Sole Searching

Mary Anne Ivison  00:01

The declutter queen with Avery Cundill,

Avery Cundill  00:06

today, we are going to do some soul searching. But the soul I am talking about is spelled s, O, L, E, yes, we are diving into shoes. Have you ever opened a closet, had a shoe avalanche and immediately shut the door in defeat? Or maybe this has happened to you. You are walking with purpose in your house, and you happen to trip on not one, not two, but maybe even three pairs of stray shoes. Can you relate? We're talking about shoes the pairs you love, the ones you forgot you own, and the ones you'll swear you'll wear when the right outfit comes along. Sound familiar. Shoes are sneaky. They're small, easy to justify buying, and often loaded with emotion, but when they are overflowing from every corner, it's time to take a step back, literally. So let's dive into why we hang on to so many pairs of shoes, how to pare them down and what to do with the ones we let go of.

01:34

Why do we have so many shoes?

Avery Cundill  01:37

Let's be real, most of us wear the same few pairs of shoes on repeat, yet we own enough to shoe a small village or two. Why? One reason might be that shoes represent possibilities, versions of ourselves. We want to be professional. Me, vacation. Me cool concert going, me running a marathon, me even if that's never going to happen. But shoes that don't fit your life, your current life, the one you're living today, are just clutter. Another reason might be that shoes are expensive, and because of this, we are more likely to hold on to them out of guilt. But let me offer you this truth. Just because you paid for them doesn't mean you have to keep paying for them in space and stress. There may be many more reasons why we hold on to shoes? So today, why don't we try and see if we can declutter our shoes? The first thing to make sure is that you have your garbage bags or different color bags on hand, so that when you have finally gotten to distribution, the bags will be there to collect all of the shoes to make everything more simplified, I'd like to take a look at what I call the shoe declutter method, four easy steps. Let's break it down into a simple, manageable process.

Matt Cundill  03:16

Number one, gather them all.

Avery Cundill  03:19

Yep, here is that gather piece again, pull every pair out closets, under the bed, maybe even the car, the back porch, wherever, and then group them by category, sneakers, heels, sandals, boots. You get the drift, seeing them all together is very eye opening.

Matt Cundill  03:46

Number two, the three pile, sort, keep, let go, unsure,

Avery Cundill  03:53

go, pair by pair and ask, do they fit comfortably? Have I worn them in the last six months or a year? Do they support my current lifestyle, the one you're actually living today? If it's a no to two or more of these, it's time to let go, keep your unsure pile small, maybe even put them in a box labeled revisit in 30 days. If you don't think about them by then, they're not worth the space

Matt Cundill  04:29

number three, reality check, lifestyle alignment,

Avery Cundill  04:34

let's look at your keep pile. Does it match your current life? If you have eight pairs of high heel shoes, but wear flats daily, something's off. Keep the shoes that fit your real routine, not your fantasy Calendar Number four,

Matt Cundill  04:55

clean, donate, repurpose,

Avery Cundill  04:58

wipe down the shoes. You're donating, give gently worn ones to shelters or local charities, sell quality ones on resale sites, and if there are some that are too worn out, that's okay, thank them and let them go to garbage. Here's a helpful shift. Think of your shoes as tools. Would you keep 15 hammers in your toolbox just because they're cute? Nope, you need the right tool for the job. It's the same with shoes. Also your worth isn't tied to what you keep letting go of those sparkly heels from the party days or those fancy boots that never fit isn't wasteful. It's wise you're making room for the version of you that actually exists. Also make sure that once you've made decisions on the shoes, which ones you're keeping, which ones are ready for the trash, or which ones you're going to donate or sell, that you assign each pair to the appropriate garbage bag and then try and deal with these tasks sooner rather than later, there's nothing worse than having full garbage bags of giveaway or garbage that sit by the door for four months. Get rid of them today. So are you ready to step into a simpler shoe situation? Your challenge this week, declutter five pairs of shoes. That's it, just five. Look at your shelf, your floor, your entryway, and choose five pairs to donate, toss or box up in the maybe pile, you will be amazed at how much lighter you feel, how much quicker you get out the door, and how much clearer your space becomes. And hey, if you found this episode helpful, pass it on to a friend who's drowning in flip flops or tripping over boots they haven't worn since 2014 you'll find the full declutter checklist and donation resources in today's show notes. I'd like to welcome to the show a very special guest who's come to have tea with the queen, my auntie Vicky shemmy,

Speaker 1  07:38

and now tea with the declutter queen.

Avery Cundill  07:44

I'd like to welcome to the show Vicky. Shemmy. Vicky is a very close family friend for many, many years of mine and my family. And I would like to thank her for joining us. Thank you for joining us on The declutter queen, Auntie Vicky,

Vicky Shemie  08:01

thank you for having me,

Avery Cundill  08:02

for sure, so happy to have you. And I believe you have a question today,

Vicky Shemie  08:08

I do, I do, but I'll start first by saying how many things I got tips from your many, many podcasts. And I hope you come over soon, if you can to see what I integrated from your podcasts, the house looks better, cleaner, and so now I do have some question that has been bothering me for many years. How can I declutter my textbooks? You know, it's so painful parting with them.

