Declutter Your Life and Achieve Wellness: Insights from Melanie Cohen
In the latest episode of the You World Order Showcase Podcast, host Jill Hart interviews Melanie Cohen, a wellness expert who integrates decluttering with health and wellness coaching. Melanie shares her unique approach to helping individuals lose weight, reduce stress, and improve their overall well-being through the process of decluttering their physical, mental, and emotional environments.
From Competitive Gymnast to Wellness Coach
Melanie's journey began in the world of competitive gymnastics, where she experienced toxic scrutiny around weight and body image at a young age. This led her down a path of emotional eating and weight gain throughout her life. At her peak, Melanie weighed over 200 pounds, which pushed her to take control of her health. After successfully losing 60 pounds, Melanie realized the deep connection between physical health and emotional well-being, which later inspired her coaching practice.
The Connection Between Clutter and Health
One of the key takeaways from Melanie’s story is the connection she made between clutter and stress, particularly as it relates to weight management. Growing up with hoarders as parents, Melanie became highly sensitive to her surroundings. She realized that clutter—whether in the form of objects, digital files, or an over-scheduled calendar—was a major source of stress, which in turn led to unhealthy habits like overeating.
Melanie stresses that clutter is not just about physical mess. It’s about mental and emotional clutter too. By decluttering different aspects of your life, you can reduce stress, improve mental clarity, and make healthier choices.
Decluttering as a Path to Wellness
Melanie's wellness coaching doesn’t only focus on weight loss. Her holistic approach includes addressing clutter in all areas of life, from kitchen cabinets to emotional baggage. She explains that by creating a clutter-free environment, people naturally feel lighter and more empowered to take control of their health.
For example, she encourages clients to start decluttering in the kitchen, the heart of the home. A clutter-free kitchen not only makes cooking more enjoyable, but it also promotes healthier eating habits. When your kitchen is organized, you’re more likely to prepare nutritious meals instead of resorting to unhealthy takeout.
Minimalism vs. Personal Values
Melanie is a values-based coach, which means she doesn’t promote minimalism unless it aligns with a client’s desires. Her goal is not to force people into a strict, minimalist lifestyle but to help them create a space that brings them joy and peace. She believes that each person’s clutter tolerance is different, and the key is finding a balance that works for you.
Melanie also shared a powerful message about the energy of items. Some objects, like family photos or mementos, bring warmth and positive energy into your life. However, other things may carry negative energy or serve no meaningful purpose. She encourages people to get rid of items that no longer serve them to create space for what truly matters.
Embracing a Lighter Life
The episode ends with a discussion on the freedom that comes from letting go of both physical and emotional clutter. Melanie offers practical tips for anyone struggling with clutter or weight issues, emphasizing that the two are often interconnected. By addressing clutter in our homes, minds, and emotional lives, we create room for healthier habits and more joyful living.
Learn More About Melanie’s Approach
Melanie’s coaching program, Design Your Healthy Life Strategy, includes over 50 lessons on nutrition, exercise, and decluttering. Her holistic approach is designed to help people remove the clutter in their homes, minds, and lives, and achieve lasting wellness.
If you’re looking to improve your health and well-being, you can find more about Melanie’s services on her website: MelanieCohen.podia.com, where she offers valuable resources to help you start your decluttering and wellness journey today.
Learn More: https://melaniecohen.podia.com/
Key Takeaways:
- Clutter isn’t just physical—it’s mental and emotional too.
- Decluttering your life can reduce stress and support healthy habits.
- Creating an organized, peaceful space makes wellness more attainable.
- Embrace personal values instead of strict minimalism when decluttering.
- Achieving wellness is about balance, not perfection.
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Transcript
WEBVTT
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Hi and welcome to the You world order showcase. Podcast I'm your host, Jill Hart. And with us today is Melanie Cohen, Melanie helps people achieve their health and wellness goals, including weight loss, through a unique method of decluttering
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: welcome to this show, Melanie. It's really great to have you with us.
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::Melanie Cohen: Thank you for having me, Jill. This is exciting.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So we've been talking about all these things. We got started. I do want to know how you got started in tying weight, loss, and health.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: In general to decluttering. So let's start there.
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::Melanie Cohen: Okay, so how far back should I go?
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I'm figuring out how
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it all starts when you were born there. I was.
