Episode three oh two, How decluttering saves You Money with Ingrid Jansen.
Welcome to the Brugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live your life. Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are talking with one half of the declutter Hub podcast, Ingrid Jansen, about decluttering and specifically how it saves you money. Because she's worked with a ton of one on one clients, she has a decluttering membership, so Ingrid has really seen a lot of people decluttering and how it's affected their finances. So we're really excited to share her insight with you guys, along with a lot of great tips.
But first, our sponsor half used sort of like a glass half full, optimistic outlook, only much different when the olive oil, shampoo, condiments in the fridge, cleaning products under the sink are half used and we're at a crossroads and decision making. Should I buy more just cuz or should I make it full used and minimize waste. We'll learn from Ingrid that write answer to that one, but for now, if you want your money to only be half used and potentially earn some interest. Try a high
yield savings account. We like the one at c for their current four point zero five percent Apy Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash Sei, open up that high yield savings account. Make your money half used or even better, not hardly used but growing.
I didn't know how you were gonna do that, and when you did it, I was impressed. Thank you. I live to impress you, Jen you do every day without even trying. Well. So something else that's impressive is Ingrid's tips to correlate decluttering and emotions and capacity with saving money. So we're not going like full send minimalists over here. We're not going full send og Marie Condo. We are going really attainable, We're going really practical. We both loved
so many of the things that she said. But if you specifically are interested in decluttering and you just like you love the topic, we do have a ton of episodes on decluttering. We have a lot on minimalism. But well, I mean we'll talk about this in the interview, that minimalism and decluttering are not the same. So to eighty one, how to cure rate a life with Less, less stuff and more intention with Christine Platt was a recent episode, just very just a few weeks ago, it feels like.
And then episode one forty four Creative Ways to Declutter, so we talk about really the correlation between decluttering and frugality in those episodes, So those are really good ones to queue up after this one.
This is such a good interview. I cannot wait for you all to hear all of the words of wisdom and tips Ingrid has to share.
So let's do it. Ingrid, Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. We are so excited to have at least one half of the Declutter Hub with us today. So thank you so much for hanging out with us.
I love it. Thank you so much for having me. I'm delighted. I'm Dutch. I love saving money, so being frugal is completely up my street. So I'm like, yes, let's talk about money. We should not be shy about this. And I think Dutch people anyway are quite direct talking about stuff anyway, so maybe that's a good thing. I don't know, but I appreciate you having you invited me.
Absolutely, You're not afraid to jump into the hot topics of decluttering and finance, which is so excellent.
We know this is such.
A well loved topic of our listeners and we're so looking forward to hearing what you have to say on the topic because you are far more expert than we are.
So thanks for being here.
Yeah, you're welcome.
So I know you've spent a lot of time working with clients and decluttering. So can you start us off with how have you seen clutter negatively impact people's finances? What's the correlation there?
Oh wow, Okay, that could be a whole podcasting itself, jed because clutter impacts people's lives tremendously. I mean not even money alone. It impacts children and partners and family and family life and spending and shopping habits. I mean money has a massive impact I think on people's lives. And having a lot of clutter, of course, costs a lot of money. And that's definitely what I wanted to talk about in this podcast, is like, how how can
the cluttering help you save money? Because I've seen the impact of people who have a lot of clutter not only on their lives, but also on their finances because you know, you see a lot of over buying a lot of overshopping, a lot of just out of control paperwork, So people have no idea where they are, what the status is, how much money they have, what they are
spending their money on. I mean, because the clutter creates so much care and people's houses, but also in their heads, in their minds, it all becomes this like this blurry mess. And then the overwhelmed creeps in. And when people start to be overwhelmed and they start to kind of panic a little bit, and then it's panic stations all around, and then you can't see clearly anymore, so you're like, oh, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just surviving here.
And it can really kind of spiral into even more clutter. And what is very interesting is that people who have a lot of clutter, sometimes you would think they would spend less money because they have a lot of clutter, but what we actually see is that they spend more money because they can't find what they have amongst all their clutter, so they have to keep buying stuff over and over and over again because they actually can't find it.
Then an excellent example of that is strangely enough, underwear and socks, so a lot of families who have one to three children, or a larger fam or even you know, just two or three people in the house. If there's a lot of clutter and the laundry gets behind, because the laundry is amongst all the chaos, then you don't know anymore what's clean, what's dirty, what's half worn. So
there's a spiral of clothing everywhere. Let's just buy a new pack of seven pairs of underwear, because then at least we know that we're covered for this week, while actually there's probably one hundred and fifty pairs of underwear in the house somewhere, but nobody knows where they are, so they kept keep buying it over and over again, and you actually then perpetuate the clutter, and the more clothes you have, the worst it gets, which sounds so
crazy because you would think if you have more clothes, you solve your problem, but it's actually the other way around.
