Speaker 1: Episode four fifty Declutter your kitchen in thirty days.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver with your life.
Speaker 3: Here your hosts, Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jill, and today we are going to walk
Speaker 1: you through how to declutter your kitchen in thirty days
Speaker 1: so that it is ready to go before all of
Speaker 1: our high food income holidays.
Speaker 3: Ooh yeah, that is a good reason to do this. Yep,
Speaker 3: get it done, Get it done in thirty days or less.
Speaker 3: But first, this episode is brought to you by Trip Dicks,
Speaker 3: a new word I learned and now obviously the sponsor
Speaker 3: of this episode. I made quick work of that one.
Speaker 3: What's not to love when it comes to things in threes,
Speaker 3: like a work of art with three sections, or a
Speaker 3: movie with three stories, or the friend Letter with three
Speaker 3: carefully crafted emails to your inbox each week. Each one
Speaker 3: is a work of art, with updates on Freebie's ways
Speaker 3: to save money on the stuff that you're already buying,
Speaker 3: and helpful money mindset tips if you're not already getting
Speaker 3: this lovely weekly triptick to your email inbox. Frugal friendspodcast
Speaker 3: dot com the best triptch a girl could ask for.
Speaker 1: Probably you're probably right, I think so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, most tripticks are quite old and religious and.
Speaker 1: Art okay, you learn something new or weird movies, very
Speaker 1: odd movies okay, great anyways.
Speaker 3: So instead you get the friend letter for one's com Anyways.
Speaker 1: We love decluttering because we know that the physical spaces
Speaker 1: and how we process the things in our visual line
Speaker 1: of sight, the way we feel about our physical spaces
Speaker 1: do have an impact on how we make spending decisions
Speaker 1: and what we buy. So when we can get rid
Speaker 1: of not get rid of, but we can move away
Speaker 1: from the complexity bias that gets us to add more
Speaker 1: things to solve our problems. And I don't think we
Speaker 1: see that anywhere more than in the kitchen, with every
Speaker 1: small gadget and appliance that is promising to do make
Speaker 1: our work easier in the future. Right, when we can
Speaker 1: get away from that complexity bias that moves us to
Speaker 1: ad ad and we can get back to simplicity so
Speaker 1: that we're utilizing and we're efficient, then things outside of
Speaker 1: the kitchen work better. So if you like decluttering, especially
Speaker 1: in the kitchen. Catch some of our other episodes. We've
Speaker 1: got episode three ninety six, which is our minimalist pantry formula.
Speaker 1: Minimalist pantries have been something we've been passionate about on
Speaker 1: the show since day one. Instead of having stockpiles, we
Speaker 1: prefer minimalist pantries. Three forty eight Declutter your home in
Speaker 1: thirty days. We also love thirty days, just feels like
Speaker 1: a really.
Speaker 3: We do, take it, take it a month at a time.
Speaker 1: And then episode three oh two how decluttering saves you
Speaker 1: money with Ingrid Jansen. So those are some really good ones.
Speaker 1: Today it's all about the kitchen. So we are going
Speaker 1: day by day, but some days are the same, so
Speaker 1: it's not like, you know, so different. So that you
Speaker 1: can do this in a doable way. We're not going
Speaker 1: to make you create a big old miss and then
Speaker 1: have to get overwhelmed and just never touch it again.
Speaker 1: We're going to make this doable so that no matter
Speaker 1: what's going on in your month, that you can get
Speaker 1: this done.
Speaker 3: Of course, you could make a big old mess if
Speaker 3: that's your style. You don't want to elongate it out
Speaker 3: thirty days, that's totally fine, but you came here for
Speaker 3: the third.
Speaker 1: Hear no, but here's your thing. Everybody's style is going
Speaker 1: to be I'm just going to get it all out
Speaker 1: in a weekend. I'm just going to do it, pull
Speaker 1: the band aid off. But humans, most of us, are
Speaker 1: not able to do that. So while our brains think
Speaker 1: we can, it's these weekend warrior projects that turn into one, two, three,
Speaker 1: four week like misery months. So let's not get miserable.
Speaker 3: No. Now, we are going to be looking at this
Speaker 3: article that comes from Modern Minimalism and it's called how
Speaker 3: to Cut Your Kids's Kitchen and like the ultimate guide
Speaker 3: on it, so it is quite lengthy. I do think
Speaker 3: it's a great resource. We have it linked in the
Speaker 3: show notes. But this article does not give you a
Speaker 3: breakdown of how to do it in thirty days. That's
Speaker 3: something yours, truly. Jen and I are going to be
Speaker 3: adding in as kind of a template how you could
Speaker 3: approach this over the course of thirty days. But I
Speaker 3: want to highlight some of the things that they start
Speaker 3: off talking about regarding their reasons to even go about
Speaker 3: doing this, because you're gonna need to pump yourself up
Speaker 3: for this.
Speaker 1: You're gonna need internal motivation because the external is gonna
Speaker 1: wear off real quick, and so you're gonna need to
Speaker 1: know why you're doing this.
Speaker 3: I would say, for me, the kitchen is the most
Speaker 3: complicated part of my home. I think, what do they
Speaker 3: call it? The heartbeat of the home is the kitchen
Speaker 3: and it has the most stuff in it. It is
Speaker 3: probably the room of your house. Mine has the most cabinets.
Speaker 1: Mine needs a cardiologist. Yeah, that's what I think I got.
Speaker 1: I got issues. If it's not hard, I.
Speaker 3: Need one of those aed machines. Okay, So reasons to
Speaker 3: do this. It is going to be easier to maintain.
