Ep 16: The Declutter Episode (Out With The Old, In With The New)

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Hello and welcome to Shift with Maddie.
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My name is Maddie, of course, and I am your host.
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I have started this podcast a few months ago because I wanted a way to talk to the girls who are feeling good in their life but knowing there's something that needs to change.
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So I'm going through a very transformative period right now.
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I have just moved back from Australia, moved in with my parents.
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I'm not even gonna say I broke up with my boyfriend anymore because it was like four months ago, so I feel at this point I can stop mentioning it.
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Uh so from now on, it's not I've just broke up with my boyfriend.
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It was a while ago.
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But I really have kind of been starting over, so I haven't gone back into a full-time job.
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I have been doing contract work, and I'm really trying to start this up as my full-time business eventually.
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But in the meantime, this podcast is here to document everything I'm doing on a day-to-day, which is actually changing my life and really adding benefit, and also things I've learned in the past.
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So I'm a psychology graduate, psychology nerd, self-professed, and I've also gone through a big period of self-development where I really intentionally looked at my life, audited it, figured out what made me happy, figured out what my purpose was.
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And so I kind of just want a way to talk to the girls who are sitting there feeling a little bit stagnant or feeling a bit like, something needs to change.
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So I can tell you what I'm doing.
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Best case scenario, you're gonna get some top tips.
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Worst case scenario, you're gonna be chatting to your slightly chaotic friend.
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So it's a win-win situation, really.
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So today I'm gonna be talking about something which is super relevant to me right now.
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It's something that I am very much in the process of doing.
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I've focused on it and I've made big progress, but I'm definitely still doing it as we speak.
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And I think for me, it is one of the biggest tools that I've used to add clarity to my life.
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I think that we live in a world where we are super, super busy all of the time, and so this thing I'm about to talk about is the essential step that a lot of people miss when they are looking to sort their lives out, basically.
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And let me tell you, I've been needing to sort my life out because, like I said, I've got a lot going on at the minute.
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I've actually just picked up two new contract roles in the last week, as well as all of the things I'm doing at the minute, like dog walking and pole dancing.
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So I'm really needing to manage my energy right now.
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I have a lot of things that I've got juggling and bidding for my attention, so this is more important than ever.
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So without further ado, let's get into today's episode.
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So, this episode is all about a good old declutter, and I am not just talking about your room and the kitchen drawer that you haven't looked at in six months.
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I'm not just talking about that, although I will kind of touch on that a little bit.
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But I'm talking about all of the ways that we hold on to excess things in our life that stop us from actually seeing the woods through the trees and gaining the clarity that we need.
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I'm gonna go into five specific examples that have been helping me, things I've done in the past, mainly things I'm doing now, if I'm honest.
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And I'll go into a little bit of psychology for a couple of them, but really I just want to give you some ideas in case you're sitting there feeling like you've got a really overwhelmed brain, and you're like, oh my god, I have so much to do, I've got to do this and this and this and this.
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Like, this is really what this episode is about.
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It's under it's getting that brain out of the overwhelmed state, it is adding a level of clarity.
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I feel like I've said clarity so many times.
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It needs to become a drinking game where like you drink every time I say clarity.
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But really, that is what this episode's about.
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If your brain is busy right now, then listen up because that's where I am, that's where I I was gonna say that's where I was, but it's a lie.
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It's where I am right now, and I want to give you some tips and some information.
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So, why is a declutter important?
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There's actually a lot of psychological evidence about this, and I'm gonna go into that more when I go into specific examples.
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But for me, I always used to be one of those people.
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I I would say I'm a weird mix between type A and type B.
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I'm a very chaotic person, I'm very reactive, but I do like I like to be organized, but maybe it's not my natural state.
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So maybe I am type B.
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I don't know.
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I need to look into that.
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But I used to think that a tidy home equals a boring life.
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That was kind of my motto.
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And I remember I used to live with my best friend Laura, and she was a very tidy person compared to me.
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And she would have these days where she would do like a reset of her room, and you know, she'd make the bed and she'd dust and she'd light a candle, and she's like, My inner world is clearer when my outer world is clearer.
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And I was like, no, that's boring.
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Ha ha ha.
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Turns out she was right.
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She was so right.
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I started to realize this when I moved to Australia, and I did some really intentional work on actually feeling in control of my life and living my life with intention.
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When I moved to Australia, one of the reasons was that I felt like life was living me.
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I didn't feel like I had control of my future, I didn't feel that I was excited by my future, and I just felt stagnant.
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So I made a really big move.
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I sold my house, quit my job, moved to Australia, and one of the first things I did when I got there was I focused on my calendar because I used to be a busy bitch.
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I used to be one of those friends where if you wanted to meet up with her, you had to book it two months in advance.
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And I didn't want to be her anymore because it didn't leave me space to actually experience my life.
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Do you know when you get to that point where you do so much and you're jumping from event to event, or you go from gym to work to gym to home, or like every single second of your day is filled, and you never get time to yourself.
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And it gets to the point where even the things you know you should be appreciating and having fun at and seeing the beauty in, you kind of feel fatigued and you can't fully appreciate anything that's happening to you because you're so busy.
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That was me.
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That was me.
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I felt like my whole life was a blur, and I was like, this isn't how I want to live the rest of my life.
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So, anyway, that was one of the really big things I focused on when I moved to Australia.
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And obviously, as you do go into self-development, as I'm sure you're aware, as you're listening to a self-development podcast, you start a rabbit hole and you open a tin of sardines and any other saying you want to put in there, and you realize that actually that one thing that you thought you needed to sort your busy calendar links to a much bigger picture.
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And that bigger picture is energy leaks, and this is where I think a declutter is really important.
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Our physical world is a manifestation of our inner world.
