It’s our first episode of 2026—and instead of resolutions, we’re talking about release.

From clearing decades of clutter to making fast, emotional decisions about what stays and what goes, this episode is about more than downsizing. It’s about energy, freedom, and forward momentum. We share what it’s really like to prepare for a major move, the weight of “someday,” and why letting go of stuff can unlock clarity in life, finances, and purpose.

A new year. A clean slate. A chapter that finally feels intentional.

Takeaways:

1. In the pursuit of emotional and financial freedom, let us recognize that decluttering our physical space is a profound step toward liberation.
2. As we navigate the complexities of life transitions, we must confront the emotional weight of our possessions and make decisive choices about their future.
3. The act of decluttering serves not merely to create physical space, but to facilitate an emotional release from the burdens of 'someday' and postponed decisions.
4. To embark on a journey of intentional living, we must first liberate ourselves from the clutter that impedes our progress and hinders our ability to embrace new opportunities.
5. Through the process of letting go, we invite new energy into our lives, making room for growth and new experiences that align with our evolving aspirations.
6. It is crucial to approach decluttering with a framework of quick decision-making, categorizing items into keep, donate, or discard, thereby alleviating the emotional burden associated with indecision.

Welcome to.

We Should Probably Edit this, But we won't.

This is about our life's messy journey.

It's unscripted, talks about growth, real laughs sometimes.

Real laughs sometimes just the chaos and.

And we think there's a little bit of comedy here.

Everything.

It's about our 37 years of marriage and our experience.

I'm Matthew Greger.

And I'm Nancy Greger.

And we're your host of We Should.

Probably Edit this, But We Won't.

And we probably should have edited that.

So here's our next episode.

Yes.

Happy New Year.

Yay.

All right, we made it.

Oh, my goodness.

We should probably edit this, but we won't.

I'm Matthew Greger.

And I'm Nancy Greger.

How are you?

I don't know if you want a bang necessarily.

Well, depends if it's a good bang or a bad bang.

You need high, high energy to kind of kick off the year.

So.

To kind of.

We didn't record last weekend because it was Chris around Christmas time.

So I think it's been a couple weeks.

It has been a couple of weeks since.

It's been a blur for us because we have been processing.

We've been processing this house to get ready for our move.

Yes.

We have been going through a lifetime of clutter.

And it was apropos.

I wanted.

I wanted to read this today.

I was on Instagram, and you know how all the New Year stuff comes in on Instagram.

So here's.

Here's one of the things that I sent it to my husband.

I sent it to a whole bunch of people.

Whole bunch of people.

And it's more than just this clip, but this one kind of just resonated.

It said, clutter isn't stuff.

Clutter is postpone decisions, trapped energy, emotional backup, files.

It tells your brain life is unstable.

Don't create more, so your nervous system stays stuck.

So I find it to be very interesting how we.

How we've been going through this whole process of getting our house not only ready for sale, but ready for us to make a big move.

It's not that big.

It's big when you have three floors.

It's.

There's a lot you have to get rid of.

And you have to process this rather quickly.

You have to say to yourself, do I want it?

In which case, where am I going to keep it?

Where am I going to store it?

Is there a place for where it needs to go?

Well, I think the first thing is, what's the purpose of having it?

There's no purpose in having anything.

Well, I mean, what do I need this for?

I mean, my biggest thing is I had to go through my workshop, my storage of my workshop, my fishing gear, my art stuff, art from back when I freelanced in New York City 30 something years ago.

And to me, part of it was going down memory lane and the other part was trying to figure out, okay, what do I really need or not?

And it's been a lot.

It's been a lot because it, because it's been a lot for me emotionally and just feeling the pressure of having to get rid of the stuff.

And.

And at one point I felt like, how are we going to get rid of all this stuff?

So what did I keep saying to you?

How do you eat an elephant?

It's one bite at a time.

So the best thing for you to have tackled is don't worry about the entire house.

You tackle one specific area every single time until you get it to where it needs to be.

And you have to make decisions quickly.

