Childhood, baby things and grandparents: Decluttering the hard stuff 

I am so relieved I don't decorate for seasons or holidays. I don't have to store any of that stuff, nor do I waste money on it. It's how I like to live. 👌

I kept my son's first shoes. He's 32 now and he got me into minimalism.

I LOVE your energy and enthusiasm! You make letting things go seem so easy and natural, like, why wouldn’t you? I look forward to ALL of your videos!

My mother made it known that she was insulted that my brother and I didn’t want her collectibles when she passed. She held a grudge about this and mentioned from time to time that many people she knew were more appreciative than my brother and I were. 5,000 beanie babies, 300 ceramic bells from The Franklin mint, hundreds of seasonal decorations by Lenox, a hundred collectible dolls from QVC, seasonal ceramic pieces she made over many years; the list goes on and on. When she passed, family members took some of those things. My brother took what he wanted. The rest was deposited in my garage and what didn’t fit there was selectively reduced and donated by family members who knew I was tormented about the situation. To this day, I feel she would be disappointed in me for not keeping these things. Flight, fight or freeze? I’ve been frozen for three years.

So grateful I found your channel today, I am watching many of your past videos. Just yesterday I sold my grandmother's vintage cut crystal liquor decanter that has been sitting unused in my dining room cabinet for 26 years. I was feeling guilty about letting it go, but ultimately knew I would rather have something useful that I enjoy using in it's place. I loved when you said, 'not all old things are sentimental'. Your simple message blessed me, thank you! 🤗

Thank you so much for this video. I am 27 and still live with my parents for the moment. My grandparents passed several years ago and we have been going through their things and cleaning out their house. They were born in the 20's and lived during the great depression and saved everything!!! And I mean everything!!! They saved every card, letter, wedding and graduation announcements, church bulletins, funeral cards, newspapers, etc. My grandfather inherited all of his parents pictures and my grandmother did with hers as well. I also discovered that after my grandmother's sister passed, her family sent my grandmother back whatever she had sent her sister (photos, announcements etc.) so it is quite a lot of stuff. Over 65 photo albums (that I know of so far). It is really hard to decide what to keep and get rid of so I am basically tossing any card that only has a few words written and trying to keep really special ones. I will continue to watch more of your videos so that I can slowly get rid of my own personal belongings that are causing stress in my life. Thank you again.

I have such a hard time decluttering sentimental things. Thank you for the advice!

OMG!! My husband and I also eloped 3 months after we first met!! Been married 24 years so the gamble paid off!!

Its crazy how excited i am for you that you have a beautiful empty space!

I completely agree about the baby clothes. I just helped my mom go through my baby clothes she had kept and we got rid of most of them. The ones we kept were outfits I remember seeing in a lot of my baby photos or my Easter dress, stuff like that. I assured my mom that when I have kids, they will *not* be wearing my old clothes!

I bought a nice scanner to scan old photos. I decided I'd dedicate time every day for a month scanning and sorting them into files. In that month I completed two years worth, and I never want to look at that scanner again, despite having about 18 more years of photos to go! Now I have boxes of photos and a scanner. So much for decluttering! 😖

This was such a satisfying video! Seeing the project from start to finish with lots of funny and super relatable things in between. I know there’s a lot of work that goes into these videos but for us watching it is just so much fun, so thank you tons!

This was so relatable! I really appreciate you making this helpful video! I am determined to do something to reduce my zillions of "mementos" and also to get rid of paper files of the grown kids' stuff.

I am SHOCKED at how easily you can let things go. Sentimental items are so hard for me. I wish they weren't! I've had so many regrets about things I've gotten rid of. I want to be able to touch, feel, and smell things. ☺

I was a prepper for 10-12 yrs ( organized prepper) Now moving within couple yrs and boy do I have serious stuff to donate!

Love this!!! Subdivision garage sale coming up and flea market set up weather ❤

Under the stairs looks amazing! I have a small attic space that I've been decluttering. It is the new home for my electric heater, fan, one box of Christmas, my sentimental items tote, and one box of curtain sheers that I will use. It is not the home of my 32 year old daughter's finger paintings and school things, two bins of Christmas, two bins of partially finished quilts... 😁

I just recently went through all the kids and baby stuff. I made duo tangs books with plastic sleeves per year. They each have a basket and that is the limit of space. All supplies grabbed from Dollar store :) It was a lot as they’re 15 & 13.

Great video as always 🙂! Love that storage spot under the stairs.

Love this

My cat has to be there, too! Everything is her business…. Erica Lucas vid prompted me to let go of five very nice framed prints that I have not had up for decades….

You make it look so easy.

I declutter for us, but also so that my grown son does not have to go over all the stuff we have when we pass. I am 63 and he is 32.

Oh my gosh! I had a very similar Pound Puppy, but it had a blue dress and ear bows!

WoW. You are very much a minimalist. I just will never be there but, thanks to you I will eventually have half my stuff. Saying this is a whole lot less than any of my children would ever hope for. My most minimalist child doesn't want me to worry about getting rid of anything. I believe that I need to before the child that is a hoarder will keep all my stuff as her own.

I kept some letters I had received and also sent a few letters back to my sister and a few friends. And I have a magazine from when Kate and William were married!

Love your cat!! I miss mine, we only have dogs now. Hubs is super allergic. Thank you for the inspo!

Very helpful. Thank you. I’m after moving with kids and there’s tons of stuff I need to rinse.

