Decluttering Your Mind: The Path to Downsizing

In this episode of the Less House More Moola podcast, host Laura engages with Lisa Geraci Rigoni, the Chief Declutter Officer of The Organizing Mentors, to discuss the challenges and mental blocks associated with downsizing and decluttering. Lisa shares her insights on the emotional connections people have with their belongings, the importance of taking small steps to declutter, and the value of experiences over material possessions. The conversation also touches on practical tips for organizing, the role of professional organizers, and the significance of understanding one's relationship with their stuff.

Lisa's Links

Website www.theorganizingmentors.com

Book https://www.amazon.com/Spatulas-Man-Who-Fried-Egg/dp/1958405582

Go to thetinyhouseadviser.com

Transcript

Full Episode Transcript 

With Your Host 

Laura Lynch 

Less House More Moola Podcast (00:42)

Well, Lisa Geraci-Rigoni, welcome to Less House More Moola podcast. Super excited to have this conversation with you. I cannot even tell you how many people are waiting with bated breath to hear some wisdom about how to downsize and how to deal with all of the mental blocks around our stuff. So thank you so much for joining me.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (00:47)

Great.

man.

Okay, well gosh, you kind of got me a little nervous. I have to have some points of, know, I don't know, like wisdom, wisdom points, but we'll see where we get, right? And, you know, we can't guarantee what someone's going to get from a talk or anything, but hopefully they'll get what they need. of course.

Less House More Moola Podcast (01:27)

Yeah, well, thank you for joining me. I think your

experience and kind of focus area in your work is just so perfect for this conversation. So would you start by introducing yourself and obviously your business as well as your book?

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (01:44)

Sure, sure. Well, again, thank you for finding me and having me on your podcast is very exciting. I love doing this because it just gets, it gets more education and more, you know, things out for people that are struggling in some way. You know, we all are right. But I am Lisa Geraci-Regoni and I am the Chief Declutter Officer for The Organizing Mentors. And I also have an estate sale company called Recycle the Love. And

I've been in business since 2008, 17 years, which is funny because my book, 17 Spatulas and the Man Who Fried an Egg, you know, has the 17 number on it. And I just recorded the audio version, so that should be out in a couple weeks. Yeah, I'm so excited. But I got into organizing really,

you know, just because I was helping friends at play dates with my daughter, organize their garage or go through their kitchen and just kind of ask questions. Well, why do you still have it? What, you know, what's the thought behind it? What's the memory behind it? Are you using it? And after a couple friends places, one of my girlfriends said, you should do this as a business. You're really good at it. And I didn't think of it as a business because it was just something I did. And

You have to read my book. Why? it kind of rang true to me about how, everybody is not a good organizer. Everyone is organized, right? Everyone's organized. may be organized chaos and it may be too much stuff, but everyone who can get through the day is organized is how I see it. It depends on what

what degree of organization do you want? I myself do not like, I'm not OCD, I'm not everything has a place, everything can't move it. That would make me a little cuckoo because I do have ADD. I can be around a cluttered house. Obviously I've worked with hoarders. I've worked with a lot of people with a lot of things.

but I can't live in it, like it's not my house. So whenever we go into a client, I say, you know, how can we make this better for you? It doesn't have to be my idea of what's organized, it's yours. And people really appreciate it because there are so many organizing styles out there, they're not for everybody. But if you have a desire and you look around,

and think, okay, something's gotta give. I'm just, and that's when we can get into the mental clutter. When your state of mind is affected by what you see, that's really when we come in and when I, even for myself, say, okay, let's take 10 minutes and just move things around and declutter. It's a lot easier when you have a baseline, like everything in the room, in the office is stuff you need.

and then you take out what you don't and just organize what's left. so long story short, I guess, is I believe, again, everyone is organized. We just have to find out what works for you and your family. and make sense. Yeah.

Less House More Moola Podcast (05:03)

Yeah,

I've noticed with people that, and myself included, that whenever you tackle something new, there's like that really hard push at the beginning. If you're going to, if you're going to do it, the hardest part is getting started. And I would imagine that you see that with the people that you work with that just overcoming.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (05:19)

Yeah, exactly.

