Mitchell
Back at it in the saddle for episode twenty-five.
Yeah. Louder spill a little tea. I don’t know. You don’t need to make everyone sit through this song every time unless you really enjoy it.
Barely begin.
Okay.

Scarlet
And barely end.

Mitchell
Doing the most. Yeah. A cue fade the music, which happens on its own, but Our little boy actually loves singing that song.

Scarlet
I know.

Mitchell
Welcome to episode twenty-five, Scarlet. I’m Mitchell.

Scarlet
I’m Scarlet.

Mitchell
Yeah.

Scarlet
Wait, what?

Mitchell
I don’t know. And I’m not telling people what this podcast is about because Thank you. Let’s just get right into it.

Scarlet
What’s the timer about it?

Mitchell
Oh, so this is this little timer I’ve run. You can’t see well, I mean uh if you watch on YouTube, I’m tired of pimping YouTube. Nobody watches on YouTube.

Scarlet
Wait, somebody was like I don’t know. Somebody said they feel like somebody said they watched it on YouTube. I’m sorry if I forgot you, somebody. Um That’s what some people do.

Mitchell
Now I gotta undo my uh my iPad.

Scarlet
Um Listen, we’re not doing this for the fame or fortune.

Mitchell
We’re doing it for the we’re doing the most. Actually, so this is kind of okay, so there’s some thematic things going on We have been on this for over a year now, just barely, hitting over one year doing this podcast of doing the most. And oh, so what’s the timer for? I’m sorry, I was showing her with the timer and then I got sidetracked with YouTube. This is actually Funny enough, I got this timer uh a year or plus ago.

Scarlet
Yeah, the body timer.

Mitchell
Well, yeah, and then I was I kind of use it personally though as a as a I as uh we’ll call it a ADHD timer even though I don’t have ADHD. I use it when I’m home alone. I set timers all the time for like, okay, I give myself I allot myself so many minutes to do something. So I stay off focused on track. So I that’s why I have this timer. It’s a nice handy little timer. It’s magnetic. You can stick it on things. So I put a little timer because I thought we it’s it well, I’m doing a little timer to see if we can do a little less show. Doing the most or doing the least, I don’t know, or doing less. Which is part of the thematic component of this show, which uh is Um, I don’t know why I’m looking at my computer screen. It is this. Oh, by the way, so uh YouTube, if someone wants to watch it is, you just go to youtube. com slash at Less cats please. And that’s that gets you right to the channel. So you can see the whatever. And sometimes do this. That we have a YouTube channel or probably do we have like a link tree?

Scarlet
Maybe we should start a link tree.

Mitchell
I single handedly do everything except for where you come in and talk. And then you know Well So th and even then I feel like I do all the talking. Which is fine. Well now you’re just smirking. So Do it so ruh, we’ve been there’s when you look over the past year, what are the s well I mean to you, I’m just catching you. By the way, this is Raw Dog people. We don’t um we don’t really sometimes we talk about stuff we’re gonna talk about. Sometimes we don’t. We don’t really like whatever. And you don’t know what I’m gonna ask you, but I’m saying over the past year, what thematically, if you just look at the podcast, what topics have we kind of covered or what themes not topics what themes have kind of recurred not too much on the spot

Scarlet
Hmm. Parenting.

Mitchell
Parenting. Okay. Work.

Scarlet
Work.

Mitchell
Yeah, we sometimes talk about which by the way, the little teaser for the next episode is gonna have a one of the things in the next episode is called Pillow Talk. One of the topics.

Scarlet
Oh, I thought we were doing that on this one.

Mitchell
No, because I lack some of the I lack some material that I need for pillow talk. Oh no, is that ruin? Does that ruin your whole That’s okay. There’s look, we got a timer going. We are under a crunch right now, folks. Play well now I feel bad that I didn’t I just don’t know what I’m gonna talk about now. That’s okay pillow talk is gonna be because I need a picture for pillow talk to work. Anyways, because that that doesn’t matter. That’s part of the whole pillow talk. Okay folks, now spoiler alert is out.

Scarlet
That’s fine. I got another story.

Mitchell
Okay. So what I’m getting at is uh work and then the other thing is well I find that one of the themes is Trying to minimize. Okay. Oh min yes. Minimizing things. Getting rid of stuff. Or the thing is.

Scarlet
That is a recurring theme.

Mitchell
That never gets taken care of.

Scarlet
And we are making some progress.

Mitchell
Why do you say that?

Scarlet
Oh, because we took your computers back at the Apple store to be recycled. Um we have had we have made two or three trips to the Goodwill drop off center. Does it feel like we’re making progress? No.

Mitchell
No, because I noticed there’s new artwork, new mirror, some things appearing in there.