So have a garbage can.

Easier for you.

Have a paper bag ready.

And what's the paper bag for?

The garbage.

Oh, you mean have the garbage bag.

Have a garbage bag.

I thought that was maybe to.

For me to like catch my breath.

No, there's no catching your breath.

If it's one thing that you Learned in our 37 years of being married is what?

I move quick.

I moved decisively faster than I do.

And I don't.

I don't still do.

No, you don't.

I've been pondering the last.

I don't blink.

But I did pretty good.

You have to.

You got pretty good after you realized one major factor, and that was there was not going to be a tax sale.

When you realize that, then I started.

To panic a little bit, like, how am I going to get rid of all this now?

What did I say?

We got a dumpster.

They're the three rules.

You're either going to keep it, you're going to donate it, or you're going.

To throw it away, or are you going to sell it?

There's four.

Four options.

Well, keeping it is probably one Thing.

But, yeah, selling it.

And we've sold selling or donate or donating or donating or it's just garbage and you got to get rid of it.

Just get rid of it.

I mean, say the dumpster is almost full.

It's not full.

It's almost full.

It's three quarters.

I mean.

And we had a guy here yesterday.

Yeah, it was yesterday.

Who actually went into the.

And pulled out a few more and.

Pulled out a few more things that he.

That he figured, well, you just throw it away.

That was.

He came to pick up all my gardening tools and accessories because Habitat for Humanity wouldn't take those.

Yeah.

For whatever reason.

Really, really difficult.

I think here's the funny part to it all is we listed stuff for free, and we've listed stuff for a very nominal amount of money, and we've pretty much have been successful and having it go.

So I'm always wondering why it is that donation centers such as Habitat for Humanity or Goodwill are being so picky picky and really, really hard on certain things where even if you were to take it and you say it's free.

I don't know if I would say.

I don't know if I'd say it's free.

No.

If they took it and they couldn't sell it, they could also give it away for free.

Probably the objective.

I don't know the free.

I don't know the logistics.

The objective of free is that it doesn't go in the landfill, it doesn't go in the dumpster.

It gets repurposed.

Somebody else is going to use it for whatever purposes they have in their head.

Used paint, for instance.

I was like, who would buy used paint?

Probably nobody.

But if you want to give it.

Away for free, well, I had all kinds of paint and people are lined up and stuff like that.

That was there.

And we gave it away for free.

It was better than trying to figure out how to dispose of it.

How to dispose of it, because you don't want it to.

Otherwise, you gotta wait for the hazardous waste day.

And so look, I'm gonna move it in containers to wait for the hazardous waste day to figure out how to dispose of it.

But someone else took it and could use it.

I mean, it's.

I had acid as acid etching all kinds of stuff.

But not only did we do that, but we hired the company to come in and shred.

They.

Now, a lot of the.

Some of the papers, when we had our own business, I Had client files and stuff from.

And we were like, years ago, and it's just like.

I mean, ever since we moved to this house, half of the stuff in the basement we never even opened a container for.

Well, some of the stuff that was in there was when we were doing estate sales and we did house recycled.

Right.

I have more cleaning products than I'd ever, ever, ever.

Well, that's next to go on the free list.

There's three big Rubbermaid containers of cleaning products.

Just cleaning products.

Yeah.

So that's.

That's been a lot of fun and just figuring things, you know.

You know, do I want to.

If I can't give it away and no one wants to buy it, then I have to.

I have to resolve myself to throwing it away.

Otherwise I can't bring it with me.

So it's.

It's going to go in the garbage.

But it's been a lot of fun.

But I. I think everybody should take a moment where they go through a specific area in their house.

Their closets, their basement, their garage.

My goodness, do I know a bunch of people.

When you go driving around in the neighborhood and people leave their garage doors open and you always wonder why their cars are parked outside and not in the garage.

Then they open the garage and you're.

Like, oh, okay, well, we live in the Northeast.

Okay.

The Northeast.

Right now, we probably still have at least a foot of snow on the ground, or maybe not quite a foot, but.

