what I need to do to stop to lose the weight, to remove the clutter. But you have to make a commitment to yourself. And until again, until it gets so bad, most people won’t.
Yeah. And so. And I’m not sure. I got. I got slightly sidetracked because my cat decided to jump up on my desk. So luckily there is still space. I have a nice long table. And so he decided he wanted to take a nap here instead of on the chair where he is supposed to be. But. But I wanted to just kind of get back a little because. And I definitely want to go some more into that. That little system, because I was definitely. Little system. Sorry the T comes before the L. But I just want to get back a little bit more on why.
What happens. Do you think that people maybe let it get to that point where they really, really do need to have somebody? They can’t just handle it themselves anymore? Is it just. It just sort of just accumulates. You get busy with other stuff and you don’t notice it sometimes. What do you think?
Yeah, I think it depends on. That’s a really good question. Actually. It. It depends on so many factors. Let’s just start there. Depends on the age. Now, I’ve worked with clients who have lived in their houses 50 years, 60 years, and it was their parents house. People don’t get rid of anything. Why would you get rid of it? You might use it someday. I call it the Someday syndrome. I know there is an actual Someday syndrome, but I’ve renamed it for organizing. Someday I’ll get rid of it. Someday I’ll use it. Someday I’ll give it away. Someday I’ll fit into it. Someday I’ll sell it.
I can relate to this.
Yeah, yeah. Most people can. I mean, it’s in my book because this is what I’ve experienced in the 16 years of doing this and also, you know, 58 years of my life. Me, myself, like, oh, some. I’ll get to that. You know, it’s not a big deal. So if you keep doing that, which is most of us, it just accumulates. You push things back. You push things to the side. When we sold my parents house, finally they were pregnant with me when they built the house. My parents both passed away. My brother lived in the house to take care of my mom and then stayed there a couple more years just to stay there. And we were fixing up the house the week before. Not even like four days before we were going to be out of the house. My brother was like, I’m just going to go up in the attic. Check one more time. Take. It wasn’t a, you know, walk in attic. It was, you know, you just kind of peek your head in, flashlight all the way in the back corner. All my Barbies.
Oh, no. Oh, my God.
For years I was like, where are my Barbies? My mom threw away my Barbies. You know, all the way in the back, we were still finding stuff. Because you push stuff. And then the stuff that was first, you just push it, push and push it. So there’s not a reason, like I said, until there’s a reason. And people are not every person, but a lot of my clients, a lot of people in, you know, where I live in my area, were obsessed with purchasing and buying and feeling that high and that equal to almost better than, like, I know I get a high when I buy something I need or, you know, when I don’t need and I find a deal. I try. I’m trying. You know, I’m working on that. Like I said, I come to this business honestly now that I Know what’s in my closet. I know we’re in a new house. I’ve gone through everything. I don’t need to buy new rugs. I know where all my rugs are. I don’t need to buy it because it’s on sale, and I think it would look pretty in my house. There’s a. Keeping up with the Joneses. There’s an insecurity, and I think in our country that if you don’t have the newest, you’re. You’re not keeping up. You’re not. People are obsessed with buying and purchasing and filling up. And that is a big. That’s a big reason why people don’t notice we have bigger homes. And even if we don’t have bigger homes, we’re filling up the little homes that we have and boxes of stuff in bubble wrap on shelves, in closets, in attics, in basements, in garages. So I don’t have an answer to that. But that is what I’ve. I feel is the big. I don’t know if precursor is the word, but, yeah, reason why we have just so much stuff. And during COVID people decluttered. And I was doing seminar and seminar and teaching and teaching, and it was great because people were organizing, but then they, you know, they weren’t taking things to donation. The landfills were getting filled. There are people in this world, in this nation, in my neighborhoods, that don’t have a pair of shoes and we’re throwing them in the garbage. You know, there’s. There’s a big need for what you have in your house, and you don’t need or want anymore. Give it away. Donate it. Find a church. Find Habitat for Humanity or, you know, a local something in your neighborhood, because people need it. And I think that stops people, too. Where am I going to take it? Even though, you know. And it’s easier to throw in the garbage. Oh, breaks my heart. But, yeah, I could go on and on about that forever because it’s very important to me.
