How to Maintain a Minimalist Lifestyle

you know why later. But we periodically do episodes on minimalism because sometimes you're stuck in your house for like six seven weeks and you just clear out all your closet. I mean that's that happens sometimes. Yes, it's the best use of time. Yeah, and then you want to like maintain not all that hard work that you just did. So that's what we're going to be talking about today. Yeah, we love minimalism repairs so well with frugality. But yeah,

then then how do you maintain it? Which is all which is pretty much what our podcast is about with frugality. How to maintain it? Yes, how do you? How do you keep doing it? So before we get into that, let's uh, let's get on with our sponsors, our other sponsor is First Birthdays. Today as Pi's first birthday. We've kept him alive for a full year, and I am impressed.

I've been dreaming about throwing him a first birthday party since before he was born, because, let's be honest, a first birthday isn't for the kid, it's for the parents. I bought space decorations on Amazon because people on Facebook looked at me weird for asking if I could have their decorations first birthdays. I will give anyone these deck corations when I'm done with them. Oh my goodness, there's

so many things I don't know what to ask about. First. Well, first of all, congratulations, thank you for a year the first one. Yes, not a question, just a congratulations. Thank you. Also, you saw other people's first birthday decorations and message them asking if you could borrow them. I was in a mom's group on Facebook, a local mom's group, and I was like, Hey, does anybody have any first birthday decorations? I'm not picky, but I do have a boy um

and nobody. Somebody gave me a referral link to buy other to buy decorations online and I was like, shut up, I work online. I know what you're doing. So, um, nobody pulled through like I wanted them too. That's funny

that they would think that's funny. I think that's normal. Yeah, but we're the frugal friends and that's what we do because we're minimalist and we don't want to bring more things into our house if we don't have to or put money on something that you're only going to use once, right, and I did so I will pass it on to anybody else who wants to throw a space themed first birthday for their child, let me know, and Um, I'll

send these to you. And that's where I'm at. And and that's because I hate having extra stuff because I love minimalism. Yes, has it on forward. We have a few other episodes on minimalism. If you've been listening for a while, you've heard them. If not, UM, then check out episode eighty nine with Desiree Andrews. She's the host of the minimal Ish podcast, and we have her on talking about um being minimal ish. Uh. And then episode

ninete we talked about contentment, gratitude and flexible minimalism. So that's kind of the name of our game, is flexible ish minimalism. And for some reason without planning. Yes, every tenth episode has been about minimalism one O nine. That was not planned. But we're going to keep doing um. But if we're still around the cheers, So we wanted to do this episode today because yes, a lot of people have been decluttering over the past two months, and

how do we keep going with this newfound minimalism. How do we maintain it? And that's what we're talking about today. And our first article is from becoming Minimalist and uh he is giving us seven powerful ways to maintain momentum after decluttering. So this is right after decluttering, how do

you keep on the path when life gets busy again? Yeah? Yeah, I think this is a great perspective to come from because a lot of times, even within the minimalist movement, it's a how to become minimalist, and I think it's important to then talk about how do we maintain that because we're not just going to automatically keep doing it. It's very easy to fall back into our old patterns

and ways of doing things. UM. So I like the approach that this first article takes of how to find new opportunities and live intentionally, which is the undercurrent of minimalism. It's not just about having less stuff. It's actually not really about that at all, hardly, but more about what you can do with your time, what's the best use of your time, energy, money, and how can we live in more intentionally because our spaces are less cluttered and

we inside ourselves are less cluttered. Yeah, and I forget that. We actually had Joshua Becker, the writer behind Becoming Minimalists. We had him on the show and that was episode thirty two. I just looked it up so you can one of my favorite episodes for the record. I was fan girling. Yeah we yeah, we love Joshua Becker and Becoming Minimalists. So he's got such great things to say. What were some of your favorite things from these seven Powerful Ways? Yeah, so number two stood out to me,

