35. 8 Things to Downsize Now—Your Future Self Will Thank You

What are you still holding onto that your future self is begging you to let go of?

In this uplifting and practical episode of The Downsizing Roadmap Podcast, we’re diving into 8 common things people keep out of guilt, habit, or fear—and what happens when you finally release them. This isn’t just about decluttering your home—it’s about freeing your mind, your energy, and your next chapter.

From boxes of unsorted memorabilia to clothes from a past life, we’ll help you:

• Recognize the emotional weight of your clutter
• Reframe your attachment to “someday” items
• Make space for the life you’re building—not just the one you’ve lived

Whether you’re downsizing, simplifying, or just ready for a fresh start, this episode is full of vision-setting prompts, mindset shifts, and permission to release.

✨ Your lighter, clearer future starts with one small decision today.

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

Transcript

Jodi Rosko 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast with your hosts Jody Roscoe and Heather Fisher. We're talking about all things downsizing, from our own experiences with clients to guest experts. Let's make downsizing easier, one conversation at a time.

Heather Fisher 0:17

Hi, welcome to Downsizing Roadmap. I'm Heather Fisher. And I'm Jodie Roscoe. And we're excited. We've got a really helpful topic today on the eight things your future self will thank you for letting go.

Jodi Rosko 0:31

Yeah, I think these are really great ones. Make sure you um stick with us till the end because there's some things you may not think about. But um I think that there's some just really easy ways to simplify our life, um, whether you're downsizing or not, honestly, just easy ways to simplify our life that um we can do and it will just take so much weight off of us.

Heather Fisher 0:53

Yeah, I'm in the throes of this as we prepare for a move, and more than I would like to admit, I'm, you know, is just going to donation or, you know, other places other than being packed for, you know, our next house, and it just keeps trigger triggering in my mind like I haven't needed this for all of these years that I've had it. What would you know, that weight have been lifted if I had done this sooner? So definitely there's so many easy things to get rid of if you just do it.

Jodi Rosko 1:29

Yeah, if you're looking for donation places, if you're gonna work on this, if you're looking for donation places, check out um our website, downsizingrodandmap.com. We have some great places to donate. And I think it makes it easier when you donate it um to somebody who's really gonna put put it to good use. Um and so there are so many people with giant hearts out there that are doing great things in our communities. Um and so if you're in our community, like I said, check out ours. If you're not, I'm sure that that you can easily find places in your community that are uh that are doing wonderful things. And it's easier, I think, to let it go if you know it's going to somewhere good. And we've spent the money on already, like let that go. It's happened, it's over. You know, you got whatever use out of it you were gonna get out of it, and if you haven't touched it, if it's dusty, it's time for it to go.

Heather Fisher 2:18

Yeah, I'm definitely, as I go through our stuff, I'm definitely running that gamut of emotion that we talk about. There's the doubt, there's the questioning, should I keep it, whatever? But I am finding myself more and more being confident and landing on, you know, I don't need this and getting rid of it, and the emotion that sticks after the day is done is oh, that feels good. Yeah. I'm glad that I did that. Yes, absolutely. So we can talk about these eight things and hopefully get some more people to that feeling of less overwhelm and and relief.

Jodi Rosko 2:55

Yeah, and that, like I said, is you know, if you're making a move, I mean, do that because I ended up moving a bunch of stuff. I told you, I've told this story before, but like I ran out of time doing it because we found a house that when we weren't, of course, when we weren't looking, that's when we find the house. And so what we're always advocating for you guys to just get on it and you don't know what's gonna happen next, right? You don't know if it might be sooner than you think. Um but it would have been great if I didn't spend a bunch of money and time moving things that I didn't need to move.

Heather Fisher 3:25

Yes. And that's my hope is to not do that. Yeah, you watched me do it. We've yeah. We've and many clients as well. Um we've had the longer time frame, um, you know, with this plan in motion for a longer time, but you know, human nature, I still procrastinate, and so now we're getting up on, you know, the deadline sooner, you know, than I thought would thought it would come. And which is exciting. It's exciting, but you know, I feel that pressure, but I'm just so determined to work hard and I'll keep you all updated on how it goes. But I just don't want to move stuff into the new space just to stare at it, you know, in the box or wonder where to put it. So trying really hard. Yeah, I can't wait. I can't wait to see it all.