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If we have a really messy house and emails that haven't been looked at in three weeks, and a thousand photos on our phone, and a diary that's so full we can't appreciate anything, they are all energy leaks.
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They are all things in our life which we are not intentionally choosing, but that are secretly keeping a tab open in the back of our brain.
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And an example of this would be you know, when you feel like you've got a hundred things on your to-do list, but you're out for coffee with a friend.
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You're out for that coffee, and all you can think about is those things that you need to do.
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Or when you're trying to relax and have a movie night that you've been planning, but all you can think about is the fact that your room is messy.
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All of these things are energy leaks.
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And the point of a declutter is that we want to get rid of things that are not intentional and important to us so that we can take back that energy that has been, that brain space that has been spent on these things to redirect towards things that are really important to us, whether that's our friendships, whether that's projects we're working on, whether that's our business, whether that's our family, whether that's dating, whatever is important to you, and whatever you actually want to choose for your life right now, we want to be able to hone in as much energy as physically possible to redirect.
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So that's why I have started looking into decluttering.
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And now let's get into the five ways that I'm looking to do this.
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So the first thing that I'm doing is the really obvious one.
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It's the physical declutter.
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It is the literal shit in my space.
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Why have I got that much in my wardrobe?
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Not only my wardrobe, by the way, my floor drobe.
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Like, I don't even want to show you a picture of my room right now because I'm embarrassed.
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I'm so embarrassed.
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Like, it's a fucking mess.
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And for you, it might be your room, or for you, it might be something different.
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It might be that room in your house that you haven't looked at in a hundred years, or the boxes that you haven't unpacked from when you moved two years ago, or that drawer, like I said earlier, in the kitchen that has so much shit in it that you just don't, you're like, why have I got all this shit?
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I'm never gonna use it.
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And there's actually a bit of research about physical clutter.
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I've got my bit of paper here so I can read the names, because for those of you who listen to my podcast, usually you know I never fucking remember the names properly, so I've just started printing it out.
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There was a psychological study by a neuroscientist called Sabine Castner.
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There we go.
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And she used to work at Princeton, and she found that visual clutter competes for the same brain resources used for focus and self-control.
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So it's not just something that's annoying to have in the corner, but it actually physically ties out your cognitive function over time.
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So it's actual science to say that the more shit we have in our space that is not serving us, the less cognitive function we have to put towards other things.
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That's insane.
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And there was another study by Darby Saxby in 2010, and it said that how people described their homes, so cluttered versus restful, actually impacted their cortisol levels.
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So people who reported their homes as being more cluttered actually had higher cortisol levels when they were talking about their homes versus people who were saying their home felt restful.
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It can physiologically change how we're functioning by having this mess around us and feeling stressed about the mess.
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So what am I doing about it, I hate you ask?
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Well, firstly, I am actually blocking out time to do it.
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Sometimes a declutter or something like that can feel unimportant, but I've started to realize that I need to proactively find more brain space right now because if I'm gonna achieve what I want to achieve with this, with my other contract work, and everything I'm working towards, I need to be honing the fuck in.
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So I have started prioritizing time to clear out my wardrobe, and one thing I'm doing is I'm doing a massive vintage haul.
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So I'm assuming everyone who's listening to this has heard of vintage, but basically selling secondhand clothes, and I am getting rid of anything that doesn't feel aligned to me.
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So my main one at the minute, by the way, my stage one, if you will, is clothes.
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My clothes are my problem.
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I have so many clothes, and especially since I went through the warehouse, because my stepdad owns a warehouse and I was storing a load of clothes in there from when I moved to Australia because I couldn't bring them all.
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So now not only do I have all the clothes I had in Australia, but I have all the clothes that I thought I was gonna want when I moved to Australia.
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When I got back from Australia, I have double the amount of clothes, and I was just sitting there like fucking hell.
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So anyway, that's why I'm doing the vintage all.
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And one way that I'm doing this, there's some tips from some books that I've read that have really, really impacted me.
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And the first one is one of my favourite authors, Denise Duffield Thomas.
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She wrote the book Get Rich Lucky Bitch, which is all about manifesting money and money mindset.
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And she said that when you are doing a declutter, you want to be getting rid of anything in your life that doesn't make you feel rich.
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This one is more about money, but it kind of works with everything because if you are acting in a way that's not aligned with the version of yourself that you're becoming, then you're actively training your brain to learn that you are not that person.
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So what I do when I look at my clothes is I will try them on, look in the mirror, and I will be like, does this make me feel rich?
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Would she, she being that bitch, show up in this item of clothing?
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And by the way, just a side note, this is not about costs, this is not about how expensive the item of clothing is.
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It's not like, oh, I have to be wearing Chanel and Prada because she's a rich bitch.
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No.
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Some of the items of clothing that make me feel the best, make meal feel the hottest, make me feel the most rich, are like two pound skirts from Primark.
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It's not about the money, it is about how you feel when you look at yourself in the mirror, or how you feel when you're wearing that item of clothing.
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Do you feel like you're sacheting around?
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Or do you feel like, oh, well, it kind of doesn't fit very well, and I feel a bit conscious of this, or well, I guess this isn't really something that aligns with who I am anymore, but I don't want to get rid of it because it's wasteful.
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Just thinking about if you actually energetically want that piece of clothing.
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I love the idea of a capsule wardrobe where you just have a few items, but I know that I'm a little bit too extra for that.
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I know that I would get bored and want to change up my style sometimes.
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So I'm not getting rid of everything, but you should see my pile that I'm getting rid of.
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It's quite large.
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It is large.
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But you don't feel guilty about it when you sell it on vintage or give it to a charity shop because you know it's going to go to a home of someone who actually wants it.
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And Marie Kondo talks about this as well.
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Um Marie Kondo, I haven't actually read her book, but I know what she's about.