Oh, I. Absolutely. And I. I moved from a house into an apartment, and I’m actually. Well, we. My husband and I separated, so I’m still. Still go back periodically to the house and see, like, o. What is it, you know, that I really need or what have I left behind that maybe I don’t really need anymore? And at one point, I had. I played the organ, and so I had, like, all of this music, and so I brought all that music here to the apartment and like, okay, I need to go through this. And I realized Some of it were. They were books that my older sister used, who’s 10 years older than me. I mean, some of these are really old. I mean, they’re from like. They were from like the 50s. And I’m like, okay, am I really going to use these? And so I wound up. But whatever was in halfway decent shape I did donate because I thought maybe somebody else, you know, might be out there who might find some value in this. There’s a few things I still kept that I still want to do some research on that. Maybe they’re worth money. I’m not sure. Right, sure, you know, but you don’t know. And. But the bulk of it I did get rid of, and I had like, choir music that was like, you know, Xerox copies of things. I’ve got three copies of Angels we have Heard on High. I don’t need one, you know, and things like that. So it’s so good.
And it’s time consuming too, right?
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I did do it a little bit at a time. Like you said, it really makes all the difference.
And sometimes it’s so. It’s emotional, and that’s what people don’t. I have a couple chapters, I think, on loss and grief and someone passes away or even a divorce. You know, it’s a death of a future, of a what if of, you know, this is what. We were going to spend the rest of our lives together and now we’re not. And, you know, a friend of mine, 48 years old, just. Just passed away from brain aneurysm and, you know, just. You never know. Right. And so people don’t want to. We don’t want to feel sad. We don’t want to relive those feelings of sadness or grief or heartache or trauma or whatever the situation is, packed in that box. I work with a lot of therapists, and I researched a lot of therapists for my book. The one that I refer to my partners and other people that I just respect and said, you know, am I on the right track for this? You know, and they all said, yes. It’s. It’s. You’re. We don’t want to relive it. But what you don’t realize, most people, they feel like they’re going to go right back to that sadness and that grief and that heartache and who. Who wants to be sad? Who wants to feel that? But what we don’t realize is, yes, we are going to feel emotional unpacking that box, literally and figuratively, right in our head. The memories and all that. So get your favorite drink of choice, you know, a beer, glass of wine, cup of tea, shot of whiskey, whatever. Open up that box, go through it. You are a different person. You healed, you’ve grieved, hopefully, and go through it. Because the fear we have of how we’re going to feel going through that box is more intense than what we’re going to feel going through that box, you know, and point.
Yeah, it is.
And I think, you know, now that I’m thinking about it, I think a lot of us don’t go through stuff because of that fear, whatever it is, fear of, oh, my gosh, I spent all this money and I never use this or I just bought another one of these and I already had three of them. You know, you get angry with yourself. You get, oh, and my wife made me buy that. And now we already have it. And, you know, I did this to my husband a couple years ago. We never. We always went to his parents house. His mom just passed away, but we always went there at Thanksgiving in Chicago. We’re now in Virginia to make ravioli on Thanksgiving for Christmas, Christmas Eve dinner. So we had this pizza, I mean, pasta maker. And I said to Gene, you know, this was my mom’s or his grandmother’s or somebody’s. We never use this. Should we keep this? And he’s like, no, no, we’ll always, we’ll always go to mom. So Covid, we were here, and I was like, let’s make pasta. You know, my brother and my brother, his son and his husband were there. And it was just us, you know, at the house. And we were looking all over for that darn pasta maker. And we got rid of it. My husband was so mad at me, and I was like, well, we weren’t using it, you know, and he’s like, well, now we’re gonna have to buy a new one. So I went on Facebook, Marketplace bought one. It fell apart, like in two minutes. We made like, no pasta. Then I found another one. And then the next year, a client was moving and I said, oh, that’s a pasta maker. My husband. Oh, please take it. So now, great, Gloria, we have three pasta makers. One of them’s broken because I just have to keep it because just to prove to my husband that I got it. We have three pasta makers. Are we have. We made pasta since 2020? No, but now we have three of them. So it’s that whole. Oh, sorry. It’s that whole. You get angry, you buy something, it’s, you know, it’s Just all of those things, you know. So now my. I’m gonna give my brother one for Christmas because there he goes when we.
Bought the other ones.
That sounds good, but everybody has it, you know, Everybody.
