I always giggle at my crazy collection of salt and pepper shakers. We use actual disposable ones when it comes to eating food, but I have this collection of salt and pepper shakers. And again, I always talk about and advocating for keeping stuff that you're actually using. Well I don't use these salt and pepper shakers. But here's the reasoning of why I keep them. I actually got them from when my grandmother passed away and they lived on her wall in her dining room.
So I asked if I could just scoop them up. I loved them when I was a kid and I used to actually buy her salt and pepper shakers. So I got the ones that I bought her plus all of her extra ones from all the places that she's traveled. There are salt and pepper shakers from places I've even never been to. And so I put them on my kitchen wall.
So even though I'm not actually specifically using them, they bring a usability in my spirit and I can look at my salt and pepper shakers and think I have never been to Sedona, Arizona, however they are for my grandma. And I would like to keep them for my next style. Hi, I'm Ginny Rogers. And this is the Organizing and Beyond podcast. We will talk about how to tackle your stuff to make your life exactly what you want. I hope to inspire you into action and have a ton of laughs along the way.
There are no rules in decorating or organizing. The only rule I have is you must enjoy the things you keep and get rid of the extra crap. Don't live in guilt and keep stuff. Set your shoulders free and thoughts directed towards your life goals, right? It's all about happy organizing. Funny story about what I keep is I always giggle at my collection of salt and pepper shakers. We use disposable ones from the grocery when we actually have dinner.
But I have the collection of salt and pepper shakers from places that I've actually never been. I got them from my grandmother and they lived on her while when she was alive and well. Well when given the opportunity to take them, I jumped at it. I now hang them up in my kitchen and I can enjoy them every day. So not everything you keep needs to be used per se. Everything you keep needs to be enjoyed and you need to love them.
I follow the Connery method of organizing or sometimes I refer to her as Marie Kondo when I can. She has a great attitude toward hard decisions on what to keep. Whether it's a vibration or a feeling, you unconsciously have towards an object. For example, hold your favorite shoes in your hands, right? They could be fancy or they could be the best summer sandal. Feel how your thoughts are towards the shoe.
Maybe you can't wait for it to be warm and the weather allows you to wear them outside or they remind you of the last activity you did with them on, right? Your husband took you out for a date. So now on the flip side, hold shoes you don't necessarily have joy towards. Maybe they hurt your feet. They're really not flattering, right? You feel like they're ugly. There are so many reasons you can brainstorm towards a pair of shoes as to why you don't like them.
Usually my major hate toward shoes is that they're dang blisters always come up. Don't keep them if they're doing that, right? So looking at how you react towards those pairs of shoes, use that to gauge towards everything else. Start with the easier items first. Start with the things you just absolutely love, right? You have a pile of clothing on your bed. Take out everything you just absolutely love and you want to keep. Hang those up in your closet and sit with what you decided.
Once you have those items in the pile, right, or hung up in your closet, you now have given yourself the permission to give away the rest, right? You almost feel more satisfied with the decisions you do make. So the more you make that decision, it is easier to let go of those items. If you just can't find a good reason to keep it, you probably shouldn't, right? It's just taking up space and then it takes up your mind.
Let's talk about the reasons why you would keep or wouldn't keep something just a little bit deeper. There's a lot of you who will keep something because it was given to you as a gift. Maybe for an example, I'll just do something simple. There's a magnet on your refrigerator. It was given to you from someone when they went on a trip and they brought it back because they wanted to bring you back a gift. They were thinking of you while they were on that trip.
The fact that they brought you something back should make you feel joy, right? That moment, you felt joy and you felt the love in that moment. If it's a magnet that sits in the back of your fridge because you never use it, right? Odds are you won't because it's not as important because you didn't go to that tropical island. It just sits in the back of your fridge and gets dust on it. And believe me, I've seen that. Then get rid of it. You have that permission.
You think about the thankfulness and the moment of them thinking of you and then you thank them in your mind, right? And getting rid of something doesn't minimize your relationship with them. And that's why I love the Conn Marie method and why I practice it. There's no denying your feelings towards objects. I can never predict how someone will react, but I know if you love something, you should keep it. Just like my salt and pepper shakers, right? That I got from my grandma.
Sleepies to my next thought real quick. Having favorite items from loved ones or things you bought does not belong down in the basement. They should be displayed and loved. Not in the back of a closet. I once did a room for a little girl and she had a bunch of trinkets from all her travels. Instead of putting them in the back of her closet, we hung a shelf in her room and she could display all those objects which made her think of her family and the times they had together.
So make room in your life for the stuff that you love to see and enjoy. So let's set the stage for you so you can be productive in organizing if you want. First off, start with your clothing. You get dressed every day. You see them every day. Give yourself enough time to go through them all when you do decide to go through your clothing. Don't go through anybody else's clothing, just yours. Take them off the hangers and throw them on your bed.
Then empty all your drawers and throw them on the bed as well. Take a step back and see that heaping pile. Quite often this is a moment when I get comments in my sessions of no wonder why I can't ever seem to get laundry done. I have way too much. I wait too long because I have other options and then my laundry pile just gets so incredibly massive. Hold each item of clothing in your hand and feel if you want to keep them. Does it fit right? Is it way too worn? Does it have holes?
Put it in the keep pile. Maybe you donate it or put it in the trash. Trash your gut and trash your intuition. Now you get to go to your closet in the morning and feel the organization and how easy it is to get ready in the morning. This practice will then trickle down to your other items in your home and those other categories. Books, paper, kimono items and sentimental items. Allow your brain to process through every category. We don't often allow that time for our brain to spin those times.
We don't allow our brains and our moments to be spent on ourselves. If we can just take care of ourselves, we will have our cups way more full. Therefore then we can help our family members. Take care of yourself so you can take care of your family. Next week for my third episode, How to set goals. I am the queen of procrastinator and I feel like my older brother would be gladly be able to give a testament to how I could not get ready to school on time.
He was 6 foot, I was teeny tiny and it was always me running after him or him trying to be a responsible brother to make sure I get there. Being a procrastinator can sometimes make it difficult to set goals. If I set a goal, I am setting myself up to fail.