268. Do You Have Too Much Stuff? Simplify Your Life Through Decluttering and Minimalism | Robyn Buchanan of Minimalist Home

Summary

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Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast Episode 268 Summary

Episode Title: Do You Have Too Much Stuff? Simplify Your Life Through Decluttering and Minimalism | Robyn Buchanan of Minimalist Home
Hosts: Lisa Bass (Farmhouse on Boone)
Guest: Robyn Buchanan (Minimalist Home, Minimalist Home Living)
Release Date: December 17, 2024

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Overview

In this episode, Lisa and Robyn dive deep into the realities of decluttering, the psychological challenges of letting go, and actionable strategies for embracing minimalism. They share personal experiences—Lisa as a mom of eight recently moving homes, and Robyn as a former emergency nurse turned minimalism advocate—and respond to listener questions about the overwhelm that comes from “too much stuff.” Robyn introduces her "Mighty Method," a practical approach to simplifying your home and life. The conversation is warm, relatable, and filled with real-world advice for anyone seeking a calmer, more intentional environment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Defining the Goal of Minimalism

[00:28] Robyn:

• Strives for "the simplest life I can, where I can spend as much time doing what I want...without having that extra stuff bogging me down."
• The focus is on life quality and freeing time for family, crafts, and nature.

[03:03] Lisa:

• Emphasizes minimalism is an ongoing activity—especially with a large family, “there’s a lot of items.”

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Signs of “Living in Chaos” and the Emotional Toll

[03:54] Robyn:

• Most people live with chaos, often unseen until faced directly (like during a move).
• Clutter leads to stress, feeling overwhelmed, burnout, and less quality time.
• Shares personal anecdote as an emergency nurse: “Instead of walking in the door and being like, relax, I just was met with, like, the stress of my house...”

The “Mighty Method” for Simplifying

[06:13] Robyn:

• Triage: Assess what’s causing the biggest problem—home, schedule, specific rooms.
• Simplify: Remove excess, whether commitments or physical items. Only keep what serves a needed, functional, or joyful purpose.
• Thrive: Create sustainable systems and routines—who does what, when, and how often.

Memorable Quote [06:48]:

“You cannot organize clutter...it’s like trying to reorganize the chairs on a sinking ship.” — Robyn

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Common Decluttering Mistakes

[09:46] Robyn:

• The urge to organize instead of getting rid of things.
• Buying extra storage or containers often leads to accumulating even more.
• Relying too rigidly on “sparking joy,” especially for practical or sentimental items.

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Psychological Barriers & Decision Fatigue

[15:20] Lisa:

• The hardest part is “the decision fatigue, thinking through every item.”
• Shares her favorite trick: “Would I buy this at a thrift store right now?” as a litmus test for keeping or letting go.

[19:38] Lisa:

• Observes we attach meaning and loss-avoidance to items we own, making decluttering emotionally taxing—even for things we barely notice when they belonged to someone else.

[21:02] Robyn on Identity & Stuff:

“A lot of people feel like their stuff helps—it's like part of their identity...It’s so interesting. I think...in a world of, like, 'I want to stand out,'...we have our stuff and we’re like, ‘Oh, this reminds me of this...’”

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Sentimental Items, Kids’ Artwork, & Memory-Keeping

[22:27] Lisa:

• Advises taking a picture of sentimental items or kids’ artwork to preserve the memory without the physical clutter.

[24:00] Robyn:

“Are you honoring the item? ... If you think about this thing, it probably doesn’t want to be in the box. It would probably rather be donated so somebody else can love it. ... If you want to respect the item, let it go and live with a little boy or girl that will love it.”

[30:00] Artwork System:

• Robyn suggests: Display, photograph, recycle. Keep a small box per child for the most meaningful pieces; avoid digital photo clutter too.

[31:40] Lisa:

• With eight kids, she can’t keep everything, so her “system” is not keeping things at all, except for special sewn or built items.

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Overcoming Regret & Perfectionism

[35:05] Robyn:

• Rarely regrets decluttering. If something’s needed again, she’s willing to replace it.
• Lisa points out that most things you declutter, you'll forget you ever owned.

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Listener Questions & Practical Solutions

A. Overwhelm After a New Baby/Postpartum Minimalism

[38:17] Robyn:

• Use the “Mighty Method”—look at where systems are breaking, reduce steps, eliminate excess, focus on essentials.
• Fewer dishes means less to wash.
• Build “reset routines” (like five-minute nightly tidy-ups).
• Lisa adds: Even with minimalism, life with little ones has constant motion—so margin in the schedule is key.

B. How & Where To Start When Everything Feels Overwhelming

[47:03] Robyn:

• Triage: Start where the chaos impacts you most (usually the kitchen).
• Break it down: Start with one drawer, one shelf, or one surface. Build momentum.
• Use three questions: Do I use it? Do I need it? Do I love it?
• Lisa emphasizes momentum: “Once you get the taste for a simpler home, you just almost can't...live another day with that kind of chaos.”

C. Systems for Kids’ Art and Memorabilia

• Robyn: Small curated boxes, display then discard, digitize sparingly.
• Lisa: Only keep what truly adds value—sometimes nothing.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “You cannot organize clutter...you have to remove the things that we don’t use.” — Robyn [09:46]
• “If you saw this for $5 at a thrift shop, would you load it into your car and bring it home? If it's no...definitely has to go.” — Lisa [14:15]
• “Our stuff is meant to support us. We’re not meant to support our stuff.” — Robyn [34:05]
• “Treat it [decluttering] like a project. And there's a certain amount of momentum too...just keep going.” — Lisa [49:07]

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Actionable Takeaways

• Start small, start where the pain is greatest. Kitchen chaos tends to trigger general overwhelm.
• Test items by the 'thrift store standard'—if you wouldn’t buy it cheap, don’t keep it.
• Let go of perfection; aim for progress and systems. Decision fatigue is real—develop clear, repeatable processes.
• Cherish memories, not just the objects. Take photos for sentimental keepsakes; curate rather than accumulate.
• Minimalism doesn’t mean emptiness—it means space for what adds value (family, creativity, rest).

