Speaker 1: Episode four thirty four, Minimalism for Families with Don Madson.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live your life. Here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are sharing the
Speaker 1: conversation we had with Don Madson, better known as the
Speaker 1: minimal Mom. And if you are a YouTube geek like
Speaker 1: I am, and a mom, then you've definitely seen her videos.
Speaker 1: She talks about minimalism specifically with a not a large family,
Speaker 1: but like a good sized family. She's got four kids,
Speaker 1: and so it's very she's so relatable. She's like, definitely
Speaker 1: not one of those stoic minimalists that got rid of everything.
Speaker 1: That's like the YouTube thumbnails where you're seeing the person
Speaker 1: sitting in an empty room that says I got rid
Speaker 1: of all of my things. She's not that. She's just
Speaker 1: soun so relatable. Yeah, and this was a great conversation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, very down to earth. And I love it when
Speaker 3: we get to have conversations about minimalism with fit people
Speaker 3: of families because I think so often when you talk
Speaker 3: about really anything finances, minimalism, these kind of decisions that
Speaker 3: might be a little bit more attainable in your younger years,
Speaker 3: or for people without children to be able to see
Speaker 3: another way of life, for those who have other ideas, perspectives, opinions,
Speaker 3: actions within the home, be able to say and yeah,
Speaker 3: we're able to still work together towards this collective aim.
Speaker 3: Here's how it looks. Here's the ways that you can
Speaker 3: make it work for you and individualize it. I just
Speaker 3: love it. It helps, It helps. It'd be an option
Speaker 3: for us versus sequestering ourselves to thinking, well, now now
Speaker 3: that I have children, my life is chaos and that's
Speaker 3: just how it's going to be, and maybe it will
Speaker 3: be a bit of chaos, but we'll share some areas
Speaker 3: that you can choose differently.
Speaker 1: She mentions the social norm of chaos in families, like
Speaker 1: how she went to the to the store and found
Speaker 1: the decor, like the thing that says a happy home
Speaker 1: has sticky floors and YadA YadA, And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's gross. Uh, But like that has become the norm
Speaker 1: and there's no shame in that. Like the movement is
Speaker 1: seeking to erase shame and guilt from that but like,
Speaker 1: there is also another way, and Don is a pioneer
Speaker 1: in sharing that way. But first, before we get to Don,
Speaker 1: this episode is brought to you by listeners like you.
Speaker 1: And I know we've had that sponsor before, but listeners
Speaker 1: like you. If you're listening to this episode on August twentyth,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, this episode is for you specifically and
Speaker 1: brought to you by you. And it doesn't really make sense,
Speaker 1: but you get it. If you're listening to this episode
Speaker 1: the day it comes out. You are our BFF, our
Speaker 1: best frugal friend. And I know we have a lot
Speaker 1: of besties, but if Tommy Tugboat taught me anything in
Speaker 1: that children's book, it's that you can have multiple best friends.
Speaker 1: So we would be remiss if we didn't remind you
Speaker 1: that tonight is our pre order launch party because you
Speaker 1: or who we want to celebrate with. So the link
Speaker 1: to the party is in the friend letter if you
Speaker 1: get it. If you don't, then the zoom link is
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Slash party takes you right
Speaker 1: to the zoom room and this is the only place
Speaker 1: you're going to be able to get that link because
Speaker 1: we're not sending out another friend letter before the party.
Speaker 1: So we hope to see you at seven pm Eastern
Speaker 1: Standard time to night for games, giveaways, great times, girls,
Speaker 1: other words that start with G giveaways.
Speaker 3: Did you say that already, Jin, Yes, great times, you
Speaker 3: already said that.
Speaker 1: Just show ups.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm yeah, seven pm Eastern Standard time, will be there.
Speaker 3: I'm leading the games.
Speaker 1: She is, she has already told me about them. I
Speaker 1: am so, so so excited. I might read an excerpt
Speaker 1: from a book that's not ours. I thought about that
Speaker 1: last night. But there's a children's book that I love
Speaker 1: that really does capture the heart of by what you
Speaker 1: love without going broke in.
Speaker 3: My affinity for children's books is wearing off on you.
Speaker 1: Oh I know, Well, I've had this Oh there's a
Speaker 1: story behind this book. I have had this book since
Speaker 1: before I even met Travis. I bought this book like
Speaker 1: I was a I was a young woman buying a
Speaker 1: children's book, and I've held on to it for fifteen
Speaker 1: years now, fifteen years. Yeah, I've had this book. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to read a little expert excerpt
Speaker 1: to inspire you. But so, if you're interested in minimalism,
Speaker 1: then we have a lot of great episodes for you.
Speaker 1: Episode two sixty six, we talk about sustainable minimalism with
Speaker 1: Stephanie Seferian, She's from the Sustainable Minimalist podcast, and we
Speaker 1: have episode four oh nine how to Simplify your life
Speaker 1: to save money. And we have an episode coming up
Speaker 1: with Shannon Ables from the Simply Luxurious Life that you
Speaker 1: are going to love, so stay on the lookout for
Speaker 1: that one. But Don Madson, she is known as the
Speaker 1: minimal Mom and her family has lived as minimalists for
Speaker 1: over nine years now. And her family not just her,
Speaker 1: all the kids, her husband. She is passionate about the
Speaker 1: message of simple living and reaches over a million people
Speaker 1: each month on YouTube sharing her practical tips, her ideas.
Speaker 1: We are speaking with her, well not with her, but
Speaker 1: we are both speakers at the Get Organized HQ summit
Speaker 1: that's happening the week of September ninth. It is a
Speaker 1: free summit, so if you are interested in organization, minimalism,
Speaker 1: organizing your finances, your home, every part of your life,
Speaker 1: schedule everything, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash
Speaker 1: g o HQ g o HQ get your free ticket
Speaker 1: to that summit. There are over one hundred speakers Don
Speaker 1: is speaking, We are speaking, and it's just going to
Speaker 1: be a week to really reset yourself for the fall.
Speaker 1: So Frugal friendspodcast, dot com, Slash and GHQ get your
Speaker 1: free ticket and yeah, get this little teaser of what
Speaker 1: Don is going to be, just wisdom reigning on you.
Speaker 3: So many things to do, come to the party, get
Speaker 3: the free summit ticket and listen to the rest of
Speaker 3: this episode.
Speaker 1: Don, and welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast. We are
Speaker 1: so excited to have you with us. Thank you.
Speaker 4: This is super fun to get to talk about. I
Speaker 4: love talking about for reality, money, getting out of debt.
Speaker 4: It changes everything, So I love what you guys are doing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, minimalism is one of our favorite topics and along
Speaker 3: with our listeners as well, we love it when we
Speaker 3: get to talk about this, especially when we look at
Speaker 3: different circumstances of life. I feel as though minimalism as
Speaker 3: a parent is something on a whole other level. So
Speaker 3: we're excited to hear what you have to say about that.