Scarlet
But those give me joy,

Mitchell
Fair enough. Which is okay, so part of my I don’t have enough room on this side of my table here. Part of so w with that, so kind of minimalization, the minimalist versus kind of doing the most, which is kind of what I feel like we’re doing. I feel like and I don’t mean we have well we, yes, you and I, I feel like a lot of America is doing the most.

Scarlet
Here’s the thing. And I talk about this with My friend Megan at work all the time and we talk about this all the time. But what is like our most precious commodity that it just feels like we don’t have enough of?

Mitchell
Time.

Scarlet
Yeah.

Mitchell
Period

Scarlet
Yeah.

Mitchell
Which is why even today.

Scarlet
Like we like as soon as we drop our kid off at daycare, there’s a timer going. And it’s not like, oh we have to pick our kid up before we know it. It’s not like that. There’s just things that we can get done while he’s at school that are like way easier than like when he’s here.

Mitchell
Right.

Scarlet
And then on family day, like yesterday, we focus on him.

Mitchell
Right.

Scarlet
And family and we kinda put those things aside. So Yeah.

Mitchell
So it’s true. And like you said, well so time, which is what I often complain about, but really is, it’s like, I don’t dislike my job Well, okay. I mean depends on what day you ask me, but what I dislike is it takes time from me. And I know that’s I know that’s the definition of a job. is you go and you exchange your time for money and and you do some sort of work for that exchange. But I hate that part of it because As I’m getting older, I just want more time to pursue things that are really meaningful. And on a quick side little note, I have kind of complained about how my job doesn’t provide some of the things my current role that I used to enjoy maybe in the emergency department, which was more of the teamwork working i the entire team, the interdisciplinary medical team, you know I don’t get that as much. Because I was, you know, like when I was in the emergency department sitting next to a doctor. Hey, what do you think? Oh, I don’t know. I I looked at this lab, maybe this, and the doc goes, I like that idea. Let’s try it Or the social worker or the psychiatric behavior health person like the mental health person. All in the ED, you’re just all right there and you’re working together. Pharmacists right there, like physically everyone We need to get back to that. We need to get you back to that. But we’re not here to talk about my job, likes or dislikes.

Scarlet
I okay I’m going through a spiritual awakening, everybody. So you just start looking at life so differently. It’s almost like Yeah, there’s time, but then there’s just like the importance of everything else. And your job all of a sudden becomes so meaningless and just kind of it makes you almost angry that you have to devote so much time to this only to live.

Mitchell
Right.

Scarlet
Um, but I’m I mean, I don’t feel like that. I’m actually really lucky because I love what I do. I love being an ICU nurse. I love taking care of patients, I feel like I that, you know, I found my way into this career and, you know, it was kind of a crooked path, but we got there. Right. Um But I you know, not knocking anybody who has a desk job or whatever. I you know, everybody finds joy and everybody has their you know, place or whatever, but I I just I don’t know you know, what I would do if I was, you know, at one of my older jobs where it was just, you know, sifting through papers. putting together binders for other people. Right. I would be like, oh my gosh, this is I’m like doing work for other people for right, you know, ’cause I was working for the state government at the time for who I’m like, and these people are servicing terrible people. Like, you know, I would be so much more resentful if I hadn’t found my way into this career. But um So I guess I’m grateful for that in a way that so when I am at work it doesn’t feel so Yeah, I don’t feel so resentful as you do. Right. Which understandably. Because when you you don’t have that. Um I do true I do believe that you are a caregiver I do believe that you are in the right profession. I just don’t think you’re in the right role right now.

Mitchell
The wrong unit.

Scarlet
Yeah.

Mitchell
Uh fair enough. I might I would agree with that. I just and and I’m not knocking the unit I work on. It’s just the fit for me is not the best. And I, you know, I have friends and I I get good feedback from patients and patient family. Like, and that’s good. And that we talked about that once, like, do I need this? Do I need validation? Do I need someone to say oh thank you? And it’s like, well, yeah, I think so. I think and sometimes when people don’t even have to say something, you get it from how they are, right? And So that’s it’s not like I need someone to give me a big gold star and be like, hey, wonderful job. But Uh there are those times too when you’re at work and maybe you don’t see as much of my I do on mine, where I work, and some people will get all these kudos and this and that from management. Great for them. And you’re sitting there going like I work with this person. This is not Their view is not the same as my view. I mean, because I sure people would say this is the same thing.

Scarlet
They’re like, man, this person needs like a little bit of a boost.

