153: 20 Things I'm Decluttering Before Moving to Finland

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We all want to feel peace in our lives. Peace in our choices, our beliefs, our relationships, and our environment. I've learned that this desired contentment is often found through holding on to less. When we pair down what we own, what we consume, and what we value, we're left with what's intentional. A personalized curation of what is important and true and useful to us. I'm Shannon Laco and you're listening to Pairing Down, a podcast aimed at helping you declutter not only your home, but any area of your life that's overwhelming. Here we're having interesting and honest conversations about the physical and mental clutter that surrounds out what truly matters to each of us. And together we'll learn how to pair it all down, not for the sake of perfection nor becoming rigid, rather so we can move through life with less overwhelm and more joy, wisdom, and peace. Hi everyone, welcome back to Pairing Down. I feel like I need to update you on Finland, but also just to give an episode that feels really personal to decluttering in my own life. You know that I love to do deep dives into psychology and making good points about how we can better our lives and I'm not going to stop doing that, but I've been craving a little bit more personal info. And so I feel like maybe you've been craving a little more personal info, even though I guess I did just recently do that episode all about how I got like, you know, the followers and the podcast growth and all of that. But today hopefully we'll give you inspiration from a real life human who also needs to declutter because we are moving to Finland and even though I am a decluttering educator, that doesn't mean that things haven't accumulated since we've been here or that we had perfectly decluttered before we moved here from Florida. So there is work to be done, friends, and let me bring you along in that journey today. I know that those of you who listen to the Chi chat this past Thursday also know that I have been feeling a little bit torn about moving, which is normal because I am a human with emotions, but I am feeling excited. And I also was incorrect. We don't leave it a month and a half. When I recorded that, which wasn't that long ago, but things change often, it was looking like we were going to leave in June, but now we're not leaving till the end of July. So we actually have quite a bit of time left here in Kodiak. So that's nice. But yes, I am feeling super excited about it. I'm feeling better and better every day. The more, like the more the logistics get worked out, the less stressed I feel. And also as it has sunk in that we are actually moving, I am allowing myself to really focus on the positives and the excitement of going out there. And so I'm feeling really, really good about it. We wouldn't have accepted the assignment if we weren't super excited about the opportunity. But I think I was definitely letting the grief of leaving Alaska over shadow that excitement for a little while. And now I'm in a place where the excitement is overshadowing the grief. They're both still there. That's normal. But I do think that the excitement is really taking off. Like we're going to be living in Finland. That's so cool. And everyone has been so nice. You know, we finally got in touch with some schools out there and learning how it's going to work. Our kids are going to be taught finish for a year, like a long side, their lessons. So they're going to be able to learn their skills in English, which they need to keep up with, you know, their grades. But also we'll be learning finish with a specific teacher, kind of intertwined with that. And as soon as they get the hang of it at a certain level, then they'll move them into like PE and arts and crafts a little bit at a time, fully immersed in the finished classes. Until a year in, then they can be fully immersed in the finished school. And so my little babies are going to be bilingual, which is so cute and so awesome. And we've been doing dual lingo as a family. And there's just so much to look forward to. So with Finland on the mind today, I do want to share these 20 things I am decluttering before I move to Finland. Some are going to be broad categories like types of things I'm getting rid of. And some are going to be very specific. But hopefully that as I'm talking, you're just going to feel inspired to think about things in your own life that you can let go of. I know for me, I find it really inspiring, even if it's not, oh, I need to get rid of the exact same thing that this other person's getting rid of. Just hearing people talk about what they're going through in their own homes inspires me to do the same. So that's my goal for you today. I do want to point out that I don't have some major categories and things on this list like clothes or shoes or linens, books, boxes of cords, backstock, like backstock lotion, that kind of thing, which are all really good things to declutter before you move. I do have an episode called decluttering before you move or before a mock move, because sometimes pretending you're moving is a really great motivation. And those things are covered in that episode. But since this is a more personal episode of what I'm actually doing in my own life, obviously my home is relatively decluttered. I don't have a bunch of clothes to get rid of. I don't have a bunch of shoes to get rid of. I don't have a bunch of backstock underneath of our sink because on a daily basis, I try to live out what I share here on the podcast. I am not perfect. But that is why those kinds of things aren't on the list. I'm going to do another round of my closet. I'm sure even staring at my