But it's been snowing almost every day.

At least a coating.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And up to an inch.

Who.

If you have a garage, why do you want to leave your car out?

So you have to.

Have to clean it off every day.

It's, you know, so that's the one thing.

Our garage is clean.

Yeah.

And it has been ever since we moved here.

Because when, number one, you can't put anything else in it.

But the two cars we have, it's.

Teeny tiny, but it fits the two cars.

And it's.

It's one thing that's, you know, great.

So I don't.

I don't get it.

I don't get why people don't keep the garage clean.

Oh, well, I. I think there's something to be said, though, about going through the process of the decluttering.

You have to.

You have to really train yourself to do that.

And the one thing that the Instagram post mentioned is, is when you get to that point and you clear the.

The clutter out, you're allowing yourself to bring in some newer energy, some more Positive energy.

Because you're letting go of the negative energy.

You're letting go of someday.

You're letting go of someday.

That never happens.

Never happens.

Or I'll get to it.

Or you never know.

That was your famous line.

I'm going to keep this one little piece of wood.

Because you never know.

Or the hardware.

You never know.

And then when you know that you could use it, you can't find it.

That's for sure.

That, that I, that I discovered going through everything and saying, and saying, oh, there it is.

I knew I needed this.

Now I can't even remember what I needed it for.

So.

Right.

So I think it's just like super, super important.

It's.

I would say on top of, you know, everyone's like, loves to make their New Year's resolution where they're, they say, I'm gonna eat healthy and I'm gonna lose weight and I'm gonna do this, this and this.

And they've set all their goals.

I think the most simplistic goal to really do, not even a goal, but mission to do, is go through your closet.

Literally go through your closet.

Get rid of stuff that doesn't fit.

You haven't worn in 10 years, that has hanger marks when you, when you put it on because it's been hanging for so long that you got bumps on your shoulder.

Donate it.

You know, you don't have to sell it.

Just donate it and, and move it along.

Move the stuff along.

Because it's, it's, it's been so, I think, relieved.

I feel as though I'm like, okay.

I feel, I feel freedom from getting rid of stuff.

There's a sense of purging that does something to you.

You know, as much as, even if we go back when, when we own a house again, a house or a condo again, and we have the opportunity to have the space to either I have a workshop or have something I already know right now it's going to be much more streamlined and cleaned up and the bare minimums for what you need with what you need.

I just don't need that other stuff hanging around.

No.

Now I will say that some of the things that we had in the basement, we are the type of people, because this is our third house, so we have always had to do repairs ourselves.

So we couldn't afford to hire somebody to come and put a new floor down or drywall, which.

Or redo the porch or redo sanding and doing sanding.

So we had to do it ourselves.

So because we had, we did it ourselves.

We had to buy certain materials to do that.

And so a lot of what we had is because we were our own fixer uppers.

We were the fixer and the upper.

Right here.

This is what we did.

So you got better at fixing.

Yeah.

Okay.

Not for choice.

I'm a great painter.

Yes, you're a great massive doer.

Then I come in.

Then I come in and clean up.

Because what.

How did we start off this?

I'm the one who moves.

I'm the one who.

Yeah.

So a friend of ours came from Seattle to visit New York and I went to the city and the city was really, really cold.

So I. I had to go get earmuffs to keep my ears warm.

And I got pink earmuffs.

And she made a comment to Matthew when we met up later on for dinner.

She says if it wasn't for those pink earmuffs, I don't know if it would have found her.

Would have been able to keep up with you going through the crowd.

I still can't keep up with you going through the crowd.

I don't.

At least you look back once in a while.

I do.

Still there are they.

Did I lose them?

Let me stop.

Because I am conscious of the fact that someone should be following me.

But it's always amazing to me how they're not right behind me.

Like they're like four or five people behind me.

So that's kind of always been my course of action.

I just go.

I'm like this zig and zag.

I'll just move the fish swim upstream.

Forward direction, forward movement.

You make a decision.

You just push through.

You just push it till you get to where you need to be.