Absolutely. All right, well, we’re going to take a quick break. I’m going to be right back. And I want to get. I want to dive in some more in the rest of your system and find out, because we covered L, but we haven’t done itl yet. So we’re going to be right back. So, yes, I just wanted to take just a quick moment and talk to you about how are you starting your day? Do you feed your mind and soul with something inspirational? If not, I would love to invite you to subscribe to my daily messages of love and light. So each morning you’ll receive a short quote to start your day. And they’re just, you know, these lovely little nuggets. I mean, my. One of my subscribers, Mary Jane, said that, you know, it’s a perfect line to wake up to. And Marie says that, you know, she finds herself looking forward to reading each one in the morning because they’re short and sweet and at times thought provoking. So if you would like to do that, you can subscribe at Bitly Forward slash Lovelight notes and each word is capitalized and I will have that in the show notes, so don’t worry. And of course, if you’re watching this, you can actually see the little scroll go by. And if you find that you aren’t getting any value out of them, you can always unsubscribe. So no worries there. All right, well, let’s get back. And I want to bring Lisa back on because, yes, we need to go through the rest of your system here and explain to us what it. What it all is and what it all means and how you help folks.
Sure, sure. Yeah. The little system came about like I said, from Leave it to Lisa and I, when I started hiring people and training people and people wanted me to teach what I do and how I do it because we are a little different in our. In our thought process. I. I love Marie Kondo. All about the joy. But it’s not all about joy. It’s about what works and what keeps and what makes you happy. You know, you might keep that one mug that was your grandfather’s and it makes you sad every time you see it. Excuse me. I’ve had a cough all week. I found like sound like a 12 year old boy. But it might make you. It might not bring you joy, necessarily but you want to think about him. So you see it and you know it. It’s important for you. There’s things on here remind me of my dad. He’s passed away. Makes me sad. But I also say, well, my dad bought that for me. You know, there’s things that are meant to be kept and things that are not right, but it’s, it’s very personal. It’s very unique to you and each client. So the little system can be used to, for people on their own. And I, I, that’s my next book. I haven’t had time to do that. Like we were talking. Having a book is another full time job. I do want to get the little system out because it’s more of a step by step and taking you through the process. I joke that in every house that I’m in there’s an organizing book on the shelf. And I always ask, have you read it? Well, yeah, but it got to be too technical, too much. And I just, I couldn’t do it. So I wanted my book to be different. And it’s, it’s about organizing and the little system is in there, but it’s also about why we hold on to stuff and the questions to ask and the reasons why. And so when people are using the little system, we use it with all our clients. We start every project with let it go. Why did you call me? Well, I don’t know. I want everything in my kitchen. Okay, why did you call us if you think you’re going to take everything? I’ll tell you a really quick story. I went to a family, family, friend, sister, and then her mother. We worked with her mother and I think her, her mom, the mother’s sister came into her house. They cooked a lot. They have a lot of family, big family. I’m going to keep everything in the kitchen. I just want you to help me organize it. Well, I have a Sienna minivan. Still do. I’ve had three of them. Just love, love it. My whole, the whole back of my minivan was full with kitchen stuff that a, she had three or four of them or was obsolete or broken or, you know, oh, I have a better one. The whole minivan. And this was a woman who said, no, I’m keeping everything. We just have to organize it. So once you see what’s in there, that changes your perspective. The lady with the 17 spatulas in my book, she didn’t realize she had 17 because they were all over the place. And she kept the things that meant something to her that felt literally Felt good in her hand, served a purpose. So we keep things negatively and positively because they serve a purpose. And you don’t know why until you look in. And sometimes, again, there’s that fear again, I don’t want. I don’t want to find out why I’m keeping this or I don’t want this. It’s. It’s difficult. Right. So. So the L is really to give our clients and ourselves confidence. Okay. There might be one thing in this drawer I don’t want, but let’s do it. One drawer. Let it go in your closet. 17 pairs of pants. You know, I’m. I’m five different sizes the last four years. Right. So, yeah, I need a pair of this and a size here and a size here because I don’t know how I’m going to feel. But all those other ones in between, yeah, I can let them go. Those make me feel horrible when I’m in them because they’re the biggest size and I had to buy them because blah, blah, blah, get rid of those. If those make you feel uncomfortable or bad or whatever, get rid of them. Keep the other ones that maybe are the same size, but you feel really good in them. Right. So you go through your closet and instead of taking everything off the shelves or like, my. My thing, take things off the shelves that you don’t want that, you know, you don’t want the. Let it go. And then all of a sudden, even if your bookshelf had 20 books, you took three off. Those are the three I don’t want. And then maybe after you finish all the books or all the clothes, you go back. And this is where people get confused, and this is where people stop. The eye is intentional. And that is where we go, oh, my gosh, I don’t know if I’m going to need those pants again. Well, they did fit me, and I did like them. And they go great with this shirt. It’s more of a. You have to talk it through. And that’s really where organizers and we come in to be that, you know, advocate and that second set of ears and eyes and hands and, well, what do you think about it? And, you know, walking through it, and that’s where people stop. Because, like, you were at the house. Right, Right. But I don’t know. This means a lot. Like, this was something we had since we were married and young. And maybe he wants it. I don’t know. Should I give it to the friend? Like, it’s. Oh, and then you just go, forget it. I’m done. And that’s when people stop. So you have to get through the little. The l, the let it go before you go on to the intentional. If it. If you stop on something, like that dress you paid a lot of money for and you never wore it, I might wear it. I don’t know. Oh, gosh, I can’t do this. I’m gonna have a glass of wine. I’m gonna go put on Netflix. No, put that on the side. That’s an. I don’t know. Keep going. Let it go until all the let it go is done. And you might come through again with more let it goes. Right. But after a while, you say, oh, I still have 15 pairs of black panther. Yes. Okay, let me go through it again.