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Resources & Where to Find Robyn Buchanan

• Minimalist Home YouTube: Minimalist Home CA
• Minimalist Home Living (YouTube): Cooking, lifestyle, and practical minimalism
• Website & Blog: minimalisthome.ca
• January Simplify Challenge: minimalisthome.ca/simplify (Jan. 7-9, 2025)

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Episode Timestamps of Key Segments

• 00:28 | Robyn discusses her philosophy on simplicity
• 03:54 | Identifying “chaos” and its emotional impact
• 06:13 | The “Mighty Method” (Triage, Simplify, Thrive)
• 09:46 | Robyn on common decluttering mistakes
• 14:15 | Lisa’s "thrift shop test" for keeping items
• 19:38 | Discussing psychology of attachment and loss
• 22:27 | Handling sentimental items and kids' artwork
• 35:05 | Do you regret decluttering? Robyn’s perspective
• 38:17 | Listener Q: Postpartum minimalism tips
• 47:03 | Listener Q: Where to start when everything is overwhelming

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This episode is a heartfelt and practical guide for anyone feeling bogged down by their possessions, offering hope, humor, and hands-on tools to create a home that supports your best life.

Transcript

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[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

We think what is my goal? My goal is to have the simplest life I can where I can spend as much time doing what I want, which is like spending time with my family, spending time on my crafts outside in nature without having that extra stuff bogging me down. I want to be able to sit down with a cup of tea and not be like, oh, like all this stuff is bothering me.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

So if need to organize, I need to put that away again. I need to sweep that or dust that. My name is Lisa, mother of eight and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse on Boom. On this podcast I like to talk about simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my courses Simple Sourdough in the Simple Sewing series. I also help people reach their goals from home through my business courses, Create your blog Dream and YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes and description box below. Now let's get into the show Foreign welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast. It is beginning to be the time of year where we all think about clearing our spaces, making them more manageable, decluttered, organized and today's guest is very encouraging in all of those things. I think you're going to love this interview with Robin from the Minimalist Home. We're going to talk about all that kind of stuff. We just recently moved into a new house and so it's I'm feeling it for freshly on my mind, just the organization and wanting to clean. The second we moved into this house we put up the Christmas stuff. I'm ready to even clear that out and just live and breathe with a very nice clean space. All right, let's jump into the interview. Welcome back, Robin. I'm so happy to have you on and as we were just talking about before we just moved, this is the first podcast recording I'm doing in this house and I have encountered every single item I own in the last week, which is an Interesting experience. So if you think you're a minimalist, just move. You know, that's fun. So for those who don't know you, go ahead and give us a quick introduction.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Well, thank you for having me back, Lisa. Always so lovely to see you. My name is Robin, and I have a YouTube channel called Minimalist Home. I also have another one where I actually, like, live the life of minimalism, where cooking and all the things called minimalist home living. And I really. My goal is to inspire people to live a more simplified, minimalist, healthier lifestyle. And, you know, just making the videos and trying to help people.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

One week at a time.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah, it's. It's interesting because it's such an ongoing thing, living minimal, you know, minimal. Because I don't know about you and the listeners, but I encounter a lot of stuff coming my way. I know I have eight kids, and so there's. There's 10 people in this house. And this last week, I'm like, man, I have so much stuff. I learned it through moving. And part of me is like, yeah, well, there are eight kids, so there are a lot of items. But then the other part of me is like, what should I have gotten rid of before doing this move? Because you cannot move a mess. But all of those items, even when they aren't being interacted with in that way, have some component of needing maintenance from you, needing your attention. So we're going to talk a bit about that. Like, what are signs that we're living in chaos? Maybe some of us don't even realize that we are.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah, it's. It's actually interesting, I think, that the vast majority of people live with chaos especially. And, you know, when. If we're in our mother years or even working or whatever, that can be compounded by so many things. So a lot of. Of things that we might notice is that there are stuff that there's stuff on a lot of or most of your surfaces. You walk in the door and you see stuff. Instead of like a sort of, like, tidy home, which you might like to see, what would you rather see? And you feel kind of stressed. You might have that. Like, I was an emergency nurse, and when I would get home from dealing with people, like, the worst day of their life, I would be like. Like, instead of walking in the door and being like, relax. I just was met with, like, the stress of my house and my family would bicker. I would be so annoyed with my husband that he wasn't cleaning. Or then I'd be annoyed that he was Cleaning, and he wasn't hanging out with the kids. And it was. It's just like, you feel like you're too busy. So many activities were overextended. Like, right now, I feel like society, us women in particular, have way overdone a lot for ourselves, and we feel like we don't have time for ourselves. We don't have as much time as we might, like with our kids or our husbands. So just ultimately feeling tired, feeling burned out, feeling frazzled? Yeah, Yeah.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

