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Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and

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Speaker 1: that and today we're discussing going minimalists to save more

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Speaker 1: with Joshua Becker. We've all heard about the minimalist lifestyle.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you're picturing a bearded hipster drinking coffee in his empty,

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Speaker 1: perfectly white dining room, right, it turns out that is

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Speaker 1: not what minimalism is all about. We've all been spending

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Speaker 1: more time in our homes than we'd probably like, and

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Speaker 1: all that clutter might be getting to you. And so

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Speaker 1: here to talk with us today about minimalist living is

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Speaker 1: Joshua Becker. While beginning the process of removing possessions from

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Speaker 1: his life, Joshua started the site Becoming Minimalist, and he's

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Speaker 1: written several fantastic books over the years, including The More

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Speaker 1: of Less and The Minimalist Home. Not only can a

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Speaker 1: minimal approach to life allow us to spend less and

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Speaker 1: save more of our money, but it can have a

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Speaker 1: positive impact in lots of areas of our life. So, Joshua,

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Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on the podcast. Well, it

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Speaker 1: is my pleasure. I'm delighted to be here. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for the invitation. Anytime, man, anytime seriously, if you're gonna

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Speaker 1: come back next week too. And and by the way,

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Speaker 1: if there's a bearded hipster in his dining room drinking

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Speaker 1: coffee listening, I think that's fantastic. So they might not

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Speaker 1: need as many of these principles. They might have applied

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Speaker 1: them already. Peop'll see. But Joshua, every week on the podcast,

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Speaker 1: Matt and I drink a craft beer. It's kind of

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Speaker 1: our way of sporting on something that we love now

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Speaker 1: while also being intentional and saving well for the future.

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Speaker 1: So today on the show, we're drinking a beer called

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Speaker 1: I Feel at All by Monday Night Brewing, and what's

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Speaker 1: your splurge? What's your craft beer equivalent? What is my well?

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Speaker 1: By the way, Monday Night Brewing. I think I've been there.

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Speaker 1: I think you have. You were here last time in

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Speaker 1: Atlanta last summer, right, Yeah, indeed indeed, and uh and

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Speaker 1: last fall we had had I've had two events there

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Speaker 1: and the past here. But your friends with a buddy

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Speaker 1: of ours, Jeff Schinnerbarger, Yeah, I think you've done some

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Speaker 1: events with him. He's apply with people. Is his organization.

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Speaker 1: They do some amazing stuff for sure. Yeah, wonderful anyway, Yeah, splurge.

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Speaker 1: Good question. I've I've kind of moved away from buying possessions,

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Speaker 1: buying things that I don't need, And I would say

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Speaker 1: that while I've replaced it with a number of different things,

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Speaker 1: one thing that we do like splurging on is trips, vacations, experiences.

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Speaker 1: My kids are seventeen and thirteen, and so my son's

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Speaker 1: a junior and my daughter's in eighth grade. And I

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Speaker 1: think all the research that's ever been done that experiences

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Speaker 1: lead to more happiness than than possessions, I've found that

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Speaker 1: to be true. So, while my kids are still at home,

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Speaker 1: I have always wanted to create good memories and fun stories,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of times those happens when we when

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Speaker 1: we go away together as a family. Well, with your

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Speaker 1: kids being older like that, Like, have you felt the

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Speaker 1: urge to kind of kind of squeeze in a few

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Speaker 1: more of these experiences before, you know, before your kids

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Speaker 1: kind of go off to school or whatever it is

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Speaker 1: they decided to move on to. I have, indeed, and

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it's an artificial urgency or not,

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Speaker 1: but I certainly feel it. You only get eighteen summers

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Speaker 1: with your kids, or at least ideally right, and then

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Speaker 1: they're kind of moving on, and so Salem now is

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Speaker 1: a spring break for his junior year. And so yeah, one,

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Speaker 1: maybe one or two more summers, one or two more

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Speaker 1: spring breaks when you can create some of those create

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Speaker 1: some of those memories. And from everything I can tell

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Speaker 1: talking to family, like, it doesn't end there, right, even

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Speaker 1: when they're in college. They come back and you do things.

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Speaker 1: But you, I think you certainly feel that feel that urgency. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: for sure. Hey, Joshua, let's talk about minimalism. And you know,

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Speaker 1: from everything I've read about minimalism, I feel like you

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Speaker 1: can be easily misunderstood. Everyone seemed to kind of have

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Speaker 1: a different definition of what it means. So kind of

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Speaker 1: to set the stage for this conversation, what's your definition

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Speaker 1: of minimalism? Yeah, I think everybody, well, I don't know

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Speaker 1: if everybody has a different definition of minimalism, but the

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Speaker 1: way it plays out in a person's life is always

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Speaker 1: going to look different from one person to another. Certainly

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Speaker 1: there are different definitions of it. The one that I

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Speaker 1: have always used as this minimalism is the intentional promotion

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Speaker 1: of the things I'm most value in life by removing

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Speaker 1: anything that distracts me from it in this way, it's

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Speaker 1: it's not about the goal of minimalism, isn't how do

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Speaker 1: I own the fewest amount of things as possible? That

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Speaker 1: the greatest promise of minimalism isn't just owning less stuff.

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Speaker 1: The greatest goal of minimalism is that I get to

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Speaker 1: pursue with more passion whatever my greatest prior parties and

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Speaker 1: greatest values are. And one way I do that, certainly

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Speaker 1: in terms of physical possessions, is I stop wasting money

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Speaker 1: on things that I don't need. I stop wasting time

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Speaker 1: and energy not just pursuing but accumulating and maintaining and

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Speaker 1: managing all the things that I own, and and begin

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Speaker 1: directing my most finite resources towards the things in life

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Speaker 1: that matter most. And of course that's going to look

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Speaker 1: different from one person to another. Yeah, and so to

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Speaker 1: you at least, what are some of the maybe misconceptions

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Speaker 1: or like false ideas of what minimalism is that you've

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Speaker 1: heard people share with you. Yeah, so I was probably

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Speaker 1: the first blog entirely dedicated to minimalism. I started writing

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Speaker 1: about it twelve years ago, and so there were certainly

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Speaker 1: a lot more misconceptions twelve years ago but but a

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Speaker 1: lot more people are talking about it now then than

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Speaker 1: back then. But I think some of the some of

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Speaker 1: the major ones still pop into people's minds, you know,

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Speaker 1: like the intro that's just for young young college kids. Um,

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Speaker 1: that it means no beauty in life whatsoever. But but

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Speaker 1: it's just bear in that that the goal is, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that the goal is just to own the fewest amount

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Speaker 1: of things that you possibly can, or that there's a

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Speaker 1: certain number you can't own more than a hundred things.

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Speaker 1: I think that there are there are those misconceptions, but

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Speaker 1: probably the biggest misconception that I think continues to pervade

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Speaker 1: is this idea that minimalism is a sacrifice in some way,

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Speaker 1: that that minimalism will lead to a boring life, that

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Speaker 1: I have to get rid of all my things, and

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Speaker 1: my life is going to be boring and stale because

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Speaker 1: house of it. When the exact opposite is true. It's

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Speaker 1: it's about getting rid of the things you don't need

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Speaker 1: so that you can spend more of your life in

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Speaker 1: passionate pursuit of the things that are are most important

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Speaker 1: to you. So I think that's probably the biggest one.

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Speaker 1: And then you know, just as I mentioned, before. It's

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Speaker 1: it's always gonna look different from one person to another.

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Speaker 1: If if you're single, if you're have three kids, if

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Speaker 1: you're an empty nester, if you live in the city,

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Speaker 1: or you live in the suburb, or are in a

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Speaker 1: out in a rural area, if you're a farmer or

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Speaker 1: a writer or a dentist, like, all these things are

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Speaker 1: going to change what you what you own in order

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Speaker 1: to be who you want to be, or even where

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Speaker 1: you live, and what you need in order to live

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Speaker 1: and get around. When you were talking about that, Josh,

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Speaker 1: what it kind of made me? It gave this picture

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Speaker 1: popped in my head, like a monk in a cell.

