Ep. 390 | Organized Home

foreign welcome to the minimalist podcast where we discuss what it means to live a meaningful life with less my name is Joshua Phillips Milburn and I'm Ryan Nicodemus and together we're the minimalists we're here with malabama hi everybody TK Coleman beautiful day it is oh we got the rest of our team here and a very special guest she'll be joining us in a moment coming up today on this free public minimal episode we're talking to a listener about avoiding clutter to create an organized home then our lightning round segment we've got a question about home storage a live stream question and a listener tip for you you can check out the full two hour maximal edition of episode 390 where we answer five times the questions and we dive deep into several simple living segments that private podcast episode is out right now at patreon.com the minimalists your support keeps our podcast and YouTube Channel 100 advertisement free because advertisements suck let's start with our callers y'all if you have a question or comment for our show give us a call 406-219-7839 or email a beautiful voice recording straight from your phone to podcast at the minimalists.com our first question today is from Trinity I'm Trinity from Eugene Oregon I've noticed when trying to style my space I start feeling like I need to acquire decor and pieces that show that style but then things start to feel cluttered is there a way to style my home without adding more possessions joining us in the studio today to help us tackle this question is Kristen Ziegler from Minima online Kristen is a professional organizer and she understands better than anyone the best way to organize your stuff is to get rid of most of it Kristen thank you so much for joining us today happy to be here oh so let's talk to Trinity specifically quite often when we get a space what do we feel compelled to do we feel compelled to fill it with stuff and especially stuff that shows my personality right and now you work with a lot of clients on their homes and I know people want to communicate their personality but one of the worst ways to do that is by acquiring a bunch of things how would you talk to Trinity if she came to you and your business and said hey I really need help with all of this clutter that I'm beginning to form in my life yeah so I feel like authentic style can't be contrived so um I would just focus on identifying the things that are either useful or beautiful and I would even go so far as to say necessary so my um my best solution is merge Form and Function even the necessary things are a chance for you to show your I would say preferences and priorities is a better word than style because I think that um that gets at the authenticity of who you are as a person which can't be contrived versus style to me is more of a surface level thing yeah so when I think about my home or I think about someone else's home quite often it tells me about who they are if there's a bunch of excess and what I often tell people is when in doubt subtract yes it's not about adding more because like oh you know it feels a little bit like me but it's a little bit chaotic maybe if I add just a little bit more a little here a little there and before you know it you have all of this excess yeah there isn't a whole lot of function there's a lot of form yeah and it just starts getting in the way yeah so I feel like um organization without minimizing is like form without function and I I've been reading this book called subtract by lady klotz have you heard of it yes yeah I figured um and I think there's such a missed opportunity through subtraction in between problem solving I think instinctually like biologically we go to adding even I like we just moved in September and I even catch myself doing it that space feels off I need to add a picture I need to add a vase I need to add a thing and every single time this requires the approach of subtraction requires a lot more time in patience but I always tell my clients there's no rush it took me seven years to get our last house exactly how I wanted it and that's and then I moved time for a new project that's another conversation so let me ask you with respect to someone like like Trinity if he does feel like oh this space feels a little empty now obviously Trinity you are complete even in an empty room absolutely but if you walk into a room and you're like oh there's something off about this it does feel empty yeah what kind of questions do you ask uh so my architect brain wants to say like how can you possibly rearrange or reimagine the things that are already in the space usually I'll go big when something feels off in a space like completely change it up and play and really let go of my attachments to the way it is and usually the end result that feels balanced is really similar to where I started but there's a few subtle tweaks that I discovered which I couldn't have if I hadn't let go let let go and explore it a little bit more yeah I don't know how interior designers like plan the whole Space out and then do I feel like there's so much magic in the in the doing like the design build approach I love your observation that authentic style can't be contrived and I was going to ask you well can you say more about that and then you followed it up with saying focus more on what you prefer yeah rather than on what seems stylish and it sounds like you're saying hey what feels good what functions well rather than what you think is going to look cool to someone else because you can't control it you can't control that yeah not at all yeah it's really nice I'm I am not an interior designer but like I'm thinking about how I would approach the situation I mean obviously Trinity likes some stuff you know it's some decorations um you can't have all the decorations as Trinity pointed out because then you feel overwhelmed would it be a good approach like I don't know maybe set a boundary of like uh a couple things and like see how those two things look in that room or even like maybe start with nothing just start with like a wall can you do an accent wall like paint it or wallpaper it or something I don't know I'm just trying to think of what they did