I mean, there's a certain amount of movement that I always think, okay, there's a certain amount of movement that has to happen whether I have a minimal home or I don't. Because for cooking, you know, for our kids, if we're doing their laundry, we're just doing those basic things and not even spending a lot of time managing stuff. There is a constant motion. But there's a difference between the chaos that you're saying and I totally have gone through what you said, where you walk in the house and you want it to be styled and beautiful, but you can't really make clutter beautiful no matter what you do. And having a lot of places to store the stuff is only really part of the problem because you might not know where everything is. What. What do you see as the first step when you feel like that? Like, we're. We are living in chaos? I'm pretty sure that it doesn't have to feel this way.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah. Well, one of the things that I love is I have this method that I've developed, and I call it the mighty method. And, you know, since I have an emergency nurse, the first part of the method is triage, where we're basically assessing our house, our life, everything, like, what is causing the biggest problem, what needs to be addressed first. And that can range from anywhere. Like our schedule, our kids schedule, the stuff in our house, which is, you know, ultimately one of the biggest things that I focus on. So where is the biggest problem? Like, yes, you might be like, well, the storage room is bad. Yeah. But, like, what's the kitchen like? Is the kitchen stressing you out? Like, is it hard to cook a meal? Is it hard to find things? Like, how much time a week do you spend looking for things? And so there's the triage part where we're looking, like, what is the big picture? What is the worst? And then we simplify. So we are going to do things like removing. Removing things from the schedule, things that don't need to be there. And, like, for me, I call myself minimalist. Light. Like, I have a lot of hobbies. I love cooking, I love making pasta from scratch. I love like gardening. I have a greenhouse, like all of these things. But everything that I have, it has to serve a purpose. It has to make life either easier, save me time or money. Right? So maybe some things like you can borrow or not. But simplifying so removing excess stuff, excess commitments. And then I like to say we thrive. So triage, simplify, thrive. Thrive is then when we're coming up with systems. So you have systems to make life easier. And we're looking at, like, who is doing it? When is it getting done? Is it something that gets done daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly? And all of these things, like, say that you have, like, you know, your kitchen is stressing you out. You're. And you're like, why is it like, what is the problem in here? And you walk in and you're like, okay, so there are like piles here and there's stuff in this cupboard that's always jam packed. Like, how do we address this? So we start removing what doesn't need to be there. Maybe the stuff in the front is usually what we use the most. What is buried in the back that doesn't need to be there, that can make room for the stuff in the front. And then how is it getting clean? Who is cleaning it? You know, in our house, like, my kids clean up after dinner. So that's part of that part the thrive, the system.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah. What I have a lot of that I discovered during this move is decor stuff. Now I will say so for, you know, me saying how much stuff we have and how crazy this move felt. It was fully unpacked in three days. And I also will say that it was really nice. This home feels decorated and put together in three days time because of my collections over the years. So that was good. But it did definitely make the last three days really, really stressful with how much stuff. Like, where did all this stuff come from? I can't even believe we have this much. But then I also had a lot of things that as I was unpacking them, I was thinking, why did I keep this? Like, this is not beautiful. It's broken. I thought I got rid of all of those things, but there were still so many things like that. And it's hard to assess what all we need. So what are some mistakes that women and moms are doing that keep them stuck in this overwhelm?

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

It's funny because a lot of us were like, okay, so this is what I need to do. I need to get organized. And here's the thing. You cannot organize clutter. You just imagine having a room absolutely full of every single thing that you have. What would you do with it? You can't organize clutter. You have to remove the things that we don't use. And that makes it so much easier, too, actually. And I don't even think you. You could say, like, get organized after that. But personally, I find things almost fall into place once you've actually removed a bunch of stuff. Like, in my kitchen, once I, you know, I still am able to still pare it down more and more, and I'm just like, oh, like, naturally this would go here and this would go here. But even then, you know, it does help to have to put, like, a little bit of organization here and there. But you can't organize. Right. And be. Because whenever we do try that, it just ends up not making sense. It's like trying to reorganize the. The chairs on a sinking ship. Like what? Like, what's the point? Like, move with. Trying to move them around. Like, no.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Right.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Another thing is, I love Marie Kondo, but. And a lot of it, I think is really good. But some people, they feel like that is the only solution. And sparking joy doesn't really make sense when it comes to, like, your tax documents that you have to keep, keep. And also, some of us are very sentimental, and we're like. And I am actually one of those people.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

It all sparks joy.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

It does. It all sparks joy. Like, I can be sentimental about everything for my kids, and that can be a real challenge. And then another thing that a lot of people do is they like to. They think, okay, so I just need, like, shelving and totes. I just need to do that. And I just need to have more places to put things, more furniture, drawers, whatever. And then what ends up happening is you. You then think, oh, like, look at. Now I have room for more stuff. You buy more stuff, and we start piling it up. Like, decluttering is definitely a part of the solution, but it's not the whole solution.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. Oh, man. It's funny, this being the first interview after doing this, because of encountering every single item I own in some way, shape, or form. It was an interesting exercise in, like you said, like, figuring out that you can't organize clutter. And I honestly didn't even really feel like I had that much clutter going into this. But I have so many things that I do think I'll use Again. And we talked about this last time you were on. Like I think you talked about getting rid of some like kombucha jars or something and thinking, well, I might actually use that again. So something for me is I kept my cheese press and my cheese molds because when we get to the farm, which is our plan, I will have a dairy cow again. And I'm not going to rebuy all that cheese stuff. But also this house that we're living in right now does not have a basement. And so, you know, it was kind of awkward trying to fit all this stuff in that I'm definitely not going to use for maybe even two years because, you know, once we get to the farm and I'll have to get a bread cow and then she'll have to give birth and then we'll be milking and anyways, dealing with a lot of those question mark things are hard. I'm usually pretty good at getting rid of things that are just like, why would, why would I keep this? I'm pretty, you know, I don't mind that.

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[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Let's talk a bit about those things people are afraid they might use someday. And what's your test? I can tell. Oh, I thought of something earlier and I forgot to say it. My favorite test is would I buy this at a thrift shop right now? I use that so many times during this move whenever I was trying to declutter first. Like if I saw this for $5 at a thrift shop, would I take it, load it into my car and bring it home? If it's no. No matter how cool you think it is, definitely has to go.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Oh, it's so true. It is so true. In fact, I was actually really lucky because we just got back. My husband and I were away, and my mom was staying with our two teen boys that are home, and we were visiting our older son. And my mom was like closing a blind and knocked like a little glass ornament. And it was just like. Because it was, you know, Christmas stuff up and. And it was this little tree that I've had for, like, probably like 25 years. She was like, I am so sorry. And I was like, you just did me a favor. Like, it just makes it that much easier to get rid of something. I'm like, yay.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

I didn't want to deal with that.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah. So was the question, will we use it again one day?