Jodi Rosko 4:13

So it's gonna be amazing. Um, so uh we're gonna just talk a little bit about what it is, why we why we keep it, um, what's the emotional cost of keeping it, what your future self gains by letting it go, and then you know, some kind of a visualization prompt to let yourself reframe that decision, look at it from a different lens.

Heather Fisher 4:33

Yeah, some really great questions to ask yourself. Okay, so number one, um we're gonna Yeah, items you're keeping to make someone else happy. Yes. So these are the type of things like gifts you've received. Guilt is not a gift. Guilt is not a gift. Yes, our favorite line. Um, heirlooms that you may have inherited just because they got past your way, not necessarily because you chose them or that they're an heirloom from your life. They're just someone else's. Right. Um, or someone else wants you to keep it and honor it, um, probably because they delayed the decision themselves. Yeah, I I got a lot of that stuff.

Jodi Rosko 5:18

Um uh and I think different people, some people are more sentimental than other people. And I think sometimes the sentimental people um realize they can't keep it all, but then they want you to keep it because they're sentimental, you know? And so they have a hard time balancing that because then when you don't want to keep it, if you're not a person who's sentimental, then they're like, ugh, you know, like that's just a horrible thing that you're doing. And so tons of guilt comes with that thought process.

Heather Fisher 5:51

Yes.

Jodi Rosko 5:52

And um what we're trying to do in this segment is to is to have you, you know, op have a house that ha where everything has a purpose, where everything brings joy or reflects who you are or who you're becoming, because we talk a lot about that in our mindset, not who you've been. We can keep to some reminders of where we've been and who we've been. I think that's important legacy, but we also have to always be looking forward to who are we becoming and what is that person, and that can let us help us let go of a lot of things. Is this me anymore? And so this this stuff is never was you in the first place, actually. It's not even is it me or is it my future me? It never was you.

Heather Fisher 6:33

Yeah, exactly. And it's you know, it's hard when someone's given you a gift and you know that they wanted to gift it to you, but not everything hits the mark or just goes with what you want. And and it's okay. These pe you know, the people that you're wanting to preserve those feelings, they've likely given you a ton of gifts. You don't have to keep everything, you don't have to have that be a representation back of how much you care for them by keeping it or putting it out. Certainly, if there are things that you're only pulling out when they're coming to visit and you're not even keeping out all the time out of, you know, appreciating that gift, those are the things to just let go, guilt-free.

Jodi Rosko 7:25

Because think about the emotions that come behind that, right? So you are so worried if they come over that they aren't going to see whatever that thing is that you know, yeah, you're so you're so worried about it. And um you need the worry is not worth worse than that.

Heather Fisher 7:45

No, your relationship is based on the joy of that time spent together and you know, the family activities or the social activities with your friends. It's not based on, you know, whether you see something. I mean, I always imagine I I can't I can't imagine going into someone's house that I'm friends with and searching for a gift I gave.

Jodi Rosko 8:08

And so I can hear y'all out there going, my mom is looking for that thing. And I hear you, because I feel like my mom was sometimes looking for that thing and where is it and you know, what have you done with it. And sometimes I think it's a candid conversation around what that looks like and um whether you can do that in your relationship or not, uh, you know, that's up to you. But I think sometimes you, you know, it's like, but I got this from you and I love it, and I'm keeping that out, and this other thing I just don't have as much use for, or whatever that looks like. And you never want to hurt their feelings. It's not about that. But um those are some tough ones. But um ask yourself, um, is it ki is this keeping uh your your uh uh vision of your space uh not being able to be what it is, like what you want it to be? I don't have the right I'm not using the right words for that, but like ca is is it stopping your space from being what you want it to because it's full of everybody else's things that they want you to have?

Heather Fisher 9:09

Like, yeah, is it this are my notes say uh is it leaving room for your own style and your own needs? Yes.

Jodi Rosko 9:17

Or is it just like all filled with everybody else's stuff? Or is it down in the basement where nobody's enjoying it, or in the attic, or in storage, or shoved somewhere in the back of a closet where nobody's even actually enjoying it? That's not honoring it anyway.