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::Melanie Cohen: I won't go back that far. I won't go back that far, but I'll go back to the seventies. When I became a competitive gymnast and high level training 20 to 30 HA week at peak and despite being like in the best shape you could expect from a kid that age.
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::Melanie Cohen: There was incredible toxic scrutiny over the scale. I got called piggy and fatty, and and all the things no one should ever say to a preteen or teenage girl and I ended up giving up on my career when it just became too much. And
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::Melanie Cohen: I think, while I didn't understand it then. I understand now I was an emotional eater and as soon as I quit not training 20 to 30 HA week I gained weight. I probably looked normal at that point, but then I gained weight in college. I gained weight after getting married, gained a lot of weight with both of my pregnancies, and when I heard when I hit 30,
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::Melanie Cohen: I also hit over 200 on the scale, and on a gymnast height, not not a taller person. And I just had gotten to the point where the identity that I had had when I was younger, being a champion, and being really good at what I did, and being proud, I'd lost all of that. I just assumed I was always going to be the fat mom and and the unattractive wife, and not taken seriously enough in my career because
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::Melanie Cohen: people, you know, saw weight first.st So I started a major weight loss plan, and I lost over 60 pounds and found a new version of me. I actually was doing gymnastics in my thirties as a way to to stay healthy and have fun.
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::Melanie Cohen: But I think the other so so I weight loss coach for over 20 years.
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::Melanie Cohen: both of my parents are hoarders.
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::Melanie Cohen: and they don't live together, and I'm an only child. So they both are my responsibility as they age. And it wasn't until maybe the last decade that I realized exactly how stressful I found their homes, and as a result also how stressed I was by any
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::Melanie Cohen: flutter around me, whether it was a pile of papers or a calendar that was too full of too much stuff.
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::Melanie Cohen: And did a little research. I actually apprenticed with a friend's personal organizing business. And I had this dawning. I was in the kitchen on a project.
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::Melanie Cohen: someone who was moving from like 5,000 square feet to like 2,000 square feet, so a lot had to get
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::Melanie Cohen: cleaned up, and I was in charge of the spices, and I sat there as I looked at 5 bottles of marjoram.
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::Melanie Cohen: a spice I never use.
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::Melanie Cohen: and I looked at 5 bottles, and I was like, Oh.
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::Melanie Cohen: how does one person need 5 jars of marjoram? And then it all came to us, you know, every time a recipe came around we didn't look to see what we had, and we bought more, and you know, everything started exploding. And it's really when I made the connection between weight and clutter that, you know, clutter is stress.
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::Melanie Cohen: So many of us eat when we're stressed or we don't practice healthy behaviors when we're stressed and clutter, whether it comes in digital form or calendar form or people, form or thing, form is stressful, and so my goal is to not just help people lose weight and get healthy, but really kind of reclaim their lives by removing the clutter.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So that kind of brings us around. To what do you find? Clutter as because I I can look at at the background there, and I can hear my mom's
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: voice in my head going no more than 3 items on any surface
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: that was more about dusting than anything else but shit. That was a hard, fast rule in our household.
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::Melanie Cohen: You make a really good point.
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::Melanie Cohen: It's easier to to keep a clean home when it's also decluttered. So I'm a values based coach
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::Melanie Cohen: which means I don't promote minimalism unless that's what you need, unless that's what you crave and I
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::Melanie Cohen: stuff. And I especially love photographs. And and I'm just gonna gonna show the the shelves that I have go up and they go across. And it's my grandparents wedding photos. It's my wedding photos. It's our kids photos, my husband's family history also, and I feel when I sit in this space like I have all of them on my shoulder.
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::Melanie Cohen: But you know all of those people that preceded me are, you know, giving me strength and energy? But this is the only place we have photographs in our home, and so for me. What it meant was creating, you know, a collage, if you will, of our lives, but not having it take over all the other spaces in our homes. So one person's clutter is someone else's neat and organized, and
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It is very neat and organized it just.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and I I don't mean to like.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: put you on the spot about it.
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::Melanie Cohen: No, no, I love talking about it, because I think sometimes people are afraid to work with a clutter coach because they think their coach is going to ask them to get rid of everything. No, I want people to get rid of things that are not adding meaning to their life, or are not simplifying their life. Those things that really impact us on a daily basis get rid of the stuff that isn't doing that or get rid of. I feel like things have energy.