which is take better care of your things. I think we can maintain what we've already begun by making sure that we are caring for the things that we do have so that they last longer, and also to keep us from that urge of I need to buy new, or I need to buy different, or I need to throw this out, or I need to buy more and

have multiple by taking care of our things. Not only does that make it lasts longer, but I think it also helps us to be more invested in what we do have and appreciate it if we're caring for it. So one of the examples Joshua gives with number two is UM line drying your clothes like not putting them through the dryer. Um, it doesn't. It makes clothes last longer if we line dry. Apparently it takes away the life of your article of clothing if we are constantly

putting it through the dryer. Not to mention, as we've talked about in other episodes, that can save on energy costs. UM, there's a lot of other benefits that can happen as a result of that. But finding ways that will help your items have more life to them, yeah, doing your research for sure. I liked his first one, which is start a blog, so UM. This one is is close to my heart because this is how I maintained momentum

when you were paying off debt. That's exactly why I started my blog, is to have, um, just some motivation, some accountability. I didn't think anyone would read it, UM, I just wanted to have maybe something to help me decompress and figure stuff out. And so he says that starting a blog is one of the most important things he's ever done um for his intentional living journey, and I wholeheartedly agree. So, if this is a lifestyle that you want to continue to stay engaged with, it's and

it's not. You don't have to stay engaged with paying off debt or being minimalist. You can just have that be a part of your life. But if it's something that you want to continue to stay engage with and learn more about and have is a large part of your life, then starting a blog can really be an outlet for you to research and learn and decompress your thoughts. Yeah, I forgot that that was the beginning intention of blogs, almost like an online journal, And if you wanted to

read it, fine. Otherwise, this is a way to not take up space on my computer. It's just being stored on the internet and people can read it if they want.

It's become something so much different than that. But I feel like what you're describing and what's being described in this article is kind of getting back to the roots of what the intention of blogs are kind of Yeah, a way to decompress or a way to theorize, a way to track, a way to log, and and and letting other people read your journal and helping like just

helping the people around you. I think another reason that I started my blog was I wanted to help my friends and family learn some of the things that I had been learning. And when people started reading it, it just motivated me more to keep helping other people and helping people really how to keep me motivated? Yeah, see, that's another great thing about a blog. Uh. Something else

you can do with your time is volunteer. So this obviously is up to each individual on where they want to volunteer, how much time they want to volunteer, what kind of skill sets you have to be able to volunteer.

And this might seem like a weird thing to say, but I think it links back to what we're talking about with maintaining minimalism means that we need to look for new opportunities and ways to live intentionally, in ways to fill our time that are purposeful, again, to keep us from falling back into old patterns of spending all of our time up keeping all of our stuff, or purchasing more or fill in the blank with everything that coincides with just having a lot of stuff, and so

when we realize, like our version of minimalism, it comes with the territory that sometimes we have some extra time and what are we going to do with that? In a really purposeful, intentional way of spending that time is to volunteer. So finding a local nonprofit that you feel confident about and being able to give some of your time on a weekly, bi weekly, even monthly basis. Uh. And I love what Joshua points out in this article that it's not just about what you're doing to volunteer,

but it's also about connecting with other volunteers. Like minded people who are also giving of their time can create a really beautiful community and at whatever place you are volunteering at, forming relationships um with the people they're also so it can expand life so much by doing that. Yeah, And there's no shortage of opportunities to volunteer right now. There are. There's a lot of need from organizations locally especially, so definitely figure out a place where you can help

the people in your community, even in social distanced ways. Um. Yeah, of being able to even make meals for people and drop them off for like you said, there's tons of ways, and I think even just reaching out to different nonprofits in your community can help to identify what you could do right now along that line, Number four is to donate money. I loved that one because that it directly aligns with frugality. We we buy less and we spend less so that we can invest more in the things