Heather Fisher 9:32

Yeah. Right. So one question you can ask yourself about these items that you might be hesitant is would you still keep this if no one else ever knew that you gave it away? I I highlighted that in my notes. I think that's such a valuable question. Right. Um because while you're trying to honor everybody else's memories and all of that, make sure you're honoring yourself. And would would it take up space if you you know, in your life, if you could give it away and no one knew? Yeah, and I think that I have some things like that at my house now that I need to to work on, honestly. Yeah. We probably all do. But if it's an overload, definitely address that category. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 10:19

Okay, number two is clothes uh that re represent a past version of you. So things that we can let go. Clothes that represent a past version of you. So um why do we keep them? Um aspirational sizing. I'm gonna fit into that again. Here's what I'm gonna say. If you lose a bunch of weight, you are going to want new clothes. You are not going to want your 10-year-old jeans that used to fit you, and now, you know, they don't. You're gonna be like, I am gonna go get myself something amazing because I feel amazing about myself.

Heather Fisher 10:51

Yeah. I was thinking about this this category as we were getting ready for today, and I I think that I fight giving away clothes because I hate the question in my own head of what am I going to wear to what you know, fill in the blank whatever whatever the event is or my daily things. I hate thinking about what to wear. I'm not a fashion-driven person. I hate thinking about if I have the right thing. So I think I hide behind having more in my closet than I need because I think that will take that question away. Yeah. I have plenty in here to wear. I yeah. There's there'll be something in there, but if I'm honest with myself, no matter how much is hanging on the hangers, I'm only going, gravitating to that 20% back to, you know, our earlier episode on the 80-20 rule. I definitely live in that. And the other stuff, you know, I buy it, I don't wear it, I don't, you know, it's like a cycle of hoping that I'll enjoy that process more of deciding what to wear.

Jodi Rosko 12:04

I did I did start doing that where we turn the hangers around. And um it's probably been four or five months um since I've done a clean out of my closet and then turned those hangers around. And there are definitely hangers that are still turned around. And I it if you use that system, so you clean out your closet, you put all the hangers in backwards, when you take something out to wear, you turn the hanger around when you put it back, you know, from the laundry. So after a you know, a certain time period, five, six months, you can see all everything that still has a backwards hanger, you have not been wearing. The trick is now, now that I've done it, the trick is I look at it and I'm like, but that's still a good like piece of whatever. Like your brain still does the things, and you have to just trust the system of like it might be great and it's gonna be great on someone else, but for whatever reason, you don't pick it, and even when you see that backwards hanger, even when I see it, I'm not picking it. Yeah, and so there's some reason, which isn't that it's not, you know, still good. Yeah, but I'm not picking it, and so I need to just trust that system. Everything that's in the backwards hangers goes away. I'm not gonna miss it, you guys. I won't even remember it was there after, you know, a month or two because I wasn't wearing it at all.

Heather Fisher 13:23

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's such a good way to be honest with yourself because it just turns it away from emotion of whether or not you like something enough to wear it. It's just a proven right fact. You didn't Right.

Jodi Rosko 13:39

And then trust the system and don't question it. Because once you start to get those the thought process of how you own it, and that means you need to keep it, and all of the mental stuff that goes, well, gosh, I hardly ever wore it and I spent this much money on it, or all the stuff that starts going through your head for whatever reason. Yeah. Um just trust the system and let it be. Yeah, absolutely. Um so what the cost of that, it you know, they might be it's aspirational size and it might be career clothes where you're, you know, done with that career and you don't really do that anymore. Um it could be nostalgia on some of it, but I don't think I mean uh maybe some people keep a lot of clothes for nostalgia, but I think those are probably fewer. I think it's probably more you grew into a different size, or your style changed, or your lifestyle changed, and so you have different things. So you can be stuck in the past if you kind of just are continually looking at that that doesn't really reflect who you are today. Um, and you can just feel guilty about it, like we just talked about. So um if you let those things go, um, then you can kind of again, you get dreamy about what that future looks like and what are you gonna be doing and what kind of clothes would you be wearing there? So if your closet, the prompt of the question you were gonna ask yourself is if your closet could only reflect your future, what stays?