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::Melanie Cohen: So the energy that are coming from the photographs is positive and and warm energy. But we have other things in our home that have negative energy. Those are the things that we need to get rid of.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And we don't have to keep everything.
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::Melanie Cohen: So.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Days when you had to keep all your receipts.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: God forbid you don't keep your receipts. Everything's online people, and if it's not.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Get get it online because everything's gone down. Then you're not gonna need it. Trust me.
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::Melanie Cohen: Exactly, exactly.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So there's a difference between clutter and minimalism apparently expand on that. A little bit.
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::Melanie Cohen: Oh, I'd be happy to I think sometimes I think minimalism gets a bad name because there's this
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::Melanie Cohen: perspective, that it means living a Spartan lifestyle and getting rid of everything, and only having 40 pieces of clothing, and that works for some people, and I'm intrigued by it. And I've actually studied a lot of it. But I think for many of us only having 38 pieces of clothing would actually be stressful as opposed to the other way around.
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::Melanie Cohen: although there are many of us who have a closet that's full of like 4 different sizes, things that we're hanging on to, just in case you never know when what happens. If I gain what happens if I lose what happens if this comes back into style? What happens if I find the pants that actually match that shirt that I've been hanging on to forever.
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::Melanie Cohen: I for me just saying all of that out loud is like, you know, stressful. You know, thinking about all of that. And so the goal is really like, keep the clothing you love. Keep the clothing that looks fantastic on you.
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::Melanie Cohen: Keep the clothing that other people compliment and let go of, you know all of that other stuff. So there's probably like an expansive space between minimalism and like level 5 or stage 5 order. It's about finding the place in that line that really works for you, feels good, feels comfortable, and you know all the things.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I like that a lot. It reminds me of Marie Kondo, I think, because I spent so many years of my life in Japan when I was young. It really did influence a lot of how we lived our lives growing up, and how I've continued to live my life today. And when I saw Marie's
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: show, when she talks about, you know, going through everything and and touching each item and saying, is this, does this bring me joy. How do I feel about this? You can. They were doing it with their clothes, but really you can do with everything in your life, and you feel the energy she's talking about feeling the energy of the item, and if it is neutral or less.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it's not adding to your life.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's right.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it's it's actually taken away from your life. It's sucking energy out of you that could be going towards something better.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yes, yes, yes, absolutely.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So you don't have to like.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: If you work with Melanie you don't have to worry about. She's gonna tell you to get rid of all your stuff.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: No, my daughter, my daughter lives in what we call the closet. She has a 10 by 13 space that she's renting.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: that she has all her worldly possessions in.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's just like
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: girl. You are amazing, they? And she's not a tiny person, I mean. She's very thin, but she's tall, and
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and she herself occupies space.
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::Melanie Cohen: Right? Right? Listen. I live in New York City, I know from like trying to make things fit in a small space, you know, and and I think this is this is a place where you know people bring in organizers all the time. The the problem is that so many people are organizing before decluttering or organizing instead of decluttering. And if you organize a space with too much stuff.
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::Melanie Cohen: it's not long before it's messy again, and then clean up and then messy again. And that's really that's annoying and overwhelming, and so decluttering as much as possible before trying to get organized, is incredibly helpful, and for so many people what they find is well, now that I've decluttered, I don't need to get organized, because I just am by nature of having removed all the extra stuff.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, and and not being afraid to throw stuff out, I often
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I I've heard stories about, you know all of the
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: tons and literally tons of clothing that gets sent to 3rd World countries and ends up in landfills over there.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: You know.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yes.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: We probably don't need as much as we get.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and then
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: we don't really recycle stuff we may think we're going to, but really we don't just.
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::Melanie Cohen: 100%. And you know.
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::Melanie Cohen: and it's interesting, because once you declutter.
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::Melanie Cohen: you shop differently, you know and I, I think it helps us take pause and and make
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::Melanie Cohen: not make decisions rashly when it comes to shopping, whether you're shopping online or shopping in person, that if we like, create rules for ourselves like I'm not gonna buy it right now let me get let me wait 24 h before I hit. Send on you know, whatever website I might be shopping on, or if I'm in person not to get distracted by it's on sale. You better get it today. It might not be there tomorrow. Well, if I wait
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::Melanie Cohen: and go back tomorrow, and it's not there. Maybe it wasn't quite meant to be, you know, in my closet or or in my space.