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Speaker 1: And I think maybe sometimes that's the idea that I've

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Speaker 1: had of minimalism, is kind of literally being devoid of possessions,

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Speaker 1: and and yeah, I think I'm interested to dive in

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Speaker 1: a little more and here kind of what how we

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Speaker 1: think about what we keep in our lives. And we've

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Speaker 1: got some questions for you about that, but I want

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Speaker 1: to know first, like for most people to even begin

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Speaker 1: to explore the concept of minimalism or implementing any minimalist

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Speaker 1: principles into their lives, you mentioned in your book that

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Speaker 1: they need a tipping point, So I want to know

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Speaker 1: what was your tipping point? What led you to kind

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Speaker 1: of go down this path? Yeah? Um, so for me,

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Speaker 1: it was a Saturday morning, Yeah, twelve years ago now,

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Speaker 1: I was. I was living up in Vermont. My children

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Speaker 1: were five and two at the time, and we're gonna

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Speaker 1: do our spring cleaning that weekend, and I offered to

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Speaker 1: clean out the garage because I thought my five year

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Speaker 1: old son would want to help me clean out the garage. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: what five year old son wouldn't want to spend the

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Speaker 1: day the garage, right, So he lasted about thirty seconds,

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Speaker 1: and he was in the backyard playing, and I'm in

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Speaker 1: the garage and one thing leads to another. Hours later,

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Speaker 1: I'm still working on the same garage. My son's acting

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Speaker 1: me to come play catch with him, and I just

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Speaker 1: keep pushing them off. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. Well,

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Speaker 1: I strike up a conversation with my neighbor, who was

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Speaker 1: outside doing all of her yard work at the time,

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Speaker 1: and I think she noticed what was happening on my

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Speaker 1: side of the hedge, and she makes a comment, well,

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Speaker 1: the joys of home ownership, hunt Joshua, And of course

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Speaker 1: she'd been working all morning too, and I said, well,

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Speaker 1: you know what they say, the more stuff you own,

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Speaker 1: the more your stuff owns you. And she responded by saying, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, that's why my daughter is a minimalist. She

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Speaker 1: keeps telling me I don't need to own all this stuff.

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Speaker 1: And I remember looking at my driveway and there's this

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Speaker 1: pile of dirty, dusty things I pulled out of the

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Speaker 1: garage and spent all day cleaning, and out of the

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Speaker 1: corner of my eye, I see my five year old

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Speaker 1: son swinging alone on the swing set in the backyard.

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Speaker 1: And suddenly I realized my possessions weren't making me happy,

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Speaker 1: which I think all of us would say, right, we're

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Speaker 1: not looking for happiness and our possessions. But the further

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Speaker 1: realization was, not only were my possessions not making me happy,

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Speaker 1: my possessions were actually taking me away from the very

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Speaker 1: thing that did bring me happiness in life, and not

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Speaker 1: just happiness, but meaning and joy and significance and purpose,

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Speaker 1: And for me, that was the tipping point. I think

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Speaker 1: that that is the realization that a person has to make,

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Speaker 1: that everyone who pursues a minimalist life at some point

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Speaker 1: has that realization that not only our excess possessions not

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Speaker 1: making us happy, but our excess possessions are actually taking

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Speaker 1: us away from the very things that do bring us

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Speaker 1: happiness and life. Because you don't you don't see that.

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Speaker 1: Cross the table from somebody and ask them what do

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Speaker 1: you most want to accomplish in life? Nobody says, I

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Speaker 1: just want to own as much junk as I possibly can.

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Speaker 1: But somewhere along the way, society comes along and hijacks

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Speaker 1: our passions and we begin accumulating all these things that

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Speaker 1: we don't need. And suddenly there there comes a point

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Speaker 1: where we realize, one of my I'm wasting my life

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Speaker 1: with those things when I could be doing far more

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Speaker 1: important things with my life. Right, yeah, what a juxtaposition, right,

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Speaker 1: Like you paint such a good image I mean now,

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Speaker 1: but in your book as well, when you kind of

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Speaker 1: contrast this heap of dusty, crummy junk sitting there in

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Speaker 1: the driveway and then you have like this youthful person,

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Speaker 1: you know, your son, who you love and he's back there.

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Speaker 1: That really struck me pretty deep, having young kids about

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Speaker 1: that age as well. And I mean, this is what

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Speaker 1: you mean in your book too, Like when you say

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Speaker 1: that the payoff of minimalism. It's not a clean how

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Speaker 1: there are these bigger benefits and that that we realized.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk about some of these I guess like

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Speaker 1: some of these universal benefits that pretty much everybody realizes

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Speaker 1: as they kind of go down the path of minimalism.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah. As a matter of fact, every time I speak,

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Speaker 1: I uh, whenever time allows, I always have the person

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Speaker 1: turned to the person next to them and say, start

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Speaker 1: making a list of all the ways your life would

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Speaker 1: improve if you own less stuff, And no one ever

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Speaker 1: struggles to answer the question, Like when when you ask

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Speaker 1: how would life improve if you owned less stuff? That

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Speaker 1: the list just grow, So they're right, there's we would

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Speaker 1: have more time, we would have more money, We would

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Speaker 1: do less cleaning. We would have less stress in life.

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Speaker 1: We would have fewer decisions that need to be made.

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Speaker 1: It would be a better life for the environment. We

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Speaker 1: would be a better example for our kids. It would

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Speaker 1: be easier to find things in our house. We wouldn't

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Speaker 1: need to constantly upgrade the size of our house. The

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Speaker 1: average American home has tripled in size in the last

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Speaker 1: fifty years, and still ten percent of American's rent off

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Speaker 1: site storage. It would pave the way for for more

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Speaker 1: contentment and more generosity and more gratitude. There's less comparison

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Speaker 1: that we have with other people. We are able to

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Speaker 1: own higher quality things. Um. Right, If I'm gonna own

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Speaker 1: fewer anything, I can own a higher quality pairs of pants, watches, whatever,

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Speaker 1: I mean, whatever it is. Um, fewer means I can

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Speaker 1: own higher quality, less work for someone else. I mean,

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Speaker 1: everything we own has to be dealt with at some

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Speaker 1: point by somebody. Might as well do the work now, sure? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and uh, Joshua, You've also given minimalism credit for your

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Speaker 1: ability to start a nonprofit, which is called the hope effect.

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Speaker 1: You did that with your wife, Kim, So can you

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Speaker 1: tell us about the hope effect? And how is minimalism

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Speaker 1: responsible for your ability to do more good in the

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Speaker 1: world around you too? Yeah? Well, how long do I have?

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Speaker 1: Um as a time as you want? Man? Yeah. The

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Speaker 1: I guess the medium length story is I started blogging

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Speaker 1: becoming minimalist dot com. It was just going to be

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Speaker 1: a journal, a diary of what I was getting rid

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Speaker 1: of and what I was keeping, and it's uh, it

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Speaker 1: quickly grew. We have over two million readers every single

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Speaker 1: month and the social media reaches in the tens of

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Speaker 1: millions that that cr CR post each and every week.

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Speaker 1: And so at some point publishers come calling and they say, hey,

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Speaker 1: can you can you write a book? And I actually

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Speaker 1: had nine offers from publishers at the same time, and

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Speaker 1: so I asked my agents, I said, what do we do?

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Speaker 1: And he said, well, now they've been against each other

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Speaker 1: to to see who who's going to pay the most

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Speaker 1: for your book. It became pretty clear pretty early on

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Speaker 1: that I was going to get offered a lot of

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Speaker 1: money to write a book about how buying stuff won't

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Speaker 1: make you happy and the irony and that for sure. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: And so uh, we had cut our lifestyle down quite

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Speaker 1: a bit. We had moved into a smaller home, so

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Speaker 1: are our mortgage was less, We weren't buying a lot

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Speaker 1: of things, and we just didn't need a lot of

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Speaker 1: money to live our life. And so in conversations with Kim,

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Speaker 1: we're like, what are we? Like, what are we gonna do?