Mitchell
Right. So And maybe that’s the role they’re trying to fulfill because they might be going, Oh, Mitchell seems to be doing quite okay. He’s over there in his own world Making people laugh, doing who knows what with posters on the walls and whatever, right? So I’m that you know it’s like that’s a tricky rope. So Back to though we were talking about time. And I agree, that’s kind of funny, because I was thinking the other day, I was like, okay, about stuff and time. I thought, boy, what could what would I Like what would I distill everything down to? What would be my and I don’t even want to say prized possessions because that’s almost gr gross to say that in a weird way to me. It’s like Oh, to even have something that is so prized as a possession. So I don’t want to use that term, but I was like, what could I live or not live without? Like what what is it in the end of time when I’m done because we you know life is totally temporary. We talk about this too sometimes you and I it’s like it is there’s you know at the end of the day uh you know, you said getting joy out of certain things, right? Or getting uh intentional living as the and that’s where I’m trying to get to the minimalist, which you remember we watched the show. If you’re not familiar with the minimalist It’s uh I should know the guy’s names like Josh Milburn and uh oh shoot. I should know better. Anyways, the minimalists have like a a deal like um I mean I have a thing right Joshua Fields Milburn, right?

Scarlet
And then he has Brian Nicodemus.

Mitchell
Yeah, Nicodemus. And then there’s a third guy, TJ, who’s on like their podcast. Nonetheless. And if you’re not familiar with them, check it out. It’s and it’s similar to similar not the same, but like Marie Kondo. It’s kind of the idea of like Living an intentional life and we we have mentioned this before, right? But that idea of like, boy, what intentionally kind of things do I want around? What do I not want around? What are what objects? You know, because we’ve become so consumeristic consumers, which that Martha Beck book Anxiety. She even talks about the idea. I mean this is maybe all where I’m at in my space right now.

Scarlet
A couple of my friends at work were reading it and we’re all going through, you know, our little spiritual path right now. And I was just like, wow, you know, I really think this book’s this book sounds like it would be really great for Mitchell. And it’s called Beyond Anxiety. Curiosity, creativity, and finding your life’s purpose. So it’s by Martha Beck. So if if that sounds like it you have any interesting.

Mitchell
Oh wonderful. So um yeah, and even in her book though talks about how we’re raised to be consumers, like and this whole anxiety left brain thing that we put on ourselves, like this idea. Anyways All this kind of culminating ideas. And I and I agree that one, we as humans or individuals, we resonate with what Or I mean things touch us at the right time or at the time that it resonates with us. I I can’t seem to articulate. You know what I mean? Like in other words, that book is speaking to me right now because of where I’m at in my life right now. Which is kinda how I sometimes say movies sometimes don’t talk to me ’cause I watched it and I don’t like it. Because if you’re Your headspace, where you’re at, whatever it is. So that resonates with me. The um this book, which is you know, the minimalist kind of that resonates with me Uh some of these ideas of like, oh, this consumerism, which we talked that’s another theme we talk about. Like just this, we’re trying to get rid of the stuff and the stuff it is and ordering from Amazon and we quit Amazon prime and you know we’re trying to buy less well we are.

Scarlet
We’ve actually been really successful in that now. I know, I know. I’m I’m honestly so tired of this because I want to travel. I you know I’m so this is not what I want I don’t want the package at the door every day. Like, because then at the end of the month, at the end of the year, when it’s like, oh, you spent twenty-three thousand dollars on Amazon, you look around and you’re like, on what? Yeah. Where did it go? That could have been three cruises, you know? Like, no, I I gotta get we gotta get our life right And this is the year we’re gonna do it.

Mitchell
Okay. And it’s strange because you do like so you kinda I mean internally you go like, oh, this this thing serves a purpose. And sometimes things serve a purpose, but it’s for me, as we know, the idea of like letting it go when its purpose has been served. Like that’s very hard for me, right? But you go like which is where I’m all up in arms. You’re like, I’m like, you’re throwing away a perfectly good flat iron or whatever it is and you’re or recycling it. Or you got a new one and you’re like, oh that that’s purpose has served itself. And I’m looking at it like but you have spent you know however.

Scarlet
Oh did you know my other one died?

Mitchell
Well n no well obviously it served its purpose.

Scarlet
I’m just saying it literally didn’t work anymore.

Mitchell
I wasn’t trying to pick up a platter I just but you were the kind of guy where I’m like

Scarlet
Oh, this flat iron Mitchell got me for Christmas three years ago burnt out. And so I’m just gonna throw it away and get myself a thirty dollar flat iron.

Mitchell
And I’m like, let me crack it open. I bet I can fix it.

Scarlet
Yes. And I’m just like it But then it’s like okay, he’ll crack it open in two weeks.

Mitchell
But look at that cat found working. And now you got another one.

Scarlet
It was seventeen dollars.