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::Melanie Cohen: I made the goal a while ago to have
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::Melanie Cohen: 80 to 90% of my closet secondhand, whether it was a hand-me-down from my mother, or from one of my daughters, or something I bought at a thrift shop or a yard sale, or something like that, and and I'm getting there I will. I'm not buying underwear. Second hand, I'm not going to do that. But if my shoes and boots and sneakers and coats, and and the other thing
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::Melanie Cohen: are predominantly second hand, I feel better about what I'm bringing in to my home and eventually potentially having to get rid of so and and if your shopping changes, then your finances change too, you know. Like all of you know, the financial clutter is a thing.
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::Melanie Cohen: So I find it helpful to kind of like, start in one place, and then recognize how many different things represent, clutter in our lives.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And as we're getting close to the holidays as we're recording this, it actually won't go out until the beginning of the New year. But
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: people.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: when you're talking to people about the holidays and getting you gifts, we're we're all about, you know, exchanging gifts.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Gifts can be in a lot of different forms. They don't have to be a material thing that you give someone.
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::Melanie Cohen: 100%.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And sometimes
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: they feel obligated to take things that just becomes clutter in their home.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and then there's guilt attached to it when it comes to like getting rid of it.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's like I meant well. But please, please.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yes.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Don't buy me stuff.
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::Melanie Cohen: You know, it's interesting because we've been talking about this a lot this week. My husband was. I don't wanna say making fun of. But I'll I'll use that for lack of a better concept of someone who
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::Melanie Cohen: their wedding registry was all like asks for money for trips, and I was like, and and he's making fun of like that, you know, and they had 3 different places they wanted to go to like one was Thailand. One was, you know, somewhere in Europe and somewhere in South America. Let's say and I was like, that's
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::Melanie Cohen: they're not asking for stuff that's gonna clutter their home. And how fun if we were purchasing a gift for this person to be able to say, Oh, I'd really love to see them go to Thailand, or Oh, you know, I want them to go to South America because I love South America, or something like that like that's the perfect gift to ask for and talk about a time where people are getting a lot of stuff. But you know, when you're registering, you know, when you're getting married.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: These days people get married after they've already got a home.
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::Melanie Cohen: This is true too.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: If you don't need all this stuff.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I even found that I collected a bunch of things that I thought I was gonna give to my kids.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: But really, it's going to the Di.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah, I love that idea.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Their own stuff.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah, we were. We were talking about 2 other ideas when it came to gifts. When my birthday earlier in the year I had found something that I really wanted, and it was the only thing I wanted. You know, we had, you know, started putting rules into place in terms of getting rid of things in the house.
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::Melanie Cohen: and what I wanted was, they have like these window seats. That are clear that your cat can sit on in the window and see all the birds and stuff like that. That's what I wanted. That was the only thing I wanted, and I and I made a video and I posted it on all of my social media, and I immediately got a message from a friend. She goes. I feel terrible. I already bought you.
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::Melanie Cohen: and that's like this isn't to make other people feel guilty. It was just my way of saying, unless you have the perfect thing that you're like. This is a Melanie thing.
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::Melanie Cohen: Then there's no need in doing that. And another thing came up. We did some decluttering this year of the kids stuff. One of our kids still lives at home, and one does not, and my husband and I are both huge book collectors. I will never tell people to get rid of their books. I know people are very passionate about their books, but we were going through the children's books
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::Melanie Cohen: and we have a friend who recently had a baby.
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::Melanie Cohen: and when we went to the baby shower they asked for nothing to be tipped wrapped. It was very clear that they were being very, you know, environmentally focused and and progressive about it.
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::Melanie Cohen: And so we took about a dozen books, and we made that the baby gift after the baby was born, and her name is Luna. And so any children's book that had anything to do with the moon or the sky or the stars. We felt very strongly, and it made it a lot easier to get rid of some of the things
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::Melanie Cohen: you were so appreciative. A new baby doesn't need new books. A new baby needs books, period, you know, and so it felt really good to gift that way.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I've
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I did a similar thing with all of I had a bunch of homeschooling stuff. I gifted it to my friend, who had more kids that were still coming up. And they needed all those books.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And I didn't.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And and we have. We have a
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: a thrifting system around where I live. I live in Idaho.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's called Deseret industries. It's led by the Lds community, but they are so good about recycling stuff, and you can feel good about going there because they help people get started. If somebody's struggling and down on their luck
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: they'll come along. The church will come along. I'm not Lds. But they'll come along and they will help you, and I don't even think you have to be necessarily a member of their church for them to help you.
