Speaker 1: Episode one is episode thirty seven, Why we Still Love
Speaker 1: the KonMari Method. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where
Speaker 1: you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live with
Speaker 1: your life. Here your host Jen and Jill O. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jill, and today we are sharing another curated
Speaker 1: episode from the archives. This is one of our most
Speaker 1: popular episodes from two thousand nineteen, and it's because it
Speaker 1: worked in two thousand nineteen and it still works now. Amen.
Speaker 1: And it is the KonMari Method. I will say when
Speaker 1: we first recorded this, I did not know much about
Speaker 1: the Kmari method that will come out in this recording.
Speaker 1: I have since learned more and this episode helped me
Speaker 1: in that regard. And Yeah, I've picked up and carried
Speaker 1: on a lot of things from that movement. That method,
Speaker 1: I will say, it's it is talking just about minimalism,
Speaker 1: so even finding the freedom to figure out how it
Speaker 1: works for you and sticking with it, so it's always
Speaker 1: worth revisiting. Yeah, and I can proudly say I am
Speaker 1: still doing the kun Marei method of folding. That's how
Speaker 1: I still fold my clothes and I really love it
Speaker 1: and still use kind of the spark joy in really
Speaker 1: all areas of my life, so not just clothes, I think.
Speaker 1: Actually I use it less in physical stuff and more
Speaker 1: in just like regular life, like things that I spend
Speaker 1: my time on. Yeah, I like that reframe. That's great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've really practiced it there more. So don't just take
Speaker 1: it for face value. This can really be something that
Speaker 1: impacts every area of your life. So we're really excited
Speaker 1: to re share this episode, one of our most popular
Speaker 1: episodes from our early days. But first our sponsors. So
Speaker 1: this episode is brought to you by Meal Planning Services.
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Speaker 1: week done also brought to you by Timeless, those items
Speaker 1: that never go out of style and supersede the trends. Somehow,
Speaker 1: bell bottoms and belly shirts seem to be falling into
Speaker 1: this category, but we say frugality and minimalism are the
Speaker 1: real champs Timeless. When you don't need to look at
Speaker 1: the clock to know if something's great. Yes, absolutely, it's
Speaker 1: like thank you Timeless Minimalism. Yes. So if this is
Speaker 1: a topic that you are into, then I'm going to
Speaker 1: recommend some other episodes for you as well. So episode
Speaker 1: twenty two is our interview with Kate Flanders. She is
Speaker 1: the author of the Year of Less. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: the Year of Less, right, I think. So I just
Speaker 1: got confused because episode thirty two is our interview with
Speaker 1: Joshua Becker and he's the author of the More of Less,
Speaker 1: so a lot of minimalist things. And then also episode
Speaker 1: fifty nine we had an interview with court Decarver, who
Speaker 1: is the author of Project three thirty three, and we
Speaker 1: talked about that on our episode and that was even
Speaker 1: before she wrote the book. So and then recently episode
Speaker 1: one Creative Ways to Declutter. You can definitely use the
Speaker 1: KonMari method in conjunction with the Creative Ways to Declutter.
Speaker 1: So lots of stuff for you if minimalism is something
Speaker 1: it's on your list. Lots to check out after you
Speaker 1: tune into this episode. So without further ado, enjoy. I mean,
Speaker 1: who knows who's listening to us. There's no way for sharing,
Speaker 1: there is, I mean, we have stats on our post. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: well anyway, our our first our first article is from
Speaker 1: Get Rich Slowly and this is a really well known
Speaker 1: personal finance blog from j d Roth and uh it's
Speaker 1: called My Experience with the Conmari Method and the Life
Speaker 1: Changing Magic of Tidying Up. What do you think about it, Jill, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought that they did a really good job of
Speaker 1: highlighting the book, which is perfect for me because full disclosure,
Speaker 1: on my end, I have not read the book. I've
Speaker 1: heard a lot about it and I read articles like this,
Speaker 1: So for me, this is helpful to just get a
Speaker 1: snapshot of what the book, what the book is, and
Speaker 1: what Marie Kondo recommends that you do in your decluttering
Speaker 1: goals in process. Yeah, I think you don't have to
Speaker 1: read the full book to get the idea. I think
Speaker 1: reading it is definitely beneficial if you want to do it,
Speaker 1: but you definitely don't have to read it. And J. D.
Speaker 1: Roth actually also read the Life Changing Manga of Tidying Up,
Speaker 1: which is the like comic version manga version of the book.
Speaker 1: So if you're not super into novels or words, um,
Speaker 1: you can pick up the Life Changing Manga of Tidying Up. Yes,
Speaker 1: get the same info. But yeah, he goes through it
Speaker 1: just like the book, and uh, I think I think
Speaker 1: we should just start from the top. Yeah, let's go
Speaker 1: through it. So one of the things that and again
Speaker 1: he's highlighting for us what the Comori method is what
Speaker 1: it does. So one of the tips is to start
Speaker 1: by visualizing your ideal lifestyle. So this is referring to
Speaker 1: think about before you even start, what do you want
Speaker 1: your home to look like? What kind of life do
Speaker 1: you want to lead there, and what would that home
Speaker 1: look like in order to be conducive for that life.
Speaker 1: And they said, it's a similar question to think about
Speaker 1: what your purpose in life is. I think it's worth
Speaker 1: asking what what are your thoughts on that? Jen start
Speaker 1: by visualizing your ideal lifestyle. Well, yeah, because we do
Speaker 1: the same thing when we're talking about personal financer for gality.
