Hey Reader, Raise your hand if you still have a shelf, cabinet, or tote full of CDs and DVDs. 🙋♀️ Now let me ask you this… When was the last time you actually listened to a CD or watched a DVD? And by the way…do you even have something that still plays them? Before you start tossing everything, though, here’s the question I want you to ask yourself: Imagine all of your streaming services suddenly stopped working for a week... what DVDs would you actually pull out and watch? Those are the ones...
12 days ago • 1 min read
Happy Friday! When we think about decluttering, we usually picture closets, kitchens, or overflowing toy bins. But today we’re heading somewhere a little different… Let’s spend a few minutes with our plants and gardening supplies. By this point in the summer, you’ve probably figured out which plants are thriving…and which ones have been hanging on by a thread. Maybe you bought flowers you never planted, saved empty nursery pots “just in case,” or have a watering can that’s seen better days....
19 days ago • 1 min read
Happy Friday Reader! One thing I love about summer is that it has a way of making decluttering decisions for us. At the beginning of the season, we pull everything out with the best intentions. The soccer balls, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, pool toys, frisbees, yard games, bikes… all ready for summer fun. But here we are, well into the season. And by now, you know. You know which things the kids reach for every week. You know which yard games everyone loves. You know which pool floats always make...
26 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Have you ever opened the refrigerator looking for something to eat… and somehow ended up just staring into it? I had one of those moments recently. There wasn’t a lack of food, we actually had plenty. The problem was that it was hiding behind half-used jars, leftovers that had seen better days, and a few “we should try that someday” sauces that nobody in the family actually likes. Sometimes the reason our fridge feels so full is because it’s holding onto things we’ve already...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Happy Friday! The other day I was getting everyone ready to head outside, and I reached into our summer bin looking for sunscreen. I had to dig past three bottles before I found the one we actually use. There was an almost-empty bottle with barely anything left, one that was probably from last summer, and another that nobody likes because it’s sticky. Somehow we’ve managed to keep every single one. It made me laugh because I realized we do this with all kinds of summer stuff. We hang onto old...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, When my kids were little, summer afternoons had a rhythm of their own. I worked from home, and with five young kids, we always had a babysitter during the day. But every afternoon there was this awkward transition when the babysitter left, I still had work to finish, and dinner needed to get started. The kids had spent the day playing, swimming, running around outside, and making all kinds of summer memories. We all needed a little breathing room before launching into the evening....
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Happy Friday Reader! Can we talk about water bottles for a minute? Is anyone else's water bottle collection multiplying when you're not looking? There are the kids' water bottles, the sports bottles, the insulated tumblers, the promotional bottles from who-knows-where, and somehow a growing collection of lids that don't appear to belong to anything (seriously, where did these all come from?). This week's 5-a-Day Friday challenge is simple: Find 5 water bottles or tumblers to remove from your...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Happy Friday! I have a little story for you today. Several years ago, one of my kids wore flip-flops into the lake instead of water shoes. As you can probably guess, flip-flops and a mucky lake bottom aren’t a great combination. He came out of the water with only one shoe. We looked for the missing flip-flop, but it was nowhere to be found. After a while, I tossed the remaining one because really… what are you going to do with a single flip-flop? Fast forward several years. My husband and I...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, It’s time for another 5-a-Day Friday challenge and this week, we’re tackling something that can feel surprisingly hard to declutter: Books. There is just something about books that makes us feel guilty letting them go. Maybe it’s the money spent. Maybe it’s the idea that “I should read this someday.” Or maybe it feels wrong to get rid of something that feels educational, meaningful, or sentimental. But here’s your gentle reminder: Just because a book was right for a season of your...
2 months ago • 1 min read