U.S. Home Talk

Your Junk Drawer Is Lying To You

• Season 4 • Episode 26

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Your house is not “messy,” it’s overloaded and that’s a different problem with a different fix. We dig into decluttering tips that work in real homes with real schedules: setting a clear goal, starting small, and building a repeatable routine so you stop cycling between panic-cleaning and re-cluttering. If you have ever sworn you’d “do the whole house” and then quit halfway through a closet, this conversation is for you.

We talk through the biggest traps we see all the time in real estate and everyday life: buying storage bins before you purge, creating a “maybe pile” that magically becomes a keep pile, and paying for a storage unit that only moves the problem. You’ll hear why labeling and categorizing save you time and money, how hiring a professional organizer (or even just some extra hands) can keep you accountable, and how a simple donation system, like a single tote in the garage, makes giving things away feel automatic. We also share the honest math on resale value, because most used items will not bring back what you paid.

Then we take a quick but fascinating detour in our Legal Minute: who owns the lakebeds under Minnesota lakes, how “navigable waters” ties back to 1858, and why similar water and access questions show up with glacier lakes in places like South Dakota and North Dakota. Finally, we bring it back to the point that matters most: decluttering is a “legacy of love,” because the things you choose on purpose mean more than a house full of random stuff.

Subscribe for weekly real estate and homeowner advice, share this with a friend who’s stuck in the clutter loop, and leave us a review. What’s the one spot in your home you’re ready to declutter first?

You can always find U. S. Home Talk and connect with the hosts and the community at their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/U.S.HomeTalk/ or at our website, USHomeTalk.com

Welcome Back And Catching Up

Jason Walgrave

And welcome back, folks. This is US Home Talk. I am I am multitasking right now as I'm as I'm sharing the post because I wasn't quite prepared. Alright, it's done. Here we go. We're back. We're back. I'm back. I wasn't here last week. Usually when uh Marcus or Overson are are gone, uh, which Overson's gone today, um, I I give I give you guys a hard time. And so I'm hoping that you uh returned the favor last week and uh you were giving me a lot of um stuff offline or online, but I wasn't there.

Marcus Walgrave

You know, it was such an important topic that we just didn't have time. We just didn't have time.

Jason Walgrave

You just dove right in. You just you just you just got deep. Speaking of speaking of got deep, you know what you know what my kids say that you know I learn all these new words. Um often are they real words? Often I have to Google the the phrases and stuff. And so Joseph and Theodore, I think Eliana too. You know, they're 10, 12, and 13. The I'll say something, and and they'll they've been doing this for several months. And finally about a month ago, I had to Google what the heck it meant means. But I'll say something, and then and they won't like what I said, and they'll they'll say, they'll say, Oh, that's just not that deep. And finally I'm like, what are you saying? So I gotta Google it and all not that big a deal is what it means, but it's they got some weird well, I think it's weird because I don't know what it means, but not that big of a deal. It's just not that deep. Okay,

Why Decluttering Feels So Hard

Jason Walgrave

so this this show is going to be deep. We're gonna be talking about decluttering. Decluttering folks, this is U.S. Home Talk. It's Wednesday, noon central standard time. We do appreciate uh you tuning in either live or later in the week on all of our streaming platforms. Jason Walgrave here with Walgrave Real Estate Group and the Minnesota Real Estate team at Remax. We've got the great Marcus Walgrave with Hague Realtors out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the Sioux Empire Real Estate Market. Uh, we've got Evan Little, our fantastic producer, insurance. He looks like he's in a cool place. It doesn't look like in the office today. Oh, what that's cool. I like the I like the exposed brick wall behind you. Brick. Yeah, buddy. I like it. I like that.

Marcus Walgrave

Now, is that one falling over like uh like that New York City building is? Evan? Looks looks a little tippy settled in that corner. It does look a little tippy. It's uh it's got character.

Jason Walgrave

Exactly. Uh Overson is off today. I think uh so where was I at last week? I was uh soccer game. Joseph had a soccer game. Um I can tell you that it was hot at that soccer game. He had a noon game up at the National Sports Center in Blaine, and that was that was hot. Overson's down. I think he's a hot game. And a lot of that is uh artificial turf. So that game wasn't, but on Friday he played at five, it was 98 degrees. Uh he played on turf and it was 110. 110 because turf is uh at least 10 degrees warmer, it seems. So um that was that was very unpleasant. Overson's down at some national flag football. Indianapolis. Indianapolis. Right, yeah. So that's pretty cool. Good luck, Mike.