I still have my Wrinkles dog too (not actually a Pound Puppy) :) They're such good quality, still looks new though it's over 30 years old! And I totally agree, kids journals are the best. I got rid of a few of my son's school journals when he was younger, and I really regret it because the ones that came later were hilarious. Definitley keeping all of them from now on. :)

I love your content! I'm a new subscriber!

I dont think I remember one cluttering tip but I do love your energy!! Thanks. Ill watch it again and again until I get a box to donate!

Great video 👌

Thank you for your video! Sentimental stuff is my last frontier… watching you actually go through your stuff gives me courage to do the same thing for my things.

Omg I remember Encounters with Canada!

That cup at the beginning with your name on it - I have Andrew's on the counter beside the fridge with pens in it!

I agree that kids’ writing or artwork that makes you laugh is the best to keep! Maybe a few pieces of artwork they worked particularly hard on. I am thinking one 1” binder per kid?

Love your videos so much - they really help put me in the right frame of mind for decluttering! Gotta say, you're so speedy! I think it would take me 45 mins. just to go through one bin. 😂

This is awesome, you are very funny and it really IS like that! lol the whole process is comical to be honest! Omg can you imagine if we could eaves drop on each other …. lmao !!!! wonderful , you are great! Thankyou for being freaking normal!!! xoxoxox ( im a mom and working on this all the time , cant stick to ONE method , but making steady progress) my fave is when older adult kids want ME to hild on to their stuff!!! Im attacking that this week!

Your dad sounds like my dad-the concept of Swedish Death Cleaning is a Herculean task . Also, you might want to frame the letter from your little friend. I have found all the written things I want to frame.

Hello. I really love you videos and your style of me witnessing how to de clutter and reorganise. I think thanks to you I am actually able to do life again with a calm mind! So here my problem area: Can you make a video on how to decide what BOOKS to de-clutter, and what to put on a shelf in the living room or bedroom or how to organise the whole book Department?

Don't feel bad about the cheque - I found a refund from the gas company that was way too old to cash... Just one of those things that happens when you live in clutter!

I'm two minutes in but i have to comment and say I LOVE YOUR WEST COAST TEES "WET COAST" shirt!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wet Coast Representtttt!

We have stuff from both sets of parents that has passed.

I saw you reach in the closet and a pretty black kitty jumped in your box of clutter. Please tell me you did not throw the kitty out as well with the clutter that’s going to far! Lol thank you for your video. Very helpful!

I just went through 3 big totes of sentimental things. I set up 3 empty totes and sorted it in about 2 hours. I dont save birthday cards to ME but i apparently saved ALLLLLLL the cards my kids got over the years. I just put each childs school report cards, cards, anything that was theits went into their box. I looked througb every single piece of paper. I was able to throw out some weird stuff that i had no idea why i saved it. Then i went theough each of my kids hatbox of newborn baby things. I purged the pregnancy magazines and pamplets from the hospitals and that kind of junk. I pulled down the tshirts i saved from my kids important school events and put them all in their respective totes. I think there are still 2 totes in the garage but once i locate the rest of their stuff i will label them and put them up in the guest room closet. I was pretty happy there is plenty of room in those totes I was pretty worried that I had saved too much stuff. If i find more i will cull it and keep it to one tote for each.

You can take your old negatives to Sam's and they will out them on disc for you. I did ALL mine and ended up with 16 discs every one filled. I immediatley made copies and a set is un my parents firesafe just in case.

Did you check on the Cabbage Patch kids?? Classic ones are worth something

I have trouble with sentimental items and what has helped me was to take photos of some items and then let the physical thing go

When I went through my 3 son’s baby things I tried to keep clothes that I had a picture of them wearing it - which I put with it. Of course any photos please write names of who is in them with an archival pen - if you don’t know who they are I first check with older family members to see if they know who they are - otherwise, chuck them. Re-gift the wine bottle holders. 😁👍🏻

Just a small point- if you DO throw out any certificates, I'd definitely scan them forst, just in case...

I need to go through medical records who was medically complicated since 5 1/2 weeks old. His medical records tell a big part of his story. I do think I will never need them. It is not a fun memory. Hard to get rid of.

Dear parents! When Your kids are very good behaviour all the time and always taking good care of their things, keeping their rooms very clean, loving their favorite things and want to make nice childhood collections of their things: books, clothes, toys, video games, clothes, DVDs and etc, then donataing is very wrong thing to do. If You have few space then storage boxes and shelves will help You out and Your kids will be very happy and thankful then, if they can keep their favourite things. Childhood things are very valuable and it is very sad, if they won’t see them anymore in their life. Every child should have the right to keep their things, if they can take good care of them all the time!!! Respectfully, Astra Viil

👌🙏✨☺

The more i think about purging sentimental stuff i think i need a therapist! Too many deep issues i don't know what to do with in my heart and my head.

how do you come to be so ruthless?

uh oh am I going to have feelings?? hahahaha

Please tell me you got rid of the CDs lol

What if all this technology goes bang,? If you have a REAL photograph it will always be there.I am 63 so maybe I think differently.

Wow, did you ask your bank if you could still pay in that cheque?

Please say again "don't keep baby clothes". I have 5 (FIVE) bins of my 34 years old daughter. She only want the dresses that are still good. It is so say that most of the clothes are in bad shape.

This video title is kind of misleading, doesn't seem like she has a hard time decluttering stuff at all

Man, getting rid of sentimental things is HARD. I'm ADD, and even my own DNA suggests I have a hoarding problem 😆 I just managed to get rid of some baby items recently. Even got rid of baby shower balloons from 11 years ago. Lol. Still more to go. 💔 I cry when I sell baby clothes. 🥲