closet as I'm speaking right now because it's right across from me. I can easily see everything I own. And I'm already like, oh, I mean, I gosh, I think I've gotten it pretty darn streamlined. So we'll see what happens. I also want to say that we will be taking clutter with us to Finland, at least in my opinion clutter, because I am a married woman. And I am also a mother, which means that the things I consider clutter are not the things my family members consider clutter. So we will be choosing some things though to declutter that are more family decisions or my husband's decisions. And I'm not including them here because they're not under my jurisdiction. So costumes, my husband does still, in fact, have I think we've gotten it down to one box of costumes. Has he worn a single one of them, you know, in since we've been married? Well, maybe since we've been married. Like we did dress up as pirates once on a Disney cruise, but we still have those costumes and Lord help us. He's like, maybe someday I'll need to be the Jeannie from Aladdin again. And I'm like, will you? But also that makes his heart sore to think about. So we have that box of costumes. But I know he said he wants to pare it down. Please give him a round of applause, everybody. Also things like kitchen appliances or even kitchen utensils. There are plenty that I think we should declutter, but that's not my jurisdiction. So we will be taking more to Finland than I would feel comfortable with. Well, I mean, some of those we will have to put in long term storage. Oh, I hate it. I hate that. But, you know, certain electronics won't convert to the little wall plugs, whatever it's called. You know, you have to convert the plugs, the, you know, your appliances and some of them don't do well with conversions. And so we're trying to figure out like, is the Coast Guard going to pay for us to have a toaster? Or do we have to like buy all these new appliances are, is our rental going to be furnished, unfernished? We don't know any about that. And so that is stressing me out a little bit. I'm like, I don't think that the Coast Guard should tell us we have to move to Finland and then make us buy everything that fits like the European life. But I guess that's just a rant about what I think is fair in life. So anyway, there are certain things that I would say we should declutter before we leave. But I'm leaving those off the list because I am not a dictator of the Lego family decisions, you know, before I get into this list of the 20 things I'm decluttering, if you are relatively new here, or if I have forgotten to give some details about why we're moving to Finland, I want to run through that really quickly just to answer some quick questions. The reason we're moving to Finland is because my husband is in the Coast Guard, like I just mentioned, and the Coast Guard is working with a shipyard in Finland to build brand new Arctic cutters like icebreakers that can break through the ice as they're floating along to go, you know, adjust booze, make sure fisheries are doing the right thing. All of the stuff that the Coast Guard does that needs to go into these cold waters where there is ice, they need ice and there are probably bigger, more important reasons that I don't really understand or know what the Coast Guard does, because I am a terrible military wife, like I don't know anything, it's fine. But anyway, DHS gave this contract to a finished shipyard because they know what they're doing. And fun fact, the Coast Guard is the only branch of the United States Military that is not part of the Department of Defense, it's not DOD. It is department of Homeland Security, and so there are different things that we experience that DOD people don't. So like during certain government shutdowns, we're affected and other branches of the military aren't. And poor little Coast Guard, we get forgotten about quite often. But again, not the point of this episode, just letting you know that is why we're going to Finland. My husband is going to be the CEO, so the top dug in charge overseeing the build out at these shipyards, working alongside the finished civilians and then other coasties that they're sending out there to support the project. We will theoretically be there for three years. We were supposed to be in Kodiak Alaska for three years. So you never know exactly if you're going to be able to complete your assignment before they move you somewhere else. But that is the idea is that we would be out there for three years. Like I mentioned, we're leaving I think at the end of July, it is not 100% set in stone, but it's looking like end of July from Kodiak. And we are not road tripping there, because we do need to get across the ocean. So we'll be flying there. Don't know for taking cars, don't know any of that yet. Y'all, it is a slow process. Being a military wife teaches me to let go of control, because you guys know I'm a planner. I would love to have all these details set in place. Alas, it is not within my control. So we're just going to find out one thing at a time. You know, hopefully we'll have a roof over our head and some transportation to get around when we are out there. We are not living in Helsinki. We're going to be in a small coastal town about I think it's like a three hour drive or an hour and a half train ride from Helsinki. So kind of far to get to an airport. But funny enough, it is a direct flight from Helsinki to New York. So it is much easier for me to get to the east coast of the United States from Finland than it is from Alaska. When I was talking to my book publisher about this move, they were like, great, if you have press in New York City, it's actually going to be a lot cheaper to get out there from from Finland than from where