Heather Fisher 15:00

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 15:00

Great question. Yeah. So go get in the closet, guys.

Heather Fisher 15:05

Yes.

Jodi Rosko 15:06

Turn those hangers around. Trust the process. Yes. Okay, number three, boxes of unsorted memorabilia.

Heather Fisher 15:15

I think we keep a lot of that because it it is a category that accumulates over time. You don't go out and purchase it all at once or have it. It just is your life accumulating. And in the moment that you don't put it in the trash or a donation pile, it's important to you in that moment. And then we never it it doesn't work so well with the one-in-one-out rule because they all had importance that moment you put it in, and then suddenly you have thousands of trinkets or things, postcards from vacations, souvenirs, all of that little mementos of your life, it's suddenly a huge volume. It's not always kept all in one spot because it gets put wherever in the moment. You know, back to that Jerry Seinfeld video when you first get home from vacation with a little, you know, a souvenir or something, it's out in that place of honor. You're telling everybody that comes over about your trip and that you bought, you know, this bowl or this whatever it is. Snow globe, you know, and it's out because it's top of mind, but then it gets demoted and it gets shoved in a closet, and nobody has like the mementos closet or right.

Jodi Rosko 16:41

So there's stuff everywhere.

Heather Fisher 16:42

Yeah, it gets tucked to your postcard in your junk drawer or whatever when it moves from the fridge down. You know, it all gets demoted into strange places. So it's a category that can be very scattered throughout your your house and not easy to just compare in the this or that, yeah. You know, the same as housewares or things.

Jodi Rosko 17:05

Maybe that's you know, that's a that's a key to just kind of collect it all as you're going through different rooms. If you can't make the decision on those right now, they go into, you know, a s a sentimental box or whatever. And then you can have some time with those things to to let them go. But people get the whole picture. Yeah. People get paralyzed from that sentimentality. They just feel like, oh my gosh, what if I forget this or what if I, you know, yeah, don't remember, honestly. I think there's anxiety about not being able to remember, and then there's anxiety about um knowing that you haven't dealt with it. And I not only have my own whole bunch of sentimental, you know, memorabilia, whatever, I know how all have all of my mom's and my grandmas because when we moved out of that house, that wasn't something that I could deal with. And so that kind of just went with the pictures into a room, and um, I still have to deal with that. So I'll let you know how that all goes as I go. But um, but it does weigh on me. It's like, yeah, I know that I have to deal with it, and I don't want to. That's pretty much how that goes.

Heather Fisher 18:18

Yeah, it's definitely a process when you're going an emotional process when you're going through either someone else's sentimental items that isn't here or able to do that for themselves or with you. Um, I think that was touched on in um the Swedish death cleaning book a lot. You know, she was trying to avoid other people having to do that for herself. Um so that would be a if you're struggling with this category, that would be a great resource to go back and listen to our episode on that or to read the book, it's fantastic. But, you know, you it's it's one of those things where it is an emotional category, but you kind of have to get through it to get to the the freedom of being at the other side and having a small amount of things that are either your items to to reflect back on your own travels and life and adventures or someone else's, but in a manageable way that you've revisited them and can use them or display them or keep them where you can revisit those happy memories and not be a burden of boxes.

Jodi Rosko 19:33

Yeah, it's uh it's freedom the freedom gained from this is the peace enclosure when the memories are honored and not hoarded. Yeah. Which is they're not being honored, honestly, in my house right now because they haven't been gone through in a way that I can honor them. They're just they are just in a pile of things that were, it's, you know, the my mom's pile and my, you know, some of my grandma's stuff, and um, and and I know that I need to get to it. And so the question prompt of asking yourself is you know, what if honoring the memory doesn't require keeping the thing? And I do know that it doesn't require keeping some of those things. And so um I'm gonna go back to one of our other um episodes where we just kind of talked about sometimes what you need is somebody to come and help you. And so I think for this stuff, that's what will help me. Is I need, you know, my my family to come, my cousins and my mom's brothers and whatever to come all together and like let's look through the pictures, let's look through the letters, who wants those. Yeah. If nobody wants those, it's okay. Um, you know, but like spend time together reminiscing about it and having those memories, and I think that's what needs to happen for me. I don't think that doing it by myself is gonna be great for me.