Marcus Walgrave

NFL flag football national championships. Dude, that's pretty sweet. So it is sweet.

Jason Walgrave

His boys are his boys are good and they're into it. Overson's a good champion.

Marcus Walgrave

I shot him a text message and I was like, hey, let us know when Tyson plays because it sounds like it's gonna stream on the NFL network. Oh, really? NFL Network. Yeah, in his email too, it it was an image and looks like Disney Plus is probably gonna have it.

Jason Walgrave

So Oh, I gotta find that. That'll be fun.

Marcus Walgrave

Yeah, I mean it, you know, it should be super easy to find, and and over the next couple days, too. Anybody who's got kids in flag football or want to get them in flag football, this could be a good kind of introduction introduction to them and four of them, and it's a lot of them and see what it's all about. It is a lot of fun. My girls play flag football and and they uh it is fun.

Jason Walgrave

They enjoy it. Yeah, your girls do well. It's fun. I love seeing those videos you sent me there. They're little they're little rockets out there. They got their phones. Zippy, man. It's fun. All right, um, we're talking about uh decluttering uh tips to declutter your home. Uh, there's a lot of information on this. I mean, we could we could have probably a list of a hundred different things, right? We're gonna go through a few today. We're gonna talk about them. I struggle with this. Um my kids struggle with it, my wife, uh, you know, having too much stuff, have too much clutter in the house, right? And so today we're gonna be talking about some uh decluttering tips uh for your home. Uh, folks, best way to get a hold of us is our website, ushometalk.com. You can connect with Marcus, myself, Mike, Evan, all of our fantastic uh U.S. Home Talk partners. We've got uh great information on real estate, all things real estate, buying, selling, investing, financing. We've got uh home search tools. Uh we've got all of our past shows on there. You can you can see those as well. So be sure to check out our website, ushometalk.com. We've got a real estate hotline number, 24-hour real estate hotline number. Connect with all of us and our fantastic partners. That number is 612-2347585. Uh, you can text in during the show. Uh, questions or comments, uh, you can call or text anytime to connect with us. Uh, so be sure to keep that number handy. 612-234 7585. Put the code in here, Jason. I don't even know what that means. What is it? We got to something's not supposed to say out loud, Jason. I know, but I don't know what it means. You just got a text. Oh, I just got a text. Look at that technology. Oh, see, Evan's trying to get in here. He's trying to help me out. Um, should I say it out loud, Evan, or should I put it in the chat? We are live, you can tell. Just type it, he says. All right, declutter, let's

Set A Goal And Start Easy

Jason Walgrave

go. Let's talk about this. Uh, number one, one of the first things you should do, set a goal. Set a goal. Um, they say uh keep the memories, lose the stuff. Man, it is it is a so we I would say twice a year um we put together a donate. Um I was gonna say donate bin. It's like a donate 12 bags, is what we do. Donate truck bed. Donate the truck bed. Uh, a lot of clothes. Um, you know, we we put the kids grow out of them, um, and and then we'll often we we take those and we offer them to family and friends first, and and then whatever's left over we'll we'll bring to um uh goodwill or or or something like that. There's a lot of great services that they'll come and pick up the stuff from your driveway. Um but but it's important to set a goal. And and and really, folks setting a goal to declutter the whole house is is probably gonna result in you decluttering nothing. Um and and so it it's too much. Um so you know, maybe maybe the first goal is is you know what, we're gonna declutter the kitchen, or we're gonna declutter the pantry or the office or the garage. Um, set a goal, uh, start small and and and work from there. I think that it can it can be very overwhelming very quickly with the thought of decluttering your whole house.

Marcus Walgrave

You know, you you mentioned that you guys do it twice a year. I think that that's the goal in itself. Um, say we are going to declutter, donate once a year or twice a year. Um, I mean, I think I I never had a in a sense a goal set, but for me and our family, it seems to be very seasonal, right? It kind of seems like you get into spring, spring cleanup, fall cleanup. We've kind of just fallen in that. But you know, if you haven't uh uh uh created that type of of um consistency with decluttering, that could be the goal. Is hey, we are going to in the month of August, we are going to declutter and donate. Yeah, and and that it's something as simple as that.

