The JJs Declutter Podcast

Send us Fan Mail  One Simple Rule When Cleaning for Guests   Spoiler: The Baseboards Can Wait   With the holiday guest season kicking into gear, Julie and Janis pull out a Southern Living piece on the one thing stress-free hosts do before company arrives - - and no, it's not a deep clean of the attic.  The core idea: surface-level cleaning beats perfection every single time, and most guests a...

Send us Fan Mail 🎉 HAPPY 100TH EPISODE!  🎃👻 100 Episodes. Zero Sentimental Retrospectives. Maximum Chaos. Julie and Janis hit triple digits this week, and instead of a nice, reflective look back, they threw themselves a slightly unhinged Halloween party and counted down 100 things that strike fear into a declutterer's heart ... ... complete with a helium alarm sound effect that means thing...

Send us Fan Mail 🎃 This Episode’s Candy Bag Is Full of Raisins (Metaphorically) With Halloween right around the corner, Julie and Janis are playing Trick or Treat with their closets ... swapping candy for every “life-changing” purchase that turned out to be clutter in disguise.  Storage containers, organizing gadgets, exercise equipment, kitchen appliances, hobby supplies, decor, and the bargains...

Send us Fan Mail 💀🚪 Skeletons in the Closet: What's REALLY Hiding Behind That Door? (S4E7) Julie has a confession:  there are skeletons in her closet.  Before Janis could call a priest (or the police), the truth came out.  A broken umbrella, a bread maker used exactly once, three mystery cords, and a coat that last fit during the Clinton administration. Not a crime scene. An archaeological...

Send us Fan Mail It's a Magazine Moment!  Julie and Janis wrap up the Right-Sizing series by digging into a complete senior downsizing checklist from the Senior Transitions Group.  It was written for adult children stepping in to move a parent, whether for health, safety, or a house that's simply too big. It lays out six phases over three months, with 11 to 12 items per phase. (That&apos...

Send us Fan Mail   🚚 Three Projects in a Trench Coat: Your Moving Day Survival Guide   The truck is finally here!  After talking through why you're moving, whether it's time, what comes with you, and how to make those decisions without losing your mind, Julie and Janis tackle the big day itself.  As Janis puts it, a move after 60 isn't one project. It's three projects wearing...

Send us Fan Mail ⏱️ Knowing What to Keep vs. Actually Doing the Sorting: Two Very Different Skills   Episode 4 of the Right-Sizing series shifts from what to keep to how on earth you actually get through the sorting process without collapsing around hour three.  Julie and Janis open with the classic mistake: pulling everything out of a closet at once, turning a manageable afternoon into a bed-floo...

Send us Fan Mail 📦 Turns Out You Own Enough to Furnish 3 Houses   Episode 3 of the Right-Sizing series tackles the question that hits the moment a floor plan starts looking real:     okay, but what actually comes with me?  Julie and Janis flip the whole mindset here — instead of starting with "what do I have to get rid of" (hello, deprivation mode), start with "what do I want to ta...

Send us Fan Mail  🏡 Spoiler: Granite Countertops Should Not Be Making Your Life Decisions   Episode 2 of the Right-Sizing series picks up where Episode 1 left off, and it's time to talk about the M-word: moving.  Not because a TV show said everyone over 60 needs a condo, and not because a granite countertop is judging you (though Julie has notes about vinegar and granite).  Julie and Janis w...

Send us Fan Mail  Welcome to Season 4!   S4E1: Why to Right-Size Your Life (Right-Sizing Your Life, Part 1 of 5) 📦 **New Season, New Series: Say Goodbye to "Downsizing" Dread** Season 4 kicks off with a brand-new 5-part series, *Right-Sizing Your Life* — and Julie and Janis are starting with the word swap that changes everything.  Forget "downsizing," with all its smaller-hous...

Send us Fan Mail 🛍️ The Grand Finale: Stopping the Chaos Before It Even Starts You've done the mindset work, survived the purge, built a closet you love, and installed the systems to keep it that way. So why do this whole thing again in two years?  Julie and Janis say the answer is simple: the closet monster doesn't grow from what's already in there, it grows from what keeps walking...

Send us Fan Mail  🪑 The Chair of DOOM Finally Gets What's Coming to It   You did the mindset work.  You did the purge.  You built a wardrobe that actually fits your real life.  So why does everything slide back into chaos six months later?  Julie and Janis say it's never one big thing, it's a handful of small daily habits quietly working against you. Today, they're naming ever...

Send us Fan Mail   (Closet Chaos to Closet Confidence, Part 3 of 5) 👗 The Fun Part Is Here — Time to Actually Enjoy Your Closet You survived the purge (Episode 13),  You named your emotional baggage (Episode 12),  and now Julie and Janis are getting to the good stuff:  building a closet that actually works for the life you're living! Not a Pinterest-perfect showroom, and not a shrine to Fant...