Heather Fisher 20:48

That that night or or weekend or whatever time you spend doing that as well becomes such an integral memory for your family of you know, those who are there doing that, that in itself becomes a family memory and enjoyable as well. Um, you know, whereas you trudging through it yourself and being frustrated and hitting roadblocks in it m brings those memories even down a notch into a more of a negative. Yeah. Whereas it can be so positive and get the job done and everybody leaves with a little and the bulk of it is not just weighing on you.

Jodi Rosko 21:32

Well, and some of it, like when when I started to go through pictures, I would just start snapping it to the group chat of the family because like you want them to be I mean, do you remember this? Oh my gosh, do you remember this? Like it's not all it's not bad. Like, so I don't want it to sound like, oh my gosh, it's this horrible thing that we have to do, and so we need to do it together. It was actually like we were laughing and whatever, but I'm just taking, you know, terrible phone snaps, you know, of the pictures, and it was a whole Discussion between all of us on text. And so having them there, I think, or having your family there or whatever when you're trying to do stuff that's very sentimental can be very helpful.

Heather Fisher 22:12

Yeah, and you get a lot of details filled in that you know everybody's memories all together is awesome too. So yeah, that's definitely a good plan.

Jodi Rosko 22:22

Okay, so number four, um, outdated paperwork and manuals. Okay, so when we cleaned out my mom's house, we had, I don't even know how much paperwork. And the thing is, you don't know what's in the paperwork until you go through every piece of paperwork. And we had tax returns from 1972, and we had, you know, all kinds of like just junk mail, I mean, uh stuff that mattered, stuff that didn't matter, paper everywhere, manuals that we didn't own, things that she didn't own anymore. I mean, the amount of paper um that was in in her house was just crazy. And so if you can develop a system to work, not only work through that paperwork, but also in the future, don't keep it in the first place. Just stop keeping it. Um, then I think that is the the number one thing. And I think for paperwork and stuff, this is always just just in case. What if I need it? What if I need it? And so much stuff is online now. So much stuff uh you any manual you can find online, and you could probably even find a YouTube video of somebody fixing whatever it is that's wrong with the refrigerator ice maker or whatever, and if you can't, you know, you you can call somebody. But honestly, all of that stuff doesn't need to be kept. And we did a um, we did a podcast on paperwork. So if you want to deep dive into that, go listen to our podcast on paperwork.

Heather Fisher 23:52

Yeah, absolutely. And I've gone through this uh, you know, this resonates with my family this year. You know, we've been um dealing with some challenges with my dad, and um my mom has had to go through paperwork that needed supplied to uh various places, and so it's been a monumental task for her to get all of their paperwork organized properly. Um but what I will say is that it sh their house was not overwhelming with like so much paperwork. So it wasn't even the case study of just like ten file cabinets, but it really is nuanced that it even though it wasn't a massive amount, it was not organized. And the peace of mind, now that she's gone through it, I mean it was challenging and you know, she would send me photos of you know it all spread out on the space, and now, you know, she was so proud to show me how organized it is. But what we've gained as a family is that um, you know, she struggled a bit because some of the information was likely just in my dad, you know, in my dad's knowledge base that he wasn't able to share with her, and so she had to go find. And in her doing that, as much as myself and my siblings wanted to be helpful, you can't really trust, or not trust isn't the right word, but you can't really have someone else help you unless you've done the organization because they don't know what to look for or how. And what we've gained as a family is that you know it's all organized for my mom for her day-to-day, you know, life and monthly bill tracking and and everything that they could need for my dad and his care, but also it because it's organized now in the right way, if any of us as you know, the adult kids needed to step in, we could, whereas we couldn't have a year ago. Yeah. Because it would have been so much digging or so much unknown information as to where to go. So even if you don't have a ton, that organization as to where your accounts are, where you know, who to call for different things, who are all who has the information and where to find it, that's the key. Yes. Not just getting rid of stacks of paperwork.