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She's all about um minimalism basically.
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And she her version of that is holding the item and saying, How do I feel when I look at this item?
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Do I feel elevated?
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It's kind of listening to your body.
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Like, do I feel elevated?
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Do I feel light?
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Do I feel excited, or do I feel like closed off?
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Do I feel heavy?
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And actually just looking at it and just seeing if that's gonna add value to your life.
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And then the final step for Marie Kondo, which is something I do and I love, is anything I get.
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Ooh, hiccups, apologies.
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Anything I get rid of, I will thank it before I dispose of it, uh, whether that's through vintage or charity shop, or if it's really, really ragged.
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Some of it goes in the bin.
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Look, if it's got a hole in it, it's going in the bin, I'm sorry.
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I'll actually say thank you for your service, basically.
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Like thank you for everything we've been through.
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And I remember doing this a couple of times specifically.
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There was actually a pair of sliders I got rid of recently.
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I think I spoke about this in the gratitude episode where I had some sliders when I was in Spain and they were falling apart, and I was like, I'm actually embarrassed to wear these now.
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Like these are no longer supporting my feet, like my feet hurt every time I wore them.
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But I still, when I remember putting them in the bin before I went to the airport and saying, Thank you, because we'd been through so much together.
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They came with me from Australia and we'd had some great times, but it was time for them to go in the bin.
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It was the same with my new balance trainers when I was in Vietnam, and it got to the point where they just had holes in them and they were rugged, and there was like the soles were wearing away, and I was like, I need to do the kind thing to these trainers and let them go.
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Like they were they were holding on for dear life.
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If they were an animal that'd have been put down, they were not thriving.
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So, anyway, saying thank you to your item of clothing, that can really help complete the loop and alleviate some of the guilt you get from getting rid of things.
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Because I do get it, I am someone who likes to hold on to things.
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I'm not a cutthroat person when it comes to items, but I'm training myself to be, that's what I'm doing now.
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But yeah, I do get it.
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So saying thank you before you get rid of them.
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The second type of declutter I'm focusing on is my financial declutter.
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Now that sounds like a really weird term, and I'm not even sure if it is a term, so I coined it, okay?
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We're gonna say that this is my term, it's probably not.
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So, what I mean by that is at the minute I have been focusing on this, so it's definitely not in the place that it was, thankfully.
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Thank the fucking lord.
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But my finances are all over the place.
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I would say six months ago, I couldn't tell you what I was spending money on.
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I couldn't tell you how much money was coming in, I didn't know how much I was spending on tax, I didn't know where my superannuation and my pensions were.
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Like, I just had money spilling out of me.
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And the problem with that is in a very practical way, not just energetically, but literally, you will be leaking money.
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If we don't understand where our money is going, we will be wasting money pointlessly.
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And it's not our fault.
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Like, as women, we are not taught to manage money in the same way that men are societally.
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Like, it's always a very masculine conversation to have conversations about numbers and figures.
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Like, when was the last time you had a conversation about investing with your female friends?
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And now ask a guy in your life that question.
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I'd bet you they will have had conversations about investing and money and maximizing income that we just don't have.
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We it's just not something that we do societally as much.
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I think that is changing.
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So I've really been prioritizing becoming financially literate, not massively.
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I'd say I'm a baby financial literate person.
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Baby fun, yeah, sure, we'll go with it.
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But I'm very much at the beginning stages, but I really want to understand my money because the thing is, I truly believe it doesn't matter how much money we have, if we're bad with money, we're bad with money.
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It doesn't matter if we've got£50 or£50,000.
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If we do not know how to manage that money and don't understand where that money's come from and where it's going, we won't be able to do that when it increases.
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And we're gonna be leaking a lot more money with a higher income than we would if we were currently at my slightly lower income because I have chosen this life because I'm dedicating to this.
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I have chosen the poverty life.
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I'm joking, I'm not.
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I'm very, I'm very grateful for what I have.
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So a few things I'm actually practically doing with the financial declutter.
00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.840
Firstly, consolidating pensions and understanding where they are.
00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:59.279
So I've already done this with my superannuation in Australia, but actually I haven't done it with my pensions yet, and it's on my to-do list.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.480
Making sure that I understand where my pensions are.
00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:07.680
I've got them all over the fucking shop at the minute because I've had what, two, three em I've had three employees in the UK.
00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:09.359
Each of them had a different pension scheme.
00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:15.039
So I'm gonna need to consolidate them and then find out if I'm on a low, medium, or high risk plan.
00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:22.079
I want to put myself on a high risk plan because this bitch ain't retiring for a while, so she might as well be making risky moves to maximize her income.
00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:23.920
So that's one thing I'm gonna be doing.
00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:28.079
One thing I've already done and have been doing for a while is an expenses spreadsheet.
00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.119
So actually understanding what I'm spending my money on.
00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:32.559
And that's just a spreadsheet.
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:40.720
I'm literally just writing down the expense, writing down the category like is it groceries, eating out, is it bills, is it my car?
00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:41.920
Blah blah blah.
00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:45.200
And then I've also taken a tip from Tori Dunlap.
00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:51.279
So Tori Dunlap is the author of The Financial Feminist, and she also has a podcast and she owns the business her first hundredk.
00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:58.400
I love her, I think she's amazing, and she really speaks to women specifically about how to be smart with their money and very, very practical tips.
00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:00.640
I'm reading her book at the minute and I love it.
00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:06.480
Um, and one of the things that she said is to actually start tracking your money habits as well.
00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:22.880
So writing down how the purchase made you feel good, bad, or guilty or excited, and then why you made that purchase, and not just oh, because it was a coffee, but I was upset because I got some bad news and I wanted to comfort myself, and so I got coffee.
00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:23.839
That sort of thing.