Speaker 3: But to kick it off, can you give us a
Speaker 3: little bit of background on you, how you chose to
Speaker 3: pursue minimalism, some of the changes you've seen it make
Speaker 3: in your family's life. Just start us off there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, if I could take you back in
Speaker 4: time about nine years ago. We had four kids, ages
Speaker 4: four and under, and I was a stay at home
Speaker 4: mom and I I had everything. I had four healthy kids.
Speaker 4: I got to stay home. That's what I always wanted
Speaker 4: it to do. And I was so happy and I
Speaker 4: couldn't figure out what was going on. It was kind
Speaker 4: of the same time when at hobby Lobby the signs
Speaker 4: were coming out that said, like, good moms have sticky
Speaker 4: floors and piles of laundry, and my house was a wreck.
Speaker 4: I just dreaded the days, watched the clock till my
Speaker 4: husband when get home. And then one day I was
Speaker 4: searching on Pinterest for a meal planning solution and I
Speaker 4: came across a podcast with Joshua Becker and he's a
Speaker 4: pretty well known minimalist now, and he said, did you
Speaker 4: know you don't have to have all of this stuff?
Speaker 4: And that stopped me in my tracks, because like, the
Speaker 4: stuff was a big part of the problem, picking up
Speaker 4: the toys and the laundry, and I mean, don't even
Speaker 4: get me started on the dishes.
Speaker 1: It was just constant.
Speaker 4: And I remember thinking to myself I just pick up
Speaker 4: these same things every day and washed these same clothes,
Speaker 4: and it was a grind and I was just there
Speaker 4: was no end in sight at that point, and so
Speaker 4: I started learning more about minimalism. There wasn't a lot
Speaker 4: out there on it at that time, and I vowed
Speaker 4: that if I ever got my house simplified and decluttered,
Speaker 4: that I would start a blog and I would help
Speaker 4: others know like how many forks and how many bath
Speaker 4: towels and that kind of thing. So over the course
Speaker 4: of the next year, I got rid of about eighty
Speaker 4: percent of our stuff. My husband had no idea what
Speaker 4: we were doing, what we quotes were doing. I just
Speaker 4: focused on all the areas that I had domain over,
Speaker 4: the kitchen and the kids, stuff in my clothes, and
Speaker 4: I could not believe how much freedom it brought, how
Speaker 4: much easier my house was to manage, how much happier
Speaker 4: the kids were. Turns out, kids actually don't need hardly
Speaker 4: any toys at all. That's just a byproduct of good
Speaker 4: marketing on the toy manufacturer's parts. And so as we
Speaker 4: just got rid of more and more, I could not
Speaker 4: believe the changes in myself, in our household and the
Speaker 4: kids my husband appreciated it more. I now know better
Speaker 4: the connection between clutter and stress and anxiety, and so
Speaker 4: everybody was winning and we were just doing so much
Speaker 4: more better with keeping her house up. And so I
Speaker 4: did start a blog, and then I realized I don't
Speaker 4: actually like writing really at all, and so then it
Speaker 4: kind of morphed into a YouTube channel where I can
Speaker 4: like talk with my hands and show what it was
Speaker 4: that we were doing and show that a minimalist home,
Speaker 4: even with four kids, is not weird. It doesn't look funny.
Speaker 4: People don't walk in and think like we got robbed,
Speaker 4: or wonder where is all your stuff? And all the
Speaker 4: fears I worried about in the beginning, would people think
Speaker 4: I'm depriving our kids or you know, all these things.
Speaker 4: It just really was a non issue. And now nine
Speaker 4: years later, I would never go back. And I try
Speaker 4: to tell every woman that I encounter, no matter what
Speaker 4: stage of life they're in, about the benefits of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That's so good to hear, because I'm a mom
Speaker 1: of only two children, and like I was telling you
Speaker 1: before we started recording, I was like, I'm finally at
Speaker 1: the place in parenthood where I feel like things are
Speaker 1: out of my control. Like when when like Kai was
Speaker 1: a baby, I still felt like the stuff was in
Speaker 1: my control. But yeah, like as we transition into that
Speaker 1: like more like the decisions are really made as a
Speaker 1: family now, like my five year old actually does get
Speaker 1: an input to an extent, I just yeah, it just
Speaker 1: like feels more and more overwhelming, like the laundry and
Speaker 1: the dishes, and those are just like minimal things that
Speaker 1: you know, compared to like the toys and the school
Speaker 1: paper and artwork and all of that.
Speaker 5: Ye.
Speaker 1: So, so I have loved like watching your YouTube videos
Speaker 1: for a while, and your most popular video is the
Speaker 1: Radical Mindset Shifts to Declever to Declutter your Whole House.
Speaker 1: And it's a long one and I think everyone should
Speaker 1: listen to it. It's it's like the length of a podcast,
Speaker 1: so it's not like a movie, but it's a podcast.
Speaker 1: And so you're very clear, like I love how you
Speaker 1: break down kind of each room like by importance, and
Speaker 1: it makes it kind of more like easier to grasp
Speaker 1: for a mom that has like everything, and even if
Speaker 1: you're not a mom, but you're very clear that the
Speaker 1: kitchen is the most important place to start. So can
Speaker 1: you share why that is. I know you like maybe
Speaker 1: touched on it a little bit, but like, can you
Speaker 1: share why that is and how we can like loosen
Speaker 1: our grip a little bit on everything we're trying to
Speaker 1: keep in there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's for multiple reasons. One, when we
Speaker 4: say the kitchen is the heart of the home, I
Speaker 4: really think it is. My husband once said when the
Speaker 4: when the kitchen is clean, I feel like life is
Speaker 4: under control. And so it's a room we spend a
Speaker 4: lot of time in and when it is cluttered and messy,
Speaker 4: we don't want to be in it, and we don't
Speaker 4: want to cook, and we don't want to clean. And
Speaker 4: when it's cluttered, it's harder to cook, and it's harder
Speaker 4: to clean, it's harder to put stuff away. And as
Speaker 4: our kids get older, it's harder to involve them. And
Speaker 4: so it was import to me from a young age
Speaker 4: that I wanted our kids to know how to cook.
Speaker 4: And I had learned that kids take more interest in
Speaker 4: fruits and vegetables if they helped to prepare them right.
Speaker 4: And so I want to create these kids with this
Speaker 4: diverse taste palate and that know how to prepare foods.
Speaker 4: You know, But it's very hard in a messy kitchen
Speaker 4: because they make it messier. And then I realized all
Speaker 4: of the guilt over all the food that gets wasted,
Speaker 4: and how I was just continually losing track of inventory
Speaker 4: and there would be things expiring in the fridge and
Speaker 4: in the pantry, and I would be like, I totally
Speaker 4: forgot we had it, and why didn't I use it?
Speaker 4: And what's wrong with me? And so I realized that
Speaker 4: as we cut back the food inventory and the dishes
Speaker 4: inventory and pots and pants, that not only was my
Speaker 4: kitchen easier to keep clean, I enjoyed cooking more and
Speaker 4: I wasn't wasting food. So it's very multifaceted, and most
Speaker 4: of us don't put a lot of intentionality into it.