you currently are in Alaska. So I'm not too worried about being far away from home because I am further away from home right now than we will be in Finland. Now, here's the reason why I'm decluttering before we leave. A, I do not know how big our home will be from what I've googled most family homes in Finland are between 1,000 and 1200 square feet. And the smallest home we've lived in with our family of five is 13 or 1400 square feet was our house in Ketchikan, Alaska. That was a three bedroom. I am assuming we're going to be in a three bedroom right now. We're in a four bedroom. So each of my kids has their own room right now. I imagine that my kids will share a room in Finland. I'm not sure which kids, they're all pretty close in age and they're young enough that like it doesn't matter if a boy and a girl share a room like they all have sleepovers all the time. So we're not entirely sure about that. But the point is that we expect our home to be smaller than where we are currently. We currently have 1600 square foot plus we do have a basement where we've turned that into a kid's play area and we have some storage in there. So we expect that we are going to have a lot less space because it is an overseas move. The United States Coast Guard will pay for us to have long term storage until we get back. So that's why we will have to put some stuff in storage not because of volume. That's my goal. I do not want to put stuff in storage just because we won't have a spot for it in Finland. That annoys me. However, there are certain things that won't work in Finland like I mentioned certain appliances. Maybe we will find out that our home is going to be so small that we can't have our normal size dining room table that I would like to keep because when we move back to the United States, I would like to have a normal size dining room table. Things like that, obviously there's going to be exceptions. We're going to put things in storage fine. But as a whole, I would like our general stuff, even the stuff we have like party supplies and Christmas decor and that kind of storage. I would like all of that paired down enough that it can happily exist in our smaller home in Finland. Don't know if we'll get there, but that's the goal. Be the second reason I'm decluttering is because no matter who you are, things build up. We have made purchases since we've lived in Alaska. Our kids have grown. They have changed. Their interests have changed. There's just some things that have come into the house. And even though I actively declutter on a regular basis, that doesn't mean that there isn't some deeper level clutter that we need to go ahead and let go of. And also, I'm really approaching this. So see, I wrote these down as AB&C. So I need to say that out loud for my own happiness. See, the reason I'm decluttering is because I am trying to look at my own stuff with a brand new mindset this year of 2026, which is what can I get by without? Because while I've taken my decluttering journey seriously and the stuff that isn't our home that's underneath my jurisdiction, I feel like I've done a great job decluttering over the years and it has been a journey. I am now at the point of my stuff where I want to be a little bit more extreme, not for the sake of less, but just because I think I will continue to find benefits of holding on to even less. And so the question that can lead me there is what can I get by without? Not what do I want to keep? What do I still like? What do I still love? All of those are great questions. I'm just at the point in my journey where I think asking myself what can I get by without will allow me to view my stuff with an even more critical lens. And that's something I feel good about. Again, you don't have to be extreme like that. Like I mentioned episode 79, decluttering before you move or a mock move has even more reasons why it's important to declutter before a move. Besides those three that I just mentioned, you know, there's cost savings, unpacking, stress, all of that. And that's in that episode. So I do encourage you to go listen to that again today. I'm trying to keep it really honest about what's motivating me why I'm doing this and specific things. I am decluttering before Finland. So let's get into it. The 20 things I'm decluttering before we move to Finland. Number one, party supplies and paper goods. So in our basement, I have a tub like a full deep normal size tote full of paper plates, paper cups, plastic cups, forks and knives like plastic forks and knives balloons, let's see candles, napkins, that kind of thing which does come in handy because I prefer not to buy all that stuff whenever we have guests over. However, there are certain things that have been in there for years that I'm like, um, clearly this doesn't come up often enough that I need to keep all of that. So we have like to go coffee mugs. I find that that isn't really something we use very often for a party. Like we definitely use the plastic cups that you can pour, you know, lemonade or water or something into. But I don't think I need all those coffee mugs. We have paper bowls, which again sound great in theory, but we've never really had to use them because usually if we have people over and we're using paper, it's because we're having pizza and so we need paper plates and not bowls. So I think I will give these to friends. They're still useful. I'm not going to just trash them, but I am going to declutter our paper goods slash party supplies. That actually reminds me that I also need to go through placemats. We're not a placemat family. I don't know. I always thought I wanted to be a placemat family that feels mature, but I just find it easier to wipe down the table than to wash placemats. So I have a little bin of placemats that I haven't used in six years and it's time to let those go. But I didn't even have that on my list. That's a bonus. So you're getting 21 things I'm decluttering, not just 20. So anyways, but paper supplies, paper goods, placemats. Number two, children's books. Hey guys, it's time for your ad break. Each week I like to say a huge thank you for your graciousness that these are part of the podcast. Here we go. 