321. Decluttering as a Mom: Where to Start and What to Let Go | Robyn of Minimalist Home

Summary

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Simple Farmhouse Life: Episode 321

Decluttering as a Mom: Where to Start and What to Let Go

Guest: Robyn Buchanan (Minimalist Home)
Host: Lisa Bass
Date: December 23, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Lisa Bass welcomes back Robyn Buchanan from Minimalist Home to discuss the practical and emotional sides of decluttering, especially through the lens of busy motherhood and homemaking. Timed perfectly for the holiday season—a period notorious for new items entering the home—they delve into strategies for letting go, organizing, and avoiding overwhelm, all while fostering a functional, peaceful household. The conversation touches on generational mindsets, practical tips for paper and digital clutter, bulk goods management, purposeful shopping, handling sentimental items, and the tricky terrain of kid clutter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Minimalism Matters for Moms (00:32–05:14)

• Robyn’s Story: Transitioned from a stressed ER nurse to a minimalist homemaker, seeking "a huge part of low stress" via simplified environments.
  • "Your stuff should serve you, not you serving your stuff." — Robyn (01:00)
• Lisa’s Perspective: As a mother of nine, she reflects on the early parenting years where excess stuff made homemaking more challenging.
• Addressing Objections: Both agree minimalism is flexible, and "just in case" thinking is a common barrier, often rooted in historical necessity but not always suitable today (05:14).

2. The “Just in Case” and “I’ll Fix That Someday” Mindsets (05:14–12:02)

• Community-Based Solutions: Robyn advocates for borrowing/lending within a community instead of individual stockpiles (06:40).
• Broken Items Dilemma:
  • Scheduling Repairs: Robyn suggests: "If you think you might fix it, schedule it on your calendar. If you don’t do it, let it go." (08:05)
  • Lisa's Saturday Test: Would you use your next free Saturday to actually repair it? If not, you probably won’t ever do it (09:07).

3. Shifting to Quality & Simpler Things (10:51–14:22)

• Lisa: Recent frustrations with modern appliances led her to appreciate simpler, sturdy tools.
  • "You know what doesn’t break? A broom." — Lisa (11:03)
• Robyn: Endorses products that can be maintained easily and have fewer breakable parts — less tech, more function.

4. Managing Attachments, Chargers, and Manuals (14:47–18:52)

• Digital Organization: Robyn digitizes manuals, paperwork, and important documents, favoring apps like Apple Books and Google Drive for easy, searchable storage.
  • "If it comes with a manual, make sure you can get it online. Download and save it in Apple Books." — Robyn (15:17)

5. The “Mighty Method” for Decluttering Paperwork (19:22–22:16)

• Robyn’s System: TRIAGE (prioritize), then declutter, organize, and finally, implement systems for ongoing maintenance.
• Lisa’s Approach: Uses digital notes and cheat-sheets for recurring tasks, making future retrieval easy.

6. Bulk Goods, Kitchen Systems & Pantry Organization (28:04–33:51)

• Minimizing vs. Prepping: Robyn balances minimalism with sensible preparedness—keep what you actually use, avoid unnecessary backup gear.
• Storage Tips:
  • Use gamma lids for easy bucket access.
  • Sharpies over label-makers for practicality.
  • Digital or handwritten inventory systems to prevent over-buying.
• Lisa: Emphasizes organizing bulk storage in a practical way, especially with a large family: “There’s no amount of getting too much” (32:29).

7. Decluttering and Managing Kid Stuff (38:08–46:12)

• Toy Rotation: Robyn recommends only keeping a few toys accessible at a time for kids, storing or donating the rest.
  • "With kids toys, they only need, like, a few options at a time. Maybe like five." — Robyn (39:49)
• Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Lisa declutters behind the scenes for younger kids, only keeping back what they’d actually miss.
• Ownership with Age: As kids grow, it's their responsibility to manage their stuff.

8. Mindful Shopping and Preventing Accumulation (47:11–54:09)

• Pre-Purchase Pause: Robyn waits 24 hours before making most purchases, always considering need, storage, and intent to declutter an item for every new one brought in.
  • "Where is this going? Am I getting rid of something to make room for it?" — Robyn (49:08)
• Family Adjustments: Lisa discusses the “one in, one out” rule, especially crucial with a large family.

9. Sentimental Items and Letting Go (59:52–66:05)

• Fitting Limits: Reference to Peter Walsh’s advice—sentimental items should fit on your dining room table.
• Revisiting Later: If you’re not ready to declutter, box up items and revisit in a year.
• Digital Photos: Both agree photo overload is a “new era problem” and advocate scheduled digital maintenance.

10. The Digital Minimalism Challenge (66:32–68:59)

• Robyn’s membership group will focus on digital decluttering in January and the kitchen in February.
• Strategy: One weekly challenge, low-pressure support, and mindset over perfection.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Your stuff should serve you, not you serving your stuff.” — Robyn (01:00)
• “If you think you might fix it, schedule it on your calendar. If you don’t do it, let it go.” — Robyn (08:05)
• “Would you spend your free Saturday fixing that item? If not, you’ll never actually do it.” — Lisa (09:07)
• “You know what doesn’t break? A broom.” — Lisa (11:03)
• “If it comes with a manual… download it and save it in Apple Books.” — Robyn (15:17)
• “With kids' toys, they only need a few options at a time. Maybe five.” — Robyn (39:49)
• “Where is this going? Am I getting rid of something to make room for it?” — Robyn (49:08)
• “If you can replace it for less than $20 in less than 20 minutes, just let it go.” — Robyn, on the 2020 rule (57:22)
• “Nobody’s perfect. Sometimes we…still have things where I was like, why on earth did I still have this?” — Robyn (58:57)
• “Sentimental things… better be a good memory, you better feel amazing when you look at it.” — Robyn (61:03)

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• 00:32: Minimalism's universal benefits and Robyn’s backstory
• 05:14: The “just in case” mentality and practicality in preparedness
• 08:05: Fixing vs. letting go of broken or unused items
• 14:47: Dealing with clutter from attachments, chargers, and manuals
• 19:22: The “Mighty Method” for paperwork
• 28:04: Homestead & bulk goods organization; practical pantry systems
• 38:08: Managing, rotating, and decluttering kids’ toys and gear
• 47:11: Mindful consumer habits, intentional shopping
• 59:52: Handling sentimental items and digital decluttering

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Where to Find Robyn Buchanan (Minimalist Home)

• YouTube: Minimalist Home
• Instagram: @RobinBuchananYT
• Blog: MinimalistHome.ca
• Membership: Monthly challenges—digital in January, kitchen in February

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Final Thoughts

This episode is rich with actionable strategies for mothers (and anyone else!) seeking calm and order in their homes amidst the chaos of family life, holidays, and a culture of overabundance. Lisa and Robyn champion grace, practicality, and community, making decluttering less about deprivation and more a pathway to ease and joy.

Perfect for: Overwhelmed moms, aspiring minimalists, home organizers, and anyone seeking a more peaceful, less stuff-centric life!