Speaker 4: It just becomes like a time capsule of wedding gifts
Speaker 4: and things our mom had that we thought we should have,
Speaker 4: and things we got at garage sales or a pampered
Speaker 4: chef party, and most of us have not put a
Speaker 4: lot of intentionality into the design of our kitchen.
Speaker 3: I can commiserate with that. We just renovated our kitchen,
Speaker 3: and I was so excite. I had my things packed
Speaker 3: away for so long we were living out of a
Speaker 3: makeshift kitchen for three years practically, and finally I was
Speaker 3: able to open these boxes. And my mom had downsized
Speaker 3: in the span of those three years, and so she
Speaker 3: was giving me family heirlooms and I couldn't wait to
Speaker 3: unpack them in my new kitchen. And as large as
Speaker 3: this new kitchen is, it got filled up really fast.
Speaker 3: And even myself, I would consider myself a minimalist. But
Speaker 3: the airlooms can be particularly difficult to sort through. But
Speaker 3: you have a really great strategy for using specifically a
Speaker 3: messy kitchen to declutter. Can you explain that? How would
Speaker 3: we approach our kitchen first? Right?
Speaker 4: So often we think like, okay, well, if I'm going
Speaker 4: to declutter my kitchen, I need to do the dishes
Speaker 4: and I need to get the counters cleared off. But
Speaker 4: rather just stop where you're at with a messy kitchen
Speaker 4: and look at the data, like what is your kitchen
Speaker 4: telling you? What things are continually sitting out? What things
Speaker 4: don't have a home? What things when you moved in
Speaker 4: you put the coffee pot over here, but then the
Speaker 4: coffee over there, or you know, the spatulos aren't actually
Speaker 4: close to where you use them. And so just just
Speaker 4: look at it with fresh eyes and say what is
Speaker 4: working in our kitchen and what clearly is not working.
Speaker 4: And then once we start to have we want to
Speaker 4: be more practical with our strategy with it. Then when
Speaker 4: I go to declutter, what's in the cabinet under the
Speaker 4: coffee maker, so I can put the coffee next to
Speaker 4: the coffee maker. Now it's a little bit easier to
Speaker 4: get rid of the random breadmaker that I got during
Speaker 4: COVID because I thought I was going to make bread
Speaker 4: and heaven't. And I can say, you know what, like
Speaker 4: I bought this, that sucks. I spent money on it,
Speaker 4: but this is making my kitchen not function well. And
Speaker 4: so my priority is to make my kitchen fit my
Speaker 4: current season of life. Whatever the type of cooking we
Speaker 4: are doing right now, that's what I want to prioritize
Speaker 4: in my kitchen. So we're okay, I'm looking at the data.
Speaker 4: We're not making bread stinks, But how about I get
Speaker 4: rid of it or at a minimum, move it out
Speaker 4: of the kitchen for now till I decide to take
Speaker 4: that up again. And so by looking at the information
Speaker 4: that our messy kitchen is giving us, then we can
Speaker 4: start to say what needs to get out of here
Speaker 4: so I can make room for the things that we're
Speaker 4: actually using, and usually those are the things sitting out
Speaker 4: on the counter.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That was a quote actually in your video that
Speaker 1: I loved because we talked about so much about prioritizing
Speaker 1: your current season, not the season you wish you were in,
Speaker 1: not the season you thought you would be in, or
Speaker 1: you know, like our past season, but what is your
Speaker 1: current season, and not feeling guilty because you're not where
Speaker 1: you were or where you're not where you thought you
Speaker 1: should be, looking at where you are and using that
Speaker 1: to determine the things that you own.
Speaker 3: I love that It also gives such a nice permission
Speaker 3: to not be so aspirational with what we have in
Speaker 3: our kitchen, but I can see that I'm eventually gonna
Speaker 3: use this one day. We do this in all other areas.
Speaker 3: But I'm hearing you describe that if we're able to
Speaker 3: do this in our kitchens, then how much easier will
Speaker 3: it come to us in all other parts of our home.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And we have a lot of fantasy self clutter
Speaker 4: and guilty clutter in the kitchen, so we have the
Speaker 4: fantasy self I'm gonna make bread. I'm gonna make smoothies.
Speaker 4: I'm going to make homemade donuts. I don't know all
Speaker 4: these things we acquire, right, I mean, go to a
Speaker 4: pampered chef party and they just feed into your fantasy self,
Speaker 4: right of like all the fancy cookie that you're gonna do.
Speaker 4: And so there's a lot of that that we have
Speaker 4: to reconcile and say it is okay if I am
Speaker 4: not doing that in this season of life. And then
Speaker 4: there's also the guilty clutter of I spent money on it.
Speaker 4: And again we go to a pampered chef party. The
Speaker 4: demonstrator makes everything looks so easy and great and like
Speaker 4: this is going to make your life. You know, you
Speaker 4: can cook dinner so much faster now if you buy
Speaker 4: this thing, right, And then we get home and it
Speaker 4: sits in the box because we realize it's more work
Speaker 4: to clean it than it is just to use it,
Speaker 4: you know, or to use a knife instead. And so
Speaker 4: we have these things that a lot of things in
Speaker 4: our kitchen we have spent good, good money on, right,
Speaker 4: and so it can be very hard to let those
Speaker 4: things go. But again, think about the money you're going
Speaker 4: to be putting back in your pocket when you are
Speaker 4: cooking at home, My goodness, none of us can afford
Speaker 4: to eat out anymore. Right, when you're cooking at home,
Speaker 4: you're not wasting food. The kitchen especially, you can recoop
Speaker 4: money so quickly.
Speaker 1: Okay, So tell me what are some of the things
Speaker 1: like in your kitchen like that you found that you
Speaker 1: recooped like immediately.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So, I mean I've had, you know, we had
Speaker 4: like the rice maker and the casadia maker and the
Speaker 4: panini maker and all that, right, and so about uh,
Speaker 4: it was probably about two years ago. Now our kids
Speaker 4: were getting a little bit older. So we have four kids,
Speaker 4: ages nine through fourteen, and I decided that they could
Speaker 4: cook breakfast and lunch on their own, like they were
Speaker 4: gonna be in charge of that now. But what was
Speaker 4: happening was that they weren't finding foods, and then we
Speaker 4: were buying like a lot of convenience foods and prepackaged stuff,
Speaker 4: and I was like, this wasn't exactly how I imagined this
Speaker 4: was going. So two years ago we already had a
Speaker 4: simplified kitchen, but I went all in, saying, if this
Speaker 4: is not serving us in this season of life, and
Speaker 4: no one was using all these makers, right, rice Maker,
Speaker 4: wapple Maker kit and so I was like ou and
Speaker 4: so I just donated them. Some people sell them, and
Speaker 4: then it felt like it freed up the mental space
Speaker 4: and physical space where now they could learn recipes, they
Speaker 4: could cook actual foods with real ingredients, and so very
Speaker 4: quickly are it was helping our grocery budget because we
Speaker 4: weren't buying all the prepackaged stuff, or we weren't doing
Speaker 4: the thing where it's like we're out and about, like well,
Speaker 4: let's just swing through McDonald's because that's easier than trying
Speaker 4: to go home and make something.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have found that in a similar because we
Speaker 1: also just got out of a renovation and so now
Speaker 1: I have this kitchen where I'm trying to like decide
Speaker 1: what are the things that just the things that I
Speaker 1: want in it. And I really wanted like to keep
Speaker 1: my you know, I really wanted to keep my Ninja
Speaker 1: foody because it's like this, you know, it's the air
Speaker 1: fryer and the instant pot and you know, all these
Speaker 1: things all in one. But I found that I don't
Speaker 1: use the air fryer because so I'm using the instant pot,
Speaker 1: but like I'm not really using the air fryer, So
Speaker 1: like I was like, should I get an air fryer?