Well, let’s get. Yeah, Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah. So. So explain that might work in practice.
It is. Is difficult. This is the one where you open that fear, that box that, I don’t know, you sit down, you take time. Intentional is the take time step. And again, that’s where people have the most difficult. Once you’ve gotten through that. And that’s not the whole house. That’s maybe one space, right? One closet, one bookcase. T is transform. And I love this step because it’s almost the two. The last two are the outcome of doing the first two. And that takes commitment and time and setting yourself a date and time. Like, you did this live. We have to do this at this time. I’m going to declutter for the next hour. I’m going to let go of five things from this closet. Tea is transformed. You’ve transformed your space. You’ve transformed yourself. And most people are like, I didn’t know I could do this. I didn’t know I didn’t want two trash bags full of clothes that I’m going to donate to the shelter. And you’ve transformed the energy in the space transforms. And then L. The final L is love it and live it. So after all of that work, you’re confident, your space has changed. You feel better, you feel lighter, you love the space, hopefully. And you’re living in a lighter space. And you’re transport. You’ve transformed the whole area just making that commitment. I say you’re already in transformation because you’ve committed to making a change like anything in your life. Right. Any big change, you have to commit to it. So that’s the little system. So simple, not easy, Right. You still have to do it, and you still have to make those decisions.
Yeah, for sure. And is. I can relate to this so much the. And I’m. The intentional part is interesting to. To really think about that because I. I have. And again, I’ve got like, I have two file. Little little file cabinets of like, mini ones. I mean, basically like a cube. One of them is filled with all of like, papers and things. I mean, going back to like, I went through some of this and it’s like my first paychecks. Okay. We’re talking, you know, 40 years ago.
Keep one of them, you know, just saying, yeah.
And that’s it. And so that’s like I’m going through and saying, okay, well, some of it too. I’m scanning. It’s like, so let me keep a digital copy of it so I can get rid of the paper on some of this. And then I’ve got another one that’s all filled with the kids stuff. And I kind of looked at that once and then I was like, okay, I know I need to do the same thing. It’s like, really? So you know what? I’m gonna. I’m. Let me ask you about that because I’m sure, you know, a lot of parents out there and you probably come up with this, you know, all this wonderful artwork that our wonderful children do and they bring home every year.
Yep.
Every grade. How do you help folks again? Is it. I guess it’s the same type of thing. It’s like, figure out maybe one thing of that year, maybe. Or.
Yes. It’s a hard. Yeah. This is a difficult one. Right. Because we think we have to save everything. And I thought, I still live three bins of my daughters. I have one daughter. She’s 21. When we moved, we sat her and I sat downstairs because I still had high school stuff and my memory boxes. Right. That I went through. If I didn’t remember who gave it to me, remember the circumstance. Right. I had all those little notes and those little thingy finger things that you’d had to choose. And what. I don’t remember what those are.
Yes, yes, I remember. I know exactly.
Open it up.
So many of those.