Speaker 3: If we are able to kind of declutter simplify every
Speaker 3: time we go into the kitchen, we are going to
Speaker 3: be less likely to become overwhelmed by it. Which is
Speaker 3: reminding me actually of a study we talk about in
Speaker 3: our book that we just wrote by what you loovebook
Speaker 3: dot com, where a group of women were studied on
Speaker 3: their perceptions of how messy their kitchens were and those
Speaker 3: who perceived their those who perceived that's an important part
Speaker 3: of this, the perception aspect, not just you know, is
Speaker 3: your kitchen messy or not? Those who perceived their kitchen
Speaker 3: to be chaotic, overwhelming, messy, disorganized, made or didn't eat
Speaker 3: as nutritionally. They didn't. They did not, They weren't preparing
Speaker 3: as many home cooked meals, and if they were, it
Speaker 3: wasn't as healthy as beneficial to their physical health. So
Speaker 3: there's a whole other reason to be simplifying our environment
Speaker 3: because then we're going to be more likely to want
Speaker 3: to engage in that environment and make meals in that environment.
Speaker 1: And I'll make a note on the perception the episode
Speaker 1: we just did on how influencers are alying to you.
Speaker 1: That plays a huge role in how we perceive our
Speaker 1: own kitchens. If we're looking at a bunch of other kitchens,
Speaker 1: because so we very rarely go into our friends' houses
Speaker 1: anymore to see their kitchens. We're more likely to see
Speaker 1: somebody we don't know online all their kitchens and we
Speaker 1: think that's a normal kitchen when reality, those are not
Speaker 1: normal kitchens. Those are viral kitchens. But we should be
Speaker 1: going into our friends homes more often seeing regular kitchens.
Speaker 1: What we see does influence how we perceive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh, that's a good point. Other reasons to be
Speaker 3: doing this is that it can lead to more efficient
Speaker 3: meal planning. Because if we know what's in our pantries,
Speaker 3: what's in our fridges and freezers, we can plan our
Speaker 3: meals around that and more quickly leads to faster meal prep.
Speaker 3: Your things might be more accessible, you know where the
Speaker 3: things are going to be, more savings across the board
Speaker 3: because you've meal prepped, because maybe you're not buying as
Speaker 3: many gadgets preemptively thinking it will make you a better
Speaker 3: cook in the kitchen, and just a more calm and
Speaker 3: peaceful cooking environment, which we already know about all the
Speaker 3: benefits of decreased stress and less overwhelm.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I joke about my heartbeat of my home
Speaker 1: needing a cardiologist, But it's because you need to be
Speaker 1: going through and reevaluating your kitchen. I would say at
Speaker 1: least once a year, prom once a year, once you've
Speaker 1: got it down, is a good good time. My pantry.
Speaker 1: We just renovated our home and finished it in April.
Speaker 1: I'm still learning how I want the things stored in
Speaker 1: my home. I haven't had home storage in two years,
Speaker 1: and so I'm still figuring that out. So I feel
Speaker 1: like my cabinets and my pantry, my linen closet is
Speaker 1: getting cluttered more easily because I'm reassessing when I put
Speaker 1: things back where they're going to go. So my pantry already,
Speaker 1: it's I have decluttered it once since April when I
Speaker 1: actually put it back together, and it's due for another one.
Speaker 1: So there's things like moving that can can spur on
Speaker 1: some of that too. That makes the need more frequent.
Speaker 1: But I think everyone should be doing this once a year,
Speaker 1: just as a reset. Yeah, so the first step, are
Speaker 1: we going to get into our thirty days now?
Speaker 3: Yep?
Speaker 1: Okay, great, so step one and we're estimating this will
Speaker 1: take about two days, so you can get this done
Speaker 1: after your work Monday Tuesday if you're starting on a Monday,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to wait for a weekend to
Speaker 1: start this. It's assess your kitchen clutter. We're doing an assessment.
Speaker 1: So what are the main types of clutter in your kitchen?
Speaker 1: This is before we even start, right, we tell you
Speaker 1: with your spending, don't start budgeting and don't start changing
Speaker 1: your habits until you've done an inventory of what you
Speaker 1: have been spending on.
Speaker 3: Get a lay of the lamb.
Speaker 1: Yes, so that's the ninety day transaction inventory for your spending.
Speaker 1: We're doing something similar, but you know simpler with this.
Speaker 1: So what are the main types of clutter in your
Speaker 1: kitchen the things you want to find a solution for.
Speaker 1: For example, do you have a lot of paper clutter
Speaker 1: on your countertops? So you'll want to when you're in
Speaker 1: the organizing phase, you want to make sure you include
Speaker 1: something that keeps papers from piling up. What areas are
Speaker 1: not being used to their full potential? You can really
Speaker 1: get an idea of when your kitchen's messy, and I
Speaker 1: love I learned this from Don Madson of the Minimal
Speaker 1: Mom when we had her on our show. She loves
Speaker 1: to use her messy kitchen as a guide on how
Speaker 1: to organize it because where things are is where you're
Speaker 1: going to want to store them closest to and so
Speaker 1: use the clutter you have look at. Okay, what areas
Speaker 1: are not being used to their full potential? What can
Speaker 1: I maybe move over there? So come up with some
Speaker 1: ideas how you could better use all the space in
Speaker 1: your kitchen, and then can things be moved to improve
Speaker 1: the organization, take advantage of the messiness to really make
Speaker 1: a plan for to start the inkling of making a plan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it does not mean that you're even touching anything.
Speaker 1: Right now, you're not touching it.
Speaker 3: At this stage, those first couple of days, you're just
Speaker 3: assessing what going on and here what am I going
Speaker 3: to have to tackle and maybe begin to think about
Speaker 3: the order. But that goes to number two, which is
Speaker 3: then you're planning and preparing day I think you only
Speaker 3: need a day for this. This would probably be about
Speaker 3: day three. If you need to take a break or
Speaker 3: you for some reason ends up taking you two days,
Speaker 3: that's fine too. I think there's a lot of wiggle
Speaker 3: room with this, but this shouldn't take long. But at
Speaker 3: this stage is only when you've now assessed and you're
Speaker 3: going to make a plan. A checklist can be really helpful.