00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:29.680
Because one of my things I've spoken about in previous episodes is I have noted I'm quite an emotional spender.
00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:30.559
Not anymore.
00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:33.440
This is one of the things I'm really proud of myself for rewriting.
00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:41.599
I'm very conscious of my money now, but previously I've been a very emotional spender, so I will buy food, I will buy things if I want to make myself feel better.
00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:43.359
And that's not necessarily wrong.
00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:46.559
There's no right or wrong for how you spend money because everyone's different.
00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:51.920
But for me, I was leaking money on things that didn't actually add to my life.
00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:54.480
It was just adding clutter to my life.
00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:55.839
It was something I didn't actually want.
00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:02.160
Like you know, when you buy a cake and the look of the cake is so much better than the taste of the cake, and you finish it and you're like, oh, I just didn't even want that.
00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:03.920
I just bought that for the sake of it.
00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:08.480
And some people do it with clothes, some people do it with experiences and things.
00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:09.119
I don't know.
00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:10.640
I actually love experiences.
00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:13.279
I never regret an experience, but like items.
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:15.839
And also that will then add to your physical clutter.
00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:17.759
So it's a double whammy, girl.
00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:23.119
And one more thing I'm doing with money clutter is I can be quite avoidant with money.
00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:29.519
Like, I am fully that bitch who would get fines and not open them for months because I was like, I am just gonna bury my head in the sand here.
00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:30.480
Again, not anymore.
00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:32.000
It's something I've really worked on.
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:38.799
But the amount of times that I've paid higher rates or I have lost money because I just avoided looking at my money altogether.
00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:39.759
I just ignored it.
00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:41.279
I was like, nope, that doesn't exist.
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:47.440
And like student finance, so it took me like eight months to get back to them when I was in Australia because I was just avoiding it.
00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:49.359
I was like, nope, I don't need to worry about that.
00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:53.279
But the thing is you do because the longer we wait, the more money is leaked.
00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:55.039
So that's something I'm really trying to do.
00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:00.319
I'm trying to, I guess the financial declutter is more of a financial streamline.
00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:05.839
Maybe declutter is not the best word, even though I'm sticking by the term, okay, because I coined it, yeah.
00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:10.960
But a financial streamline to assist with a mental declutter.
00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:12.480
Maybe that's the best way to frame it.
00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:15.359
So that's the second thing I'm doing in my declutter era.
00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.319
The third one is one I stand by time and time again.
00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:20.640
It is the diary declutter.
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:24.000
And this is the one that I really focused on when I first moved to Australia.
00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:31.039
When I was in the UK before I left, I was, like I said, one of those busy bitches where every second of my day was full.
00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:35.519
And sometimes I would not get a weekend to myself for months.
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.359
Maybe not even a day to myself.
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.200
Like I was horrific, honestly.
00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:49.440
And so when I got to Australia, I started to see at the beginning that pattern repeating itself because our brain holds on to patterns, unless we consciously rewrite them, it will keep repeating itself.
00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:55.680
So I started to see my diary build up and up and up as I entered Australia, and I thought, no, bitch, we're not doing this.
00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:57.680
That is exactly what we didn't want to do.
00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:07.759
So I made a really conscious effort to carve out time for myself and to actually look at what I was doing and think, do I actually want to do that?
00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.119
It's kind of that simple when it comes to a diary declutter.
00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:25.519
Um, so I have some techniques for you, but basically the point of that is that if we are spending time, especially if it's on a repeated basis, doing things that don't feed our lives, that actually drain our energy, we are wasting energy that we could be redirecting elsewhere.
00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:29.920
And it's taken away time from things that we could actually be doing that builds our lives.
00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:49.279
So our hobbies or seeing people that we love or working on a business or whatever you want to actually achieve, if we keep wasting energy on things that aren't even important to us anymore, then we're just gonna be, we're gonna feel like we're in a hamster wheel where we're, you know, little hamster just running around and running around and never quite finding the time to do the things that are important.
00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:54.640
But one thing that's really helped me here before I get onto the practical tips is the mindset of that.
00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.559
Because a lot of people will say, I don't have time to do that.
00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.839
I don't have time to do that.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.319
And I'm not saying that we don't have time challenges.
00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:10.160
Obviously, everyone has their own lives, everyone has their own priorities, but essentially we choose how to prioritize our time.
00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:19.920
If you look at an average day, let's say that someone sleeps for eight hours, works for eight hours, and maybe I don't know, has a gym class, let's say that's two hours door-to-door.
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.880
So that is what, eight, sixteen, eighteen hours.
00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:24.559
There's 24 hours in a day.
00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:27.599
What are we actually doing with the other six hours?
00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:34.640
And that can sound like quite a confronting question, and immediately people can say, myself included, oh well, I've got to cook, haven't I?
00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:38.000
And I've got to do this, and then like I want to relax after I get home from work.
00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:43.200
And great, all of that's important, but are we actually choosing what to do with our time there?
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:46.640
Or are we just getting home watching TV out of habit?
00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:49.279
But it might not even be the thing that we want to do that evening.
00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:55.759
We might have enjoyed something else more, but because it's our routine, our habit, we are just wasting that time.
00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:58.559
Anyway, I've gone on to a bit of a rant about time management there.
00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:07.759
Whereas actually what this is about is if you are really, really busy, some of the tools that I found really helpful, firstly, actually log how much time things take.
00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:15.200
Now I'm not going to sit there and pretend that I do this religiously and I count every second, but I have an app called Clockify that my friend Laura got me onto.
00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:18.079
And when I was in Australia, I just did it with like a normal stopwatch.
00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:25.359
But actually measuring how much time things take, because I think a lot of time management is actually understanding the time that something takes to do.
00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:29.440
Like, how long does it take you to get ready in the morning, actually, if you were to time it?