Those. Yeah. And I thought, do I really need these? I don’t. Right. Recycle, recycle, recycle. For my daughter’s things. And this is what I, you know, coach my. My parents and even older parents. Right. Even us. My daughter’s 21. Have them. Well, younger or older, have them pick out of every year. Maybe a couple things. We did this during. COVID a lot because kids were at home and they were drawing and they were posting. Posting pictures all over the place. What I used to do with my daughters, I would mail their grandparents, her grandparents items and even ants and God, you know, godparents and things like that. So every month, every week, every, probably every two months, they would get a little drawing from Marina with her name on it or two, you know, if she could write, or a little heart or something. And they would put it up on their refrigerators and that kind of got things out and it made them happy. It was a little gift from, you know, from Marina every once in a while. And so how I. How I suggest is for me, and this is what I did with Marina, if there was a handprint or a date on it, because we get so many that aren’t dated. I don’t know if this was fresh kindergarten or junior year. You know, you just tell by the basis, by the basics, you know, writing skills or if they hit a plateau. A lot of people take pictures on their phone, so technically they still have it and they’ll always have it. A lot of people make digital books, you know, those. When you go on trips and stuff like that. And this is where I go back and forth, because now you have a book that after you pass or someone grows up or then you have this book. So what do you do with the book? You know, there’s no, there’s no answer to it. I know, but the kids things, instead of keeping everything, have them maybe put out five things and say, which one do you remember? Which one makes you happy or which one do you love? And keep that one for that year. It’s diff. It’s so difficult because you want to keep every memory. But if you go back 10 years and you think, I don’t even remember what year this was.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, and I love that. And this is for if. If, you know, anybody is a new parent out there or perhaps a grandparent, you can, you can also, you know, instruct your kids about this. I love the idea of as they’re going, as the kids are growing up, to share the love, to lighten the. Lighten the burden so that you don’t have quite as many things that you’re keeping because. Yeah, you know, especially when they’re young, it’s like almost. Probably every week, you know, they’re probably.
Yeah, exactly. Right. And they make people happy. My mom and my in laws loved getting those things. And Marina would, you know, when she started writing, she would write a little note or whatever. It just made them really happy, you know. And I started an estate sale company also. Called recycle the love. And that’s kind of the same. The same feeling. You know, Marina loved making it. I loved seeing it. I don’t need 17 of them. You know, let’s. Let’s donate and let’s give, you know, recycle her love, you know, and her artistic ability, which was, like, very nothing when she was teeny.
Oh, yeah, it’s. It is amazing. And. And also, even when I was going through things, it’s just also finding the things that my mom had saved from me, and, boy, that was like, you know, another trip down memory lane.
Yeah.
Just like, some of this stuff. So, again, it’s like, I’m still saving it, like I said, on digital form. And it’s like. And I’m sure my kids probably won’t care, and they will just delete the file, but for me, it was, like, it was lovely to revisit that memory.
It is. You know, and then save it. So in case I do ever want to, like, go. You know, I plan on living a long time, so maybe another 20 years from now. Yeah. You know, what the hell?
Yeah, it makes. I mean, it’s kind of like it’s his history. Right. And you look back at where you, like, your first paycheck.
Yeah.
You know, that’s like, oh, wow.
Gosh.
Yeah. I love that company. Oh, I hate. Oh, that one guy I worked with. Oh, forget it. And you kind. You know, you do that. So it is kind of fun until we can’t remember. I say keep them.
You know, I think that’s. I think that’s definitely the important point.
Right.
My goodness. So our time is flying here, and. But I think we have covered a lot. But I wanted to ask you one other thing, because this is a question that I’d love to ask my guests. So what are you curious about right now?
Oh, I’m curious about the state of the United States. I’m curious about where my daughter will. What she’ll do after she graduates in the spring. I’m curious. Let’s see. I’m curious how, like, my business will evolve and like we talked about earlier, if I, you know, will be able to sit back and. And do other things in my business. Because it’s always been me, me, me, me, me. And now I have nine employees, and we’re growing, and I have this other business. So I’m really curious about. About that. I know I always trust in the universe and God and, you know, whoever. Whatever is happening out there to. To keep us safe. But I’m also I know, I know the, the. I know the path is going to be okay for me. I’m just curious of what it’s going to be.
Yeah, well, I, I second that as well. About all of those things as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, it’s going to be. I do feel that next year is going to be an interesting year. It may be challenging, but I also think there’s going to be a lot of good come out of it.