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I just love everything I've ever had from HelloFresh, so do my kids, which is a true miracle. So go to HelloFresh.com/paring10fm right now to get 10 free meals plus a free breakfast for life. One per box with active subscription. Free meals applied as discount on the first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. That's HelloFresh.com/paring10fm. Remember, there's no eye and pair. It's just P-A-R-I-N-G-10fm to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. This one's hard because we are a book loving family and children's books also feel nostalgic. So it's kind of a double whammy between the nostalgia and the practicality, but I do realize that we don't necessarily read all of the ones we have anymore because the kids get older. And I have to accept the fact that some of these little board books are not advanced enough or interesting enough to my kids anymore. And so I just need to let some of them go. And I also think we need to let go some of the ones that we think we're going to read, but we never really pick up. And there are probably more of that than I would like to admit. I have decluttered our children's books before. It is not something that has built up for years and years by any means, but I was just looking at the different locations we have of kids books. We have a bookshelf in our living room and we have a bookshelf in my oldest sons room. We have a bookshelf. Oh, and all three of the kids rooms actually. Now that I think about it, they all have a bookshelf area in their rooms. And I just need to go through and be realistic with myself, maybe ask them to help me. Maybe not. I don't know. This could be one of the things where when my kids see it, they'll be like, Oh, yeah, I missed that book. I want to read it. And I'm like, kid, you haven't thought about that book in a year. You know, and so I might just declutter without their help because they might really dampen the process. Hamper, damper, I don't know, either one of those words work. So we'll see. I haven't decided if I'm going to include them or not, but I'm not going to get rid of all of the children's books in our house. I do think that's just a big area that we can declutter before Finland. Number three is bakeware. This typically, I would say falls under my husband's jurisdiction. However, we've already talked about it. So I feel like I can include it on this list. We have a bunch cake pan that we got for free, as some sort of a gift. And it's kind of cool. It looks like a mountain, but my husband has never used it. And I'm pretty sure we got it four years ago when we lived in Florida, right when we got there. And we were talking about it. And I was like, honey, if you want to bake a bun cake, I will support you going to a thrift store and finding a bun cake pan. But I just think that after four years, it's so big. You know, it's not like something you can stack inside something else. You know, it's just like this big mountain. Can we let it go? And he said, yes. So thank you so much, honey. Also, we have lots of extra loaf pans. I still don't have a good answer as to why we had so many loaf pans, but my husband does make delicious banana bread. And we do make meat loaf occasionally. So I'm not anti loaf pan, but we have multiple sizes and many at different sizes. Like he has half pan loaf pans for like little baby loaves of banana bread, which are lovely gifts. But like do we need three at every size? I don't know. We can only eat so much banana bread people. You know, so he has agreed that we will decrease the amount of loaf pans that we own. I hope this is a fascinating look into our marriage, everybody. So anyway, we're going to declutter some bakeware. I also think we could probably get by with fewer cookie sheets. I think we have too many mixing bowls. I haven't necessarily talked to him about those things yet, but these are things that we will be having a conversation about. Again, I do default to him making the final choice because I view those under his jurisdiction because he loves to cook. He loves to bake. And this is his hobby. And I would frankly rather him have the hobby of baking and cooking than something that takes him away on weekends or, you know, is more expensive or all of the reasons why other hobbies aren't super amazing in my opinion. And I just go really lucky that my husband's hobby is to feed us delicious food. So I do let him make the final decision on that. But I will be encouraging him to think about those different bakeware options. Okay. Number four, bath toys. They're just gross. Like that's just something I don't take from place to place because usually they aren't as clean as they should be anyway, you know, because they get all the water in there and they're probably a little bit moldy, but my kids haven't died yet. So I'll let them keep them also. They are getting older. And my blessed my three kids, they're eight, six and five. They still all take a bath together at the same time. Do they fit into a bathtub? No, they do not. Do we have a large bathtub? No, we live in military housing. Okay. We have like the cheapest, smallest, most shallow bathtub. You can possibly imagine. And my children are all like curled up into tiny balls to fit in there together. And I tell them you