Speaker 1: You you start with your why, and I think this
Speaker 1: is just it mirrors that perfectly. Start with your why.
Speaker 1: Like my why is I want to have people over,
Speaker 1: I want to clean less. I want to you know,
Speaker 1: do certain things in my house and and not be
Speaker 1: inhibited by piles of things. Um, so that's my why.
Speaker 1: From there, I can visualize what does the house look like?
Speaker 1: That meets my why And that's essentially what she's saying.
Speaker 1: So if you spend any time paying off debt or
Speaker 1: or saving money, this should not be a problem for you.
Speaker 1: Then you should have that insight, because that will be
Speaker 1: what you keep coming back to as you run into
Speaker 1: barriers or struggles or challenges, to remind yourself, this is
Speaker 1: why I'm doing this. That's a good way of reframing it. Jen. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The next two points that j D talks about are
Speaker 1: kind of on the same wavelength. It's she advocates for
Speaker 1: um tidying in one large push rather than a little
Speaker 1: at a time, and to discard all at once, intensely
Speaker 1: and completely. So this is where I waver just slightly
Speaker 1: because I'm definitely an all or nothing person. So it
Speaker 1: does it does help me to do it in a
Speaker 1: large push, But she talks about in her book doing
Speaker 1: it in one day, and for most people that's not feasible,
Speaker 1: especially if you're not paying an expert to come over
Speaker 1: and help you go through these processes quickly. I like
Speaker 1: the idea of going through as much as possible in
Speaker 1: in maybe a three day weekend, or starting Friday night
Speaker 1: and going through Saturday and Sunday, or making it like
Speaker 1: a month long challenge, like trying to keep it within
Speaker 1: a month um so you don't lose steam. And so
Speaker 1: it's still a large push, but it's not as rigid
Speaker 1: as Marie does not to mention that can be so
Speaker 1: daunting and if something seems impossible, then we're not going
Speaker 1: to do it at all. So Okay, there may be
Speaker 1: some people out there who could do that all in
Speaker 1: one fell swoop, but most people are not going to
Speaker 1: be able to fit that into their work parenting lifestyles.
Speaker 1: So that's this is one hole that I'm like poking
Speaker 1: at a bit. And if we compare this, you know,
Speaker 1: we did talk with Joshua Becker in our episode with him,
Speaker 1: and he chatted with us a bit about his take
Speaker 1: on this, and I think, well, he didn't speak to
Speaker 1: this specifically, but to contrast this, of his recommendation is
Speaker 1: always to to start small because people can be overwhelmed
Speaker 1: and they always go to the biggest challenge first. Well,
Speaker 1: what about my I don't know whatever. Your biggest thing
Speaker 1: is my bedroom, that's going to be so difficult to
Speaker 1: go through the things there are my kitchen, Well, don't
Speaker 1: do that. Go through your junk drawer first, or your
Speaker 1: basement or something that is gonna be basement is not
Speaker 1: good good example first of people, it's not a good example.
Speaker 1: So I do think that some of this is what
Speaker 1: is going to work best for you. I know that
Speaker 1: there are the people out there who are just like
Speaker 1: I just need to do it. I just need to
Speaker 1: get it done, and and fell swoop where I'm not
Speaker 1: going to and others are like, oh my gosh, that's
Speaker 1: too much, I will never do it. So this really
Speaker 1: is a what fits your lifestyle, what makes sense to you,
Speaker 1: what works best for you. Yes, I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1: So then the other the other thing. So this is
Speaker 1: I think this is the biggest key point that people
Speaker 1: know about the Kumari method. Even if you live under
Speaker 1: a rock, you've probably heard this. That's probably also the
Speaker 1: biggest hole. We're gonna poke. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: start poking at this thing hard and then like and
Speaker 1: then pulling apart the area that we poked. Okay, so
Speaker 1: keeping a bad visual, let's move away from that, keeping
Speaker 1: only the things that spark joy. So this idea in
Speaker 1: the Kommari method is that you will basically in any
Speaker 1: room or any category that you are going through things,
Speaker 1: you you pour it out onto the ground and then
Speaker 1: you just start to go through and you lift it
Speaker 1: up in front of your face. And if it's sparks joy,
Speaker 1: you keep it, and if it doesn't spark joy, you
Speaker 1: discard it. And you are going solely based off of
Speaker 1: what your emotions are telling you in the moment of
Speaker 1: whether or not it's sparking joy. That's how you declutter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which implies that things can spark joy, which we don't
Speaker 1: completely agree with, and we'll talk more about that in
Speaker 1: our next article. I get what she's saying, and I
Speaker 1: can track with her, but I think that she views
Speaker 1: things differently than we do. Possibly, Yeah, and it can
Speaker 1: be a good filter or framework, but there's got to
Speaker 1: be a bit more around it than just that, And
Speaker 1: so yes, we'll talk about that more. But that is
Speaker 1: part of this Canmari method and probably the biggest foundational thing.
Speaker 1: Does it spark joy? I mean she also talks to
Speaker 1: her clothing and strokes it, and so I definitely think
Speaker 1: she views things differently than we do. But we'll get
Speaker 1: we'll get into that further down. The next thing is
Speaker 1: something I really agree with um and I can really
Speaker 1: get on board with. Is too tidy by category, not
Speaker 1: by location. And if you are tidying by location, it's
Speaker 1: very easy to miss things that might be duplicates that
Speaker 1: are stored in different rooms. But if you're bringing categories together,
Speaker 1: there's no way that you can miss duplicates. And that
Speaker 1: is something especially for miscellany, uh is very important, and
Speaker 1: for clothes as well. That's important tip. And I think
Speaker 1: that that is how I d clutter. I never want
Speaker 1: to put words to it, but yeah, it makes sense
Speaker 1: to just do clothes, don't just do your whole bedroom.