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

I guess. Yeah. Like, what's your test for? That's like people's biggest thing. I think that's the overwhelming part of decluttering. If you just decide I'm getting rid of all of it, have zero emotion attached, it's easy. You just throw it all in the van and you're done. Like, the whole house is decluttered. But it's not that. It's the decision fatigue, thinking through every item.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

That's just it. So I coach people with decluttering. Sometimes I do one on one and I'll talk to them and they'll say, well, you know, like they literally every single thing they pick up and they spend a good. Like, I'm thinking, like a minute is too long, but they're probably spending like five minutes or more deciding per item, Right? And you know, I think that there are a lot of different things that you can do to decide. Like there's the 2020 rule, which is like, if you can replace it for less than $20 in less than 20 minutes, then, you know, declutter it. And I've had people who say to me, yeah, but like, is to is minimalism and decluttering just for rich people. I'm like, no. Like, the point is that you don't rebuy it. And so, like, ultimately I think, like, declutter it if you aren't using it. If this is a just in case item. So for you with the cheese press, you're like, I will use it again. I just won't use it for a couple of years. That is absolutely something that I would keep. But when it comes to something else that you're like, I probably won't use this again. I'm going to declutter it, then I would declutter it. And what you could do if you're worried about potentially paying for something again and you're like, ah, $20 is a lot of money, which I understand totally. Like, I don't want to declutter something and buy it again. And I did do it with those jars for my kombucha. But instead, what I think is, if you really want, you could just sell a couple things on Marketplace that you're decluttering, put that money aside in the off chance you're ever going to have to buy something again. Like, say it was 50 bucks you put in a jar or a whatever. Because the point is that we're letting go of stuff. And I think that for so many of us, we've gotten at this very strange point in history where our stuff is so important to us. And I understand that, you know, if we go back over, you know, the last thousand years, we need some stuff, and people have kept things for farming purposes, keeping warm, food preparation, all of these things. But we've gone way too far with a lot of things. And sometimes it's like, like, I got a Ninja Creamy, and I don't know, I'm really. I think I'm going to declutter it because I. I got up, my kid got braces, but it was like last January. It was really hard to get it at that time. And I'm just like, we're not using it. And I'm going to say to the teens and my husband, if you guys want to make Ninja Creamy, I mean, it's so easy, but it's just like, if we're not using it, just let it go.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

That ultimately, I think, is the test. If you're not using it, let it go.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah. And so if you saw Ninja Creami tomorrow at the thrift shop for five bucks, even though they're worth like, what, 200, something like that, if you saw it for five bucks, would you bring it home? You know, there's your answer.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yes, exactly.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

And maybe you would think of a friend and bring it home for them, because I've done that. Like, oh, we already have an ice cream maker, but so and so really wanted one. It's five bucks. Get it for them. So then I guess you could give it to your friend who you were thinking about. But if neither of those, if you were going to walk right past it at Goodwill, then that's just it.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Or like, yes, like the thrift store. I think that's great. Because a lot of times we say, like, would you buy it again? But I think the thrift store makes even more sense, because then it would be cheaper. And even if it was in, like, perfect condition. Right. But I think that we think. What is my goal? My goal is to have the simplest life I can where I can spend as much time doing what I want, which is like, spending time with my family, spending time on my crafts and, like, outside of nature without having that extra stuff bogging me down. I want to be able to sit down with a cup of tea and not be like, oh, like, all this stuff is bothering me.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

So I need to organize. I need to put that away again. I need to sweep that or dust that. I think there's a weird psychology thing with our stuff in particular. So for an example, this house that we are living in now, when we moved in, the previous owner, there was a lot left here, and I had no decision fatigue, nothing. I just took it all and I got rid of it. There was no attachment, and it was some nice stuff, you know, like, there was just glassware and different things that was technically nice, but I looked at it as almost like I would look at a thrift shop where, you know, I'll walk past it. I don't really need it. But then when it's ours and we've had it and we've spent our own money on it, we have some. Psychologically, I know there's something to do with. We process gains and losses very differently. Like, we don't process gains as strong as loss. So when we say you make an extra whatever amount of money doing a certain project, that doesn't feel as exciting as the negative effect of losing that amount of money, even though technically it should be just as equal. Have you encountered that?

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yes, and I totally, totally. I mean, it makes sense that we would feel that way. It's like we're spending time with our stuff, and it's there, and it's ours. It's ours.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Part of me.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah. And that's just it. Like, that. You hit the nail on the head. A lot of people, they feel like their stuff helps. It's like, part of their identity, and it helps, like, explain who they are. It's like, some people are like that with music and their taste in music, and they're like, I'm a Smiths fan or whatever. And I mean, it's. It's so interesting. And I think it's. It's. It's got. There's got to be some more psychology behind that. In, like, in a world of, like, you know, I want to stand out. And so we have our stuff and we're like, oh, this reminds me of this. Or I got this one. Like, I can literally do that with so many things. So I think, like, the best thing to do. And this is actually one thing where I think Marie Kondo, I mean, she's right in a lot of ways, but I really like this one practice she has of, like, saying, like, thank you and, like, saying goodbye to the thing.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Like, yes.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

You could even, like, your purpose. Yeah. Like, depending on what your faith is or whatever, you could just be like, you know what? Like, I was like, thank you, God, for this thing that I had. And I'm going to, like, keep the memories and let the thing go. And I'm removing any kind of attachment from this because there is just that, like I said, I can be sentimental about, like, literally everything, and I have to. Just everything I let go of. I've said this so many times. I'm. I'm not usually, like, yay. Like, I'm happy with the result, but sometimes I'll be like, oh, you know, kind of hard to let go of that. But at the same time, I'm like, no. Like, I want. I want my goal here.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yep, yep. Always going back to what you prioritize and running it against that will help you get rid of so many things we also do where we will take a picture of something. So just an example we had recently, my oldest daughter made my second daughter for her birthday maybe, like three or four years ago, a massive stuffed unicorn. Like, it was so huge, I don't even know. Five feet across. I don't know. And because she made it and it took her a ton of time when she did it, we were kind of like, what do we do with it? Because it's like the focal point of your room when you have it. But also, you know, they're 16 and 14 now. They've kind of outgrown the stuffed unicorn thing. And so she took a little, like, photo shoot with her. She took my camera outside and took some pictures with it, and then we got rid of it because there's so many items like that. Like, another good example would be canvases. So when your kids are little, we've done this where we have canvases of the oldest three. Well, they're very outdated. I'm not going to hang those in my house because it's just my first three kids. There's a lot of other kids that would belong in a spot on A canvas on our wall, and I wouldn't hang that anymore. And so ultimately, I ended up just taking a picture of them and getting rid of them, even though it feels weird because it's my kids on this massive canvas. But it's just going to sit in the basement, and you're going to have to worry about climate control in the basement or making sure, you know, humidity control, all of that for this thing that I'm never, ever going to hang again.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah. And, like, some people, like, they. They almost feel sorry for the thing that they're getting rid of.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah, I kind of do.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Right. And if I go, all right, we're keeping this in a box to what? Like, if you think about this thing, it probably doesn't want to be in the box. It would probably rather be donated so somebody else can love it. Right. It's the same with, like, kids where you're like, how about another little boy or girl love this toy? So I totally like that idea. And also, are you honoring the item? And that's why I love the idea of, like, curating my room, curating my house. And, you know, when it comes to the stuff that we have out, I have, like, this picture here of my son and my boys walking. And occasionally I will swap it out with a different picture because I don't want my environment too cluttered. I'm okay with having a few things in a box that I cycle out in and out, right?

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

But not a lot, because I don't have a lot of stuff sitting around anyway. But sometimes, and even, like, different seasons, I do like to put a few, like, wooden pumpkins and stuff out in the fall. But it. Ultimately, we want to be respecting our home, our environment, and the stuff. And. And really, like, these things, they're just things. They're just items that are near us. And I think that, you know, if you want to respect the item, let it go and live with a little boy or girl that will love it.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah. And you can't go on forever always thinking, someday I will deal with this. Someday my house is going to feel good. It's going to feel manageable. We tell ourselves this lie. Like, I'm. You know, when this or this happens, I'm going to address all of this, and then everything will feel. Don't. Don't do that. Like, there's. You can. I'm speaking to myself, too. I've definitely gone through this process and decluttered just a stupid amount of stuff. And then back to the whole psychology piece, like, with the canvases on the wall that I know I'll never hang again. I already hung them up when I had those three kids. I had this arrangement above our bed. It was really pretty, and for that I really enjoyed it. And for the price of those canvases, was I thinking when I purchased those canvases, all right, Now I spent $20 per canvas for the rest of my life. This is all I ever have to spend again on canvases? Or was I paying for an experience of having canvases on my wall for one year? Just like any experience. Like, we don't. When we go to some kind of park or event and we pay the admission fee, we don't expect to, like, keep forever. That we just pay. We have the experience, and then we go home and we have the memories. But somehow with stuff, we can't do it. Like, it's. It feels like a waste of money. Whereas when we're buying an actual experience, like, okay, yeah, I spent the money, I got the experience, and now I come away with that money gone. You know, I think it's just interesting to remind ourselves, like, what's happening in the way we. The reason why we feel, how we feel.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yes. And think about it this way. I mean, I don't know how many photos you have in your, like, digital photos you have, but if I opened up my thing, it would probably say, like, 20,000. And if I. Yeah, I will go through and I will delete, like, duplicates and just, like, random pieces of paper I took a photo of or whatever. But I don't think we were exactly meant to even be holding on to all of this, to be holding on to the past. Right. Like, our. Our eyes are in the front.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

I don't either.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah. So even, like, that's why. And now there are some. The odd person who has trouble, like, making memories or keeping memories, that's a different situation. But for those of us who have, like, the ability to make and maintain memories, we have memories for a reason. And generally we remember the most important ones for the most part. And that should be. I think the ultimate thing is like, yes, I had this experience and I want to remember it. Sure, take pictures, whatever. But as far as. And it's like when people go to souvenirs. Oh, gosh, get me started on souvenirs. Like, every. I love it. Every time, like, we go to Disneyland or whatever, I get one ornament and I'm like, that's it for the Christmas tree. I write the year.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

But that's very straightforward. You know where to put it. You Know how you're going to use it, you know where you're going to display it. It's not like something just going to throw, you know, you're throwing a jar and never see it again.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Well, and the other thing is that we go and we talked about this last time. We go through different seasons of life, right? Like when, when we're young adults and then, you know, then when we have like our little kids. The little. I mean, you're kind of an anomaly. You're. You've got kids of all ages. You've got both. But I've got my 15, 17 and 19. So we just saw our son in Vancouver because that's where he lives. That's a really weird thing to say. But, you know, I'm in a different stage of life. I'm not in the like, preschooler stage of life. However, I've been there, so I can. And I remember it very acutely. Yes. And yes, like, I remember it was wonderful, all of the things. But there are times where we're like, oh my gosh, like, I have this little family. I can't believe this. This is wonderful. I'm going to take all these pictures and that's wonderful. I. However, then we continue to live and life continues to happen. So what are we going to do with the rest of it? And I think, like, for those canvases, I have no doubt that you, you know, if they were like painted or whatever, that you have photos of it and you can continue to revisit that if you want, but there's no, no need to hang on to everything forever.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

One thing that a lot of people ask me about is kids artwork. Things that kids create. Somebody says in the listener questions they want a system for dealing with crafts and artwork because her kids are constantly creating, which is great. And also the sheer volume can be overwhelming. Any tips with that?

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

And this is my favorite. This is why I say like, the thrive part of the system. So, you know, like, you triage it and you go, okay, we have an issue. And I just funny enough decluttered under my stairs yet again and was like, I still have all this kid artwork. So me, here I am like these kids. It was like a decade and a half ago and I looked through and I was like, okay, I think the teacher did this one. Or I'm like, these are a couple of cotton balls glued to a piece of paper. Yes, these can go.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

So I just, you know, yes, the, the best.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

And you know, my mom. So this is why Christmas. Creating a system that works and A system that works for you. So here's what my mom's system was. She would take the artwork, and she would hang it in the main floor washroom, like the bathroom, on the wall, and then she. We got to enjoy it. And then she would, like, take it down and throw it away, because that was the 80s. And now I would probably. I mean, I didn't actually do the bathroom trick, but. But instead, sometimes I'd put it on the fridge or whatever. But, yeah, like, take a picture, recycle it, if it's worth even taking a picture of, because digital clutter is a legit thing, too.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah, I agree.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

So if it was me, my system would be display it somewhere. If it's that good, take a picture, recycle it. Keep a few. I did actually keep, like, just a couple of items because I have, like, a small box for each kid, but just because sometimes it's nice to be like, their little hands were, like, on this. Or if it is actually, generally it is a hand print, because I like to see the size. But, yeah, that's my. That's my solution for that.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

What's yours?