Speaker 1: Like that was the first thing that popped up in
Speaker 1: my head and it was like for twenty seconds, but
Speaker 1: still it was like even after all of this this,
Speaker 1: these like things still pop up in your head, and
Speaker 1: like now I'm seeing the ninja creamy everywhere. And when
Speaker 1: you're saying like, oh, you're like Kaesadia maker and all
Speaker 1: these makers, like in two years, everybody's gonna get rid
Speaker 1: of their ninja creamy, Like yeah, it's just another one
Speaker 1: of those makers that like, like I have my one
Speaker 1: thing is like my pressure cooker, and that's like even
Speaker 1: though it has ten functions, that's still the only function
Speaker 1: I use, right, Like I didn't need all the functions.
Speaker 1: So that's just like, yeah, I've experienced that as well.
Speaker 1: So let's we're already talking about like kids and like
Speaker 1: getting them involved. How how have you kind of like
Speaker 1: included your kids and encouraged them in this lifestyle to
Speaker 1: be active participants in this lifestyle and embrace it.
Speaker 4: You know, I think kids are minimalists at heart. I
Speaker 4: think we are drowning kids in clutter and toys and
Speaker 4: craft supplies and all of these things, and they don't
Speaker 4: want it.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 4: It's confusing because they don't know how to tell us
Speaker 4: that when they're being kind of crabby, or aren't playing
Speaker 4: well with their siblings, or don't know how to occupy
Speaker 4: their own time. They don't come up to us and say,
Speaker 4: you know what, mom, I think if you simplified my
Speaker 4: toys and my clothes in my bedroom, I think I
Speaker 4: would play better.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: We just think they need a different toy they need,
Speaker 4: you know, maybe they're at a different stage now, they
Speaker 4: need montsory toys, they need educational toys. I don't know,
Speaker 4: they need something different, right, kind of like you just
Speaker 4: said with therapy three identical toys. Yes, yes, right, they
Speaker 4: have the same toy right. And so you know, I
Speaker 4: went all in on toys. Our kids were pretty young,
Speaker 4: and it kind of happened by accident. We were staging
Speaker 4: our house to move, and so I looked at our
Speaker 4: family room and I was like, well, we can't have
Speaker 4: all these toys in here. It was a pretty small townhouse.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I need it to feel open and spacious,
Speaker 4: and so I boxed up almost all of their toys
Speaker 4: and Tom had taken the kids out, and I was
Speaker 4: prepared when they got home. Now, again they were young,
Speaker 4: they were infant through five, but I was prepared. I
Speaker 4: was like, I'm just going to tell them, don't worry
Speaker 4: their box stup as soon as we get to our
Speaker 4: next house while I'm box them, you know whatever. And
Speaker 4: they came into our family room and they loved it. Maggie,
Speaker 4: our second oldest, she was like, I can do gymnastics
Speaker 4: in here. And I know every parent has had that experience,
Speaker 4: whether it's cleaning their bedroom or a different room. Kids
Speaker 4: walk in and it's like they're free and they love
Speaker 4: the open space. And at Christmas we all joke like, oh,
Speaker 4: kids would rather play with the cardboard boxes than the toys, right,
Speaker 4: But it's true, and so I firmly believe now. I
Speaker 4: experienced it first, but now I see all the research
Speaker 4: to back it. Kids are minimalists at heart, and so
Speaker 4: all we have to do is model it to them.
Speaker 4: It is not a fight at our house. You know,
Speaker 4: our kids still get gifts, they still get Birthday gifts
Speaker 4: and Christmas gifts, but a couple weeks after Christmas, they
Speaker 4: just know. We do a whole house to clutter, and
Speaker 4: we just let stuff go because if inventory comes in,
Speaker 4: then stuff has to go back out. And it's normal.
Speaker 4: Sometimes they put brand new toys into the donation box,
Speaker 4: like things they just got for Christmas, and I'm like like, oh, no,
Speaker 4: what are you doing? But then I'm like no, I
Speaker 4: want them to be open handed with things. And they've
Speaker 4: gotten really good, like they bring me donations now, and
Speaker 4: they've gotten really good at knowing what they like, what
Speaker 4: they enjoy, and I've gotten good to looking at the data,
Speaker 4: like if it's on the floor, like a phrase in
Speaker 4: our house is you pick it up, you keep it.
Speaker 4: I pick it up, I keep it. And if I
Speaker 4: pick it up because they don't want it anymore, that
Speaker 4: means they have lost value for it. I'm not going
Speaker 4: to try and put it back in their room or
Speaker 4: beg them to pick them up. Like I'm just like, okay,
Speaker 4: they don't want it anymore, and I have to be
Speaker 4: okay with that. It's only really expensive or a favorite,
Speaker 4: and they're just in a grumpy mood like I might
Speaker 4: let them earn it back, but mostly then I'm like okay,
Speaker 4: I mean they're tossing it or it's going in the
Speaker 4: donation box. I can't have more value for this stuff
Speaker 4: than they do.
Speaker 3: WHOA, what a wild rule? You pick it up, you
Speaker 3: keep it, I pick it up, I keep it. My
Speaker 3: mom actually did that with laundry. I'm remembering now hearing
Speaker 3: you say that she did do our laundry as kids,
Speaker 3: but if we left any money in it, she capped it.
Speaker 3: She said it was like her payment for doing her laundry.
Speaker 3: So great. I'm curious with this process because I imagine
Speaker 3: this didn't entirely happen overnight. So for families wanting to
Speaker 3: get started, what would you say are some helpful tips
Speaker 3: and identifying what season we're currently in, what are the
Speaker 3: essentials for right now, determining like the necessity of each item,
Speaker 3: what should be kept or or you know, donated. How
Speaker 3: do we measure emotional attachment kind of moving through all
Speaker 3: those different things that surface in those beginning stages.
Speaker 4: Yeah, especially with kids, Steph, A great tactic is just
Speaker 4: to try and decrease it by fifty percent. So no
Speaker 4: matter how many toys you have right now, as a mom,
Speaker 4: you know your kids well enough that you could go
Speaker 4: in right now and declutter their toys by fifty percent.