Speaker 1: Focus on the clothes, then move on to the other
Speaker 1: category of things that are in your bedroom. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: even within the category, you can break it up by
Speaker 1: I'm only doing shirts right now, or I'm only doing
Speaker 1: pants or bottoms right now. Like you can break it
Speaker 1: down further because even the category of clothes, doing all
Speaker 1: the clothes at the same time can be overwhelming. So
Speaker 1: I really like she will break it down per peace. Okay.
Speaker 1: So then another part of this method is regarding discarding
Speaker 1: and storing. So she's saying only after you've finished discarding
Speaker 1: your things, and that can mean anything donating them, giving
Speaker 1: them away, selling them, or literally trashing them if they
Speaker 1: are just trash, like the thrift store doesn't want your trash,
Speaker 1: and neither do nonprofits. There's a little plug. Only then
Speaker 1: is it okay to to store your items and finding
Speaker 1: a good place too to put them. Mum, is there
Speaker 1: any more to say about that? No? I mean so
Speaker 1: I I give a little grace for this one because
Speaker 1: I don't know. I always have time to take stuff
Speaker 1: down to goodwill or sell it, like before. I need
Speaker 1: things to be back in their place. So once you
Speaker 1: have finished discarding and maybe put it in a section
Speaker 1: of your house like by the door or put I'll
Speaker 1: usually put stuff in my trunk um then I will
Speaker 1: put things back. So that's kind of how I do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And then the final thing of this article, essentially she says,
Speaker 1: after you discard, make it easy to maintain, so there
Speaker 1: is no need for pricey storage systems. To use what
Speaker 1: you have for storage and organization. I love how frugal
Speaker 1: she is in her thoughts towards storage and organization because
Speaker 1: she use empty boxes or she'll just fold things in
Speaker 1: a way where they don't need storage bins or separators.
Speaker 1: So she's so frugal in that She says the important
Speaker 1: thing is not to have a great organization system. The
Speaker 1: point is to make it easy to put things away,
Speaker 1: so to have everything has a place so you don't
Speaker 1: need to think about where things go. So when you're
Speaker 1: just day to day tidying up, you can literally just
Speaker 1: put things where they go without thinking. Because the less
Speaker 1: you have to think, the easier it is to maintain,
Speaker 1: and the longer you will maintain it, and the more
Speaker 1: you have to think about the important things, brain space
Speaker 1: for the important things. I wanted to poke a hole
Speaker 1: in this at first, but after I thought about it,
Speaker 1: I started to agree. She says to focus more on, uh,
Speaker 1: the ease of putting things away versus the ease of
Speaker 1: getting them out, And I was like, isn't that kind
Speaker 1: of the same thing? But then as I thought practically
Speaker 1: for myself, I've realized it's not quite the same thing.
Speaker 1: That it is usually more complicated for me to put
Speaker 1: something away than it is to get it out. And
Speaker 1: this is what she's saying that you if you want something,
Speaker 1: you're going to go get it from wherever it is.
Speaker 1: Usually where the problem comes in is if it's hard
Speaker 1: to put it away, then you're not going to You
Speaker 1: want to be able to put your coat easily away
Speaker 1: into the closet, don't worry so much about the accessibility
Speaker 1: and getting it out, but will you put it away
Speaker 1: quickly and sometimes it will work both ways really well,
Speaker 1: but focusing more on will you be able to put
Speaker 1: it away rather than will you be able to get
Speaker 1: it back out? Yeah. And the purpose of decluttering is
Speaker 1: to make things easier to put in and out, and
Speaker 1: that means more things get more use and you're not
Speaker 1: re buying things you already have or because you don't
Speaker 1: know where they are in your closet or whatever, and
Speaker 1: therefore you're saving money because you're buying fewer things. So
Speaker 1: that is one of the reasons that we're so passionate
Speaker 1: about decluttering and minimalism is because of the direct hie
Speaker 1: in that it has with spending less, Yeah, and the
Speaker 1: freedom to not have to get tons of expensive organizational bins.
Speaker 1: I think that's exactly pitfall to this conversation is like,
Speaker 1: now I have to make it look so instagram pretty,
Speaker 1: Like no, no, you don't, you just want to go shopping.
Speaker 1: I mean you can look at j D's blog posts
Speaker 1: that will will have linked in the show notes, and
Speaker 1: I mean he does the Conmari method and it's it's great,
Speaker 1: it works. It's definitely not Instagram buble, but he's got
Speaker 1: pictures up and you know it's me. He's using the
Speaker 1: method right, so you can if you want to check
Speaker 1: out his story. Definitely had to get rich Slowly dot
Speaker 1: Org for that. And but I think we're ready to
Speaker 1: move on to our our next one. Let's do it.
Speaker 1: So this one is five life changing lessons the Canmari
Speaker 1: decluttering method taught me. And this is from happier dot com. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The first one is that joy is simple but powerful.
Speaker 1: So she's definitely on board with this whole does it
Speaker 1: spark joy? She thought that it was a very good
Speaker 1: filter for deciding should I keep this should I not?
