Episode 14 - Declutter Your Life & Mind: Escape the Chaos of Overconsumption

Welcome back to Andi & Mich—where two sisters, two generations, and a whole lot of chaos come together to talk life, love, and living with intention.

In this episode, we’re diving into the emotional and physical clutter that’s taking up space in your life—and what happens when you finally let it go. From bursting closets and tangled chargers to childhood memorabilia and toxic productivity, we share personal stories, hard truths, and a lot of laughs about what decluttering really looks like.

We cover:
✨ Why clutter impacts your nervous system
✨ How simplicity creates space for joy
✨ The emotional reasons we hold on to stuff
✨ Cultural pressure to have more to feel more
✨ How to simplify your home, calendar, and expectations

Plus, our game segment “Keep It or Kick It” brings the chaos—and clarity. Whether it’s 27 water bottles or your inner guilt gremlin, we’ll help you figure out what stays and what goes.

If you're ready for less clutter and more peace, this one’s for you.

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-Andi and Mich

The Andi and Mich Podcast: Two Sisters, Two Generations, Unique Perspectives, Lots of Laughs

Transcript

0:00

Welcome back to Andy and Mitch, the podcast, were two sisters, two generations and a whole lot of chaos come together to talk life, love, and living with intention. Today we are talking about simplifying life, our homes, our routines, our closets, our expectations, and why doing less might actually be the key to filling more joy. Because at some point you look around and think, why do I have five different types of spatulas and still order takeout. Right? So grab your cafecito, take a deep breath, and let's declutter mentally and emotionally. Let's dive in. Bottom line, we live in a society that over consumes. Food, clothes, crap, we don't need in our houses, social media, tv, everything's at our disposal. It's at our fingertips. I think it's safe to say that none of that stuff is actually linked to real joy in our lives, and it's like too much. The stuff is not saving us, in fact, 80 to 90% of Americans feel overwhelmed by clutter with experts estimating clutter contributes up to 25% of household stress, that's a lot. Seriously. 63% admit clutter negatively affects their mental health and 61% say decluttering improves their quality of life. When you do declutter and you finally get through all the mess, I mean, it's not a pretty sight, and sometimes it takes days, but when you do get through it, you feel this sense of lightness. Have you ever had a moment where you realized you have too much stuff? Anytime you have to move. I only need 10 boxes and then you start packing and you're like, where the heck did all this stuff come from? There is no way I have this much stuff, like the last time we moved, like a big move. The freaking moving truck was packed to the brim to the point that the guy was telling me it's very heavy, so I have to drive very slow. That's kind of crazy actually. Wild, why is there so many things? You guys have like collectible items, you have a lot of books. That's just a nice way to say hoarders. I collect the least amount of things in that house. I am a journal hoarder, I have a bunch of journals I probably will never use, ever in my life. I think the last time we went to Barnes and Noble. You got another one. I bought like three, remember. I was like, I need this one. This one's for doodling. They all have a different purpose. This one's for writing out my ideas, my creative ideas, and then this one's for gratitude or something. One was prompted, wasn't it? Yeah, The gratitude one I think had like questions and I thought I could totally use this. Mind you, when I got home and I looked at my bookshelf, I had two other journals that were like gratitude. So yes, that I do hoard, but it doesn't take up more than like a shelf of space. Versus people that I'm related to have like rooms full of collectibles, which I'm surprised you, well, we'll find out'cause you're a very emotional based person too. They're very emotional based, so they get emotionally attached to their things. Yeah, I used to. You don't anymore? I don't anymore. You don't even like those bitches anymore, get rid of it. I did do that. When I was looking through my memorabilia boxes, I had a lot of them. I ended up shrinking it all down to just two clear bins where I could see everything in it. Now there are some photo books that I need to put together, I bought the photo albums, but I have not put them together yet. So that's a project that I have, but outside of that. I shrunk it down and it actually was really beneficial for me because I realized a lot of this stuff was like just outdated. I don't need things of like my first relationships, I don't need stuff like that and so I threw it all away, like everything. Because I want to make space for new things. Mm-hmm. I