that we care about. But that's not just in our lives. That also is in um causes and people that really need us um the We can't rely on other people, billionaires, the government, whoever you think is going to take care of the people that need it, like, we have to rely on ourselves and each other. And so if you have enough, you can give the extra and even if you don't have enough right now, giving a little bit will be a practice for when you do have enough

that you will continue to give and give more. So when you when you give a little um, it's a higher percentage than if you know then when you do eventually get rich and you're giving a lot, like you can give the same percentage when we're all millionaires, when you're when we are all millionaires. That's the goal of

frugality and minimalism. Yeah, yeah, UM. And Yeah, as your debt gets paid off and you're spending lessons, UM, just figure out ways either organizations UM that give a significant portion of their donations to the community or whoever they're serving, or even just directly to people, like cut out the middle man and if you see people around you suffering, take them a meal, give them a gift card, like

do things that aren't going to hurt their pride. UM. Don't just like write them a check or give them cash, but figure out ways to um honor those struggling in your community with some kind of monetary donation. UM. It just it's what we need right now. It's it's what our world needs right now. There's two on here that just are not super relevant given current circumstances, the Age and Corona. The one is travel somewhere new and the other one is do nothing. And I feel like neither

one of those are super applicable right now. So we're gonna we're gonna pass over that and go ahead, Jen with the last one. Yeah, this is another one of my favorite things to talk about, establish a new daily habit. I love talking about habits UM, how to build them, how to break them. It's like my thing, and uh, yeah, having less actually gives your brain more opportunity and space to process because you're you're visually like not drawn to

so many places. When you have a minimalist home or minimalist schedule, your brain can be in one place for longer and it can make better decisions. And so that aids you in UM. It sets you up to be able to build better habits and attaching a new habit to an action that you already have, or just starting something small and trying to do it for sixty consecutive days. That's what the article says. UM will will help you to improve, you know, ten percent every month and eventually

you will be a hundred percent better. Like maybe I think that's how fractions work. But having having a minimalist lifestyle will will help you. And then also actively and intentionally trying to form new and better habits. Uh. That that provides action in your life. And action is actually what produces motivation. So it's not you get motivated and then you act. It's action that produces motivation. So the

more you act, the more motivation you have. And so this is a tiny way to start off with some action uh and increase your motivation to remain minimalist. I'm always drawn to the ones that have numbers attached to it, Like it gets me that this says something for ten minutes for sixty consecutive days. That to me sounds like,

all right, let's try it. We can do this. It's not just like start a new habit, okay, And you have to get a past You have to get past the mindset to that like little things are pointless, So like taking a ten minute walk might seem pointless, like it burns like five calories what um? So just get past the mindset that small actions are meaningless and start to live in their significance. Start to find significance in the small things, and you will find that they eventually

do become big things. But you have to get past them the small mindset like that says small things don't matter. Oh well, said, yeah, my goodness, You've got a one year old now, and you've just got wisdom pouring out probably how you know, some small things do matter. You've got my god, a small, tiny one year old, and he matters. He you really get to the to the core meaning of my life. Jill, Yes, you so well. To two plus years of podcasting. Man, look at what

it's done. I know. All right, let's get onto our next article. It's from One Empty Shelf dot com and it's how to maintain minimalism. So once you're kind of settled in and this is kind of where we are, we're embracing the lifestyle, and so how do you just make this a normal part of your life? And she's got three tips that I really enjoy or four, sorry

for yeah, So we'll go through all of them. And the first one is to keep the right mindset, meaning to maintain this perspective that minimalism is a way of removing the unnecessary to make room for what's important. And I love the way that she describes this because a lot of times we ourselves or other in this minimalist

space can say, oh, it's so it's deprivation. It lacks personality, right, Like we think of minimalism and we think of white walls with like one tiny greenery on like a little tables, Like that's what minimalism is. It's for like the quiet people who don't have children. And that's just like it's not the case at all. Um, So maybe we should stop using pictures that that give that association anyhow I digress, So maintaining this perspective that it is a helpful tool