back in the 90s when I worked for my dad my dad's painting and wallpaper business yeah it seems like you could add some things more intentionally rather than trying to put all the things in there and yeah and I think that goes back to the process of simplifying is identifying the things that really spark a feeling for you or add value to your life and working with those things um but yeah I always like to bring plants into a space like natural elements yeah um I think you can have too many plants though but it yeah yeah definitely what I've noticed with the spaces your own space tends to be more minimal than maybe a lot of the people you work with then all of the people I work with yeah and it could be that they don't have an aspiration necessarily to get down to the more Stark level right um and that's okay I mean uh later in this episode in fact uh Trinity I'd love to send you if you're not a patreon supporter every week on Fridays we do a minimalist home tour and this week we are actually going to do we're gonna take a look at my living space and it's really Stark it's even more Stark than yours but I don't prescribe that to anyone and what I love about what you do is you're not prescribing that either this is what's ideal for me and it is one recipe it's a template.com which you can add you can subtract and uh when you work with people you don't say well you need to get down to this particular level absolutely not so my company's name Minima is actually a calculus term I'm a huge math nerd and but I also love Arts that's why I studied architecture but Minima is the lowest value on a function curve and so I always say I want to help our clients get to their Minima and that's different for everyone I'm all the way down I feel like you know and you're all the way like at the bottom of the curve but not everybody wants to be there and I feel like even if I can impart a little bit of minimalist wisdom I've done my job I'm not going to say well you have failed and I fire you as a client because you kept too much stuff I mean that that's not helpful so yeah yeah well you know it reminds me of those articles about CEOs who read one book A Week the lesson to be taken from that isn't to stress yourself out about reading as much as the CEOs but like hey maybe I could read more yeah I'm inspired by this I want to you know take a little bit from that and see how it can improve my life so one question for you so let's say with Trinity's situation maybe she has a chair or a picture some cherished piece of furniture that really worked for the old place she gets into the new place and what if it just doesn't fit with the style of what she wants to do does she has to have to get rid of it or what do you do um I would give it some time but I personally I am very adaptive to the space that I live in I think a lot of people have this idea about forcing uh their needs or their you know specific Vision onto a space I think the best um result is when we look at our space and think about a harmonious relationship like oh this space has these beautiful windows I don't want to block it crowded out with a bunch of clutter just kind of leaning in asking the space What It Wants to be um does this space uh serve your purpose with that chair in it or not um that's only something that she can figure out it's interesting like I don't really crave to put anything on the walls or and my wife is the same exact way but it's funny like we'll get these things in our lives like uh her dad is an artist and he gave us like a couple of nice paintings of Montana um Josh gave us an awesome picture of me and Mariah from 10 years ago we're so old dude anyway um it was a beautiful picture beautifully framed um I had a friend who I did that sent me a painting but like I get these things and I'm like oh wow like I'm compelled to put this on the wall and find a spot for it so then I kind of make it work with the room we have a lot of plants in there yeah um but yeah I wish I had that that vision of what I wanted to do with my space it's more like kind of people will offer me something and I'm like oh yeah I could totally see that like going up on the wall that's beautiful or no thanks um thanks for the offer though yeah and so when someone like Ryan comes to you Chris and they're like I just don't have the vision for this I know I really appreciate what you how you've curated your space and well I may not be that strict with my own space I'm not able to curate my own Vision how I even want this place to look I've got certain things things that I like things that I've owned for a while and some things may work in the space some some things not what's your process of sort of going through the home yeah um so so like Jen you know it's something you can always do from the outset it requires a little bit of Discovery and play and and you know maybe putting that picture that was gifted up on the wall and then deciding that doesn't feel right and what feels right to you might not feel right to someone else but it only really matters if it feels right to you I think just experimenting and playing and not being afraid to put holes in the wall it's just paint yeah um yeah and just just doing it yeah yeah I think the experimentation piece is really important here because as soon as you set it it's not set forever it's not there Nothing in life is right right and so you got to us uh you you got to a end point with your space where you felt like it you had perfected it where it was done your space was done and then you decide well it's time to move and the things that worked in that previous space unless your new space looks nearly identical nothing like it yeah and so they may not work yeah and so being willing to let go of those things we hold on to from the past and they may have a sort of sentimental resonance with us and so we hold on to them even though they don't work anymore they've ceased to add value in fact quite often what happens when we hold on and it's getting in the way it actually drains the value from our life yeah yeah absolutely so um I also yeah I think it's really important to be able to let go of things during a move or as your life changes um sometimes a fresh set