think if I became a parent it would be different, I would be very sentimental. I'm just gonna say this very honestly you collect so much crap from your kids that you ha really at a certain point you have to purge. It's just too many things. You have to very carefully and thoughtfully, slowly make things disappear and then pick what you wanna actually keep in store'cause it's too much stuff. I love my kid, but I just don't need all those things. Yeah. And I think that's the strife that a lot of parents go through because they don't wanna get rid of it'cause it is very sentimental and then they have to figure out which ones are the best ones to keep. Mm-hmm. For me, particularly with a lot of the stuff is like sentimental, more related to like traveling, just times where I just had a lot more time to do, silly fun things. Do you have anything that you collect? No. No. Like pins or mugs or? No. Really? Oh, I do I collect, gift cards. Money. Cash and diamonds. Just diamonds. Just jewels. Why? Just, just bars of gold. Anything of significant financial value. I collect greeting cards. Yeah, you do buy greeting cards for no reason. No, I, have a reason and the reason is they come in handy like when I, when I need to give somebody a birthday card. I always have a birthday card if I need to give them a grief card. I always have a grief card. You have like a card for everything. I have a card for everything. You want a funny one? You want a sentimental one? You want one one with lions, tigers, bears, Dragons. Children's birthday, adult birthday. You want a gender theme, non-gender theme. You want a Spanish and or English? That's micro hoarding. That is my one thing because I really admired the way that our grandma used to buy cards at the beginning of the year for all her grandchildren's birthdays. And then she'd have'em filled out with our Sizzler coupon or our$20 gift card to EL Loco, and she would have them filled out for the entire year. And I really like that, so like that's something I want to keep doing. So I always have cards available to me to be able to fill them out. I am yet to see a card with a sizzler coupon or a five dollar el pollo loco. I've never given you a sizzler coupon, but now that we're saying it out loud, I should start. I used to love those, those cards. I did too. It was so cute. It's like, I'm gonna get my$5 and my sizzler meal. It was wonderful and when I was a kid, that was like, I was rich. Yeah. We were gonna go to the to the liquor store down the street and I was gonna get all kinds of candy. My in-laws give you cash for the number of years that you've been alive. The older you get, the more you get. It's the greatest ever. It's just so sweet and I think I like that sentiment. So I do collect cards for that. My other goal was to start just making a ton of photo albums, so I do have those two photo albums as a project, because I have a ton of photos, but I never frame them or put them in albums but it's because I've moved so much and I got really detached to the concept of keeping things. I think that there is a benefit to it, right? There are things that are anchored in memories. That's why like when you start going through a box of stuff and you're like, oh my God, I remember this. Oh my god, remember that. Or, you know, this happened and we start getting real sentimental but I do think we need to be selective on which ones we keep and not keep everything. As you get older you also become very knicknacky, this is a true thing. I don't know why it happens. It just happens. So you go and go to shows, theater, whatever and you like kind of wanna keep something from it but at the same time, I don't want to create clutter, so I have to pick like the smallest thing. So I pick like pins or magnets. I had to make a conscious decision like if I get something, it's gotta be something I can wear, like a t-shirt or something that I'm actually gonna wear or something small because then if I have a lot of them, it's okay, they fit in a tiny little box, a shoe box, and it's fine. Yeah, and they say that mementos for meaningful moments like travel or events can spark creativity or joy, and that's why people tend to do them AKA, your buying of pins and things. Yeah. I like buying funny pins that I'm gonna put on my backpack. I do like stickers. That kind of ties to like identity and personality, right? Yeah. It's super cheap and affordable and it's a fun way to express yourself, like you're saying. And I put stickers on my laptop, which a lot of people are like, blasphemous, how dare you? I'm like, dude, this thing's gonna break, like they break, I don't know if you know this but we all die. I do collect books too, wait, I'm making a lot of confessions right now. Yeah. I told you, you collected books. No, okay. You guys all collect books? We all collect books, we're a book family but I collect books, like people collect wine. So I buy books it doesn't mean I'm gonna read