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Speaker 1: We're not going to buy bigger screen television, are we?

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Speaker 1: And so we decided to solve a problem in the world.

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Speaker 1: And man, there is decades worth of research that traditional

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Speaker 1: orphanages are actually pretty harmful for kids. When you picture

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Speaker 1: the four walls, a bunch of kids and workers coming

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Speaker 1: in and out like little or like most people when

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Speaker 1: they picture an orphanage, which is still used in most

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Speaker 1: developing nations, that seventy to children that grow up in

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Speaker 1: orphanages end up in homelessness, in prostitute san or incarcerated

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Speaker 1: because brains just don't develop correctly outside of the family unit.

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Speaker 1: And so our our mission with the Hope Effect is

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Speaker 1: to to change how the world cares for orphans by

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Speaker 1: by helping orphaned children get placed into families where they

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Speaker 1: can receive the attention and affection that they should as

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Speaker 1: opposed to being in an orphanage. And just to set

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Speaker 1: like an orphanage is better than nothing, better than growing

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Speaker 1: up on the streets. It's just not the the best

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Speaker 1: way for for children to be raised. And so we

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Speaker 1: so we work in Honduras and we work in Mexico.

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Speaker 1: We just signed um sign an agreement with the with

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Speaker 1: the Mexican government to to be one of the leading

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Speaker 1: nonprofits to to help recruit and train families to care

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Speaker 1: for orphaned children. So that's what the Hope Effect does.

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Speaker 1: And because I buy less because I don't need to

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Speaker 1: spend money on on stuff. I'm I'm able to uh

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Speaker 1: to do something like this with it, and um, it's

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Speaker 1: really exciting. I I can't think of a more fulfilling

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Speaker 1: way to spend my money than help help orphan children

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Speaker 1: have a chance at life. Yeah. Yeah, seriously, man, thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for for sharing the mission you've got there. Um,

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Speaker 1: it's amazing that through minimalism you've been able to do

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Speaker 1: something big, right, like big and lofty, and I mean

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Speaker 1: that's essentially the goal that that you've set forth in

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Speaker 1: your books is that like, hey, like through this lifestyle,

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Speaker 1: like through taking a different approach, you can implement these

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Speaker 1: practices that you know, some of these tips, and you

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Speaker 1: can completely change what it looks like to live in

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Speaker 1: our world today from one of consumption and doing unwise

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Speaker 1: things with our money to not only being financially responsible,

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Speaker 1: but then to be able to go beyond that and

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Speaker 1: do something amazing like what what you're doing. Um, yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: we'll We'll ask you for some links here at the

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Speaker 1: end of the end of the episode where folks can

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Speaker 1: go there if they're looking to to donate Huner up

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Speaker 1: Yeah and support you for sure. But um, but at

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Speaker 1: the very least, we do want our listeners. You know,

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Speaker 1: hopefully there'll be lots of nonprofits started after this conversation,

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Speaker 1: maybe you know, years down the road. Yeah, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean, they don't even need to be started, like like,

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of nonprofits are doing a lot

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Speaker 1: of good work. And and that was, you know, the

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Speaker 1: first question that we had to ask ourselves was do

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Speaker 1: we do we start something new or do we partner

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Speaker 1: with someone who's already doing good work? And it was

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Speaker 1: it was not an easy question to answer, and we

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Speaker 1: got asked it numerous times, and I'd like to think

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Speaker 1: we fell on the right side of it. And you

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Speaker 1: don't have to sign a big book deal to start

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Speaker 1: helping out either, you know, so exactly. Yeah, Well, like so,

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Speaker 1: at the very least, do we want our listeners to

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Speaker 1: be able to have changed their life through minimalism hopefully

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Speaker 1: uh to be able to contribute, to be able to

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Speaker 1: get themselves in a better position financially. And so we're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk more about ways to better ourselves when it

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Speaker 1: comes to personal finance. We'll get to that after the break.

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Speaker 1: All right, we're back from the break and we're talking

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Speaker 1: with Joshua Becker, who writes about minimalism on his website

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Speaker 1: Becoming Minimalist, and he's also written some great books. To Joshua,

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Speaker 1: you mentioned in your book that Americans spend one point

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Speaker 1: two trillion dollars annually on non essential goods and you

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Speaker 1: talk you mentioned to that we spend three thousand, six

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Speaker 1: hundred and eighty hours of our lives looking for the

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Speaker 1: things we've misplaced. I swear I spent half of those

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Speaker 1: hours just helping my wife find her cell phone. Um,

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Speaker 1: So what kind of effects do you think frugality and

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Speaker 1: minimalism have on each other? Like how closely related are they? Oh,

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Speaker 1: that's a good question. Um. When I typically explain minimalism

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Speaker 1: to people, I usually make a point to say that

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Speaker 1: minimalism and frugality are not the same thing. Uh. There

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Speaker 1: are a lot of people who pursue minimalism because they're frugal,

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Speaker 1: but that's not always the case. And someone can pursue

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Speaker 1: a minimalist life and spend just as much money even

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Speaker 1: on physical possessions as they did before. If they're just

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Speaker 1: buying a lot higher quality things with their money, then

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Speaker 1: they can still spend just as much money. So in

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Speaker 1: some ways. I believe very strongly that most people who

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Speaker 1: pursue minimalism end up saving money in the long run.

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Speaker 1: But it's not automatic that everyone who does that will

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Speaker 1: start saving money. There still has to be the Okay,

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Speaker 1: how if I want to save money, how can I

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Speaker 1: pursue minimalism in a way that that allows me to

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Speaker 1: do that? And if you if you start with that assumption,

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Speaker 1: then certainly that you just you can see it all

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Speaker 1: over right. I'm just I'm just buying less stuff. I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm taking care of less stuff. We moved into a

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Speaker 1: smaller home because we realized we didn't need as much

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Speaker 1: square footage as we had, and so we saved a

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month on our mortgage. Like there are

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Speaker 1: there are very significant ways that that you can do that.

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Speaker 1: I think probably the the most helpful connection that that

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Speaker 1: people can see is that most people already have enough

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Speaker 1: stuff already, Like there are enough clothes in your closet already,

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Speaker 1: there's enough cookwear in your kitchen, there's enough tools in

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Speaker 1: your garage, you have enough hobby gear already, And as

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Speaker 1: you start donating clothes from your closet, the mind shift becomes, wait,

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Speaker 1: I don't need to go buy more clothes. I had

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Speaker 1: more than I needed. I don't need to go buy

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Speaker 1: more cookwear. I'm getting rid of cookwaar, I don't need

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Speaker 1: more towels. I'm getting rid of towels. And so the

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Speaker 1: the consumption mindset that I that I need to go

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Speaker 1: buy more things starts to change as we realize, wait,

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Speaker 1: I I have more than I need, not I have

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Speaker 1: to go buy more stuff already. Someone who wants to

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Speaker 1: be frugal will find plenty more opportunities to be frugal

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Speaker 1: pursuing a minimalist life. I guess it's probably what I've

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Speaker 1: should have said. If someone doesn't want to be frugal,

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Speaker 1: they could still pursue minimalism and spend even more money

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Speaker 1: than they did before. But but someone who who wants

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Speaker 1: to embrace those principles will find it easier to embrace

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Speaker 1: those as they pursue a minimalist lifestyle. For sure, those

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Speaker 1: powers combined or excellent. Yeah. Yeah, well, I guess like

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Speaker 1: an example I can think of Joshua, is that kind

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Speaker 1: of kind of counter that, that sort of the opposite

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Speaker 1: of that. It was like, I'm thinking of maybe someone

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Speaker 1: who has a bunch of stuff around, right like that

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Speaker 1: they're keeping unused or barely used things, maybe in their