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::Melanie Cohen: yeah.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: To get people to join their church, but get back.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's.
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::Melanie Cohen: I just. There are so many more ways of letting things go without feeling like you're getting rid of it, like like all of the buy. Nothing. Groups on Facebook are amazing, because not only can you say, Hi, I've got this great pair of shoes, you know. Come by the house, or or we've done bigger things with, like, you know, we have a table or whatever. But you can also ask for things like I'm looking for a you know, a a punch bowl
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::Melanie Cohen: does anybody have one? Or even does anybody have a punch bowl? They're willing to lend me like, you know again. I live in New York City. We have a small space. We have some tools for my husband to be able to fix things in the house, but there's no reason for him to have, you know, a garage full of them when you can go on and say, Does anybody have a saw a hammer, you know, whatever that thing is. There are so many ways to make sure that we're not cluttering our own space by being a part of a a larger community.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And I'll just give a plug for O'reilly's right now. It's an auto auto parts store. They will lend you tools.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: You can go and rent.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: if for free. What you do is you go and you buy the perfect tool that you need. I have a son who's really into fixing cars and stuff. But you go and you get that specific tool that's really expensive, that you need. You pay for it, and then you take it back.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and they totally expect you to take it back within 48 h, and they'll give you all your money back.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's.
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::Melanie Cohen: Wow!
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's really amazing. And.
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::Melanie Cohen: Love, that.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, it's it's
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I think it's really a responsible way to hold. Run your business. And we give them a lot of business just for that very reason that they're
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: they're good about that.
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::Melanie Cohen: That's great.
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::Melanie Cohen: I love it.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's not just like our little store here in town. It's like all of the O'reilly's everywhere that I've ever been.
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::Melanie Cohen: Fantastic. I love it. I love that.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And so that's just a way to get
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: get away from the clutter. And then
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: here's the other thing. When your parents do pass.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: you inherit all their clutter.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: so be kind to your children. Get rid of your son. Now.
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::Melanie Cohen: So 1 1 of the ways that I'm getting my parents to downsize their clutter in. It's the language that you use. I think that makes the greatest impact. So I also coach my clients to do the same. The question is, how do you want to leave this?
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::Melanie Cohen: You know, when you're gone? Do you want me to be able to spend time with the friends and the family, and share all the funny stories and the beautiful things about you, and and spend that time honoring and remembering you? Or do you want me cleaning out your crap for a month? You know. What would you prefer? And
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::Melanie Cohen: that's when my dad, I think, really heard me. He was like, I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave this for my only child to have to manage, especially since you know he doesn't live in state. My mother a little slower to come to that
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::Melanie Cohen: but you know, when my grandmother passed away
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::Melanie Cohen: 7, 8 years ago, my aunt asked, What do I want?
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::Melanie Cohen: And I said, Oh, I want the pink glass covered elephant candy dish.
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::Melanie Cohen: Well, what else do you want, Melanie? Nope, that's what I want like. That's what I want.
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::Melanie Cohen: Well, but why? That? Because when I was a little girl. I remember being intrigued that this candy dish never had candy in it.
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::Melanie Cohen: It's just the thing I remember, and I mean like, and if you see a picture of me. I have purple hair. I love pink and purple. Elephants are good luck, like there were a lot of reasons, but I didn't. My aunt sent me a lot of other things.
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::Melanie Cohen: and we kept some of them, because what I know is that I, my grandmother, wouldn't want me weighed down by her things.
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::Melanie Cohen: She wouldn't want me to have to worry about where it's going. She would want me to be able to appreciate. Now I got a few pieces of jewelry, and obviously those are special to me. But like it doesn't have to be everything. And I have promised my kids. I have told my daughters.
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::Melanie Cohen: I promise you I am not gonna create that mess for you later. I'm not gonna make this difficult for you and and if you see my stuff collecting, let me know.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I, yeah, it's really
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: we don't think about the impact that all of our stuff has on the people after we're gone right.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And and it also affects
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: our our well-being. You wanna talk about that like the really.