can shower or you can take baths by yourself, but they love taking a bath together. It's hysterical and they are not ashamed of their bodies. Yet, you know, they haven't reached that point where they start to feel self conscious about it. And so we're just keeping on, keeping on, you know, and they don't, but the point is that they don't really fit like there's no bath, bath toys can't really fit in with them at this point. There's no extra room to spare for a floating bath toy. So I will be decluttering those. I think we have reached the point where we don't really need bath toys anymore. Number five, we will be decluttering regular toys big time. Again, this just is a reflection of the fact that kids grow and change. I don't think it's wasteful for you to have to regularly declutter toys because it's a developmental thing. And so we try and choose toys that aren't like plasticky and that won't grow with them at all. Of course, we avoid those types of things, but even still, there are just certain things that after six months or a year, no longer makes sense or no longer of interest. And I do try and keep on top of it. But there are certain things that are fun enough and we have enough space here that will keep. But before Finland, it's just no point in moving it. One of those is my five year old has this big fire truck tent that he got for Christmas. I don't know, was it this year he got it for Christmas or did he get it in Florida? He got it in Florida. So we've had it for a couple years and occasionally he and the other kids will go inside the fire truck tent and we have plenty space in our basement for it. And so fine, but before Finland, no, I'm not bringing this four by three you know, big giant fire truck tent is not is not going to come with us. I do need to go through puzzles. My kids have outgrown the puzzles where you just match the board piece into the puzzle. You know, now they're doing like full on jigsaw puzzles. Even my five year old has outgrown those. And so I just haven't let those go yet. Missilanius little toys that are just there because they do get played with occasionally, but there's no real sentimental attachment to my kids. We're going to be letting go a fair amount of those like rubber snakes, a microphone that has like karaoke components, but we never charge it. Some of my five year olds trucks and cars, we don't have a ton, but we do have more than we need. And before we move, I'm going to reduce it to not having more than we need. And so he gets to keep his trucks, you know, but the ones that are kind of broken and falling apart, I'm going to let those go. Also some costumes that they have enjoyed playing with, but I haven't noticed them using them the last couple months. Like there's a Harry Potter costume, there's these like capes and crowns, things that they used to play with quite a bit, just not as much anymore. And I'm just going to let those go. Because again, moving to Finland, we just don't know how much space we're going to have. And those are things that I feel like other kids will use and are going to be easy to pass on in a responsible way. And so I'm happy to get rid of them. I don't know if the rocket ship bed is going to come with us. I have a feeling that's going to go into long term storage. Those of you who know about the rocket ship bed, my husband built, it was my oldest son's bed when we lived in Florida. It's really cool. And he has this big slide to get out of it. The whole thing looks like a rocket ship. That has been in our basement here as a play structure. So when they have friends over or whatever, the kids love to go in the basement and go down the slide and use the rocket ship as just like a climbing structure instead of a bed, I just doubt we're going to have space for that in a small house in Finland, but my husband put so much work into it and it could still work as a bed and be something that the kids like when we get back from Finland in three years, like my youngest will only be eight. So he could easily enjoy a rocket ship bed at that point. So that will probably go into long term storage. But yeah, anyway, we're just going to really declutter those toys. Number six, board games. I guess I could could have put this into toys, but they're slightly different. This again is not fully under my jurisdictions is something that I will need to talk to my husband about. And I'm putting it on the list here because we've kind of touched on it. And it sounds like he's ready to let some of them go things like Katan or apples to apples that are for older kids and adults. We don't play them as adults. And so maybe when my son is 16, he's going to want to play Katan with his dad, which at that point, I'm like, fine, we can go rent it from the library. Or if you want to get a new set, I'm not opposed to it. But why are we going to drag this around for the next 10 years if we don't play it, you know, and same like apples to apples. These are adult games. And he and I don't play board games. And when our friends come over, we don't really play board games. And so why do we have these? So I want to let go of those types of board games. Because I do think we actually have a fair amount more than just the Katan and the apples to apples. Like we have quite a few of those. And they just take up a lot of space. They're bulky and they're unnecessary in our life right now. So we're going to really be going through our board games. Number seven is Christmas decor. This is 100% on me. Another quick word from our amazing sponsors. Thank you to you and them for supporting this show. Here we go. This episode is brought to you by jeans that actually fit. So I know a lot of us are like, how do I find a pair of jeans that is A, flattering, B, thick enough that they don't look like jaggings, but C, stretchy enough that they're comfortable and they don't lose their shape and get super baggy after wearing them. I've been trying to find a pair like that for years. They feel like a unicorn and I'm here to tell you that quince's jeans are all of that and more. 