Less House More Moola Podcast (05:26)

you know, sometimes you can't envision, what it's going to look like on the other side. And it just seems so insurmountable. So when we think about people that are trying to go, and you've even downsized yourself. So when we think about people that are trying to go from, kind of a conventional path that they've always lived on where, okay, we're in a consumer based society, right? People are filling their garages. They're filling their houses. They're used to just.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (05:38)

Mm-hmm.

storage units.

Less House More Moola Podcast (05:53)

so much happiness out of shopping and you know, accumulating and gift giving and holidays.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (05:59)

and feeling

equal and or almost better than if you can afford a certain amount of stuff. It makes you feel like you fit in, you know, I mean, I work with people of all different walks, walks of life, and it doesn't matter. You know, if you want something, if you filling up some void or something, it doesn't matter. You know, people go broke going at, you know, the big store, you know, big lot  stores and things like that just to

I got the newest this and I got the newest that and we were talking about glasses earlier. You know, I'm sure you have like 10 of them and you use them for every everything, right? I usually ask if you weren't using this, what would you use? You know, instead like, you know, my little my little champagne glass for my sparkling water. I love that. I do have a water glass, but if I didn't, you know, what would you use? You know, and people want something

for every reason or want a reason for something, maybe that's what it is. Want a reason to have more things. And I know in your world, that's not possible. Or the people, I can't get rid of it, I can't get rid of it, so they get storage units.

Less House More Moola Podcast (07:15)

And so how do you think about that kind of mental shift of that first step of, hey, I'm going to downsize into a condo, I'm going to downsize into a tiny house, I'm going to downsize into whatever. Like, how do you overcome that first hard part of getting started?

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (07:32)

I often say everyone's overwhelmed right with any decision right you know you need to do this there's a part of you that's like "I know". I know I should do this, you know "shoulding" on yourself I know I need to but. I say this all the time. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time right so they see the whole house that they've lived in even 20 30 40 50 years

Where the heck do I start? What, what, open a drawer. One bite, open a drawer, get rid of what you don't want. The next drawer, the next drawer. Yeah, it seems like you're not doing anything because there's no actual visual, So I often, actually, I always tell people take a picture, even if you're just taking a picture of your drawer. So then you see, I did do something.

I am getting or the garbage, or the donation pile, you know, just see that you're doing something because often it doesn't feel like it. And that's what I think where people don't want to start because like it's going to just take so much so long. So what are you waiting for? I've worked with clients that waited too long and they either pass away or.

spouse goes into the hospital or they have go to, they have dementia, all the scenarios. They've waited too long. I come in or my team comes in or the adult children and we don't know what's important to people. It's a house full of stuff. And most people are not, I say most people that I work with are not hoarders. I call us lifers because we've been in the house a lifetime. Our kids have grown up, they're gone. They've left all their stuff.

Parents have passed away, we have their stuff because we don't know what to do with it. So it's really just lifers. So when you have that on top of your life, you know, of working or whatever, it just becomes unbearable and overwhelming. And I would rather just, I often say, and I do this myself, I'd rather have a glass of wine and watch Netflix than do something that's mentally and physically straining or.

I don't know where to start. One box at a time. But the only way to get over it is for you to get over it. Or I say with my clients, once you set the appointment with us, you're starting. It's making that decision to call. And sometimes I even say to potential clients, I'm really proud of you for even calling. Even if you don't work with us, you know you need help. So search it out. Because it's difficult. It's difficult.

Less House More Moola Podcast (09:43)

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. I think that that is a great tip. And I think I said this on maybe the last podcast there's this saying that always comes to mind. Action will take you out of doubt and doubt will take you out of action. And just taking the smallest action sometimes is enough to sort of dissolve the big mental block that you have about the thing. And so just taking the smallest bit of action, doing that one drawer is a great way to.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (10:21)

I'm not.

No, not yet.

It

makes you feel so good even if it is just a little drawer. No, I love that. And even the people that just decide, okay, enough is enough. I have to get this done. Even if they're not moving, they're not downsizing. It's just the mental clutter just gets too much. And who's gonna do it for me if I don't do it? Yeah.

Less House More Moola Podcast (10:51)

Sure.

So you mentioned earlier that, you know, the folks that you work with, the lifers, right? They have their own, multi decades of life that of course they've inherited perhaps from their family, their kids were there, maybe they have stuff that are left from the kids. And so how do we in situations where we do, you know, need or plan to downsize, how do we think about the value of all that stuff? And

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (11:02)

you

Less House More Moola Podcast (11:18)

transform our thinking in order to downsize or declutter or kind of be less overwhelmed with all the stuff that we have.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (11:26)

Running.