00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:31.359
Or how much time do you spend doom scrolling?
00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:36.720
Like I know we get the reports on our phone, but like how how much time do things actually take?
00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:38.000
So actually being aware of that.
00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:42.720
For all of these, awareness, even if you do nothing with it to start with, is the first step.
00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:46.400
Like actually just consciously noticing everything that's happening in your life.
00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.440
Second thing is looking at standing appointments.
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:56.559
So looking at the things that you do every week and actually just asking yourself, is this benefiting me anymore or am I just doing this for the sake of it?
00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:59.519
And I think something like this could be hobbies.
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:03.200
Are there any hobbies you have in your life where you're like, I actually don't enjoy this anymore?
00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:04.640
I actually don't want to do this.
00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:08.640
Or the next one that I'm gonna feed into, which sounds a bit harsh, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:09.119
People.
00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:12.960
Are there people that you meet up with on a regular basis where you're like, you know what?
00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:15.839
This connection isn't actually doing much for me anymore.
00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:17.839
Like, I feel drained every time I leave them.
00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:20.160
I don't enjoy the time we spend together anymore.
00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:21.920
Like, have you got any of that going on?
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:24.720
Or work, work is a big one for me personally.
00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:30.400
When I was working in the UK, I would work a couple of hours a day overtime sometimes.
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:32.400
Not paid, unpaid.
00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:35.200
Like, I would just choose to spend my free time working.
00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:40.559
And I'm sorry, if you're working a nine to five, the whole point of that is that you get paid to work a certain amount of hours.
00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:43.519
It is literally time equals money.
00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:47.119
And so, why on earth would we give our time for no money?
00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.519
That's not in the deal, that's not in the contract.
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:51.119
So that's another one that people do.
00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:58.880
Like out of habit, people will just work instead of actually being like, wait a minute, no, I ain't fucking doing that because I'm not being paid for this.
00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:00.160
So that's another one.
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:07.440
The fourth one, if you actually really are busy, which okay, that sounded obviously we're busy, like I get it, I get it.
00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:17.039
But outsourcing things, so if there's something that's taking you a lot of time when you look at your diary, can you declutter that by actually delegating it to someone else?
00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:21.680
Whether it's I spend three hours every Saturday cleaning, could you hire a cleaner?
00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:27.039
And I know that sounds like, oh, I can't afford a cleaner, but actually a cleaner is about£15 an hour.
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.799
Maximum, I think, if I'm honest, unless it's gone up since I've left the UK.
00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.519
And let's say you do a deep clean, what, once a fortnight?
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:38.319
You could do like the little bits as you go, and then once a fortnight get a deep clean.
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:39.359
That's like£45.
00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:41.920
I spend that on a night out.
00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:45.039
I don't know, it's it's about prioritization, isn't it?
00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:47.680
It's about choosing what is more important to you.
00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:48.960
You might really like cleaning.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:50.960
You might be like, bitch, don't take my cleaning away from me.
00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:52.400
And I'm like, yeah, go on then.
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:53.599
Like my editing.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:03.359
I mean, not that I'm in a financial position to pay an editor, but editing my podcast is gonna be one of the last things I give up because I actually just love sitting there and doing it, even though it's an admin task.
00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:13.039
So joy is important, but if there's something that you don't enjoy, drains your energy and takes up your time, is there a way that you can delegate it to someone else?
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:19.759
And the last thing I find really helpful, it kind of links back to that mindset about not having time, but changing my language.
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:26.960
So instead of saying I don't have time for that, saying I'm not prioritizing that and seeing how that sits with you.
00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:30.240
Because it's a really good way to do one of two things.
00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:38.319
Either it can relieve guilt because you can say, Oh, I'm not prioritizing that because that's not something that's important to me right now, and that's totally fine.
00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:39.039
That's great.
00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:42.000
At that point, you can be like, So I'm gonna not worry about that.
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:44.400
I'm not gonna feel guilty for not doing that.
00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:51.839
The other thing is that you might be sitting there saying, I'm not gonna prioritize going to the gym because I am doom scrolling again for the fourth night in a row.
00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:59.359
And that might feel uncomfortable, and just again, that awareness is the first step to change if that is something that you want to change.
00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:04.000
I'm not here to preach because like everyone's gonna have their own strengths, everyone's gonna have their own weaknesses.
00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:06.960
The things that I'm doing might not work for you, and vice versa.
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:14.960
But it's really just about having that awareness and being able to choose intentionally for us, what do we want to spend our time doing?
00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:18.000
As JLS said, we only get one shot, so make it count.
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:22.559
We only get to live this life once, bitches, so we might as well spend it doing the things we want to do.
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:26.480
The fourth one is my most controversial one, and it's gonna make me sound like a bitch, but I don't care.
00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:28.480
It is the people declutter.
00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:33.119
It is who do you have in your life and who can you potentially not have in your life anymore?
00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:35.920
That sounds really harsh, but I'm gonna go into it.
00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:37.839
I did an Instagram post about this recently.
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:45.759
This is actually some of the content for me on Instagram, which is taking off the most, the things about friendships and about connections in our life.
00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:49.200
And I did a post recently where I spoke about Aristotle.
00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:53.359
So I think we've heard the phrase friends for a reason, friends for a season, friends for life.
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:57.119
If you haven't, it basically means some friends are gonna be there for a purpose.
00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:04.559
Maybe you met through work, maybe you met for a hobby, maybe you're in the same stage of life, and they're not meant to be permanent friends, but they are good in that moment.
00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:14.160
Friends for a season, this is where you might be really good friends with someone for a period of time, but you might then grow apart, or you might have different interests, or one might move away, and the long distance doesn't work.
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:20.079
So you were really, really important to each other for a while, and then potentially that dwindles, and then you've got friends for life.