Speaker 3: They have one on this website that you could use
Speaker 3: or you could make your own, but it is broken
Speaker 3: down into sections from countertops to cabinets, drawers and shelves
Speaker 3: to pantry that's your dry food storage, to your cold food,
Speaker 3: your refrigerator and freezer. And under each of these categories
Speaker 3: or subcategories, like for instance, on your countertops, you've got
Speaker 3: the paper piles, the things that don't belong to core.
Speaker 3: You're still not touching anything. You're just making a plan.
Speaker 3: You are coming up with what that plan's going to
Speaker 3: look like, and you're even going to decide in what
Speaker 3: order will you go. One of the things we love
Speaker 3: to talk about when it comes to decluttering is beginning
Speaker 3: at the easiest place first. Don't start with your sentimental
Speaker 3: kitchen belongings that were giving to you from your grape
Speaker 3: great career. Begin at the place that you know pretty quickly,
Speaker 3: I know how to deal with these things. So whether
Speaker 3: that's going to me in your countertop, or that's going
Speaker 3: to mean your cup cabinet, or you know, specific to
Speaker 3: your silverware drawer, And don't be concerned if you're like
Speaker 3: I don't have a cup cabinet cups, go in for
Speaker 3: different cabinets. That's okay, we'll get there. But begin to
Speaker 3: identify using a checklist or creating your own what are
Speaker 3: all of the different areas of your kitchen you want
Speaker 3: to tackle, and begin to prioritize where you will begin first.
Speaker 3: Usually going from easiest to most difficult will be kind
Speaker 3: of how you plan that one out. They then talk
Speaker 3: about the different supplies that you might need. I believe
Speaker 3: that they are encouraging through this article that it is
Speaker 3: going to happen in like a day or a weekend.
Speaker 3: It doesn't have to be even though there might be
Speaker 3: a collection of supplies. So they talk about having an
Speaker 3: empty sink for being able to rinse out containers or bins,
Speaker 3: having empty boxes that you can put anything that you
Speaker 3: want to give away for donation into trash bags or
Speaker 3: cycling bins, a hand vacuum so you can clean the bins, drawers,
Speaker 3: and cabinets as you go along. Any kind of cleaning
Speaker 3: spray or soapy water rags, they say, And I'm going
Speaker 3: to push back against this, a measuring tape so you
Speaker 3: can plan potential organization solutions. And I'm going to say
Speaker 3: add an extra challenge in that you will not purchase
Speaker 3: anything to organize your kitchen. I think that is a fallacy,
Speaker 3: a myth that we don't need to fall the too.
Speaker 3: It does not need to be aesthetically pleasing. It needs
Speaker 3: to be functional, and most likely you have things around
Speaker 3: your house that you can use to be able to
Speaker 3: corral items or there's another way to be able to
Speaker 3: organize without purchasing items. I would say, do the organization
Speaker 3: first and then and we'll get to that. I'll be
Speaker 3: step five, but then decide after you've given it a
Speaker 3: couple weeks. What might you want to purchase, but to
Speaker 3: start with, give yourself that challenge of not doing that,
Speaker 3: and then you're decluttering checklists. Now, most of these things,
Speaker 3: even though you've collected them, it doesn't mean that they
Speaker 3: can't be set aside to revisit your kitchen decluttering on
Speaker 3: another day. And I would say that most of this
Speaker 3: collection doesn't need to happen until the days that you
Speaker 3: are doing this. But I would agree with the empty sink,
Speaker 3: a place where you can put the donations that you're
Speaker 3: the stuff you're getting rid of, and a rag so
Speaker 3: you can wipe things down as you go.
Speaker 1: Well, I like the idea of gathering all this stuff together.
Speaker 1: We have a cleaning like bin with all of our
Speaker 1: cleaning products. Makes it really easy to have everything in
Speaker 1: one place. We take it to the place that's going
Speaker 1: to be cleaned, everything's there, and then we move it
Speaker 1: back to the pantry. And so this is the same idea.
Speaker 1: If you can get a box or something temporary, or
Speaker 1: maybe something that you already have that can be used
Speaker 1: as a cleaning kit in the future, then you've got
Speaker 1: all your stuff ready so that when you start decluttering,
Speaker 1: which is the next day. You can just take it
Speaker 1: the day before. You can move it to that section
Speaker 1: so you already know when you get home, this is
Speaker 1: the section that's getting you know, decluttered and cleaned. And
Speaker 1: then we do that, we put you know, put everything back,
Speaker 1: and then we move the kit to the thing that's
Speaker 1: getting decluttered and cleaned tomorrow, so it's already there, we
Speaker 1: visually see what's on the docket for tomorrow. It just
Speaker 1: makes it is that barrier to entry, makes it easier
Speaker 1: to get over.
Speaker 3: It's all prepped.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I think that's kind of I really like
Speaker 1: that idea that it's misen plus right, and when you're cooking,
Speaker 1: you're putting everything that you need for the recipe out
Speaker 1: in front of you so that it's easier to get
Speaker 1: to while you're cooking. And this is the same idea.
Speaker 1: Make it easier to declutter and then clean before you
Speaker 1: put the things back in so that you actually follow
Speaker 1: through with with what you're doing. So then we move
Speaker 1: on to day four, and honestly, you could, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna maybe make your planned day three, you could assemble
Speaker 1: all of your you know, your clean and declutter kit
Speaker 1: on day four if you need that extra time, I
Speaker 1: would say definitely. If you need to find some extra
Speaker 1: boxes around your house for your your donate and your trash,
Speaker 1: you know, stuff, then take it on day four. But
Speaker 1: if you're able to do everything on day three, day
Speaker 1: four is when we start doing the daying thing and
Speaker 1: we break up the sections on the checklist per day.
Speaker 1: So we have given you fifteen days in our non
Speaker 1: patented theoretical thirty day plan, but you should really look
Speaker 1: at the sections in your house and divide those up.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's fifteen, maybe it's eighteen, whatever. Maybe you're going
Speaker 1: to need to take a few days off. Maybe it
Speaker 1: is fifteen days, but on four days you're not going
Speaker 1: to be able to do anything. So what you really
Speaker 1: need is nineteen days.