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Speaker 1: attic or down on the basement in case that they

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Speaker 1: need them, or maybe in case like they want to

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Speaker 1: pull it out for like that one time of year

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Speaker 1: that they might use it. And so like, I feel

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Speaker 1: like that's an example where someone wouldn't necessarily consider themselves

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Speaker 1: a minimalist if they're hanging onto all those things. And

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Speaker 1: their argument would be that they are saving money to

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Speaker 1: not have to purchase those things again. Okay, right, I

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Speaker 1: could see that, right. The counter acting thought would be,

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Speaker 1: do I really have to go buy that thing if

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Speaker 1: I need to use it again? So kind of the

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Speaker 1: classic examples are is our folding table. We got rid

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Speaker 1: of our folding table and chairs, and then we decided

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Speaker 1: we're going to host a party on Halloween, and we

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Speaker 1: didn't have the folding table. And it took me about

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Speaker 1: thirty seconds to call my neighbor who has a folding table,

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Speaker 1: and we could we could borrow theirs. Certainly, especially in

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Speaker 1: this sharing economy world that they were living in, Right, Like,

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Speaker 1: being able to find something that I ended up needing

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Speaker 1: isn't nearly as difficult as it might be if it

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Speaker 1: is something that is rare, and my neighbor is not

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Speaker 1: going to have it, and it's really expensive, and there's

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Speaker 1: a really good chance that I'm going to need it

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Speaker 1: in a couple of months. Then then I think, you

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Speaker 1: hold onto it. But if it's yeah, I don't, I

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Speaker 1: might need it some point. Then there there becomes two

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Speaker 1: costs to that. There becomes the everything we own takes

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Speaker 1: up physical space in our home, but it but it

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Speaker 1: also takes up mental space in our in our mind.

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Speaker 1: And so storing all those things, it's constantly there in

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Speaker 1: our space, and we know it's there and we think

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Speaker 1: about it. Plus how our how our mind begins to

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Speaker 1: shift when we start realizing how much excess we have

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Speaker 1: and when we start seeing all the things that we

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Speaker 1: can get rid of, and life still goes on, and

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Speaker 1: life even becomes more enjoyable by owning less. Then that

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Speaker 1: brings about maybe an abundance mindset as opposed to have

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Speaker 1: a scarcity mindset, that I that I need to hold

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Speaker 1: onto these things. That it just begins to change the

429
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 1: way I see the world and the way I see

430
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 1: my things. Realizing that I actually have more than I need,

431
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 1: not that I don't have enough stuff, and so I

432
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 1: have to keep holding onto an accumulating things. Yeah. On that.

433
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: On that note, Joshua, have you seen people kind of

434
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,480
Speaker 1: dip their toes in and then they kind of start

435
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:35,959
Speaker 1: to see how good it can be, and then they

436
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,520
Speaker 1: just kind of start to go go whole hog with

437
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 1: it because they realize that starting to get there fixing

438
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 1: you know, one aspect of their life in regards to

439
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,680
Speaker 1: minimalism and starting to declutter and and change their mindset.

440
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 1: Have you seen people just kind of go a little

441
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,520
Speaker 1: bit and then feel realized, Oh, man, I gotta go

442
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 1: the whole way? Or or usually is it? Does it

443
00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 1: happen quickly or does it usually? Is it usually a longer,

444
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 1: more drawn out process? Oh? I think it happens in

445
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,360
Speaker 1: in any in every possible way, depending on a person's

446
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 1: personality and family and uh starting point and what they're

447
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:14,280
Speaker 1: thinking about, stage of life, and any number of different things.

448
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,200
Speaker 1: But to answer your question, yeah, I think people certainly

449
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,760
Speaker 1: can can sample it a little bit and begin to

450
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 1: see the benefits of it. In fact, it's it's the

451
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,239
Speaker 1: approach that I take when I encourage people. How do

452
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,320
Speaker 1: I start applying these principles in my home and in

453
00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,800
Speaker 1: my life. My my first thought is go to the

454
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:41,040
Speaker 1: easiest room that you can minimize the possessions in and

455
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:45,040
Speaker 1: and complete that area. So like, go go to your

456
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 1: car first and take everything out of your car that

457
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be there. Or go to your living

458
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,159
Speaker 1: room and take everything out of your living room that

459
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,200
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be there. And when you sit down

460
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:59,879
Speaker 1: in that space, it feels calmer and more peaceful, like

461
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: you're able to focus on the people in the room

462
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,680
Speaker 1: rather than all the stuff around you. And and you'll

463
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,919
Speaker 1: find that you want that feeling in other areas or

464
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: in other spaces. Or if someone were to like say, hey,

465
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 1: I'm going to minimize my my clothes, for example, so

466
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 1: like go to your closet and and pull out half

467
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:20,920
Speaker 1: of the clothes, and you don't have to burn them,

468
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,200
Speaker 1: like just go put them somewhere else for a little

469
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:27,840
Speaker 1: while and just keep your your favorite half of your

470
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,200
Speaker 1: clothes in your closet. And the very next morning, when

471
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,720
Speaker 1: you open your closet, you're like, this is kind of nice.

472
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 1: Everything hanging here. I love, and I don't have to

473
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,159
Speaker 1: waste time deciding what to wear. It's easier to get ready,

474
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 1: it feels less stressful, to get ready. So where else

475
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: can I apply these principles of owning less? Right? Yeah,

476
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:50,119
Speaker 1: I mean part of what drives consumption, especially when it

477
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,880
Speaker 1: comes to clothing. Oftentimes, I think, are these different desires

478
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 1: that we have and when we seek to satisfy those

479
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,919
Speaker 1: desires with purchasing stuff, with material things in our lives?

480
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 1: Can you share you know what you feel? Some of

481
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 1: these different desires are that we have, and then how

482
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 1: can we keep ourselves from trying to satisfy them with spending? Wow?

483
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 1: You know I noticed it. And when I started donating

484
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 1: things and taking things to Goodwill, I took a vanload

485
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:23,119
Speaker 1: of stuff to Goodwill and it was great, and the

486
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 1: second vanload was great. By by about the third vanload

487
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,640
Speaker 1: of boxes and bags of things that I was dropping

488
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,359
Speaker 1: off at Goodwill, I I started to ask myself some

489
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 1: pretty difficult questions, starting with why in the world did

490
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 1: I have three van loads of things in my house

491
00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:48,240
Speaker 1: that I didn't need? Like why when you get to

492
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 1: the heart of the question, why do we buy more

493
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 1: stuff than we need? Like what could possibly be motivating

494
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:59,600
Speaker 1: us to buy more things than we need to own

495
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 1: in in order to live our life? And so I

496
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,040
Speaker 1: started asking myself that question, Like the more bags I

497
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: filled and the more closets I opened and boxes I

498
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 1: went through, and I don't know. I always say I

499
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 1: didn't really like what I started to find out about myself.

500
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 1: That I was probably motivated by jealousy, you know, trying

501
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 1: to impress people with the things that I owned, or

502
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: trying to prove that I was successful to my parents

503
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 1: or or my brother that was maybe less secure, maybe

504
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: a little more discontent in my life. Maybe I maybe

505
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 1: I really was looking for possessions to bring about happiness.

506
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:46,200
Speaker 1: Maybe I was a sucker for sales. Um the best

507
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:48,959
Speaker 1: buy ad that used to come in the Sunday paper

508
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 1: would compel me to go buy things, like there's a

509
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 1: for some people with loneliness or boredom or overcoming stress,

510
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 1: Like what are these triggers that cause us to go

511
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: by things. It's probably where I separate myself a little

512
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: bit from some of the other writers on the topic,

513
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 1: because a lot of writers want to blame advertisers and

514
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:20,520
Speaker 1: marketing and society and culture, and certainly there's a a

515
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,920
Speaker 1: role that they play. We see like five thousand advertisements

516
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:28,280
Speaker 1: every single day, and so certainly those ads are but

517
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 1: they're feeding into some internal unhealthy motivation. That's that's causing

518
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,800
Speaker 1: us to go to go, over consume, and and they

519
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 1: vary from person to person. So how do you how

520
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 1: do you overcome them? Um? I think that's a hard yeah,

521
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 1: And certainly the first step is realizing what they are

522
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 1: and being able to recognize them and articulate them. Probably

523
00:30:56,680 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 1: the most helpful way that I've seen people get to

524
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 1: that step is by embracing a shopping ban of some sort.