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Transcript

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[Robin Buchanan]

First of all, I think that everybody thrives better in a minimalist environment, whether or not they know it. There are tons of adults who are like, no, I need all my stuff. I'm like, just try it. So just try it.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I know. I feel the same way. Cause I. I've heard people say that, but then they talk about all these different things they struggle with and I'm like, yeah, that's because of stuff. Yeah, like, I love stuff. But also I have so much trouble with this, this, this, this. I'm like, stop. Yeah, trust me.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. Your stuff should serve you, not you serving your stuff.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

My name is Lisa, mother of nine and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse on Boone. 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 and the Simple Sewing Series. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes and description box below. Now, let's get go. Welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. Today I'm having on Robin Buchanan from Minimalist Home to talk about all things decluttering and minimalism. I think it's a great conversation to have right now as Christmas is just a few days away. A lot of us are going to have a lot of things coming into our home. And we, with the colder weather, we're more stuck in our homes. You know, we can't escape our homes this time of year and just head outside. It's just not that easy. And we have to deal with our homes and their efficiency and how we feel in them. And simplifying them, I think is such an important measure. So let's jump into this inspiring conversation. Robin, welcome on I think it's a really great time of year to talk about decluttering and minimalism, but honestly, in today's world, when isn't it? So let's start with introductions. I know you've been on the show before. But for those who don't know you, tell us about you and your YouTube channel and your mission and what has been happening lately. What's new?

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, thank you for having me back, Lisa. It's always so nice to see you around this time of year. And another baby. Very fun.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yes.

[Robin Buchanan]

Last time it was Victor. Yeah. So, yeah. My name is Robin. I live on Vancouver island in Canada, and I'm a former ER nurse. And I started living more of a minimalist, light lifestyle in sort of, like, maybe 2018. And I realized that I was coming home from the emergency room super stressed because, you know, most people are having the worst day of their life, and I was coming to an environment that was stressing me out, and I was, like, cranky with my family. All I wanted to do was put my feet up, but instead, I was just, like, overwhelmed by the mess. So I saw a study, or. I don't know if it was just a article, but it said that women are more affected by clutter than men. And I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, that makes so much sense. So then I started just sort of ruthlessly decluttering my house. So now that I live in a minimalist lighthouse, because I am a person who has, like, a ton of hobbies. Like, I love cooking and gardening and all of the things, but I realized that living simply is the most important thing. And, you know, ultimately, I want to. I want to be literally, like, 100 years old and in my garden. So I'm trying to be as healthy as I can. A huge part of that is low stress, and a huge part of that is living in a simplified, minimal environment.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yes, I totally agree. And I can look different for different people depending on a lot of factors. Like you said, what hobbies you have, what your family life looks like, the ages of your children, all that kind of stuff. But a lot of the listeners in our audience, well, there's. There's. There's older, and then there's also some who are young moms who are just trying to figure out how to manage their homes, not realizing a lot of times that what makes it so much harder is how much stuff there's in it. Like, when I was a young mom, that was totally my problem. I just took everything that I'd accumulated through my life. I had a whole room that was, like, this craft room that it wasn't organized. There was no amount of containers that could have done it. And so it's something that I've been learning over the years. One of the top objections I think people have when they think of minimalism as a whole, which it's such a sliding scale. So it's like, well, you know, it's. It's almost like something that's hard to just nail down. But what about just in case? This is a question we get all the time. I'm sure you've heard it a million times, but, you know, times are tough for a lot of people. Budgets are tight and I think we fall into this mentality of I might need it just in case type of mentality.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, that's a really, really common thing. And I think that, I think a lot of it goes back to just sort of like our, our roots, you know, as, as needing, you know, back a hundred years ago or more like 200 years ago now, people, they needed to have so much or they needed to keep all of their stuff just in case they needed again, it was hard to get stuff. A lot of them, you know, pretend you lived on a farm and in England or whatever. You did not just discard things, you kept things because you might need them again. And for us, I think that it truly is an ingrained sense of peace feeling like, okay, like I have the stuff that I need just in case. But the problem is in this day and age, in this world of consumption, we keep everything just in case. And that is not serving us. And I think that real preparedness and is not about volume because I'm all about preparedness. Like, I live on Vancouver island, we're on the fault line, we could have an earthquake. So I have, I've got a lot of food stored up and we have emergency supplies. But if it's something that I know I will use within the next year, I'm not going to declutter that. But if it's something that I'm not sure and I think, oh, I might need it one day. The more important thing is having systems and skills that will have us be prepared if something happens. And part of that system. And I. Sometimes people give me grief over this. But you know, it used to be that, for example, like you have a milk cow connection right now, right? You're using your community to help raise your family. And that's how things used to be. We used to be a much more community minded people. And how about like there's, I always say this story, like 10 years ago I bought this set of bolt cutters so I could build a trellis for my garden. So I have the bolt cutter. So if anybody needs bolt cutters, come to and I will lend them. Yes. And, and somebody else might say like, hey, like I also have a freeze dryer.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Right.

[Robin Buchanan]

Maybe, you know, we've had people say like, hey, can you freeze dry this for me? Why does everybody need one? They don't. So I think it's better to have like a community minded approach for things. And then if you're not using something, declutter it. It's not adding to your life. It's literally just holding you back. It is a ball and chain.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I think one thing that we all struggle with, maybe some people more than others, I'm one of these people, are things that you will fix someday. And at some point you have to be honest with yourself and realize that every time you see the item that you're going to fix sitting there over in the corner collecting dust, it gives this little like ping of stress. Like, you know, you, you messed up, you, you should fix that, but you're not going to have time to actually fix it. Have you ran into that at all?

[Robin Buchanan]

Oh my gosh, so much. Because here's the thing, like I actually, I have clients that I work with and I have a community of people who are also decluttering. And some people, they are the rescuers. They will see things on the side of the road that are broken or on Marketplace or whatever and it'll be like, oh, it only needs this or that. And they'll, they'll buy it or take it for free because they're like, I'm going to fix it. But then they never do. And here's my solution to that. If you can. For like I had a microphone that broke. It was like a couple hundred dollar microphone, right. Did I do anything about that? No. Finally I was like, I just threw it away. Sure. But I was not taking the time. It literally was just taking up space. So if you think you might fix it, here's what you do. You get your, your planner, your calendar and you schedule it in. Oh, you plan to fix it. And then if you don't do it, let it go. It wasn't that important. Plus, if you're fixing it, is it something you're going to use? Because if it isn't, there you go. You can either donate it, you can throw it away, whatever.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yep, yep. I like the idea of putting it on your planner. There was another, I think it was either you or one of the other minimalist type of YouTube channels who said that. Imagine you had a free Saturday coming up. Like, let's say that there's a Saturday where you just don't have plans, which, you know, that doesn't really actually happen anyways. But let's say that there was. There was a Saturday. There was nothing going on. You're just going to be home all day. If that was to happen this Saturday, would you spend that time fixing that item? And if the answer is no, then you're never going to actually do it. There will never be a time where that sounds like a good idea.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. And honestly, I think the best thing is just giving yourself that grace and that freedom to say, I'm just letting it go. I'm. I'm all for fixing things. If you can fix something, great. You know, I was thinking, you know, Sesame street, years ago, there was the guy, his job was, like, fixing things. And you know who, I don't even know where. I would take a lot of things for repairs now.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Not these days, no.

[Robin Buchanan]

Right. The only thing I can think of is, like, appliances, but even then, sometimes you're like, oh, it just costs more to get it fixed. But, yeah, let it go. Just give yourself that grace. I. I recently, you know, I'm always decluttering, but we put carpeting in our upstairs bedrooms because we had this ugly hardwood there, and we. It. It was just. We had to take everything out of the bedrooms. And it felt so good just to be like, no, no, no. Empty space.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yes. Like, you're literally just picture yourself, like, giving yourself the gift of, like, peace and time and removing the weight from your shoulders.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah. I think, too, we have to get out of the mindset that everything is made to last these days, because unfortunately, it's not. And so, you know, we think, okay, this vacuum I bought for however many hundreds of dollars should still work. It should, but it doesn't. And who am I going to call to fix this? You know, And I think that, too, like, you. You feel like this should. This should be okay. But so, on the vacuum thing, because I've had some bad luck with vacuums, and some of them we've been able to fix, and some of them, it's like, okay, this should have lasted a lot longer. But I think what it's also taught me is to be more cautious about what I actually buy. Like, I looked around and I was like, you know what doesn't break? A broom. And you know what works really, really well, even on rugs, Because I take the broom and I take, like, a stiff bristle broom and rub it against the rug, onto the hardwood, then sweep it all up, and I'm like, literally it works better. And so sometimes I think that also after we've had enough negative experiences with something that keeps breaking is maybe we just buy less and more simple things.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, even think about this with like a washer and dryer. What I would, I mean I would love just a. An old school washer and dryer. Something that just didn't. Had no microchips in it at all. That was just.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Hey, that's why I love that Speed Queen. I know you've, I'm sure you've heard a million times because speed queen lovers are like. It's like a cult, you know. But I.