of eyes too can kind of come in if you're not sure you could ask for feedback take it or leave it you know it's your space um I also look for pieces uh that are flexible so I invested in this hay sofa that I love and I was really hoping it was going to fit into the new house and the good news is that it did but I was ready to sell it if it didn't but it's modular so I could take a piece out of the middle and it could get smaller if it needed to so things that are flexible that are not so specific to a space especially if it's more of an investment yeah they're good things to look for yeah I always call Josh I'll just send him a picture be like hey does this look all right there's my outfit or like something I'm hanging on the wall or yeah like can we do this for minimal home tour is this a good picture uh next week by the way I've seen some beautiful pictures of your previous home I'd love to feature that uh for our patrons as well so every week we do this this weekly minimalist home tour our patrons will send in things in fact last week we had the most beautiful kitchen I've ever seen was it I think it was in Estonia it's pretty gorgeous it was amazing but the art was the view from the kitchen I mean it was like as soon as you saw out the window and uh for someone like Ryan who doesn't want to put a bunch of things on the wall or someone like me or my wife Bex we don't put anything on the walls generally and and I I think that's that allows us to keep it simple because we feel compelled to constantly as soon as you have a blank wall I should fill this with something but then when I see a space like your space there's plenty of blank walls and it doesn't look empty it looks calm it looks peaceful it looks stunning thank you and when I see someone's home with a whole bunch of things on the wall it can be intentional it can be well curated but more off than not it's just like hey I need to throw something up here yeah and then it just becomes clutter it's not intentional um so I feel like so I identify as very visually sensitive I'm sure some some of y'all here do as well yeah we heard of highly sensitive yeah my wife's a highly sensitive person so is my daughter so am I yeah um and it manifests itself largely in the visual sense so I have an uncle who I wrote about in your class actually okay who's a total maximalist and I can appreciate his space because that's what works for him that's the amount of things that feel right for his sensitivity but for me I couldn't live that way because it would stress me out but that's literally just how I'm like my physio physiology yeah I think about my mom she was a maximalist but she had a great style yeah uh I think people like Axel vavort who's a great interior designer and but he's a he really appreciates objects more than I do there's a lot of form there and it may not have a particular function but they have an aesthetic value and a beauty to him that it's really hard to pull off if you're just willy-nilly grabbing random some objects yeah you could tell he's not doing it there's something intentional behind it my mom did the same thing she had a lot of stuff but it was intentional and I applaud that if you're being intentional with very few things or you're being intentional with a lot of things it's not going to stress you out because you are constantly questioning the objects in your home yeah and I think it's actually more of a challenge to create Beauty with less but I love the challenge um I think it's easier to make a space Feel Complete by adding but I thrive from from asking myself how few things can I have because for me it's less to maintain it's less money to spend less decisions decision fatigue is real that's part of minimalism for me um yeah so I think that you know again going back to the beginning of our conversation our home is a manifestation of our inner world and it can be beautifully curated in a maximalist way or minimalist way or somewhere in between but yeah for me I've learned that um the maximalist would stress me out you often tell me yeah you often help people unpack their homes as well I assume that's during a move yep where someone's moving and it's like I don't even know what to do with all this stuff yeah now when you're unpacking do you quite often get rid of most of the things that are being unpacked I don't know about most I think the percentage probably varies client to client but it's such a great opportunity you have to touch the thing anyway like let's decide if it's gonna go in your cabinet or closet or out the door with us yes so yeah and it's not about you getting rid of their stuff it's about them making that decision yeah and maybe you can ask the questions that facilitate that's just it yeah the letting go so so much of our work is just asking the right questions we can't tell someone what's right or wrong for them we can just find the right questions to ask do you have some of your favorite questions you see come up again and again with clients oh yeah so um I have a whole list and a blog post um I think do you love this thing are you keeping it because you should keep it do you have another thing that could serve the same purpose um yeah like with it depends on the category too like with clothing does it fit do you love it does it suit your current lifestyle or is it part of like some past corporate career that you're not in anymore um yeah just also like asking the space what does it want to be and respecting the boundaries of that space like okay we've minimized based on these factors but it doesn't fit so we need to do another pass so that you can live comfortably here yeah I love that because yeah everyone has different preferences in fact some people because of the Paradox of choice they want a list of all the things they should have yeah and asking those questions it's you're really helping that person discover their own preferences yeah absolutely it's such a huge Discovery process I have a client who started working with us to declutter her home and um she did that and then a couple she's become a good friend and a couple years later she called me up and she's like um our work together has finally inspired me to get my finances in