Speaker 1: It was very clear to her immediately when she held
Speaker 1: things up whether or not it's sparked joy. And I
Speaker 1: think a good key in this one is using that
Speaker 1: method to also get rid of guilt that we might
Speaker 1: feel in throwing things away. So I did understand this
Speaker 1: point of Okay, you might hold up address and be like,
Speaker 1: oh gosh, I never wore this. I feel guilty about
Speaker 1: getting rid of this because I thought that I was
Speaker 1: going to wear it to all these things, okay, And
Speaker 1: so then the Camari method would argue, well, at one
Speaker 1: point it brought you joy, and so be grateful, thank
Speaker 1: it stroke it for the joy that it brought you
Speaker 1: at that one time in the store and get rid
Speaker 1: of it. So there's a freedom that it can bring.
Speaker 1: But there's a big hole there in my mind. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wanted to find something that talked about that agreed
Speaker 1: with her method, just to put it into perspective. But
Speaker 1: I think I could translate joy too value as well.
Speaker 1: When I look at my clothes and I'm deciding what
Speaker 1: to keep, I can say, do I value this right now?
Speaker 1: I feel like that would be an appropriate phrase for
Speaker 1: me to use. Maybe not for everyone. I think we
Speaker 1: can all find our own spark joy phrase, but I
Speaker 1: personally don't want to attack much joy or feelings with
Speaker 1: any of my inanimate objects. That Yeah, there's so many
Speaker 1: layers here, because first of all, if that is the
Speaker 1: filter and we are just saying joy, then that can
Speaker 1: if we apply this blindly across everything, then that can
Speaker 1: give license to just accumulate things just saying well, it
Speaker 1: did bring me joy at one point, and I'll just
Speaker 1: get rid of it when it no longer brings me joy,
Speaker 1: and can kind of create this throwaway society which we
Speaker 1: were already that we're already there. So I think part
Speaker 1: of this is is not accumulating just to throw it away,
Speaker 1: because that's that's not sustainable. But I also think I
Speaker 1: wonder and I haven't fully fleshed this out, and this
Speaker 1: is speaking to what you're saying to here, Jen of attach.
Speaker 1: I think emotions are so attached to so much of
Speaker 1: what we do. We talk about emotional eating, not we,
Speaker 1: but our society is talking about emotional eating and attaching
Speaker 1: ourselves from that emotional buying, shopping, emotional keeping. So I
Speaker 1: struggle with this, even this entire concept of looking at
Speaker 1: our emotions, because our emotions can shift every single day,
Speaker 1: Like am I doing this while I'm p M saying well,
Speaker 1: then yeah, certainly like my things and my husband's things
Speaker 1: are getting thrown out? Or am I doing this when
Speaker 1: I am in a super happy mood, Well, then most
Speaker 1: things are going to be kept because everything is so
Speaker 1: enamoring to me. So to be led by emotions in
Speaker 1: that way, to me, it's not it's not a good
Speaker 1: filter on a true a lot of levels. But then also,
Speaker 1: like you said, to attach that to inanimate objects like
Speaker 1: the things that bring me joy and joy is so
Speaker 1: it's such an intense word to We're not just talking
Speaker 1: happiness like joy is a much deeper thing. And to
Speaker 1: say that an inanimate object is bringing me this like
Speaker 1: deep joy in my soul, I'm a little bit scared
Speaker 1: of that, of that happening. I don't want to be
Speaker 1: that attached to my things. I want to be able
Speaker 1: to let go of, Yeah, anything that's cluttering my life,
Speaker 1: whether or not it brings me that joy. I'm concerned
Speaker 1: about the emotional attachments and why I might keep things
Speaker 1: versus get rid of things. So yeah, and we're looking
Speaker 1: at joy from a Japanese translation to an American one,
Speaker 1: So she could mean something less intense, but I think
Speaker 1: for us, that's just the way that we view joy.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like on a higher level level than happiness,
Speaker 1: and so that's our interpretation. So I think we have
Speaker 1: to find our own sparks joy phrase to translate it appropriately. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean for me, and it's not too far off
Speaker 1: from this, I do. My filter is does it bring
Speaker 1: beauty or function for me? So that's yeah. So there
Speaker 1: there's some flavors of the Kunmari method probably in that,
Speaker 1: maybe in the beauty, but then also the function, because
Speaker 1: like one of these articles pointed out, like of course,
Speaker 1: your toothbrush most likely is not sparking joy for you,
Speaker 1: but you need that, Like, don't throw that out, You're
Speaker 1: gonna clean teeth, spark joy. Yeah, you gotta go down
Speaker 1: a long rabbit trail for that one. But it's it's something,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like it's working for some people. But
Speaker 1: I'm just not sure I want to encourage emotional attachments
Speaker 1: to my things. Yeah, I did like the perspective that
Speaker 1: Marie put. You mentioned the one thing with the clothing
Speaker 1: that you know, you have a a very unworn piece
Speaker 1: of clothing that maybe you were at one point and
Speaker 1: it didn't bring you joy. And then you have another
Speaker 1: piece of clothing but maybe you never wore, but you
Speaker 1: bought it because you wanted to be this person and
Speaker 1: you got at home and you realized you were not
Speaker 1: that person. But you can't get rid of it because
Speaker 1: you've never worn't you have that some cost bias? And
Speaker 1: she says, to thank the piece of clothing for teaching
Speaker 1: you who you are and who you are not. And
Speaker 1: I did. I did like that. I don't personally thank
Speaker 1: my clothing, but it did help me get rid of
Speaker 1: some stuff having that perspective, and it reveals a lot
Speaker 1: of behavioral economics principles. Uh yeah, so it's it's all
Speaker 1: that kind of emotion tide spending is behind the theory
Speaker 1: of behavioral economics. So yeah, and you know me, I'm
Speaker 1: all about freedom. So yes, if this method is going
Speaker 1: to help people have the freedom to minimize and declutter,
Speaker 1: then fantastic. But then, and maybe this is the difference
Speaker 1: that we're talking about decluttering versus acquiring, because I think
Speaker 1: in decluttering, okay, doesn't spark joy, get rid of everything
Speaker 1: that doesn't spark joy, but that I don't think that
Speaker 1: question can be applied when you are purchasing things, because
Speaker 1: then that that is how you can in that rut
Speaker 1: of collecting. Well, yeah, it sparked joy in the store.