Avery Cundill  08:39

So textbooks. Textbooks are sneaky. It's such a relatable struggle. I It's not the first time I've heard and maybe it wasn't textbooks, maybe it was some other, oh my, my books in general, or notepads or things that I just feel like I can't get rid of them. And so they feel important, and that means, like you might need them again one day for information, but also they carry kind of a nostalgia for us. They remind us of a time in our lives, know where something was happening that maybe was joyful, and we feel a little bit guilty. Oh, my

Vicky Shemie  09:18

God, so far it is, like, 100% true. It's like, it's sort of like a part of me, and exactly what you said, it's a part of where I was when those textbooks were being used, and the entire whole total global experience.

Avery Cundill  09:37

Yes, there are a few things that I can suggest in order to deal with these, and they're kind of what I call emotional dilemmas, and we'll get more into that in a minute. But before we give you the sort of the play by play, and I'm happy to follow this up later, you don't have to write anything down or memorize I'll send you some notes. But before you even begin to tackle this project, I want you to. To be in a place where you're in the right mindset. You're going to sit down, you're going to find all your books, and you're going to ask yourself the following questions, and you have to kind of be honest with yourself. You know you only have to answer to yourself. So the first question is, am I keeping this because I actually use it, or because it represents something, and that something could be effort, identity, being proud of the book and what it symbolizes to you. So that's the first question to ask yourself. The second question is, do I believe that I would realistically open this textbook again. Okay? And then that's important, because if you haven't opened it, you know, I always say there's the year rule, if you know, you can expand that, if you happen to open it for three years, is it realistic to think, Oh, I am going to start opening this book? And the third question is, does this book make me feel inspired or weighed down, and to just break that down, most people keep their textbooks out of habit or sentiment, not usefulness. So that's important, because we should, you know, there's things that we have in our house, of course, that don't have that much use, but we want to try and have the things that we use outweigh the things that we don't use in our lives. Otherwise, it's just taking up space. Does that? Does that make sense to you? Yes, okay, very much so. So when you go through those you know, those are the the background questions that you're going to keep in your mind when you're doing this. Is it something you know? Do I really need it? Am I using it? Is it something that I need, you know? Or the other side, which is, is it more of a nostalgia thing? So that's the mindset that I sort of was hoping for you to get into before you even sit down in front of the books and tackle now this is my suggestion. So wherever your books are housed, you don't have to gather them all in one place. You can physically take yourself to them, you know, you know where they are, and we start sorting. Okay, so there's going to be three piles. That's the way that I always deal with stuff, because I think it's the easiest way to declutter. So pile one is going to be a definitely keep pile. I'm keeping these for sure, books that you still reference or deeply love or both. Those are the ones that are in the keep pile. Then you're going to make a maybe keep pile, okay, and we will come back to this. But the maybe keep pile are the ones that you feel really torn about that, not sure. I'm really not sure. We make a pile of the maybe the third pile is release, and that means they're outdated, they're not being read, and you're emotionally neutral to them. So okay, these ones, I for sure can release. That's the the release pile, if you will. Okay, now, now, let's go back. So pile one, after you've gone through this process, you're going to have three piles. Pile one. Now with that definitely keep pile those you're going to put back and know that these are the ones that you're not willing to part with. So the keep ones go back. Let's jump to pile three, the release pile. Now, it could be small for now. Could get bigger, but it's important to remember that when we release something, sometimes it's easier to know it's going somewhere useful to others. So I want you to sort of channel that energy and think, Okay, now I've got these ones I'm getting rid of. They're not going into the trash. You can donate them. So there's so many ways to do this in your local area, there's schools, there's literacy programs, all kinds of places that the you know, the library sometimes take them shelters. So that's a little bit of research for you to do. But it's research that's important, because when you know that you're giving them somewhere useful, it's a really, it's a much better feeling. Does that make sense? Right? Okay, then there's the option to sell. And that one, you know, with textbooks, I'm less inclined. They do update them all the time. You know, what's the you know, the chances of you selling them. So that's sort of, for me, a little bit less viable. And then there's the recycle. So if there's a book that's outdated or damaged or something that, you know, Oh, this isn't of use to anybody. It's going to be recycled. And that's also a good use of the book. You know, recycling is a great way to do it. So that's kind of where I want you to think of that release pile. Now, let's go back to the maybe pile Auntie Vicky, that's sometimes the hardest one. So you're sitting in front of these books, maybe there's a. Lot. Maybe there's a few. Doesn't matter. Now the maybe pile. So this is where you're going to pick up each book. And you're going to ask yourself, if I needed the topic again. So let's say you pick up a book about I don't know, biology, biology. If I needed this topic again, could I find the information online or through the library, okay, so if the answer is yes, now we consider releasing that book. Okay. Second question, would I pay if I was moving? Would I include this in my moving plans? Okay? And then, if the answer is no, you consider releasing it. You know, the best way to declutter is to always assume you're moving, because is that something that you want to take with you on the next journey that you're taking? And the third question is, if this book vanished today, would I notice? And if the answer is no, exactly right? If the answer is no, you consider releasing it. So oh my goodness, these are those questions. Because now let me just, just as a capper, if you're still unsure, even after all those questions, you're like, oh, I don't know. I don't know, take a photo of the cover of the book or maybe a favorite page, and then release it, because you can keep the memory of the book without the bulk Wow, keeping a symbol of the book, or books is a wonderful thing to do, rather than feeling obligated to keeping the book itself, because maybe these books represented your academic journey, and choosing one book or two books that mean the most to you. That's the memento. So the memory is that we're not throwing out our memories, because our memories are with us. But you know, sometimes we think, Oh, I'm going to forget. Take a picture of the book. Even take a picture and print it and make a scrapbook. Or, do you know what I mean? There's, yes, there's better ways to preserve a memory than having this bulky, big textbook in our lives? Does that make sense to you, too?

