Unattached: Sock Science

Declutter Your Life & Embrace Joy: Dive into the Emotional Side of Letting Go on Living Lucky®

Feeling overwhelmed by clutter? It's not just physical stuff –  it's the emotional weight of memories and past experiences. In this episode of Living Lucky®, we take a deep dive into the unseen world of decluttering, guiding you through the process of letting go with grace and humor.

Here's what you'll discover:

• The surprising connection between that lonely sock and the memories it holds. You'll laugh along as we explore the emotional attachments we form with everyday objects.
• The true value of your possessions isn't the price tag, but the joy they bring. Learn to appreciate what you have, then let it go with a sense of completion when it's time.
• Why we hold onto things that no longer serve us. We explore the psychology behind attachment and how it can prevent new opportunities from entering our lives.
• Practical tips for decluttering your home, including a lighthearted look at the garage sale phenomenon. Discover how to find satisfaction in letting go, even if it means parting with something for less than expected.
• A step-by-step approach to emotional decluttering. We'll help you identify and release the emotional baggage that might be holding you back.

Decluttering isn't just about creating space; it's about creating freedom.  By letting go of what no longer serves you, you make room for new experiences, growth, and a lighter, more joyful way of living.

This episode is your invitation to embark on a transformative journey. Join Jason Shelfer and Jana Banana, the hosts of Living Lucky®, as we explore the emotional landscape of decluttering and discover the power of living with less, while cherishing the richness of your past.

Ready to unleash the "Living Lucky®" version of yourself? Press play and let's get started!

P.S. Don't forget to visit our website at https://www.livinglucky.com for more inspiration and resources to help you create a life you love.

Decluttering, Emotional Attachment, Letting Go, Minimalism, Joyful Living, Living Lucky®, Personal Growth, Self-Help, Memories, Relationships, Garage Sales
Emotional Detox, Letting Go with Grace, Breaking Free from Clutter, The Power of Letting Go, Decluttering Hacks, Garage Sale Success, Minimalist Living Tips, Step-by-Step Decluttering, Decluttering for Beginners, Relationship Decluttering,  Decluttering for a Joyful Life,  Declutter Your Relationships, Garage Sale Therapy, Find Joy in Letting Go, Declutter Your Past, Embrace Your Future

Transcript

Letting Go of Sentimental Clutter

Jana Shelfer 0:00

Are you ready to create a life you crave ? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky® . Good morning , I'm Jana and this is my husband, Jason, and we are Living Lucky® . You are too .

Jana Shelfer 0:21

It's garage sale time it's garage sale time it's everywhere . Every neighborhood within a six mile period . They all have signs that say garage sale .

Jason Shelfer 0:33

That seems like we're making it an absolute , but literally I feel like all the neighborhoods that we passed in the last couple of days have had a sign up that says garage sale this weekend .

Jana Shelfer 0:42

Yeah , if you're looking to go thrifting , which someone just challenged us to go thrifting on our morning coffee .

Jason Shelfer 0:50

They did . They said they had a great time last weekend with their daughter out thrifting .

Jana Shelfer 0:55

Okay , here's the thing is . For the last couple months I've been saying we need to go through the house and we need to do a little clean out Some cleaning up . It's time to clean out some books .

Jason Shelfer 1:10

Let go of some things .

Jana Shelfer 1:11

Clean out some art supplies .

Jason Shelfer 1:14

Probably clean out some of the things that I hold on to in the garage .

Jana Shelfer 1:18

Clean out some socks .

Jason Shelfer 1:20

Yeah .

Jana Shelfer 1:21

Clean out some old clothes .

Jason Shelfer 1:22

I know there's a lot of people going to garage sales looking for socks , some old , worn out socks .

Jana Shelfer 1:29

Clean out some audio equipment .

Jason Shelfer 1:31

Especially some of those socks that don't have a match .

Jana Shelfer 1:34

Almost all of them , and why do we keep the other one ?

Jason Shelfer 1:38

I probably have the largest collection of single socks .

Jana Shelfer 1:43

Why , though , why do you keep it ?