525
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 1: Whether it's a two month shopping ban. Some people go

526
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:13,600
Speaker 1: a whole year, but that's pretty long, but most people

527
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 1: I think could could go for four to six weeks

528
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:21,240
Speaker 1: without buying anything other than food, I guess, but just saying, hey,

529
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,520
Speaker 1: I'm gonna spend the next two months and I'm not

530
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 1: going to buy anything other than food or consumable toiletry items.

531
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,960
Speaker 1: And every time I have urge to shop, I'm I'm

532
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 1: not going to and I'm just gonna kind of sit

533
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,320
Speaker 1: in that desire. What Why do I feel like I

534
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:42,920
Speaker 1: need to go shopping right now? Why do I feel

535
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 1: like I need to go buy that newest, latest, greatest thing?

536
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,000
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it a healthy motivation or is it unhealthy?

537
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 1: What is what is sparking some of those things. One

538
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 1: lady one time told me she she had gone on

539
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,960
Speaker 1: a two month shopping ban, and she said she started

540
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 1: to notice every time she had a bad day at work,

541
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 1: she really wanted to stop at the mall on her

542
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,520
Speaker 1: way home, and usually she would just stop at the mall.

543
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 1: She said, I didn't always buy anything, but sometimes I

544
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,480
Speaker 1: just walked through the store, walk through the hallway. That

545
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 1: a lot of times I bought something, but not always.

546
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 1: But for two months when I said I couldn't stop

547
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 1: at the mall, I started to notice what days I

548
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 1: felt that urge, and I started to realize that when

549
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 1: I was really stressed at work, I would go try

550
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 1: to alleviate that stress by buying something on my way home,

551
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 1: or whenever I felt lonely or bored, I just want

552
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 1: to fill the time by shopping. Um, whenever there's extra

553
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:49,200
Speaker 1: money in my bank account, I just want to go

554
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:53,040
Speaker 1: buy something. And recognizing what those are, I think that

555
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 1: shopping band is probably the best way to do that,

556
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,080
Speaker 1: and then how you overcome it probably depends on what

557
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 1: exactly it is that you're disc ring, but but typically

558
00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:05,239
Speaker 1: there is a better way to meet that need in

559
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: your hearts and in your life and in your soul

560
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: than than buying something, certainly a longer lasting way to

561
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 1: fulfill it. Man, I feel like we're demystifying some of

562
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:19,200
Speaker 1: those classical things. Maybe the parodies of minimalism that people

563
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,360
Speaker 1: have in their minds were really I mean, that was

564
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,200
Speaker 1: some really, really good stuff there, Joshua. And so yeah,

565
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 1: for for people who want to get started actually going

566
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 1: through the process of becoming a minimalist, we want to

567
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 1: ask you questions on that subject, and we'll get to

568
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 1: a couple of those right after the break. M Alright,

569
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 1: we're back from the break and we're talking about minimalism

570
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: with Joshua Becker, and so, Joshua, let's go ahead and

571
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,360
Speaker 1: talk about, like how we can implement these principles. How

572
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 1: do we actually implement more minimalism into our lives? Right

573
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,200
Speaker 1: if we, like a lot of folks are swimming and

574
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 1: stuff like, how do we even begin the process of

575
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:05,400
Speaker 1: decluttering our homes? Well, I would take a step back,

576
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 1: and I would say that the first step is for

577
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:16,880
Speaker 1: people to articulate their bigger reason why they want to

578
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,000
Speaker 1: pursue minimalism. When I wrote my first book, The More

579
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,279
Speaker 1: of Less, and I met with a publisher and they said,

580
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 1: what do you want to call it? I said, becoming

581
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 1: minimalist and she said, well, you can't name it that.

582
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:33,840
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, that's how this that's how this works.

583
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,320
Speaker 1: But she says, the reason you can't title it becoming

584
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:42,440
Speaker 1: minimalist is because becoming minimalist is the process that gets

585
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 1: you to the promise, So that the goal of minimalism

586
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:50,719
Speaker 1: isn't to become minimalist. The goal of owning less is

587
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,880
Speaker 1: is something bigger. So name your book the promise and

588
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,280
Speaker 1: then I mean, what is the promise of minimalism? That's

589
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:00,719
Speaker 1: that's what you should title the book. And so we

590
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 1: tell that the more of less finding the life you

591
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 1: want under everything you own. And so the first step

592
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,439
Speaker 1: I think for people is to say, Okay, why does

593
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 1: this appeal to me right now? What is it that

594
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,399
Speaker 1: I want to get out of minimalism? And it could

595
00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:19,279
Speaker 1: be something as simple as I want to get out

596
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 1: of debt. And so I'm gonna pursue minimalism so that

597
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:23,800
Speaker 1: I can get out of debt, or I'm going to

598
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 1: pursue minimalism so that I can finally get ahead of

599
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 1: my paychecks, or I'm gonna pursue minimalism so that I

600
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:37,960
Speaker 1: can reach a million dollar net worth, right, Like, yes, Tom,

601
00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:40,080
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pursue minimalism so I can spend more time

602
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,279
Speaker 1: with my family, so I can do more traveling. Like

603
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,200
Speaker 1: there's any number of different things that somebody might might pick.

604
00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,239
Speaker 1: So I think it starts there and realizing it, and

605
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:51,359
Speaker 1: then and then from there. Certainly if you have a family, Uh,

606
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 1: there's a conversation to be had um that that you're

607
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,799
Speaker 1: hoping to make some changes in your life and and

608
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,480
Speaker 1: in your home. And the greatest problem there is that

609
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 1: it's easier to see everyone else's clutter than it is

610
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,759
Speaker 1: to see your own. So if you're listening to this

611
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,759
Speaker 1: podcast and and you want to pursue minimalism, you don't

612
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,920
Speaker 1: get started by having your husband or wife get rid

613
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 1: of all their things. Like you, you get rid of

614
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: your stuff, and you look for a common ground um

615
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 1: with your spouse and with your partner, and then, like

616
00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 1: I mentioned a little bit earlier in the podcast, don't

617
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 1: don't fall into the trap of I'm going to tackle

618
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:28,320
Speaker 1: the hardest thing first. I'm gonna start in my garage.

619
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:30,480
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start in my basement. I'm gonna start by

620
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:35,240
Speaker 1: getting rid of my sentimental things. UM, start easy, starting

621
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:39,120
Speaker 1: your lived in areas that you can complete and finish

622
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,280
Speaker 1: and notice the benefits of owning less in one area

623
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,799
Speaker 1: of your life, and then you'll feel motivated and you'll

624
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,239
Speaker 1: have momentum to go tackle the next area and the

625
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,759
Speaker 1: next area. Jeffua, you you kind of talked a little

626
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,960
Speaker 1: bit earlier in the show about how as you were unpopping,

627
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 1: unpacking boxes and bags and going through stuff, you were

628
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,879
Speaker 1: kind of going through the personal existential sort of thought

629
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:05,800
Speaker 1: process about stuff owning you. Well, what was the process

630
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 1: like as you were kind of navigating it with your

631
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,839
Speaker 1: family and with your kids and with your wife. What

632
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 1: were those conversations like and how difficult was that? So

633
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,840
Speaker 1: my kids were five and two, Um, and I have

634
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:20,600
Speaker 1: noticed that there are there are three types of relationships

635
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:25,320
Speaker 1: that emerge from this. There's the there's the spouse who says, hooray,

636
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 1: where you've been, let's let's go. UM. There's a there's

637
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,200
Speaker 1: a spouse that says, i'm I'm in. I agree, but

638
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,600
Speaker 1: they differ on what that looks like in their home.