Jodi Rosko 26:32

Well, yeah, and yes, absolutely. Organizing it is the key. But once you've organized it, you can get rid of the stacks of paperwork. Absolutely. And you can just keep the most recent, you know, bill or you know, or bank statement, or 401k statement, or you know, whatever that is, and you just keep that in a working binder that, you know, or or a working system file cabinet, whatever that is, that then the rest of it can go because because you have the most recent one, that's all you need, and somebody can take it from from where they need to have it. So file cabinets just end up getting full and then never looked at again, honestly, hardly ever.

Heather Fisher 27:11

So confession, I did go through my paperwork in our own house and I had tax returns back to 2001.

Jodi Rosko 27:18

So lots of cities have shred days, or you can take that pay, you know, stuff to be shredded. And we actually had so much when we moved that we had to call the shredding company and they came and got all the boxes for us because that's how much we had. Um, but gosh, that felt great to let that go, too. Absolutely. Yeah. So the prompt for that is um, is this truly relevant for your life anymore, or are you just keeping it because you're afraid? You're just afraid you might need it. So and then the answer is once you organize it, you will know. Yeah. So that's you if you are looking at it, you're like, I don't have any idea, that's because you don't have a system to have it organized.

Heather Fisher 27:58

Yeah, absolutely. And some file folders and a box can I mean very simple if you dive in and do it. Yep.

Jodi Rosko 28:07

Okay, number five, hobby supplies for your projects you no longer have. We did a whole podcast on hobby stuff too. So go listen to that one if you if this one is your problem, go listen to that one. But deep dive into hobbies. Um, you've I think we keep it mostly because we feel guilty that we didn't do the hobby. Like we did we, you know, we spent money on it, we thought we were going to, we didn't do it. Or we did it for a while and we let it go and we don't want to really pick it up anymore, and so we invested some time in it. And I think really this one is totally guilt.

Heather Fisher 28:40

Yeah, I think even if you did invest in it as a passion, if it's no longer that phase in life, uh you know, as hard as it is, just facing that and making space for your next passion is okay.

Jodi Rosko 28:56

I we find likely if you are a hobby kind of a person, um, you have picked up something else. Like it's not the you know, crafty people uh uh usually just move on to the next crafty thing that they've that catches their you know eye and they're super excited about. Yeah. And so you know sporty people move on to the next you know sport and I had all kinds of scrapbooking stuff that I never ended up doing anything with, and I ended up um giving that to somebody who loved it because they were scrapbooking and they loved it. And um that I thought I would. I did a little, it wasn't my thing. Um, you know, but that's okay. Yeah. Yeah. So um again, um, does this bring energy or obligation to you? So that's that's the question. Um, give yourself that permission to evolve and give yourself space for new interests and for growing and what that future self is gonna look like, and don't keep it just because you feel like you've got to justify to yourself that you need to, you know, pick that hobby up again or you need to do whatever. If it really isn't fitting into that future you're envisioning for yourself, then let it go. So the question is, does this bring energy or obligation?

Heather Fisher 30:10

Yeah, I love that question. Yeah. So number six, um, this goes back to, you know, the duplicates and the backups you never use. Um, this goes back to a lot of people that just are savers for the I might need it just in case. Um that's the category that we're talking about here. So it could be, you know, a scarcity mindset, um, which we we see often, and that's that's okay. It's just moving past that. Um, or the what if what I have breaks? Do I always have a backup handy? Um I think the problem comes when that turns into three, four, five backups. Or the broken ones are the ones you're you're keeping for that later. Well, if I fix it, it would be good again. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 31:00

So it ends up being overstuffed drawers, overstuffed cabinets, all of that. You know, it's overstuffed garages. So when we were cleaning um out Mark's mom's stuff before she moved to um in with his sister, she had a walk-in closet that was just full, full, full, like there was no walking in that closet anymore. Um, and we started pulling things out, and she loved iced tea with lemon. Lots of lemon, loved iced tea. So she had the Mr. T. So, like instead of Mr. Coffee, it's Mr. T. And so when we ended up pulling stuff out of that closet, she had three or four unopened Mr. Teas. And she had one on the counter that she uses. And we're like, What is going on? And they were like, everything was wrapped in the bag it came from from the store. So, like from the store, it just still in the bag with the receipt, shoved in the closet. Ever like tons and tons of things were like that. And we're like, What's what's going on? And she's like, Well, I they were gonna stop making them. Now, I don't know if they were or they weren't, but that was in her head that they were gonna stop making the Mr. T and she was gonna hers was gonna break and she was gonna need it. And so the question is if that's your thought process, what could you do instead of Mr. T if it broke? The worst case scenario, they stopped doing it, you know, making them and it broke. Like what else could that be? What could that look like? And so, you know, give yourself that plan B. If you needed it again, what would your plan B be? That's the question.

