The Biggest MYTH About Your Things.

Thank you so much for watching and sharing with your friends and family! Here are a few links mentioned in the video:  Full Silent To-Do List Video: https://youtu.be/BtpAbdv4d98 Goodbye Things by Fumio Sasaki: amzn.to/3YdBHjY Research Mentioned on Stuff & Stress: www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clin... Full Hierarchy of Happiness Video: https://youtu.be/oRR4twzIMcM

My Mom is a hoarder. She has refused help for years. Her famous quote is "I just need to organize everything" she spends her days sorting and "organizing" her stuff at 81 years old. A lifetime of sorting and organizing. my teenage children have never been able to have a sleep over with their grandmothers bc of "the stuff" . materialistic clutter isn't treasure, its a thief of life and joy.

I’ve been a sahm 17 years and have two kids. Shopping addict untill I just couldn’t bear my house anymore. It started last year and I started minimizing- slowly, day by day. Gradually… I’m now recovered shopaholic. And my house is absolutely clutter free . My biggest gain from it is the huge amounts of time I have now! Lots of free time, no anxiety, less labour, and a wonderful sense of detachment from material stuff. It’s truly life changing.

I saw the greatest quote somewhere: “All that clutter used to be money and all that money used to be TIME.” I have been living for this idea recently. It helped me shift my mindset away from having more and more stuff and toward appreciating my time with my family!

The woman who lives across the hall from me came over and sat down in my dining room. She said your home is so calm and peaceful. I smiled and said thank you. I love my home.

I’ve been subscribed to this channel for YEARS! …so I’m not just trying so “suck up”. But this is honestly the BEST YouTube video I’ve EVER watched. In the years of following you I downsized from a 5 bedroom house to an AMAZING one bedroom apartment. I got rid of 95% of my “crap”. I am lieterally off anxiety medication AND I’ve gone back to my faith and started learning my worth. Sometimes I get frustrated bc I want to scream it from the rooftops, but nobody REALLY cares to follow through 😂 but it’s made my life change in ways I cannot even try to explain ❤ Thank you!

I started tearing up when you kept saying “you are worth more than the stuff.” You are like a homemaking/decluttering evangelist! I’ve come a long way and I keep listening because I truly believe you care about the well-being of others, myself included. I was born and raised a MN-girl, too😊

I have said for years that the clutter is literally killing me and no one took me seriously! This video validated everything I’ve felt over the years. I know it makes me physically ill and it’s paralyzing. I feel so overwhelmed and I waist so much mental energy on the stuff. I know that it would be easier to cook if I actually knew where things were in my kitchen or at least don’t have to clear a surface just to cook. I have food clutter too. Maybe showing this video to others will help them see where I’m coming from. I’ve even asked “what’s more important? Me or the stuff, because it’s killing me.”

I started Swedish Death Cleaning in 2018 and embraced minimalism in 2020. I gave my children anything I was not needing that they wanted and then sold, donated, Freecycled or threw out the rest. It’s a never-ending process. I am very cognizant of monitoring how much I use the things I do have and whether or not something new should enter the house. Keeping clothing, unfinished projects and the like do send negative messages like, “You got fat,” “You are lazy,” and, “You don’t finish what you start.” I got rid of all of those things and my house is a haven to come home to.

My friend died Saturday. And I thought we had all the time in the world. Stop messing with your things and clutter and start living your life with the people you love ❤️. I miss her so much. And we didn't get enough time together 😥 Well you think of things like that. You start to realize. Nothing really matters except your family and friends. All this stuff. Is just stuff. She left it all behind. And we have nothing but our memories.

As a young adult who hasn't accumulated a lot of stuff yet I am so grateful for your videos, you keep me from getting things I don't need! I always ask myself, "what would Dawn do?" When I am tempted to buy something that I don't need. Thank you!!

"My mental health & how I feel in my house is more important than the stuff." You nailed it!!!!!!

so true. I started a serious decluttering journey about a month ago. A month in, I'm looking around my home thinking "Why on earth am I hanging on to THAT!. I work from home, I've become such a declutter freak, I have to discipline myself to sit down to work first, get what I need done there, then reward myself with a spurt of decluttering. And Dawn is so right when she says, small chunks make a difference. Last night, I only had time to declutter my utensils drawer, but what a difference it has made. Every day, I truly feel like I'm getting more time back. everything is just easier. The other night, after dinner, I baked a loaf of bread and made a cake. This is something I had stopped doing because I knew my kitchen would be too hard to clean afterwards and the thought of that just made me shudder. Now, I can cook with ease and I've cleaned up before it's out of the oven! Dawn, from the other side of the planet, your channel reached me and you have truly changed my life. Decluttering is SO much more satisfying then shopping!!!!! I said to my son a month ago, "isnt it nice being in a clean house?" he said "yes, but can you keep it this way? THE ANSWER IS YES!

Many years ago I managed 4 sets of dishes, one for each season. I had a full china cabinet, overstuffed. One day, in Bible study I think, the lesson was on God meeting our needs. I closed my eyes and remembered all those dishes. I thought, if I were blind ( no disrespect intended here) would it matter which set of dishes I ate off of? No, as a matter of fact a paper plate or bowl would serve me well. I, with joy gave away 3 sets of dishes and kept the plain white ones. They'd serve me fine and I could just get seasonal napkins. Thanks for this video. It's so helpful and a confirmation.

You are lovely, Dawn. There is a reason that for centuries holy men and women have taken vows of poverty: they saw material possessions as distractions from the time they had on earth to become "Perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." The world is waking up to the need for minimalism. Minimalism is helping me be less attached to my stuff and to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth.

"You are more important than your stuff." Very powerful statement.

Love this. The older I get the less stuff I want. It’s a freedom and if people could see this it would be life changing.

As an older woman with same problem I would like to offer my side of the story ! As we age we have less energy to attend to wading through stuff of the past which is difficult. We are alone with our memories! We look at things and remember! Some of our family have passed away and still grieving. So there is still a lot to deal with. It needs constant help of family to work as a team to help each other. Also may I suggest that instead of gifts we donate that money to people who are in need.

The more simplified my home becomes, the more I feel my anxiety and depression fall from my shoulders.

I’m in the process of decluttering my company’s 2600 sq ft shop with 15 years worth of collected junk. Despite sometimes feeling overwhelmed, I just keep chipping away at it every day. It’s amazing what can be accomplished in a month. Also, I don’t know if anyone has noticed this, but whenever I see a business / shop / house etc. that has been decluttered it automatically looks more valuable and wealthy.