Speaker 3: And again that's part of that planning stage of what
Speaker 3: you're going to tackle on what day.
Speaker 1: Yes, So now you're doing it. You're breaking up the
Speaker 1: sections of the checklist and we're starting with the easiest one.
Speaker 1: What section would you start with, Jill?
Speaker 3: Would they list countertops? That is probably where I would begin,
Speaker 3: for multiple reasons. I think I could easily identify where
Speaker 3: the things on a countertop would need to go or
Speaker 3: set them aside for later sorting. But it also frees
Speaker 3: up the countertop for pulling things out of cabinets or drawers,
Speaker 3: so I probably would start there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So tips for decluttering the countertops. Remove everything that
Speaker 1: doesn't belong jackets, backpacks, keys, toys. Do a quick purge
Speaker 1: of the paper piles. So this would be something that
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to sit down and if you have
Speaker 1: a piece of paper that's just living on your counter
Speaker 1: because you need to make a phone call, this is it.
Speaker 3: This is the time.
Speaker 1: This is the time to make the.
Speaker 3: Phone call, hard of cleaning the nation.
Speaker 1: That's why you know one day is just countertops, maybe
Speaker 1: one day is just paper, right exactly. So we're we're
Speaker 1: then getting rid of those paper piles. Put away small appliances,
Speaker 1: the ones have a place. If they don't have a place,
Speaker 1: maybe they just get moved somewhere for the time being.
Speaker 1: If there's a small pliance you don't want to live
Speaker 1: on your countertops, take it off now, because then while
Speaker 1: you're decluttering, put it kind of where you want it
Speaker 1: to live. So then when you're decluttering that section you
Speaker 1: can more easily. It's incentivizing you to find a place
Speaker 1: for that small appliance. So any small plants you don't
Speaker 1: want living on your countertop, move it now. Get rid
Speaker 1: of countertop decor. Spare seriously, spare yourself.
Speaker 3: I have this.
Speaker 1: I have a candle on my countertop and honestly, I
Speaker 1: don't know why. It just contributes to the clutter on it.
Speaker 1: It's such a horrible idea. I moved. I just moved it.
Speaker 3: I made an unpopular move when we did our kitchen,
Speaker 3: or after it was done, of not putting anything on
Speaker 3: the island. The first day I did put a bowl
Speaker 3: out with some on it, but I found myself constantly
Speaker 3: moving the bowl and the bowl being in the way
Speaker 3: of me wiping down my countertops. That I just have decided,
Speaker 3: I'm not a person with center decre on my island.
Speaker 3: It's not functional for me. So you're going to walk
Speaker 3: in and you're just going to see a blank island.
Speaker 3: There's no flowers, do there's can bowls of fruit? That
Speaker 3: there's nothing on it because it's not functional for me.
Speaker 3: So do you have to get rid of any ideas
Speaker 3: that maybe even social media is giving you that you've
Speaker 3: got to have decor in your kitchen. It can just
Speaker 3: be functional.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do have a bowl of fruit on my
Speaker 1: counter so that we use it.
Speaker 3: That's great. If it's functional for you, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So countertops are definitely a good place to start.
Speaker 1: And then we move into cabinets and drawers. And depending
Speaker 1: on how many cabinets and drawers you have, this could
Speaker 1: take seven of your days. So I would say, may
Speaker 1: be try for a cabinet or drawer a day, or
Speaker 1: do your.
Speaker 3: Food yet we're talking about cabinets and drawers that have
Speaker 3: your kitchen, utensils, your your bottles, all that stuff. We'll
Speaker 3: get to the pantry later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So take one category to time, pull everything out
Speaker 1: of that one drawer or cabinet, sort items, see what
Speaker 1: you have, Clean the shelves, drawers, storage bin give them
Speaker 1: a quick vacuum, wipe down, and then decide what to donate,
Speaker 1: toss or keep and consider new organization options. Maybe you
Speaker 1: have some bins in one place, but contemplate if they
Speaker 1: could be better utilized in another place. So this is
Speaker 1: time not to think about buying new stuff, but if
Speaker 1: the organization stuff you already have is being used the
Speaker 1: best where it is. And again, and keep like items together.
Speaker 1: If you're pulling all this stuff out of a drawer
Speaker 1: and half of it you don't want there to live
Speaker 1: there anymore, move it to the place where you want
Speaker 1: it to live, and then when you get to that
Speaker 1: drawer tomorrow or the next day, then you're incentivized to
Speaker 1: find a place for it there. Next would be pantry,
Speaker 1: so now we're looking Now we're looking at dry food,
Speaker 1: so this is also could be cabinets. I would say
Speaker 1: an interim between this would be cabinets with dry food
Speaker 1: and then pantry with dry food. So that's that's really
Speaker 1: where I need to be right now. So this one,
Speaker 1: give yourself plenty of time. Specifically on the pantry, I
Speaker 1: would say this might take you know, five days. I
Speaker 1: don't know how big your paint. My pantry is not
Speaker 1: even that big, so mine might take like two days.
Speaker 1: But again this is a big one. So take everything out,
Speaker 1: clean the shelves, bins, drawers, go through the food, consolidate,
Speaker 1: check expiration dates, donate things that are good but you
Speaker 1: don't think you're going to use anymore. And then again
Speaker 1: consider the storage bins, is what you're using best utilized
Speaker 1: where it is? Could it be moved somewhere else? And
Speaker 1: then we get to our last part cold food. So
Speaker 1: this I think will take about two days, one for fridge,
Speaker 1: one day for freezer, again checking expiration dates, organizing as
Speaker 1: we put the food back, and just making sure we
Speaker 1: keep similar items together, labeling things that could use some
Speaker 1: labels and all that. So that's around fourteen to fifteen days.