them. Which is a collector. But at the right moment in time when it makes most sense, the universe aligns it to where it needs to be those books will be read. I don't even need to go to the bookstore guys. How do you think clutter in your home affects your nervous system? I know how it affects mine. I have like what I like to call borderline OCD. You dabble in it. I dabble. It's almost like you get real clear on an idea you have, there's a very steep cliff where like an hour later, cut to me on the floor in my closet crying because I made such a mess. Yes. Because I had a moment like that where I was like so motivated, and I was like, I'm gonna, Marie Kondo the shit out of this closet. I'm gonna go through everything, only keep things that feel really good to me, and I'm gonna get rid of all the excess. So I started this process by pulling everything out because I thought in the moment, genius idea, I'll pull everything out because then it will force me to go through each pile. I do that, by the way, when I put my clothes away, so we are related. Let us know if you can relate. And it's also a woman thing'cause that's one thing I've learned over the years is that the way it shows up in us shows up differently than potentially in men. Yeah and that cliff hit hard and I deep dove down into like, I can't do this. You were overwhelmed. I was so overwhelmed, I was like going from pile to pile the ADHD spiral happened then my partner came home and I ran and slammed the door and I was like, don't look in here. For the safety of all of us, do not go in this room. You're like, you're sleeping downstairs tonight. I'm so sorry. He's like, what did you do? I'm like, don't even look at it. I'll take care of it. Don't worry. So I cried through the whole thing, sweat, tears, the whole nine. And I finally got through, at one point I just started putting things away and not really going through it anymore. You exhausted yourself. I was like, I just have to fold it and put it back. I've reached my capacity, now, these four drawers are gonna be a mystery. To be continued on another day. As Andy knows, I do like swords of laundry at one time, and so I'll tend to take all the clean laundry put it on my bed, then I get the drawers and I flip all the drawers out onto the bed. I'll sort through it and I'll just be like, bitty, bitty bom-bom my way to like order and cleanliness. And I think it's because there's like an element of like functionality, setting myself up for success, knowing where everything is. I think it really does impact my nervous system because I recognize that. I have a very insecure attachment to things growing up without a lot of stuff. And like also growing up in a home that could sometimes be chaotic that also felt cluttered, when it was chaotic. So I kind of associate the two things. So it makes me very anxious and uncomfortable, when there's too much stuff to where that's spilling out of everywhere and I can't keep it organized. To where you're like, shoot, we have too many things. We have to like taper this down immediately stat because it does impact my mental health and it is directly correlated to how we grew up and the impact that that had on me. I do see that because I think to some degree our mom kind of had that too. I think she still does. Yeah. She's better about it though. But when we were growing up, that's probably why there was so much clutters'cause she didn't know if she would get the opportunity to get something again. She was very similar in the respect that getting overwhelmed and not knowing how to properly dispose of things. I think, now I'm just like, I am throw away, crazy So much so that sometimes she'll even be like, stop throwing things away. Really? Because you're gonna start throwing things away. Yeah'cause then everybody, they like start putting caution tape across their doors. and they're like, don't come in here, leave my stuff alone. You don't need to clean that room. I'm like. Relax. I'm just cleaning my own closet. But they know once I go on like that rampage, I start like, we don't need this, we don't need this. And I'll start just throwing things away and it can get a little outta control. Yeah. I do the same thing. But do you think that we as a society especially being so consumer focused, do you think we confuse abundance with excess? We can definitely find ourselves in these consumerism loops, especially with social media you're seeing all of these things marketed at you. And it's a quick tap, tap, tap before it's at your house. Also, the idea of like abundance versus excess, it's like well, I have the funds to do it, so obviously it's okay, it's not excessive. But I do think that we confuse this idea of abundance. Like we're doing well, we have all these things we can see it as a status symbol of abundance, but in reality it's a very fine line between that and excess. And I actually started to notice, like when I would simplify things, something