I think that's kind of a two-part question to me. It's the value most people that I know that I've worked with don't keep like, this cost a million dollars. it's more like, okay, I'll just grab this. Like this was grandma's champagne glass. I love it. Okay, it's chipped on the bottom. I don't care. I want to bring it. Okay, pack it. something someone gave you that was a gift and...

maybe you never wore a dress. Most people will say, oh, I feel so bad that I didn't wear it, but I never really liked that color. so you kind of go through what's important to you, and I call this your future self. And moving just recently for me, six months ago, I was like, ah, I'm probably not gonna use that again, or someone else can use that, or my daughter's outgrown the little dog light.

like we don't have to keep that in her stuff. So it's really, it's value, but it's also, for most of my clients, what really means something to them. You create your surroundings. So if there's something that's negative in your life, or you feel responsible for it, or guilty if you don't keep it, to me, that's negative juju.

in your space, right? I tend to talk to my clients and ask them, well, why is this important for you to keep? And well, my mom made me keep it. I'm the keeper of stuff. Okay, does mom want you to feel the burden of keeping that stuff? Some people say yes. And some people say.

I don't know. So I said, okay, if you have kids and you can't get rid of it, do you want your kids to feel that burden of holding onto it? It comes down to simple questions. Do you want to pay to move it again? If you're downsizing or do you want to buy a storage unit of stuff, you're probably never going to go through again because you don't know what to do with it. And you're in crunch time, you know, cause people start too late sometimes if they're moving. I always say, even if you

Think about moving in the next five years, just start. Just start one drawer, one space. Start with the hardest one first, because you'll never get to that harder part. People want to do the drawers and the easy and the old clothes and the things like that. And then their whole basement or their attic is completely full. And that's overwhelming. And that's pretty much detrimental if they have a date, because then stuff just gets, just box it. My husband even said that moving here.

I'll go through it at the new house. No, you won't, honey. You won't. I know you won't. So just take some time and go through these boxes. You know, he had like four of them. He went down to one. Just do it. know? Yeah, so it's always fun working with clients who are deciding, well, I don't know what to keep. You do. Most people know what they don't want before they know what they want. So we start there. And that's the system I created, the Little System, L-I-T-L.

is the L is little, what are the things you know you don't want? Most people know what they don't want in the space, right? You've called me for a reason or you're downsizing for a reason. Yeah, we never sit in the dining room. We never use this extra couch. So those are the things you start getting rid of, know, donating, selling, giving away.

Less House More Moola Podcast (15:06)

Yeah, it's interesting because one of the things that I feel like we ran into when we were going from our 1300 square feet to our 300 square feet was kind of like this fear of, I don't know exactly what my future is going to look like and whether this thing might be important then. So like as an example, I'm, always thinking about how we might have some Airbnb type

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (15:16)

Right?

Less House More Moola Podcast (15:32)

And I'm like, well, maybe this would go in the Airbnb, or maybe, this might go in my studio someday, so it's hard when we're all sort of moving through life and a lot of change for a lot of people. And you don't necessarily know if in 10 years, you might be back in a bigger space, or you might be

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (15:34)

he doing?

Less House More Moola Podcast (15:51)

doing something else where that thing might be useful. So how do we sort of prioritize, with uncertainty being in front of us?

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (16:01)

Well, we talked about this earlier. I am not a therapist. All I can go through is my experience with therapists and working with therapists within my business clients and just how I, I approach my clients. So what you're describing is the someday syndrome that has another description, but I use it in business because

Someday I'll wear it someday. We'll use it someday. I'll be worth money someday I'll sell it someday I'll fit into it, I might use it someday and for a lot of people that stops you dead in your tracks, so If it's something small like give yourself six months

You I mean, you probably couldn't take a dining room table into a 300 square foot space, but if you get a storage unit, and I use this just in these situations, like when we moved, we needed a storage unit for the stuff we were taking to the new house. Give yourself six months if you don't use it. And if you can't, if you're in a financial place to donate it and then

repurchase it. You know, I say that to people again all over the economic income. If it's under $50, can you purchase it again? And buying clothes, I'm going to get down to that weight. Okay, when you're that weight, do think you're going to want something new? So maybe say three or four things or unique things or things that really make you feel good. So that's a hard question because it is someday I'll need it.