Oh, yeah, there always is. Yeah, there always is. Even with, you know, the passing of my friend, learning so much more about her and, you know, all of that is, you know, and the impact she made, you know, and, and, you know, so there’s, there’s this horrible thing that happened to a young person and a beautiful soul. But it’s changed me too, because, I mean, I’m around, I work with a lot of seniors, so I’m around cognitive disorders and dementia and people passing and what’s important to them. It’s not the stuff. It’s holding someone’s hand, it’s a smell, it’s music, it’s reliving something or seeing something or seeing a picture. You know, it’s. And I say this a lot, but it has new meaning now for me these days is the stuff about your stuff is not about your stuff. So the stuff we make up about our stuff physically or what’s happening in the world or that, it’s not about that. It’s about the stuff. It’s about what we make of it. So I was with someone yesterday. Gosh, I’m surrounded by this. His good friend’s wife’s husband, I mean, wife’s father just died of a brain tumor. Husband was just diagnosed with a brain tumor. And I said, doug, well, you know, we’ve already done that this year. Like, it’s not going to happen. You’re fine. It’s, you know, we’re going to pray for you and. But we’ve done that in your family already. Like, he’s like, lisa, I don’t see you a lot, but you’re always so positive. And I said that, you know, I’m a rose colored glasses because if I take them off, I’m not gonna like what I see. And I’d rather do this. I’d rather think positively. And if some crappy thing happens, okay, what can I learn from it? It’s not all the time. Like, I sit in my dirty diapers often because you have to. It’s your, it’s your situation, you know, but then you think, okay, this is My situation. How can I. How can I make it better for me, you know, So I try. I work on that daily, to tell you the truth. Work on it daily.
Well, I appreciate that and oh, I’m so glad Joy popped in here to say I wonderful ladies, grateful to hop on here for a wee bit and beautiful wisdom that you had.
Thank you, Joy.
I appreciate that. Yes. And positivity is one thing we can control.
It’s very, very true. Thank you. Yep.
For sure. So folks are listening to this. I know that they’re going to want to get in touch with you, maybe get your book or, you know, help how them to be more organized. So where’s the best place for folks to do that?
TheOrganizingMentors.com and my book is available on there. It’s also available online on Amazon or through my website. Website. And I do online. I do virtual. Since COVID we do virtual organizing. Sometimes it’s difficult, but, you know, we can get through it. And if not, I can find someone in your area, certified move senior and specialty move manager through nasm. So. And also organizers. So not everyone is the same. If you’re reaching out, you know, call them in, interview, interview a few. I say that all the time when people say I’m not interviewing some people. Definitely. Because it has to fit with you. You know, it has to make sense to you like anything else.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I feel like I might have to have you on again next year sometime because we still just kind of scratch the surface. There’s so many more things that I would love to. To ask you about because I, of course, you know, especially about unloading, like a house where you have like, you know, that you’ve been in for like 30 years.
Yeah.
I remember my mother did have hire someone to help her go through that, and they were like, okay, have you used it in the last 10 years? Have you used it in the last 5 years? Have you used in the last year, you know, to help her kind of.
Do stuff, just think things through. Right, right.
Yeah.
Well, I say that too. Real quick. I’ll say in Northern Virginia, the last couple winters, we haven’t had, like, really bad winters. So thank God, because I’m from Chicago. But I still don’t like cold and snow. So I haven’t worn my, like, heavy shearling coat, my big boots. But since I have, even though I haven’t worn them in four years, I’m not getting rid of them. Right. So you have to. There has to be a fine line between have you used it. Do you want it? There’s things I always joke, you know, I my toilet brush and my toilet plunger don’t bring me joy and I don’t love them but I’m going to keep them around just in case I need them. You know, not the prettiest thing to have in the corner of the bathroom, but you know, we got to keep.
They come in handy.
They do. Hopefully not very often, but you know.
Right.
Yeah. So those are the things, you know, you kind of have to. There’s, there’s the big questions and then there’s the little minutia that you have to ask yourself and it’s very personal. Yeah. Well, I would love to come back, Lori, of course.
Well, thank you so much for being here. I really do appreciate it. And yeah, enjoy the the holiday season as we’re recording this. The holidays are rapidly approaching through Thanksgiving, so here in the US So yeah, it’s a lot. So yeah. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you.
And I want to thank all of you for listening and for watching. Thanks to Ann who is commenting as well. Appreciate you. And yeah, it’s, I’m so grateful for all of you who are listening and watching, whether on social media, on YouTube and for listening. So if perhaps this is your first time here and you’re not subscribed yet, I encourage you to either subscribe on YouTube or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are all over the place, all the major places you’ll find in fact, on my video here you can see a bunch of, a bunch of them down there. Spotify and Amazon and all those good places. So until next time, I encourage you to go out and think about decluttering, but also live fully, love deeply and engage authentically.