Speaker 1: Well isn't that everybody's problem? It looked great in the
Speaker 1: dressing room, and you get home, it's like, what the
Speaker 1: heck happened? Because this is not the dressing room anymore,
Speaker 1: and this color looks awful on me. Yeah, so it
Speaker 1: takes away a lot of guilt from previous purchases made.
Speaker 1: So I think that's a good thing. But you kind
Speaker 1: of you just look at it on your own and
Speaker 1: decide for yourself. These are just what we think. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: no shaming. If you do love the Camari method, I
Speaker 1: mean yeah, I love a lot of the principles of it.
Speaker 1: So and that's why we're talking about it. Speaking of emotions,
Speaker 1: one of the life changes that she talked about is
Speaker 1: we don't hang on to things. We hang onto emotions
Speaker 1: attached to those things. And that is a really powerful
Speaker 1: mantra when you are decluttering. Yeah, and that is I
Speaker 1: think ties back to maybe the clothing thing that both
Speaker 1: clothing things that Jill and I were talking about, like
Speaker 1: buying something because you want to be this person and
Speaker 1: maybe that person is not the right person for you
Speaker 1: to be, and sometimes that realization can be emotional. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of other things too. I think we think
Speaker 1: about it more in sentimental items, but it can be
Speaker 1: in books that you want to read that to make
Speaker 1: yourself the type of person that you don't necessarily need
Speaker 1: to be, and just all kinds of stuff. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: this is where it kind of goes both ways of
Speaker 1: keeping things for an emotion that they evoke, but then
Speaker 1: also getting rid of things regardless of the emotion they evoke.
Speaker 1: Is that kind of is that your understanding jen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think she's she really wants to convey that that
Speaker 1: memories and emotions live inside us, and that we don't
Speaker 1: necessarily need a physical, tangible thing whose only use is
Speaker 1: to help us remember that thing. And uh and yeah,
Speaker 1: so it goes. I think it can go into every
Speaker 1: room in the house, every category can hold this kind
Speaker 1: of emotional bond in one way or another. Like I
Speaker 1: have this kitchen aid. What is it like? It shops
Speaker 1: things got so little, I don't even know what. It's
Speaker 1: called a food processor, and I got it. I registered
Speaker 1: for it for my wedding because I wanted to be
Speaker 1: the person who used a food processor. And it turns
Speaker 1: out I am not the person who uses a food processor,
Speaker 1: but I am emotionally attached to it because I still
Speaker 1: want to be that person. And we did. We talked
Speaker 1: about that in the Joshua Becker episode two, which is
Speaker 1: funny to put interesting to put these two up against
Speaker 1: each other and look at the similarities and the differences
Speaker 1: and kind of There are commendations and tips that they
Speaker 1: both give, and there's there's good things that we can
Speaker 1: pull out of all of it. But I think, just
Speaker 1: like anything, we don't have to listen to one voice
Speaker 1: in this conversation, we can pull on all the wisdom
Speaker 1: and find what works for us. So anyhow, and this
Speaker 1: next one that this article talks about is having fewer
Speaker 1: things you love is better than having a lot of
Speaker 1: things that you kind of like. And I can't get
Speaker 1: on board with this. This is probably baseline minimalism, the
Speaker 1: not theology philosophy. I agree. So this is and and
Speaker 1: there is freedom in this to not be cluttered and
Speaker 1: have things all around us that are like, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: kind of cool, but I don't like this about it,
Speaker 1: and this is kind of neat, but whatever, rather than okay,
Speaker 1: this these few things that I have really sort of
Speaker 1: a purpose or they have beauty or they spark joy
Speaker 1: if you want to use that that lingo. The lifestyle
Speaker 1: that that leads to is better than just being surrounded
Speaker 1: by things that, like you, you could give or take.
Speaker 1: They're they're they're okay. Yeah. I think this philosophy is
Speaker 1: is essential to our frugality too, because once you declutter
Speaker 1: and you have this you know, this capsule wardrobe or
Speaker 1: this capsule kitchen, you know, like I like the word capsule.
Speaker 1: It's very trendy right now, Um, Once you have this,
Speaker 1: then you don't feel the need to buy new stuff.
Speaker 1: You don't feel the need to take advantage of sales
Speaker 1: just because they're there, and you can be content. You
Speaker 1: can learn contentment because you're surrounded by things you love,
Speaker 1: and then you can tell the difference between love and
Speaker 1: kind of like in your home and your relationships. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that is something that she said that once she
Speaker 1: declutter and kept things that she loved, then she realized
Speaker 1: she didn't need more genes because she really she really
Speaker 1: enjoyed the ones that she had. It wasn't like, I
Speaker 1: have ten pairs that I kind of like, but none
Speaker 1: of them quite suit my needs, so I'll just get
Speaker 1: another pair, versus no, I have two really great pairs
Speaker 1: at home, so I don't need anymore exactly, and that
Speaker 1: can help sustain the lifestyle. I do like that. And
Speaker 1: when you do need a new pair of jeans, you're
Speaker 1: not going to feel guilty for getting the really quality
Speaker 1: pair because you didn't buy the ten they were just
Speaker 1: on sale. Oh yes, Yeah, So another another perk and
Speaker 1: the last one on this list. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you were accounting, but we counted the first two is
Speaker 1: one because you're both about joy. But so number five
Speaker 1: is it's not about what others think. So I didn't
Speaker 1: really think about this. Yeah, I didn't even think of
Speaker 1: out this when I was decluttering. I guess because I
Speaker 1: already don't care what others think. Most of aging it
Speaker 1: comes with the territory. Although I've already given we've hit
Speaker 1: it a little too early, so I'm a little afraid
Speaker 1: for what we're going to be like when we're gen
Speaker 1: But yeah, you'll get to hear it on the podcast.
Speaker 1: So she said this story that I really resonated with um,
Speaker 1: and it's while she was decluttering. She had a black
Speaker 1: sweater and she was trying to decide whether to keep
Speaker 1: it or get rid of it. So she put it
Speaker 1: on for her daughter and husband and they both said
Speaker 1: it looked good. They gave the thumbs up, and so
Speaker 1: the sweater went back in her closet. But it kept
Speaker 1: nagging at her, like she didn't really like it, and
Speaker 1: and usually we care about what others thinking a negative aspect,
Speaker 1: but this was a reversal, like they really liked it,
Speaker 1: and she was like, I just don't know, but since
Speaker 1: they like it, I'll keep it. And eventually she was like,
Speaker 1: does this really bring me joy? Or it could have
Speaker 1: also been like do I personally really like this? And
Speaker 1: then it was like no, I don't, So she got
Speaker 1: rid of it, and yeah, that is something that I
Speaker 1: will take with me into this year's declutter, because there's
Speaker 1: there's things. Drives and I have different opinions on what
Speaker 1: I should be wearing. Um, but you're a strong, independent woman.
Speaker 1: You make up your own mind, right. Yeah, so he
Speaker 1: wants me to wear like closet fit and I just
Speaker 1: want to wear like bags. So so I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to go with my heart and wear the bags. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1: Whatever whatever sparked joy, then I can relate to that
Speaker 1: though in a lot of areas of life, particularly though
Speaker 1: with my own things. Trying on a pair of shoes
Speaker 1: or what do you think about it? And oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I really like it. But it's like for me, I
Speaker 1: know the intricates ease of it. You know, he may say, yes,
Speaker 1: I like those pair of shoes on you, but then
Speaker 1: I can know, yeah, but they kind of dig in
Speaker 1: on my left side and I'll only wear it with
Speaker 1: this outfit and I've only worn that outfit a few times.
Speaker 1: And he doesn't know that whole inner dialogue, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter to him that much whether or not
Speaker 1: I get rid of it, So why don't I just
Speaker 1: make my own decisions for myself? There there's a novel
Speaker 1: concept now, but but one of the Kanmari method things
Speaker 1: is to do this on your own, don't take into
Speaker 1: consideration what others think. And I think at first I
Speaker 1: was like, what that's so isolating, it's so individualistic. Other
Speaker 1: people matter, community, rah Ra, You're still going to get
Speaker 1: in trouble for throwing away your husband and children's Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So I think that that this this point really did
Speaker 1: help me to kind of understand what that's talking about
Speaker 1: in the Kumari method is that no one's going to
Speaker 1: know the inner dialogue of your personal things. You make
Speaker 1: the decision. But I do think this is the whole
Speaker 1: I'm going to poke in it that yes, when it's
Speaker 1: shared items, when it or when it is somebody else's things, No,
Speaker 1: you don't get to do that alone. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: trump that one and say you don't get to do
Speaker 1: that alone. But I agree, make the decision for your
Speaker 1: own clothing and yeah, what you know fits and what
Speaker 1: looks good on you or whatever doesn't just have to
Speaker 1: be clothing. But I will say, if you live with
Speaker 1: a hoarder, then you can go through and maybe pick
Speaker 1: out some things, like just help him out, but don't
Speaker 1: get rid of them, hide them and then when he
Speaker 1: asks where they are, then you say, oh, it's it's here, um.
Speaker 1: And then in like if it's been several months and
Speaker 1: he has not asked, then they go. This sounds very specific.
Speaker 1: This arder is a male and you live with him,
Speaker 1: and it's just a theory, you know that you want
Speaker 1: if you want to test it out. I mean, it
Speaker 1: depends on what your definition of hoarding is. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Tread lightly, tread lightly on other people's things, Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you know what, we don't have to tread lightly on.
Speaker 1: Oh the best time of the week. Yeah, it's time
Speaker 1: for the bill. That's right, it's time for the best
Speaker 1: minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
Speaker 1: and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That's built buffalo bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 1: this is the bill of the week. Hi running is Tyler,
Speaker 1: and my favorite bill is my mortgage that is really weird,
Speaker 1: I know, but because I am a first time homeowner
Speaker 1: and I just bought my house in September, it is
Speaker 1: still my favorite bill as of right now. Because I'm
Speaker 1: making changes to my house. It's something that i can
Speaker 1: call my own and it's something that I'm extremely proud of.