order because I had that Clarity and then a couple years later she said I'm finally getting my health in order and I've I've created a capsule wardrobe because everything's in flux so I need it to be really simple and I was like that's amazing just the way that it has a ripple effect and yeah that's cool that willingness to let go when repeated it becomes habitual not that you should make it a habit but if you let go you let go you keep asking those questions I remember when I first started letting go I asked the same question over and over with every object until it became a feeling not just an intellectual exercise exactly and that question was does this thing add value to my life and I asked that does this thing add value to my life does this thing add value to my life does this thing add and the more I ask it I could just start to look at an object and know like no yeah that's access yeah same Trinity thank you so much for your question Ryan what's up what time is it you know what time it is it's time for the lightning round where we answer your questions from Tick Tock yes indeed you can follow the minimalist on Tick Tock Instagram Facebook and Twitter at the minimalists now during the lightning round we each have 60 seconds to answer your question with a short shareable less than 140 character response we put the text to these minimal maxims in the show notes over at the minimalists.com podcast so you can copy and share our pithy answers on social media if you'd like we have a question right now from Michael there are so many container options plastic totes canvas containers bankers boxes and so on when keeping things organized how do you decide on the best container for the job Kristen I'm going to set you up here give me 60 seconds Professor Sean and I'll set you up for this lightning round you don't have to be super pithy but just something within 60 seconds here for Michael Michael the best way to organize your stuff to get rid of most of it you got a lot of things in your home in your basement in your garage in your attic in your kitchen in your cabinets in your closets in Your Entertainment console you've got a lot of stuff instead of simply trying to organize it with more plastic totes more canvas containers more bankers boxes and printer paper boxes consider getting rid of most of it and then when you finally reach that end point what do you have you have a few things the might might require a plastic tote or might require some sort of canvas box to put it in but you're going to need far fewer things to organize if you have far fewer things to organize all right so to play off of that um go for it to follow up from that I would say when you have done that you get to spend a little bit more time thinking about what containers are going to work best for you and what I would suggest is thinking about how is this solution going to still serve me and my space five or ten years from now so I look for things when I need a container that are modular and versatile and interchangeable so my personal favorite is from Muji which is a Japanese brand and I have the same containers in the kitchen in the home office closet in the linen closet and as our needs inevitably change we can take a container from one space and swap it out in another and we don't have to keep buying and things don't fall apart and become disorganized again what I love about that is it's really simple and the containers you're using they're not going to be super bright colors not there's anything wrong with that but having this Baseline for organization so that you're not constantly having to update yeah five ten years from now these will still likely work for me and if they don't work then of course you can let the containers go as well yeah let's get 60 seconds on the clock for Ryan Nicodemus let's do it TK no one wins with storage bins let me let me expound a little bit when it comes to storage bins if a professional organizer shows up the very first day with storage bins what is that going to do for that for that client it's going to give them permission to hold on to more right away they're like oh there's some more stuff to hold on to so no one wins with storage bins also means no one really wants to have storage bins who is like oh I'm so glad I bought these storage bins they look so awesome we can get them to look as pretty as possible and there are some really well designed ones out there but no one feels good about the storage bins that they own that's so spot on because here's the thing you would rather a hundred percent of the time not need the storage bins and you're right if you need the thing that's in the storage bins you would prefer for just materialized when you needed it and then you didn't have to put it away or store it but it is true sometimes we have to store some things but if you show up first with a pile of storage bins you're going to store way too many things ladies and gentlemen TK Coleman with 60 seconds on the clock hahaha the best option is the one that sets you free what's the definition of having options it means there are more possibilities on the table than what you are capable of taking advantage of so how do you downsize that sense of overwhelm that comes from having so many opportunities before you you simply choose Freedom it's like I tell my students when they say hey TK what's the best book to buy the one you'll actually read if you buy the books that you think will make you look smart they won't do you any good if they remain on the Shelf in the same way if you exercise the options that make you look good it's not going to do anything for you if those options aren't actually used and if they aren't leveraged in order to make you free oh spot on man because what's going to happen is I can go to Walmart or The Container Store or wherever and we just had a whole conversation on the private podcast about storage bins and and excess stuff going in these bins I'm giving myself not just permission to hide the excess I have now but to accumulate even more excess because at least it's well organized excess but well organized access is still excessive we're gonna check in with the patreon live stream in a moment in Alabama