to getting at what's important in life. Um and every time that maybe we we're thinking about just collecting and collecting and collecting helping to put some of those stop gaps in our thought life of well, what is this gonna do? Is this going to add meaning and purpose and intentionality to my life or is this just like a thing that I'm mindlessly bringing in into my space. And maintaining this thought life and this perspective so that we don't again, yeah, kind of just go back into

old ways because we're not thinking about it. Definitely. The next one is to continue to edit your possessions. So this is something that you will have to do and redo for the rest of your life, because even with trying to pare down your possessions or pare down your whether they be tangible or digital or in your schedule, you have to continually reevaluate and pare down and establish

what's a priority or what's important right now. Because something that three months ago could have been really important and really useful maybe now or you know, six months down the road, may not be and that's totally fine. There are seasons for every thing, so that's why you have to continue to edit what you have. Uh, it's definitely it's easy to do one big clear out and do

a full reset all together. That's great. Uh, and then just go through every maybe six months or as as you feel like my closets getting like crowded again, let me see or my junk drawer seems junkie again, let me go through this stuff. It'll your space will begin to tell you when it needs to be edited. I like, I like her how she says edit. I want to do some more. Um. But your your space will tell you when you when it needs something, and you can

more easily read that when you are living a minimalist lifestyle. Yeah, and finding a number three on here is finding a minimalist community. So finding inspiration and support from others really helps us to keep on track with this. And this could be online through Facebook groups or blogs or podcasts, um, but it can also be just in your community if you've got friends who are like minded, or you want to begin your own kind of online group for people

who are local to you. That's I mean, we've talked about this before and already in this podcast, you know, with talking about blogs, but this podcast has helped me in the community that we've created, maintain frugality and by proxy, minimalism too. It's it's a focus that I appreciate for my own life. But it's amazing how much like we can stay focused on our own But it's amazing the exponential growth and focus and inspiration of motivation that can

come from having community. I think it is a greater It happens to a greater degree when you're surrounded by other like minded people and you're allowing their ideas to kind of influence what you're doing and your choices. Um, yeah, it's it's fantastic. So finding that community can be really helpful. Yeah. I so when looking for a Facebook group in particular,

I recommend choosing smaller groups. Minimalism is a like big topic for Facebook groups, and you can find groups with thirty fifty people you're and you're not going to get as much rich interaction with other people. Are The Frugal Friends community on Facebook has just around two thousand, and I feel like that is just a perfect number. I know will continue to grow, but right now I feel like we're at a great place. So don't shrug off a group because it doesn't have as many members as

another group. Look. Facebook will tell you how active the group is and how many members are in it. And you want to look for groups that have fewer people but are still active, like still have new posts daily and monthly. So just like that when you look it is important. Yeah, active is important to take into consideration, and Facebook tells you. Uh. For worth is probably my favorite one on here. Um, marvel at the space and

time you create to devote to things you love. Uh. Minimalism isn't about removing things and leaving a gaping void. Minimalism allows you to fill that gap with every single thing you love to do and create. It's a fuller life, but a more meaningful one. And that is I mean, that's what we're all about in minimalism and frugality is stripping away the noise, stripping away the clutter, stripping away all of the transactions and what remains is what's most valuable.

And take time. Once you begin to do that, don't take it for granted. Take time to step back and look at the light the full life you're creating, and

and really appreciate it. I love that word, marvel. It's such a it inspires so much wonder And I think also gratitude, which I know we've talked about before as well, but that can help us to adopt a grateful perspective, to recognize the pieces that we can be grateful for, even in difficult times or when things are weird or feeling out of balance, which it has been for the past couple of months. I do think that looking for