Speaker 1: So I would have to say, all right, they awesome, Tyler, Yes,
Speaker 1: this is a perfect bill for today. I thought they
Speaker 1: said luggage at first, and I was like, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is interesting, let's talk about that. And then I realized
Speaker 1: it was mortgage, and that doesn't make sense. That there's
Speaker 1: something to be said about the pride in home ownership
Speaker 1: and responsibility and even being able to pay that bill. Yes,
Speaker 1: there's so much wrapped up in their congratulations. I love
Speaker 1: my mortgage. I love being able to put extra money
Speaker 1: towards the principle of my mortgage. I know josh Onan
Speaker 1: Becker and I geeked out about this when he was here,
Speaker 1: But that is an empowering feeling knowing how much money
Speaker 1: you are saving, or like Tyler, who's doing renovations on
Speaker 1: our house right now, like how much your value of
Speaker 1: your home is going up just because of the things
Speaker 1: you're doing. It's so empowering. So Tyler, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for that bill. If you've got a bill that
Speaker 1: you'd like to tell us about, please visit Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash bill and leave us one. We
Speaker 1: love hearing all of your bills. We do. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: our favorite part of the week, like we said, always always,
Speaker 1: and we did actually get some We got our first
Speaker 1: robo call on the hotline this week, um, asking us
Speaker 1: about like back braces or something. I don't know, but yeah,
Speaker 1: So if you're not calling, somebody else is. But we
Speaker 1: can't use those bills because they're clearly not about bills,
Speaker 1: so we need you to provide step up up. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, So we've talked all about this can Marie
Speaker 1: method and we really want to a do it ourselves,
Speaker 1: well me more than Jill because I actually have square
Speaker 1: feet to declutter um and then and also give you
Speaker 1: guys the chance to join in with us. And we're
Speaker 1: not going to do it all in a day because nobody,
Speaker 1: yeah I ain't, nobody had time for that. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna try it out over thirty one days. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna be using
Speaker 1: Marie Kondo's method for decluttering, but like Jen said, more
Speaker 1: toned down thirty one day challenge. I have made a
Speaker 1: list of everything that Marie includes in her book for
Speaker 1: d cluttering and listed it out over thirty one days.
Speaker 1: And so we know it's January four and you're already
Speaker 1: a little behind, but the first few are super easy
Speaker 1: and you can catch up really easily this weekend, or
Speaker 1: you can go four days into February. No one is
Speaker 1: going to it doesn't have to just be January whenever
Speaker 1: you're listening in So what these are there mini d
Speaker 1: clutters and they should not take you more than an
Speaker 1: hour to tackle. They can, but don't let them. Just
Speaker 1: put put your put your efforts towards it for an hour.
Speaker 1: It's a real world kick start that Marie would not
Speaker 1: approve of, but she's not here. Yeah, And so we
Speaker 1: are going to have the link to the calendar on
Speaker 1: our show notes for this episode, and you can sign
Speaker 1: up to get the calendar emailed to you and the
Speaker 1: it's coming from the Modern Frugality Shop back to our spawn, sir,
Speaker 1: which is actually me, thank you so um. And we
Speaker 1: also if you don't want to do a month long
Speaker 1: but you would rather do maybe a weekend. Um. The
Speaker 1: shop also has a free weekend starter challenge and you
Speaker 1: can get that for free. It's called the Weekend can
Speaker 1: Mary Challenge Guide. So we are going to do the
Speaker 1: thirty one day here. There's also a two and a
Speaker 1: half day challenge, so whatever you want, you can find
Speaker 1: it there. And uh and yeah, so we hope you
Speaker 1: will join in with us and d clutter your life
Speaker 1: this year and then join us on the Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: Facebook community group. Post pictures, tell us how it's going
Speaker 1: for you. We we love group challenges, group participation, community input.
Speaker 1: It's what spurs us on. And yeah, I'm so excited, Jill,
Speaker 1: are you? Is there anything in particular that you were
Speaker 1: excited to declutter? My clothing Since moving out of a
Speaker 1: motor home and in with my grandmother, which is still
Speaker 1: not a lot of space, but I have been a
Speaker 1: little bit lax on collecting things. I really haven't spent
Speaker 1: any money on clothing, but people will give me clothing
Speaker 1: that they're getting rid of and I'll go through it
Speaker 1: and if there's something that I like, then I'll keep it.
Speaker 1: And I've gotten a little bit like, Yeah, because I've
Speaker 1: had space, I have filled that with clothing. It's my downfall,
Speaker 1: it's my achilles heel, and I gotta go through it
Speaker 1: because now I've just got drawers full of things that
Speaker 1: I hardly wear or I don't really like that much.
Speaker 1: So I'm but I'm excited. I am looking forward to
Speaker 1: getting rid of clothes and getting back on track with
Speaker 1: a more pared down wardrobe. Yeah, how about you SAME's clothes? Well,
Speaker 1: so literally everything because we we are expecting our first child.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about things that sparked joy a little bundle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we are literally expecting to spark joy in May.