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::Melanie Cohen: 100%.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Between gaining weight and feeling.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: living in clutter.
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::Melanie Cohen: Well, I mean I could be, you know, Kitschy, about it, and say that weight is clutter but at the end of the day. Most people experience great levels of stress
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::Melanie Cohen: from the clutter that's around them. And and I think it's important to say, because there are people who have beautiful homes that don't have a lot of stuff in them, but they're still clutter. Whether it's the clutter in our minds like, you know the things that we say to ourselves, the self limiting beliefs, the imposter syndromes, all of the things that limit us in being
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::Melanie Cohen: able to get things accomplished because there's just like so many words and images and thoughts in our heads that are getting in the way calendar can be clutter. Social media can be clutter. The news cycle can be clutter.
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::Melanie Cohen: People can be clutter. And that can really, you know, weigh us down. And for so many people, when we're experiencing stress wherever it's coming from lead into negative, unwanted, and unhealthy behaviors. And so
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::Melanie Cohen: I am very in tune with how that affects me, and I am always going to food. My father was a drug addict, and his father was a gambler. He would tell you he was just a player, but he lost.
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::Melanie Cohen: you know, businesses and homes and stuff. As a result of it, my father, the same, lost his home, his car, his business, his wife, and from and for a short time his daughter, as a result of the drug addiction, and I think I spent a long time being afraid of drugs and being afraid of gambling, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but what it meant was, I was looking for another tool
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::Melanie Cohen: to help me manage uncomfortable feelings, and food was a great answer to that. And then like, look where that got me.
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::Melanie Cohen: So, knowing that there are better ways of managing our feelings, you know whether that is through exercise or meditation, or healthy cooking and eating, all the things that make us feel better can be, you know, tremendously helpful, because our feelings need to be managed. We don't need to brush them under the carpet like no, don't be stressed. Don't be sad. Don't be depressed. No like, let's manage those feelings in a healthy way.
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::Melanie Cohen: And then I think one of the routes or one of the things that happens when we have a cluttered kitchen
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::Melanie Cohen: is that we lean into unhealthy eating, not just because the clutter is stressful. But you know, if my kitchen is disorganized, I'm not pulling out the cutting board and the knife, and chopping up healthy fruits and vegetables I'm ordering in.
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::Melanie Cohen: you know. I'm not setting up the crock pot with like a great chili or stew that might last, you know, several days again, you know I'm calling the pizza. Place the Chinese food where you know wherever you like to order in from so when I'm working with people, it's the kitchen that I encourage taking care of. First.st
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::Melanie Cohen: Again, I'm values based. So if you really feel like greater impact would be cleaning the office, the living room, the dining room, the bedroom, or whatever I'm in full support of that. But there's something about changing that kitchen environment that gets us.
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::Melanie Cohen: You know the right. A good momentum.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I I love that I
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I have.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: My pots and pans are on a on a hanger. I have a very small house and a small kitchen, and I've come to the point in my life. I cook a lot. I'm a really good cook, and I cook almost all of my meals. I I rarely.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I almost never do fast food.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: we we eat a lot of leftovers and we incorporate leftovers and stuff. But
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I've I've come to the point in my life where I don't need all of those tools.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I need
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: specific tools for the jobs that need to be done. It's like I have
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: a Dutch oven size, cast iron pot. I have a skillet size cast iron pot.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and I have a soup pot, and then I have a stock pot.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's really all I need.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And I can cook like amazing things with just those items.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: including bread. That's all you need.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: We make our own bread around here. So
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I do have a baguette pan. I make amazing baguettes. Just have to throw that out.
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::Melanie Cohen: I love hearing that everybody loves good bread.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Everybody loves good bread, took me a lot of years to learn how to make it. But, man, I make some amazing. I make better bread than Panera, and they were my goal. When I 1st started out
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I was sorely.
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::Melanie Cohen: That your bread, you know I live in New York City. So there is fast food. But, like, you know, we have so many cultures and countries and styles of food represented. I'm like not going to fast food places. I would rather go to the mom and Pop, or you know, whatever. But I think we're all always looking for good bread or my mother's gluten free. So she's always looking for a good gluten, free bread.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Right, right, yeah.
