Paring Down: Realistic minimalism to live more intentionally

Have you ever considered how your home either helps you or hinders you when it comes to your goals? Is it helping you be the kind of parent you want to be, or making it harder? Is it helping you have a stronger marriage, or distracting you from your partner? Clutter can affect us in ways we may not even realize. So can our routines and boundaries. In this episode, author Laura Forbes Carlin shares her insight on this ripple effect of clutter, and offers different concepts that can help us figure out how to choose what stays and what goes (like “everything is alive”). She also shares a framework for deciding when and how to include your kids in the decluttering process. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com Paring Down Newsletter: The L.E.S.S. Express $300 off AirDoctor air purifier + free 3 year warranty ($84 value) : https://airdoctorpro.com/ & use code PARING 10 Free Meals from Hello Fresh: www.hellofresh.com/freeparing This show is brought to you by BetterHelp. Get 10% off your first month of Better Help therapy: www.betterhelp.com/paring Laura Forbes Carlin Instagram: @inspired.everyday.living Inspired Everyday Living Website: https://www.inspiredeverydayliving.com Buy Laura’s books, Decluttering for Parents or Declutter & Manifest: https://www.inspiredeverydayliving.com/books Paring Down Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram Growth Basics⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Free 15 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Somehow, inanimate objects seem to grow legs and find their way back into our homes and onto our counters. Decluttering can feel like fighting a losing battle-- barely scooping the water out of the boat before it comes rushing back in. This episode covers 5 reasons clutter might keep coming back in your home, and ways to make sure you can finally keep it out for good. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com Paring Down Newsletter The L.E.S.S. Express Paring Down YouTube Talk, Tidy, Tune 10 Free Meals from Hello Fresh: www.hellofresh.com/freeparing This show is brought to you by BetterHelp. Get 10% off your first month of Better Help therapy: www.betterhelp.com/paring Paring Down Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram Growth Basics⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Free 15 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decluttering is the first step to an organized home, but today we're diving into the organization piece of home management head first. What product should we use? Where should we start? How do we make it look pretty? Professional home organizer, Kenika Williams of Tidied by K answers all of those questions and more to set you up for success as you create a home that is functional and beautiful. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com Paring Down Newsletter The L.E.S.S. Express Join the Photo Declutter Community on Facebook (by Picta) Kenika Williams Website: https://tidiedbyk.com/ Kenika Williams Instagram: @tidiedbyk Kenika Williams Tik Tok: @tidiedbyk Pretty Good Box song by The Holderness Family Paring Down Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram Growth Basics⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Free 15 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you struggle with decluttering because it feels like watching bags of money go out the door, then this episode is for you! In it, I share not only helpful mindset shifts, but practical ways that decluttering actually helps us financially in the long run. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com Join the Photo Declutter Community on Facebook (by Picta) Paring Down Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram Growth Basics⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Free 15 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who better to help us understand how clutter affects us from a holistic perspective than public health expert, Jenny Albertini? Jenny uses easy to recognize categories (health, home and work/beyond), but pulls in the underpinning issues (structural inequities, brain based conditions, consumer culture) to help anyone looking to live a healthier, less overwhelmed life. Her experience being trained under Marie Kondo herself and spending thousands of hours helping clients organize their homes gives her a tremendous amount of insight and perspective to complement her background in public health. How does clutter affect our relationships? Our culture? Our health? And what about the other way around...how do all of those things affect our clutter? This conversation will make you feel validated in your struggle with clutter and consumerism, but inspired and challenged at the same time. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com Join the Photo Declutter Community on Facebook (by Picta) Jenny Albertini book: Decluttered: Mindful Organizing for Health, Home, and Beyond Jenny Albertini website: https://www.jennyalbertini.com/ Jenny Albertini Instagram: @declutteredbyjenny Paring Down Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram Growth Basics⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Free 15 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"What if they ask me where it is??" "I feel ungrateful." "They expect to see it displayed." These are just a few of the hard issues we dive into on today's episode, because we're talking about parting with items that were gifted to us. Decluttering gifts can be really tricky, primarily because of two emotions: Guilt - an internal experience as we wrestle with our core values (gratitude, kindness, etc.). Fear - which is formed from the external pressure we feel from another person to keep the gift...and our discomfort around their potential reaction if we don't. Today's episode is NOT an easy or straightforward topic, but I hope you find the strategies and mindsets I share useful as you declutter your home to experience a less stressful, more functional environment...all while navigating the tricky waters of relationships and personal dissonance. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com Join the Photo Declutter Community on Facebook (by Picta) Paring Down Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠⁠ $5 ⁠⁠Instagram Growth Basics⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Free 15 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are two major pieces to living a decluttered life: 1) What we get OUT 2) What we let IN On today's episode with Brad Nelson from Debt Free Dad, we talk about how to make smart choices with our money that not only decrease financial stress, but help us stay mindful about what we let IN during our decluttering journey. Brad also shares ways we can make money while decluttering as a tool for getting out of debt or creating a rainy day savings account. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com Debt Free Dad website: debtfreedad.com Debt Free Dad Podcast Brad Nelson Instagram: @debtfreedad Paring Down Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Instagram Growth Basics ⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠ Free 15 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas ⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