Someday I'll need this. Someday I'll need these 17 spatulas. Well, let's pair them down and see how many you actually need. Again, these are questions that we can ask our clients, but it really comes down to being honest with yourself. And sometimes that's hard. Yeah, we like to keep secrets from ourselves. I'm going to use it. No, I'm going to get down to that weight. Or, no, my daughter, we're gonna sell that. That's gonna be worth something someday. You just never know. It's your future self and it's,

your hopes, right? Your hopes that you will need it, because you love it, maybe.

Less House More Moola Podcast (18:21)

Yeah, yeah, I think there's some, you know, some biases in here that we all have about the valuation that we assign to the stuff that we own that's unrealistic. And to your point about the $50 thing, probably the vast majority of things that people are spending a lot of mental energy around, should I keep it? Should I keep it? It's probably a very inexpensive thing, right? Because the majority of the stuff in our life is not terribly expensive.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (18:40)

enough.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Less House More Moola Podcast (18:49)

It's

only when we get into maybe our houses and our cars, right? Which that is, at a higher price point. So we probably are spending a lot of like emotional energy over these kind of small things.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (19:01)

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And it's usually the stuff that means something to us is not valuable. You know, like the little piece of jewelry or the wine glass or the cup, the teacups, And the I don't know part is in between, like, let it go, the first step, because we know what we don't want instantly. We just know. And when you have, don't know what to do with that." OK, put it on the side for now.

You don't have to know now, right? And then keep doing the let it go. Keep going, you know, through every room, for every space. And then the next step is transform. So that I don't know piece is, I don't know, like, are we going to use it? What are we going to use it for? That's talking through things, you know, deciding what are we going to use in the space? What do we want?

And that's where, again, the I don't know in that step is, it's emotionally taxing sometimes because sometimes you just don't know, right? But therapists also say when you say I don't know, your brain literally like shuts off. I used to say this to my daughter, because I heard this from a therapist years ago. She'd say, if you did know, what would it be?

So if you ask your question, if I did know what decision would I make? Because then it gets you out of that negative, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. So if you did know, what would you do with that couch or that piece of equipment for my future studio? If you did know.

Less House More Moola Podcast (20:41)

good. So much of this is just mental blocks and just tied up and you know, so much baggage. I, I, a particular person in my life comes into mind where they have like a sentimental memory to every tchotchke, right? lots, lots of sentimental attachment, lots of things.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (20:45)

It is. It is.

you

Yeah, they're important. They're important.

There's a moment in your life where you got that. And hopefully it was a good moment. know, a lot of people keep things that have negative feeling from it and you don't even realize it until you actually ask the questions. I have an experience with my mom used to give me angels all the time

I was in my office, looked to the side and I had this little angel figurine in our guest bedroom on the dresser. And I knew she gave it to me. I looked at it and I was like, it's cute. You know, it was cute. And so I talked to her. She's, not with us anymore, but I always talk to her. And I said, you know, mom, I don't really, I know you gave this to me, but I'm going to donate it. And thus my name of my estate sale company is Recycle the Love because

I loved that. My mom bought it and she loved giving it to me and I loved it for a long time, but I don't remember exactly when she gave it to me, you know, and it was a good feeling, but I was like, it's just getting dusty. It's just sitting there. And so I gave it to, you know, I donated it to a local charity around here and I know someone, a mom or a daughter or a boyfriend or a dad bought it for their child or lover or whatever it is. And it's recycling.

You know, so someone is going to enjoy that. And I talk about that a lot with my clients is all the people in your area that don't have five pairs of shoes or even one pair of shoes or a pair of black jeans or a little tchotchke that someone gave them for $5 And that gets people thinking, a little bit more because most...

people, especially our older clients, don't want to think that they've saved this stuff and it's junk and it's going to go into a landfill. They want to know that someone wants it. We have clients that give us stuff. And I'm a certified move manager through NASSM, National Association of Senior and Specially Moved Managers. And in their code of ethics, they say,

If a client gives you something, don't take it. And I go completely opposite of that. I said, if my client wants to give me something, no matter if it's a piece of paper or I don't care what it is, I'm going to take it. Because, and then I can do whatever I want with it because they feel they would love me to have it or someone is going to take something of theirs. So I always say,

Girls, if the team, if someone gives you something, you take it. Thank you so much. And then do whatever you want. They don't care. They want to know they've given something that was important to them to someone who's important to them. Even for the two months we're working with them. So I say that a lot to my clients also. If there's something you want someone to have within reason, like not a whole dining room set

But something small, write their name on the bottom, give it to them, because then they'll always have that memory of you giving it to them and why. And if you don't want it, donate it. Give it away, recycle the love, but just know that they picked you for a reason, And that's important to people. That's important to people.