Speaker 3: I'll add in part of the prep stage two. Sorry
Speaker 3: to backtrack a bit, but as I'm thinking about organizing
Speaker 3: with the challenge of knots spending money, that part of
Speaker 3: prep can be keeping some boxes around, whether you've ordered
Speaker 3: some recent things online and you're going to have maybe
Speaker 3: some cardboard boxes, or even as you declutter your pantry
Speaker 3: dry goods. Many times we come across the boxes that
Speaker 3: they came in the box for the granola bars or
Speaker 3: the gummies or the whatever it is, and I often
Speaker 3: just hack the top off of them and they are
Speaker 3: my storage containers, maybe for that very same food item
Speaker 3: or for other things. It is amazing the options we
Speaker 3: can have with the cardboard boxes we already have on
Speaker 3: hand that can be really great for our dry food storage,
Speaker 3: possibly even used in the freezer, depending on what kind
Speaker 3: of freezer you have, So that can be part of
Speaker 3: the creativity of it doesn't mean you can't organize. Just
Speaker 3: use what you already have and don't worry about it
Speaker 3: being pretty or clear. That brings us to number four,
Speaker 3: which is going to be drop off your donations. So,
Speaker 3: as you've gone through this process, you've probably compiled both
Speaker 3: food and kitchen gadgets kitchen supplies that you find you
Speaker 3: no longer need. They also in this article list out
Speaker 3: questions you can be asking yourself along the way as
Speaker 3: you're decluttering that will help you determine should I keep this,
Speaker 3: should I give it away? And so as you've decided
Speaker 3: these things I no longer need, I want to donate
Speaker 3: this put that you will have had those in piles,
Speaker 3: and we and this article are advocating get rid of
Speaker 3: it quickly. Don't let it sit around because it will
Speaker 3: just become overwhelming to you and.
Speaker 1: Or you'll just let it sit in the trunk of
Speaker 1: your car for months.
Speaker 3: So this is day nineteen to twenty in the overall
Speaker 3: timeline of things, And you can give yourself a couple
Speaker 3: of days if you need to take a day off it.
Speaker 3: Don't if it doesn't align with when you're already going
Speaker 3: to be out and about. Fine, But somewhere between day
Speaker 3: nineteen to twenty two, we are dropping off these donations.
Speaker 3: We're not letting the boxes and the things linger around.
Speaker 3: So whether you're taking items to Goodwill or a Salvation Army,
Speaker 3: or a Habitat for Humanity, or a Big Brother, Big Sister,
Speaker 3: or just a local thrift store and looking up different
Speaker 3: food donations if you have non expired food items, if
Speaker 3: there's a local food pantry, homeless shelter, soup kitchen, women's
Speaker 3: shelter church, there's plenty of organizations that might be willing
Speaker 3: to take some of the food that you realize you
Speaker 3: just won't eat. You thought you would, you were trying
Speaker 3: to diet out, it's not going to work. Your kids
Speaker 3: decided they hate that food that they once loved, and
Speaker 3: you just got to get it out of your house.
Speaker 3: Take some of that time to donate.
Speaker 1: It, and then so that's the first three weeks. So
Speaker 1: now that we're looking at the last week of our
Speaker 1: thirty days days, you know, twenty one or twenty two
Speaker 1: to thirty, this is when we're going to be optimizing
Speaker 1: our organization. So we've put everything into place, but we
Speaker 1: still want to be very intentional for one week to
Speaker 1: make sure your kitchen is organized in a way that
Speaker 1: will keep it decluttered and keep it organized that we're
Speaker 1: maximizing the efficiency. So some of the tips for doing
Speaker 1: that are keeping things close to where you use them.
Speaker 1: We already talked about that. Make sure you're using your
Speaker 1: mess to dictate where things should be stored. Maximize your
Speaker 1: drawer space. So this is where we're looking at. If
Speaker 1: we moved around organization containers, did we move them to
Speaker 1: the right place? Do we want to move them back?
Speaker 1: Maybe I do actually need something else. This is the
Speaker 1: week that we'd make that decision, and we don't actually
Speaker 1: buy it until day thirty. Okay, we're not going out
Speaker 1: and buying this stuff. We're we're living with what we've
Speaker 1: done for least a week before we go out and
Speaker 1: commit to buying something else. Make the cabinets more user friendly,
Speaker 1: So pull out shelves, lid organizers, lazy susan spice rack
Speaker 1: shell these are all things. After you've lived with it
Speaker 1: and you think this actually could make my life much easier,
Speaker 1: that's when we get it.
Speaker 3: And I will add that all of the tenants of
Speaker 3: frugality still remain. Can it be purchased pre owned? Can
Speaker 3: you find this at the thrift store. Can you find
Speaker 3: what you need on Facebook marketplace? I mean I have
Speaker 3: definitely used the organizers for cabinets where it kind of
Speaker 3: gives you an extra shelf in the cabinet I've got.
Speaker 3: I do have an egg organizer in my fridge because
Speaker 3: it allows me to store more than twelve eggs at
Speaker 3: a time that I got at a yard sale. Like,
Speaker 3: you can find these things, you just don't have to
Speaker 3: pay bookoo bucks for it from the container store.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, and then consider using some free so a
Speaker 1: magnetic knife strip or hooks for frequently use cooking utensils,
Speaker 1: looking at your walls, seeing if anything can be optimized
Speaker 1: on there, and embracing your bins. This one is considered.
Speaker 1: Getting a label maker and yeah, no, no, you don't
Speaker 1: need a label maker. You have a sharpie and you
Speaker 1: have tape. Yeah, or stickers if anything, you don't need
Speaker 1: a label maker. Just get some nice white laminated stickers
Speaker 1: and that will allow sharpie to be written on them
Speaker 1: and you can use those.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you even need that. You don't have to
Speaker 3: label things. But yeah, if you've got multiple people living
Speaker 3: in the house and you want to make sure things
Speaker 3: go back to where you want them to go back
Speaker 3: to a system like that could be useful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you label maker, multiple kids and you need to
Speaker 1: assign them their own snack bins so nobody's stealing out
Speaker 1: of other people's snacks. Then maybe then maybe that's good
Speaker 1: for you. But you don't need a label maker. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's fun.