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Well, I'm not organized, so I don't have. I have very creative kids. They're always making stuff, but I don't have, like, a little box where I have them. I. At some point, they're just gone. You know what I mean? I don't know. I. My system. Yeah. Is that ultimately, I mean, I have eight kids. They're always creating stuff every single day. And so it's not. It's just. I don't keep. I don't keep anything, to be honest with you. I know people. There are some people who are very sentimental, but ultimately, I still have the kid, and they're still creating, and so I'm still getting their creations. I mean, I have, like, for example, the thing that my daughter sewed. And then there's some. There's, like, a bench my son built, things like that that are useful. Then she ended up getting rid of that unicorn anyways. But she has, like, dresses she's sewn, and that would just be too much and too stressful for me. And like you said, with keeping the priorities straight, thinking of the kind of life you want, trying to figure out how to organize all of the things my kids are drawing and gluing and whatnot, that would just be way beyond overwhelming for me. And so, yeah, my system would be that we just don't have stuff like that.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

I think that's totally great. I like that system really.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

I mean we, I mean we didn't either though. Like my mom didn't. There's no box of stuff from when I was a kid. So maybe it's just like my family is weird because definitely I've, I've come across people who keep way more than me, but we just don't. And my parents never have either. There's no like memory bin. I don't have a piece of art I made, but I'm not, I'm not bitter about that. It's like I don't really care. Like if I saw, I'd like, oh cool. I drew that when I was five. Like, who even is that? That was, that's not me. That was me, but you know what I mean.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Exactly. Totally. You don't care.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah, it can be tricky. And I know there are people who are more sentimental. Like my mother in law, she had an outfit when we had our first son of my husband's and so when he was. And she even had the picture that he wore it in. So I put that outfit on my son and we had side by side pictures of my husband at 6 months and my son at 6 months wearing the exact same outfit. And the outfit that. And I quickly gave it back to her because I was like, if you like this outfit, which apparently you like it, it's going to get lost in my house because I know myself and this doesn't stand a chance to make it to your great grandchild or whatever might be in your head.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Well, and you know what? Like that's the thing is you use your stuff. That's what it's meant for. Your stuff is meant to support you. You're not meant to support your stuff.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah, yeah. And you know, I know dawn from the middle mom, she talks about having like a very small collection and you do too, of things for each of your child. So if you are sentimental, having a small meaningful collection of the best things, like their favorite outfit or the one that you put them in for all the pictures, or their best piece of artwork, something small enough that you might actually get it out and relive those memories. But if you have bins and boxes, they're never going to see the light of day, so they might as well just be thrown away at that point. I think having a more curated collection makes a lot of sense.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Totally. Yeah. That's what it should all be about.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Absolutely. Okay, so another question someone had is, do you ever regret something you've decluttered or a certain category you've decluttered so we know about your kombucha jars, but anything else. Has this ever been a huge problem?

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

No, I don't regret anything. The kombucha jars, even, like, that was just something I had decluttered because I. For some reason, maybe it was like, fall, I was like, I'm not gonna make kombucha anymore. And then the next year, I was like, oh, you know what? I think I'd want to. So I just repurchased them when I.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Which was, it's summer again, $30 in Canada.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

But it really.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Okay.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

It was ultimately, I don't regret it because then I didn't have, like, six gigantic jars kicking around. But that I don't actually regret decluttering anything. I am glad for everything. I declutter. And the bigger point is I forget most of what I've decluttered.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

That's the thing. Like, right when you were saying that, I was thinking, I know that there have been points where right after I decluttered something, I thought, oh, I could use that. But I. At this moment, however removed from that. That moment, I can't even remember what it was. So maybe at that exact moment, it felt like something. Oh, I should have probably kept that. That was a set. Or, you know, like, you'll find just an example. This is. I actually thought of it when I said set. So one of my son's shoes, for the longest time was in there just all alone. And probably, like, two months later, a friend of mine said, oh, hey, I found this. Somebody left it at my house. And I was like, that's our nice little keen sandal. But I already got rid of the other one. So, you know, that's one of those very small examples. But then the piece I have of actually having only the things we need and not one sock or one shoe outweighs those very rare moments where you actually do find the other one. I don't know that that's ever happened other than that. And that would have been one moment. So I had gotten those at a thrift shop, those keen sandals. So it wasn't a huge thing. But there's one example. But I'm still glad that I decluttered enough to make my house manageable.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah. And I mean, that was that. That's just something that happens, right?

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

It's like, yeah, it can happen.

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[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

okay, here's another question from a listener. I thought I decluttered enough before giving birth to my third. I'm finding that all my systems and routines take too long. Any tips on how to reduce time on tasks done every day so I can better enjoy time with family and other postpartum minimalism tips?

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Oh my gosh, I love this question so much. And it really reminds me, you know, because she said about her third when I had my third, I remember going to my doctor and I was like, I'm worried I'm getting dementia because I can't remember anything. And she was like, oh, you just have three kids now. I was like, oh, oh, oh, okay,

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

that's all that is.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah, she was right. But it was not that reassuring. But I was like, so this is just like my life now. But this is what I this is why I love to use my, my mighty method is like we would triage. So what we need to do because she's like in the thick of it. So assessing where are your systems breaking down? Is, is there too much complication? Do you have unnecessary steps? Because we want it to be as easy, easy and simple as possible. And we're going to focus on the areas that are eating up most of your time where we can simplify things. So like meal prep, laundry, cleaning, like these are things that they have to to get done. And then we need to start simplifying things, streamline things, eliminate any extra things, any redundancies. So only keeping the essentials. And then we're going to declutter the spaces to make tasks so much easier and faster. The less stuff you have, the easier it is. And for example, like having Fewer dishes. For some people, it might spend less time washing them. Right. If. And even like, I love the, I mean, I love it. Of just washing the thing. I have a dishwasher, but washing the thing and putting it away right away. If I'm like cooking with a big bowl, like, wash it, put it away, it's done. And if it's it fast, like, don't