Mitchell
You think of the stuff I mean, by the way, I

Scarlet
I w I told you And it has brought Max so much joy.

Mitchell
Fair enough, but I want Max to be like my dad used to fix stuff at our kitchen table. Or at least tear it apart because look at you think about that. I

Scarlet
You did, you fixed our vacuum. You fixed our shark.

Mitchell
The vacuum. Remember the uh annoyingly loud air fryer? I got rid of that really loud beat, huh? You remember the um the coffee the Nespresso Creamer Like uh frotter. Yeah, we still have that. Yeah, and it’s soldered. Like I opened the thing and did soldering fixing on that thing.

Scarlet
So I I because you get joy out of the stuff. Because that is a version that’s your creativity.

Mitchell
Right. So anyway, my point is so m accepting when something has served its purpose and letting go of it is hard for me. Like even you could say that with everything that you have art books, just anything, even so sometimes it’s like ooh making a way for the new now we’re ’cause we’re I got a timer running. So There is this and I brought up the the Milburn hey you’re like I have something too. The minimalist, Joshua Fields Milburn, he has They’re I enjoy them but I only so much. I hate to say that. Because the their podcasts I can’t deal with, but the things they come up with. So there is that kind of idea of like, oh, they’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff in their lives and everything’s intentional. It’s like they have a coffee table that they love, but it’s not filled with clutter and garbage they don’t want. It’s Everything’s intentional. Wall art that inspires and once it doesn’t, you get rid of it. But like everything’s kind of chosen. Less flat surfaces is better because you have less place to stack crap, right? Anyways, his latest book is called Very Very Simple. And it I didn’t even c he call it a book and it he gave it away for free, but I’m like, it’s not really a book. I think it’s like twenty-one pages long. It’s It’s like a large bridge.

Scarlet
It’s very, very simple.

Mitchell
Yeah, that’s true. Very, very simple. So twelve tools. So I was gonna see we’re not we don’t necessarily have to go through all of them, but I was kinda gunshot through some of these to see what your thoughts are because they’re like very simple. Like the tool one is called Hate That Shirt Rule, which is like you look at your stuff in your closet, there’s different ways to approach it. You go pretend you’re gonna go shopping in your own closet and pick things that you want and get rid of everything else. And we kind of talked about how can we uh you know do it? You know, try sh try stuff on as if you’re in a clothing store. Would you pay for that if you were buying it now? Like that kind of thing, the hate the shirt rule I haven’t quite done that, but why is it sometimes like, oh you know, I don’t know. Like it’s seasonal. I mean that’s fair to go look. If you’re gonna wear it in the summer, g I got it. You’re not wearing shorts in the winter, but if you’re not wearing all your shorts, why do you have them? How do you feel about like hate that shirt rule or the cleaning your closet? Like

Scarlet
Is that one Yeah, I was gonna do that the even the other yesterday.

Mitchell
Do you feel like though the then you’re like, oh, I sometimes fool myself and go, Oh my god, it’s an excuse to buy a new something and it’s like no.

Scarlet
Because really no I don’t want to buy any more clothes.

Mitchell
Because I am ahead of my I know I’m I’ve 51 years old. I know what I like and I know what I like right now. I know that changes. By the way I went to put on um some sweatpants and there was all of your all the weird sweatpants are they’re not in the closet. Like the Eddie Bauer ones that we share.

Scarlet
Uh-huh.

Mitchell
I don’t know where they are. Because then the only other sweatpants were like this like lady kind with like a big flarey bottom.

Scarlet
The green ones were in there.

Mitchell
Uh okay, I don’t really like those. But okay, anyway.

Scarlet
Well, they’re probably dirty.

Mitchell
But my but I’m wearing my favorite jeans, which now have two holes in ’em, which is really tragic. But Like I like this long sleeve shirt. It’s okay. I actually love the Mankato one. I was gonna wear it, but I wore it on the last time we did the podcast. So there’s like I could probably really get my t-shirts down to probably like Five t-shirts and three long sleeve ones. And really not have a whole drawer full of m but anyway. But you know what I mean? Like And they kinda in one of their other books are like, you should just love what you wear. If you’re just wearing it because you own it and you or you loved it once and you don’t anymore, just get rid of it. Like let go But I have trouble with that one because I mean well it’s still is a it’s my just do it Nike shirt is still decent for working out in. And I’m like, so is every other shirt you own. Can also be worked out in. Like, I don’t know why we have workout clothes.

Scarlet
Yeah, I know. I I got a lot of stuff I could get rid of in my closet. I also have the same like Push pulled.

Mitchell
Well and then and then don’t you sometimes go, oh, I might wear this again. And you might, but is it worth occupying space in your closet and maybe your mind?