Jason Walgrave

Yeah, I I think I think that's a good time. August and maybe January, right? I mean, you got August right before school starts, you know, summer's coming to an end, and then you got January after Christmas, which you you you know, you probably got a whole bunch of new stuff. So let's let's declutter some of the the things that you're not using. Um, so set a goal is one of the first uh tips on here. Can you declutter a gift that you just got? Well, I think you can re-gift it. I think you can re-gift it.

Skip The Bins Until You Purge

Jason Walgrave

Uh don't buy those cute storage bins yet. I mean, that is that uh I mean that's I'm guilty of that, right? Um you see in Marcus, you and I not too often, but but we do see um some homes that are incredibly organized. Um I've got a I've got a listing right now, and um they're empty nesters, and they are so organized. I'm talking bins in the garage and in the storage, they're all labeled. I mean, it is it's it's really impressive. Three ring binder to find everything, no no color coded. They do. They have a yeah, it's like a like one of those portable um filing case things. Yeah, the whole every appliance is in there, all the instructions, all the manuals, all labeled color labeled. I mean, it's I'm super impressed with these guys, but the don't go out and buy all the storage bins quite yet. Um one of the first things that you need to do um is is do a little purging. Um so the storage bins are the things that you're going to uh you're gonna keep, right? I think that um you don't want to keep everything. That kind of defeats the whole purpose, right? Purging is a part of the deal. Um, so hold off on the storage bins until until you know what it is you're gonna be you're gonna be storing.

Get Help And Stay Accountable

Jason Walgrave

Next on our list is uh get some help. Now, now when I when I first read this, I'm like, yep, putting my kids to work. Um that that's not exactly the help that they're talking about. Um there are professional organizers. There are companies out there that um and they're they're organizing professionals. They will come and I've I've seen some I've seen some clips on this. Um super cool, right? I mean, they this is what they do, they're professionals, whether it's organizing the drawers or the closets or the pantry or whatever the case is, um they they can be very, very helpful. Uh you're gonna spend somewhere between 60 and 200 bucks an hour to to hire a organizing professional. But but maybe maybe you want to start with getting the neighbor kids or getting some help or getting some you know high school kids to help out with the garage and the decluttering. You know, you're gonna spend 15, 20 bucks an hour. Um, and and that can be that that can be helpful and it can also keep you on task. I think that when you when you hire somebody to help you with the job, I think that you're more likely to complete the job because it's like, yeah, you're hiring them, but they're kind of they're kind of holding you accountable to finish the work, right? Um so don't don't be afraid to get some help and maybe hire somebody or maybe somebody owes you some favors, right? And and you can have them come help you out. I like that too. I mean, we our our kids are you know here here's the deal. They want money, they gotta go work. You know, I mean I mean for the most part, right? And and so and we got lots of jobs mowing and cleaning and uh I mean they're they do organizing and stuff, and and um so if you've got kids that that might be your might be your first first stop for help.

Categorize And Label What Stays

Jason Walgrave

Next on our list, categorize. Um I think this is a really good one, right? I mean it's you know again if you're starting with one area, maybe it's maybe it's the the entry or the mudroom closet. You're gonna start with that, you're gonna take out the things that that you don't need or that you don't want or you don't use, and then and then categorize anything. So putting them in category, you know, maybe you've got a bin with um uh kids' toys, or you've got another bin with um manuals, you know, for all the different things that you have, or you've got you know, you've got a tool bin, or you've got a you've got a duct tape bin, because you're never gonna have too much duct tape, right? Um but I think this is a good one. Categorize it, he helps you get not only helps you declutter, but become organized in the process.

Marcus Walgrave

Yeah, I think that that's you know one of the key parts of decluttering and and reorganizing is you know, to be more efficient as well. And I can't tell you how many times where if you do put something in a tote or a storage and you don't label it, I mean it it just again seasonal comes around and it's like, hey, where's where where is this? Can't find it. We must have thrown it away. And then next thing you know, you might run over to the store and and buy another inflatable pool and it gets home and you're like, we got five of them. You know, so so it's something as simple as that can can make it you know a lot more time efficient and also save you money.