That's amazing to me that it'd be underwear and socks, like that's that's yeah, that's what people.
Are buying a ton of. But I could absolutely see this.
I particularly will recognize this in my own self when it comes to food, because we can have clutter in a lot of different ways, clutter in our pantry, so then we don't know what we have, so then we're buying more. I classically for a while was constantly buying shredded cheese, mostly because I wasn't checking.
Before I would go out to.
The store, and then I just had so much shreded cheese just up to my eyeballs because I wasn't I wasn't organizing, I wasn't looking, I wasn't planning ahead. And a lot of times when we feel chaotic or our environment is chaotic, we're not as motivated to be planful about what it is that we're buying, how we're spending what we have on hand, or taking care of it.
Yeah. Absolutely, yeah, And I think that's definitely what I want to talk about as well, is that meal planning that will definitely come back.
Yeah, I didn't think so much about the like the bills, like the forgotten bills, because yeah, I will do that when there's like and then build this pile of paper clutter, and I'll have a bill that I mean to pay and then totally forget about it in all the paper clutter. And so yeah, it's not just the buying stuff. It's also forgetting to pay stuff.
Yeah, and then of course you incurre a fee. We're gonna talk about that for sure. Yeah.
Yeah, So let's start to talk then, Angert, about the positive correlation between decluttering and the positive benefits that that has on finances.
What have you seen there?
Oh amazing? I mean, one of our members in our membership, she started doing her house. She followed our process to followed our plan, and one of the later steps in our membership is you have to do your paperwork. You go through your paperwork. You don't start with that because it's really hard to do. You need to get other areas in your house under control first. But at a
certain point you're ready to do your paperwork. She did then found out she could finally find out her insurance documents for her car and her holiday and her house and her and she just did a price comparison on a car insurance and saved four hundred and fifty pounds. And she was like, I've actually just paid for my membership now, how is that possible? Just because she was more organized, she was able to do that price comparison
that saved her so much money. I mean I've seen it with clients time and time again because I both we have I have the membership with Leslie as did Cloptrap, but I also still work with clients one to one in their homes. And the amazing things that we find, I mean even in cash, you know, in coins and paperwork and change and other currencies from when they've been on a holiday and puts a little trace of little change that we've you know, in pocats and everything. It's
it's amazing. So it's really really satisfying. Vouchers, you know, from presents that people have been sending over Christmas or birthdays. They send a voucher in the car the car and it's laid somewhere, or vouchers or a little you know, credit card type with like some money to spend at a sort of shop, get put somewhere and not in people's purses. Then it gets lost somewhere in the house. It's very satisfying.
Oh, I love finding a gift card. Yes, money ain't gift cards. I love finding both.
Yes. Yes, I've recently found a very expensive bracelet that my client had lost. And we're not talking about a couple of hundred pounds we're talking about a serious, beautiful diamond bracelet. And she makes place that she put it in a safe place, and then I couldn't remember where a safe place was, so that.
Actually story right. Always I put it someplace where I wouldn't lose it. Then I asked it.
Yes, the same with some actually some jewelry as well, some gold and jewelry from another client that actually at some point she was like, it's been thrown away or maybe you know, I have had builders of people and cleaning people in my house. Maybe maybe they saw it and they took it. I don't know. And then we'll moved something and sunny boom there it drops out. Well, we did the happy that the two of us, because you know, those are the important stuff, you know, the
special occasion jewelry and things like that. You know. But I mean some people, you know, when you find ten or twenty dollars, they're super happy, you know.
Yeah, And it sounds like there's an inverse happening here too. Not only is there the possibility of finding money as you declutter, but the inverse of the negative impacts of having clutter.
It's it's the opposite.
Then, yeah, and you know where things are and your bills are paid on time, and you're not buying extra of these different items, and you're not feeling as chaotic, so you're making wiser decisions. There's so many things I'm hearing you say of having less clutter. That doesn't mean that our houses are going to look exactly the same to one another, But whatever less clutter is to us can really help our budgets.