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::Melanie Cohen: But I love the I I love you talking that way about the kitchen, because, like my number one goal is to get people to get rid of unit taskers, you know, like the things that they're only used for one thing, and I will never forget, years ago, as a weight loss coach standing in front of a meeting room with like 50 60 people, and this woman in the front row pulled out like this plastic thing.
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::Melanie Cohen: and it didn't look right to me, and it was a plastic container for her banana.
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::Melanie Cohen: a banana which comes in appeal. It comes in its own packaging.
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::Melanie Cohen: but for some reason she needed this travel case for the banana, and I think, and this was years ago, before I was doing any of this stuff with clutter. But I just remember thinking in my head, you live in New York City like, what else do you have in your kitchen that you don't need. If you have one of those, and there are people who have, like those avocado slicers. I have a knife, you know. Some people have small and large food processors.
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::Melanie Cohen: I only need one food processor, you know.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I have a knife. I don't
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: process. It is more trouble to clean those damn things than it is to just, you know. Run the knife under the water.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah, I mean, it's and and people will say, Well, Melanie, you have a crock pot and an instant pot, I do. And here's the thing I live in New York City. It gets hot and humid over the summer, you know, opening a window while you're cooking doesn't make the biggest difference. I don't want to use my stove or my oven during that period of time. So having those 2 tools.
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::Melanie Cohen: and I use them all the way
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::Melanie Cohen: through the year, and especially during the summer. Of course I say that, and I made a really great pot of chili last night in my in my instapot but it's about again, like, what are the tools that are enhancing your life? What is simplifying your life, what is amplifying your life? What are the things that you absolutely need get rid of the other stuff.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, the stuff that you use at least once a week.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: If you're not using it at least once a week.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it needs to go. You don't. You don't really need it. You're just making up reasons to use it.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: For sure.
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::Melanie Cohen: If you have.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And used it once a month, or once a year.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Borrow it.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: You need it.
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::Melanie Cohen: It has to be a different timeframe for different people, you know. I would argue I I'm not a meat eater. I don't make meat, but we still have a gravy vote, because
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::Melanie Cohen: on Thanksgiving our friends come over with the turkey and the gravy, I could tell them, bring your own gravy vote. But that little thing is not taking up a tremendous amount of space, but you know it it. What gets us in more trouble is well, I know I haven't used it in a year. You never know what might happen as opposed to. I know I only use it once a year, and I'm okay with that.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Right. It has a purpose, and it's a 1. It's like, you know, people that have Christmas trees that they use every year.
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::Melanie Cohen: See you.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Only using it once a year, but it's got a purpose, and you're not cutting down trees.
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::Melanie Cohen: Right.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: You know, or whatever.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Manures same thing. You're not going to be using your manure all year long. You're gonna use it over Hanukkah. So.
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::Melanie Cohen: But how many, how many Menorahs does every family?
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Really do we need one in every room.
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::Melanie Cohen: I'm I'm laughing. My husband's father passed away earlier this year and so, and his wife is is cleaning out a large home to move into something smaller, and
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::Melanie Cohen: her collection of Menorahs could probably supply my entire neighborhood. But it was something that over the years brought her joy. She loved having them, but there were so many of them they were out year round. They only got lit 8 nights of the year. But they hung around for a long time, and so I think that's another example of both.
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::Melanie Cohen: Knowing that one person's clutter is your, you know, pleasure and joy, and what enhances your life. But they're also seasons of life, you know. And when you have the big home that the kids grew up in.
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::Melanie Cohen: there is more space than when you downsize later in life, and then you've got to pick the favorite Menorah or 2 or 3, but not, you know, hanging on to all of them, but also being okay with your family, saying, No, I don't want all of your Menorahs.
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::Melanie Cohen: I'd like to.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I don't want.
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::Melanie Cohen: We're in.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Them. It's okay. They're allowed to have their boundaries, too.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yes, and it's.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: A commentary on who you are, that.
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::Melanie Cohen: No.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Those pieces might be like the perfect thing for for some random person who you never know, but they're gonna find it, and they're gonna be like, Oh, God! This is so great! I have a story of a woman who
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It was a dress that they gave they donated.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and they went to another country, and they saw somebody actually wearing that exact dress that they'd given away as a little girl, and it was the only dress. She had it. It was like
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: such a heart.
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::Melanie Cohen: Beautiful. Yeah.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Rendering story. That was just
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: to the story. It was like.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah, yeah, I mean, it speaks volumes to how valuable things can be.