00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:24.000
They're the real ones, the ones that are gonna be there for a long, long time.
00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:27.359
This comes from something Aristotle said literally 3,000 years ago.
00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:28.960
So this is not a new thing, okay?
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:31.680
This is one of the oldest things you could possibly have.
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:36.400
And he called it friends of utility, friends of pleasure, I think.
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:38.640
Yeah, friends of pleasure, and then friends of the good.
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:39.920
Same principle.
00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:46.480
And I think the problem with humans generally is that we are creatures of habit.
00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:55.759
So most of the things that we do, so there was a research here actually that said 43% of things we do in the same context is habitual, aka automatic.
00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:57.279
We do not choose what we do.
00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:00.319
We probably get up and do the same thing every morning because it's habit.
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:08.240
We probably do the same thing every time we get stressed, whether that's eating or scrolling or watching TV, because it's habitual.
00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:09.839
And that's how our brains work.
00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:11.519
It's not that we're choosing to do that.
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:18.079
Our brains are trying to help us, bless their little hearts slash brains, by creating shortcuts for us.
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:25.200
Because if we took in every single bit of information in this world, like all the things we hear, all the things we see, all the things we taste, we would just explode.
00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:33.039
Like we cannot place equal importance on every single stimuli that is coming into our body, or every single thing that we are observing.
00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:34.559
And so our brain does a few things.
00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.720
Firstly, it filters our world through a lens that relates to our beliefs.
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:43.680
So if we believe something, then our brain will subconsciously look for evidence to prove that right.
00:29:43.839 --> 00:29:47.759
The other thing it does, which is important for this, is it will create shortcuts.
00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:51.440
And those shortcuts will basically say, when X happens, I do Y.
00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:52.960
And it can help us sometimes.
00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:56.480
Like if there's a lion, we're not gonna have to think about what we do in that situation.
00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:02.400
We're gonna be like, I'm out of here, bitches, unless there's anyone who's like really badass who actually goes for the fight response and takes on the lion.
00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:04.480
And if you are that person, fair play, it's not me.
00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:05.279
It could never be me.
00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:12.000
But it's not always so helpful when we start to do things out of routine without actually questioning why we're doing them.
00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:14.240
And this is where the people declutter comes in.
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:25.680
Because for some people, some people in their lives will be there, not because they are now actually adding energy and value to their lives, but because they have been there for so long that it's a habit to see them now.
00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:32.160
So maybe you have a friend where you kind of think, oh, I haven't seen so-and-so in a couple of months, I guess I better meet up with them.
00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:47.200
And then you meet up with them and it's fine, but you don't really have that much to talk about, or you do, but it's all surface level, and you leave the interaction feeling a little bit drained, or maybe it's a little bit darker than that, and you get there, and maybe they're not very nice to you, or maybe they put you down, or maybe you just feel a little bit shit when you leave them.
00:30:47.519 --> 00:31:00.079
But we kind of hold on to things out of habit because sometimes ending a friendship or ending a connection is quite difficult, but actually, this is one of the biggest areas we can declutter because the thing is we only have a limited amount of energy.
00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:03.440
We do not have energy to be giving to every single person who enters our life.
00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:07.359
Again, we have one life and we have to be discerning with who we spend our energy on.
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:09.920
And so I sound like I'm preaching, and you know what?
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.799
For this one, I have actually really worked on it.
00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:17.920
So I can tell you from my experience that it is something that's really helped me.
00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:21.200
I'm an extrovert and I do attract friendships easily.
00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:22.240
I'm very open about that.
00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:24.079
That's always been one of my default settings.
00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:27.039
Uh, episode two, if you don't know what a default setting is.
00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:41.519
So, friendships for me have always been really easy, but my problem is that sometimes I acquire so many friendships that I can't actually give what I want to give to the really, really special friendships that I have because I have so many people I'm spreading myself too thin.
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:48.160
And also, I will sometimes take on friendships where maybe I'm not really gaining much from that friendship.
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:53.680
So I'm kind of there because I know that I'm helping them, but the other way around it doesn't really work.
00:31:53.920 --> 00:32:01.440
And so over the last year I really have been looking at my friendships and with love, really intentionally choosing where I'm putting that energy.
00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:03.440
So that's my people declutter.
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:07.519
It is actually thinking if they are still adding value to your life.
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:17.359
And by the way, if you do have a look at a friendship, for example, let's say a friendship, it could be a work relationship, an actual relationship, if you like hate your partner, lol, or like maybe even family.
00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:21.519
I know you can't cut off family, but you can manage the time you spend with them.
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:23.759
But let's use a friendship as an example.
00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:31.759
Let's say that you were really, really close with someone and you used to go out partying together all the time and you have so much fun, and now when you see each other, it just feels a bit different.
00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:42.319
Maybe one of you is in a different stage of life, or maybe you don't have much in common anymore, or maybe one of you stop partying and you realize after the partying stops, you don't really know each other very well.
00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:46.559
And all of that doesn't invalidate what you had with that person.
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:53.279
Every single friendship that you've had is important, whether it's a friend for a reason, a friend for season, or a friend for life.
00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:57.279
There's no guilt in letting go of a friendship that's no longer serving you.
00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:10.640
Because firstly, it's probably no longer serving them either, whether that's because maybe they're feeling the same, maybe they're feeling a bit drained by it, or maybe because they are using you as maybe like a therapist or something when really they need to get an actual therapist.
00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:17.200
But either way, letting go of that friendship doesn't make you a bad person or selfish, and it also doesn't invalidate the connection that you had.
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:20.319
It doesn't mean that the time you were friends was any less important.
00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:31.119
That was a really important part of your life, but now when we're sitting here in this current moment, we need to be intentional with who we are choosing to connect with going forward.