And sometimes that could be very disruptive for a lot of people.

Not always.

Some people don't like change and they get very wind up.

Depends what it is.

I'm looking forward to this change.

But.

But it.

But getting going.

I appreciated you finally.

Your.

Let me rephrase that.

I appreciate that you helped me get all the stuff loaded into the garage and cleaned out the shed on before the donation pickup.

I did.

I did.

Together I think we work much faster.

We go through it.

We only go much faster because I'll make decisions that you're.

No, but too long.

But.

But we still do.

Because you'll struggle with other things in that processing where I'll come and help with that.

Yeah.

I'm not.

Whether I'm moving things around.

I will.

I will bring things.

Here's the thing.

I will bring things.

Put them in the garage and I'll let you do your Jenga thing and packaging it up and getting it ready.

I'm more like just stump it here.

Let's get going.

I'm not interested in making it look organ.

I'm just here.

I know.

It's like I organized all the tools to be picked up thinking that you could just put the whole.

The whole container.

What did the man do?

Wait, I thought you could just put the whole container into the back of a pickup truck.

But when you come in with a four foot pickup truck, a small Toyota, it's like, how in the world are you gonna actually put the stuff in there in the first place?

And then he just dumps everything out and puts.

And just like shoves it in the back of the truck.

Yep.

So you.

So all your intent of doing something just isn't everybody else's intention and how they vision how things need to be 100%.

You just kind of have to let it go.

When you made the decision that you're going to sell it or you're going to get rid of it, decisions been made.

How somebody else moves forward with it is totally up to them.

You can't really sit back and think.

It's definitely been an experience getting rid of things and using Facebook marketplace in.

Particular, you're limited to where we're at.

We're in the.

We're in the midst of.

We're not limited.

It's just that I don't.

I don't know of very many other places that you can sell things locally.

You know, I mean, I know there are some other tools out there.

There's the next store app, There's a couple other things.

But let's face it, as much as Facebook marketplace is very challenging.

It did work.

Bombardment of people asking redundant questions over and over and over again.

And it's like no matter how well.

You classify, no matter how well you describe described, they don't read listed measurements.

People, how much is it big?

The price is already there.

It's.

It's or.

Or it's more like is it my favorite?

And your favorite too is.

Is it still available?

Well, that's the default button on Facebook, which I don't understand.

Facebook would get rid of all defaulted buttons.

Make people have to respond.

Yeah, make people type up their questions.

It shouldn't be that difficult now that everybody knows how to use their little thumbs to write out big words or even talk into their telephone.

There shouldn't be an instant type of default setting.

That's probably the one Thing that neither one of us likes.

I mean, in some cases, you know, you meet some cuckoo people.

In other cases, you actually meet some great people, really great people.

And they're actually so grateful for what you're selling and what they can use it for.

I met one guy.

His son is building go karts in his garage.

Reminded me of Noah when we.

When he was redoing the VW bug.

You know, you.

You knew where he was and he needed extra lights, and I had shop lights.

Or you have that young couple.

They put all their money into buying a house, and that house needs work and that house needs repair, or they're looking to do a big project.

So they're very grateful for things that they're, you know, they're going to use it.

And so that's a really good.

A good makes you feel scenario.

Makes you feel good, like you didn't throw it away, you gave it to somebody.

And in that particular case, I think we gave them all the windows and what we gave him.

But you, you know, it was one less thing for us to worry about.

And that's really what it comes down to.

I mean, we've sold a lot.

We still have a few more things to sell.

It's not like we're done, but we have to wait until the house we sold.

The main things that were needed, that.

Would have not needed.

They were both.

Needed to be gone.

Needed to be gone right before we could actually take pictures and sell the house.

Right.

Which is primarily a lot of stuff in the basement.

But then going through those closets and going through offices and saying, okay, we're going to take this off because we're not going to bring that and moving it along and then, like, just a lot of stuff.

We have sold a great deal, and I think we've made a good deal of money from what we sold.

And we still have a few more things to go.