639
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 1: And then the trickiest one to navigate is the spouse

640
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 1: who says you can't get rid of anything in the home,

641
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,640
Speaker 1: And that's a pretty small percentage, but that's the toughest one.

642
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,360
Speaker 1: But for me, it was my wife was in the

643
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 1: second boat, and so she was like, yeah, I think

644
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 1: you're right. We we should make some changes here, which

645
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:58,920
Speaker 1: is where most people tend to be. Uh. It was

646
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,120
Speaker 1: just that we just agreed on how much stuff we

647
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,319
Speaker 1: were going to get rid of, and so if she

648
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,200
Speaker 1: wanted to get rid of, I want to get rid of.

649
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:14,120
Speaker 1: And so the first fifty felt pretty good. Um, and

650
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:16,360
Speaker 1: then I wanted to keep going, and she's like, I

651
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:22,400
Speaker 1: think we're at a good spot right here. Right. So

652
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:24,880
Speaker 1: that's so I could still focus on my own things.

653
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:26,799
Speaker 1: I could get rid of my my own things. In

654
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 1: the end, we get rid of about sixty sev of

655
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,040
Speaker 1: our possessions over about a nine month nine month period.

656
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 1: But my kids were five and two, and again I

657
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:41,080
Speaker 1: tell parents, you you can't go home and make your

658
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 1: kids get rid of all their things. First, you do

659
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:48,480
Speaker 1: your own rooms, you do all your own stuff, and

660
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:52,480
Speaker 1: then you start putting these expectations on your kids. And

661
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 1: the younger they are, the easier it is. By the

662
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,279
Speaker 1: time we got to my kids toy room and bedroom.

663
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:02,400
Speaker 1: Like he it's sing us for months taking boxes of

664
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:06,440
Speaker 1: things outside the house, and we've explained over and over again,

665
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:08,200
Speaker 1: this is why we're doing it, this is what we're

666
00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 1: hoping will come from that. And by the by the

667
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,399
Speaker 1: time we got to their their toys and their bedrooms,

668
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 1: they knew it was coming and we were able to,

669
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:21,799
Speaker 1: I think, set some rational physical boundaries for them, like

670
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:23,759
Speaker 1: we're not getting rid of all of your toys. They

671
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,600
Speaker 1: just need to fit against this wall or they need

672
00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:28,960
Speaker 1: to fit in this closet, and you get to decide

673
00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 1: what to keep and what to get rid of. It's

674
00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 1: certainly leading by example is a way to ease your

675
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:36,760
Speaker 1: family into it, and I think that's so smart. Well, Joshua,

676
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: you like, so you're mentioning kind of going room by

677
00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:40,959
Speaker 1: room basically and kind of working your way through your house.

678
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:43,879
Speaker 1: Like what you said, you said, start with the easier rooms,

679
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:45,799
Speaker 1: Like what are those easier rooms? Like what rooms do

680
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,160
Speaker 1: you recommend for folks to begin with when they are

681
00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:50,880
Speaker 1: looking to make that change in their house. Well, they'll

682
00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:54,759
Speaker 1: they'll change, Uh, they'll they'll change from from home to home.

683
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: But the way I usually say it is easiest to hardest,

684
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:04,439
Speaker 1: starting with the most lived in areas first, So what

685
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:09,200
Speaker 1: is the easiest most lived in area of your home?

686
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:13,040
Speaker 1: And I know two superlatives isn't always helpful, but so

687
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,480
Speaker 1: like the living room is a great example for most people,

688
00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:21,360
Speaker 1: because some living rooms becomes a storage area for a

689
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:23,319
Speaker 1: lot of things. In that case, it's not an easy

690
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,279
Speaker 1: room to start in. But for most places that most people, uh,

691
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:27,920
Speaker 1: the living room is a good place to start, and

692
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:30,480
Speaker 1: you spend time in there so you can finish it

693
00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:34,080
Speaker 1: in an afternoon or in an evening and you can

694
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:37,160
Speaker 1: notice the benefits the next time your family sits in

695
00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:42,720
Speaker 1: that room. The bedroom is also a usually somewhat easy

696
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 1: place for for people to get started. Bathrooms like those

697
00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:49,799
Speaker 1: are easier places, at least they were for me than

698
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:55,920
Speaker 1: the kitchen, the home office spaces that I use. But

699
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,760
Speaker 1: we're going to require a lot more time and effort

700
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:02,680
Speaker 1: and thought in order to experience the benefits of them.

701
00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:05,319
Speaker 1: And Joshua, you know, we're we're a money podcast, and

702
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:06,600
Speaker 1: so a lot of times when people are getting rid

703
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:08,399
Speaker 1: of stuff, they might say, you know what I want

704
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:10,319
Speaker 1: to I want to sell some stuff and make some

705
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,960
Speaker 1: money based on the used things that I have that

706
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 1: I'm no longer going to to have in my life.

707
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,800
Speaker 1: So when we're talking about the question of donating, selling, recycling,

708
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:20,840
Speaker 1: or tossing in the trash, sounds like you were loading

709
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 1: up the van and taking things to the goodwill. How

710
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 1: do you suggest people think through what they do with

711
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 1: those things as they're parting with them. Well, probably a

712
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,480
Speaker 1: few things to think through. My My typical advice is

713
00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,440
Speaker 1: if you don't need the money, then then just donate

714
00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:38,880
Speaker 1: the stuff. But since it's the Money podcast and people

715
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:41,840
Speaker 1: are probably a little more focused on those things. So

716
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 1: the problem becomes if you have a lot of stuff

717
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:48,239
Speaker 1: to go through, if you've lived in your home for

718
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,480
Speaker 1: twenty years and you have boxes and boxes of things,

719
00:41:52,239 --> 00:41:56,480
Speaker 1: trying to sell all that stuff really as a lot

720
00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:01,440
Speaker 1: of burden and time and stress and usually frustration to

721
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:06,240
Speaker 1: the process and doesn't usually bring back nearly as much

722
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:11,480
Speaker 1: financial reward as we think it's going to. There's some exceptions,

723
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:14,520
Speaker 1: things that are really expensive or things that are really

724
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 1: large and you can't haulm away by yourself. Like there's

725
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:24,359
Speaker 1: some easy selling winds along the way, in which case, yeah,

726
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:27,640
Speaker 1: sell it, make the money along the way. But there's

727
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:31,680
Speaker 1: there's a certain joy that comes from generosity that that's

728
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:35,680
Speaker 1: selling items can't can't bring. I think the generosity tends

729
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:39,239
Speaker 1: to motivate people when they when they're getting rid of

730
00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:42,040
Speaker 1: So my daughter was too, and so we were getting

731
00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:45,120
Speaker 1: rid of all of the like baby and newborn and

732
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:50,360
Speaker 1: maternity items, and we stumble across the care Net Pregnancy

733
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 1: Center in downtown Burlington, Vermont, and it took like one

734
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,799
Speaker 1: phone call with them to realize how much need there

735
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:03,480
Speaker 1: was in my city for those clothes and those baby

736
00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:07,320
Speaker 1: supplies that were just being stored in boxes in my basement,

737
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:13,880
Speaker 1: like families who legitimately needed those items. It like sparked

738
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:16,000
Speaker 1: us to get rid of even more. I'm like, well,

739
00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 1: let's go back and find even more things that people

740
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:23,279
Speaker 1: in our community can use and need. So I tend

741
00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:28,080
Speaker 1: to to defer to the donating side because I think

742
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:32,399
Speaker 1: it's more fulfilling. Um, but there's space for selling. One

743
00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:36,400
Speaker 1: time someone was they were they were minimizing. There were

744
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,120
Speaker 1: new new couple and they just moved to a new