[Robin Buchanan]

It's a thing.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, they're really nice. Well, we've had ours for like 12 years, maybe longer.

[Robin Buchanan]

We sat the old like which what, which one is this?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I mean we bought it brand new but it, it's like just a few steel parts and so it's, it is actually made to be fixed. But the other cool part about it because this is like a new revelation to me is people are always telling me on my YouTube channel that in my new house I need to have two washers and dryers. And I was like, I just don't get it. And it finally dawned on me recently that's because I have a Speed Queen and it goes so fast. These modern washers go like an hour and a half. Mine's like 20 minutes. So anyways, long story short, it's actually one of those old school washers. Not pretty, not like fancy with the fun, you know, the fun colors and the front loader. But they actually are made to be repaired. We've had ours repaired a couple times and.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, exactly. So I, and it's like I just, I used to want all of the fancy everything. And I mean like the less screens, the better People, they've got like screens on their TVs. I don't want something that has a screen. I just want just simple and. And that's the other thing is I feel like. And this is why it's sort of like my mission is to just be as simplified and like relaxing. Even like the videos on my channel, I've just like really scaled back how I've just is all about just like living the most simple relaxing lifestyle as possible because crazy things happen. You know. Like my husband, he like was sharpening knives and sliced his thumb the other day and we were like, for sure. We thought he got a tendon or something. And by the grace of God, I truly was praying at the moment. He texted me and was like, no it's fine. But it's like things, things happen. Life is crazy. So like make things as simple as possible and the, the fewest things as possible I think is really helpful too.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I think so too. Okay. One thing I've been thinking about when I see some of these questions. What about items that come with unnecessary. Sorry. My baby's being extra vocal today and I can't get anybody to. I love it in the family to watch her because you know, they, they always need their mother when they're this age. I tried to have my 12 year old son holder and he loves holding her but she started fussing so he brought her to me.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

So. Okay. So so many things we get. You know, right now when this episode comes out, it's basically Christmas in two days and we're going to get things on our wish list that come with a charger, that come with extra carrying cases and attachments and all of these things that you hate to get rid of because they go with it. But there, there's so many things like that cluttering up our house. Right. Like what even is this thing?

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, I think when I was younger if I went to some kind of an exhibition or something, if there was stuff I could get, I wanted it. Now I'm like, no, don't give me anything. And if it comes with a manual, what I do, because I have made this mistake. I do make sure you can get it online. And then I download it and I save it in my. Okay, my books, Apple books. Because you can do that. And then it makes, then it's searchable. So you can search whatever that is.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Smart.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. And then just declutter it and any kind of carrying cases or boxes or whatever, you know. So I got a. Actually bought a grain mill and it's got a oat flattener thing, flaker that's attached to it.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I ended up getting rid of that at one point. I know I was, I had that too. And I was like, I was like just not using it.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, it's built in though. And I was like. And it's so bulky to move and I don't keep it on the counter because I like to have as little out there as I can. But anyway, it has like this clamp to clamp it to the, to the counter and I'm like, it's got this clamp. But now I know, I know I'm not going to keep this one. I will definitely switch to just a plain one in a few years. So I, I'm setting that aside, but, but in a spot where I know I will look for it, you know what Dana K. White says? Like, keep things where you know where they'll. You'll look for them. But carrying cases, I don't. You know, unless you know you'll need it. Store it in it if you, whatever it is, but for the most part, yeah. Any extra stuff if you don't need it, get rid of it. Download any manuals if you can't save it, but have like a folder, store it with your paperwork.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I like the idea of that Apple Books, because I feel like you could do that with so many things, like not just manuals, but anything that you have to keep. Like, this is just a stupid example, but we have a baby shower to go to a month or a month or two from now. And I'm like, where do I. Those kind of things, like, I just take a picture of the invite, put it in my calendar. But then there's a QR code for the wish list and those types of things. Like I. Because we use our phones and we, you know, that's just like the place to find everything like this. I need to find a way to digitally keep this. But there's tons of things like that, like bills and I don't even know. Like, there's so much paperwork that I'm like, why do I even have a physical copy of something when you could keep it? But it's, I think it's the organizing part that's the hard part.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, I ended up just really redoing the back end of my Google and I just have, you know, like for the business. Right. There's all these different, you know, six of my master files, five of them are business, but one is for finance. Right. And. And I have, you know, 2025 and then receipts and then business and home. Oh yeah. And I download our property tax and I put it in there and we're redoing our renewing our mortgage right now. And so, like, finding all of that stuff is so much simpler when you just immediately digitize it. A lot of banks, they would rather send it to digital things anyway. So what I do right away, you can go to like, print, but don't print it. Just go down to open as PDF or whatever. There's a few options. And then just save it immediately. You can send it straight to the folder. You bypass your downloads. It's just such a much easier way. Because paperwork is, is just an absolute headache for so many ways because it's literally piles and piles of Decisions.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah. And it shouldn't. We shouldn't really have to be dealing with paper anymore in any capacity. And like this, this just shouldn't be a problem anymore at all. Like, the fact that I'm still dealing with some paperwork is probably pretty silly. And honestly, just delaying digitizing something, like delaying setting up paper statements for something or automatic things just, you know, there's. I definitely have things like that in my life still that I'm like, if I would just take a few minutes to take care of this, then this problem would no longer exist anymore.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, it's so true. And actually I have a method that I developed. It's like the mighty method, I call it, which is. So say you were tackling your. Your paperwork. It's triage. Because I used to be an emerge nurse and that was like a big thing. It was a huge first thing you do is you triage what's going on, what's the worst thing, what's the best thing? What's the outcome we want? Then you simplify. So decluttering, then organize and then thrive, which is systems. So the system. So first of all, like, if you just go through and you just create like six master folders for your business or for your home or whatever. I do my church's Instagram, so I have one folder under my personal, because that's sort of more of a personal thing. And I just have like the church in there. And then I have, you know, children's health, parents, health report cards or whatever.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I love this.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yes. All of that in there. And you just sit there one night, just creating a master thing and then dragging things into subfolders under that. And then it just makes it so much easier because so you've done your organize and then your thrive is just every time you get an email for something. And I know this is so hard and I'm not going to pretend like I'm great at it, but just try to allocate it to the spot it goes as soon as you can, you know?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, I've heard that called the one touch rule. And I'm bad about this. I heard it and I was like, that's great idea, don't do it. But where you only open something once. Like whether that's you're in Instagram DMS for whatever reason, like, you don't really have time to be in there. So you read something and then you're like, I'll respond to that later. Or you see an email, you open it, you don't really have time to Respond. Therefore, you should not open it. Because, yeah, like, why touch something more than once when you could just deal with it right then and there?