Jason Shelfer 1:45

Because I'm waiting for the other one to show up .

Jana Shelfer 1:48

But it never does . Where do the socks go ?

Jason Shelfer 1:51

Where have all the old socks gone ?

Jana Shelfer 1:56

Okay , yeah , I think I know what song you were singing .

Jana Shelfer 2:01

Somewhere , somewhere , that tune is there .

Jason Shelfer 2:03

I think it's the romantic in me just knows that that match is still out there looking .

Jana Shelfer 2:08

It has a soulmate .

Jason Shelfer 2:09

It does .

Jana Shelfer 2:11

Wait , no , seriously , where do the matching socks go ?

Jason Shelfer 2:15

That's what bothers my soul is . I know that it's out there and I just don't want to be the person that gives up on that match .

Jana Shelfer 2:25

Okay , so let's walk through the path . Path because we take them off your feet .

Jason Shelfer 2:28

Together , Well , I take them off my feet together and you usually throw them on the floor together . Yes , and then one of us puts them in the hamper .

Jana Shelfer 2:38

Usually Jana . I put them in the hamper together .

Jason Shelfer 2:41

And then one of us takes them to the washing machine .

Jana Shelfer 2:44

Which is usually split . We usually do that 50 , 50 they .

Jason Shelfer 2:49

I assume that they go from the washing machine into the dryer together . I ?

Jana Shelfer 2:54

know , but we don't check . We usually just assume , you know , like you nobody can go .

Jason Shelfer 3:01

I guess you could theoretically go through all the load from the washer and just count and say , all right , do all the socks . Has everything got its match ?

Jana Shelfer 3:12

Maybe we should pin them together .

Jason Shelfer 3:14

Maybe we should put them in a little laundry bag . I think that's why laundry bags were made is for your delicates like socks , underwear , pairs of things .

Jana Shelfer 3:24

I don't know .

Jason Shelfer 3:29

Then it feels like the delicate bag gets sturdy . Well , the the point of this is that there's a garage sales and it is off topic it is time to look at what are some of the things that we do hold on to that are no longer serving that don't serve us , because there's other things other than just what's sitting around the house taking up space .

Jana Shelfer 3:51

But we don't want to let go .

Jason Shelfer 3:53

That's the problem , that's the problem , but when we don't let go , we don't have room for opportunity and we don't have room for , I mean , real estate is the most valuable thing that is available for opportunity and it's space in the house is valuable . It just says , hey look , we love an open floor plan and if we fill it full of things , then there's no walking room . There's no , there's no room to enjoy the space that we've created for ourselves .

Jana Shelfer 4:28

Why is it so hard to let go ? Let's think about this . Is it because we attach meaning stories ?

Jana Shelfer 4:35

love .

Jana Shelfer 4:36

I think we attach love to the things that we have .

Jason Shelfer 4:41

Well , listen to me about my socks . Like the socks really don't have an emotional anything . They're just objects and I've attached this relational meaning to them . It's kind of like Toy Story .

Jana Shelfer 4:54

Yeah , have you ever seen the movie Toy Story yeah , it makes me cry .

Jana Shelfer 4:58

I never thought Toy Story . I think it was Toy Story 3 . The one where he goes off to college and those toys have to go to Goodwill . Oh my gosh , I started blubbering .

Jason Shelfer 5:14

That's funny .

Jana Shelfer 5:15

To the point where I'm like I don't know if I can finish watching this movie . That just about . It pulls up the emotional heartstrings that just about tore me up and I know like right now my parents are actually cleaning out my childhood home they're , yeah , they're moving and that has been I . That's been a lifetime of memories and it has been really hard emotionally to go through .

Jason Shelfer 5:55

And whenever we move , oftentimes we'll move and we'll have boxes that we move with us and things will sit in a box until we move again .

Jana Shelfer 6:06

For years .

Jason Shelfer 6:07

Yeah . Yes that's true , and it's just the memories , it's the meanings that we put on the things in the box , yeah , that we may never even look at again , but just knowing they're there .