Jason Walgrave

Next on our list, and and folks, um actually, should we do let's do a legal minute? Oh, we'll do a couple more. Um, folks, be sure to check out our website, ushometalk.com. Best way to get hold of us anytime. Uh watch and and uh listen to our past shows. We've also got our real estate hotline number, which Evan is rolling up um along the bottom. 612 2347585. The real estate hotline number is 612-2347585. Uh, next on our list, and we kind of touched on this already, um, start

Start Small With Junk Drawers

Jason Walgrave

small. Okay. Um, I I mean, I I already know what comes to my mind to start small, which is kind of big, is we got we got two junk drawers. So there's one in the mud room. Uh it's a top drawer, kind of where you put your uh your keys and your wallet and stuff, and then there's one in the kitchen. And and and these these two drawers. I don't even know.

Marcus Walgrave

Man, I mean I'm digging through the most I hear you.

Jason Walgrave

Digging digging through a thing. I dig through it, and whenever I'm digging through it, because I'm looking for something, all I'm thinking about is 80% of the stuff in that drawer. I don't need, I'll probably never use, and why do I got to go through it to find the one thing that I'm looking for?

Marcus Walgrave

Yeah, it's called junk. You're supposed to throw junk away. Like, why why are we collecting the junk? Like, that's I don't know.

Jason Walgrave

We got junk drawers chargers. My goodness, Marcus, we got we got chargers from 1985. You know, I have no idea what I don't even know what it plugs into. You know? Yeah, so but start small, start small. Um, you know, have a you only have two junk drawers? Yes, two drawers in the whole house. Well, the garage, I mean, I have one in the garage too, but that's more like a tool drawer, even though half of it is not tools. More junk, more junk, more junk.

Marcus Walgrave

I I I mean, I know of at least four drawers in my house that there's virtually nothing in there that's that's a value. Or use.

Jason Walgrave

Or use that you'll ever use. But you might. You never know. You never know. That's what we think, right? Um, we're gonna do one more and then we're gonna go to uh Jeff O'Brien's legal minute. Uh so after start small. Uh, here's interesting. The next one's

Beware The Purge Frenzy

Jason Walgrave

interesting. Beware the purger high. What does that mean? Liberating yourself from clutter can feel so good that some people get into a tossing frenzy. Yeah. See that too. Oh my goodness. Tossing it, right? Um, I I think of it reminds me of a story, Marcus. Um, when we were younger and uh Grandma Lucy, she was um, they had been in there on the farm for I don't know, what, 50 years, 60 years, a long time. You know, a long time. A long time. And she was um she did an excellent job canning, and uh there was in the basement at the the farm was there, there's quite a bit of stuff in there. So she and this is a long time ago, but I do recall it. So she was going away for uh a few days, and um our aunts and uncles, so her her kids, um, they went in and and they did they did a purge on on uh the basement on uh grandma Lucy's farmhouse basement, and it was it was a lot of stuff. I mean we're talking I don't know that if it was I don't know it was a full-size dumpster load, but it was at least you know three, four truck truckloads she came back, didn't even notice. Yes didn't even do you remember that uh vaguely.

Marcus Walgrave

I I remember the clean out because I remember you know going down there and it and it was full enough where you you couldn't really snoop around as a as a young kid that I was and and uh but then once it was cleared out you're like whoa wow this is actually a pretty spacious storage area.

Jason Walgrave

But but I I found I just remember finding that so fascinating that you know three or four truckloads worth of worth of stuff and and and she didn't even notice and and she was I mean she was older, but she wasn't like super old where you know where her her mind wasn't wasn't there, it was just that's how much stuff was there.

Marcus Walgrave

So um, you know, and on the opposite spectrum of this, Jason, and and if you're a parent out there that have kiddos, I I find it hard to you know the our my four-year-old comes home and has a nice uh coloring job and super proud of it she is, and and she shows me and you know, give her a quick high five, and then then it's like okay, you know, this one's gotta go. But I don't like throwing them away. No, it's so it's one of those deals where like uh even with the kids, if you if you're kind of in that same position where you're like, man, you know, they're really proud of it, I don't want to throw it away. You can throw it away just as long as they don't see it in the garbage can. Yeah, exactly. And then and then they then they they don't know that you threw it away. They won't realize you did. Um, but you can't like set it on the top to where when they go, you know, throw away the apple core, they see their and then and then now it's okay, now you're in trouble. Yeah, yeah, as a parent, and and your chit and your child's very upset about it, but yeah, parents, you guys can throw your stuff, your kids throw stuff away. It's okay. Just maybe put a a paper towel on top so they don't see what you threw away. They'll never they'll never miss it.