Heather Fisher 32:28

Yeah. And I I think the answer is usually simpler than we make it to be in our minds. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 32:35

So and I I actually don't know if they've stopped making them, but I don't know. It would be an interesting thing to do. Let us know in the comments if you know whether they have stopped making Mr. T.

Heather Fisher 32:49

Yes. I did have one years ago because for my kids. I don't I'm not an iced tea drinker.

Jodi Rosko 32:54

So Yeah, oh my gosh. She loved it and used it. I mean, she really did use it like every day. Like it was one of those things that if you said to her, Would you need to buy this again? the answer would be, I absolutely need to buy this again. But it was just funny that she had three or four of them because she was just so worried, you know, that it wasn't gonna be.

Heather Fisher 33:12

Yeah, and I think people can lean towards that mindset around way too many items. So then it becomes more m moving towards just hoarding things because of a worry versus a reality. Scarcity.

Jodi Rosko 33:28

It's the scarcity mindset for sure. Yeah. Okay, number seven, decor that no longer feels like you. Yeah. Um once it was trendy um or somebody gave it to you or it was expensive. And, you know, I think we find this a lot when people, you know, redid their whole house in some decade and then never redo it again. And sometimes that's okay because they they love it and they, you know, don't care. Like it's it's what makes them comfortable and they like it. Um, but sometimes it's a home that feels, you know, stale or mismatched, or you know, not who you currently are. Again, we're we're future thinking. And what do you really want that future to look like? And we stop looking at the things that are around us. We just stop looking.

Heather Fisher 34:17

Yeah, I think so. I moved from um the house I'd been in for 20 years about five years ago, and when I packed from that, I I packed more from a mindset of do I like things still? And so, you know, I gave away a lot, uh, you know, sold or or donated a lot from that house because I was uh downsizing to a smaller spot, but I kept things um that have been boxed up for the last few years because I liked them and they were the things I had on the walls or, you know, on the surfaces in my old house. And I didn't really evaluate whether they would fit my new life. And so now as I'm trying to um get ready for our, you know, what we anticipate being, you know, our our final house, I am going through what was stored, and I'm like, why did I keep this? And I can picture where it was in my old house, but it doesn't fit who I've become at all. Um if I probably if I would have made a a quick move without that storage in between, I probably would have unpacked it and set it in a similar, this goes on a dining room table, this goes here, and I probably would have just out of that habit. Um and so now as we're getting ready to to make that final move, um, we have you know someone helping us make some decisions on design. And, you know, she asked m me to email photos of any like non-negotiable, this needs to be, you know, this is a family I you know, whatever. I want this in my house. This needs to be incorporated into the design. And it was shocking to me. I only had five things out of, you know, anything I could think of that I had in storage or in our current home. Um, you know, asking my husband his opinion. There were only five things that at this phase in life, I'm like, this needs to be somewhere in my eyesight. I need to see this. That's incredible. I was like And so honest, like good job. Yeah, and it was having to make a decision to take a photo and write why I wanted it or where I pictured it being instead of just packing boxes and then unpacking that's such a great habit. So yeah, I definitely was like, we need to suggest this because it was a really, you know, walking around all the rooms and thinking what I had.

Jodi Rosko 37:11

Like how much do I really care about that? Would I really have to have that?

Heather Fisher 37:15

Yeah, and it was five things. I mean, there's plenty of things we will take that are just our daily things. But when you look at what you surround yourself out of habit, it was eye-opening.