Jana Shelfer 6:21

I know even my CDs Now DVDs I let go of pretty easily because I can still get my movies on .

Jason Shelfer 6:32

Elsewhere .

Jana Shelfer 6:33

Elsewhere . Yes , so I let go of my DVDs . Pretty . I think I kept maybe two or three DVDs but my CDs , for some reason , those at that time in my life I would get in my car . I was driving back and forth from college and it was putting a CD in the disc player and listening and I attach emotions to those and I know that I can get music elsewhere , but for some reason my CDs I can't throw away .

Jason Shelfer 7:12

And you had a little marker that you would write on the outside of the CD I love Johnny .

Jana Shelfer 7:18

No , I love , I didn't do that . I didn't do that .

Jana Shelfer 7:25

But I do know that .

Jason Shelfer 7:26

Your mixed CD .

Jana Shelfer 7:27

I do know that I have a bunch of CDs . I'm like where did I even get this CD ? And I feel like somehow I got . I think maybe I went to a party and I don't know if I stole it . I hope I didn't steal it , but I ended up with someone's . You know how we would have those jackets full of . Cds and I ended up with someone else's jacket of CDs .

Jason Shelfer 7:54

Somebody could have just left it in the car .

Jana Shelfer 7:56

Yeah , maybe that's a better story .

Jason Shelfer 7:58

That's road trip .

Jana Shelfer 7:59

Yeah , let's go with that one , because I don't want to think of myself as a thief road trip to mexico but I can tell you exactly which which cds were mine , the ones that I bought , and which ones were just oh , that's a random one that someone else left yeah it's so crazy , though , how we attach stories , emotions , memories to things , to objects .

Jason Shelfer 8:25

Yeah , and you can't take it with you , but you hold it with you through way longer than the value of it , like if we put the value on it when we get it and we get the value out of it , it's a lot easier to let it go .

Jana Shelfer 8:43

Well then there's some things that are I don't know why we hold on to them . Like a cupcake pan Do you know what I'm saying ? Or I know that , like there's a few things in our pantry where I think why are we holding on to this ? We went through a phase where we were holding a lot of parties . We have not held a lot of parties . There's this . Maybe hope in the future that we will do that again , and so we've been holding on to bins of things .

Jason Shelfer 9:19

However- or a dozen vases , rose vases Right Like do we need a dozen ?

Jana Shelfer 9:27

or do we need two or one or ?

Jason Shelfer 9:28

two but then someone said you know , we get roses or flowers and but even if we , even when I go and buy a couple , like a dozen or a bunch of cut flowers , all I need is the one vase and maybe , maybe a second , just to change up the style yeah , but then when you buy a professional thing of flowers , it's going to come with a new one .

Jana Shelfer 9:54

It comes with a new vase and so then we just don't take the time to recycle or take the vases back to the place or give it away .

Jason Shelfer 10:01

Yeah .

Jana Shelfer 10:02

Yeah , and so then they accumulate .

Jason Shelfer 10:04

So that's what that , that's how that happens we allow things to accumulate and we also allow thoughts to accumulate . We allow and some things we just hold on to and we hope and we think we're going to use it again later and then we don't remember that we have some things and we rebuy or we reaccumulate and I have a huge . I don't look at it as a problem , but it is a problem , like when I talk about it out loud .

Jana Shelfer 10:35

You have a problem with paper .

Jason Shelfer 10:37

Oh my gosh .

Jana Shelfer 10:37

You accumulate paper I love to reprint .

Jason Shelfer 10:40

And I will reprint sometimes the same thing , and I notice this because I do a clean out about every six months .

Jana Shelfer 10:46

And then you can never find what you're looking for .

Jason Shelfer 10:50

I don't know if that's 100% true .

Jana Shelfer 10:52

Okay , well , I can never find .

Jason Shelfer 10:53

You can never find what I'm looking for in your piles , Because it's and that's frustrating , I know , and if I'm not readily available to get what we're looking for and we work together because I'm not a great filer , Like I'm not the organized one , and then when you do file things , you have a .