[Robin Buchanan]

It's so true. So what I do in this case is the exact thing my pastor sent me her the sermon yesterday. And I immediately like, I, I was like, why did I open it? Because now I'm like, am I going to forget? It's just a very busy time right now. And instead of remembering at a convenient time, I'll remember on an inconvenient time. So I just made, I, I marked it unread. So now my phone, it looks like there's a message and it's driving me crazy and that's going to make me go and, and do it. And same with emails.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Same thing.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. If you get a bill or whatever, just mark it on red and then it will show up. And I know then still lots of us know thousands of emails. And I, I will be honest that I often, mostly all the time, have stuff like that. I need to go and organize, but I try to do that on Fridays. I try to make Friday, like my organize everything day, my desk and everything clean. So I can just have a nice like Sabbath on Saturday and then like get back to work on Monday.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, yeah, that's a great idea. I realize I'm not using utilizing Google Drive as much as I should because I use Google Drive for so many things. And so I, I know how to access it very easily. Like, it's like the, you know, if I pull my finger down on my phone, it's like the number one thing that I'm getting into. And so I'm thinking, man, there's so many things that are laying around the house that I'm like, oh, I'll get, you know, we have a pile of things to get to. Why don't I just digitize that? It's smart. I like that.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, it helps.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah. Hopefully it wouldn't be something I would then forget about because it's not in my usual system of how I do things, but I think it takes a little time to adapt to things that are a bit easier. But, you know, keeping the house less cluttered I think could really help with that.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, and the other thing you can do is think like, when might I use this? So say it's like your property tax bill. When would you need that? End of the year, you know, here it might be June. So I would put a thing like a reminder in my calendar to remind me of where it is.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Okay, so for you guys, that's in June. I'm like, right now, that's when we need it. That's when we're talking about property taxes.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. I don't know, I think something about. I. Well, the. Where I live, my regional district, they. Yeah, we have to like put in for a grant or whatever by July. So.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Okay. Okay.

[Robin Buchanan]

I would remind myself by June. And then when it comes to your income tax or whatever, you know, like, just put reminders in there for yourself to be like, check the Google Drive. I.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Right.

[Robin Buchanan]

So my husband and I both have adhd, which is not good because we'll be like, hey, remind me to blank. And I'm like, are you serious? Like, yeah, I'm not going to remember. He's not going to remember. So I just need my phone. Like, I have. I mean, I had a thing where it was like Lisa 1045. Right. Because I'm like, I don't want to get distracted. So I have like many, many fail safes. So, yeah, it's, it's. I like, I live a hybrid life. I do have a planner. Like, I love my planner. And I actually even have like my Bible study and everything, like in this. But I also like, everything else is digital.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah. I, I also create for myself tons of cheat sheets, like in my notes. Like, there's just so many things. Like I have different accounts on different things where I have to go in and get like this certain statement for the accountant every month. This is a thing, but I always forget how to do it. And so I'll put like PayPal statement and then I'll give myself a list of instructions so that every month I pull up, you know, search in my notes, PayPal, then it comes up and then I know how to go in and get it. And I have that for so many things. That's just another way that I keep things, like, slightly organized that when I forget because even though it seems easy enough, there's just things that you repeatedly have a bit of a trouble with or at least I do.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, I love that. I even. Because we get power outages sometimes and we have a generator and we like haul it over and one time we had no power for three days. It was December. And so I took a bunch of photos of the steps to set it up because it connects to our actual house power and you have to flip a thing inside and whatever. And of course my husband's not here half the time. It happens. So I need to be the one that remembers how to do it. So then I can just like go through and be like, all right, that's how you do it. And it's like, got the photos and. Yeah. And actually another thing that I'll do in a situation like that is create a Google Doc and then you can drag photos into it so then you can see it, which is also.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Well. And I do that in notes because you can actually drag. I don't know if you have an iPhone. Remember what you said? Yeah. So in notes you can do the same thing. Because I'm, I'm, I'm doing the same thing, like saving photos, like as many instructions as I can on something like that to, to help me next time. And there's that part of you that's like, oh, I'll remember. But then after like two or three times of not remembering, you're like, I ain't doing this again. Like, you know, having to like, hunt down all the instructions and figure something out. That should have been easy.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm like, I don't remember anything. I will be like, I planted this and this in the garden.

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[Robin Buchanan]

Like, I would wait for it to half mature before I even know what the heck something is. So I have to write everything down.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I made that mistake so many years in my garden. I was like, I'll remember. I'll remember. And then I have gotten better over the years now of like, recognizing what each seedling looks like. But for so many years, I was like, I don't even.

[Robin Buchanan]

I know.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah.

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[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah. So all of that stuff really will save you time, save clutter around your home. Now you're a gardener, you like to do some, like, homesteading type stuff. Well, cooking from scratch, things like that. So how do you create a more functional, low stress home? Organize, systematize everything, like bulk goods, kids, gear, like, so many things that go with having that type of lifestyle.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, it's interesting because I actually started, I don't want to say like prepping, but prepping, you know, maybe four years ago. And by then I was like, minimalist. And I've actually gotten. I mean, now that I have a grain mill, of course I have all the grains. And I just this past year also got a slow cooker, even though I have an instant pot. And it was like, like, what am I doing? It's like the opposite, but so helpful. So, I mean, you're going to. A lot of people, they make the mistake of thinking they need a lot of storage. Meanwhile, the main thing is simplifying. But then you do need storage. You need to be able to organize things. So I did get. Well, I have, like three shelves where I keep a lot of things, and I keep, you know, my slow cooker down there and, you know, a bunch of other things keeping the grains. You can get the. I think you have them, the gamma lids that twist on.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Absolutely. Those are, those are game changers. Because I tell people if it's not easy for you to get in and out of things, you just will not do it.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yes, I won't. No.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. It's so true. So having those on the buckets and also one of the other big. So I love having everything. Like, I just redid my pantry or cleaned my pantry yesterday, and I have like this one section, it's just all jars. It's beautiful. But I had to make sure, like, I'm labeling things. I don't use a label maker. I just write on the top of the lid with the Sharpie. Like, what?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Same Sharpies? Yeah, yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