as simple as like my makeup routine to my closet, to my office space. I just felt so much better. And I felt happier and I started to feel more comfortable in my own space. And then I started seeing,'cause I love International House hunters. It's like one of my favorite shows. Watching other cultures live very simply in their homes and like how their home was decorated, how their closets are small because they don't have like an excessive wardrobe. They only buy what they need and then replace as they need to and I started seeing that and I was like, oh, that sounds really nice. Just from like a maintenance standpoint of things you have to clean. That sounds great. What about like, cultural narratives around like collecting too many things? I do remember our grandma. Actually on both sides, having like a lot of chucherias which is like just little collectible things on shelves. She was like into clowns, which would really freak me out but she had all kinds of clown figurines. I hated those damn clowns. And we all, we all blocked it out of our memories. Yeah. But I think culturally too, there's this thing about like when you make your house a home and you decorate, you bring in things that bring you joy and sometimes it can be excessive. Like we had an aunt who loved Miss Piggy and she had like a ton of pigs. Like when it becomes too much. There's something to be said about, making space for new things in your life. Literally and figuratively, and sometimes they're related, right? Like sometimes if you can clear the physical clutter in your home. It can have an impact in other areas of your life. When you do that, you feel more comfortable, more relaxed. As humans have a tendency to hold onto things. For sentimental reasons, usually there are probably a list of other reasons that people hold onto stuff, whether healthy or not. How funny you say that'cause there is a list emotional connection, identity, inspiration and motivation and social connection, continue. So like in the same veins, would you prefer living in a big space? That was too empty or a small space? That was also empty. Yeah, minimalist living. Or have you ever lived in a space that was too big or too empty? No, i've been poor my whole life but if anybody wants to give me a big space to live in that you ain't using. DM us, drop us a comment. We'll take it. Um, no, i've always lived in relatively, medium spaces. One time we all lived together in a pretty big house. Yeah, that was a big space. I guess a small space, a small space is maintainable to me with very little clutter. Like I would probably have it very minimal. yeah because they, you know what they say, smaller space, bigger life. Have you ever lived in a space that was too big or too empty? Yeah, I prefer spaces that feel cozy. I do like the idea of designated areas'cause, i'm older now and I just don't wanna have to get in my car and drive to the gym. I'd rather have a space that's like designated for me at home. Not that I use it anymore than I would going to the gym but just in case one day. Yeah. I decide I'm gonna be really on top of it. You guys workout though? We do workout, so I do like that but like as far as like living space, I like a big communal living space. That feels cozy. I don't see myself being happy in a giant house with like 20 different rooms and you know. I just don't see it, even like a massive kitchen. No, I need a good sized kitchen that has like enough counter space where we can all hang out, but I don't need it to be over the top. Yeah, no, that would drive me nuts. Just the idea of cleaning it. Also, I'd be super paranoid if there were so many rooms. I have this thing at nighttime where I have to lock everything and I have to double check, and then triple check. So imagine if you had like 13 rooms. I'd be running a marathon, trying to lock my house down every night. No, I need a smaller space. And like you were saying earlier, like the state of our spaces reflect our mental health also, right? I think I would just be totally nuts if I had a giant space that I had to keep in order. Like I would have to have a lot of help maintaining that, I wouldn't be able to do it myself. Yeah. It's a lot of work. It's too much work. So I do like a simplified home and just enough space for people so that you have your own private space you can go to, but not excessive. And I've downsized before from a big house to a small house, and that's a nightmare but once you adjust, you're like, oh, this is not so bad, it's kind of nice. I will say though, there's a difference between having too much stuff, fill all the spaces and you mentioned, the concept of when you're growing up with very little and you always wanna have like a full pantry or have excess goods in terms of like what you need as your basic survival goods. Just to have extra. Yeah, I always wanna have extra in case like hardship comes or something. And then I, normally like set up to always