Speaker 4: You know the ones they've outgrown, they've lost interest in
Speaker 4: that they never really had interest in that they then
Speaker 4: pleaded for and they finally got it, and then it
Speaker 4: kind of didn't live up to the hype. And so
Speaker 4: that can be a great place to start. And so
Speaker 4: this comes from Kim John Payin from the book Simplicity
Speaker 4: Parentinge and he actually worked with kids. So he has
Speaker 4: a fascinating story because he worked with kids in Cambodia,
Speaker 4: I believe, in a refugee camp, so kids literally that
Speaker 4: were refugees had lost everything. And that was when he
Speaker 4: first recognized the signs of PTSD in kids and different
Speaker 4: symptoms of stress and anxiety. I mean rightfully so, based
Speaker 4: on the circumstances they were living for through And then
Speaker 4: from there he went to Europe and was working with
Speaker 4: families there. Now there he was in suburbia, working with
Speaker 4: suburban families and working with parents who were having difficulties
Speaker 4: with their kids, and he said, all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: he realized that he was seeing the same signs of
Speaker 4: PTSD in these suburban kids. They were stressed, they were anxious,
Speaker 4: they weren't cooperative, and he attributed much of it to
Speaker 4: their schedules being overfilled and too much stuff in their homes,
Speaker 4: and so this is one of his tactics. He tells
Speaker 4: parents that you can absolutely simplify your kids stuff without them.
Speaker 4: That's a very common question that comes up. Do I
Speaker 4: need to involve my kids? And so you can absolutely
Speaker 4: do it without them. What we do is, again where
Speaker 4: the goal is to cut it in half, We box
Speaker 4: it up and we set it aside. So you put
Speaker 4: it in a storage space, garage, attic, basement and let
Speaker 4: them experience it. So you're not donating it all right
Speaker 4: away or renting a dumpster, but you're helping your kids
Speaker 4: to be able to experience this, and you can do
Speaker 4: that without them. Then the next question from mom's dugi like,
Speaker 4: but I want them to learn these life skills, don't worry.
Speaker 4: They're areguingly plenty of opportunities for them to declutter with
Speaker 4: you in the future. But often to get back to
Speaker 4: that baseline where kids even have a grid for what
Speaker 4: it feels like to live with less, we have to
Speaker 4: make some drastic cuts at the beginning. But honestly, from
Speaker 4: every mom that I've heard do this, there are never regrets.
Speaker 4: It's always like, oh, my kids love it. Oh they're
Speaker 4: playing better, because that's what you'll experience kids. They're more peaceful,
Speaker 4: they're more calm, they're less grouchy, they play better with
Speaker 4: their siblings, they can play better longer, they get engrossed
Speaker 4: and imaginative play. They're not always asking to go on devices.
Speaker 4: They'll actually go outside and play. That's what we want
Speaker 4: for our kids. And it's very counterintuitive that getting rid
Speaker 4: of all their toys is how we're going to get there.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, we I mean, and we've talked about like
Speaker 1: your prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed till you're twenty five,
Speaker 1: so it's much harder to make good spending decisions and
Speaker 1: good decluttering decisions before twenty five. So like helping your
Speaker 1: young people with these decisions, it doesn't rob them of anything.
Speaker 1: It is like it's just modeling for them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I do want to make one caveat for
Speaker 4: families with neurodiverse kids. So if you have add ADHD
Speaker 4: autism odd kids, they can sometimes have different attachments to
Speaker 4: their things, and often parents then are very fearful to
Speaker 4: get rid of things. Obviously. You know the word we
Speaker 4: worry about is trauma, right, And I did hear from
Speaker 4: a child psychologists She's like, unless you are ripping their
Speaker 4: favorite stuff to animal out of their hand and burning
Speaker 4: it in the front yard as they're like crying next
Speaker 4: to you. She's like, we're not traumatizing our kids. But
Speaker 4: it can be a little more complicated with autistic children
Speaker 4: or some of these other neurodiversities. And so what's fascinating
Speaker 4: what Kim JOm Pain recommends is he says, then if
Speaker 4: you are in this situation as the parent, what you
Speaker 4: do is you highly simplify and declutter your bedroom first.
Speaker 4: So you take the lead and you do it in
Speaker 4: your bedroom. And he said, what is going to happen
Speaker 4: is they are going to walk into your room and
Speaker 4: they are going to say I want that for my room.
Speaker 4: And often, again, our kids they don't know if you
Speaker 4: just say, hey, we're going to declutter your toys, they
Speaker 4: have no idea what you mean why we're doing this.
Speaker 4: But if they can experience it, if they can walk
Speaker 4: into a room that is fully decluttered and simplified and peaceful,
Speaker 4: then they can put the language around it to say
Speaker 4: I would like that for my room too.
Speaker 3: That's really helpful. Yeah, I appreciate the acknowledgment that every
Speaker 3: kid they're they're different abilities, their ways of moving through
Speaker 3: the world will make a difference, and as the parent,
Speaker 3: you can know what's going to be best for them,
Speaker 3: but also recognize that in most cases, simplification is what's
Speaker 3: going to be best for them, and kind of the
Speaker 3: methods of going about that could look different. You've described
Speaker 3: really well so far down kind of what maintenance looks
Speaker 3: like within the home and the ways that you all
Speaker 3: are doing regular inventories. I'm curious what maintenance looks like
Speaker 3: for a kind of external when other people want to
Speaker 3: be giving gifts, so you're walking away with party favors
Speaker 3: and just I so many times people just want to
Speaker 3: give families, especially children things. What does that look like
Speaker 3: then for you all?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I will never forget the first Easter. It was
Speaker 4: Easter of all things. It was not even Christmas. After
Speaker 4: we got our house like so simplified, and it was
Speaker 4: like every person, every family member decided they wanted to
Speaker 4: bring like Easter baskets and all the things for our kids.
Speaker 4: And we got back home in the back of our
Speaker 4: van was like literally full with all this stuff that
Speaker 4: I knew would not stand the test of time, right,
Speaker 4: I'm like, it's just going to be everywhere in the house,
Speaker 4: and I was so frustrated, and so two things. One
Speaker 4: I had to recognize like, oh, my goodness, don take
Speaker 4: a chill pill. Your kids are so well loved. Now,
Speaker 4: would I prefer that not everybody did it through physical gifts?
Speaker 4: Like yes, but oh my goodness, like how great do
Speaker 4: we have it? The second thing I realized is that
Speaker 4: there are two types of people that give gifts to
Speaker 4: our kids, those who want input and those who don't.
Speaker 4: And so my mom, my sister, one of my aunts,
Speaker 4: they are super great about asking, especially when the kids
Speaker 4: were little, what would they like for Christmas and Birthday gifts?
Speaker 4: And then I would just be proactive and when one
Speaker 4: of those occasions was coming up, I would just send
Speaker 4: them ideas and they were appreciative of it. They were
Speaker 4: really respectful of what I was doing. And then there
Speaker 4: are others who they're well intentioned, but they just love
Speaker 4: giving gifts, especially gifts of big toys to kids because
Speaker 4: it's so fun to see the reactions right when they
Speaker 4: get it. And I just remember one time a certain
Speaker 4: relative and I'm like, is it like a competition to
Speaker 4: see who can give the biggest, loudest, dumbest, like toy
Speaker 4: to my kids, right, And again it's confusing for the
Speaker 4: gift to give her because the kids gave them the
Speaker 4: reaction they were looking for. Oh my goodness, this is
Speaker 4: the coolest ever, right, And I'm like, yes, but you're
Speaker 4: not going to be here two days later and see
Speaker 4: that they have lost all interest in it. We've had
Speaker 4: toys like this before, right, Like I you know, my
Speaker 4: mom brain, I'm like, been there, tried that, you know.