Less House More Moola Podcast (24:28)

Yeah, it's almost like if we all had a pinpointed important people in our life that we could give our stuff to, right? It would make the whole process so much easier. It's really when we have to transition the stuff that maybe we've inherited you know, especially the stuff where we have a lot of, I don't want to say baggage, but we have some attached meaning behind it. And when we have to give it into the unknown.

that's probably harder, and that's why so many people just wanna give everything to their kids, right? Because then there's an automatic transference of that value and that's so much easier than taking.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (25:02)

yeah.

It is, but then the kids

have to hold on to it, you know, and that's, that's what I was saying earlier, holding onto everybody's stuff, they were given it, their parents were given it and then their parents. And during the depression, people say, the depression era, they didn't have any money, so they hold it held onto something. There's a deeper message for that. Cause I've done research into this is when you are so

let's say 100 years ago or 200 years ago, they made their furniture, they made things, right? They passed that down. Like great, great grandfather planted the tree, that great grandfather made this table and it's passed down. You pass down your stuff unless you had money. And that was your legacy. That was the family's stuff, right? So that's how people still think now. It's like, okay, well, grandpa built that.

you know, 75 foot table, we have to take it. Well, do you or does someone else want it? Does someone else use it? Sell it, it's okay. Like, grandma and grandpa don't care. They're like, get rid of it. You know, we've used it. We've gotten all of our money's worth out of this stuff. It's what I try to say to myself and my clients and my family. You know, if you can't use it, when we were doing my parents' house, we were getting rid of my parents' things and...

Everything in there. was like, my god, I wanted this when I was young, but I can't you know, I'm 50 years old now I'm not gonna take this and my brother's the same thing. We took small things, you know that were important to us, but you can't take everything and As soon as you realize someone else needs it The stress it's like once it's gone people are so happy

Less House More Moola Podcast (27:35)

this is kind of why have challenges with the holidays because I felt like when I was a kid that the holidays were, if you got a gift, it was something that you actually needed, right? And it was one thing or, you know, one thing, you know, from your parents and one thing from your grandparents. But now everything is like a flood of just so much, so much accumulation of stuff.

that the meaning seems to have been lost in it. And so, in the Depression, there was a lot less to be had, and so things got a lot more value assigned to them. But in modern times, there is just a flood of stuff. it's kind of, things have changed, but our mindset around the stuff has not changed.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (28:10)

Thank you.

Yeah,

you're right. Absolutely. And you want to keep up with everybody. you want to feel as good as or equal to or keeping up. And my parents, we didn't grow up with a lot of money. And so they bought a lot and it was just all crappy stuff, you know, just to fill up the tree and just to make it look like we had a lot of stuff.

We all got one thing, you know, and then all these little tchotchke things. But nowadays, it's a funny story when we buy stuff when we need it, right? So my birthday's coming up and I like going places like my husband and I were gonna go to dinner. My daughter and I are gonna go to a Salt Cave. Like I love experiences like that. My daughter's graduating from college. like what do you want for graduation?

don't want anything. Do you want a ring, like something to like signify like you did? No. So we're going to go to London in July. And she's like, that could be my birthday and my graduation present. I'm like, really? Like, okay. Like it's probably more expensive than buying a present, but I like experiences.

But like my nephew, he's 13 and my other one's 12, 13, they're about that age and they send you this list and the family has to choose and but it's what it is. And then I have my other family, send me like two things. This is what I need. Like it's so different than how, most people celebrate.

celebrate stuff. have to have everything in the newest gadgets.

Less House More Moola Podcast (30:01)

Interesting. So I feel like that you've kind of talked about this a little bit by this shift from the value of things to the value of experiences, which is very much I feel like a modern phenomenon or more generational, right? We have more access to experiences and travel and things. so younger generations, especially, are really many of them focused on experiences over things. But for those of us that are still, you know, kind of entrenched in this

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (30:16)

on him.

Yep.