Scarlet
Yeah, no. There like there’s a lot of scrubs I need to get rid of. In the back of the cart too.

Mitchell
Yeah. And there’s a lot of tea in there. Maybe you’ll actually like that tea now because you’re into tea. Oh, there’s tea in there? That’s how long it’s been there. You’re like, I’m gonna get rid of all this tea we don’t drink. Anyway, that’s in the back of the car. Anyway, doesn’t matter. Rule is we’ll try it Rule two is wouldn’t repurchase rule. So it’s really like you’re you’re saying like oh go anywhere in your house and it’s simple look around pick up any object now if you go if I lost this item today Would I repurchase it? If so, it probably doesn’t make sense to ditch it. But if you wouldn’t replace it, why are you still holding your hand? Why isn’t it in your donation pen?

Scarlet
So Like what?

Mitchell
I don’t know. Would you repurchase that oven thing we have on our countertop?

Scarlet
Yeah.

Mitchell
Okay. Fair so good deal.

Scarlet
I want to get rid of the Nespresso.

Mitchell
Oh okay. You wouldn’t repurchase that.

Scarlet
Mm-hmm.

Mitchell
I enjoyed that when I was into the shots.

Scarlet
Okay.

Mitchell
Fair enough. Look.

Scarlet
It’s just taking up space

Mitchell
Yeah, it had the cool little drawer that you got. It served its purpose. See that’s right. I can’t I can’t make these leaps normally fast enough. Oh it served its purpose. But so you know. That’s why they’re like, oh, something like that.

Scarlet
thing I’ll just go you know one day I hope to have a kitchen where we can have like a proper coffee bar or well I want one of those fancy machines that can do it all.

Mitchell
Yeah

Scarlet
Yeah.

Mitchell
That then you don’t want to use because you have to maintain it and it gets really timely and all that. But fair enough. So then espresso, which is funny because I enjoy having a little cup of espresso, but I’m not really So I’m now I’m drinking Thai tea. Which is why I’m all buzzed up. Probably not, I don’t know. Okay, so the wooden repurchase rule. The didn’t know rule. Okay, this is the next one. We’re short on time, but I said so it’s the old Uh areas that have turned into repositories for your forgotten clutter, right? So have you found something and you thought I didn’t even know I still had this. And then so when it’s a nightstand. Yeah If you didn’t know you owned the thing, then that’s a sign that it hasn’t added to your value in your life. So when something ceases to add value, it’s okay to free it up. It’s almost kind of like my repurpose. So There’s a lot of stuff that Well I’m actually proud the other way. I probably unfortunately have a really good catalog of all my garbage everywhere. that I’m like, oh I knew exactly you wanna ask me where some weird tool that I bought for some weird thing is, I’ll probably be like, yeah, it’s in the third drawer of the second bin in the garage. Th So I did know most of my stuff, but fair enough. How many of you are like, oh, there’s probably kitchen stuff. I’m like, I didn’t know we had one of these. Sometimes you’re like, I would have used this. Four months ago when I needed this, but sometimes it’s like eh.

Scarlet
Oh I know where all the kitchen stuff is.

Mitchell
Okay.

Scarlet
I’ve gotten rid of a lot of kitchen stuff because now everything in there has a purpose.

Mitchell
Right. Well which moves into what he called the decluttered duplicates rule, which is uh especially kitchen diner or measured, how many things that are duplicates? Scissors, whisks, measuring cups, can openers salad spinners, thermometers, garlic presses, Tupperware, cutting boards, etcetera. And he’s like, you know, it doesn’t always apply to things like plates and bowls and silverware, but like I did well actually I was looking for some regular cards the other day and I found that we have three sets of Uno cards like identical ones.

Scarlet
I know and then you were like, How did we get these? Like you were blaming me and I’m like, move along, buddy, because I am never gonna be responsible.

Mitchell
I was unwilling to get rid of some of them, even though then I did the thing, I was like, hey, you know what? And then if we ever have a R V, we can leave one set in the R V and then a backup set. Can you combine sets to have a bigger game of Uno? I don’t know. See

Scarlet
But so you didn’t get rid of them. No.

Mitchell
Well I went because I need to count through and see make sure they all have their appropriate cards first.

Scarlet
We can just go put them put them in like the puzzle exchange or something.

Mitchell
Somebody else could have like some Uno fun.

Scarlet
Yeah.

Mitchell
Well I mean I still want to make sure the cards are all there. There’s nothing worse than uh you know, like that puzzle thing where there was I did three puzzles and they all had missing pieces and I was like, Yeah, that was rude crappy. So I feel like in one of these rules, right? It doesn’t matter. The no piles rule. Oh, so this is where like excess Max’s puzzle tables and clutter. Clear the surfaces. You shouldn’t have clutter on anywhere and make sure there’s no pile of anything, right? So This one is, of course, I don’t know the rule, I can’t conceptually say it really quick, but uh the idea of like no piles anywhere. So I don’t know. And that’s less surfaces. Don’t look around this room which is nothing but piles.