Speaker 4: And if honestly, if it actually occupied their time, bring
Speaker 4: all of the big crap in like I don't care,
Speaker 4: but I know it doesn't they lose interest in it
Speaker 4: very quickly. But I just had to realize, like, you
Speaker 4: know what, I get to control the inventory in my home,
Speaker 4: So if the kids actually aren't playing with it, then
Speaker 4: I can invite it to leave again. And so we
Speaker 4: donated it, and that relative came over a few months later,
Speaker 4: and I could just tell they were like looking around,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of like where is the big doll house?
Speaker 4: You know? And and so finally I left the room
Speaker 4: and they asked one of the girls. They were like, hey,
Speaker 4: where'd the dollhouse go? And I just hear like clear
Speaker 4: as day from the other room mom donated it, you know,
Speaker 4: and I was just I was horrified because as much
Speaker 4: as I want to protect the peace of my house,
Speaker 4: I'm like not trying to offend people, right, But at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, it's too important, like having
Speaker 4: our house peaceful and easy to maintain. Again, if the
Speaker 4: kids loved it and played with it every day, I
Speaker 4: don't get rid of it then, but they weren't right,
Speaker 4: and so I do get to make those decisions. That
Speaker 4: was seriously one of the only times that has happened
Speaker 4: over the nine years that we've been living this way now,
Speaker 4: and so we survived it. It was fine, Our relationship
Speaker 4: survived it, and actually we didn't get as many big
Speaker 4: things like that in the future from that person.
Speaker 3: So there you go, short term discomfort for long term benefit.
Speaker 3: But speaking of gifts that we are requesting and we
Speaker 3: like to receive, on every single episode stands.
Speaker 1: The test of time. Every week, twice a week.
Speaker 6: The bill of the week, that's right, it's time for
Speaker 6: the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 5: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 5: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died
Speaker 5: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill
Speaker 5: anymore duck bills, butffalo bills, Bill Clion.
Speaker 2: This is the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: Don Every week we ask our listeners and our guests
Speaker 1: to share with us their bill of the week. We
Speaker 1: leave it ambiguous for a reason because it's very open
Speaker 1: to interpretation and we would love to hear yours.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so you guys probably go back to school a
Speaker 4: little earlier than us up in here in the Midwest,
Speaker 4: but our kids don't actually go back till after Labor Day.
Speaker 4: And so we have been back to school shopping now.
Speaker 4: And I decided we've done this for a few years,
Speaker 4: but I give each of the kids eighty dollars and
Speaker 4: I say, you can spend it however you want, and
Speaker 4: so that like it has to like cover some of
Speaker 4: their basics, like clothes, but we go to thrift stores,
Speaker 4: so like they can cover clothes pretty inexpensively. But it's
Speaker 4: been fascinating to see how they spend it. And I
Speaker 4: have one who will try to get the most out
Speaker 4: of it. And then this year are eleven year old
Speaker 4: who he normally does not care about brands or fashion.
Speaker 4: He's like, I want to get Nike shoes, and I
Speaker 4: was like, okay, and so they were sixty dollars and
Speaker 4: I loved seeing him hand the cash over to the cashier.
Speaker 4: And we do cash. I don't get into like the
Speaker 4: debit cards and stuff for kids because I think they
Speaker 4: need to feel the pain of the cash leaving their hands.
Speaker 4: And so it's been a few days now and I'm like,
Speaker 4: do you still like that or you glad that he
Speaker 4: did it? He's like yeah, and he loves wearing them
Speaker 4: to youth group and you know, and we've had other
Speaker 4: experiences where he's bought things, you know, Remo control, coctual
Speaker 4: cars and stuff, and it did not go so well.
Speaker 4: He felt bad afterwards, and so we just have lots
Speaker 4: of like good conversations and open, open dialogue about it,
Speaker 4: because I never want my kids to think stuff is
Speaker 4: bad or name brands. I know some minimalists kind of
Speaker 4: get down on even like name brands, and I'm like,
Speaker 4: you know what, we all just want to fit in
Speaker 4: at the end of the day. And so it is
Speaker 4: what it is. But what I am trying to teach
Speaker 4: my kids is that if you have money for it,
Speaker 4: you can buy it, Like life is all about trade offs,
Speaker 4: and if that is what you want to spend your
Speaker 4: money on just don't put it on a credit card,
Speaker 4: right and we are work cool.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's awesome. That is such. That's so great
Speaker 1: because year to year kids change, right and so like
Speaker 1: one year they're not into brands, and the next like
Speaker 1: something happens and they decide they need to do something
Speaker 1: different to fit in or whatever. And as parents, like
Speaker 1: we try to be on top of that, but there's
Speaker 1: you just can't be everywhere, so like giving them the
Speaker 1: autonomy like those are you know, letting them take a
Speaker 1: bit of the control. Is It's like how we talk
Speaker 1: about teaching kids about finance and between spending and minimalism,
Speaker 1: like the whole conversation it's the same. It's about consumption
Speaker 1: and just teaching our children to be like responsible with
Speaker 1: the consumption, like that costs money, the things that consume
Speaker 1: our physical space. So yeah, I love that. I love
Speaker 1: that he loved his shoes so much.
Speaker 3: All right, if you all listening, have a bill that
Speaker 3: you want to submit, if it's about your kids spending
Speaker 3: dollar bills on whatever it is that they want, or
Speaker 3: you're out there spending dollar bills, or you're out there
Speaker 3: saving dollar bills, are finding dollar bills, Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 3: dot com, slash bill, leave us your bill. We can't
Speaker 3: wait for it. And now it's time for.
Speaker 1: All Right, we've come to the vulnerability round of our episode,
Speaker 1: and we will all answer this question, not just you John,
Speaker 1: so we will not leave you hanging. What's one just
Speaker 1: in case item that you have kept around for a
Speaker 1: while that you just recently realized you don't actually need,
Speaker 1: like in your latest declutter, maybe.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there has been a facial steamer sitting and taking
Speaker 4: up valuable real estate in my bathroom and like my
Speaker 4: fantasy self, Like, you know, especially in Minnesota in the winter,
Speaker 4: it gets so dry here. I don't know how Florida is,
Speaker 4: but it's just humid all the time there. I don't know,
Speaker 4: we live in a facial steamer. Okay, yeah, it gets
Speaker 4: super humid, super slivant one. Okay, you have great skin.
Speaker 4: I mean, you're beautiful, but we especially in the winter,
Speaker 4: so you know, and especially like I'm forty one now,
Speaker 4: so I'm like I have to be Actually I have
Speaker 4: my twin sister reminds me of that, and like, you
Speaker 4: got it. She's like, you're gonna look like an elephant
Speaker 4: when we're seventy and I'm not because she does all
Speaker 4: the things you.