Less House More Moola Podcast (30:30)

stuff mentality, how

do we deprogram ourselves, especially in the downsizing situation, you downsized, you see people downsize. Once you get to that smaller space, how do you rewire yourself to not need every single thing that might solve a short or a long term, every new spatula, right? How do we not need every new spatula?

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (30:38)

from him.

No.

Yes.

that's a deep question. I think it comes to your personality and what, what people need. You know, there are obsessive compulsive tendencies in everything, right? So I go to stores with my girlfriend, say we go to Ocean City or something, and they, let's go to those stores with all those cute little things. And I walk around.

I'm like, isn't this cute? This will look so cute in your kitchen. I'm like, no, I don't. just, I am at the point, I don't want it because I grew up with it. I come to this business, honestly, like my mom bought all the little tchotchkes, all the little things, and everyone had something they were collecting. Like she started collections for everybody. So she'd see a frog and her friend would have frogs and

And that's still It's really your future self. Look at how much you're spending too. So many people live on credit these days, and it breaks my heart because I can't afford you. Well, yes, you can. It's like when people say they don't have time. I say it all the time to my husband. I ran out of time. Well, how long did you scroll or how long did you?

you know, sit. there's always a reason, right? Right? We always have a reason. And this comes to my favorite quote, which I made is "the stuff about your stuff is not about your stuff". So the reasons, the stuff we make up about whatever it is, having too much stuff, not going to the gym, not being healthy, not eating healthy, not having enough time.

It's not about that. It's about what we make up about this stuff. It's the excuses we use or the reasons we use. Like I wanted to just sit. you know, I have a hard job. Like there's always reasons, right? But you can only own stuff that you're complaining about. You have to own it. If you're.

not taking responsibility for it, you'll never change. like, yeah, I'm still 10 pounds heavy since COVID. That was five years ago. I haven't really taken any responsibility to not have that extra grass of wine or work out a little bit more. You know, you can only change what you take ownership of. we don't have any judgment. It's taking you this long. You still want to keep this.

That's fine. I'm just proud of you for making a decision. We have no stake in how the house looks when we get there or when we leave. It's if our clients are happy. So even just making a little change, a little change, L-I-T-L, the little system, makes a big difference. you have to decide for yourself and your future self,

How do you want to live your life right now. I like stuff. I like memories. I like things in my house. I'd say 80 % of everything in our house right now is stuff I've chosen to be here. The other 20 % is, you know, the storage, stuff in storage, or we haven't gone through the summer stuff yet from outside on the deck,

Or it's just, it's the toilet plunger or things have to keep. You know, they might not bring you joy, but they will at some point if you keep them, right?

we have to find what system works for you. You might want things out on your shelf.

that people are like, my God, her shelf has so much stuff. If you saw my desk right now or my bookcase in the back, it looks cluttered, but everything on there has a purpose and a I love pictures. I have all my pictures up That's important to me. So it really doesn't matter what's important to other people It's just how you feel in your space.

that is the key, I think.

Less House More Moola Podcast (34:44)

Yeah.

I think it goes to just having an intentional life and being intentional about the things in your world too. And, for some folks they might be intentional about a lot more things. And some people are intentional about fewer things. But if it aligns with what's important to you and you're intentional about having that instead of just letting stuff flood your life that you don't know why it's there. You don't have any

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (34:58)

I'm on.

Mm-hmm.

Less House More Moola Podcast (35:12)

Or maybe it's there because you can't let go of it because you have negative energy around it. You know, you really just want to be positively intentional about what is in your world because the volume of things that can show up in your world are unending because there's a lot of stuff out there.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (35:30)

yeah?

There is, there is. And it's hard to say no. It's hard to say no to something new or the biggest, newest thing. But like you said, it's how you feel in your space and what your intention is for your life and your space moving forward. And most people don't even realize how much clutter they have, because they've just lived with it. I can't tell you how many times, like the man who fried an egg, he said,

I didn't realize it was this bad it looked like this no because you keep walking past it every day you don't need to look at it you don't need to be there because it's cluttered you can't even go in the room so until you take the time to say hmm what what what like open your eyes and and really see what's around you most people just walk past it walk past it walk past it until it's too late sometimes

Less House More Moola Podcast (36:29)

So tell us a little bit more about who you work with and where your geography is. So any folks that are listening, where do you serve clients and what services do you provide?

