JOY Home Organizing

"Don't put it down. Put it AWAY!" Save yourself a step. Everything has to go 'home' when you're done with it anyways. My recent client – with young children – really liked this reminder saying, so I'm working on designing it as a sticker. Which layout should I go with?

It’s a fact.

I have a bin of VHS tapes in my basement. I have not owned a VCR since 2007. My husband asked me why we still have them. I said "sentimental value." He asked what sentimental value a taped-over episode of Friends from 1998 could possibly have. I did not have an answer. But I also did not throw them away. That was three years ago. They are still there.

Messie Condo wrote Nobody Wants Your S*t* for people like me. People who keep things for no reason. People who think "but I might need it someday" about a bread maker they have used exactly once. People who are going to die one day and leave their children the impossible task of sorting through twenty-three butter dishes and a collection of souvenir spoons from states no one remembers visiting.

This book is not gentle. It is not Swedish. It does not hold your hand and whisper about minimalism as a spiritual practice. It shows up at your door, looks at your hoard of mismatched Tupperware lids, and says "what the f*ck is wrong with you." Then it hugs you. Then it hands you a trash bag.

The title is the thesis. Nobody wants your sh*t. Not your kids. Not your nieces and nephews. Not the charity shop, most of the time. Your collectible plates are not collectible. Your Beanie Babies are worth what you paid for them, which is to say less than nothing. Your good china, the set you never use because it is "too good for everyday"—will be donated, unsentimentally, by a person who never met you and does not care that it was your grandmother's. That is not mean. That is just the truth. And the truth, delivered with enough f-bombs to make a sailor blush, is actually liberating.

The book's best section is about "sentimental clutter." This is the stuff that kills you. The baby shoes. The love letters from an ex. The art projects your kid made in second grade (they are now twenty-seven). Condo's advice: keep a box. One box. That is it. The entire physical archive of your emotional life fits in one box. Everything else? Photograph it. Then toss it. The memory is not in the object. The memory is in you.

Three Lessons:

1. Your kids do not want your s**t. They are just too polite to say so.
This is the cold hard truth at the center of the book. You think you are leaving them an inheritance. You are leaving them a chore. A paid-by-the-hour junk removal company will take your china cabinet for $200. Your children will pay them with a smile. Do not make them pay. Deal with it now.

2. "But I might need it someday" is a lie you tell yourself to avoid making a decision.
The someday never comes. The bread maker sits in the cupboard. The extra sheets for a bed no one uses. The third hammer. The fourth. Condo says: if you have not needed it in a year, you will never need it. If you need it after you throw it away, you can borrow one or buy another. The cost of repurchasing is lower than the cost of storing it for twenty years.

3. The goal is not to live in an empty room. The goal is to live in a room where everything matters.
Condo is not a minimalist. She is not telling you to own three shirts and a spoon. She is telling you to own things you actually use or actually love. Everything else is just... noise. The space between the stuff is where your life actually happens. Clear the noise. Find the space.

I read this book in one afternoon. Then I filled seven trash bags. Then I drove them to Goodwill. Then I came home and looked at my living room, which suddenly felt bigger, and I cried a little, and then I laughed at myself for crying. That is the emotional arc of this book. Grief, then laughter, then freedom.

Buy this book. Read it. Then give it to someone you love who needs to hear it. Then throw away something you have been keeping for no reason. Feel fantastic. Die lighter. Your kids will thank you. Or they would, if they knew. Do not make them wait until you are dead to be grateful. Do it now. For f*ck's sake.

BOOK: https://amzn.to/4xby28u

22 years later, I can still get into my wedding gown! ❤ Organizing is hard work that keeps me fit; bending to pick things up, reaching up into closets and cabinets, carrying donation boxes out to the truck, etc.

Did you know you can put JOY Home Organizing help on your wedding gift registry? Who needs more towels or a toaster? These days couples usually have what they need by the time they tie the knot. I can help you decide what to keep or not, set up your new home, and begin your new life happy from the start! 🥰
www.JOYHomeOrg.com

Wedding season is in full swing! 💍

Many couples are getting married later in life and already have all the towels, dishes, and gadgets they need. What they often don't have is a plan for combining two households into one functional, clutter-free home.

A home organizing session makes a thoughtful and practical wedding gift. It can help newlyweds blend their spaces, simplify their belongings, and start married life feeling organized and stress-free. You can even add home organizing to your wedding registry! Just download this graphic and share it with your guests online.

When you're ready to lose clutter and feel better, call JOY Home Organizing. You'll LOVE our services. 💝

Click to read another 5 🌟review from a happy customer who I helped lose clutter and feel better. It’s such a rewarding profession. I can’t wait to help you! Who’s next? ✨👍 💖 😄

Google review of J.O.Y. Home Organizing ★★★★★

I love this. It truly works. Releasing physical clutter opens up space for the mental clutter to release as well. Works every time. Need some support? I’ve got you. 💖
Lose clutter. Feel Better. 😄. Call JOY Home Organizing!

When your mind feels heavy and chaotic,
stop trying to fix your entire life at once.

Clean your room.
Wash the dishes.
Open a window.
Light a candle.
Fold your clothes slowly and breathe while you do it.

Small acts of order can calm a nervous system drowning in overwhelm.
Because healing does not always begin with big breakthroughs…
sometimes it begins with quietly creating peace in the space around you. ✨🕊

Thank you to those who gave their all so we can live in freedom. May we always strive to be the kind of Americans worthy of their sacrifice. God Bless America — today and every day.

One of my favorite rules to share to help you stay organized: “Don’t put it down. put it AWAY! 👏 😄✨

If there’s one secret to a tidy home, it’s this: Repeat after me — Don’t put it down. Put it away. That’s it. That’s the habit. And when the whole family lives by it? Total. Game. Changer. Comment “PUT IT AWAY” if this is your new house rule — and send this to the one person who needs to hear it. 👏 Thank you @nest.place for inspiring with this genius jingle!