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

let anything stick to it. That's why dishwashers, you put it in there, then it gets all stuck.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

I know, it's so true. And I keep like, I'm not wishing my kids to grow up, but there I have one who loves. He's amazing. He loves cooking. He makes just the most amazing things. Like, he literally, he was like, I'm going to make escargot like two weeks ago.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Sweet.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

And I'm like, but then he's in my kitchen, he's using my stove and this is like my place. And I'm like, yeah. So then I'm like trying to clean up after him. But if you've got little kids and you're cooking and you're like, got a pot? Yes. Like Lisa says, like, you wash that pot right away so that it's done. Don't let stuff sit. Like, if it's going to take you like 10 seconds versus like three minutes, save yourself that time. If something is going to take less than two minutes, do it now, which is still not always possible with little kids for sure. And then thrive. So you're going to create your systems. So batch repetitive tasks, like depending on the age of the kids, like prepping lunches, doing laundry. If at all possible, use time blocking when you can to carve out that intentional time. And then I love building reset routines. Absolutely. Like a five minute nightly tidy up with the family. One of my biggest things as a person, as a person with adhd, I will forget everything if I don't have some kind of way to remind myself. So my phone is still sending me reminders constantly. So that helps me out. Huge. If it's like reset, reset the room. And I'm like, oh, yeah, like, we need to like, get things going. And so when it comes to. If you feel like you have decluttered but you're still struggling, see if you can declutter some more. Simplify life as much as possible. You probably don't even need half of what you have.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah, that, that all helps immensely. We just moved into this house and it has a very small kitchen, but there are lots of cabinets in the small kitchen. And we didn't even fill up all of them. Which I think if people were to see the kitchen, they think, oh, it's a very tiny kitchen. But I have. Except for the closet that has, like, the cheese press and a few things that I'll use someday but that are, you know, removed from me because they're not actually in the kitchen. They're in a different closet. But in the actual kitchen space, I keep it very streamlined. We don't have, like, 15 pots and pans. We have.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

I can.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

I can't even fit that many in my oven and on the stove at one time. So what would be the point of having a kitchen cabinet that's so cluttered that I have to, like, remove this one, remove this one just to get to the proper lid and the proper pot? It doesn't have to be that way. But I will also say to this mom of three little kids that there is constant motion, that no matter how decluttered your spaces are. Because the question said something about, like, also spending more time with family. And that's something I've been thinking more and more about lately, because usually I'm pretty much going all day long. I sit down in the afternoon, do interviews like this. But as far as, like, just the basic stuff, keeping the house clean, keeping the laundry done, keeping the food going, that's a. That there's not any time throughout the day where I'm just like, all right, let's sit and cuddle. You know, it's just. I don't think that there's a minimalism hack that would make that so in a season of life like that. Now, at some point, that'll be the case. But when you have a bunch of little kids, it is just a constant thing, no matter how you've declared it. And the only thing I can tell you to do is keep your schedule free so that there is some margin in your day and it's not impossible to stay on top of it.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah, that's just it. Like, you know, if I remember when my kids were little, like, you know, the idea of, like, batch prepping your meal for the week, that might work. But then the stomach flu rolls in, right. And everybody's sick, and. And you do need to just say, okay, I'm going to sit down with the family and watch a movie or whatever. I'm going to let whatever is be.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

But, yeah, yeah. And you almost have to if you're going to do that.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

You do. You really do. And you also have to. You don't have to, but I really recommend having some form of a schedule because a lot of people, they really resist that idea. But it's like the bumpers at a bowling alley. When you take a little kid bowling, it helps just keep things somewhat on track and people feel like it's taking away a lot of your freedom. But it also isn't. It gives you that everybody kind of knows what to expect. It ish. Right. Like I've never, I was, I was never that good mom who was like, it's snack time. It's 10:00am it's snack time. It's.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Oh no.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Like, okay. It's so nice to meet my.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

No way.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

My amazing sister in law. She's still like, her kids are 11 and 13 and they're like, oh, it's like 7 o'. Clock. We're going to have like our, our evening snack. And I'm like, my gosh, like I was so bad at that.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

I will say though, she has two. There's just a certain amount of chaos that happens at a certain point. There's no, like, kids are just everywhere. There's no like, all right, all of you who are right next to me, let's have snack. No, that's just.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah, it's different for you. And I'm going to be honest with you, once I had three, it did go off the rails. I mean, I can't Even imagine what 8 is like.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah, everybody says that.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah. Well it's, it's just more of the same. What I mean is when there's a three or more probably there's the potential for them to just kind of like be other than just right by you. Like it's a very controlled situation. When you have two, you're just kind of like, okay, little ones come with mother. And then it just starts to get more and more like it just. Yeah. When people explain certain things when they have two kids, I'm like, I do remember that. But that's just not how it works at this point.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah, you have two hands. And it's funny because like I am down to a 15 year old and a 17 year old. And I mean of course like they're much easier except for there's the odd time where they're like, just can't believe that you won't let them do whatever. But.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Right. Well I'm down to.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

And I'm telling you, even though like they were still at super easy ages, I'm like, this is amazing. So there's for people out there, but oh my gosh, like everything is meant For a family of four.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Yeah, yeah. It's. I think for me it's just like the, you don't have any control. Like, not that like they're like disobedient and all of this, but just the control factor that you have when it's just like very tidy and you know, like, okay, now we do this, now we do this. But it's, it's just, I don't even know how to describe it. It's just a lot.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Well, you have to surrender.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

We went. Yeah, you surrender. Yes. We got on this tangent because you were talking about your, your sister in law, somebody who's like, snack time. And it's very set and anybody who has like many children, you know, it's. And I'm sure there are moms who are super organized, who are like, what do you mean? I have 12 kids and we have snack time and they're all right by me. And I'm not that person. I probably wasn't when I had two. But let's at least, let's at least pretend that that's what it was like.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah, no doubt.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Okay, so another question someone has is where specifically do I start when every room and every drawer in our home has too much stuff?