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (36:45)

Okay, well we're in Northern Virginia, but we are virtual. Now some, it's difficult to do because physically they're not able or it's just difficult to move things around yourself. And if that's the case, I have connections all around the country through NASSM and through professional organizing. So we can help just about anyone who wants to be helped.

We have realtors who reach out to us, therapists who reach out to us, and you have to be, you don't have to be 100 % committed. But you have to be at least, have your foot in the game. Because when it gets difficult, is when people are like, I'm done, I can't, you know, I can't do it anymore. Yes, it's difficult. And I like to say, sometimes the fear of opening a box, even your, you know, your...

box inside of those memories, what we create is worse than opening up the box or opening up those feelings again. Therapists say, yes, you're going to be, you might be emotional opening this box. What if your child died or your spouse died or whatever it is, you don't want to open up those memories. You don't want open those wounds. You know, I went through, 10 years of therapy. I'm healed now and I don't want to go through that. Okay. If you really don't, then throw it away.

I don't recommend that because going through it is so cathartic for some people. if you have a therapist you're still working with, have them on call, or work with an organizer. Because sometimes it does. I don't want to scare people, it's the, false evidence appearing real fear. It's what we're making up about this scared moment, or even like decluttering.

A lot of people when we start our first conversation, they're like, well, how am going to keep it organized once it's done? Like, that's their fear. Like, you haven't even signed a contract. I haven't even seen your house. You know, let's start there. You still have like six months of us, helping you. Let's figure that out, you know, because that's scary for them. I used to be organized. Now I'm not,

Okay, well, if you used to be, let's get you back to that. Their fear is, it overwhelms them, because you just go down that rabbit hole, right? we work in Northern Virginia, we are professional organizers, I have nine employees, and I've been in business for 17 years,

And my tagline is reclaim your space mentally and physically. Because a client told me years ago, and a couple of them all at the same time said, you didn't just help with my space, like you helped me mentally.

It was all that clutter inside or the reasons you're giving of why you're holding onto or just trying to get started. And I thought that's a great, that's what we do. That's really what we do. We help people reclaim their space and whatever that means to you, right? And so we work in Northern Virginia, DC, all the way to Middleburg and beyond and Manassas. we're, we're all over the place.

And the estate sale company is the same thing. So clients will call us when they're moving. That's like our biggest one because they just don't know where to start. Realtors will refer us, therapists will refer us when they're talking about life and it's like, and I can't find anything, and, you know, hey, do you want a referral? it's people, it's hard to refer an organizer.

I used to be a personal trainer. I had a fitness business in Chicago and people would say, how do I refer people to you without insulting them? And my thing is if you come from a place of love, like, hey, I met this personal trainer and she's getting people healthy and off medicine and just physically fit, would you like, it's not like, hey, you're too heavy, call her or, you have so much stuff, aren't you embarrassed?

No, hey, you know, it might be unhealthy to have all these papers around and, know, I met this person. So really, if you come from a place of love, you can refer anybody. And then they can do with it what, what they want. Sometimes people don't call me from therapists because they're not ready. They call me five years later sometimes. And then we have people that are coming back from the hospital. And again, they've been in the house 40 years and we have to get a,

hospital bed on the first floor and we have to move things around and organize and we just keep doing it or they have need a 24-hour care manager to come to the house or home care. People who have a new babies, know, well we have to clean out the spare bedroom because we got a new baby. So I always call them any organizational struggles. You know, can you get your car in the garage? I call fall the get your cars back in your garage season for the winter.

We're in Virginia, so it's not that bad, but coming from Chicago, it's like we always had our cars in the garages. I kind of joke about that, but it's true. It's like most people, especially in Northern Virginia, do not use their garages for cars. It's all for extra storage and like, why? It's stuff you don't use. Most of it, it's just garages like one step away from garbage or donation is how I see it in the basement. Just put in, and we'll decide later. So yeah, so we work.

all over the place. And I'm also, working on putting together an online class through the L-I-T-L system that people can kind of go slowly to figure it out themselves, use the L-I-T-L system to let it go. And then if they want one-on-one, we do a Zoom with me if they have any questions.