I think what's really important. I think that's a very big part of our message is that there's not a one size fits to all. We don't expect that even our members have houses like we have because everybody's got a different type of house. Their sizes is different, the amount of people and their family is different. Some people like more stuff around than others. You know, some people are just I mean, I'm a professional organizer, but I'm not a minimalist. I still have picture frames and books
and stuff. But the difference is that I can find everything. I know. I think just about a ninety nine nine percent of stuff that's in my house. I mean, we had a repair on our fridge at one point, and the fridge guy, the Fitz repairman, asked me for something. He went, do you happen to have a souldering iron, and I went, I do, and I know why it is as well, And you're like he nearly collapsed the floor.
He was like what, I'm like, it's in my garage, I think if I have if, knowing my husband, it's been one of these two or three drawers and low and behold. So you know, it's it's very satisfying to be able to grinding and know what you have.
Yeah, yeah, finding money and knowing where your things are, Oh my gosh.
Yes, all right, so let's dive into the real nitty gritty fun stuff that everyone's gonna love. So most of our listeners are listening to us to improve their spending, improve their financial life, lower their spending. So if someone wants to declutter with that in mind, yeah, where are they going to start? What are your best tips for for that?
Okay, no, there's of course you need. I'm going to give you some overall took tips first, and then I'm going to dive into some more meaty kind of ideas. First of all, you need to start small, so don't go I'm going to do a whole room this weekend. It's too much. If you have a lot of clutter. Start small, Start with one drawer, one cupboard, one shelf. Start somewhere that's easier. So don't go my worst room in my house is my spare bedroom because that's my
dumping ground. Let's start there, because it's probably one of the hardest rooms to do because it's got stuff from everywhere, So you need to start somewhere easier. Normally, a kitchen is an easier place to start for several reasons, unless you are a I want to be a Michelin Star chef. The kitchen has mugs and glasses and topperware and pull some pants and so it's not so emotionally challenging to
do kitchen items. And the kitchen already has small cupboards. Well, a bedroom has a big wardrobe, which a really can feel quite overwhelming, and a kitchen has already small cupboards, so you can go, I'm gonna just do the cupboard that has my topperware or the drawer that has my cutlery, and it's already kind of you break it up this way, so that really helps. You need to start small, and you need to start easier, and you build it up. But if you want to save money, and that's what
we all want to do. Is also in the same time, if you're thinking, okay, yes, I need to do lots of stuff in my house, start using up what you have.
Let me explain that we all and I think, well, lots of us have lots of toiletries, lots of cleaning products, lots of makeup, lots of perfume, lots of laundry cleaning stuff and all of that kind of thing, and we buy loads and we stick it in cupboards and then it doesn't fit anymore in the cupboard where it normally lives, so we create an overflow somewhere else, and then we forget what we have, and then we have our standards shopping list and we think, oh, yeah, I need to
have a bleach today, or I need to get cleaning spray or whatever, and we buy a new one and before you know it, you've got four, six, eight of the same thing all sitting there, costing you money. And that goes for everything. So start to gather these things like with like, get it all together, look at what you have. Don't go oh, just I'm just gonna take
my one cupboard. No, if you're gonna go, oh, I've got some cleaning stuff in that cupboard as well, and I've got some in the other room, and there's some in the upstairs. Get it all together and see what you have, because it's incredible what we have, honestly, Yeah, amount that stuff.
We so smart. Yeah, that's so smart because I have cleaning products under every sink. I just realized that just now.
Yeah, yeah, and that's okay. But the thing is what sometimes happens is that cleaning products that you don't really use in that room end up in that cupboards and then you forget because you're not looking for that cover there. So you just need to do a bit of a little sort out these gather it all together, walk around your house and go right, let me get it all together, and let's look what I have and use it up because it will go out of dates. We can't keep
all this stuff forever. You know, there is some sort of shelf life. Now we can debate about, you know, how long can you use a bleach from five years old? You know, I'm sure, but it's all sitting there being lost money. So you can really lower your current bills if you're struggling at the moment by just coming on let me just use it all up, and you can then make a bit of an inventory of those toilet trees and that cleaning products and those craft items and
the stocks and all of that. The gathering like will like what we will help you to see the volumes of stuff, because that will then help you with Number two is stop buying what you already have. Because you have lots of stuff, you can shop from your own house for a while, and that way you can save lots of money because we change how we feel about things.
You know, we like the shampool we used for ages, and suddenly there's something new, we think, oh, that's nice, but we still have three or four of the old one that we then don't go back to, and that keeps cluttering up our covers, and then we can't put the stuff away that we actually want to buy, so we create a space somewhere else. So start by shopping from home, and when you do this, you create awareness.
