Yesterday, I spoke with the lovely Sandy Shepard and recorded an episode of her fEmpowerment podcast titled “How Not to Get Divorced Before You Get Married - Decluttering and Moving In Together.” We discuss:
- How the Unclutterer Got Started, including all about Mazes of Stuff and the Bud Lite Bottle rising from the Dead/Rubbermaid Coffin (cue scary music);
- How to terrorize soon-to-be-husbands (N.B.: Mazes of stuff will do it);
- Dealing kindly with a Packrat;
- How to start the decluttering process, be dispassionate, and communicate;
- Two great ways to diminish the “mine v. yours” struggle;
- How to discuss what “Simple Living” means to each of you and how to imagine living together as one;
- Your Toaster or Mine: How to deal when the space won’t hold it all (especially two of everything);
- Who are You, Really: What new and exciting thoughts you could entertain about decluttering and how not to drag the anchor of the Old You, along with all of her dead/post energy and stories, into your new life; and
- A whole lot more!
If you’re getting ready to combine your household with someone else’s — a new roommate, a new spouse, a new child, an older parent coming to live in your established home — then you hopefully will find some advice in this episode for how to handle the transition smoothly. Or, if you’ve already combined a household with someone and it isn’t going the way you imagined, you might also want to give this episode a listen. Sandy and I laugh through a good portion of the interview, so you may even just want to give it a listen if you want to smile. And, hopefully, I don’t scare all of you with my story of how I became an Unclutterer.
To listen, follow the link to the article and then click on the red play button at the bottom of the page. A giant thank you, too, to Sandy for picking such a relevant topic and being such a terrific hostess.