But we're always available and I love my team. It's my baby. So everyone who works for me, it takes me a long time to hire. I'll say that because everybody, we're not the Pinterest perfect organizers where "your perfect."

what works for you and that's hard to find somebody who's, okay, let's see, how can we help? What can I do? It's not, I want this here and you want this there and do it for you. Because most people who work like that, when we've worked with people, it looked great but I couldn't find anything. So it really wasn't a successful organizing session if you can't find anything. So yeah, that's me.

Less House More Moola Podcast (43:05)

And

for listeners, Lisa's book is "17 Spatulas and the Man Who Fried an Egg". I read it on Kindle. Super great read, really great stories and an outline of the L-I-T-L system that Lisa's been referring to. So kind of taking you through those steps. So a great read and super excited that that's coming out on, is it going to be on Audible?

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (43:14)

You

On audible yes and it's my voice it's my story it's you know it's my clients story it's my my growing up and how I got to where I am today and all the crap you go through to get to where you are and you know looking back going yeah I remember why that happened

So I wanted to do it in my voice and it was fun. I know I wrote it, but it's a really good book because it's about, it's not about organizing. It's about why we hold on to stuff. And I call this my COVID baby. know, I voiced a text. I put on my microphone, just like your headset. I just talked into my computer.

Less House More Moola Podcast (43:52)

this is a good.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (44:08)

and told story after story after story and then took another six, eight months to like put it into book form and really figure out what it was. But the stories I remember and I recounted, you they're all so similar. we just, all struggle. We all struggle with something and stuff is a big part of it. all the things we've been talking about, the guilt or holding onto something because why?

Do you know why you're even holding onto it? it's been in that corner because it, it matched 10 years ago and now it really doesn't match and it's dusty. Okay. Do you really want it? but it's asking the questions why and it's not easy. It's not easy and you're the only one who can answer it. I can ask you all the questions, but really it's ultimately up to the owner or family member to make those decisions and sometimes that is

It's a lot of pressure to get it right, But we all know the answers. We really do.

Less House More Moola Podcast (45:09)

Well, Lisa, as we wrap up, there was one tip that you talked about in some of our previous conversations about the stacks of paper. And I loved your stack of paper tip. So would you share that with us as we wrap up?

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (45:19)

Wow.

Yes, stacks of paper, magazines, newspapers, even clothing. they're, you know, people with these massive closets that just have sweatshirt pile and t-shirt pile, take them down or, you know, the papers and flip them over as much as if you can. You know, you might have to do it in a couple steps, but flip them over because the stuff on the bottom is going to be the oldest. So whether it's your medical files or papers or kids drawings or whatever, or clothing, that's usually the stuff you haven't worn.

So it's most likely the easiest to make a decision. You you flip it, and you're like, yeah, no, I haven't worn this one. Or you have seven the same color, you know. So that's one of those hacks that I just, do with everybody. And even myself, like when we were moving, I'm like, okay, flip the bin over, you know, and let's, you know, take the top off gently, and what's on the bottom is usually the oldest. So you can do that with just about anything. In your car.

Most people just put stuff in the car in the back, just go to the back of the closet. If everything's hung, right? It's kind of like flipping it over, go to the back of the closet and look back there, because that's usually the stuff you haven't worn. And you make decisions. And then it gives you a little confidence, like, I can do this. Even if you just take out five t-shirts, I can do this. OK, I knew there were five things I didn't want. Excellent, you did it. So you're starting it. But yeah, I love that. I love that hack, too.

You

Less House More Moola Podcast (46:56)

Well, Lisa, where

can folks track you down?

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (47:01)

TheOrganizingMentors.com, also on Facebook, Instagram, and then Amazon has the 17 Spatulas of the Man Who Fried an Egg, and hopefully two weeks Audible, will have it, and I'll have it on Amazon as well. And Recycle the Love. TheOrganizingMentors.com, and sign up for my newsletter.

We don't spam you or anything. And then when the website comes up, you can also download the L-I-T-L system. You just put your email in and we send it to you. So you have a little something to work on, just a little at a time, one little thing at a time, one bite at a time.

Less House More Moola Podcast (47:38)

Well, Lisa, thank you so much for the great conversation today about all of these mental blocks of the stuff that we hold onto and stories that you've seen. And it was so useful. And listeners, I hope you found this to be really great because I this is a topic on everybody's mind is what do I do with all this stuff if I'm gonna go into a smaller space? So thank you, Lisa.

Lisa Geraci Rigoni (47:41)

for you.

no.

Of course, thanks Laura. I really appreciate it. Bye everybody.