And I, I, to be honest, I know some people love label makers, and I think if you like that, good. But I, I just, I, first of all, like, I just know it's something I just won't do. I'd rather just.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I don't even know how to use it. I bought one one time and I was like, I'm gonna use this. Gonna be so great. Life changing. And then, like, I just never could devote the 10 minutes to figuring out how to do it. And I was like, sharpies. Like, I know how to do those.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. And then the other thing I did. So for you, you would do this in your notes app. And I use notion for a lot of things. And I created a master inventory of my basement pantry, sort of like, more my. Where everything from Costco goes, basically. So then if I'm at Costco, you know, do I need more avocado oil? Because I'll end up buying three maple syrups and then be like, oh, my gosh, like, I don't have avocado oil. Why did I not realize that? So having that is so helpful. A lot of people, like Jessica from Three Rivers Homestead, she does that too. And she also has one for her freezer. And I have done that as well, for we have a meat freezer. So that one more important. So it's good to have an inventory. So I say, like, have some kind of storage. Organize it in a way that makes sense. So how I have my. My main pantry organized is I have, like, all of the baking stuff together, like the baking soda, the baking powder. All of that is. Is together. All of the. The grains are together. Then, you know, I've got all of the, like, ugly things in boxes and cans off to the side where you can't see them, but. And then all of the spices, like, everything is where you would expect to find it. And because that is how I need. Quite often, I'm like, you know, cooking something on high heat. And I am so forgetful. Like, I. My husband will laugh at me because he's always like, you always forget one thing. And I'm like, yes, I do. Like, I make something and forget, you know, like, the sugar. And, you know, I made. I made a delicious, like, freshly milled sandwich bread. It was so good. But I forgot the salt, which was such a bummer, because what a difference that made. So we're, like, adding salt because I'm not wasting it. But yeah, so in the middle of something, like, I need to be able to go and be like, oh, I need this, and, like, run and find it. And same with the basement. You know, like, having. Having a spot for everything and having it organized in a predictable way. That works for you. Because what works for me might not work for you might not work for, you know, Susie down the street.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yes. I do my grocery shopping online. I've been doing that for a while. But I always think I know what I have until I'm sitting there in bed with my phone trying to get all my orders put together. But I Have to go downstairs and see what it. So I know if I was at Costco, there's no way I'd remember if I have avocado oil or not. So I think that's a really important point since I do order from my phone. I just go downstairs and I'm like, okay, I need this, I don't need this. And then also with a large family, I find that I can't really overdo it. Like there's, there's no amount of getting too much. Recently on our Azure standard haul, I accidentally ordered two of, I think it was like a 12 pack of peanut butter. And we, it was like the joke for like, oh, we're gonna be moving this to the new house. Like we're never gonna go through this much peanut butter. Or we ran out in like a month or two. Like we're like, seriously, we went through like 24 jars of peanut butter in like I think it was two months. And so I'm like, oh, there's really like, it's. If I accidentally buy eight avocado oils next, you know, spring, I'm still gonna need avocado oil. But it is nice to like. What I like to do since I'm not as organized, is just make sure that before I do a big stock up again, try to reduce everything down to like nothing. Like you know, try not to just keep adding to something so that you make sure you're, you know, kind of rotating. But that tends to work out for us pretty well.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. And also I, what I do, I mean, and I was at Costco yesterday and I phoned my husband, I was like, do we need toilet paper? Like he, one of us is usually phoning when we're out. But uh huh. Yes. But what I do is I try to do like a quick, you know, get everything out of the fridge before I go and yes, you know, same with the pan. The main pantry, huh?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yep. I think that's a really good idea. It's kind of tricky with bulk meat ordering because we order bulk meat and if the order, you know, if it comes up and we still have, you know, some inventory, I try to just move it to one shelf. So that way we're making sure to grab what's out of the top before dipping into what's new. So you're not getting like a three year old, you know, pack of meat. But I think there's, I think that's a smart way to do it to actually keep like an inventory on your phone. There's of course the part of me. That's like, man, I wish we weren't so reliant on our phones. Because I'll do this where, like, the other day, I was like, I'm gonna go put my phone upstairs. I'm not gonna, you know, use my phone throughout this day. And, I mean, it wasn't five minutes that I had something I needed it for. Like, I opened up a package, I needed to set the thing up. And of course, there weren't instructions. There was a QR code. And I'm like, I always have to have that stupid thing no matter what. Which is frustrating, but it's also true.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. That's why I 100% feel you and my husband will be like, you know, well, if we're getting, like, annoyed with each other, we're gonna watch a movie. I'll be like, put your phone down. He'll be like, you're always on yours. I'm like, but that's for work, right?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I'm doing something important on there.

[Robin Buchanan]

I literally will be like, I am, girl. Do you want to know something? I was, like, watching your cinnamon star and waiting for the blog post to come out. So yesterday we were watching Home Alone, and I was like, let me see if it's there, because I promised him I was going to make it. And it was. I was like, it's there. So I was, like, looking at my phone for that. But the other thing I do is I do have my planner, and it's got, like, all these other little books. Books, right. And so I've got one where I can just add lists. So when I'm feeling like, you know, I still am going to reach for the phone first, but maybe I'm at a point where it's like, my Sabbath Saturday, and I'm, like, trying to have my phone in the other room. Like, I'll just, like, write it down to look at later. So I'm trying to be better about that, but I know it is just so hard.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

It is, because a lot of times when I'm on my phone, I mean, it's. It's rare that I'm actually just scrolling because, you know, I don't really have a much, like, very much time for that. Like, yes, that happens, too, but very rare. Usually I'm grocery shopping, like, filling up my Azure standard order. Like, just so many things like that. Like checking inventory, adding things, obviously. Business stuff, organizing things. Like, there's just. Yeah, it's. It's kind of annoying because it means that your phone's always right there. But Also, I tried to ditch it one time and get a light phone, and it was, like, literally impossible to live in this world without it. Like, I couldn't. Like, there was just so many things where I was like, ah, you need the phone for that? Like, yeah, everybody else would have to give it up too. And I. I honestly, I wouldn't care if we did, but that's not happening.

[Robin Buchanan]

So I know sometimes I'm like, if there was, like, some kind of disaster that took out everything like, that I'd be like, okay.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, I know in some ways I'm like, that would almost be a relief. But I was like, I'm gonna set

[Robin Buchanan]

up for that a little bit.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

Business would be dead, but that's okay.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Well, yeah, the business that a bit of a bummer.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

But, like, at our new place, we have a wood cook stove. We're gonna have both types of stoves. We also have a wood cook stove. So I'm like, man, we could still cook and heat the house. So that's cool.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. I've got my friend Chelsea, who's from Little Mountain Ranch. I don't know if you've had her on, but she. She lives in B.C. also, and she has this, like, big, beautiful wooden cook stove, and it's called Martha, and she can make, like, waffles on it. And. And I always see them on Marketplace, and I'm always so tempted to buy it because we don't have a way. Our. Our stove runs on propane because there's no natural gas here. But other than that, like, if we ran out, I don't know, I guess we'd just be cooking outside on a campfire or something.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Well, yes, that's always an option as well.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. Yeah. Back to basics.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yes. Okay, so what about kids? A few questions on that. How to manage kid clutter. And then also, what about the little ones who. Miriam, you are so loud. What about the little ones who are more attached to things? I don't really have that issue so much because my kids just literally forget things exist so fast. But then my sister, her kids have a. Like, they have a mental inventory. They know what they have. Like, there's no just sneaking it past them. Mine, like, they would not even notice. And so it's really easy for me because I can keep their room really decluttered. But what about.

[Robin Buchanan]

What about that? Yeah, there's a couple of interesting things. So I think it's you that you don't really keep a lot of toys in the bedrooms. Is that right?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, hardly Any. Just legos?

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. And with my kids, it was like that. Also, we had a basement where a lot of the toys went. And I know that doesn't always work for people. When our eldest was little, we had just all of his toys in the living room, and we just tidied them up. At the end of the day, I think that the thing that worked the best for us is just rotating toys. And at some point, because, first of all, I think that everybody thrives better in a minimalist environment, whether or not they know it. There are tons of adults who are like, no, I need all my stuff. I'm like, just try it. So just try it.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I know. I feel the same way because I. I've heard people say that, but then they talk about all these different things they struggle with, and I'm like, like,

[Robin Buchanan]

yeah, that's because of the stuff. Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Like, I love stuff, but also I have so much trouble with this, this, this, this. I'm like, stop.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Trust me.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. It's so true. Like, your stuff, yours. This is why I say it's like, your house, your stuff should serve you, not you serving your stuff. And with kids toys, they only need, like, a few options at a time. Maybe like five. Right. And what you can say to them is, we're just putting these away, and then we'll take them out next week. If you cycle them out every week, that would be so good. And then at some point, you can see what they're not using. And if you want to have that conversation with them, you can say, okay, it's time to give this to the children that don't have toys, and maybe that will work. Otherwise, you can always just do the declutter when they're not around. There's. It's okay to do that. You're not hurting them. If it's something they're really attached to. I mean, I wouldn't.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Don't do that.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, but.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

But yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I. I don't know if this is what they're thinking when they're saying, like, considering their feelings, I'm okay with getting rid of something that I know they won't notice, but if they were to see me do it, it would be a problem. I'm okay with that. Because, like, they don't notice. Like, if. If it's the next day, they're never. I don't believe it's ever happened that somebody has said, hey, where's my such and such? Because I don't get rid of things that they actually like. Now, if they saw it, they would think they like it, but they don't. They must not really like it because they don't remember it.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, you know what? Years ago, even before I went more minimalist, when my kids were even younger, I went through a bunch of their stuff and I boxed it all up. And here, there's the Canadian. Diabetes will come and take your stuff away from like, right from your house, which is really handy. So I had like four big boxes stacked up outside of our front door waiting for these people to come for probably like a week. And my mom was like, those poor kids, they're looking at their toys stacked up. I mean, you know, they were in boxes, but they could still see some. I don't think the kids even care.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, so, yeah, you would know if they did, they'd let you know. You know how kids are. They're not just gonna be like, that's fine. They're gonna let you know.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, and it's like anything parenting. I mean, my kids now are 20, 18, and 16. And you know, we still have to have moments where they're mad at me, you know, because I'm, you know, laying down the law for this reason or another.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Right.

