Paring Down: Realistic minimalism, decluttering, & intentional living

If I’ve learned one thing since creating a public platform about decluttering, it’s that a LOT of people have misconceptions about what it means to declutter. So today, we’re getting into 10 decluttering myths and why they’re not true - from “decluttering is wasteful” to “decluttering means you can’t be sentimental.” OTHER EPISODES REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: Getting Past the "Wasted Money" When D...

You lucky ducks get to hear from Jen Smith of the highly popular Frugal Friends podcast! In this episode of Paring Down, she teaches us all about values-based spending so that you can Buy What You Love Without Going Broke - which also happens to be the name of her book coming out in January (alongside cohost and coauthor Jill Sirianni). How we spend our money is often directly related to the clutt...

Learn 5 ways to be a conscious consumer, along with some of the dangers of taking minimalism to the extreme in this episode of Paring Down! PARING DOWN (SHANNON LEYKO): Sign up for my newsletter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The L.E.S.S. Express⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.shannonleyko.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@shannonley...

Lala Hairston lives in the Tampa Bay area, which was ravaged by both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. She shares her powerful story of coming to terms with the possibility of losing everything she owns, and how that gave her new perspective on living a more decluttered life. She also shares valuable and vulnerable outlooks on the meaning of "stuff" from lessons in her childhood, starting at...

Have you ever considered how your home either helps you or hinders you when it comes to your goals? Is it helping you be the kind of parent you want to be, or making it harder? Is it helping you have a stronger marriage, or distracting you from your partner? Clutter can affect us in ways we may not even realize. So can our routines and boundaries. In this episode, author Laura Forbes Carlin shares...

Somehow, inanimate objects seem to grow legs and find their way back into our homes and onto our counters. Decluttering can feel like fighting a losing battle-- barely scooping the water out of the boat before it comes rushing back in. This episode covers 5 reasons clutter might keep coming back in your home, and ways to make sure you can finally keep it out for good. PARING DOWN (SHANNON LEYKO):...

Decluttering is the first step to an organized home, but today we're diving into the organization piece of home management head first. What product should we use? Where should we start? How do we make it look pretty? Professional home organizer, Kenika Williams of Tidied by K answers all of those questions and more to set you up for success as you create a home that is functional and beautiful. PA...

If you struggle with decluttering because it feels like watching bags of money go out the door, then this episode is for you! In it, I share not only helpful mindset shifts, but practical ways that decluttering actually helps us financially in the long run. PARING DOWN (SHANNON LEYKO): Sign up for my newsletter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The L.E.S.S. Express⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Who better to help us understand how clutter affects us from a holistic perspective than public health expert, Jenny Albertini? Jenny uses easy to recognize categories (health, home and work/beyond), but pulls in the underpinning issues (structural inequities, brain based conditions, consumer culture) to help anyone looking to live a healthier, less overwhelmed life. Her experience being trained u...

"What if they ask me where it is??" "I feel ungrateful." "They expect to see it displayed." These are just a few of the hard issues we dive into on today's episode, because we're talking about parting with items that were gifted to us. Decluttering gifts can be really tricky, primarily because of two emotions: Guilt - an internal experience as we wrestle with our core values (gratitude, kindness,...

There are two major pieces to living a decluttered life: 1) What we get OUT 2) What we let IN On today's episode with Brad Nelson from Debt Free Dad, we talk about how to make smart choices with our money that not only decrease financial stress, but help us stay mindful about what we let IN during our decluttering journey. Brad also shares ways we can make money while decluttering as a tool for ge...

STOP, book lovers! Don't scoff and say "No way am I listening to this episode because books are something I'll never declutter!" I mean, you can absolutely say that and we can still be friends and it's all good. However, I think this episode will surprise you! I'm a huge book lover myself, so I want to 100% validate readers by recognizing exactly why it's so hard to declutter our precious books. I...

No one wants to end up on their death bed and say, "I wish I hadn't spent so much time on my phone." Founder of FreeWyld vacation cabins, Eric Moeller helps shed light on the importance of unplugging in a practical (not unrealistic) way. His 6 steps for entering into what he calls "Wyld Mode" help us break out of our screens and embrace experiences with our loved ones that truly feed our souls and...