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::Melanie Cohen: and it has nothing to do with what the initial cost was, but rather the amount of value that grows in it over time.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And at
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it's okay to let things move around and have a life. And you don't have to own everything.
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::Melanie Cohen: Right.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Well, and I think.
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::Melanie Cohen: You know there are so many different ways to like own things. So one of my favorite things to do, and I know other people have done. This is so our collection of T-shirts were maybe excessive between, like our sports teams, college T-shirts, T-shirts concerts, you know all of those things, and it's really hard to get rid of of those things. And so for me and for my younger daughter, we both had quotes made.
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::Melanie Cohen: We picked out the shirts that either don't fit anymore, or there was a hole on the back, or there was something else about it. And we both have these beautiful quilts that have, you know, like this history of ours, that we love having, but they don't take up as much room as 20 T-shirts, do you know? And so there are lots of ways to to reuse.
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::Melanie Cohen: The things that we own.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yes, there really are. And it's like.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: yeah, okay. So, Melanie, how do you help people? I we need.
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::Melanie Cohen: How do I help you?
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Okay, so.
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::Melanie Cohen: So 2 things, one, I do private, one-on-one coaching. But I also created a program. The design, your healthy life strategy, which includes over 50 lessons on everything about nutrition and exercise to clutter in the kitchen, clutter in the bedroom, clutter in the everywhere
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::Melanie Cohen: and and all the mindset pieces. You know whether it's anchoring to the positive or decision making fatigue, we cover all of it. We have weekly workshops with other people who are losing weight and getting healthy by removing the physical and mental clutter. The literal and figurative
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::Melanie Cohen: clutter in their lives. And
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::Melanie Cohen: It's a great bunch of people.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: That's great. And people can find you on your website. I know that you have the all of the lessons listed there. I thought that was genius.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yes, there's a lot of lessons. There's a lot they're like, Yeah.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: That.
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::Melanie Cohen: And what I love to say is I I launched the program in July of 2023. So well over a year has gone by, and we have not covered all the topics, because there are some that just you know. Let's take an entire month to talk about emotional eating. Let's take an entire month of to decluttering the home and so those lessons can be read, and they have great little action plans with them. Or you can wait until we, you know, talk about it as a group.
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::Melanie Cohen: Because there's just something about being with other people on the same path and journey as you to feel supported while you're learning
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::Melanie Cohen: things, learning about yourself, learning about your family learning about your space? So yeah, a a great a great bunch of people. I think the question was, finding me on my website.
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::Melanie Cohen: Melanie cohen.podia.com. I'm on all the social media since we were talking about that before the call. Yes, I'm navigating tick, Tock, even though it's for the quote, unquote younger people. I agree with you? Not so much.
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::Melanie Cohen: So yeah, just getting the message out there, because everyone knows weight loss coaches. Everyone knows weight loss diets, books, websites, you know, companies, etc, and a lot of people know clutter coaches. There are very few of us who have integrated the 2 together, helping people lose weight, and get healthy by removing all of the clutter.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, it just feels lighter when you get rid of the cloud.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yeah. Yes. Yes.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So thank you so much for joining me. Let's
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: try to sum it all up. And what's the one thing that you takes away from the conversation, and we've covered so much ground here.
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::Melanie Cohen: Yes, and you asked me the question in the beginning, and I think I'm gonna take a similar approach to what I was thinking about, and that is
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::Melanie Cohen: Having been over 200 pounds weight can be very shaming. You know how we carry our bodies can be very shaming, but so is the same for the clutter. So many people don't want people to come into their homes, or or we're shoving things in closets before the company comes, and because it's embarrassing and shaming, and it doesn't have to be.
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::Melanie Cohen: it is about going out and getting help, so that we don't have to feel the shame over those things, and to also know that like clutter comes in so many more forms than we used to. People think of the the TV show hoarders, and I don't want people thinking about that, though that is the extreme. It's so unhealthy, and it's so scary, and I've seen it in my mother?
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::Melanie Cohen: But that when we recognize that clutter is all around us, and that we don't, we are not always the ones that create that clutter and make it easier to address.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I love that. Thank you so much for joining me, Melanie.
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::Melanie Cohen: Thank you, Jill, for having me. I appreciate it.