And awareness will help you change your clutter mindset because it will change the way you look at your shopping list and when you walk around and we're not so it's it tended them by all the marketing that happens in shops where they have like a nice music god and they've got nice displace. We think, oh, that's a new product. I need to try that, and we can go hold on a minute. But I've got something similar that I've bought already in my house. I need to finish that up first.
Yeah.
It might not be as exhilarating to use what you have at home, but it's certainly gonna save money. It's gonna build that contentment, that different mindset that may not be just for a time of wanting to save on finances, but just long term not being wasteful.
Yeah. Yeah, I think so too. And it's really nice to see when members and people in our Facebook group and podcast listeners start to make that change and go, it's so satisfying to use up what I have. We have so many half used items, like half used toothpastes. And you know when you go to like a way and you and you go to maybe a hotel or a nicer place, and they've got these little toilet trees and you're like, oh, I'm going to take those home. And then we create and especially people who travel a
lot for work, I find containers full of stuff. Use it all up. Because by it sitting there, it's it's not gonna go anywhere. It's just gonna long term, it's gonna go off and then nobody can use it anymore. So it's really nice to see we've got to like a create a use up container. And you can do that both with toilet trees, but also of course in the food in the pantry and all of those things.
You can use use up container. And it's very satisfying, and people do start to get a bust from there, like, ah, have you stumping up? Or oh I had seven of these and now I only have two because two is plenty because the shops are open twenty four to seven, and I don't have to have seven in stock. Unless you like live in the middle of nowhere and your sohaps half an hour drive away, then you need to
have some sort of pantry. But sometimes I see pictures on socials and I'm like, it looks beautiful, but why have you got so much stuff in your country? Why do you have five spars? Is one not not?
No?
You know when one is genty, you get the next one. Why do you have to have six lined up? Because they might be there for three years?
Preach preach. I have fallen in that like algorithm on Instagram and TikTok, and I'm like, why why do you need three spares? Why? Like I get it one? You need a spare? Why so many? It looks beautiful in your like plastic containers that you had to buy to store all your spares, But why it looks and then you wouldn't have had to buy all the containers?
To me, Yeah, I love the you're saving money because you're using you're using it up like the use up bin.
I love that concept. Yeah, I love that too.
But then while you're doing that, you're also decluttering because you're you're slowly but surely dwindling down this whole pile of stuff that you have it to good use, not wasting it, also not buying more. It's like multiple things happening at once.
I love that exactly. And what you then get and that's kind of the next step that's happened. You start to shop intentionally. It's much easier than to make the list. You're shopping because you're filling a gap of something, and you know that can go with clothes as well. You know, if you go close shopping without a list, you know it's of course, you know, you can go, oh, I see a lovely top. It's gonna look good at me.
But we are creatures of habits, so we keep buying the same sort of thing over and over and over again because we feel good in it, because we.
Love it, we like it.
But then what happens is, have we for example, if we like like a cardigan, or here in in the UK, we wear cardigans a lot because it's chillier in this country, so we wear a lot of cardigans. And some people who love a cardigan will have twenty three different colors, some in the same because when they go to the shops and they go, oh, there's a card again. I like a card again, let me buy that again. Or if jeans or whatever it is that you go to item is so you start to shop with gaps in mind.
You know, it's the same when when you look at your pantry, when you've used what you have and you can see ah, and you do, for example, use it's a lot of chunky tomatoes or something because you make pasta, sauce and things. If you know, okay, I'm going to go through a tray of those in the month, you can buy them all over because then you have a room to put them somewhere. But if everything is full, what happens. Things get put on top of the fridge and on the floor and in front of something, and
then a cupboard can't open anymore. And then suddenly, if a door can't open anymore, then it's lost, it's gone. And that's what we see, for example, in bedrooms a lot, whether there's a floor drope things floor drope or chair drope, or exercise machine drobe, or a end of the bedrope thinks the wardrobes are full.
We love that one. That's okay, I will use that one for the rest of my life. Anger for drobe.