00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:35.279
So that is my people declutter, and it can come across as quite harsh, but you know what?
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:36.480
Someone needs to say it.
00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:39.839
Like I had to say it to myself, and I'm gonna say it to my bitches as well.
00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:41.200
So with love.
00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:46.079
And the last one is a very modern day one, and one that I'm definitely focusing on.
00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:52.400
But I would say this one is probably the one where I'm turning a blind eye at the minute, and it's constantly stressing me out.
00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:58.160
But like I say in every episode, Rome wasn't built in a day, and I cannot do all of this at once, okay?
00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:01.519
I cannot do my finances and my vintage haul.
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:05.599
The other two I've kind of managed, to be fair, but I cannot do everything.
00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:13.039
So this one is on the phase two of my declutter, and this is the digital declutter.
00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:21.039
Now we live in a very digital world, and our digital clutter, there is evidence to suggest that it has the same effects on our brain as physical clutter.
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:26.320
The same cognitive resources are being used, the same draining of our energy and our souls.
00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:28.000
Lol, not to be dramatic.
00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:50.639
Some examples of digital clutter are having apps all over your phone, having emails that you haven't looked at in months, or having like loads of undeleted emails, having lots of different versions of the same document, and they're all the same, but you've just not deleted them or not actually formatted them properly, or having about a thousand or millions or whatever you've got of photos and videos and your camera reel.
00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:57.519
And you know, when you have a photo shoe, and obviously when we say we want to take a photo of ourselves, we take about 30 because you need to pick the best angle, the best lighting.
00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:05.360
Girls, I don't need to explain this, but then you look back and you're looking for your camera roll, and you have 30 of the same photo because you just haven't deleted the other 29.
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:08.480
You've picked your favourite, you've posted it on Instagram, the rest of them are still there.
00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:11.440
This is the digital platter I'm talking about, okay?
00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:19.599
And the main one for me, the one that is the bane of my existence is my storage on my laptop.
00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:21.039
I made an error.
00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:32.159
I fucked up big time because I bought a new laptop recently, because it got to the point where my old laptop, it was 13 years old, I'd had it since I was 18, but it was so old that I couldn't download Chrome anymore.
00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:39.280
Like I literally couldn't use Google Chrome because it was so old it couldn't open the newest version of the app.
00:35:39.360 --> 00:35:41.360
Like it sh it was time for her to be put down.
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:42.159
It was her time.
00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:49.599
So I bought a new laptop, but the mistake I made is that I transferred everything from my old laptop onto my new laptop.
00:35:49.760 --> 00:35:59.840
What I should have done, what an organized Maddie, a declutter aware Maddie would have done, is actually just spend half a day going through and deleting all of the shit.
00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:02.159
Like the CVs from when I was 20 years old.
00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:04.400
I didn't need them anymore, they're so out of date.
00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:09.599
All of the photos that I have both on my camera roll and for some reason saved in a folder.
00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:10.559
Why?
00:36:10.880 --> 00:36:11.519
Why?
00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:17.039
So anyway, I didn't do that, and now probably every two or three weeks I need to edit my podcast.
00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:24.800
I'll try and airdrop the video to my laptop because I edit on my laptop but record on my phone, and I won't be able to because I don't have enough storage.
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:33.119
So then I have to go through and delete a load of things, and then I have to go through all of my cash for my DaVinci Resolve, which is my editing app, or my iMovie, other editing app.
00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:40.159
It's a whole thing, and really what I need to do is just sit there and go through it all at once and just completely cleanse my laptop.
00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:51.679
But at the minute I'm just firefighting because I'm here we go, I'm using my language, I'm not prioritizing that because I have other things to prioritize, but that is so on my to-do list, and it's causing me stress.
00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:56.400
And I wonder if there's anything you're thinking of right now where you're like, yes, Maddie, I know exactly what you're talking about.
00:36:56.559 --> 00:36:58.159
Mine is my laptop storage.
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:00.159
I bet one of yours is your phone storage.
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:03.920
Some of you listening to this are gonna be trying to take a video, especially.
00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:13.519
Oh my god, I remember on my old phone, my storage was so shit, and I'm a pole dancer, so I was recording even before I was doing videos like this.
00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:18.480
Now, thank fuck I have a lot of storage because I'm caught recording like hour-long videos.
00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:26.719
But when I was a pole dancer, it got to the point where I would record a video and I'm like, hope that saves, hope it doesn't cut out halfway through because of my storage.
00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:29.679
Oh god, sorry, I'm just going on a rant about storage now.
00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:44.480
But basically, digital clutter uses the same resources as physical clutter, so a really good way to get rid of some of those energy leaks and the things where we're constantly thinking about them is to make our digital world a place we actually want to be.
00:37:44.719 --> 00:37:46.239
That was beautiful, wasn't it?
00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:50.320
Make our digital world a beautiful place full of rainbows and butterflies.
00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:56.320
I feel like that girl from Mean Girls where she's like, I just want to live in a place with rainbows, and then Damien's like, it doesn't even go here.
00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:58.000
That's what I feel like right now.
00:37:58.159 --> 00:38:00.239
But I really need to do a digital declutter.
00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:02.960
So that is my number five, that is my top tip for you.
00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:11.440
And honestly, in terms of by the way, I've just totally forgot to go into the practical tips here, but um, firstly, this one's just a time thing, really.
00:38:11.519 --> 00:38:15.840
You just have to bite the bullet, accept it's gonna be shit, get a glass of wine and do it.
00:38:16.079 --> 00:38:17.440
I have no tips for this one.
00:38:17.599 --> 00:38:21.280
Apart from, I know that I'm not really using AI in this way.
00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:30.079
I I'd say I'm beginner-level AI at the minute, where I'm kind of using it to do research, and I've set up some playbooks, which again I can do another episode on AI if anyone's interested.