Scarlet
It’s better than it used to be.

Mitchell
I know, ’cause I get expensive drawers to put my piles in. But these these little organizers I got have a purpose ’cause like one of them now I’m like I have a little timer to look at it in a certain number of months. And if I haven’t used all the items in there, it’s like, okay, then time to get rid of like I have 4,000 cables to things that I don’t use. Right.

Scarlet
Which there’s a good one called And when we move, this is like a super convenient way to like already there. We should start just putting these everywhere around the house.

Mitchell
But it makes me go like if you kinda have an organizer then you’re confined to that space then maybe you think more about being intentional. When when the space is everywhere And it’s free game everywhere. I feel like that’s when it gets out of control. As it is for me, I’m not pointing fingers where you’re like, oh, there’s here, here, here’s something. No, if you’re like, everything you have, it’s like traveling. You say, whatever fits in this carry-on, that’s what I’m taking on this trip. And then you start to really decide what you really want. So what if we all just had a carry-on and that’s all we could

Scarlet
pack for the house.

Mitchell
Like if the house caught on fire. Anyway. The entry ray entry ray entry way rule. So this is favorite. You’re supposed to let’s see. Oh set up a well This is a longer rule. But uh yet let’s see, the entryway. Scrolling is the new smoking, by the way, is what he puts in here. So don’t have cigarettes in your home. Oh that’s right, the entryway rule is Rule is this have a charging station at your entryway. Everyone comes in, they put their phone there and they charge it and that’s it. That’s right. This one’s about getting rid of your phone in your hand, which is the new smoking. I tried that for like two days. And it was actually not bad. I well because I have a watch on it. No. But it became like if it’s a text message and it’s important, I get it on my watch. But my phone I don’t need in my hand all the time It’s a tough one to try, but you know, I’m I’m saying hey, give it a try. Okay. But the entryway rule is kinda interesting for everyone and sixteen year old and That’s where the Oh he would never the four year old’s iPad lives right there, but then he brings it around. Anyways, the junkless drawer rule rule. Why am I struggling? Am I stroking out? Is my face symmetrical?

Scarlet
Yeah.

Mitchell
Yeah. Drunk junk list drawer rule. Whatever. It says I’m trying to be quick about this, but it’s the old like He’s like even minimalists have junk drawers, but the idea is to have only one junk drawer in your house. I mean, we have one like d one pretty one, pretty much one in the kitchen.

Scarlet
Yeah, we have like a drunk, a drunk look at you got me doing it. We have a junk cabinet, which is what all of our coffee stuff lives on. So he We have two junk drawers that I can think of.

Mitchell
So here’s what he says. You give yourself well that one’s actually I’ve just cleaned that one out. A lot of the junk is in a new drawer These organizer junk drawers.

Scarlet
But he’s like, before you open your drunk We have not been drinking today.

Mitchell
Just tea before you open your junk drawer. Get a piece of paper and a pen. And you have Two minutes to write down every item you think is in that drawer. Okay.

Mitchell
Mm-hmm.

Mitchell
And then you open the drawer and you give yourself permission to empty out everything that was not on your list as your first package. And then then Use this rule every one you know once every three months. So and then you decide like so oh I can actually probably tell you a lot of the items in that junk drawer in our kitchen, but could you do that

Scarlet
Could I tell you?

Mitchell
Well I mean you don’t have to but like you write down all the stuff and then get rid of what you couldn’t remember.

Scarlet
Oh yeah yeah.

Mitchell
There’s like a bunch of receipts in there and I’m always like what I’m sure it was my plan once, right? Well save the receipts and then now you’re just like I find recycling.

Scarlet
You’re doing that. You’re hanging them in random places. I don’t know why they are I That’s not my deal.

Mitchell
But so I mean that’s an interest that’s really an easy one to do, right? Okay. The clutter coffins rule. Okay, that’s the hidden oh in your basement, attic, garage, and storage unit. Face it, these areas have become mausoleums of useless stuff buried in clutter coffins.

Scarlet
I don’t even want to know what our basement looks like.

Mitchell
Use this new boundary to sort through these clutter coffins So start by noticing that everything in your clutter coffin can be placed into three piles. One, vital, two, practical, and three. clutter. And then since most of your needs are universal, there’s gonna be any barely anything in the vital pile because if it’s vital, it’s not in your storage unit or below the house, right? Food, shelter, etc And then practical items and then most of it it really is just clutter in the clutter coffins. Which is fair enough. So under the house it’s a lot of boxes like for TVs and computers and There’s a queen mattress down there and a queen mattress set bed that you wanted to keep.