pieces of gratitude can really help. And I think um a lot of what's included in the minimalist lifestyle can assist us in finding pieces to be grateful for. We can see it more clearly because we've paired down to what we love, what's meaningful, what provides us with purpose. Yeah, it's it's the point that we are trying to get across here, and so I hope that you've seen it. And then there's there's one more point we're trying to get across here, and we try and get it across

every week. Every week, you're getting it, I think, Yeah, we're all getting it hopefully. Yeah, it's the that's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's build buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill

of the week. My name is Jackie. I'm an e l A teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada, the city that used to Never sleep, which means that I am now teaching el A at home. My favorite bill of the week is for my big red two thousand fourteen truck. I drove it in the school parade today. We had about thirty cars that drove through the neighborhoods that our children live in. Um. Everybody said what it was great

to see because it's so bright. It's easy for everybody to look at and to know where they are in line. But it is my favorite bill of the week because I paid it off two months ago, before we knew that coronavirus was going to be a thing. Thanks girls for everything you do. That's amazing. That's awesome. First of all, big red truck. That just sounds so fun and bright and cheery and providing so much joy to people. But also the fact that you paid it off without even

knowing what was to come. But you're like previous frugal mental desire to be debt free has helped you right now, Um, well done, amazing, Yes, yes, congratulations and gosh, I hope I hope those kids are back in the classroom soon. I know teachers were first really excited about like working digitally, and now all I talk I talked to them and they're like, I just need to get back in the classroom. I can't figure any of this out. It's so annoying. Even the ones that have figured it out are like,

I kind of missed my kids. So yeah, and I know parents. We don't need to parents because we all know parents. Kids said yeah, yeah, all all kudos and applause to teachers and parents doing this thing together to join the effort. Yeah. Oh well, if you all have a big red drug or paid off debt or an amazing parade bill or other kind of bill to tell us about, uh, please submit it to us at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. We'll listen to it.

It may not be until like October and November at this point, because y'all heard us and you've been submitting your bills like crazy. Thank you. Uh through August, so you we asked for bills and you provided. Thank you, and that's what you do because you're the best. Yes, and now it's time for the next best thing. Well, so, uh, let's talk about our decluttering. Jill, have you decluttered anything while in quarantine? Yes? Tell on me about it. So

I do like how the previous article mentioned editing. I do feel that's what we do on the regular so maintenance mode editing. Although there's a lot to be said, I'm going to try and keep this brief. We have moved to people recently, um still in our own way of social distancing, but moves have still happened. So we've tried to do our best to help family. And I think that this highlighted to me the importance of maintaining minimalism,

and this happens to all of us. Like I would consider myself pretty extreme minimalist, and yet I still collect things and every time I move somebody, I realized, Man, we just we fill our space. And for me, every time I move it it's a motivator to move somebody else. It's a motivator for me to come back and look at right, what else can I get rid of because

we move about once a year. It's like, yeah, not a great rate of moving for us right now, but we do and so I realize how much it is to pack up and to move, and so I want our moves to be simpler and simpler. So um, yeah, since we do have an office space, we've been able to kind of unpack a lot of the stuff that we had kept in like a little storage space and start to see the things that I kept because I thought eventually I'm going to have a house and I'm

gonna want these things. And now it's been like five years that we've lived tiny, so I'm like, well, these things I don't think I even want anymore, like I've done without them for so long. So little by little we've been posting things on Facebook, market place and stashing some money for when we do get a place and we'll just make the decisions for what we want at that point. But no use in keeping it anymore. I've

just realized it's not it's not worth it. So yeah, it's funny the things you keep thinking like, hey, I'm gonna want this when this happens, and then by the time it happens, you don't want it anymore. I've that's happened to me several times as well. So just assume that whenever whatever happens, you're not gonna want whatever it is, and sell it now and keep the money so that you can buy something you really do want whenever you do get your own place. Yeah, yeah, what about you?