Speaker 3: I also like how they wrap up with some tips
Speaker 3: for maintaining this clutter free kitchen. Just encouraging to add
Speaker 3: in habits like five to ten minutes every morning, tidying
Speaker 3: up the countertops to keep from accumulating stuff, not putting
Speaker 3: things just down, but putting them away, Beginning to form
Speaker 3: a habit of returning items back to where they belong.
Speaker 3: Stop buying kitchen gadgets is just another tip here. For
Speaker 3: some of us that might be easier than for others.
Speaker 3: But remember the pain of having decluttered your kitchen, and
Speaker 3: ask yourself some of those same questions that you had
Speaker 3: asked in decluttering of what will this solve for me?
Speaker 3: How often will I use it? Is the price to
Speaker 3: benefit worth it? Is this a real problem that I've
Speaker 3: already been trying to sault for a while. Be sure
Speaker 3: to create that pause before purchasing and just doing some
Speaker 3: of these mini decluttering sessions. Whether that's once a month
Speaker 3: or once a quarter, even once a year is all
Speaker 3: right too, depending on kind of how chaotic things might get.
Speaker 3: But allowing yourself an opportunity to re look at is
Speaker 3: there anything that needs to be refined can help avoid
Speaker 3: four years from now needing to do this entire overhaul
Speaker 3: all over again.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The last one really speaks to me, and it's one
Speaker 1: that I really need to tell the public. And it's
Speaker 1: say no to freebies. I know this is going to
Speaker 1: be very controversial coming from the frugal friends, but free samples,
Speaker 1: free water bottles, like free you know cups, and stuff
Speaker 1: with branded logos, to go condiments, take out cutlery, Just
Speaker 1: don't take them and they won't clutter your kitchen and
Speaker 1: they won't cause you to need to declutter so often.
Speaker 3: Even if you are a person who gets take out occasionally,
Speaker 3: you can tell them not to put the cutlery in
Speaker 3: the back.
Speaker 1: I say, I don't need cutlery, I don't need extra
Speaker 1: soy sauce.
Speaker 3: I do always feel bad throwing those things out, so
Speaker 3: I either don't ask for them, or it's what if
Speaker 3: I have a few, I'll keep them in my lunch
Speaker 3: box or the cooler or my car. There are times
Speaker 3: that I need that. But there's only so much that
Speaker 3: you need. You don't need to collect all of it.
Speaker 3: But do you know what we do need to collect
Speaker 3: all of And this is what I.
Speaker 1: Say, Yes today is never controversial for us.
Speaker 4: The bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was and his name is Williams.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your card died
Speaker 2: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 3: That's bills, but flow bills. Bill clan, this is the
Speaker 3: bill up the week.
Speaker 5: Hi Jen and Jill. My name's Deana. I live in
Speaker 5: the Kansas City, Missouri area. My bill of the week
Speaker 5: is after being exposed to COVID and having to take
Speaker 5: tests at the urgent care facility nearby, which I didn't
Speaker 5: realize my medical plan made it that I had to
Speaker 5: pay ah most one hundred and ninety dollars each time
Speaker 5: I visited. I spent some time figuring out why I
Speaker 5: had multiple cards from my medical insurance provider, and come
Speaker 5: to find out, I had about two hundred dollars in
Speaker 5: my FSA from last year that was still available to me.
Speaker 5: That FSA was limited purpose, but I was able to
Speaker 5: put in a reimbursement submission for my contact lenses that
Speaker 5: I planned on floating on my credit card, and so
Speaker 5: that money's now coming back to me and I'm able
Speaker 5: to pay off some of that extra debt that I
Speaker 5: was not anticipating. Super excited that things kind of worked
Speaker 5: out and listening to you guys help me get creative.
Speaker 1: Well, Dana, way to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's really great, and I think a helpful reminder
Speaker 3: for all of us to be looking into our options
Speaker 3: when we get especially medical bills. I think we can
Speaker 3: often just resign ourselves to paying whatever comes through the mail,
Speaker 3: but recognizing whether we can negotiate those costs, or we
Speaker 3: can look back into what other benefits do I might
Speaker 3: have that I may have forgotten to use, and even
Speaker 3: if so, FSAs usually the money only lasts you for
Speaker 3: a certain year, but there could be some grace periods
Speaker 3: with an fssay of how far beyond that year you
Speaker 3: can take advantage of any money that might be left
Speaker 3: in that account, Which sounds like that worked for you,
Speaker 3: Danna or if.
Speaker 1: It's an ah say that you're not actively investing in
Speaker 1: you don't want to. If there's some money in there
Speaker 1: from a match or whatever, then yeah, that's great. It's
Speaker 1: great to have. It's just great to use that money
Speaker 1: and not let it just sit there and you forget
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. If you all are listening and you have a
Speaker 3: bill that you were able to pay off with some creative, thoughtful,
Speaker 3: resourceful ideas or your name is Bill, visit us at
Speaker 3: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill to leave us
Speaker 3: your bill. We can't wait for it. And now it's
Speaker 3: time for the light.
Speaker 1: All right. So what is a common kitchen gadget you
Speaker 1: found you don't need or use? So I I think
Speaker 1: it's my blender, but with the caveat that. Travis got
Speaker 1: a Ninja blender with the cup that goes on top
Speaker 1: like the flip one like the magic bullet, and I
Speaker 1: use that one much more now because I'm just making
Speaker 1: one smoothie and now I use that. He bought it
Speaker 1: for himself for work, but it was too loud, and
Speaker 1: it is so loud it is obnoxious. But I use
Speaker 1: that thing pretty frequently now and it's small, so I
Speaker 1: keep it on my counter, whereas my blender is large
Speaker 1: and I keep it in the pantry.