Yeah, So what happens because the cupboards are full, all the hangars are full, the the wardrobe is bursting at the seams, the clothes that actually are wearing washing ironing, trying to put back kongo in, so they get on a pile somewhere and then it ends up on the floor because the thing topples over. Or we find exercise machines with lots of clothes over them because the wardrobes
are full and you can't open the doors anymore. And that's something Sometimes what people find a little bit scary is that they say, to us, but there's stuff everywhere. We want to we want the cloutroom, we want to organize and tidy it up. And I'm like, but you get nowhere to tidy too, because your cupboards are full you need at one point. And that's why it's again so nice to start in the kitchen. Because the cupboards
are smaller. You can go, let's empty this cupboard, Let's see what we have, let's decide what we want to keep. That's what we're gonna could put back, and once we do a couple of more cupboards, then the stuff that's out on the kitchen counters can go somewhere. Yeah, there's stuff on the kitchen counters because it can't be put away.
Oh I so I appreciate your focus on cluttering before organizing, because I think organizing that could happen.
In a day, maybe a weekend.
But if you've not gotten rid of the things you don't use or you have excess of, or really take an inventory, then it's just all gonna topple over again in that very week, and we're not actually getting to the root of the problem. Like organizing is great, but it sounds like as as the next step beyond the cluster.
And funny thing is that you say that, because actually after the organizing then comes to storage. So a lot of people say to me and also Leslie, what do I need to buy to get organized? And we're like, you're not gonna buy anything. We first need to be clutter what you have there, you go. It needs to find the right place where the lives, where it makes sense for you to look for that item. We can put it in a shoe box, it doesn't matter. It can be an empty Amazon box for if there's loads
of those. The storage is the last phase in May, almost kind of making it look pretty and containerizing it more. The decluttering comes first, then the organizing. Where do I find this item? And then okay, how am I going to find the right storage books? And but what a lot of people do they go, I'm so, okay, you'll take I see all these beautiful pictures. I need to have containers to buy and put all my cereals in my rises and pastising, because then I'm going to be organized.
But actually you have to be super organized to have beautiful pantries. You see through containers with labels.
And what happens with those anyhow, is typically the item, the food item doesn't all fit into the beautiful containers. Then you've got the container with the item on display and the box and the plastic somewhere else too, and you're just creating like doubles, triples, quadruples of everything.
Might as well just keep it in the box.
It's a cycle, it is, and you create a lot of work for yourself as well. And I'm not afraid to say, Jen and Jill, I am a professional organizer. I do not have containers for my cereals. They live in my original packaging.
You know, because heard it here first.
But I know, I know. And it was interesting because Leslie the other day said to me, he said, ing, but I think my life is getting a bit calmer. I'm considering buying some containers because I think I'm ready for this now my kids are all grown up. I feel like I'm yelling so funny, and.
I think I'm ready. There containers that goes for me, yeah, definitely not.
I don't want to spend that time. I just find other things more important. So for me, the container comes last. But you know, we might have some listener who are like, I'm studing out now, I can't listen anymore.
No, I think everybody is going to resonate. The majority will resonate with this because we are all about the like the simplification of things, and sometimes organizing can feel complex. Decluttering we get that simplifying, but it's and I like say this all the time. I hate the show on Netflix from the Home Edit because it stresses me out because it is really just shifting things into pretty plastic containers.
Like that is really complex. So I feel like you're giving people permission to simplify their decluttering and even doing a slow build by maybe like just first focusing on one room in the house, smallest drawers in the house, focusing on just using up first is to like giving permission to focus on one thing at a time and really simplify the process. So I love it.
Yeah, yeah, thank you. And it's I think in the beginning, people don't think about all the money they're gonna safe. They don't see that as a big reason why they want to decloter. They just want to have less overwhelmed.
They want to have less cars in their head, in their house, and but lay to what they sees that benefits with money, with better time management, with being far back through on what priorities are longer term goals, because when you have a lot of clutter, life can be very stressful when you have to find your keys and your phone all the time, and when you have nothing prepared and you have to think at ten to six in the evening, what are we having for dinner tonight,
and then you're missing a couple of ingredients, it gets very very stressful. And once you start to break through, slowly but surely, through that clutter a little bit and go, actually, wow, I'm going to think about what we're gonna have in morning, what we're gonna have this evening. So I have that's already can be a massive win, and then the next step can be actually, instead of shopping every day and driving past the shops, I'm going to try and only
go two or three times a week. Wow, I'm saving so much time all of a sudden. Then I can do some other things, and then wow, I'm going to try this whole meal planning thing. So it's you can't, you know, run a marathon when you've never even walked around the block. That's why the starting smallest critical in decluttering. You can't go overnight and change to all of these habits that haven't been ingrained in your life for such a long time. You can't all change it at the
same time. And that's why we always talk about breaking it down all the time. And even when I'm gonna do my kitchen, okay, make that even smaller. I'm gonna look at my glasses today, or when you're doing your wardrobe. Today, I'm looking at my trousers, and tomorrow i'm gonna look at my tops, and next week i'm gonna look at my t shirts and then I'm gonna look at my pajamas or whatever it is. Keep breaking it down and
going I'm gonna do all of the wardrobes. It can be too overwhelming and then people run out of steam and then they're like, oh, and I didn't finish this job, and then it becomes a negative experience. You're better off going I'm gonna set aside twenty or thirty minutes, I'm gonna do a couple of bits and go go me, I actually did it, and then it's a positive experience. And you want to come back to something when it's positive, But when it's really negative experience. I'm gonna do a
whole room. After one and a half hours, what have I done? The place is even more messy than when I started. And this is all gonna go wrong here and and then it's like and how do you come back from that?