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

So this, I love this because this is like your triage is just. You're looking, what area causes me the most frustration and impacts your daily life the most? Right. I think for a lot of. I always say the kitchen, but I think that's because to me that's the most important room.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

It absolutely is. When the kitchen's chaotic, everything else is chaotic because it's so, it's so crucial to your day. Like if you can't efficiently use that room, then you're going to be, you know, run into a wall just multiple times a day.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

You really will. Yeah. And then so you're looking at your kitchen. So say you're like, my entire house is crazy. And is there any kind of hope? There is total hope. You can so do it. You can so get there. So then what you're going to do is just break it down even further and just choose one drawer. One, one shelf, one surface. What then is the worst spot? Is it the spot where you need to actually like prepare food or is it even just like the fridge? Do you need to start with cleaning out your fridge because it's so messy or whatever? And then so you're going to declutter that and you're going to want to build some momentum there? So getting rid of like duplicates stuff that you're just not using expired items. Like, okay, great, it's expired. Like, it's gone. Like, isn't that fun?

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

That's an easy.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Right? And then my three questions that I always ask are, do I use it? Do I need it? Do I love it? Right? So that, like, love would be art, right? I'm not just talking about. I'm sentimental about this or that. Do I need it? And of course, like, do you use it? Is this something that you use in your kitchen? And then once you've decluttered, then you're creating systems to maintain that one space that you have, and then you continue moving to the rest of the kitchen and then the rest of the house. I prefer doing it kind of room by room. There are times where you're like, okay, like, I got the kitchen somewhat under control. I have to switch to the entryway or whatever. Fine. But you will get your whole house done if you commit to it, treat it like a project.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

And there's a certain amount of momentum, too. Like, once you get going, you're like, got this, like, I feel like I have this down. I can see something, know for sure. And when you're in that momentum, like, just keep going. I don't know. Stay up late. Like, I get in momentum. I get these, like, spurts where I'm like, okay, I can tackle this whole place.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah. Like, I'll get so excited. I'll be like, I can't even sleep. May as well just sleep. Yeah.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Well, once you get the taste for a simpler home, you just almost can't. You just understand what it does, and you don't want to live another day with just that kind of chaos. I can't stand a mess. I've learned that, like, my. The first two days of this move were so hard because no matter how minimal you are trying to set up an entire home, all the beds, all the mattresses, everything, there is going to be a massive mess for about. Well, if. If you're me, like, one or two days. And even that was just like, I can't take this. I was talking to somebody at church, and she was like, if you're unpacked in a year, you're doing good. And I'm like, cannot, cannot deal. Absolutely not. Like, I will stay up for a week straight. That's not happening.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

It's so funny. I remember when we moved into this house, it was nine years ago, and I was at my chiropractor's office, and he was like, well, everybody needs A box room. And I was like, oh, yeah, it's true. And that's just it. Like, no, no, it isn't true. Like, don't let it be. No, because then everything that was sitting in those boxes, like, I have pretty much decluttered almost all of it.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Well, if you didn't need it for even three, four weeks. And I think that's the reason why we did unpack so quick, is we needed everything. Like, I was missing stuff. I was like, okay, well, where's this? Where's this? You know, So I think if. If it takes you a year to unpack your home or if you have a box room now, of course there's out of season stuff. I get that we have probably like eight totes of things like that, and those are still not unpacked, because they're not going to get unpacked. They're going to stay in totes. But if the main house stuff, if you have a room of boxes, I'd say there's your sign. Like, you're. You're living in chaos.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Right? So true. So true.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Oh, man. Well, Robin, thank you so much for joining me again. Tell the listeners where they can find you. This is the perfect time. I know people are looking to get their lives in order in January. I don't know why we wait till January to do the things like this, but we do. You know, we're going to start cooking from scratch. We're going to lose all the weight. We're going to declutter our homes. Tell the listeners where they can be inspired by you for a lot of that.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Yeah. Well, the timing for this could not be better because I actually have a simplifying your home in your life challenge coming up from January 7th, 8th and 9th. And you can go to minimalist home ca simplify for that. That is also my blog. I learned my blogging from Lisa. Anybody who you want to take a good course, take that one. Oh, my gosh. So good.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Oh, thank you.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

So that's my blog and my website. And you can also see if, like, about other things that I offer. But. And my other main love is my YouTube channels. So my main one, Minimalist Home CA will teach you all about decluttering and, like, a lot of stuff about how to look at things and health. And then I have minimalist home living, which is all about, like, the cooking and the living of the minimalism. And I would love it if you would come and check me out.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Awesome. So what does the challenge entail? Is this like a we're gonna get our house in order in these three days type of thing.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Well, we're going to create a plan because, okay, you could potentially, depending on the state of your house, you could and I have run challenges where people have made massive, massive changes. But in this one we're really going to narrow down and look at those three elements of the triage, simplify and thrive for how you can do that for yourself, for your house. And you can maybe get your house simplified within a week or two.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

That seems realistic. If you really, you know, if you really jump in and use the things you teach, I think that it'll be well worth worth it. So we'll also leave a link down in the description box or the show notes to join that challenge. So thank you so much, Robin.

[Robin (Minimalist Home)]

Thank you, Lisa. This has been so great. I love chatting with you.

[Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone)]

Thanks as always for listening to the Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast. My husband Luke and I and our eight kids work together side by side on our little homestead and use our blog, podcast and YouTube channel to reach other homemakers, home cooks and homesteaders with practical recipes, recipes and daily family life. For everyday sourdough recipes, make sure to check out our blog farmhouse on Boone.com and to dig deeper, we do also offer a course called Simple Sourdough over at BitVit Ly FarmhouseSourdo course. That's all one word. Bit Ly FarmhouseSourdo course. If you're looking to learn how we earn an income online, check out my free blog Success Masterclass at Bit Ly Farmhouse Blogging school and my YouTube course at bit ly farmhouseyoutubecourse. All one word.

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