Ask and you shall receive! When I polled the audience a few weeks ago about areas you'd like to declutter, lots of you said that your garage or your basement were hanging over your heads. Sometimes these huge projects can feel impossible, so we never start them out of a state of overwhelmed paralyzation. I hope today's episode gives you the encouragement to start on your own garage, basement, or d...

Paring down what's important in our life sounds nice and all, but HOW? So often, pretty much everything feels important. We'd love to say that not everything is a priority, but most of the time it can feel anxiety-provoking to not *do it all.* Business owner (x5) Ashli Pollard is at the top of her field - her agency working with celebs from Brooke Shields to Bethenny Frankel - and reaching thousan...

Do you have an area of your house that can't seem to stay decluttered or organized no matter what you do? Same. Today I walk you through the four biggest clutter problem areas in my own home, and hope that you find inspiration as I brainstorm how to keep the clutter at bay! PARING DOWN (SHANNON LEYKO): Sign up for my newsletter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The L.E.S.S. Express⁠⁠⁠⁠...

One of the most efficient ways to simplify your life so your life becomes exponentially easier is to implement household rhythms. Each new rhythm (i.e. routine, habit, etc,) takes away the mental load of problem-solving and decision fatigue. When you don't have to think through what to do, you're left with way more brain space and a lot less stress. Ben and Brianna Folkman of Folklife Rhythms have...

This episode doesn't list things to avoid temptation, like unfollow influencers or take the Amazon Prime app off your phone - though those are great ways to save money! Instead, we're talking about actionable steps that will save you money - from small choices to big life decisions. Why should we bother paring down our spending? Does spending less and saving more truly matter? Don't worry, we'll c...

How do you know an idea is true? That's a pretty big question, but I've found that the best way to know if an idea is worth exploring is to find out how long it's been around. Because, as Mark Twain famously said, "There's no such thing as a new idea." Sage wisdom usually comes in the form of a repetitive idea that respected spiritual and thought leaders have landed on independently over hundreds...

What do you do when there just aren't enough hours in the day? I've got you! Time blocking might sound intimidating, but in this episode I break down exactly how to block out your schedule in order to - avoid burnout - accomplish your goals - avoid time-sucking distractions This episode also covers brain-dumping and checklists, which are tools you can use no matter how structured or flexible you p...

The benefits of living with less can be discovered through as many avenues as there are people - and today, we hear how ultralight backpacking was the catalyst for Glen Van Peski to embrace a lighter load in his every day life. Glen's wilderness stories are inspiring (I can't help but laugh at his hiking story with Matthew McConaughey), but his lessons about generosity as a result of minimalism ar...

Screen time is a really sensitive subject. I cover why these sensitivities are important to respect and address in the beginning of this episode - there are very real dynamics that have NOTHING to do with how much parents love their kids as to why some families use more screen time than others. With that in mind, decluttering and minimalism are rooted in intentionality - and that intentionality pi...

I don't know about you, but I want getting dressed to feel easy. I want to feel good in my clothes, no matter how casual or dressy the occasion. I don't want to feel overwhelmed by choices or frustrated that I have "nothing to wear." I also want to know that my closet isn't a result of someone else in this world barely scraping by. Cheap clothes that fall apart are not only annoying, they're usual...

Want to avoid that terrible feeling when your house just feels like this giant weight on your shoulder? There's laundry to fold, the counters have stuff all over them, your closet looks like a tornado ran through it, and the inside of your microwave looks like a murder scene. On today's episode, I walk you through 20 general habits you can begin to implement in order to keep your home from being a...

Ready to get personal? Living with less goes a LOT deeper than having a less stressful, decluttered home. This week's guest, Sona Avetisyan, is a professional organizer whose focus on intentional living is deeply reflected in her own life. Sona shares about her own journey of discovering what she actually cares about - even though it's counter cultural - and what that looked like in the wake of a...