Speaker 1: And uh so there are things that go into having
Speaker 1: a baby, um that involve accumulation, and so we I
Speaker 1: really am committed to getting rid of a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff from our bedroom, our kitchen, my office is going
Speaker 1: to become a nursery soon. So there's just so many things,
Speaker 1: and uh so I'm very motivated to pare down to
Speaker 1: just the essential started now before you get huge. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I have to because I'm already growing
Speaker 1: and if I if I don't do it in January,
Speaker 1: I fear it won't get done, especially as the warmer
Speaker 1: months start coming in, Holy smokes, you're gonna be big
Speaker 1: and sweaty. Thank you. So excited for you. I'm always
Speaker 1: always happy to hear your encouragement for my life. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited. I'm excited for you, and I'm also excited
Speaker 1: for me and what that I get to watch this happen.
Speaker 1: And then also for our podcast, because I think this
Speaker 1: is good press for us, you know, to have a
Speaker 1: baby on the way. I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: fantastic for our ratings. Yeah, that's why I didn't. I thought,
Speaker 1: if we need a little something to shake things out,
Speaker 1: and then when our ratings you start to go down again,
Speaker 1: I'll get pregnant and we'll just go back and forth
Speaker 1: and back and forth until we're famous. Yes, because of
Speaker 1: our babies, a lot of kids. We're gonna have a
Speaker 1: lot of kids that, Rachel, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: want to commit to that. We hope that you enjoyed
Speaker 1: that rewind into the archives, because good things shouldn't be forgotten,
Speaker 1: they should be brought back a time and time again.
Speaker 1: We hope that you found it as timeless as we uh.
Speaker 1: And so thank you for listening, and thank you for
Speaker 1: your kind reviews. Seriously, if there's a way you're looking
Speaker 1: to support the show, reviews are it, literally, just take
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Speaker 1: Just did a quick binge of all the episodes over
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks and was greatly surprised by content.
Speaker 1: It ties with other financial podcasts with a different perspective.
Speaker 1: Great up in the great episodes. Wow, great up, great up,
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Speaker 1: this says, just did a quick binge. I was waiting
Speaker 1: for you to complete that sentence, like quick binge of
Speaker 1: what literally all the episodes? Well, one of our listeners
Speaker 1: in our Frugal Friends community on spotify it told her
Speaker 1: one day she listened to like eleven hours of the
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Speaker 1: next Week by Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian
Speaker 1: Minimalism Jen. I have to tell you that whenever I
Speaker 1: get stressed, one of my stress responses is wanting to
Speaker 1: get rid of as much as I can. Absolutely, I
Speaker 1: am with you, it doesn't feel the healthiest in the
Speaker 1: moment because I just get so frustrated, like why do
Speaker 1: we why do we have so many shoes when really
Speaker 1: we don't. It just feels like and really it can
Speaker 1: be aimed at Eric just like, well you need to
Speaker 1: and I'll pull out minimalism terms like you need to
Speaker 1: edit ed, you need to edit your flip flops just
Speaker 1: so frustrated how many blankets we have, but we have
Speaker 1: a lot of gas, so I cannot get rid of
Speaker 1: all these blankets and pillows like we do use them.
Speaker 1: It just is in a fit of stress, I want
Speaker 1: to get rid of everything. The worst is when I'm
Speaker 1: pissed and then I trip over something like a toy
Speaker 1: or shoe because those are always on the ground, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, what the heck, and then I just go
Speaker 1: into a fit of rage cleaning. Do you edit your
Speaker 1: language like that? There's no I don't use the word edit.
Speaker 1: I think that's I don't know from you edit your
Speaker 1: language your own there's no expletives expletives at home so
Speaker 1: much to the chagrin of Travis. But the term edit
Speaker 1: off of like blogs and stuff. I think we've even
Speaker 1: talked about it, like how to maintain minimalism, you have
Speaker 1: to start editing. So I watched the Home Edit show
Speaker 1: on Netflix and I hated it. I thought it was
Speaker 1: very pretentious an elitist. I also watched it. It definitely
Speaker 1: wasn't minimalist. It was organization. Yeah, I know, And so
Speaker 1: maybe I wanted them to purge because I did want
Speaker 1: to see them pea. I wanted their styles right, and
Speaker 1: so I didn't like that. I was like, you have
Speaker 1: too much stuff, that's why your house is insane, get
Speaker 1: rid of it. And that wold have been me, and
Speaker 1: that's why I don't have a million followers on Instagram.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's just so my goal this year. Can
Speaker 1: I let's be candid, UM and anybody listening to this
Speaker 1: that can help me with this, I'm all on board.
Speaker 1: Contact me. The Minimalists have a new book coming out
Speaker 1: in July, and I want to get them on the show.
Speaker 1: So I've already tracked down their publisher and the publicity
Speaker 1: assistant at the publisher and another person on the PR
Speaker 1: team UM to try and reach out, and I tracked
Speaker 1: down their email addresses from LinkedIn. I mean, we've already
Speaker 1: had all the other Minimalist on the podcasts, so it's
Speaker 1: only fair, right, So mark my words, I'm going to
Speaker 1: reach out and it is my goal to get the
Speaker 1: Minimalists on this show. Thanks for being candid and for
Speaker 1: sharing your goals, because even if they feel just out
Speaker 1: of reach, yeah, they're doing organization shouldn't write. Even though
Speaker 1: I didn't like Lesses Now, it wasn't a great little
Speaker 1: mini documentary but I can forgive them for that because
Speaker 1: they have a book coming out this year, so they
Speaker 1: want to be on the radar again. I get it,
Speaker 1: it's it's marketing. But I forgive them for that, and
Speaker 1: I still want them on the show. Okay, I'm here
Speaker 1: for it. Thank you.