I have done, yeah, just maintenance decluttering whenever I wear a shirt that I no longer enjoy, and I get most of my shirts from like clothing swaps and friends, so I don't spend money on clothing. I uh so I don't feel bad getting rid of it either because I didn't spend any money on it. Um. But if I don't love it, I'll put it in a pile

in my closet. That is the donation pile. And usually that donation pile gets donated three month and we have not been able to donate things, so that pile is just sitting on my uh closet floor, just waiting to be donated at some point. I've got a pile in my car too. These thrift stores are going to be over run, yes, Oh my gosh, it's going to be the thrifter's paradise. Once all the stuff gets sorted out, if the three stores take it all, they might start

to get uh like have standards. Right, It's still going to be a thrifter's paradise because it's already been so. Yeah, and Travis is actually off through May um and so he has been selling things. He's been going through um our clutter and seeing what he can sell on Facebook marketplace. So he's been doing a bulk of the decluttering, which is a total flip flop. I have always been the declutter and he's always been the order. But right now, like I'm just working so much that he is selling

all kinds of things. It's great. We need right, so I'll talk at your table. So it's it's been great having him come to the dark side for a little while, for as long as he's home. Once you catch the bug, yeah, it's uh, it's kind of fun. Yeah, it is, especially when you're selling it on Facebook, market place or eBay then and you know you can make a little money

off of it. It's been fun. I'll usually have let it sit posted for about a month and usually things, um, if it's if we think it's worth posting, it'll go pretty quickly. Um, and if it's not, it'll sit there for a month and then just get donated. Uh. There was actually one thing recently that I did donate and Travis six months later got somebody that wanted to buy it, but I had already donated it and I felt slightly bad. But not six months though that would have been a

long time to hold onto it. Yeah, it was a while. Uh So yeah, take take those tips for what you will. And I just have you been doing anything else in quarantine, Jill? You know, I've been working a lot, and I know that that's kind of the case for you too, and I'm grateful for that that my work has been well, I say, relatively unaffected, but also an increase UM. I work in the mental health space, and so UM this time has really brought out a lot of vulnerabilities for people, UM,

increased anxiety and I mean other things too. There are a lot of blessings that people are identifying in this time, but it's it's been difficult for a lot of people, and so UM A lot have been seeking support and encouragement during this time, which I'm so glad for UM to see some of the stigma of counseling fall fall off, but definitely a lot more people reaching out for assistance right now. So it's really been like I've been working from like eight am till seven pm and then dinner,

and it's dark out and cold here. It's still cold in Pennsylvania. It's like has snowed that we're recording this end of April and it's still like in the thirties and forties anyhow. Yeah, so it's just been like that's that's been it. Really. I wish I could say that I'm one of those people who is um crossing off like crazy goals that they've had their whole lives and doing house projects and all this stuff. I mean, thankfully we live minimalists. We don't have like big projects we

have to finish. But it's it's been work for me. Yeah, and yeah, I think everybody got their all their goals done in the first month, and in April has just been everybody binging Netflix and which is totally okay, which is fine, how about you. Yeah, working a lot, and I start a YouTube channel, so I added more work to my plate UM and we will be growing the

Frugal Friends YouTube channels, So definitely subscribe to that. UM Frugal Friends on YouTube, and then I started a YouTube channel for Modern Frugality, So that's going to cover um some different things UM related to frugality. And if you like fruality, you'll definitely want to subscribe to both of those channels. It's free, yeah, so no reason not to

do it. Yeah, definitely nice. Well, someday we'll all be able to see each other again one day, yeah, one day, and or at least the weather we'll get warm and I'll be able to enjoy the outdoors like it seems a lot of people get to do right now. There's so many people who are unashamedly like I am so ready for bathing suit, whether just because all they've been doing is exercising, running two times a day and all this stuff. I'm like, good for you. That is not