have that excess. I actually learned that from an old friend's mother. And when we were growing up, I was like, you have so much stuff you have so much food and she explained to me that because she had food insecurity, she always had her pantry stocked no matter what. Mm-hmm. And then like clicked in my head. So I feel like if I had a bigger space, I'd have a wild pantry like one of those, like where you walk into it and then like as you walk, like the lights light up. Making your own soap. If I had a basement, I would be like totally set for, you know, rough times. I'd have a cool ass pantry, a game room, a little movie theater, and then a bed. So there's more there than just a small home that you said earlier. A small home on top and then a very well furnish survival bunker underneath. With a movie theater. With a movie theater. Game room. A small movie theater. They're not one and the same. It's not even like a communal game room. They're two separate rooms. Oh, that's true. You could make the movie theater in the game room into one. It's called like a family room. Not even a bathroom. I'm not thinking this out very well. No, you're not. I think you need to go back to the drawing board on your dream home. For sure, it's always nice to have a little extra, like, you know, having a little movie room, that's pretty cool. I want the big pool in the backyard. As long as I can have someone maintain it for me. So you want a bigger space then? Yes and no. I don't want a massive house though. So small house, lots of amenities. Well, like medium house. Andy's medium house, lots of amenities. I'm small house, hidden bunker. If I had to pick massive mansion on a five acre estate with, very little income, like you're spending all your time taking care of your state. You don't have a lot of extra No. Versus smaller, more practical space but bigger life, more money you're out of the house, more, you're doing more, you're experiencing life more. You're traveling. Your space is big enough for you to host dinners with your friends and family, like I would pick that, over the massive. Estate with all the cool stuff. Yeah because it echoes like a, just a higher quality of life. Yeah. I would want the better quality of life. For sure. Smaller space, bigger life. So why do we believe we need more to feel accomplished? Depending on which state you're in'cause in Texas it's also the bigger things that you have and we know,'cause we lived in Texas for a brief period of time. Mm-hmm. But the more that you have in general, the more accomplished you appear to be. I also think that, we're sold this idea, and especially in the US and this may be true in other places too, but speaking from an American perspective. That you're accomplished when you get the degree, you get the relationship, you build the family, you buy the house, you have the car, you have the mortgage. You've checked all the boxes. But all of these boxes required you to live a very confined life. That's more about excess and stuff, than it is about experiences you don't often hear, if you're gonna check any boxes, it should be these right experiences, joy, travel, like these are all things that you have to consciously choose. So you kind of have to decide. For some people. That's all they want, and they're fine with that but for other people, you kind of get toward the end or later in life and you're like, oh man, I kind of missed out. I wanna have all these experiences now. I want the smaller space and the bigger life, and I've chosen the bigger space and the smaller life. I've always had these little moments where the universe has reminded me that like your things and your titles and your money is not the goal. These little pit stops where the universe kind of redirects me when it can, you know? And I'm really grateful for that because I do think that, that is very true, but it does buy you freedom a lot of the times. I also know that that is a huge thing for consumerism and for American life is like there are very, very real check boxes that people feel they have to accomplish in order to feel accomplished or to feel like their life had value in meaning. Along the lines of what Andy says is like, you just need to invest in your life and you'll find a lot more value and meaning in the way that you show up and the people you surround yourself with, and the places you get to see, and the cultures you get to experience and the things you allow yourself to be curious about. Everything else is temporary. The moral of the story is that joy comes from clarity and simplicity, not clutter and excess cause all those things where you're checking the boxes, it's like you're just collecting. You're collecting things that are holding a lot of value for you, but in the clutter, there is the potential to get lost in it. And I do think that clutter in your life and excess of things, pulls you away a little bit from this idea of having clarity and finding