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Katozu Tasku. Here we go. Avasson Puellimesta Neste app. There are about 5.5 liter of mobile phone calls. It's not a powerful Neste app that can be used for a long time. It's not an expert-election. It's a good thing to have a H-E-T-E. Okay. Heapsed. Huh? Katozu Tasku. Here we go. It's not a good thing to have a Neste app that can be used for a long time. Okay. Number 7 is Christmas decor. This is 100% on me. I really should have gone through our Christmas decor this past Christmas. That's what I encourage all of you to do. It's like during Christmas time, notice what you're not actually using or what's too much and declutter it in the season. But I did not take my own advice this year. And we have too many bins of Christmas decor. I know we didn't put it all out this year. Part of the problem is that my husband brings up the boxes for us to put things out. And so he just didn't bring up some of the boxes. So I didn't even realize I think that we have boxes that weren't untouched. I think we also have what if items like, oh, what if we want to use these outdoor lights? And we used more outdoor lights in Florida than we did in Kodiak. And so we have a bin of those that I'm like, okay, we can hold onto those. But they might go into long-term storage. Because I do love putting up Christmas lights. But I don't see us putting up a lot of Christmas lights in Finland. So, you know, there's some of that that I'll have to be practical about and recognize that there's magic for the season. I like putting out decor, but just not too much of it. Anyway, the point is though, I know that there's stuff we can declutter in there. So I'm going to really take an afternoon and focus on Christmas stuff and see if I can get rid of a couple of bins. I don't know how many we have. Maybe six. And I'd love to get it down to like three. And I think we can do that successfully. And I know six bins sounds like a lot, but if you think about it, you've got like one bins for ornaments, one bin for stockings, the Christmas tree, tree skirt, like that kind of stuff. Another one that has these little trees that I love to put out and these little reindeer that I like to set up and then another one that has Garland, right? So it's not six bins. Christmas stuff adds up fast, you know? But I do think I can get it a little bit less. I can pair down what a wonderful name for a podcast. Okay, number eight is Baby Gear. This is not toys. I'm talking about Baby Gear that my kids have outgrown that I've been sitting in the garage because I think this could come in handy. For instance, our double stroller. Are our kids too big for a stroller? Yes. But my five and six year old can absolutely still fit in a stroller. And so it's kind of like, oh, if we go to Disney World, we might want to push them around in a stroller because they get tired. Well, listen, we're kind of getting past that anyway. If we really want to push our kids in a stroller, I can rent one from Disney World. Why am I holding on to a double stroller just for vacation? At this point, it does not make sense. I also must say I have put it on Facebook Marketplace in the last year and haven't gotten any bites. And it's one of those things where I'm like, I'm not going to throw away a perfectly good double stroller that was like really expensive, you know? I just haven't found anyone who wants it, which seems weird because it's not like I was selling it. It's going to be free. But we do have a baby pantry here. And so I'm going to go ahead and take the stroller to the pantry. We also have a bike seat that my now five year old a year ago was four and he still fit in. And I put it on the back of my bike, but he's too big for it now. So we got to let that go. We have some camping chairs that worked for our kids when we camped across country last year. But their little high needs are too big for them now. They need like full-sized camping chairs. What a weird development in our lives. So I have baby gear like that that I'm going to be taking to the baby pantry and just letting go. Letting go. I don't have young toddlers and babies anymore. Number nine is very specific. A bike rack. We have this giant heavy bike rack that can go on the back of your car. We have never used it. And we love biking. It's not that we don't bike, but we've never put the bikes on the back of the car. It has just not been something that we've needed to do. And while I can see us maybe wanting to take our bikes around Finland, I also thought we would take our bikes all around when we were camping a lot in our camper van in the lower 48 when we lived in Florida. And we just never did, which is weird. So I talked to my husband about it. And we both agreed that it's so big and heavy and bulky and has never been used. And we've had it for I don't know five years or whatever that it's time to let it go. And if in Finland, we find that we want to take our bikes around, there's probably something a little smaller and less bulky we could use to bring our bikes with us. So this is one that we recognize we might have to repurchase in the future, but it is not worth dragging that thing around anymore. Number 10 small kitchen items. These are not appliances. These are things kind of more within my jurisdiction. We're talking about chopsticks. Bless my husband. You guys might remember the soy sauce story. I had never seen my husband mad like we were married