Scarlet
I do.

Mitchell
There’s a giant ladder, two ladders now that I’m thinking of it. Four tires. Two fifty-five gallon drums of water.

Scarlet
Okay. Um don’t yeah. You lost me.

Mitchell
I’m not supposed to name everything down there, but I could, sadly. There’s a bale of a bunch of bales of hay down there for shooting bows and arrows and BB guns. Okay. The once-a-month rule. Okay, woo woo woo. This one’s actually kind of nice. So it’s like an orderly house has regular upkeep that you need to do. So on the first day of every calendar month, he uses the once-a-month rule to take care of the small monthly main maintenance items that keep the house running like this. Here’s his little list Refill all soap dispensers, replace toothbrushers. Now that’s pretty excessive. Charge electronic safes, recharge remote controls, throw out expired food, pitch expired supplements safely dispose of expired medications, rinse out the bottom of trash cans, dust sealing fans and air purifiers, clean the garbage disposal with a fresh lemon, Wipe down baseboards every three months, swap out any air filters every six months, and switch out water filters every six months. And he’s like, if you set a reminder to do these things once a month, it leads to a calmer, cleaner, and less chaotic rule or home, and he can do this in 22 minutes or less in his home.

Scarlet
Hm, okay.

Mitchell
It is like I thought that once. I thought, you know, maybe I was like maybe every I was thinking of the once a week for certain things. I thought if once a week I went around and made sure there was n toilet paper and all the spaces. It would never get to, oh, there’s no toilet paper. Like it just keeps everything topped off.

Scarlet
So Yeah, and something else I was looking at today was all the the drops and dribbles on the wall from like Max or Max.

Mitchell
Or probably Max. Yeah. Like yeah.

Scarlet
And I’m just like and I’m thinking like, man, I need to go through here on one day on my leave next week and just clean up all this stuff, which I could do, but like that could also just be something on our once a month list is just, you know, divide and conquer.

Mitchell
And and like you said, if you kinda do it it’s not as overwhelming as the very first time, right? Yeah as you do it. So I mean that’s not a bad little rule. We’re almost we got a out in the open rule. So out of sight isn’t really out of mind, right? So it’s the uh out in the open rule is tantamount to embarking on a reverse packing party. Oh, so this is one, that’s right. Once a year, you set aside four hours for this. As soon as and then you take everything and you unpack Everything, your cabinets, kitchen, everything goes out in the open on the counters, everywhere, right? So you can see all your possessions as if you’re getting ready to pack. So this way you can kind of decide what items that you really want. So uh yeah once everything’s out in the open you use the three piles method, right? And the clutter coffin. Vital, practical, and clutter. So that’s an interesting one. He says it works well for file cabinets everywhere. I don’t know if I could do that, but it’s an interesting idea. It would be interesting to do it in the kitchen one day.

Scarlet
It would be good to do it just start in that cabinet thing.

Mitchell
Yeah. And one of the items in that cabinet is literally has nothing in it except for a few of those uh tea light. Candles. So it’s not a lot of things open. Alright. Set the stage rule. Oh, we’re running on time here. This set the stage really is ten minutes before bedtime. Identify the household clutter that might disrupt your next morning. We kinda have some of this.

Scarlet
And like I felt very out of control of my life, very deep in postpartum depression. And I and so like resetting the home before going to bed And like that just became so now it’s just like a natural part of our rhythm. Right. Like the the kitchen’s cleaned for the next morning.

Mitchell
Um until danger gets up and has something not bread and better.

Scarlet
Yeah. Um you know, I’m not so cra I’m not so like crazy about the uh I guess I will not be able to do it. I’m not so crazy about the living room anymore because that’s kind of like almost like the kid’s plate his plate area.

Mitchell
Again, I fought so hard to get that thing to Zero and putting all the toys. Remember I had all the toys in the garage and boxed up. I kind of did my own packing party and I was like, oh, and now everything’s blood back in there, which I’m not blaming anyone. I’m just like, whatever

Scarlet
Which there’s some bags in I actually I’ll discuss my idea with you after.

Mitchell
After the podcast?

Scarlet
Um yeah.