Jason Walgrave

My parents framed my all of it, they framed all of it. There's only a couple pieces, so well there you go, there you go. All right, let's do uh Jeff O'Brien's legal

Legal Minute On Lakebed Ownership

Jason Walgrave

minute. We'll come up and finish with a few more.

Jeff O'Brien

This is Jeff O'Brien, attorney with Hosh Blackwell, with a U.S. Home Talk legal minute. Minnesota is known as the land of 10,000 lakes. But who owns the beds under those lakes? The ownership of soil under most of the bodies of water in Minnesota is determined by whether the particular body of water was navigable on May 11, 1858, the date of Minnesota's admission to the Union. If the stream or lake is navigable, then the better the water course is owned by the state of Minnesota, and the question of whether a stream or lake is navigable is determined under federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court determined in state versus Adams that under federal law, streams are navigable if they are used or are susceptible for use in the ordinary condition as highways for commerce and the ordinary natural conditions refer to the volume of water, the gradients, and regularity of flow. This is Jeff O'Brien, attorney with Hosh Blackwell, with a U.S. Home Talk legal minute.

Glacier Lakes And Public Access Tensions

Jason Walgrave

That was a good legal minute. I like that one a lot. That was pretty fascinating. I I we had sorry, go ahead. No, I didn't realize that. That's some pretty pretty cool history.

Marcus Walgrave

Yeah, because what do you say, 1858 when the state was formed? Um it's kind of a topic in uh um in in our state, South Dakota. Um in and mostly because up in the northeast corner, they're glacier lakes. And if you're not familiar with what a glacier lake is, is it wasn't really a lake during drought areas, you know, it's more of a slough. But then when we have these you know back-to-back decades of high uh precipitation and snow snowfall, well, these these uh sloughs, you know, they fill up. They don't have inlets, they don't have outlets, so they just collect, they're like a bowl. And while I mean we're talking not just hundreds, but thousands and thousands of farmland is flooded, and now are these you know incredible fisheries. However, you know, it wasn't more than 50 years ago the farmers were farming that land because it was dry and they had crops on it. Now it's underwater, so you know, the the fishmen they they launched at the state uh access and you know they fish where they can, the boat floats, right? Nobody wants you don't own the water. Right. So they drive around and and and fish it. But there was some, you know, some properties that were like, hey, you know, uh uh they they fought it and and they were able to keep the public off of them and um so definitely interesting. Yeah, wh the northeast corner of Wa Bay is a glacier lake. Um, you know, so it has like its original lake uh shoreline, I guess, for lack of a better way to describe it. But I mean it's it's significantly larger today than it was um in the 80s. Wow. So you know, thousands of farm uh acres of farmland have are flooded in that area and and um you know so it's hot topic. Hot topic.

Jason Walgrave

Hot topic indeed.

Marcus Walgrave

And that's Devil's Lake too in North Dakota. Oh really? Devil's Lake, yeah, that that's a sim same thing. It's like I think Devil's Lake's there's gets to like 40 some feet, and and it should be like 10 from from way back in the day. So there's tens of thousands of acres of farmland underwater in the Devil's Lake area.

Jason Walgrave

And we and when you're saying way back in the day, you're talking about 50, 60 years ago, so not that long ago.

Marcus Walgrave

Yeah, like like I think um I'm trying to remember here, there was a drought in like the 70s or 80s. Okay. So that's kind of like where you know these these old lake beds that were maybe just sloughs, you know, for had been sloughs for a long time. Kind of give you an example in South Dakota, our largest lake is Lake Thompson. Well, the Native Americans, they called that uh um um what is it? They called it a uh uh a prairie prairie lake because it was just grass, it was like wet wetland grass. And now you know Lake Thompson's 30 feet deep in the deepest hole. Wow, you know, so it's and you can go on on Google um if on a desktop desktop, you can download Google Earth and go and look at prehistoric uh prehistoric historical imagery and go back into like the 70s and 80s and see these these what are now huge lakes that that they were these little grass ponds. So it's interesting.