[Robin Buchanan]

It happens. But they'll forgive you. And it's actually a great opportunity for them to learn. You know, I didn't love this situation, but they'll, they'll get over it. I mean, if it's just there, there are moments and I get it. Like I had one kid who was. You were talking about the difficult births, and I'm like, that might explain this one kid, but

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I don't really believe it. But yes, yes.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, I know, I know, but. And I mean, he's just, he's wonderful. He's 18 now, but, you know, it's there. I get it. There are some kids who you're just. It's an exhausting time and sometimes you have to pick your battles. You have pick when you're doing your battles. And sometimes it's like, all right, we're not going to worry about that right now.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'm just talking to the mom who feels like all they do is spend time like cleaning their kids rooms. And I've been there and I'm like, that's just no way to live. Like every day there shouldn't be an hour where you're cleaning up all the kids stuff like that, just as an hour you don't have to spend. And if the child isn't even going to notice it, you know what they might notice is how stressed you are. Not, not saying that I'm not still stressed about things, but if that's something that you could eliminate a stressor that you don't need in your life, I'm gonna go ahead and take that opportunity. And then, you know, we talked about older kids. I don't go through my 15 and 17 year old's room like they, they're past that. Like they can keep whatever they want, they can buy whatever they want. If, if their room's messy and cluttered, that's their problem. I'm talking about younger kids where you're still involved in managing. And this will vary by personality on what age that is. It's not like a given that if they're this age, that's not a problem anymore. But you know, you don't want the kids living in filth, so you have to step in up to a certain age. And yeah, I think, I think it's okay.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, and also you can just say if you really want these toys, say it's a, like this is the thing. It's those things that have many parts. Right. I had all boys, so I didn't ever have to deal with like Barbie shoes or whatever. But there were things with parts, especially those Playmobil toys which were so cute, but so many detailed things. And it's like, okay if you want it, but you need to be able to clean it up every day and if they freak out about it. Okay, so we're putting this one away for this week and then maybe that's the only sort of toy set out for that kid at that time. You know, every kid gets to pick a one or two or three or four out. You know, whatever works for you. But it's so true. And to be honest, like when it comes to the older kids, I mean, like I have one that's moved out, they leave. So it's like.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, right.

[Robin Buchanan]

They take their problems with them.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, yeah. At some point it's just their deal. Like you try to instill, you know, but at some point that's how it is for everyone. And so it's not forever. But there are ages of children where you're involved. And if it's going to be something that you're spending all day every day, like managing things, that's just simply not gonna work. And I, I prefer toys that have like, if, even if they have a lot of parts, but that one missing piece won't ruin the toy. That's the kind of stuff I like because I'm like we're not gonna be able to keep like 100 pieces together, but as long as, you know, we keep 75%, the thing's still operable. That's good.

[Robin Buchanan]

It's so true. Well, and the thing that's just it with like the whole like simplified living less to manage, you know, as you say, I want the, it's even, you know, like I have a friend, she, she tried the sourdough bagels I made and she was like, like dreaded. Like the, the starter I gave her. I'm like, girl, this is nothing. This is easy. Will stay alive forever just right. It's not, it's. The things that are easy to manage are things that I want in my life.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Right.

[Robin Buchanan]

Things that are high maintenance. They can go.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Exactly. Yes. And I agree with you. Sourdough is not one of them. Despite people's beliefs, it's definitely not one of them.

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[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

So how do you avoid over accumulating in the first place and shop more intentionally?

[Robin Buchanan]

See, this is my favorite part because this is where it starts. So what we do at. So okay, like I mentioned getting the grain milk, which it's huge because it's got that darn flaker attachment. But I. Which is like built in. But when I got that I was like, well, I need to make room for this in my pantry. So what has to go well. I hate to say this but I was like, I let the ninja creamy go because I'm not that big. I know. And I watch you. I'm like, she loves it. So many people love it. But for Me, it just. Even though, especially because, like, I'm. I try to eat like, you know, high protein and it's so much easier to make things in that. But I just wasn't really using it and I thought if I was going to make, like, ice cream using it.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

I'm going to use my regular ice cream maker in the summer. So. Absolutely, I kept that one. And I like to say before I even buy it, first of all, am I going to use it? Do I need it or want it? You know, like, am I going. Did I need a grain mill? No, but, you know, my husband. Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I think people need grain milk. I'm going to say that it's true because I.

[Robin Buchanan]

My husband has high cholesterol now and the freshly milled grains actually help lower it. But the other ones don't.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Right.

[Robin Buchanan]

So that was my perfect. I was like, really needed it. Goodie.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. So I got that. And. And so what do I need? What. Or am I. If I want it? Like, am I going to use it? Right. If it's. Maybe you want to weave and you need a loom.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Okay.

[Robin Buchanan]

Like, yeah, but where's it gonna go? Of course. Can you afford it? And for anything, like, for most things, I wait 24 hours before buying it.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Between getting the idea and put, like pressing by, there's.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, I might put it in the cart, but it doesn't get purchased until I'm sure that I want it. And. Yeah, you have to know where. And. And if you're at, you know, a store and you see something and it's a matter. I'm so lazy when it comes to buying. Quite often, if I'm not buying two things, I won't buy anything. But I will just say, like, where's this going? Number one, where is this going? And am I going to get rid of something instead to make room for it?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

And also, are there. And actually there's this fellow I know, he's really, really nice guy and he. He says that when they buy something, they have to declutter something. It's the number of it and the weight of it or something like that. So they got like peloton. Yeah. And so he had to get rid of like the weight of the peloton. So that's really something.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

But I mean, if you really want that new thing.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, well, and they look like in a tiny little a frame, so it makes sense. Like they're like truly minimalist. But I really just like to. If it's clothes or something, try to get Rid of at least one or two things of stuff coming in. And I mean, for me, I'm always just going through things.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yes, same always. Yeah. My husband today was shopping for like some stocking suffers for our kids. And there's like a cute cat cap that he was gonna get. And I was like, okay, but for every cap we get, because we have six sons, so like everything's in bulk. Like I was getting different things to put in their stockings and I'm like, I just spent. It was ridiculous amount on like things they had the sock. I'm like, but per kid, that's not very much at all. Like, it's just bulk. But I was like, for every cap we bring in, can we please get rid of a cap? Because like, we already have. Each boy already has a hat. And so, you know, like with having six sons, that means if they each have three hats, which wouldn't be that unreasonable, that's 18 hats. You know, like, we've gotta, we really do have to stay on top of it. And so knowing that when you buy something that there's going to be a bit of a job when you get it, like getting rid of some things to, to replace, that definitely will stop you. Unless you truly like the new thing a lot better or need it or it's going to improve the situation. Like talking about that creamy, if it wasn't for a lot of my kids at home, I probably wouldn't use it as much. And so I think that's, you know, there's different seasons of life and it's okay if you realize you're in a new one where you no longer need something. Like it doesn't serve you to have it just sitting there in the cabinet. That makes no sense.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. Plus those darn containers don't nest or anything. So they just.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Oh, I. I have on my Amazon order right now. It might even be here because I saw the UPS guy pull up more of those because for us, like, you know, if we only have four of those, then somebody's getting left out on ice cream night. So we need to make a bunch. But yeah, they don't nest. They don't nest, but they're really nice if you have a lot of milk. Like if you have a dairy cow or some way of getting a lot of milk when it's about to go bad, like you freeze it all and it's. There's no like, churning. You just put it in. And then someday when you want ice cream, just zip that thing right up.