745
00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 1: city and they needed like bicycles to get around in

746
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,600
Speaker 1: the city to work, And oh my god, I think

747
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:48,040
Speaker 1: that would be a great goal. Like you sell your

748
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:50,800
Speaker 1: items until you make enough money to buy the bicycle

749
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:53,040
Speaker 1: that you can use to get you around to where

750
00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 1: you need to go. And um, so there's certainly freedom

751
00:43:56,680 --> 00:44:00,359
Speaker 1: in that, but the hard part becomes bogging ourselves down

752
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,719
Speaker 1: with that pursuit. Nice, excellent, Joshua Man, this is this

753
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:06,320
Speaker 1: has been great stuff. I think our listeners have hopefully

754
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 1: been able to glean a lot of what you're saying

755
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:11,759
Speaker 1: here and not only apply it to their physical life,

756
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:13,759
Speaker 1: right as far as just the possessions they have in

757
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,319
Speaker 1: their home. But you know, I think there's a lot

758
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,319
Speaker 1: of parallels when it comes to our money as well,

759
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:20,840
Speaker 1: you know, as far as how we approach what it

760
00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:23,360
Speaker 1: is that we're seeking after you kind of mentioned earlier

761
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 1: on how we need to start with the Essentially, what

762
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:27,360
Speaker 1: I interpreted is that you said to start with the

763
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:29,239
Speaker 1: end in mind, and if you can kind of figure

764
00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:31,799
Speaker 1: out the type of life that it is you want

765
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,920
Speaker 1: to live, that can kind of shape minimalism, right, Like

766
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,319
Speaker 1: minimalism doesn't have to look the same for you as

767
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:40,480
Speaker 1: it does that the dentist, you know, like all the

768
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,239
Speaker 1: different examples you gave, and I think that the same

769
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 1: can be so true of our money when we have

770
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:47,799
Speaker 1: the end goal in mind and what we want to

771
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:51,160
Speaker 1: do with that money, then that kind of that drives

772
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:54,560
Speaker 1: us and feeds our soul to finish the task and

773
00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:56,319
Speaker 1: not to get you know, not to fall off the

774
00:44:56,320 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 1: wagon along the way. Yeah, it's it's essentially about tensionality.

775
00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:03,920
Speaker 1: It's about being intentional with with my money and my

776
00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:08,160
Speaker 1: time and my pursuits and making sure that all of

777
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 1: my resources are aligned with UM, my values and the

778
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:13,839
Speaker 1: person I want to be and the life I want

779
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,520
Speaker 1: to end up living. Well, Joshua, we really appreciate you

780
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:20,320
Speaker 1: taking your time to spend with us and and sharing

781
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,440
Speaker 1: all your wisdom with our listeners. This was an excellent

782
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:26,680
Speaker 1: conversation for folks that do want more information that are

783
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 1: really interested now in at least thinking about minimalism a

784
00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:33,080
Speaker 1: good bit more. Yeah, how can they find out more

785
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:35,200
Speaker 1: about the stuff that you've written and what you're up to?

786
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:40,440
Speaker 1: Becoming minimalist dot com is the home base for everything

787
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 1: that I do, And there's certainly books and um the

788
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:48,319
Speaker 1: hope effect, Hope effect dot com, But becoming minimalist dot

789
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,600
Speaker 1: com is the home base for for everything I do,

790
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:54,640
Speaker 1: and you can find anything else I'm doing and where

791
00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:57,439
Speaker 1: I can be found from from there. Well, Joshua, thanks

792
00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:00,400
Speaker 1: again so much for coming on the podcast pleasure and

793
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on. Yeah, Matt, that was an

794
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:05,879
Speaker 1: excellent conversation. I think I say that every time because

795
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:08,200
Speaker 1: we have just the best guest. Whoever does the guest

796
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:10,200
Speaker 1: booking for our show is awesome? Who does that? By

797
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:12,880
Speaker 1: the way, I think it's you and me. We're awesome,

798
00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:15,560
Speaker 1: but there's ls on the back. But Joshua was even better.

799
00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 1: And so I want to know from you, like, what

800
00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:21,120
Speaker 1: was your big takeaway from from our conversation with Joshua. Well, Joel,

801
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:23,760
Speaker 1: you know how I am about goals right, goal setting,

802
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 1: Knowing the big picture, having an understanding of why it

803
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:29,360
Speaker 1: is that I'm doing something like that is so important

804
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:32,239
Speaker 1: to me as a human being, whether it be you know,

805
00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 1: just like a little project that I'm doing outside. You know,

806
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:37,000
Speaker 1: I'm the question I'm asking myself is how is this

807
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:39,920
Speaker 1: contributing to my larger plan? Like the larger goal I

808
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:42,799
Speaker 1: have for the yard, right, and it goes all the

809
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:45,880
Speaker 1: way to minimalism, Like Joshua was mentioning, how we need

810
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:48,359
Speaker 1: to start with our our goal in mind, and that

811
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:51,560
Speaker 1: kind of dictates what it looks like to be a minimalist,

812
00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:53,839
Speaker 1: and I think it so applies to our money as well.

813
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:56,080
Speaker 1: We talked about this all the time, how how we

814
00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:58,680
Speaker 1: need to start with the why behind our money, because

815
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:01,839
Speaker 1: if we don't really have a clear goal of what

816
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:04,359
Speaker 1: it is that we're trying to achieve, then it's gonna

817
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:06,959
Speaker 1: be difficult for us to do the hard work of

818
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:09,600
Speaker 1: not spending our money. But when we are informed and

819
00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:12,120
Speaker 1: we have a clear goal that we're chasing after, that

820
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:14,799
Speaker 1: makes everything so easy. And something Joshua mentioned in his

821
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:16,520
Speaker 1: book that we actually didn't talk about, but was. He

822
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,360
Speaker 1: talked about how it's important to revisit these goals as well.

823
00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:21,920
Speaker 1: A lot of times we don't exactly know what it

824
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:25,000
Speaker 1: is that we're seeking after because bottom line, our taste changed,

825
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:27,600
Speaker 1: like our opinions change, we have different goals. Our goals,

826
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:30,520
Speaker 1: you know, our chieese gets moved and it takes time

827
00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:33,200
Speaker 1: to sort of recalibrate a little bit. And that's also

828
00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:35,319
Speaker 1: true if you don't necessarily know what your goals are

829
00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:37,800
Speaker 1: right now. Just because you don't know what your financial

830
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:40,600
Speaker 1: goals are, that doesn't mean that you fail to do

831
00:47:40,680 --> 00:47:43,960
Speaker 1: smart things with your money, because eventually, through this process,

832
00:47:44,320 --> 00:47:45,839
Speaker 1: you will figure it out what is that you want

833
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:48,040
Speaker 1: to spend your money on they'll come to light. Yeah, exactly.

834
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,280
Speaker 1: And the same thing with minimalism. You may not necessarily

835
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:52,960
Speaker 1: know what it is that you're trying to to achieve

836
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:58,120
Speaker 1: by having fear possessions, but through the process of minimizing

837
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,439
Speaker 1: your possessions, you're going to figure out what does whether

838
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,640
Speaker 1: it's more time with your family or maybe that means

839
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:05,120
Speaker 1: just having more mental space because you have fewer things

840
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:07,759
Speaker 1: kind of clouding your judgment. It still makes sense to

841
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:09,759
Speaker 1: do the smart things that we talk about a lot

842
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:11,600
Speaker 1: of times here on the show, even if you don't

843
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:13,840
Speaker 1: yet know what it is you're seeking after. Yeah, and

844
00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:16,719
Speaker 1: I really identify kind of with the more stuff taking

845
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:19,160
Speaker 1: up more mental space. Emily and I've been kind of

846
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:21,560
Speaker 1: taking some of these things to heart based on reading

847
00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:23,800
Speaker 1: the books and lead up to this interview with Joshua,

848
00:48:23,880 --> 00:48:26,520
Speaker 1: and it's making a difference already. I can tell the

849
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:29,640
Speaker 1: lack of clutter is really bringing some mental clarity when

850
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:31,560
Speaker 1: we're hanging out in our house, and that's so nice.