Speaker 3: Oh cool, Yeah, so.
Speaker 1: I think that's that I still have my blender. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm it's.
Speaker 3: The what are you going to do with your blender?
Speaker 1: I well, I still have the or the pantry.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you get something that is better than what you
Speaker 3: had used. It can be hard to part with the
Speaker 3: other thing because you remember, I did used to use this.
Speaker 3: This used to come in handy for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Travis got this ninja little magic bullet thing
Speaker 1: on Facebook Marketplace and I have benefited from it. So
Speaker 1: I never anticipated this new appliance coming into my life.
Speaker 1: But now that it has, I'm so confused.
Speaker 2: I'm so I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I am anymore.
Speaker 3: For me, it would be a griddle. I do not.
Speaker 3: I used to have a griddle at one point I
Speaker 3: did use it, but I've found that I can live
Speaker 3: life without it, especially because the amount of times I
Speaker 3: make pancakes is pretty limited. I know there's other uses
Speaker 3: for a griddle, but I don't. I use it for
Speaker 3: pancakes and I can make those on the stove and
Speaker 3: irregular big old pan.
Speaker 1: Now that we're a family of four. We do you
Speaker 1: are griddle because we do need at the same time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's much.
Speaker 1: Better than using a pan.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying I'll never have one. I'm just saying
Speaker 3: I've lived for four years without one, and I've been Okay,
Speaker 3: I can.
Speaker 1: You can borrow mine whenever you need? Is the thing.
Speaker 3: The other thing that I'm constantly teetering about is my
Speaker 3: insta pot.
Speaker 1: You just need to get rid of it. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing, you don't use it.
Speaker 3: We do get together with people and make like food together,
Speaker 3: and people have borrowed it from me. But yeah, would
Speaker 3: I keep it so that I can just lend it out?
Speaker 1: Well, why don't you use it as a slow cooker.
Speaker 3: Also, it's a blow cooker. I know it's a problem.
Speaker 1: Well, then if people are borrowing your instant pot more
Speaker 1: than your slow cooker, maybe you get rid of the
Speaker 1: slow cooker and just use the instant pot.
Speaker 3: I got to figure out which one I want. I'm
Speaker 3: still unsure. Yeah, low cooker is really big, and I
Speaker 3: have these visions that like, someday I'm going to make
Speaker 3: a really big roast for people. I got the I
Speaker 3: got the slow cooker for free, say no to freebies.
Speaker 3: It's like, what if I get rid of it and
Speaker 3: then down the line, I do want it, and now
Speaker 3: I've got to pay for it. When I had one
Speaker 3: for free, you would never sit in my kitchen.
Speaker 1: Because you can just borrow a slow cooker from somebody
Speaker 1: who hads so true.
Speaker 3: I know. Yeah, I am not one to like hold
Speaker 3: on to things, but the kitchen stuff can be my
Speaker 3: so hard downfall because you just you want to have
Speaker 3: the options for when these cooking opportunities present themselves.
Speaker 1: That's why it's good to have these conversations with friends
Speaker 1: because then you know, like, oh, yeah, you don't need
Speaker 1: to buy a griddle. I have a griddle anytime you
Speaker 1: need to use it. Let me know you don't know
Speaker 1: what your friends have because we don't go into our
Speaker 1: friend's kitchens. Yeah enough, we don't invite people into our
Speaker 1: kitchen enough because it's cluttered and we're embarrassed about it
Speaker 1: and it doesn't look like an Instagram kitchen, right, But
Speaker 1: let's have more conversations about what's going on, what we've got,
Speaker 1: what we can share, and yeah, normalize our perception of
Speaker 1: what's normal when it comes to kitchens.
Speaker 3: Allow yourself to not get the ninja creamy because everyone
Speaker 3: else is getting it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a daily struggle for me.
Speaker 3: Actually, if you've lived without an air fryer for the
Speaker 3: majority of your life, you could probably keep living without
Speaker 3: an air fryer. Yeah, there's always going to be a
Speaker 3: new kitchen gadget to gather up.
Speaker 1: Yes, So thank you for listening. I hope this has
Speaker 1: helped you. And if you end up decluttering your kitchen
Speaker 1: in thirty days, let us know about it by leaving
Speaker 1: a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, kind of like
Speaker 1: this one from my Yelp name says made my day
Speaker 1: ten percent more special. Man, that's what we're going for.
Speaker 1: It happens to be five stars, they say, listening to
Speaker 1: this is inspiring. You are fun, loving and a great
Speaker 1: way to start my day.
Speaker 3: I love the realistic percentage on this. Yeah, ten percent,
Speaker 3: not this made my day one hundred percent better. No
Speaker 3: we're not. We're not going there, we're not doing extremes.
Speaker 1: No, we're not those people. We are not two hundred
Speaker 1: percent better people ten percent.
Speaker 3: But listen, if I could improve by any percentage someone's day,
Speaker 3: that's a win, right.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent is a lot of responsibility it's a
Speaker 1: lot of work.
Speaker 3: We can't replicate that higher. We can replicate ten percent improvement.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Wow, Thank you my yelp name for that very
Speaker 3: realistic five star review, and thank you all for listening.
Speaker 3: If you want to say something about the percentage of
Speaker 3: win which we are improving your lives or your days,
Speaker 3: we'd love to hear about.
Speaker 1: See if it's eleven percent.
Speaker 3: Through a a few Yeah, that'd be fun, or even
Speaker 3: like five to eight percent, that's just funny.
Speaker 1: Didn't think didn't think it was ten percent better, but
Speaker 1: for sure five to eight.
Speaker 3: If we can match the rate of inflation with how
Speaker 3: we're improving your day, that'd be wonderful.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's a great way to look at it.
Speaker 1: If we're improving our craft at the rate of inflation, then.
Speaker 3: Will be okay, You'll be okay. So let us know
Speaker 3: in a rating and review again on Apple or Spotify.