00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:35.519
But I know that my stepdad and my brother for their businesses use AI for everything.
00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:46.960
AI filters their emails, AI will respond to some of their emails, AI will create websites and reports for them and things like that, and there might be a way you can utilize AI to do a declutter as well.
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:50.960
But honestly, I think for me, I kind of want that intentional, energetic declutter.
00:38:51.039 --> 00:39:00.400
I want to sit there at the end of the day in a bottle of wine deep saying, I did this, I have decluttered my digital world and I feel like a bad bitch.
00:39:00.719 --> 00:39:03.119
So, that is today's episode.
00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:08.159
So, just to recap what we've gone through, a declutter isn't just something that's really nice to do.
00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:21.440
There's actually psychological and scientific evidence that clutter, both in our physical world, mental world, etc., actually drains our resources, and those resources are things that we can then not put towards other things that we actually deem important to us.
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:33.679
And this is important to me right now because I've got four contract jobs on the go, plus I'm trying to launch this page, plus I'm managing living between two houses, not to mention doing overnight sits because I'm a pet sitter as well, so I'll stay in other people's houses.
00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:36.400
So everything's a little bit turbulent in my life right now.
00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:41.199
So I need as much energy as I can possibly gather.
00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:45.199
And I realize that I was building on a rocky foundation.
00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:54.079
I realized that actually I was trying to add more and more and more and more, and I made the age-old issue, and I did this in 2024, by the way, so I know this works.
00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:59.840
This is exactly what I did when I rewrote romantic relationships and restarted my life when I moved to Australia.
00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:03.519
Get rid of the shit first and then start building.
00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:05.840
So that is what I'm really prioritizing.
00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:12.880
I'm carving out time in my diary to really focus on getting my shit together so that I can move forward with clarity and intention.
00:40:13.039 --> 00:40:14.639
That was a little bit of a tangent about me.
00:40:14.719 --> 00:40:15.840
So back to the recap.
00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:18.159
We looked at five different types of declutter.
00:40:18.239 --> 00:40:23.599
So the physical declutter, actually cleaning your house basically in your office or wherever you spend your time.
00:40:23.760 --> 00:40:30.079
The financial declutter, making your streams of income and where your money's going a little bit more understandable.
00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:43.039
And by the way, resources for that are like I mentioned earlier, Tori Dunlap, the financial feminist, really good, and Denise Duffield Thomas, Get Rich Lucky Bitch, and she has a podcast called Chill and Prosper, really good for just money mindset.
00:40:43.199 --> 00:40:46.960
So Tori's more practical, Denise is more mental.
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:49.039
Both work so well together.
00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:57.519
The third one is diary declutter, so actually prioritizing your time and getting rid of things that are taking up your time that you don't need to be doing anymore.
00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:03.360
Fourth one is the people declutter, people who might be draining your energy or no longer adding value to your life.
00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:12.000
And fifth is the digital declutter, fucking sorting your storage out, plus your photos and your emails and whatever else is taking up your digital space right now.
00:41:12.239 --> 00:41:14.159
So that is the end of the episode.
00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:15.920
I hope you found that one helpful.
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:19.119
Like I always say, I love to share what's going on in my mind at the moment.
00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:22.159
So you get a really this is basically a window into my brain.
00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:25.440
What am I doing to sort my life out right now?
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:27.840
And what am I doing that's adding value to my life?
00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:29.360
What am I doing that's making me happy?
00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:32.480
So this one is quite a practical one about something I'm literally doing.
00:41:32.559 --> 00:41:44.719
Some of the episodes are about uh more sort of mindset tools, some of the episodes are kind of more of just like a history of Maddie, where it's talking about things I've done in the past, some of them are on specific topics.
00:41:45.039 --> 00:41:47.199
I love to keep this open at the moment.
00:41:47.280 --> 00:41:50.639
Maybe one day it will take a bit more shape and we'll focus on a specific topic.
00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:59.599
But right now, Shift with Maddie is really just about how you can take intentional steps to make your life the life that you want to live.
00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:01.039
That's exactly what I'm doing now.
00:42:01.119 --> 00:42:03.760
I'm in the middle of it and I'd love that for you as well.
00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:08.960
So if you did enjoy this episode on decluttering, please do rate, review, and subscribe.
00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:12.239
It helps me so much when I'm trying to get this podcast out there.
00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:14.239
Also, share it with a friend.
00:42:14.400 --> 00:42:19.840
The best way for podcasts to grow is for people who like the podcast to send it to other people who might like the podcast.
00:42:19.920 --> 00:42:26.800
So if you're listening to this and you're finding value from it, it would mean the world if you could send it to someone, because then we can just grow our community.
00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:28.400
We can make our little girl gang a bit bigger.
00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:32.239
I say girls, girls is a state of mind, anyone who embodies the girly energy.
00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:32.960
Do you know what I mean?
00:42:33.119 --> 00:42:34.000
Like, bring them over.
00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:35.440
They can all be part of our group.
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:42.800
I will be back with another episode next week, and I don't know what it's going to be on, because another thing I always say is that I will do things that are impacting me right now.
00:42:42.880 --> 00:42:45.119
So whatever's on my mind is what's going to come out of my mouth.
00:42:45.280 --> 00:42:47.599
So, really, it's just like catching up with a friend, if I'm honest.
00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:50.159
It is just talking to someone who wants to help you.
00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:57.199
If you have anything to share, maybe you have other ways to declutter, or maybe there's something that really helps you, or maybe you just want to say hi.
00:42:57.440 --> 00:42:59.599
Come to Instagram at shiftwithmaddie.
00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:01.119
I would love to hear from you.
00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:05.519
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and I will see you next time.
00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:06.800
Goodbye for now.