and I had never seen him mad before. And I threw out his soy sauce like drawer. He had collected all these soy sauce packets. And I threw them away and it was the first time in our marriage I had ever seen him mad. So that was interesting. And so I do take this seriously, but he does try and squirrel things away. I was going through some of our drawers in preparation for this episode to be like, what are little things I could get rid of in the kitchen? And in two different drawers, that man has hidden paper or like wooden chopsticks, a little sneaky man, okay? We're getting rid of some of those or all of them. We own reusable chopsticks like nice metal reusable chopsticks. I'm not saying wooden chopsticks are never handy. Fine, let's keep to but his secret stashes. No, we're getting rid of them. Also reusable ziplocs that we never use. That was one of the things I noticed in our drawers are these I wanted to use reusable because I'm like, oh, this is better for the planet and it's better for our pocketbooks, but they don't zip super tight and super well. I feel like they always popped open. And so we never used them, but I didn't get rid of them because I wanted to use them. Totally one of those things will use in theory and we never do. So I'm going to be getting rid of those. We have more small jars than we need. My husband likes to make homemade pudding. You guys, my life, I mean, come on, it is the best. But I think we can pair down. I also think that he might have added to the collection since being here because he has that Midwestern where he sees a small container that like jelly was in. He's like, "This is too beautiful to get rid of." And so he will take the label off, he will clean it, and then it looks like a nice little jar, which I support. Let's reuse. But why do we need so many little jars? You know, we can take that to the thrift store, and someone else will enjoy that little jar. So I'm pretty sure he's been doing that because I don't remember bringing this mini jar here, okay? And he does dishes when I am in bed at night. So he has plenty of opportunity for his covert jar operation, and I've got on to him, okay? What else? We have some spare silverware that we do not use that we didn't even mean to bring to Alaska. I will never forget we went and opened our drawers after the movers had already taken everything out of our Florida house, and they had missed a drawer. And it had a bunch of silverware in it, and we were like, "Uh." And so anyways, the point is, is that we had backup silverware, we didn't mean to bring with us. I don't remember why we didn't just dispose of it then. It doesn't matter. That story doesn't make sense. But I just remember we came with more silverware than we wanted to come with, and we never got rid of it here. So I'm not bringing that with to Finland, like the forks that are weird. We all have silverware that we don't like. The spoon is uncomfortable to hold. It has the wrong shape spoon, or the fork has too many prongs, or not enough prongs, or it's too heavy. Like, right, we're all a little bit picky about our silverware. We have this one divider thing that has all of our, I don't like you silverware in it. I don't know why we still have it in our house, but it's gonna go. Okay, we're going to the thrift store. Okay, so that was number 10, small kitchen items. Number 11, dog toys. My sweet little baby angels can get some brand new finished dog toys. I'm not taking those nasty things with us. Even if I wash them over and over, that's not true. There is one I will take that our small dog, she's five pounds, has this really teeny tiny dog. It's like her baby. And so she does take that into bed with her every night. And so obviously we will bring her baby with us. But the other ones don't seem to have major attachment from our dogs. So I think I'm gonna let those go. Number 12, old luggage, specifically old duffle bags that we just never use. Again, this will be something I talked to my husband about, but I feel good bringing it up on this list, because I think he will be ready to let them go. We of course aren't going to get rid of our suitcases. We use regularly. We will keep our expandable duffle bags that we like. But there's some that are like on wheels that I'm pretty sure he used in college. And I'm like, bro, why do we still have these, you know, they've just kind of made their way into the luggage area of our storage areas in our homes. And I don't think they deserve to be there. Number 13, surround sound speakers. Another very specific one to us. And something that my husband and I have talked about. And he's ready to get rid of them. Everybody say amen because I've been working on that one for years. And again, I don't force him to do anything. And he was the one that said he was ready to get rid of those clothes. And he was ready to get rid of those before moving to Finland. These are not small speakers. You guys, I'm talking they have full on stands like tripod stands. I'm like, who in their right mind is going to have a full movie theater setup? I find if you want surround sound, I get it. But like, these are not the cute little speakers that go in the corner of your ceiling. Why do we have these big bulky speakers that don't belong in a house? Bless us heart. He was really attached to them. I don't entirely know why. I was going to have a full movie theater setup in one of his apartments before he and I ever met. And he and his like college buddies thought it was really fun. And he's had a hard time letting go of that identity. That would be my therapeutic evaluation of it. But the point is, is he's ready to let them go. So they're going to go. All right. That was number 13. Number 14. Specialty cups. I've said this before on the