Jodi Rosko 37:28

Yeah. Because, and this is the the freedom that you're gonna gain when you do this, um, is you're gonna get a fresh, calming space that ref reflects your next chapter, which is exactly what you are trying to do. Yeah, you're ready to move on to that next chapter, you've waited a long time for it, you absolutely deserve it. And so you are looking for that, and so much of what you had isn't doesn't fit into that anymore, into that future. So the prompt on this one is would you buy it again today? And your answer was no. Like, I don't even need to take a picture of and share it with my designer. Like, I don't even know.

Heather Fisher 38:03

Yeah, yeah. So really eye-opening exercise, which I would suggest, you know, if a move or a redesign of a space is part of getting rid of your things, don't just move it, you know, like when we were kids and we moved it all out into the hall and it all came back in. Yeah. I wish we would have learned that when we were younger. It doesn't need to all come back in and and really deliberately making those choices is a great way to do it. Yeah, I love that.

Jodi Rosko 38:32

Um the last one is unmade decisions. And this could honestly be anything that you have that you're like waffling around. Like, uh, I don't know, you know, should we do it? You know, do I need to keep this? Do I not need to keep this? And a lot of times that's you, it's you're overanalyzing it, so you're paralyzing yourself or by overanalyzing it, or you're afraid you're gonna choose the wrong thing. What if I get rid of that and then um you know, I wanted it back or whatever. And um so what it the cost of that is that you have a lot of lingering items and a kind of mental to to-do list that weighs on you and steals your attention. And if it's in your visual space, it's also weighing on you visually, like it causes actual anxiety that is like scientifically proven that that happens. And so if you can make those decisions about those things, you can get mental clarity over it and you know, ownership of your own space. Um Yeah.

Heather Fisher 39:36

A delayed decision is still a decision. What would your future you want resolved and you know, off of your brain space?

Jodi Rosko 39:45

I love that question. A delayed decision is still a decision. Yeah. Yep. We talk about that a lot with our kids too, when they're just not doing it's like you're still deciding, like it's you're still, you know, framing the future of your life with out with trying not to make that decision. Yeah. And then would the future you want that resolved, or would your future kids want it resolved? Would you want to leave that for them? So that's something else to think about because I think a lot of those delayed decisions end up on your kids. Um, and as the kid, I'm gonna say don't do that.

Heather Fisher 40:16

Right, right, right. Make the decision, yeah. Yeah, and so to by tackling these eight categories or you know, whatever category it is that's weighing on you and and just getting it done, um, you know, you can then face that life without that overwhelm. And um, you know, you can think about what does it feel like to wake up in a space that matches your your values, not your baggage.

Jodi Rosko 40:44

Um that would be amazing. Yeah. Picture your house in the next six months, you know, what does that look like? What have you let go of? Just visualize it a little bit. What you know, what do you know that has to stay? Again, it's probably not that much.

Heather Fisher 40:58

Yeah, I'm I'm keeping a little tally of how much um, you know, we're sending to donations and um, you know, g whatever avenue for for getting rid of stuff. And I I know that we will definitely be in the 80-20 rule uh and it's amazing. I would have said, I need all of this, and my husband would have said, We need all of this, and we just are trying to be brutally honest about what we want and don't want, and there's so much tucked in all the spaces of our houses.

Jodi Rosko 41:36

When y'all go to move, you will s you will just be shocked at how many boxes you can fill up if you don't do this before you before you do it. So just remember letting go, it really isn't about loss. Um it's about choosing your freedom or your future or you, honestly. It's not about loss. Letting go of stuff is is not losing.

Heather Fisher 41:58

Yeah. When you delay it, sometimes it can become a quick loss. But when you're starting, you know, where you're at and just making progress, it definitely is a choice to find that freedom and that space for new adventures and new emotions and new things to enjoy. So I think we would encourage you to just pick one of these categories, one of something that's been a stumbling block, and just jump in and tackle it this week. And that freedom that you'll gain is amazing. Let us know in the comments how it goes. Yeah, absolutely. So we will we will be back next time for another episode. And if you need any resources or any advice as to what category you should tackle first, you can always reach out to us through our website www.downsizingroadmap.com. See you next time. Thanks for joining us on the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might need a little downsizing inspiration. Have questions or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to us on our website, www.downsizingroadmap.com. Until next time, let's keep simplifying and moving forward.