my story, but good for you. Yeah. Anyhow, Uh, let's wrap this thing up. Thanks so much for listening everybody. We are so thrilled, especially right now, to still be surrounded by community online and through this podcast. So thank you so much for your kind reviews. Those of you who have reviewed our podcast UM on iTunes or stitchers. We want to highlight one that that has been especially encouraging and I think helpful for other people to kind of learn whether or not this is going to be

a podcast for them. So this one's titled love This podcast happens to be. Five stars happens to be and they say, I am new to frugal friends. The podcast was recommended to me by the budget mom group on Facebook. I am familiar with many aspects of frugality, but there are a few gems that I picked up. This podcast is like having a conversation with your girlfriends. Jen and Jill are practical and funny, never judge or scolding, as

some well known financial folks are. I put on this podcast when I'm cleaning the house, when I'm working on my budget or doing my nails. Thanks, ladies, appreciate your hard work. Rhea naughty, Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, what good times to be listening cleaning the house, working on the budget, or painting your nails. I'm so kind joining you during those times because nobody's listening to us on on their commute right now. That's true. Yeah, I know.

We've heard people in the Facebook group saying like, oh, I'm behind because I don't have it on my Friday morning commune, and I'm like, I know, I miss, I know, I understand. So we want to thank you guys for listening and sharing. So every month we do a drawing for ten dollar Amazon gift cards. If you share the latest episode and tag guests at Frugal Friends podcast on Facebook or Instagram, we will add you to our monthly drawing, and we do one of those gift cards for every

five tags and reviews we get every month. Sorry, just hit my mic so excited, So keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher and sending us a screenshot to Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com and tag us on social media both ways will enter you into our drawing. Yes, and we will see you next week. Have a good Memorial Day. Oh bye bye. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Sperience. Um can I tell you

about something that's been super therapeutic for me? Yes? Uh so, I watched a clean with Me video recently last week and it was uh neither had I. Um So, I don't know why I was looking at cleaning stuff, but I was on YouTube and uh, this woman had She's it's cleaned my space on YouTube she's like a million subscribers, and she did a kitchen clean with me, and so it was a time lapse of her cleaning and she was just going through and explaining her cleaning method how

she cleaned her kitchen after a really messy day, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is great, and so I decided to take a time lapse of me cleaning my kitchen. It's amazing. Yeah, And so I posted on Instagram and somebody messaged me and was like, this was oddly calming, and I was like, I know, it's calming and motivating to watch other people clean, Yes, right, and motivating. It's like the first step of action that you could take in that direction. But it's also cathartic

because you see, you see a space get better. Oh yeah, watching disarray become order and beauty is amazing. It's funny that you mentioned that, because actually I was talking with a girl yesterday and she said the same thing that. I don't think it's exactly related to what you're describing, but they were doing time laps with my phone and I've never used that function actually on my phone before.

But she's like, have you ever watched like time laps videos of people like painting or like getting a project done, really kind of anything. It's super Uh yeah, I don't know what it does to us, probably just to like see a finished product faster than what we know. It's like what we want to have happened, Like everything gers

that it's done. Um. Yeah, of cleaning or I would even think like organizing or moving or whatever kind of time labs or doing it yourself to then be able to see the progress at the end from where you started. I just thought of this, what a great challenge. If you are going to be decluttering your home, you should totally record it with time laps. So I spent maybe a half hour cleaning my kitchen, and I think it

just still down to like thirty seconds. And so take your time and declutter and record it and then post it on Instagram tag us because we want to see it, because we want, we need to be calmed, and and then you will have the motivation to like get it done. Yeah, what a great challenge. I really like that challenge. Yeah, do it, Yeah, a project or something. Yeah, it's the decluttering for sure, But I think all of them are great ideas. I'm looking at the closet in my office,

and I'm wondering how I can record a declutter. I'm going to think of more things to do with the time laps. Yes, let's utilize time labs, getting deeper and deeper into quarantine time laps. That's amazing. Alright, well, let's get to it. Let's time lapse this thing, make it go by faster, all right, okay, well by then,