podcast to get rid of specialty drinkware. And again, I don't always take all my own advice. Or I do. But like, it's time to pair down even more. And then we're going to have a lot of fun. storage. He has beer brewing stuff. I think that'll go into long term storage. So again, it's not perfect, but we're doing our best. So that's what I'm decluttering before we move to Finland. I hope that it didn't reveal too much that you're like, "I no longer trust this lady," because she's got all this stuff in her house. She needs to declutter. Well, if that's you then, you're either a new listener or you have found the wrong podcast because this is about realistic minimalism. So anyway, I hope this encouraged you just to think about little things in your life. You can declutter even if you're not moving just to get the ball rolling and live in a home that feels lighter and only has the things that are essential to our well-being and happiness. Thank you so much for being here tomorrow on the podcast. You have to come back for the good stuff episode. What are we filling our lives with? Because we declutter. That's what we talk about on Tuesdays, on Wednesdays. We talk about what we want to fill our lives with and we're doing the series on joy. In fact, tomorrow's is the very last episode in the joy series before we move to the community series about filling our lives with community. But designing our lives around joy, we're finishing up with a absolute dream of a human. Her name is Deja Riley. I went to high school with her. Her dad was a massive producer. You might have heard of him. Teddy Riley from Black Street. He produced for Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, that kind of thing. So really big family name in the entertainment industry and then Deja made a name for herself as a dancer for Beyoncé and think Lady Gaga, Rihanna. I don't remember. Anyway, she had this huge dance career and then turned fitness career. And so you might have seen her workouts on pop sugar. Like she's so cool. She is such a bright light and she's a friend of mine from high school. Did I mention that already? Did I already say that? And she's a friend of mine from high school. And so it was really fun to reconnect with her on a personal level and to talk all about the joy of movement because I get really intimidated when it comes to the idea of working out or being in shape. And she takes all of that insecurity off the table and just makes you feel excited about producing more joy in your life through moving your body. And I promise you, even if you are not someone who likes to work out, this episode is awesome. So come back tomorrow for that. And then the chai chat on Thursday. There's always stuff going on around here. And I'm so happy you're part of this community. So I'll see you tomorrow. You just listen to an episode of "Pairing Down" with me, Shannon Lakeau. Please don't forget to hit follow or subscribe. And I will love you forever and ever if you leave a five-star review because those reviews are so helpful on the back end of things. And for more resources about decluttering and intentional living, sign up for my short weekly newsletter, The Less Express, which you can find in the show notes. And follow along on social media. Just look me up. I'm Shannon Lakeau, L-E-Y-K-O. Thank you so much for listening. This episode is brought to you by mozzarella-crusted chicken and butter-based tits, sirloin steak. Oh my gosh, I'm going to start celebrating already, which is going to make recording hard, but I have to tell you about hello fresh because you guys know I am a truly massive fan. That's why I talk about decluttering. And we can absolutely make our lives simplified by using hello fresh to make cooking effortless so we don't always have to think about what we need to make for dinner while still being able to offer our families a homemade meal. I just love everything I've ever had from hello fresh. So do my kids, which is a true miracle. So go to hello fresh dot com slash pairing 10 FM right now to get 10 free meals plus a free breakfast for life. That's hello fresh dot com slash pairing 10 FM. Remember there's no eye and pear. It's just P-A-R-I-N-G 10 FM to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. This episode is brought to you by my love of twinkle lights. And I have really been neglecting our outdoor spaces. You guys know I'm intentional about keeping a decluttered and warm and cozy home, but I do feel like sometimes I fail to think about the outdoor spaces in my home. And we have this back patio with this love seat that is just falling apart. These pillows that are absolutely nasty. And I have been dreaming of hanging twinkle lights for as long as I can remember. They just make me so happy. And that is where Wayfair can come in. You don't have to settle for something that doesn't exactly fit because those things become clutter and having options to choose from allows us to make sure that we're not filling our spaces with things that do not matter or do not work. Whether it's your seating or your grills, major appliances, even storage for things like soccer balls or whatever it might be. Maybe you need a rug. You might need some patio lighting like my love of twinkle lights. All of that is available in one place on Wayfair. Get prepped for patio season for Wayless. Head to Wayfair dot com right now to shop all things home. That's w-a-y-f-a-i-r dot com Wayfair every style every home. So I know a lot of us are like, how do I find a pair of jeans that is a flattering b thick enough that they don't look like jaggings but c stretchy enough that they're comfortable and they don't lose their shape and get super baggy after wearing them. Remember, there's no i in pair. quince.com/pairing.