Yeah?
Do you know what's always also a positive experience? And just like a walk around the park.
Yeah, you don't have to start small. You can dive straight in.
The bill of the week.
That's right, It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Duck bills, butfalow bills. Bill clar this is the bill of the week, Ingrid. Every week we asked our listeners and our guests to share with us their bill for the week. We leave it very vague to give you a lot of freedom in this and I know you've been thinking about it, so let us know what your bill is.
My bill. It's the restaurant. There is a restaurant chain here in the UK that's called Billsay.
What do they serve? And are they good.
Yes, it's really nice. The restaurants can be quite a bit quirky from the inside. It feels a bit. I mean, I haven't been to one in a while, but you know, because it just hasn't happened. You know, we've had a whole time that we couldn't go anywhere. But the bills that I went to where we're quite quirky from the inside. It had to feel a bit of an Italian field with like jars with olives and like garlic things, and it's like a bit of a shoult that you can
buy some stuff as well. Busy, not push but good food. So yeah, that's my bill.
Oh, I love great Bill where you have paired the name of Bill with food that is, and some of.
Our favorite food like garlic, carlic, ah is I'm imagining there's bread there. Quirky all that I need to Wow. Yeah, yeah, amazing.
Oh, if you all listening happen to have restaurants and food or a person named Bill around your vicinity and you just want to call in and tell us about it, you know the Drill Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill, leave us here, Bill. We're just we're ready to be shocked and surprised.
If you ever come to the Ukgen and Jill, we need to meet up in a Bill's restaurant. Nothing.
Yes, oh my gosh, my new dream. Yes.
Absolutely, And now it's time for.
We're really produced over here, highly edited and voices, so lots of budget for sound effects, hi high budget.
So today's lightning round question that we're all going to take a turn in answering is what's the most embarrassing thing you've discovered when decluttering and ingrid? This can be for you or decluttering someone else's. You don't have to say names. The only you can be anonymous. Jill and I will obviously not be anonymous. But yeah, what's the most embarrassing thing?
Oh? I don't know if I can tell. We do find interesting things. I always say it's a good thing. I grew up very close to Amsterdam, and then my parents both Amsterdam and and the and the and the Red Light District, so I'm not easily shocked. But I have found a thing or two. And one time I opened the bedstead draw and I went, that's not for me. You're not closed it again.
There's not enough gloves in this world for me to interact with that.
There you go, They're just they're living their lives. Oh man, what about for each chain? So I think, so it's not embarrassing. But I couldn't think of really anything embarrassing. And maybe that's just because I probably have said everything about my life on the show already. But I think the growth like when I clean out my pocket drawer in my kitchen, sometimes I will find a packet that has like opened and it has made all the other
packets gross, like a condiment packet. A condiment packet. Yeah, and it's never a Taco Bell hot sauce. It's always like a ketchup or something sticky, and it's like, oh now I have to rinse all my packets. No, you don't, you rinse your packets off? Wow, it's not a lot. It's not like the whole drawer is full of packets. It's you know, like they could all fit in a gallon size bag. So it's not like a you know, but I love them. They're mostly Taco Bell Hot sauce packets.
For any Jen keeps all of her extra condiments from these fast food restaurants, and what reuses them?
Just however you reuse them I use them once, Jill. It's like for the I don't I don't have like two Ketchup bottles, right, I have one Ketchup bottle, And when the Ketchup runs out, if I need a little extra that I go to the packet drawer and I'll get the extra Ketchup, you know, when I'm in a pinch, and then I'll just buy more Ketchup. So that's kind of what I use it for, not putting things to waste. I suppose I love obviously taco about hot sauces, and I don't I like, I get enough of those that
I don't have to buy them in the sword. But there's also Wendy's has this ghost pepper ranch that you cannot buy in stores that I specifically will ask for extra of and save. So those are really those are
the main ones. Yeah, So that's me. That's me. And maybe that fact right there, that that story, that dissertation on packet drawer accumulation and maintenance, maybe that's the most embarrassing thing, potentially, potentially, Jill, my middle school journal, I was decluttering at one point in the midst of a move.