Send us Fan Mail 🪑 This Episode Is Basically an Intervention for Your Chair   It's a Magazine Moments episode!  Julie and Janis are digging into a Martha Stewart piece on breaking the habit of piling clothes on furniture.  Naturally, that means a deep dive into the household's most notorious landing spot: the Chair of DOOM. (You know the one. It's not a chair anymore. It's a c...

Send us Fan Mail  This is a fun one ... the actual purge episode! 🧥   Last week we did the head work (the seven reasons your closet is basically a wearable therapy session). This week? We're doing the hands work.  Julie and Janis are walking you through the actual Great Closet Purge! None of the "does this spark joy," no three-day pile on the bed, and absolutely no giving up halfwa...

Send us Fan Mail S3E12: Clothes Decluttering Pitfalls  (Closet Chaos to Closet Confidence, Part 1) 👕 Warning: This Episode May Cause You to Side-Eye Your Own Closet This week, Julie and Janis are kicking off a brand-new 5-part series, Closet Chaos to Closet Confidence — and they're starting with the hardest part first: your feelings. (Don't worry, no trash bags required. Yet.) Turns out...

Send us Fan Mail Confession time: your car is basically a mobile junk drawer with a steering wheel. Coffee cups multiplying in the cup holders, receipts fossilizing in the door pocket, and somewhere back there are 14 reusable shopping bags breeding like rabbits.  Julie and Janis are calling it out (lovingly) and giving you the system to fix it before road trip season hits full swing.  🕵️ Why Cars...

Send us Fan Mail  ✈️  S3E10: Magazine Moments: 10 Packing Tips for Your Next Vacation 🧳  Grab your compression cubes and your questionable amount of cords, because Julie and Janis are diving into another Magazine Moments episode!  This time they're tackling a list from Travelers (yes, the insurance folks with the umbrella) on how to pack a suitcase for vacation ... and naturally, they have o...

Send us Fan Mail Magazine Moments: Preparing for the 4th of July This week we're bringing back one of our favorite episodes — because good advice (and good laughs) never go out of style.  Consider it your patriotic prep gift from the JJs! 🎆 Stars, Stripes, and… a Picnic Table You Have to Build Yourself? Independence Day is coming in hot — literally — and the JJs are here to make sure you&apo...

Send us Fan Mail   🚗 Your Car Called. It Wants to Come Home.   You did it. You sorted, you purged, you wrestled with the hazardous materials, and you made the tough calls. Now you're standing in your garage wondering, "Okay… now what?"   That's exactly where Part 2 picks up!  Julie and Janis are back to walk you through turning that sorted-but-still-chaotic space into a genuin...

Send us Fan Mail  The garage. Where good intentions go to die, bicycles go to gather dust, and projects go to silently judge you every time you walk past. 👀   This is Part 1 of The JJs' two-part garage series — and today is ALL about sorting and letting go BEFORE any organizing begins. Because organizing stuff you don't need is just neatly arranged clutter. Sound familiar?   Why Garages...

Send us Fan Mail You know that narrow strip between your house and the fence?  The one where broken pots go to retire, garden hoses go to tangle, and old lawn chairs go when you feel too guilty to throw them away? 👀   That's your side yard ~ and it's basically the junk drawer of your outdoor spaces. Today, Julie and Janis are helping you reclaim it AND your whole yard, so it becomes a p...

Send us Fan Mail Your backyard is calling — and it's asking you to please remove the empty pots, tangled hoses, and dead planters that have been haunting the porch since last October. 🌿 Julie & Janis are back with a fresh Magazine Moment, diving into Bonnie Ferrero's article from Backyard Garden Lover: *12 Easy Fixes to Declutter the Yard and Make It Pop!* Same small-doable-doses en...

Send us Fan Mail Winter left behind pollen, dirt, dead plants, broken planters, and outdoor clutter that quietly multiplied while nobody was paying attention. Sound familiar? 🌸   Julie and Janis are stepping outside today to tackle one of the most overlooked spaces in your home — the porch, patio, deck, or entry zone. Whether you've got a grand wraparound porch worthy of sweet tea commercial...

Send us Fan Mail Fur tumbleweeds. Mystery smells. Slobbery toys. Pet beds that have somehow collected half the outdoors.  Sound familiar? 🐾   If you share your home with a pet, you already know they bring us boundless joy, companionship, and entertainment. They also bring chaos, sticky leashes, and enough scattered toys to twist an ankle on at 2am. (Don't ask. Just turn on a light.)   Julie...