Yeah.

Made a few thousand dollars.

Yep.

So that.

Those are all good things.

And so, I mean, so that's something that, you know, if you need.

If you want to go through the process and declutter, you know, really look at it and sell it or give it away first and then see about throwing it away.

But it feels good to let it go.

It's a new year, too.

This is, like, perfect timing for us to let it go.

Yep.

And to move on to the next chapter of what it is, you know, and when we go into this new place, there's not going to be clutter, there's going to be organization.

Yeah, well, you can always have clutter regardless of the space and size.

Right.

I think we have 1, 2, 3.

4 closets in the new place.

In the new place, 4 closets.

So it's going to be interesting, but I also think it's going to be exciting because all the money that we have raised from selling all the stuff is going to go right back into buying new stuff, new stuff for the, for the apartment.

Because a lot of things, what we.

Have here just don't fit.

Right.

Won't work.

It just won't work.

So it's good.

It's good.

It's.

It's kind of bittersweet.

Now I'm just more anxious about getting the house on the market and seeing how that takes off, because if we don't, if the house doesn't show within the first two weeks, there's a problem there.

And so you always are.

Remember, you have to have the faith.

We have to have faith.

And we've heard of a lot of other things moving quickly, so I think our house is in a good position for that.

So we have.

We have.

But so anyway, so those are the kind of things that is the next.

Next hurdle is the next elephant bite.

So.

I think our.

We had dinner with the kids yesterday with.

With lunch.

Lunch, late lunch, late lunch, early dinner.

And we both said, or I said, well, freedom.

We just you letting go of.

Of a lot of stuff, but also some financial freedom that we haven't had in the 37 years we've been h. Yeah.

We've been carrying around baggage.

Yeah.

I mean, you've come close to getting the baggage off, but we never were 100%.

And so this is definitely going to put us in that 100% category.

So I think there's freedom about.

About that part of it.

I also feel as though I told you already, the someday word is removed from our vocabulary.

I don't want that word because that's like a maybe to me.

And I never really liked maybe, by the way, either yes or you're.

No.

Maybes tend to be more nos than they are yeses.

But I don't.

If I say I'm gonna be traveling, I want to travel.

If I want a new car, I want a new car.

And, you know, we just have to learn how we're going to get that with, you know, to all maintaining a debt freedom.

So we have to set aside money to do that.

We have to set aside money to travel, but we also figured out what we were going to budget when we do.

Yeah.

You know, get to that stage, that next stage.

It's a different kind of budgeting.

Right.

It's.

It's setting aside money to.

For a specific thing, event.

Whether we're traveling or getting a new car or whatever, then when we have it, we go get it, or we go.

When we have it, we.

We go somewhere.

We have.

Yeah, we have the money, we go and we do it.

Now, you don't feel there's a.

There's a relief in doing it at that point because you.

It's satisfying to you.

You know, you achieved it.

It's satisfying to you, and you didn't have to go into debt to do it.

I. I mean, it's more of a full charge, you know, doing more of the podcasting, consistently looking at ways that we can improve upon it, looking at ways to build our followers, coming up with various topics, or interviewing people, really taking this particular platform and really moving forward with it.

I think the few people that do follow us have said, have provided us with some great commentary and how they definitely see the dynamics between the two.

Yeah, I mean, I want to take that.

I want to take that to a different level too, from whether it's a workshop or an event, and then also the interviews of other people, starting the interview process of doing that.

So really it's expanding this whole.

This whole network that we've decided to plunge into.

What about you?

Well, one of the first things I want to get completed after we get moved in is the.

Is getting my audiobook released on that and really building this together and figuring out what that is.

I still, I still want to coach.

I still want to do coaching, but I think it's going to be more of a volunteer type situation where I can help others, whether it's through the church or even.

I know the church has a tie in with recently released prisoners who are trying to get their feet back on the ground.

So if I can coach more in a nonprofit group setting is what I'm really looking, looking to establish this year.

That would be, that would be really good.

Yeah, that would be phenomenal.