[Robin Buchanan]

It's really nice oh, that's cool. Well, that makes a lot of sense, for sure.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. It. It really is just as far as, like, the. The shopping goes. It's like, say you were, you know, trying to trim down. You know, is this helping me meet my goals? Because there are a lot of people who. They just have, like, a little bit of extra stuff, and then there are a lot of people who have a lot of extra stuff. So it's like, what is this doing to. To help me reach my goals?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Well, yeah, and there's so many people, too, who feel like their house is too small. Like, well, I. There are people who are like, I want to mill grains, but I don't have storage space. And I'm like, I don't in this house either. Like, there's a couple of buckets shoved in underneath, like, our homeschool stuff. And then there's, you know, there's just, like, places where you just have a bucket that you otherwise, like, wouldn't have sitting there. But I think a lot of times we keep things at the expense of other things that we really want to do because we think we need more space to do XYZ that we really don't. We just need less stuff.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, and. And it's interesting because there's this lady I was following on YouTube, and she would keep. She's in. Somewhere in Europe, and she would harvest all of her winter squash, and once it was cured and everything, she kept it under one of the beds because her bedrooms aren't heated. And, like, you can put stuff anywhere in your house. The problem that a lot of people run into is that their closets and everything are. Are full of stuff they're not using and they don't need.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yes, absolutely. We all have things like that. It's just a matter of how much.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. And it's okay to have, you know, grains stored in your closet, in your bedroom closet, if that's the way it is. Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

There's more places in this house I could keep it, like, if. If I didn't keep them. Where I keep them, there's more places, but we don't live in a house that's, like, big and has lots of storage. Like, our new house, we're gonna have so much storage. Huge kitchen, like. Yeah. I planned, like, the dream kitchen, basically. But right now, the situation we're in is also fine. Like, I can also do all the things that I want to do in my kitchen with, you know, not much space, hardly any counter space, no island, not much storage. Tiny. And I Shouldn't say tiny kitchens. People are always gonna be like, mine's tiny. I'm like, I know, but it's small. Like, it's really small. Like, if we have three people in there at one time, it's like I can't even move. And still it's perfectly set up for me to do, you know, the from scratch cooking that I want to do. But it has come down to being pretty crucial with getting rid of things that. That really aren't serving us. And I say that, and I still have all my cheese presses and like, they're just shoved in the closet.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, but that's the thing. So you might say, oh, are my cheese presses adjust in case thing now I will tell you, it is everything. So people, everybody's like, I might use it one day. I declutter. There's one time I repurchase something that I decluttered. I make kombucha, but usually in the summer. And I had like six 2L jars, you know, and I decluttered them because I was like, I'm done with kombucha. It was probably like October till next summer.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

You're like, no fourth.

[Robin Buchanan]

Exactly. So I let them go. And I think, I'm not sure if it was a year or two years. But regardless, you know what was kind of nice? Not having six big glass jars kicking

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

around my house even for those few months. You know, honestly, sometimes if you really think about it, like, would I pay a, say, $20 fee or something to not have to fiddle, like, get around these certain things for six months? You know, I might pay that $20 convenience fee. Honestly, like, it all depends. You know, in some places you have better storage. Like at our new house, we have a basement it. And if we put some shelves down there, I'm going to be able to keep things nicely and I'm not going to have to like, fish around things. Like, it'll just be there out of the way, no problem. But in this house, if something's extra, it is in the way. Like, we have to like, push it aside in order to get to the things we really want. Like, I've encountered those cheese presses a lot. Like I. Or like the, the molds and the press, it hasn't just been like, stored away until we get another dairy cow. Like, I've encountered them, they affect my daily life life, because when I am getting the things that we keep in that. That certain closet at the end of the hall, I interact with that. And in some ways it's like, yeah, but okay, so if we don't have a dairy cow for literally, like, I haven't used those in over well over a year. Really, it's getting close to two years now. And then if we don't get a dairy cow for another year, then for three years, I've interacted with stupid things. You know, sometimes you really do have to put it it to like, think about it really logically and realize, okay, those weren't worth that much fiddling with, like, how much do they even cost?

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, it's, it's like the 2020 rule, right? Like, if you can replace it for less than $20 in less than 20 minutes, which we probably, with inflation have to raise it to 30 at this point.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

But yeah, the 30, 30 rule.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, but, but you know what? I think that also the ease, like, if you can get it in less than 20 minutes, like, can you get cheese presses in less than 20?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Oh, yeah, Amazon, I could get it.

[Robin Buchanan]

That's so easily there. The like. So when we were doing all of that decluttering, I was the queen of selling stuff on Marketplace. I was just like, I love Marketplace for stuff like that. And, but I mean, again, like, it's. It. You are going to use it again one day. So if you had the space to store it, I mean, and you're, you know, at this point you're committed, right?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

No, at this point, yeah, we're keeping them, but I, I'll, I will have a good place to put them in the new house. I think that's what, that's what gets me. But if we, I always say, like, if we were staying here forever, this would be gone. This would be gone. We'd be painting this. We'd be, you know, like, living in a temporary situation changes it a bit for us because, you know, I don't have to live with that stupid closet for that long. But if I did, they'd have to be gone because it isn't worth me fishing around trying to find an item I actually need in order to, you know, just, just, just in case, like, it's not worth that.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, I can imagine it would be.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

There's so many things like that.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, it's absolutely.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

And I feel like I've been pretty good about getting rid of them, to be honest. I feel like my house runs pretty efficiently and it's just something to, to consider. Yeah, well.

[Robin Buchanan]

And I mean, you know, nobody's perfect. Sometimes we, I mean, there are things where I was like, why on earth did I still have this? Like, I have like a business around decluttering, but I still am.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Everybody needs to move like once every five years. I mean, I'm not planning to move again, but you need to like pretend like you're moving because I got rid of stuff just ruthlessly when we moved and then I'm already starting to get the itch again. Like, okay, do. Is this worth moving?

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. Do I want to, you know, pay to have this moved? Do I, am I do I want to like pack this? I mean, you know, maybe you pay for people to do some stuff too, but do I want to pay for somebody to pack this up and then for me to unpack it and to figure out where this goes? I mean, and then, you know, you get into like the sentimental stuff and it's the same, you know, like, does this feel good when I look at this? You know, or is this just a memory? Right. Uh huh.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah. Oh yeah. We got a lot of questions about sentimental, which I think we've touched before. But quickly as we're wrapping up here, what do you tell people about sentimental things?