Vicky Shemie  17:08

My goodness, I'm really in in awe here. Yes, okay, I think you just touched on exactly the emotions that are giving me this problem of parting with them.

Avery Cundill  17:20

Yes, and I think that it's very common to keep things because they they remind us of a certain time of our lives, and we don't want to forget that time of our lives. However, there's a point where it's just literally weighing us down, and especially textbooks. If they're just dust collectors. They're sitting on the shelves. They're not doing anything. And you know, I had this conversation with a friend of mine, as you know, I we just moved from Winnipeg to Quebec, and I had all these books, and my friend came over all these cookbooks, and she looked at me and she said, You know, I know you like them, but don't you just go online and find recipes now? And I said, you know, she goes, When was the last time you ever open any of these cookbooks? And I said, my goodness, years. It's, you know, the last time I opened up a recipe and really leafed through these thick. There was a time for that, but now it's so much easier just to Google a chicken parmesan. You've got your recipe right there. So, you know, keep a few, but I got rid of so much, and I know now that was the right thing to do, because I'm not even using them, and they got donated, and somebody else maybe can have the pleasure. Maybe somebody who doesn't have the internet, or somebody who really needs a cookbook, you know, would get them now that are using them. It's just becomes a useless thing. At some point I see, I

Vicky Shemie  18:47

see, you know, honestly, I have found recipes online that are very, very old Iranian, very ethnic dishes. And I thought, nobody will have this. But there were, like, five or six recipes for each dish I looked

Avery Cundill  19:01

for for sure, and keep the things that make sense to you take a picture of a recipe of a book rather than, Oh, I mean, we could extend this conversation to all books in two seconds. But what's the purpose of those? Because things do get outdated, and we, we tend to want to preserve things. Oh, we don't want to be wasteful. And you know, these cost money and whatever is playing in your mind, but if you're not using them, there's a point where, yeah, it's outdated technology for you, and it's time to move it along. And I promise you start the journey. Don't rush yourself like that. Maybe pile maybe it sits around for a few weeks and you ponder it a little bit, but once you start doing it, you'll feel lighter, you'll feel you'll feel happier, because you won't have all of this excess stuff weighing you down, cluttering up your space, you

Vicky Shemie  19:56

know, oh my goodness, yes, yes. This is extremely helpful. And I didn't think that these emotions would be hit so correctly. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know I had these emotions.

Avery Cundill  20:10

Well, that's the thing we often don't and when we start to answer these questions, it's, oh, okay, why am I keeping this? Why am I keeping that? I don't need all of them. Maybe one will do. The memories are here. We keep things a lot out of fear, too, afraid that we're going to make a mistake. But you know, when it comes to textbooks, also, I'll remind you know, you and everyone that, yeah, stuff gets outdated. And I would, you know, even those texts, probably there's been 40 or 50 reprinting. So if that helps too, knowing, oh, this is even out of date. It's not even up to date accurate information anymore. That's sometimes a helpful thing to getting rid of stuff. Lovely. And I thank you so much for joining me. And hopefully you'll come back. You'll come back again. Oh, my goodness.

Vicky Shemie  21:03

Honestly, I just thought I'd hit this question, and you will help me a little bit. But I think this is a huge, a big mountain of help. I have time before tonight is over, and I think I probably will start doing these three questions, the three piles tonight, perfect.

Mary Anne Ivison  21:24

Thanks for listening to the declutter queen with Avery Cundill for more decluttering tips and tricks, go to the declutter queen.ca produced and distributed by the sound off media company you.