Moves are great for that if you allow it. To I know some people just throw everything and move it to the next spot, and it just gets shoved back into the closet. But I have taken opportunities when we've moved to get rid of cell, be kind to myself when we land in the next spot. And at one point I came across one of my middle school journals and it was just cringey. I just felt so deeply embarrassed, embarrassment to my core that it wasn't this keepsake for me.
I definitely threw it out, if not like shredded it before throwing it out, because I'm like, no one should ever read this ever. I never want to read this again. I don't ever want anyone else to read this. It was just cringey. Oh my gosh, Oh that was embarrassing for me.
What was the most important thing to you to middle school? Jill?
The journal?
About what was the biggest crist you're saying about it?
I don't know what this says about me, So I analyze this if you want. I censored myself, as in I almost wrote as if someone else was going to find this journal and read.
It, and so I didn't.
I didn't use my journal for my truest of true thoughts, because I was always concerned someone else was going to find it and read it.
So it was almost like.
Like the embarrassing part to me is that I felt as though I couldn't use my journal to just write how I actually thought.
So it sounded like I was trying to be this.
Autobiographer about like the things that I thought worthy of writing about. That's what stood out to me is the most important thing is that I thought my life experiences needed to be censored for whoever might read it.
Like you thought you were going to be the next Anne Frank, or you just thought your little brother was going to find it. Yeah, you know, like a family member, Like that's reasonable, that was a reasonable fear for you. I don't know.
I think I thought, oh, yeah, what if this finds itself in a cast I think it was family what a family ever found it?
And then I think I also had.
This idea that I was really dramatic as a child and probably as an adult, that maybe someday this journal is going to find itself in a capsule and people one hundred years from now are going to read this and look back.
And I don't know, ward it out.
Oh that's all there is, just saying no one will ever read what middle school Jill wrote.
Ye oh yeah wow. Well, so if people want to read what you're writing, Ingrid, or hear what you're saying on your podcast, where can people get more from you?
Couple of different ways. You can listen to our podcast. We've got the d Kluttrah podcast on any podcast player, or just go to the clutterho dot com and then you will find the podcast and you can listen, and or you can join our Facebook group. We've got a lovely Facebook group called the de Clutterhop Community Emotions based the clock Train, because we believe it's all about the
emotions connected to stuff and not the stuff itself. You need to learn more about why the stuff is so hard and it's not just as simple as well, let's get it back and throw it all away. You need to learn from that. So yes, facebook group and the podcast definitely excellent.
Thank you so much, Ingrid. We've learned a ton from you and had some laughs. Well more can we ask for?
Well, it was absolutely a pleasure, and yeah, I mean would love you know, not enough time. I would have loved to spend im talking about paperwork and about meal planning and about saying goodbye to that storage unit. But you know, it's all about pairing it down just a little bit and hopefully that way you will get a better grip of this clutter in your house and make it make a little bit easier for yourself. You know, having a lot of clutter is hard work.
Good word. Yes, we could have gone so much more. There's there is so much said. Yes she had. She literally had like seven points, she said, like script it out, and so we didn't want to like take you on a two hour journey of decluttering. But I'm sure she talks about them and her and Leslie's podcast, the Declutter Hub, So definitely check that out if you are interested in decluttering.
That's what happens when you have a powerhouse in the space with her own podcast and group and still doing it, still going into people's homes and helping to declutter. So woman knows what she's talking about, which is amazing.
Yes, I can't wait to meet her at Bills. Oh yeah, I can't wait.
That's going to be a good restaurant experience. I've heard that you gained some tips and seriously check out her podcast declutter Hub for more tips. If this is the space you're in right now, you really want to declutter, you're in that zone, do it. Spring springs here, spring is in the air, So good timing on that one.