Selling Stuff And Leaving A Legacy

Jason Walgrave

Super cool. Uh don't expect a windfall of cash when you uh sell some of these items. So um I think I think often we we think uh some of our personal items are worth more than what they are. Um you know if you're talking about you know selling stuff, you're you're probably gonna get between 20 and 30 percent of what you paid for it, you know, and and that's that's furniture, you know, clothes, I mean, I mean items that have any value at all. Um so although it uh it it might be you might get excited thinking you're gonna make all this cash by decluttering and oh but if it's an antique, well that's that's a great point, Evan. Um well then you could you could be doing well on the antique part of it, but for the most part, um things are you know they're they're really not worth that much any longer if it's if it's um been used. So um next on this list is uh leave a legacy of love. What does that mean? You don't want to leave your friends and family with a house full of crap and a bunch of work. That's harsh. That is harsh. You want to leave a legacy of love. So what is that talking about? I th this is kind of fascinating to me because um we Marcus, you and I we we go into a lot of different houses and you know, and and sometimes homes that folks have been there for many, many decades. And it is uh what what I have always found very interesting um being in real estate is that uh and this happens often, you know, you've got uh you've got folks that pass away. Uh they've been in their home a a long time, you know, many decades. And uh their kids, you know, maybe they have a uh some offspring, they've got you know, two, three, four, whatever kids. And and the kids will come in and every almost everything in the house is junk to them. You know, and and so it just I've always found it. I've always found it uh and yes, my offspring. Um I've always found it fascinating that that people will spend their entire lives collecting stuff, right? Things. And uh maybe uh it has value to them or or or maybe they're just they never decluttered, right? Um but uh most of that stuff, guys, is there there's zero value to even to your kids. Now, if you can declutter and and you can, you know, you can get out and you can organize. Well, now the things that you've kept I think have greater value to your kids or to your grandkids or to whoever you're leaving the stuff to because then people will look at it and they're they're not looking at a whole house full of stuff, but they're looking at uh some things that you kept and to them it's gonna mean I think it's gonna mean well that was important to that person because they kept it. You know, if you got all game cards, yeah. Keep the game cards, uh I mean definitely, right? So um that that's a that's another way to look at it, is is if you're able to declutter and organize and you know and get rid of all these things that you don't really need, um, the things that you do leave behind um will likely have more value to the people you're leaving to.

Marcus Walgrave

Obviously, generational thing, right, Jason. I mean, when we talk about you know these situations, uh they are likely pertaining to the silent generation, um, our parents being the generation of the baby boomers. Um I I wouldn't I wouldn't be surprised if we get 30 years down the road and and people aren't really going to be experiencing that same. Right. You know, the silent generation was, you know, uh if you were able to have any kind of extra or surplus of of goods or material, uh listing things, um, it it gets kept. There's no such thing as throwing anything away. But yeah, I think you start seeing like the baby boomers. I mean, I I can't imagine there are gonna be too many baby boomers who are gonna have a house full. It's not gonna be like what it was, where it was like almost across the board. Yeah, silent generation passes, and their house is gonna be full to the brim. Yeah, of original stuff. Yeah we're like, you know, so I think that that that might be what we see in the future.

Jason Walgrave

I think you're right. Yep, yep, I think you're right. I mean, I think about you know, I think about all the things that I remember, you know, talking to dad growing up, and and I don't know how this conversation came up a few times, but it's like, hey dad, if the the house is burning down, what would you grab? And you know, and his he's always like, Oh, I family photos. I'd grab family photos, yeah. The one thing that's really he's like everything else you can replace, you know, and and and even in today's world, majority of the family photos are all digital and they're probably on a cloud or a storage device or whatever, anyway. So, you know, it is um and I think that goes back to the the previous one. If if you're able to declutter, then the things that you keep, you know, they meant they mean something more to you, and and they're probably gonna mean something more to the people that you're leaving

No Maybe Piles And No Storage Units

Jason Walgrave

them to. So um do not create this is a good one. Do not create a maybe pile. There's no maybe piles. Okay, it's either I'm keeping it or I'm or I'm getting rid of it. No maybe piles, because the maybe piles are definitely gonna be kept.

Marcus Walgrave

You know, and and so if you do make a maybe pile, you have to make the the decision at the end of the day whether it's gonna be a keeper or a goer. You can't like you can't like keep you know, the maybe if if this is gonna be a maybe, you know, it only gets one day. It's a one day, one day pile.