Speaker 3: Have to pick elephants.
Speaker 4: Wow, deep wrinkles, right, rude. So I'm like, okay, and
Speaker 4: I have the face mass and like do the steam
Speaker 4: and put the face mask on and like. And I
Speaker 4: looked at it and I was like, literally have not
Speaker 4: used that in a year and a half. And so
Speaker 4: I was like, look at the data down like you're
Speaker 4: not using it. You could actually use this space, and
Speaker 4: so I am I am letting that go. But I
Speaker 4: don't know, it's fine.
Speaker 1: I don't think you'll look like Florida woman because while
Speaker 1: we while we do live in a facial steamer, most
Speaker 1: of our skin is leathery like an elephant because of
Speaker 1: the sun. So I think I think you're gonna be
Speaker 1: I don't. Yeah, I don't think you're gonna go all
Speaker 1: the way to elephant. Yeah, I think you'll be. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, Jill, you your name is next on the list.
Speaker 3: So so Chargers, I just realized this. I am pretty minimal.
Speaker 3: I've got empty drawers and cabinets, and I love that
Speaker 3: they will remain empty because it's very fun for me.
Speaker 3: But I just realized I've got this collection of chargers
Speaker 3: and hoards in a box that I don't know what
Speaker 3: some of them, I don't know what they're for. And
Speaker 3: that's probably part of why I can't get rid of them,
Speaker 3: because someday we'll come across the thing that we need
Speaker 3: to charge. But some of them are to our old
Speaker 3: phones that those charges chargers would not work for any
Speaker 3: current electronic that I have, And I don't know why
Speaker 3: I haven't thrown them out, Like why I have such
Speaker 3: an attachment to these are things of importance. You will
Speaker 3: need this, but they're going to be gone, don't you worry?
Speaker 3: Right after this podcast is recorded, we're getting rid of them.
Speaker 1: That's similar because so we got new phones at the
Speaker 1: same time, like a month and a half ago, and
Speaker 1: I immediately was able to throw out those chargers that
Speaker 1: no longer work and will not work for any electronic
Speaker 1: Like that was easy for me. Uh the box though,
Speaker 1: the boxes to electronics, I don't know why it is
Speaker 1: instinctual for me to like just put them away somewhere special,
Speaker 1: especially Apple boxes. Why do they make them so good?
Speaker 3: Like don't you feel.
Speaker 1: A twinge of guilt like tossing them into the recycling bin.
Speaker 3: If you're going to return it and then you're gonna
Speaker 3: you're gonna wish that you had the box. But I did.
Speaker 1: I did actually toss the box and even the little
Speaker 1: papers that are in it, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: surely I need this. But then I was like, no,
Speaker 1: if it's printed, it is online somewhere.
Speaker 3: Exactly and got to be I'm actually going to use
Speaker 3: that Apple sticker anywhere, not.
Speaker 1: No way to. Apple doesn't pay me to advertise for them,
Speaker 1: I'm not putting their sticker on anything. I actually got it.
Speaker 1: So I got a Stanley as a gift, and I
Speaker 1: was like, Stanley doesn't pay me, So I put our
Speaker 1: frugal friends sticker over their logo.
Speaker 4: Nice take it to the man.
Speaker 1: It's a good cup though, with a good handle, so
Speaker 1: I do use it. And I was just thinking with this,
Speaker 1: so I answered this before we start recording, and don
Speaker 1: your wireless keyboard didn't work and I was like, oh no,
Speaker 1: I'm such a hypocrite because I still have the box
Speaker 1: to the to the wireless keyboard I do. It's like
Speaker 1: sitting over there. So after weah, yeah, after we finished recording,
Speaker 1: that box is going that's awesome.
Speaker 3: I don't know why I think what oh what if
Speaker 3: I resell this someday? Whoever I resell it to is
Speaker 3: not going to care if it comes in the box.
Speaker 4: No, especially if you just turn it in at the
Speaker 4: Apple store for the new phone.
Speaker 1: They don't right.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've bought several Apple Watches on Facebook Marketplace and
Speaker 1: never have I once been you know, like, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to pay as much for this because there's no box. No,
Speaker 1: like never.
Speaker 3: So well, this has been enlightening, Dawn. Thank you so
Speaker 3: much for sharing all all of your wisdom to tips
Speaker 3: and tricks. Where can people get more from you?
Speaker 4: I spend most of my time on YouTube, So if
Speaker 4: you just search the minimal Mom on YouTube or at
Speaker 4: the minimum mom dot com.
Speaker 1: Yes, and definitely when you go to her page, sort
Speaker 1: it by popular and you'll see the most popular one
Speaker 1: is JEF is the one that we talked about with
Speaker 1: all the different rooms mindset shifts to make decluttering easier.
Speaker 1: And you're speaking at the Get Organized summit, do you
Speaker 1: remember what you're speaking on so people can watch out
Speaker 1: for that.
Speaker 4: Yes, I'm talking about hushing your house and that has
Speaker 4: just been It has been so good at that tactic.
Speaker 4: So if you have been struggling with decluttering. This is
Speaker 4: this is for you. Some of us need like those
Speaker 4: fun like mind games. This is totally one of those.
Speaker 1: Wasn't so much fun? Yes, awesome, I can't wait to
Speaker 1: hear it. So Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash go HQ.
Speaker 1: You can catch down there. You can catch us and
Speaker 1: like one hundred other experts on organing all kinds of
Speaker 1: things in your home. Thank you so much, Done, Yeah, thank.
Speaker 4: You, guys.
Speaker 1: I love I love Done because she is so relatable.
Speaker 1: I and I we say that about a lot of
Speaker 1: people that we have on our show, mainly because we
Speaker 1: only have people that we feel we can relate to
Speaker 1: like on the show. But in minimalism it can be this,
Speaker 1: just like frugality, it can be this really judgmental space
Speaker 1: where if you're not doing minimalism perfectly, you can be
Speaker 1: judged for it. Like I posted a picture of my
Speaker 1: living room once in my old house, uh and just
Speaker 1: you know, did a little tour like this is what
Speaker 1: a minimalist you know, family living room looks like. And
Speaker 1: because I had some chot keys in a in a
Speaker 1: China cabinet like I got, I got so much backlash
Speaker 1: from like not being a real minimalist, you know. So
Speaker 1: I was so sad, I know, and so I just
Speaker 1: love Don She's been doing this for so long, and
Speaker 1: it is she is continually continually like decluttering because and
Speaker 1: just like recognizing, like life is not perfect, minimalism is
Speaker 1: not perfect, and I think you have permission to not
Speaker 1: be perfect.
Speaker 3: It was a good reminder of who we're doing these
Speaker 3: efforts for. Right, You don't maintain your living room for
Speaker 3: Sally Q on Instagram. You maintain it for what's going
Speaker 3: to make sense for you. But I think that reminder
Speaker 3: is what we got from down here again today is
Speaker 3: it's not for other people, even your your maintenance of things,
Speaker 3: but sometimes it is, whether or not we realize it.