851
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:34,560
Speaker 1: I think my big takeaway from this episode was that

852
00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 1: you won't necessarily save money as a minimalist, but I

853
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,319
Speaker 1: gotta say, for our how to Money listeners, you will

854
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:43,600
Speaker 1: write the way our people should, yeah, the way our

855
00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:46,640
Speaker 1: listeners are peeps, the way they approach money. If they

856
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:49,400
Speaker 1: begin to kind of consider the concepts of minimalism and

857
00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:52,200
Speaker 1: begin to declutter and be generous with the things that

858
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:54,960
Speaker 1: they have that they're not actually using and they buy

859
00:48:55,040 --> 00:48:57,840
Speaker 1: fewer things, I think they will save money implementing a

860
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:02,080
Speaker 1: shopping ban for a month or two, like Joshua suggested.

861
00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:03,799
Speaker 1: I mean, those are those are ways that we're going

862
00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:06,719
Speaker 1: to actually implement minimalism and save money at the same time.

863
00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:08,759
Speaker 1: And I think that's the best of both worlds. If

864
00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:10,840
Speaker 1: we begin to at least at minimum take some of

865
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:12,560
Speaker 1: these concepts. You don't have to go all the way

866
00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:14,359
Speaker 1: full minimalist, and I think we address some of those

867
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:16,560
Speaker 1: misconceptions too. But if you can take some of the

868
00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:19,640
Speaker 1: good or all the good for minimalism either either way,

869
00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:21,759
Speaker 1: however far you want to dive into it, I think

870
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:24,239
Speaker 1: by embracing that at the same time, you will if

871
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:27,640
Speaker 1: you're how to money listener be embracing frugality their cousins.

872
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:29,319
Speaker 1: They're not the same. But if if you kind of

873
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:31,560
Speaker 1: take both hand in hand at the same time, and

874
00:49:31,560 --> 00:49:33,600
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna have a big difference, a major

875
00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:36,200
Speaker 1: impact in your life going forward. Yeah, totally. Man, I

876
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:38,120
Speaker 1: think that the shopping bands it's a good way to

877
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:40,000
Speaker 1: kind of self experiment a little bit and figure out

878
00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:42,080
Speaker 1: how you're gonna take to it a little bit and

879
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:43,680
Speaker 1: hopefully you will be able to see that there are

880
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:45,960
Speaker 1: some amazing ways that you can save money that way.

881
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:48,680
Speaker 1: But do let's take it to the beer. On this episode,

882
00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:50,399
Speaker 1: we had I Feel at All, which is a beer

883
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:54,000
Speaker 1: by Monday Night Brewing. This is one that's actually this

884
00:49:54,040 --> 00:49:55,840
Speaker 1: is one of the three beers that we gave away

885
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:58,719
Speaker 1: the Instagram actually a few weeks ago. So if you're

886
00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:01,040
Speaker 1: not following us on Instagram, look up how to Money pod.

887
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:02,680
Speaker 1: If you're not following us on Instagram, what are you

888
00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:05,239
Speaker 1: doing with your life? But ba Joel, what were your

889
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:07,279
Speaker 1: thoughts on this beer? Well, Man, this beer is called

890
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:10,880
Speaker 1: I Feel at All. I felt the hops. Uh, it

891
00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:15,280
Speaker 1: really did have hop concentrate sort of levels of hoppiness

892
00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:17,919
Speaker 1: going on. But man, and for me in a good way.

893
00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:21,200
Speaker 1: I know some people can get hopped out, can be overhopped,

894
00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:24,200
Speaker 1: and I'm not one of those people. I've not found

895
00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:27,879
Speaker 1: a beer yet where it's been too hoppy, and so

896
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:31,279
Speaker 1: this was a ridiculous amount of hops in there. I

897
00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:35,000
Speaker 1: felt it was like super green, super tasty, super alive,

898
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:37,759
Speaker 1: and I loved it. I think the green little alligators

899
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:40,120
Speaker 1: on the label they're kind of lends itself to like

900
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 1: the herbal nature of hops as well. Yeah, you know,

901
00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:45,160
Speaker 1: like the la cost uh, Like that's totally like it's

902
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:46,600
Speaker 1: kind of like that, but it's like this repeating batter.

903
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:49,120
Speaker 1: I really, I really did this design, but yeah, this

904
00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:51,200
Speaker 1: is a hazy New England style I p A. So

905
00:50:51,239 --> 00:50:52,840
Speaker 1: when we board it, man, it was super cloudy, like

906
00:50:52,920 --> 00:50:54,920
Speaker 1: you could not see through it at all, and it

907
00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:57,640
Speaker 1: had more of that sort of sharp hot flavor. It

908
00:50:57,640 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 1: makes me think of cheese, right, like you've kind of

909
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:01,760
Speaker 1: got your mild or meat, like your regular cheddar cheese,

910
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:04,040
Speaker 1: but then you get the sharp stuff and it kind

911
00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 1: of has like this like it bites a little bit,

912
00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:08,000
Speaker 1: you know, like it's sharp cheddar and you kind of

913
00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:09,919
Speaker 1: feel it on your tongue a little bit more. And

914
00:51:10,040 --> 00:51:11,800
Speaker 1: I feel like that's how it is with hops sometimes,

915
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:13,279
Speaker 1: like when you have some of these New England style

916
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:15,320
Speaker 1: I p A s that do have a lot of hops,

917
00:51:15,640 --> 00:51:19,600
Speaker 1: sometimes it feels like a sharp cheese And isn't the

918
00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:21,600
Speaker 1: first time I've alluded to cheese before when it comes

919
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:23,520
Speaker 1: to these bears, but this one had a similar thing

920
00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:25,160
Speaker 1: going on. I really dug it, and I'm glad that

921
00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:27,279
Speaker 1: you and I got to share this one today, Buddy, Man,

922
00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:30,320
Speaker 1: pick that up at the beer's release at Monday Night Brewing.

923
00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:32,000
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, man, we're big fans. We go out once

924
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 1: every six months, and this is one of those times. Exactly. Well, man,

925
00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:36,960
Speaker 1: that's gonna be it for this episode. Our listeners can

926
00:51:36,960 --> 00:51:40,080
Speaker 1: find our show notes up at how some Money dot com. Yeah, man,

927
00:51:40,120 --> 00:51:42,319
Speaker 1: We've had so many great reviews from our listeners, but

928
00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:44,480
Speaker 1: I do want to ask if you have a friend

929
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:47,319
Speaker 1: that could use a kick in the pants when it

930
00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:51,160
Speaker 1: comes to living a minimalist lifestyle, spending less money, saving

931
00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:53,320
Speaker 1: more of what you make, well, then we would suggest

932
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:55,640
Speaker 1: letting your friend know about the how the Money podcast.

933
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,160
Speaker 1: Maybe sneaking their phone, hitting a subscribe button for them,

934
00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:00,759
Speaker 1: whatever it takes, Okay, just hold that phone up in

935
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:02,600
Speaker 1: front of their face so it gets that facial recognition

936
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:05,200
Speaker 1: in the slipe over a podcast. Real quick, make it happen,

937
00:52:05,239 --> 00:52:06,840
Speaker 1: And especially with this episode, man, This is such a

938
00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:09,440
Speaker 1: fun conversation that we had with Joshua Becker. I think

939
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:11,440
Speaker 1: this can be a kind of a soft introduction to

940
00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:14,399
Speaker 1: personal finance, where it's not so money on the nose,

941
00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:16,680
Speaker 1: not too in your face. But all right, Matt, that's

942
00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:19,399
Speaker 1: gonna do it for this episode. Until next time. Best

943
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:20,640
Speaker 1: Friends Out, Best Friends Out,