but first real quick for right here right now here's one thing that's going on in the life of the minimalists well it's a brand new month this episode comes out on the first of the month and guess what that means it's a new opportunity to play the 30-day minimalism game a lot of people feel overwhelmed they don't know where to start when they start to let go they look around their home and they say I've got 300 000 items in here I'm just gonna throw my hands up I don't know what to do well if you're anything like me decluttering is kind of boring I I don't like decluttering but it's essential for many of us to get the access out of the way so we found a way to make it a bit more fun with some friendly competition and the way the 30-day minimalism game works you can find all the details that the minimalists.com game it's completely free to play we don't want anything from you for that you can download our free minimalism game calendar there as well but you partner up with a friend a family member A co-worker at the beginning of the month and you said the first day of the month we're just gonna get rid of one item starts off really easy anyone can pick just one item you can pick Ryan usually just picks one paper clip secondary months two paper clips and by the end of the month I've gotten rid of almost 500 paper clips the sad part is on the 31st of each month he goes buys more paper clips hey about the game is you get the the rules whoever goes the longest throughout the month wins so first day of the month you I'm gonna get rid of this shirt second day of the month I'm gonna get rid of this pair of pants and wait actually let me get a pair of these shoes I think that counts as two things one shoe two shoe okay great however you want to count it go for it it starts to get Difficult by the middle of the month because day 13 you're like I have to get rid of 13 things a day and 14 things tomorrow what am I going to get rid of whoever goes the longest wins so you bet whatever you wanted the beginning of the month and if you both make it to the end of the month then you've both won because as Ryan just said you've gotten rid of about 500 items and that's a really great place to get started if you want to download the free minimalism game calendar it's over at the minimalists.com game we'll put a link to that in the show notes as well Alabama let's check in with the patreon live stream any comments for us we have a comment here from Crystal she says the Richmond Meetup Group sends our love to KZ so back in uh 2014 we went to a hundred different cities left behind a hundred free local meetup groups over at minimalist.org and that's what she's referencing there so if you want to find open-minded people who are also decluttering their lives in different ways whether it's decluttering their home decluttering their finances decluttering their relationships minimalist.org is a great place to find and connect with people locally we'll check back in with the live stream here in a bit from Alabama first what else you got for us here's a minimalist Insight from one of our listeners my name is Chris Urban and I'm a computer tech calling just great for some I personally dislike cloud storage because I never want to risk my personal privacy if there was a security issue with the cloud service I'll be facing sorting my own digital files this month and we'll be doing it with two hard drives which will be the same model of ties and will be in raid one without going into too much detail raid one is a way to set up hard drives to be mere images of each other every time a file is added to one it goes to the other also it appears as a one drive in the operating system if one drug fails the other will still have the data it's a great way to back up important data and avoid the cloud I realize this sounds very complicated but it really isn't search online for how to set up raid 1 and I am sure you'll find plenty of guides all right y'all that's our minimal episode for today we'll see you on patreon for the full two hour maximal edition of episode 390 which includes answers to a bunch more questions like how would you recommend storing small kitchen gadgets and appliances how can I organize my home workspace when I have to share the room with the rest of my family I heard you guys discuss contaminants in your tap water how do you filter your water plus a million more questions for Kristen and the minimalists also this week a private tour of my Stark but peaceful 250 square foot living space and much much more of less and if you want to hear all that check out the minimalist private podcast at patreon.com the minimalist or click the link in the description to subscribe and get your personal link so that our weekly maximal episodes play in your favorite podcast app you also gain immediate access to all of our podcast archives all the way back to episode zero zero one and if you're still on the fence here's a testimonial from one of our lovely patreon supporters Jessica says hey I've been following you guys for a while I knew someone was following us Ryan I thought you're just being paranoid she says I've been following you guys for a while but I am a new patreon subscriber your private podcast is as refreshing as a cold drink in the heat thank you for bringing meaning into my life not just through your minimalist lifestyle but through your wisdom and thought-provoking private conversations wow Jessica big thanks to you also big thanks to Kristen Ziegler from minimaonline.com ladies and gentlemen Kristen Ziegler yeah I shot just one message please let it be this love people and use things because the opposite never works thanks for listening y'all we'll see you next time peace every little thing you think that you need every little thing you think that you need every little thing that's just feeding your greed oh I bet that you'll be fine without it

Channel: The Minimalists Podcast (Old Episodes)

Views: 79,901

Keywords: the minimalists, the minimalists podcast, podcast, minimalists, minimalism, minimal, less, Ryan Nicodemus, Joshua Fields Millburn, JFM, stuff, clutter, declutter

Id: ANtBCrez_JQ

Length: 30min 40sec (1840 seconds)

Published: Mon May 01 2023