Speaker 3: It's for everybody else who gave us gifts for when
Speaker 3: they come over to see that what they gave us
Speaker 3: we still have. It's for maintaining some esthetic or giving
Speaker 3: the toys that we think that the kids need. But
Speaker 3: instead this reminder of what serves you, What is your
Speaker 3: current season, what are the things that you're using telling
Speaker 3: you about your lifestyle, and how can you lean into
Speaker 3: those things and clear the rest of the clutter to
Speaker 3: ultimately give yourself more piece less stress. So that was
Speaker 3: a helpful reminder for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they had a funny. I had a funny like
Speaker 1: story that I forgot when we were talking to her,
Speaker 1: but like when she was talking about the toys. I
Speaker 1: recently decluttered some of Kai's bath toys that he stopped
Speaker 1: playing with and I just got rid of them. I
Speaker 1: didn't hold them anywhere, and he hadn't played with them
Speaker 1: in several months because he was onto new bath toys.
Speaker 1: And the day, not the day, like a week after
Speaker 1: I got rid of these toys, he asked for one specifically,
Speaker 1: and I was like, dang it, like it's it happened.
Speaker 1: But all I did was I went and I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: you hadn't played with it in a while, and I
Speaker 1: donated it. I'm so sorry. Is there a different toy
Speaker 1: I can get for you? And he just was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: get me this. And I had not gotten rid of that,
Speaker 1: so it was not it was like the moment I
Speaker 1: had been dreading, and it was not that hard because
Speaker 1: I was honest and I offered an alternative. So if
Speaker 1: anybody's nervous about that, that did just happen to me,
Speaker 1: like the other day, So amazing, but yeah, like it's
Speaker 1: so great, but you moved through it and it's with honesty.
Speaker 1: I think the was the key. So and Don is
Speaker 1: again speaking with us at Get Organized HQ summits so
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash go HQ. I'm really
Speaker 1: interested in to see seeing her Hush your House. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting.
Speaker 3: I'm so excited about this because it feels like a
Speaker 3: little bit of an adjacent topic than what then the
Speaker 3: summits we've done or what we've been a part of.
Speaker 3: This more kind of tangible how to get organized in
Speaker 3: all aspects of life. So I'm excited about it. Thank
Speaker 3: you all for making it this far with us. We
Speaker 3: so appreciate your listen. We also appreciate your reviews, like
Speaker 3: this one from j C. Hall Frugal Friends Forever says,
Speaker 3: somehow I came upon this podcast at the beginning of
Speaker 3: the year, and I have been listening to it regularly
Speaker 3: every day since. So many useful tips, reminders, and helpful
Speaker 3: information on living frugally and being intentional with your money.
Speaker 3: I cannot list all the ways the show has helped me.
Speaker 3: I still have over one hundred episodes to listen to.
Speaker 3: What am I going to do when I run out.
Speaker 3: Thank you ladies for teaching this old dog new Tricksmah
Speaker 3: right back at.
Speaker 1: You, JC, Hall JC, unless you're a man, and then
Speaker 1: mah could be either. That's so fun. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for listening, Jac. And when you run out of
Speaker 1: all the episodes, read the book. Hopefully the book will
Speaker 1: be out by then Buy what you Love without going broke.
Speaker 1: Buy what you Love book dot com pre order it
Speaker 1: so by the time you're finished binging, that book will
Speaker 1: be on your front doorstep.
Speaker 3: And if you're not sold on this book yet, come
Speaker 3: to our party tonight tonight see you then bye.
Speaker 1: Gorugal Friends is produced by Eric.
Speaker 3: Sirianni Okay, Jen, I have a very Florida experience to
Speaker 3: tell you about, And anyone else who is still here
Speaker 3: with us.
Speaker 1: Is this what you're going to tell talk to me
Speaker 1: about yesterday beating his chance, about the trouble st huh.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it has to do with the
Speaker 3: tropical I don't know if it has to do with
Speaker 3: the tropical storm exactly, but it is a Florida experience.
Speaker 3: I went to put on my pajama pants the other night,
Speaker 3: and I did I put them on and then I
Speaker 3: felt something scratchy high, yeah, I and I just like
Speaker 3: scratch it because sometimes you know there's something just like
Speaker 3: a loose thread or something, so I scratch it and
Speaker 3: it moves. I whip my pants off so fast, at
Speaker 3: lightning speed. I don't even remember it happening. My pants
Speaker 3: were just off, and sure enough cockroach.
Speaker 1: Oh no, oh, I was a tiny lizard.
Speaker 3: That would have been amazing. I would have kept it
Speaker 3: as a pet.
Speaker 1: Not good tiny lizards.
Speaker 3: Tiny lizard is better than cockroach. I think they're cute.
Speaker 3: I don't mind them in my home pants.
Speaker 1: But like, if you take off your pants and there's
Speaker 1: a tiny lizard, you're like, be free, man like. But
Speaker 1: not here. Yes, it's when it's a cockroach.
Speaker 3: Cockroach, it's die and die immediately, die, immediately.
Speaker 7: Burn it, regret your existence everything. Yeah, I did not
Speaker 7: like that experimenter. I was hoping for your sake, it
Speaker 7: wouldn't be a cockroach. But that is also another equally Florida.
Speaker 7: It's equally Florida.
Speaker 3: We rarely have bugs in our home, thank goodness. And
Speaker 3: you know sometimes it's going to happen, but not in
Speaker 3: my pants, man, not there. So then we spent the
Speaker 3: next day, just going around the interior and exterior of
Speaker 3: the house, calking just whatever we could. Where could they
Speaker 3: be coming in? Did you put found.
Speaker 1: Ax around the perimeter.
Speaker 3: When we did our renovations, we put like whatever was open,
Speaker 3: we put borax everywhere.
Speaker 1: You got to do it once a year, and you
Speaker 1: got to do it three times, three weeks between each.
Speaker 3: I don't know I'll do that again. It's just if
Speaker 3: I put it outside. Google would say my patio like
Speaker 3: it's gonna get washed away very soon. And I also
Speaker 3: hear like they can just so many seek in when
Speaker 3: you open the door. So yeah, Florida, you know what,
Speaker 3: I think there's.
Speaker 1: A spray version two that might be might not get
Speaker 1: washed away. So but Travis is in charge of bugs,
Speaker 1: like that's his thing. So yeah, but I'm so sorry that.
Speaker 3: This is where we live. And you know what, I
Speaker 3: just realized it happened on our four year anniversary of
Speaker 3: living here, August fifth. We moved in on August fifth,
Speaker 3: four years ago. It was like my little awful nightmare
Speaker 3: of a gift. Four year Florida now, yeah, four years. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we believe that.
Speaker 1: Wow, we've been together longer than we've been apart. In
Speaker 1: this that is.
Speaker 3: True, that's grassy.
Speaker 1: What did I do before you? Okay, we got it.
Speaker 1: We got somebody in our riverside waiting room. We gotta go. Okay, okay,