I think with us, with me and the church that we're going to now, it's more or less exploring some of the other options and opportunities that are available that you feel you can make, you can offer something for and that, you know, you contributing in a different way.

I definitely am looking to figure that out.

Yeah.

They talked about mission trips today.

Yeah.

And we both looked at each other.

Ready.

I think it's something we would want to do someday.

Oops.

That's the wrong word.

It's the wrong word.

I think it's something that we want to do.

I don't know if it's this year or next year.

Yeah, you know, that's, that's the thing.

I don't know if we're quite ready, if we need to explore a little bit more of what's actually involved in that yet.

So there's a few new programs coming out that I think that will get involved here definitely locally right now.

And then we'll figure out the next.

Phase where that, where that next phase is.

Because what was it?

Was it one mission?

Two.

I can't remember the country, but it's a 20 hour flight and we both looked at each other.

20 hours is a long time.

Well, I mean the one in.

I can't remember the other one.

The other one in.

I think.

Oh, well, I don't remember some.

Somewhere else in Africa.

Yeah.

Look, the pamphlets right there.

Oh, it's all the way over there.

Okay.

But yeah, so the other one was once you got there, I don't know how long it took to get there, but then you had to take a 10 hour bus ride and a 2 hour boat ride across the lake and it's.

That was Guam.

That was.

No, Guyana.

It was Guyana.

Okay.

And I remember and you looked, you said what?

You have to take a 10 hour bus ride.

I mean, look, it's, it's.

You're there to help people.

So, so I don't think it's.

I don't think those kind of.

That sacrifice is too much.

No.

To ask for, to do it.

But you have to be ready for it.

You have to be, you know, open.

Open for that.

I think this year one of the bigger things is going to be our youngest is meeting a milestone in his life and that he's turning 30.

And so we're gonna have all three in the 30s.

There'll be 30 somethings, which is funny, but.

Yeah.

So doing something to celebrate that milestone.

That's going to be our adventure for this year.

It could be just your adventure with, with your son.

It wouldn't necessarily be with me.

And that, that's perfectly.

You did that with our daughter when she turned 30 last year.

I did, I did.

I did a girl.

You had the spa day.

We did, we did the girl stuff.

Yeah.

So yeah.

But that.

And that was great.

That was a lot of one on one and it was great.

It was really.

Only if you could have talked.

I got sick towards the end, but it was okay.

Lost your voice?

I lost my voice.

And when that happens, forget it.

It's.

I just.

Can you imagine this?

Losing her voice?

Very quiet.

It's a very quiet home.

It's a different experience.

It's a very quiet home.

So.

Yeah.

So is that.

Those are the things you're looking forward to?

Yeah, I'm looking, I'm looking forward to that.

I'm looking forward to traveling, going to.

I know.

Yep.

So it'll be good to reconnect with our friends because it.

When was.

The last one was in October.

That's October.

I mean it's almost six months between.

Between them this time between this one.

Because the holiday time really throws everything off.

So.

Yeah.

So I'm.

This is a little later because last year we did it in February.

Yeah.

Late January, early February.

So this one's a little.

It's pushing out another 30 days.

Yeah.

Before we, we get together.

So it'll be nice.

It's always good when we go to those events.

You get very energized.

Yeah.

You get very energized.

You get very stoked.

You realize how grateful for you are to be surrounded by others.

Same with like mind everybody.

Yeah.

Striving and this for this.

Different things, but striving.

Just striving to make a difference and to contribute to this world.

Right.

And, and improve their own lives and figure out how to, how to do all of that.

It's, it's, it's always interesting, it's always fun and it's always great meeting up with other people that you've seen but you didn't have the opportunity necessarily to go and catch up with and find out all the goody things about it.

But then you do and you're like, did you know I met this guy?

We've, we've seen him many, many times.

Well, we'd love to hear what you are doing this new year and what your plans are and how cluttered or not cluttered your environment is.

So, on that note, we should probably edit this.

But we won't.

Until next time.

See you.

Bye.

Bye.