Mitchell
After this Because we ran out of we didn’t run out of time, but I set a timer to kind of be like we’re gonna do it more. Try to be less is more potent. So in other words, like tool twelve, last one. Future clutter It’s the last fun tool. Once you get beyond the physical clutter, you can use the future clutter rule to stave off stupitis, hey, and other forms of lifestyle inflammation. This boundary includes six questions to ask before buying any new material possessions. One, who am I buying this for? Myself or to impress others? Two, will this add value to my life Three, can I afford it financially? Four, what’s the true cost beyond the price tag? Five, is this the best use of this money? Six, would the best version of me buy this? I’m not going through this quick. So he’s like Then as you avoid most new purchases, you can replace them with future uh m uh more meaningful experiences like some of his family things, like when you stop buying future clutter or mean you can concerts, picnics, sunsets, hiking, swimming, exercise, camping, museums, galleries, sporting events, farmers markets, screenless Saturdays. So in other words, he’s like saying Go through that and then you can do come up with future uh you can replace the future clutter that you’re not buying with more meaningful things, which is true. We’re trying to aim towards More experiential stuff, like going to a fun restaurant versus buying uh a ninja blender or I don’t know. Costco is terrible at making us want to buy garbage. Anyway, so there’s other little rules he adds on, but and one of them is like the twenty for twenty. It’s the old like if you can get rid of an item that you can acquire in twenty minutes or for twenty bucks or less then just get rid of it. Like i mean if you’re questioning it. Cause then in the future like I’ll just go grab this if I really needed it or I don’t really need it. Anyway, your thoughts. You had something No.

Scarlet
No. Wait, my thoughts?

Mitchell
Just in general. Like, not that you have to have thoughts. And I’m thanks everyone I wasn’t trying to do a book review, but I was trying to like encapsulate some of the the the things that we’ve been like we’re trying to do less instead of doing the most and like these ideas these that we grapple with some simple ideas that that I wanted to throw out and get your take on and thoughts for Future planning for our households.

Scarlet
No, I’m I’m in full support of all of this because like I said, 2027 is gonna be a big year for us. A lot of changes. Um and I hate moving and I want to be as You know, uh whittled down as possible.

Mitchell
The hardest thing to move should just be large furniture and not four million boxes of crap. Yeah. It would be like large furniture and four boxes of Stuff. Or you know, I hear ya. And even then some furniture items probably gonna be like, yep, done. It’s served its useful life.

Scarlet
Yeah, that couch. Yeah.

Mitchell
For example. So, okay. Any other final closing thoughts? So are we we’re not renaming the podcast at doing the least. We’re just still. No, no. We’ll probably still find a way to be. least or minimalizing, right? The minimalist. Living a life of intention, right?

Mitchell
Right.

Mitchell
Instead of just kind of blasting through life. Without that, I don’t know. I mean as we sit in the studio space which has lots of I don’t know stuff.

Scarlet
I’m trying an inch of wall space for anything.

Mitchell
Trying to minimize stuff in here to what I really need. And I’m slowly getting there. But like uh you know the wall of guitars. Like That’s that funny thing. Sorry, since we since you can actually see ’em on the YouTube, you can see some of the guitars. And none of ’em are like uh one of ’em is actually pr valuable esque, you know, multiple thousands. The rest are just Whatever. Mm not even sentimental, just they’re just tools that I enjoy, right? And they’re also decorative at this point. However, part of me is like, yeah, could I get rid of this stuff? Whew, actually I don’t know. Probably I don’t know. I feel like an instrument is one of those interesting areas, right? Because it is something that produces music Can I dunno. That’s a tough that’s a injury. I never really thought about this till this moment. But anyway. Well, I mean, you know, ’cause maybe you’re like, yeah, get rid of it, but like I want to get a nice electric piano.

Scarlet
There’s more things to get rid of then.

Mitchell
That provides a a more of a tool. Anyway, no matter. I’m sorry. Well I am planning on winning the lottery next year. I’ve been investing for quite a while and now I’m ready to to uh withdraw my lottery winnings. Okay. Make that happen, please. I mean I can. So you have any final thoughts? No. No. How sure? So and we’re doing a lot of the spiritual journey awakening stuff, and we can report back more on that. So I guess I should say folks you can go find us on Instagram at Les Cats Please. You can who cares about blue blue sky and

Scarlet
Who cares about TikTok? Anyways, so TikTok does get some stuff sometimes.

Mitchell
And YouTube, if you want to watch any and tell your friends about this, go subscribe. Like it. Give me a like on YouTube, uh the the the button and subscribe, you know, we’re gonna go for double digit subscribers. Then come on folks, help us reach six mi six six uh subscribers. Sorry. Beyond that, okay. No, it’s been a good time. See, and we got done we got it done faster, more. So have a little time left for our afternoon.

Scarlet
Oh

Mitchell
Yeah?

Scarlet
Yeah. I’m gonna go walk on the treadmill now.

Mitchell
Alright. Well Bye. Oh, used to be like I’m Scarlet. And I’m Mitchell.

Scarlet
And we’re doing the most. Byeeee