joy and finding like deeper meaning. And I'm saying this from my own personal experience, the more I've let go of that, the happier I have become and the more I am able to tap into joy and ease in my life. It does coincide with the concept that you talked about earlier, which is creating space for new things, new experiences, new opportunities. This idea of simplicity, it really is like this radical act of self-trust. You're trusting yourself enough to know if I need it, I'll get it and I don't need to fill my space with things. But also since we're talking about like decluttering, because we talk about decluttering stuff, decluttering your house, your life goals. Where in your life do you think you could create more space? Social media, over consumption of media and marketing is really tough on our brains. It isn't necessarily trying to harm anybody but I think the overconsumption of consistent ads and influencers and all these things, harping reminder of all the expectations and societal pressures and stigmas and all those things. And whether it's from people I know we always wanna be intentional about our friends that we wanna invest our support in. A lot of people have their own podcasts, their creative endeavors, their personal businesses, and so trying to catch them in between all the clutter can be really hard sometimes, especially when you're following too many people. So I am a big advocate for social media decluttering. Yeah, I second that notion. What about you? I think I need to declutter my schedule. Mind you, it's summertime, it's probably a little decluttered on its own right now. I need to be more protective of it, in that way'cause my schedule can feel like it's cluttered. There's too many things on there, too many to-dos, too many meetings, too many this, too many that. If I'm too jam packed, there's no room for anything else. You heard it here first, from a very busy professional business lady. Yeah, for me, my schedule has been decluttered. Your version of decluttering is you just wanted hit delete. I just deleted everything. You just sent blanket cancel messages to everybody. I was just telling two of my friends the other day that I'm in my hermit phase. I feel like I need to preserve, so almost like a bear, going into winter. Yeah, it's called the Wintering. I don't love summer. It's definitely not my season. I'm more of a fall person, but because I like the cooler temperatures, light sweaters, things like that. Fall late, fall early winter but I do love the beach, I just like water. I personally love water when it's falling from the sky. So I'm major fall winter person. So you're hermit face because it's too hot? Yeah, it's starting to get warm, so I'm starting to check out. So is that why, so you're saying because of the weather you're decluttering your calendar and minimizing activities with your friends. I'm just trying to understand. Yeah. I'm glad we got that clarification. And there's a lot going on and so my brain is like. Well, this makes perfect sense, it's about that time. It's about that time for me to go into hiding. I think I'm going into hiding a little sooner than they would like. I will emerge a new butterfly in the fall. Hilarious. And I think that coincides with like, decluttering friendships. Those that'll still be there in the fall, our real friends. That's how you know that they've weathered the storm with you. Well, you know, joy doesn't always look like a tropical vacation in Florida or buying new things. Sometimes it's just a simplified, uncluttered morning indoors or breathing room in your schedule. Or finally donating those genes from 2008. I didn't get rid of a lot of those things. I like let go of a lot of stuff. I do too. Because I was watching the new Stacy and Clinton fashion show. One of the things that she said is, if you're holding onto things from years ago because you think you're gonna fit into them, that it's very toxic. It's very unhealthy for your soul. You have to let it go. She just like, totally called me out. So part of my decluttering of my closet was I did go deep down and find all this stuff that I was holding onto of like, oh no, it'll fit the way I want it to eventually, right and then I'll wear it, and then I'll feel good. And I was like, you know, she's right. This is toxic. So I let it go. I donated it. Some of the stuff still had tags on it, that's very sad. Or I gave it to, Mitch. She gets all the new tag stuff. Sometimes or our mother, it is, she's like the hippest lady I'll ever mean in your life. She literally gets all of our hand-me-downs and she is like fly. All the time. All the time. And she loves fashion so much. So shout out to our mom. That should be assigned to you that I'm. In a decluttering or a DHD spiral because I'll text you and I'll be like, do you want these? I've gotten so many shoes from Andy. And I feel like what happens is that you'll give me a bunch of things and then I have to go back in my wardrobe and let go of all the shabby stuff that I had. So now I have all these like highend chic things. We're gonna play a game segment now called"Keep It or Kick It" where we get to ask each other questions. Would you keep it or kick it literally or figuratively? Play along with us if you'd like. Alright, Andy, would you keep 27 water bottles? Wait, are they empty or do they have water in them? There's no context. Well, obviously if they have water in them, you keep it because that's emergency preparedness. For the end of the world type stuff, you want 27 or if you just have visitors, you want 27 water bottles. It's gonna be hard to carry 27 water bottles when you're escaping your home. Would you keep it or kick it? Your toxic productivity mindset. Oh, I kicked it a long time ago. Does that mean that my productivity has dropped? Perhaps. But you gotta kick it, you can't be toxic about like produce, produce, produce, produce. Hit the market, hit the market, hit the mark, right. You have to find the balance. I still have my toxic productivity mindset. I am really good at not doing anything or doing everything at once. So I need to figure out a balance. Are you good at that? Just because you do it doesn't mean you're good at it. It's a gift, okay andy? It's a gift. When I'm productive, I'm productive. I'm very mood based if I'm not in the mood to be productive. There ain't nothing happening. You're getting zero quality work outta me. Well from a professional standpoint, I think both of us are like even our 35% is always great. I tested this my last year of work. Hopefully my old employer never hears this, and if they do, I'm so sorry and also, congratulations on, your new hire. Hang on, hang on. So you basically showed up to work purposefully at 35%. At 35% for an entire year. A year, you test it for like a week? What is it called? Silent, quitting. They even asked me that during my review if I was silent, quitting. I was 35% checking if it was still the right position for me. I was working and doing incredible work for like a solid four years, and then I kept getting passed up on title bumps but I was getting pay increases and a lot more responsibility. And the compliment that I was getting is because you're just so good, we wanna give you X, Y, and Z. Because you're just so capable. We're gonna give you X, Y, and Z. Because I see so much potential, we're gonna give you X, Y, and Z. But it never came with a proper title. Because of that, I only gave 35% for an entire year, and at the end of the year. They went to review my work and I gave myself for the first time outta those five years, a stellar self review. And I got a 98% review. At 35%. At 35%. So our 35% is always a hundred percent of a regular person. Yes, we're pretty amazing and also humble. With the exception of one time when I interviewed and I told them, yeah, I'm a hundred percent capable, I don't really make a lot of mistakes that I can't fix. And I'm like, oh, by the way, I took your test I didn't know the answer to the last one, so I just put, I'll get back to you. No, you didn't. I did, yeah. Hot off the press tips for all of you job seekers out there. I wasn't gonna pull out my phone and like cheat on the test but I also didn't know the answer, so I wasn't gonna pretend like I did know the answer because that would also be wrong. Okay, so you're keeping your toxic positivity mindset. I'm working on it. Back to the game at hand. Back to regularly scheduled programming. Keep it or kick it, three planners you don't use, this is a great question for you. Okay are the planners dated? Because if they're dated, we'll kick it, but if they're, if I can just add the dates in, then we're keeping them. So you're keeping them. Yeah. Moving on. Okay. Clothes you haven't worn in two years keep it or kick it. I'm trying to be better about kicking it. I think I'm pretty close, i'm giving it my best, yeah, my full 35%. You're giving it your full 35%. I have a couple things that I haven't worn in two years that I will keep. You know what it is? They fit, they fit. I tried them on and they actually look really cute. I just have to know where to go. So just keep'em. Anything that didn't fit, I already donated'cause I was like, why am I gonna make myself feel bad. And then there's the ones that you just have but you never wear. Like their first special occasions or something. Yeah or something. Keep it or kick it, feeling guilty for resting. Kick it. Kick it. Good. A lot of people battle with this, they feel guilty for resting, so they don't, they don't slow down. They don't rest. Probably the idea of decluttering their schedules and things is anxiety provoking. Because they don't wanna feel guilty for not doing things right and not being productive. I kicked that a while back too. I need to rest, otherwise I'm useless to myself and the rest of the world. If I don't rest, I'm just a drunk man. Keep it or kick it a drawer full of tangled chargers. Kick it, i'll just get'em on and throw'em away. I'll just detangle them. I'll go to the store and buy a new one. Five Below has such great chargers. Okay. The belief that busyness equals value. Kick that to the curb. Kick it. The answer, my friend, is that you are valuable as you are. Take your light saver and I'll swing it in a circle, schwing, schwing, schwing. Keep it or kick it. Items you have in your house as decor that were given to you as gifts by exes. Oh, I had this. Is it there still? No. I had a photograph that an ex took of the sixth Street bridge in LA for me, as a birthday gift. And I had it because the sixth Street bridge has since been demolished. Every time I saw the image, I remembered that person. So I ended up kicking it. I threw it out. Despite the fact that it's a six free bridge and there's not a lot of pictures of it left. I don't have anything like that, so it's not an issue for me. This is true. I've also been with my person for 24 years, so we're, we're all good. So, other ways to simplify and declutter is to introduce a daily simplicity check-in. Like ask yourself, what's essential today? Decluttering is an art form. You do have to practice. You do have to work through a lot of things that might come up with decluttering. It does bring about a simplicity that brings joy and ease. And like Mitch talked about earlier, there is a lot of research to support why. So for example, a lot of like high level business people keep a very simple wardrobe so they don't have to overthink, and that was one of the things that Steve Jobs did. He wore the same outfit all the time, so he didn't have to worry about it. It was one less thing for him to have to think about stress about. It created like a calm and an ease to his routine every day. And I can see how that works. I don't know if I'd wanna wear the same thing every single day, but I can definitely see the benefit in that. And it's affordable. Yeah, for the most part. Simplicity actually does regulate your nervous system as well and when your environment is chaotic, your body reads it as a threat. You're more likely to be in a constant state of fight or flight. Spaces can increase cortisol levels, organized and calm spaces promote parasynthetic nervous system activity, the rest and digest mode. So after cleaning out a drawer or walking into a tiny room, you know how you get that instant breath of fresh air, or feels lighter, like you said earlier. Yeah. That's, that. That's very the magic of that. It's your actual nervous system reacting. It also increases gratitude and presence. So when you have less, you notice more. And the research in a mindfulness shows that being present increases joy and minimalism naturally encourages mindfulness. So there are a lot of teachings that, encourage releasing attachment to excess things and create open space for appreciation. So it's like we were talking about, like when you notice that you can actually feel joy and live a fuller, bigger life, when you have a simple home and you simplify your routines. Finding joy and simple moments like your morning cafecito ritual, a walk without your phone, or even sometimes wearing the same outfit and not caring or similar, right, and not caring. It creates financial and emotional freedom. the less you chase, the less you spend, the more you gain. People who embrace voluntary simplicity report higher life satisfaction and lower financial anxiety. Not having to constantly upgrade, decorate, or hustle brings a feeling of liberation and self-trust. Decluttering and simplifying aligns your life with your values, not noise. So this idea of simplicity lets you see what matters most and when you declutter. You are not just removing objects, you're removing misaligned expectations and distractions. And when you are existing from a values aligned living space, it is actually linked to greater psychological well-being. And when people can name their top three values and simplify their life around them, they report feeling more in control and fulfilled. So being clear about what you're values are, and your current priorities in life are, helps you stay connected to this idea of living simply and decluttering and tapping into more joy and helps you honor that on a regular basis. So simplicity is not about deprivation, right? That's not what we're talking about here. It's about liberation. You're not giving something up. You're looking for ways to give back to yourself. So here's your permission slip to unsubscribe, unfollow, unclutter, unpeople please, whatever you need to simplify today. Remember, less stuff equals more room for joy, for breathing and for being. If this episode sparked something for you, share it with your favorite declutter buddy or your most chaotic friend who needs it badly. And don't forget to subscribe. Rate us five stars or higher and catch the next episode of Andy and Mitch. Catch you next time. Bye. Bye.