[Robin Buchanan]

So there's a great guy, Peter Walsh, Australian guy, and he would say that all of your sentimental things. Now I don't know if this is for the family or for the person, and it might depend on the person in the family, but should fit on your dining room table. So I think that it falls into a couple of categories. When I was decluttering just now, we went through all of like my one kid's books and he wrote a bunch of books. He wrote all these cute little books. I kept them all. I didn't read them all while I was decluttering, but I kept them because they don't take up a lot of space. I don't have a ton of sentimental things. I have my dad's shoes from when he was little. But I also have a couple of things that are decor that are sentimental. But one of the biggest things is a lot of people, they attribute, you know, being able to remember something to being sentimental. When I say it better be a good memory, you better feel like amazing

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

when you, yeah, think about it and

[Robin Buchanan]

also store it properly, curate it. Have a nice box where you keep all of your things and you know, your kids are going to grow up, have a little box for them and going through the their stuff. I mean, I like let go of stuff that, you know, five years ago I was like, I need to keep it. So you don't always have to, you can revisit things. And sometimes you might think, oh, I really probably shouldn't Keep this. That's okay. Revisit it again later. Right.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. I think it's. I think some people are more organized with that than others. There's probably things I wish I. I had, but I've. I've done a poor job of anything like that.

[Robin Buchanan]

I mean. Yeah. I mean, I think, like, photos are the best thing. Here's the thing. My husband and I, we eloped. Nobody came. We didn't know anybody there. And we. This was in, like, 2004. We had a disposable camera. Because we couldn't find our camera, we don't have good pictures. That's, like, one of my biggest things.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

We don't either.

[Robin Buchanan]

Okay. It's nice to meet somebody else.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

We don't have hardly any, like, I. Yeah. Hardly any photos. Which. What year did you get married? I feel like it's partially because there wasn't any digital.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah, it was 2004.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Okay. Yeah. We were 07. And so there's just, like, you know, it was easier. It's easier to keep things now. Like, my sister the other day, I was like, hey, what? What? I had a random memory I wanted to ask her about, and she, like, produced the video for when she was 19. I was like, wow, that'd be crazy. Like, she was like, it was this. And I was like, of course you'd have that because you're 29 years old and you can produce a video from when you were a teenager. Like, that's gone. Like, totally gone.

[Robin Buchanan]

Oh, my gosh. Well, that's just it. So I. But, you know, again, like, the. That was the only. Yeah. I have. So, like, in my membership in January, we're doing digital and photos, and I just, like, while we were chatting, I pulled up my Apple photos, and I have, like, 21,000 photos.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Right.

[Robin Buchanan]

I know that the worst of it would be the last five years. And I actually do go through them sometimes, so I know I don't need to go all the way back to the beginning, but it's like we're at the stage now where we take photos of.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Of.

[Robin Buchanan]

Of, like, to do lists and things and, you know, with work. Yes.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

And then I don't delete those.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yes.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Like, I'm going to have that baby shower invitation in there forever.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I was telling you about.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yes. Do you ever take photos for work on your phone?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Oh, yes. And videos and ads and reels and all. Yeah. Like, things that I don't want inspo.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Well, mostly just like. Like, there's just a lot of like. Like, sponsored stuff, too, that's in my phone. And I don't. Once it's posted, I don't want it anymore, but I don't go back and do anything about it.

[Robin Buchanan]

I know. And I've. I've heard of people having, like, a second phone. I was like, see?

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

That even sounds like more work. I would just rather not be able to even ever look through my photos again than to have to deal with all that because you. We also lived. Like, it's another thing that, like, young moms don't even. They think. Like, that doesn't even sound like an option to, like, not organize your iPhone photos. That's a new problem. And that's such. In a way, like, such a bummer. Like, yes. I can't produce for you a photo of my oldest on my phone. I'd have to go, literally, get in a bin, dig through the physical photos. There's probably, like, three of them in there, which is kind of sad. But also, I still have the kid. Like, yeah. You know, but. But I. I can't. Her life is not well documented. I didn't have a phone. And so, like, yeah, there's, like, things here and there, but, like, also, it's. It's fine, you know, that. It's just. It's almost like, oh, there again. I wish that wasn't a problem we had to deal with. Is like, organizing our whole past life of the last 10 years. Like, that just seems like such an unnecessary problem that we.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, like, deep. Did. Were we meant to.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

No.

[Robin Buchanan]

God. God gave us the ability to have a memory most. And I know some people do have struggles with that. But, yeah, it's. I know. I know. That's.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

That's.

[Robin Buchanan]

But.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

But also, it's true. Like, it does trust me out a little bit when I look through my photos and I'm like, oh, I've got all this junk in here that I don't. You know, there's no need to have. But what an added problem that if you.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yes.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

And that's why it's, like, simplifying as much as we can, because, you know, we just went to look at Christmas lights in Victoria, and I took. You know, because I was putting it in a video. There's, you know, 30 clips, and I. I want to get back to putting it in my planner. Like, I should write it down right after this and just put, like, photos for Friday, because that's when I go through stuff, like, and just. And I used to do that. And. And removing all of the Things. It's, it's being diligent. Diligent and planning things.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And if that's the one that's going to fall, I'd say it's also okay if, you know, if that's the, if you can keep your physical space more tidy. Realize that it hasn't always been this way. People's lives weren't like so super documented and now moms have to stress out about making sure all of their kids have videos at every single age and birthday. Ah, I don't, Sorry, I don't have that.

[Robin Buchanan]

Well, and, but you know what? Like, they have like really like present parents and, and I think that's, that's so important. I have friends who were like, the reason I started my Instagram is so that I can save pictures. And I was like, but you have your film roll, like, or your, you know, your photos, like, I don't know. I was like, that is too much extra work for me.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, yeah. My oldest daughter makes a monthly video and so it's just like a, maybe like a 6 to 10 minute video of I just all throughout the month. Just when I think of it, take horizontal clips. I try to do like regular stuff. Like I try to, you know, you only want to do like, oh, it's a birthday or we're at this certain special place. I try to sometimes just get like regular stuff to go in there so we can just remember. But, but that to me is a little bit easier because it doesn't require like organizing it into a photo book. And if you don't have a 17 year old to do this for you, it might sound like way more stressful. Like, okay, now I gotta curate a video. Yeah.

[Robin Buchanan]

Or you have boys like me.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, that's, that's a good point.

[Robin Buchanan]

They're like, they'd be like, why

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

I could get my oldest son to do it. Honestly, I could. If it wasn't for her, I would, I would have him do it. But, but not, not my next one down. There's no way he'll ever want to do something like that. So.

[Robin Buchanan]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Okay, well, tell the listeners where to find you. As we are approaching the new year, Christmas is just right around the corner and so we're all going to be dealing with, you know, as moms, I think mostly maybe a little bit of stress from all of the added stuff that came into the house. Plus we're stuck inside because it's cold outside. We're going to need some minimal inspiration. So tell us where to find you.

[Robin Buchanan]

So you can find me on my YouTube channel, Minimalist Home. My Instagram is Robin Buchanan YT and I also have a blog, Minimalist Home CA.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Awesome. And you have some programs as well to help people stay motivated?

[Robin Buchanan]

Yes, we have a membership where we just do a challenge each month. Month. So starting in January it's digital. But then February we're doing the kitchen. This month we're doing the pantry, which is why I just had mine yesterday. So it's, it's low pressure. I like to keep it very like this is just like one weekly video and.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Yeah, yeah, awesome. All right. Well, we will leave links in the description box or the show notes below for all of that stuff so you can continue to stay motivated, inspired, get off on the right foot this new year. Thank you so much, Robin.

[Robin Buchanan]

Thank you so much for having me. Lisa.

[Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone]

Thanks as always for listening to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. My husband Luke and I and our kids work together side by side on our farm in Missouri and use our blog, podcast and YouTube channel to reach other homemakers, home cooks and homesteaders with practical recipes and daily, 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 Bit ly Farmhouses, all one word. We also teach people how to ferment vegetables and mill their own grains through our courses, fresh ferments and freshly Milled grains. We will leave links for all of these that down in the show notes below.

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