Jason Walgrave

At the end of the day, it's got you gotta decide stay or go. Stay or go. So um, no maybe piles. And and and look, if you're gonna declutter, don't plan on getting a storage unit to simply move it from your house to the storage unit. Because it it is that happens. Um yeah, that happens. I kind of joke, and when I'm helping sellers out, and they're you know, they're talking about decluttering, getting their house ready for sale, and um you know, and and they say, I just we got so much stuff. And and I I always say, look, my my personal rule is is if I haven't used it in 10 years, I don't need it. So if if it's in that same box when I moved into this house 10 years ago, I don't need it. Yeah, you know, I haven't opened the box. Getting close to that with your home currently. Yeah, 11 years you've been there. 12 years. No disappearance. Yeah, 12. 12 years you've been there. Yep.

Marcus Walgrave

Yeah, so if you have an unopened box in your house, Jason, you can toss it.

Jason Walgrave

Well, now my in the last few years, my kids are going through all that stuff and and they're because they think it's cool. They're like, oh, look at the stuff dad had from college, and you know, and I gotta make sure I don't have anything inappropriate in there.

Marcus Walgrave

So don't of course not.

Jason Walgrave

Never. Never.

Avoid Recluttering With Simple Systems

Jason Walgrave

All right. Last on our list, folks, we've been talking about decluttering. Decluttering. Last on our list, and and um be sure to check out our website, ushometalk.com. Um last on the list, and this is appropriate. Avoid recluttering. Avoid recluttering. Um, set up ongoing systems, um, you know, labeling things, bins, uh, shelves. Uh, my wife does a really good job at organizing. She um she's organized our pantry countless times, and um, of course, it doesn't stay organized because blaming it on the kids for sure. I probably didn't have anything to do with it, but um, but that that's you know, you want to avoid that, right? You're decluttering to become more organized, get rid of stuff you don't need, uh, avoid uh the the recluttering. I think with a plan, uh Marcus, we talked about in the beginning of the show um having that that goal, and and maybe it's just hey, look, twice a year we're gonna do we're gonna do a decluttering, we're gonna do a purge, and we're gonna do a you know a sell and and give away uh bags, and and and then if you can do that a couple times a year, folks, you're gonna stay on top of it. Um I mean you really are if you don't you know a year becomes three, becomes five, becomes ten, and it's like you just got piles and piles of stuff you don't need.

Marcus Walgrave

So it kind of goes back to the original one, the you know, create a uh a goal. Yeah, and maybe that's what it is. Just just hey, we are going to come up with a plan uh on how to uh declutter and stay decluttered throughout the year, and and uh um you know this is all uh achievable, it doesn't need to happen today or this weekend. Um you guys can just start sitting down and brainstorming some ideas on how to do it and and uh uh when you do declutter, it feels good. It does feel good. It feels good.

Jason Walgrave

I I I love bringing bags to the goodwill and going through their drive-thru thing and getting out and throwing all the little bags in the in their bins and drive away. I'm like, ah, that feels good.

Marcus Walgrave

You know, I got I got one that it's not on your list. This is a personal one that I just came up uh came up with here probably in the last like half a year. And it goes to the totes. You know, you can get one of the very large toasts, the ones that like if it's full, you can't lift it up without some help. You know, it's like a three by two by two, you know, big one. We just leave that one in the garage with the lid off, and it is the the collector of things that we can donate or give out to families or needs. So once it's full, there it goes. That's it. And then it's empty and it just sits there. Just one tote sits there, and and you know, whether it's a shirt or clothes or whatever it might be, a toy, um, you know, it just sits in the garage, it doesn't take up a lot of space, it's just one one tote, and once it's full, it goes.

Jason Walgrave

I I love that. I love that. That's that's really good. My my last um my last tip I'm gonna throw out there um when you do the the totes and the bins, um uh along with label labeling them, which is very important, um, buy the clear ones. Buy the clear ones because then you don't have to take out the tote and open the tote and dig through it. You can actually see in there. So that's my contribution to the list today. Love it. Folks, we appreciate you tuning in. Um looking forward to uh seeing you again next Wednesday at noon Central Standard Time. Be sure to check out our website, ushometalk.com. Connect directly with Marcus, myself, Mike Overson, Evan Little, all of our fantastic partners. Um, hope you have a fantastic week. Uh, be sure to remember our uh hotline number, which is six one two three four four four four four seventy-five eighty-five. We'll see you guys soon.

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Jason Walgrave

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Marcus Walgrave

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Mike Ouverson

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