Yeah, I still need to get to my piles. I mean, hopefully by the time this episode airs, I will have gotten to my paper piles, because I'm planning to do it in about a month after the baby comes. So but currently, right now I'm sitting staring at them. So if you are also staring at paper piles and you found a lot of good info from this episode, we would love for you to leave us a rating and review. We love reading your kind reviews, especially this one from
I want to go to Hogwarts. That's the screen name, that is the full one word, I want to go to Hogwarts. I hope you made it. I hope you made it. I know right, it just happens to be five stars. They say, totally relatable. I truly love listening to this podcast. It's sensible, doable, not radical ways of thinking about money. It has rejuvenated my appreciation for what I have and the potential of what I can have.
Ooh yeah, what a good summary. I want to go to Hogwarts.
I know you guys know our show better than we do.
I feel that way sometimes in reading these reviews to hear another perspective or way of describing it, and I never would have chosen those words, but it feels right, or at least I'm glad that that's what you've gotten from this. A ways to appreciate what you have and the potential of what you can have. What a beautiful summary.
Yeah, it is what we're going for, and thank you. I want to go to Hogwarts for so beautifully writing it down. So please keep listening. If you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to leave a rating and review because it helps potential new listeners know what our show is all about. So if they want radical ways of thinking about money that are not sensible or doable, this they know this isn't the show for them, and we don't want them to waste their time. Well done, John,
see y'all next time. Google Friends is produced by Eric sirianni.
Okay Jen In the interview during the interview with Ingrad and we were talking about finding money and how amazing that is and how fun that is.
I know you do find money in your clothes. Yeah, well, and I love it when that happens.
It hasn't happened in a really long time because I am very I am too organized at this point.
Nothing surprises me. But like winter jackets, right, you said you found money in a winter jacket?
Yeah?
Yeah, yeah.
So what I thought about doing this past holiday season? As we were putting our Christmas tree away, I got the idea I should hide a twenty dollar bill in with the Christmas tree. And I said it to Eric and he laughed, and I thought that that meant, yeah, go do it. And I like, I run to go grab a twenty dollars bill and he's like, what are you doing. I'm like, I'm putting money in here with the Christmas tree. He's like, why would you do that? Like, so it'll be nice for me when I open it
next year and I find a twenty dollars bill. Like, this is where we're at now. It's not accidentally gonna happen anymore. I've got to be intentional about it. He's like, you're not thirteen again, where like a twenty dollars bill is gonna make a big difference in your life. I'm like, but it will make me happy with like, you know, it's the holidays and you're buying gifts and if I find an extra twenty dollars bill, that's gonna be really exciting for me. He just he thought it was the
weirdest thing, and you know what peer pressure. I didn't do it. I didn't put the twenty.
He just thought it was so weird, Like what is with you?
He says he knows a lot of people with this like obsession with like stashing money. I think his mom is that way too, Like she'll just like stash money like random places throughout the house. It's like, are you afraid things are just gonna be like taken away from you? And really, like my grandmother did that too, it must be embedded in me. I just want to like squirrel away cash and random places mostly I think because I like finding it.
But yeah, I can see why it would be if it makes you happy, do it, is my opinion.
I'm gonna go back out to the garage and shove some money in the Christmas.
Tree there you go. Yeah, well, I think watch a mouse will go in and like chew it up. That'd be depressed. It doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to make sense if it makes you happy, like it's just twenty dollars.
But the thing about it is I need to do it secretly to myself, you know, like this thing that hardly I thought and it just happens, because otherwise.
I'm gonna remember what my right hand's doing.
Exactly Otherwise, like now that I've had this whole conversation about it, I'm gonna remember although or I'm setting myself up for extreme disappointment because I talked about it so much that I'm gonna think that I did it and then I go to open the Christmas tree and there's no money in there.
The Christmas tree has given me nothing what to do? Yeah, I look forward to seeing how you just have to handle that. Also, did you ever use up all the shredded cheese?
Oh? Yeah, yeah, eventually I got it in my thick brain that I had shreadedy.
Do you now think you have shredded cheese all the time?
Now?
When you don't? Okay, I can't geese. I was like, one day, she's gonna think she has shredded cheese and she's not going to have it. Yeah, what a sad day. Well, I'm so happy that you have You've gone through the cheese I know, and sad for the times where you think you have it. You don't know.
Cheese was wasted because I freeze cheese. I don't know if other people do that, but I do. I freeze shudded cheese, freeze cheese. I say that five times fast. I free shded cheese.
I can't do it. I can't even do it once. People definitely do that. Yeah, well, good, okay. I'm glad. However life ends up for you, Jill. I'm glad because I know it's going to be good. Whether you find twenty dollars or don't find it, whether you have cheese or not, Life's going to work out for you in the end. Thanks for your half used perspective.