Jana Shelfer 11:19

Jason only understands file system . It's not alphabetical , it's not the Dewey .

Jason Shelfer 11:25

Decimal System . It's not the Dewey Decimal System .

Jana Shelfer 11:27

It's not alphabetical , it's this awkward idea of how things might go together in jason .

Jason Shelfer 11:34

Jason only understands it's how a squirrel might file things , or it's how a squirrel and a dog might get together and file things . This looks they might be the same shape .

Jana Shelfer 11:53

Oh , my gosh . Oh , that's so funny . Oh , and that's what makes you great , but it works for me . That's what makes you fabulous . What's ?

Jason Shelfer 12:02

really weird is I can come into my pile and I will know exactly where things are , as long as it hasn't moved from where . I put it , but I go in and I'm like , I'm and I'm like this has to be straightened up , like all these papers need to be tucked together , and I'll have things just turned a little bit , not neat .

Jana Shelfer 12:25

Okay . So here's the thing Garage sales . I didn't realize . I've been saying when is the next garage sale , when is the next garage sale ? And I've been seeing signs all over every other neighborhood . I didn't realize our neighborhood was having one this weekend .

Jason Shelfer 12:43

For some reason we have foregone the signs in the two entrances .

Jana Shelfer 12:48

I haven't seen a sign we have not put up the signs . And it's this weekend and we will be keynoting I'm going to be having another city , so I don't believe that I'm going to be able to put things out yes , we get to keep all of our things for another six months , and I I'm actually thinking about just putting things out on a table and saying , hey , pay what you think is worth . I think that's a fantastic idea do you think worth ?

Jason Shelfer 13:13

and put it in the bucket . I think that's a fantastic idea .

Jana Shelfer 13:16

Do you think there would be money in the bucket when we got home ?

Jason Shelfer 13:18

I think there will be one smart person that will come at the end and be like I'm going to buy that bucket full of cash .

Jana Shelfer 13:27

How much do you think they would pay ?

Jason Shelfer 13:28

However much is in the bucket , they'll probably leave a dollar for the bucket and take the whole bucket .

Jana Shelfer 13:33

Because that's how garage sales work . They always want to pay a dollar no matter what it's worth , I'm like , but wait , I paid $50 for that .

Jason Shelfer 13:41

There's $25 in the bucket .

Jana Shelfer 13:44

I'll pay you a dollar .

Jason Shelfer 13:45

I'll give you a quarter . There was no one here to negotiate up . I thought it was worth a quarter . It had $25 in it .

Jana Shelfer 13:56

Inflation . It was used , money Used money .

Jason Shelfer 14:01

What am I going to do with it ?

Jana Shelfer 14:03

Used money . Oh my gosh .

Jana Shelfer 14:06

That's how it works . The bucket had a nick in it . You know , that's

Getting Value Out of Your Things

Jana Shelfer 14:10

that . Okay , one last thing , and then we're going to close this out , but that has deterred me .

Jason Shelfer 14:16

Detered , that's a weird word right , it sounds like what I do to my rear end .

Jana Shelfer 14:23

That is what has deterred me from doing garage sales is because I sometimes come away feeling like I got ripped off at my own garage sale .

Jason Shelfer 14:39

That's why we have to get the value out of our things up front when we buy it get the value out of it .

Jana Shelfer 14:47

Get the value .

Jason Shelfer 14:47

When you buy your clothes , wear them , enjoy them , love them like , feel good in them while you're wearing them for that first time , the second time , and then know it's just added value in your heart , that , hey , I wore this , I loved it , it made me feel wonderful , I got my value out of this . If it goes away tomorrow , it was worth it .

Jana Shelfer 15:13

And if someone else can enjoy it , that is even a bonus .

Jason Shelfer 15:18

Yes and then . So now you can go de-turd your house .

Jana Shelfer 15:22

Oh , say it again .

Jana Shelfer 15:26

Thanks for joining us .

Jason Shelfer 15:28

Keep Living Lucky® .

Jana Shelfer 15:29

Bye-bye . If the idea of living lucky appeals to you , visit us at www . livinglucky . com .