Speaker 1: Yeah, see you later.
Speaker 3: Bye.
Speaker 1: Gorugle Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Speaking of improving,
Speaker 1: Travis came home yesterday and he's like, I found my
Speaker 1: new favorite part and I was like, oh, which one.
Speaker 1: He's like Frugal Friends, and I was like jerk, Like,
Speaker 1: come on, be honest, because he's been listening to a
Speaker 1: lot of weird podcasts lately, and he's like, no, I
Speaker 1: just started listening again, and it's really good. You guys
Speaker 1: have really progressed. I mean it was good when I
Speaker 1: listened five years ago, but you guys have really progressed
Speaker 1: since then. And I really like it. And Travis is
Speaker 1: not one to mince words or lie to make me
Speaker 1: feel better. He gonna tell it like it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And he had no constructive criticism. He just really liked
Speaker 1: the episodes.
Speaker 3: That's amazing. He's probably a little bit biased, but he
Speaker 3: didn't have to say anything. Eric never listens to frugal Friends,
Speaker 3: so our spouses don't have to listen.
Speaker 1: No, they don't iver get trapped. I never asked him
Speaker 1: to listen. I've never and he just does because he's
Speaker 1: my he's my number one fan.
Speaker 3: That's so amazing.
Speaker 1: And he bribes his students to listen to our show
Speaker 1: and leave ratings and reviews and buy our book by
Speaker 1: what you loovebook dot com.
Speaker 3: Beautiful, Thanks Travis, Yay, But wait there's more.
Speaker 1: But wait, we're contractually obligated to give you thirty seconds more.
Speaker 3: Which I was actually going to say something else or
Speaker 3: here you go.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: That is helpful and encouraging because I recently had an
Speaker 3: experience where we've been doing a lot more interviews like
Speaker 3: guesting on other people's podcasts to sell this book by
Speaker 3: what you Love without going broke by what you loovebook
Speaker 3: dot com, and so a lot of opportunity to hear
Speaker 3: what people who are not avid listeners of the show
Speaker 3: have to say about it. And I was on I
Speaker 3: won't say which podcasts, but I was on a podcast
Speaker 3: recently and this podcast audience did not care for me.
Speaker 3: It was just me because you and I Jena been
Speaker 3: because there's just too many Sometimes we guessed together, sometimes
Speaker 3: we guessed apart, and this was a guesting apart. And
Speaker 3: I mean, I can't say everyone disliked.
Speaker 1: Me, but the criticism would have been applicable to me
Speaker 1: as well, potentially.
Speaker 3: I don't know. Some of them were just like who
Speaker 3: is this girl? What is she even saying? I don't
Speaker 3: know if it was meant to be a dig or not,
Speaker 3: but they were just there was just one comment that was,
Speaker 3: she reminds me so much of Drew Barrymore And I
Speaker 3: don't think that was comment.
Speaker 1: Okay, listen. But the criticism is hilarious.
Speaker 3: A good majority of it did have to do with
Speaker 3: and I didn't even mention Dave Ramsey in the podcast,
Speaker 3: but I think some of the ideas that I was
Speaker 3: talking about pushed back against some some of Dave Ramsey's tenants,
Speaker 3: like talking about how we can individualize our finances. You
Speaker 3: could choose to invest for retirement and pay off debt.
Speaker 3: You don't have to, but that is an option. There
Speaker 3: is not a one size fits all, and I think
Speaker 3: that really enraged people who are very.
Speaker 1: Who believe there's only one way to do everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but we know that that community is not entirely
Speaker 3: are people who are going to love us. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: it wasn't the most fun for me to read all
Speaker 3: of this feedback. And I told Eric about it. I'm
Speaker 3: just like, I'm feeling so insecure about that interview. It's
Speaker 3: not being well received. And he made the comment. First
Speaker 3: of all, he's like, you just you need to stay
Speaker 3: off of the internet and what people have to say
Speaker 3: about you. But also he's like, I'm like, but I
Speaker 3: should take criticism. I should be able to hear what
Speaker 3: can be improved. Some of it I can't. I can't
Speaker 3: change how my voice sounds. I can't change whatever your
Speaker 3: impression is of me. But if there's things in here
Speaker 3: that I could shift, And he still was like, no,
Speaker 3: I think you listen to the people who do like you,
Speaker 3: the people who are already your people. What do they
Speaker 3: have to say about what could be improved? Yeah, because
Speaker 3: you can't make shifts for people who are not already
Speaker 3: gonna want to hear from you. So that was helpful.
Speaker 3: So it was like, oh, yeah, I want to hear
Speaker 3: from the Frugal Friends community on what's constructive? What what
Speaker 3: you know? You all want to hear what would make
Speaker 3: this a better podcast that could actually be implemented upon.
Speaker 3: So anyways, all that to say, it's cool to hear
Speaker 3: from Travis that he likes it. I'd be open to
Speaker 3: feedback from him. But it's also I.
Speaker 1: Think you're burying the lead. What was my favorite feedback
Speaker 1: that you were given on that episode?
Speaker 3: I don't remember.
Speaker 1: I want to hear finance advice from someone with nine children.
Speaker 3: You're right, they were mad at me that I didn't
Speaker 3: have nine children.
Speaker 1: Dracifically nine children.
Speaker 3: I want to hear financial advice or someone with nine kids.
Speaker 3: And so yeah, that's gonna take a lot of time,
Speaker 3: so it won't be coming from me, right.
Speaker 1: And yeah, at that point, you won't need financial advice,
Speaker 1: you'll need a lot of other advice. So yeah, that
Speaker 1: was my favorite.
Speaker 3: That's so true.
Speaker 1: I forgot about that. I'm so sorry. Yeah, no, that's
Speaker 1: the the audience that was making those comments. Is that genre,
Speaker 1: So yeah, take it with a grain of salt. Thanks
Speaker 1: nine grains of salt, specifically, thanks
Speaker 3: Bill, appreciate you.