STOP, book lovers! Don't scoff and say "No way am I listening to this episode because books are something I'll never declutter!" I mean, you can absolutely say that and we can still be friends and it's all good. However, I think this episode will surprise you! I'm a huge book lover myself, so I want to 100% validate readers by recognizing exactly why it's so hard to declutter our precious books. I offer 5 top reasons we want to hold onto them, then ONLY once those reasons are fully understood and accepted do we dive into mindset shifts or new perspectives that may help you lighten your load in a way that heightens your love for books rather than diminishes it in any way. My book: ⁠You're Completely Normal⁠ My newsletter: ⁠The L.E.S.S. Express⁠ Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠ Instagram Growth Basics --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one wants to end up on their death bed and say, "I wish I hadn't spent so much time on my phone." Founder of FreeWyld vacation cabins, Eric Moeller helps shed light on the importance of unplugging in a practical (not unrealistic) way. His 6 steps for entering into what he calls "Wyld Mode" help us break out of our screens and embrace experiences with our loved ones that truly feed our souls and help us live the life we know we want to live. In this episode, we also talk about finding purpose in what we do with our time, alongside the benefits of spending unplugged time building healthy relationships. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@paring_down⁠⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠⁠theexpertbeginner.com⁠⁠ FreeWyld Website: ⁠www.freewyld.com⁠ FreeWyld Instagram: ⁠@stayfreewyld⁠ Eric Moeller Instagram: ⁠@ericdmoeller⁠ Paring Down Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram Growth Basics --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask and you shall receive! When I polled the audience a few weeks ago about areas you'd like to declutter, lots of you said that your garage or your basement were hanging over your heads. Sometimes these huge projects can feel impossible, so we never start them out of a state of overwhelmed paralyzation. I hope today's episode gives you the encouragement to start on your own garage, basement, or doom room - to hear how my husband and I tackled ours, and to know that it CAN be done! You CAN do it! Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠ Instagram Growth Basics --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paring down what's important in our life sounds nice and all, but HOW? So often, pretty much everything feels important. We'd love to say that not everything is a priority, but most of the time it can feel anxiety-provoking to not *do it all.* Business owner (x5) Ashli Pollard is at the top of her field - her agency working with celebs from Brooke Shields to Bethenny Frankel - and reaching thousands of entrepreneurs with her podcast, The Unfiltered Entrepreneur, and her online membership, The Doers. If anyone knows about determining priorities, it's Ashli. She offers practical approaches we can take to figuring out what needs our attention NOW, and what can wait - both in our work and in our personal life. Plus she's been one of my favorite humans and friends for 12 years. It's a fun episode - we both love to laugh, and hope you do too! Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Ashli Pollard Instagram: @ashli_p Ashli's podcast, The Unfiltered Entrepreneur Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you have an area of your house that can't seem to stay decluttered or organized no matter what you do? Same. Today I walk you through the four biggest clutter problem areas in my own home, and hope that you find inspiration as I brainstorm how to keep the clutter at bay! Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most efficient ways to simplify your life so your life becomes exponentially easier is to implement household rhythms. Each new rhythm (i.e. routine, habit, etc,) takes away the mental load of problem-solving and decision fatigue. When you don't have to think through what to do, you're left with way more brain space and a lot less stress. Ben and Brianna Folkman of Folklife Rhythms have spent years learning best practices for implementing their "flexible frameworks" in order to create a more peaceful home - even during the chaotic years of little kids. They walk us through their understanding of how rhythms create security in our relationships (for our kids, too!), as well as their Parenting and Teamwork Series that sets couples up for success as they navigate life as a unit. Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Newsletter: The L.E.S.S. Express Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com⁠ Ben & Brianna Instagram: ⁠@bribenfolklife⁠ Ben & Brianna Website: ⁠folkliferhythms.com⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode doesn't list things to avoid temptation, like unfollow influencers or take the Amazon Prime app off your phone - though those are great ways to save money! Instead, we're talking about actionable steps that will save you money - from small choices to big life decisions. Why should we bother paring down our spending? Does spending less and saving more truly matter? Don't worry, we'll cover that, too! Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠@paring_down⁠ Paring Down Website: ⁠theexpertbeginner.com⁠ Print photos: printique.com Gen Z vs. Millennial Blog Post ⁠⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you know an idea is true? That's a pretty big question, but I've found that the best way to know if an idea is worth exploring is to find out how long it's been around. Because, as Mark Twain famously said, "There's no such thing as a new idea." Sage wisdom usually comes in the form of a repetitive idea that respected spiritual and thought leaders have landed on independently over hundreds - even thousands - of years. Today on the podcast, we welcome Suzanne Johnson, whose book Vital Simplicity pulls on the work of Charles Wagner - who authored The Simple Life in 1895. Living simply as a means to internal fulfillment is a timeless truth - a conclusion that dates back as far as 600 BCE. If that's not motivation to at least explore the principle of living with less...I don't know what is! Paring Down Podcast Instagram: ⁠@paring_down Paring Down Website: theexpertbeginner.com ⁠⁠Free Know Your Why Worksheet ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Free Baby Essentials List⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Complete Guide to Decluttering Kid Stuff⁠⁠ Suzanne Johnson Website: suzannesjohnson.com Suzanne Johnson Blog: avitalsimplicity.com Blocks  by Suzanne Johnson Child plays  Hour after hour  Stacking blocks  Knocking down  Holding wooden  Cubes in his  Tender hands  He is  Entertained  Leave the  Floor bare  Except for  These sturdy  Pieces  He finds his  Way  His interest is  Held  Add Legos  To the mix  And coloring  Books  Trains and trucks  And why not  Screens?  He soon becomes  Bored Let his  Amusement  Be in the  Simple things  Let his  Vision sharpen on  One thing at a  Time  Cut through the  Clutter  And find  Joy  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paringdown/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices