00:15:31.780You clear the space, you sort the stuff, and then you assess what you want to keep.
00:15:37.260and what you want to move out before making the organizational plan. And what I've been doing on
00:15:42.260Instagram is every day I've sort of been putting up a post and the assess questions I feel like
00:15:48.020are really, really important because we don't so often think about even with the first day,
00:15:52.640which is your socks. Like, do we often stop to think about what is it that I actually like
00:16:00.260about socks? Do I like socks that are above the ankle? Do I like that they're below the ankle?
00:16:05.700What fabric do I actually like from my socks? Do I like white socks or do I want dark colored socks or bright colors? Do I like to match my socks to my outfits? Do I like playful prints? Do I need to have some fleece socks for when it's really cold or do my feet just get really hot?
00:16:24.340Those questions, we never actually stop to ask ourselves. And so that's what I think is so helpful about assess is actually in that five minute to 10 minute sort of task. Can you actually interrogate yourself and ask yourself why you want to hold on to something or why you have put it into the discard pile?
00:16:46.120And again, these are questions that we personally ask ourselves as opposed to having to, you know, talk with someone else about them.
00:16:54.820So socks, they may be insignificant, but that's where you start.
00:16:59.680I don't think socks are insignificant at all.
00:17:01.800And I love the idea of assessing because it really is.
00:23:09.980That I know many people are returning to the office, so there may not be the need for as much pajamas and loungewear.
00:23:16.260But when you think about, like, sleeping at night, and even, like, I still have, like, my work clothes, and then as soon as I get home, I, like, change into my pajamas, essentially, because I want to be comfortable in the evening.
00:23:31.380So it's, I don't know, we wear them so long during the day, and so why not have the pairs that you need?
00:23:37.920It's not that you need 15, you know, but like, how do you have three to five sets that actually
00:23:43.500work? I also don't control the heat in our New York city apartment. So there are times when I
00:23:49.000need like shorts and t-shirts and I just invested in some really nice jambies, which it's like the
00:23:55.640matching sort of set of like pants and shirts and sweatshirt that again, just makes a huge
00:24:02.400difference. And then day four before shoes was workout gear. So this year I've lost 30 pounds.
00:24:08.560I've overhauled my physical health and I feel like workout gear, you know, there are many reasons why
00:24:14.640people hold on to clothing from an aspirational standpoint that sometimes you're like, okay,
00:24:19.100this is the clothing that if I lose 10 to 15 pounds, I can fit back into, or this is the dress
00:24:25.100that's sort of like motivating me. I feel like with workout gear, you've got to have the stuff
00:24:30.680that fits because when it doesn't fit it pulls on you it drags it can chafe like it just isn't
00:24:37.040good and so i have had to go through what do i actually like what actually fits what doesn't
00:24:44.680um you know i'm no longer working out in cotton because cotton just you know it takes all the
00:24:51.160sweat and which isn't a good thing it doesn't lift it away from your body as you're working out
00:24:55.500but then there were people who you know they were like what do i do with all of my um like all of
00:25:02.800the t-shirts from all of the different races and it's like if that brings you joy then keep it but
00:25:09.020if it doesn't then move it out and move on so i feel like those categories to at least get you
00:25:15.660started are very motivational yeah you know that's that is a big question that i have with workout
00:25:20.580gear because we also do a bunch of triathlons so we have all of the shirts i've stopped taking the
00:25:26.000shirts yeah yeah yeah because they also when you think about the mass quantity that they have to
00:25:33.280produce and even when you pay those really high sort of like fees you know it's like it just is
00:25:40.020not worth it and i have had to learn that about myself too that it's like i don't need to go to
00:25:44.860these free expos and grab everything no i've even you know when i'm invited to all of these like
00:25:51.300influencer events like i will take what i like from the grab bag and then i sort of put the other
00:25:58.040stuff like back on the table for someone else to take like there's only so much stuff i can like
00:26:03.900bring into my life but again it goes back to those questions of assess like can you actually
00:26:11.800name for yourself what it is that you like about a particular item, which then not only informs
00:26:18.540what you keep, but also what you choose to bring in, that you really want to interrogate each item
00:26:25.300so that it, you know, sort of meets your own like quality review standards.
00:26:31.020Exactly, exactly. And I think that's one of the things that I want to be a lot more intentional
00:26:34.300about this year. It's not just what am I getting rid of, but what is coming into this house?
00:26:41.020and just because it just because it's free doesn't mean it should come here
00:26:44.620no and we did something with the grandparents this year so you know for the holidays we really
00:26:51.340pushed like experiences but then with my mom we had this theme of crafting and consumables which
00:26:58.200i thought was just like the most beautiful approach to holidays like my girls they each
00:27:03.720got their own individual bags of the cheddar caramel popcorn that they just love and they
00:27:09.740thought that that was the best gift ever i'm also trying to actually like burn our candles so like
00:27:17.840we've had like in the morning i've had this new routine of like as i'm brewing my coffee i'm now
00:27:23.800doing my yoga because i'm learning that i can't go straight from waking up to working out or else
00:27:29.140i'll pinch a nerve so i actually have to warm my body up in this new phase of life that i'm in but
00:27:33.660now i like light the candle every morning because the candle like why can't i light a candle at five
00:27:40.580in the morning you can of course you can wait are you are you lighting trad wife tears candles
00:27:44.220of course is there any other there's no other candles that's the only candle except until the
00:27:49.200parisian heist candle comes out that's the only candle that anyone should be lighting at five in
00:27:52.780the morning correct but it's like why not use the things that bring you joy um i'm also trying to
00:27:59.460use up my cosmetics and my snail mucin creams. And I just opened up this morning, I had teeth
00:28:07.960whitening strips that I'm like, how long has that box been in there? So this is the week for me to
00:28:13.200actually like whiten my teeth because it's there. I need to use it. But I feel like so often we have
00:28:18.780this clutter that is just getting in the way of the gems that we actually have in our homes.
00:28:25.820And so that's what the goal of the tidy up your January is, is like with your stuff, how can you make space for what's actually important to you?
00:31:19.860We had a lot to think about when it came to that underwear drawer.
00:31:22.980It is still easier to tackle than a lot of other things.
00:31:26.620What do you think that people find the hardest to tackle?
00:31:29.760I think that there are a whole host of categories where it's not really clear who owns the decision
00:31:38.060making power, that there is stuff that has just accumulated. It could be from giftings. It could
00:31:45.360be stuff that you've had for 10 or 15 years. It was stuff that was on like your wedding registry
00:31:49.940years ago. And it's just not really clear who gets the final say on that particular item.
00:31:56.900So I do feel like, you know, what I do recommend is another calendar, which is a full year decluttering calendar where it's essentially what are like the three categories per month that are realistic for people to tackle.
00:32:13.460So we're obviously talking about like tidy up your January, but there are other things that make sense to tackle in January, like paper.
00:32:21.760So tax season is coming every January as you're starting to get all of the W-2s, all of the tax
00:32:28.340papers, like there has to be a place where they go and they need to be organized because if they're
00:32:33.040not organized, then it's going to set you up for a really big headache down the road. I think that
00:32:38.800kitchen is another category because theoretically from Thanksgiving until December, you have cooked
00:32:45.300more in your kitchen than you will any other time in the year. And so now is the time to like,
00:32:51.200go through the baking supplies go through any of those like specialty sort of like
00:32:55.440kitchen gadgets because if you didn't use it in this holiday season are you really going to use
00:33:01.120it again um even thinking about the holiday decor as you're starting to put it away like if you
00:33:07.920didn't put it out this year then why is it necessarily taking up space and so for us
00:33:12.920I feel like what has sort of helped to alleviate that feeling of oh my gosh if I don't declutter
00:33:18.560everything in January. It's never going to happen really is that calendar approach, which again,
00:33:24.760I have on my sub stack because I feel like knowing, okay, I'm getting to that category in
00:33:30.540February or that's what I always do in April. It's just a helpful way to sort of calm that
00:33:37.180inner desire that you have to do everything right now. Because what happens is, is when you're
00:33:42.560motivated, you'll do it. And then about two hours in, you want to cry because you've completely
00:33:48.240unloaded every category in your house or in a room at one time. And I think that approach just
00:33:54.840isn't practical. So I like the calendars. I like the small, narrow tasks and recognizing that
00:34:02.580tidying isn't something that's one and done. It's sort of this cyclical, continual process.
00:34:09.020I like the idea of thinking about it as a process because it is true. We are really,
00:34:15.380especially now like i said earlier you know in january it's like you better get all this done
00:34:22.180right now or you're you're kind of a big failure whereas yes i i think just that's why i love the
00:34:30.160one drawer approach at a time because it's like you don't need to do everything today when it
00:34:35.260comes to how when it comes to house stuff with like divvying it up with nick astor i try to come
00:34:41.460up with tasks for the week i'm like okay so this week we want the tree to come down that'd be great
00:34:47.800we can we're we're gonna feed it to the goats we always feed it to the local goat farm i think
00:34:51.620we're gonna do that on saturday afternoon after we have girl scout cookie initiation by the way
00:34:56.220which is like a whole whole other podcast series that i think that there has to be a podcast series
00:35:01.140on girl scout cookie selling i don't know if it has has ever been created but like i would listen
00:35:06.160to the shit out of that podcast i really would we are also organizing the kitchen because
00:35:11.260i got two new kitchen appliances i got a panini maker which i'm very excited about
00:35:16.700and uh i finally got a um kitchen aid mixer yeah but we don't have the counter space so we have to
00:35:24.360build some new counter space which means some organization and i'm gonna do exactly what you0.73
00:35:28.620just said which is just getting rid of some shit sometimes i like to go in with the question that0.76
00:35:34.440it's like what is getting in the way of your ideal placement of your KitchenAid mixer you know0.97
00:35:41.480that that can be a way for you to just sort of like ruthlessly assess and look because oftentimes
00:35:47.360it's little things or it's like systems that have sort of broken down or it's the weird like
00:35:53.420even all the specialty things like the avocado sort of like peeler that it's like
00:35:59.640for thousands of years people have been able to open avocados with lots of different methods and
00:36:06.220now even just the knife and spoon method does work like you don't need you don't really need
00:36:11.040that i don't know i've never used an avocado peeler i don't know if it would change my life
00:36:14.840for the better we had we had a salad shooter for a really long time because that was like the 90s
00:36:21.880infomercials yeah was where you would watch all of the things that you could shoot out of the
00:36:25.860salad shooter. And my best friend growing up, her mom gifted us the salad shooter. Like I even
00:36:32.360remembered who gifted it, gave it to us like as part of our wedding. But recently we got rid of
00:36:38.520the salad shooter because it was too many parts. It was like, so we just do not have the space in
00:36:44.140our New York City apartment. So I had to thank Susan Moore for thinking of us with the salad
00:36:48.900shooter and then move it on because what was getting in the way of my ideal sort of like
00:36:54.480cabinet was susan moore's salad shoot yeah so sort of naming it and getting it out was really handy
00:37:01.680and helpful yeah yeah no exactly exactly and like we talked about before someone really wants that
00:37:08.280salad shooter someone needs that sour shooter like i would find that at the free store and be like i
00:37:12.540want this it is really it is handy and if your you know kitchen is more than like a hundred square
00:37:20.020feet like i would recommend it if it's lower than that like ours smaller than that like i don't
00:37:25.700recommend the salad shooter and they have much more like efficient ones that are easy to clean
00:37:29.540but yes the salad shooter is great i don't even know if they still make it so now it's a nostalgic
00:37:34.780well i so i've got i have this pasta maker this is so sad everyone's gonna everyone's i'm just
00:37:41.160gonna end on a downer guys um it is the last gift that my dad gave me before he passed away
00:37:47.240this pasta maker that attaches to a KitchenAid, which we didn't, we've never had a KitchenAid,
00:37:55.520friends. So I haven't used this pasta maker in nine years since he gifted it to me for Christmas
00:38:01.820right before he passed away. But I have vowed, it takes up a lot of space. There's a lot of parts to
00:38:06.620this thing, right? I have vowed that if we hook it up to the KitchenAid and it doesn't work,
00:38:11.020I will just throw it away and that will be okay yeah and it's you know but it's even
00:38:17.060it's funny because it makes me wonder if there's even a little tiny piece of it those are the
00:38:23.340things that I think are really cool because like my grandma recently passed away and when we were
00:38:27.600doing the death cleaning of her home it was interesting to see all of the family members
00:38:32.700go for the different things like there were people who really wanted like large furniture
00:38:37.220and there were other people who wanted certain things and I literally walked into the living room
00:38:42.060where I had been from the time I was a kid and I took the little pull from her ceiling fan that it
00:38:50.660was this little sort of like I don't know it looked like this jewel to me but I came back to
00:38:57.520our New York City apartment and I attached it to the top of our ceiling fan and now whenever I see
00:39:02.100that one little piece like it triggers the memory but it makes me wonder if if you want to throw out
00:39:08.940everything you can if it doesn't work but is there one little piece that if you like tucked it again
00:39:14.320inside your underwear inside my underwear drawer with all of my black underwear
00:39:17.440but when you open then i would be like oh yeah oh dad yeah like it just this would be a little
00:39:23.720piece because i think that's what's beautiful like people don't gift us things your dad did
00:39:28.420not gift you this pasta maker so that nine years from when he gifted it to you, you could have
00:39:34.520this quandary in your house with all of your kids now with this life that you couldn't necessarily
00:39:41.020have envisioned nine years ago. He didn't say, oh, I hope that Joe knows that she needs to keep
00:39:46.200this in perpetuity forevermore. He thought of you. He thought it would be something that you
00:39:50.820would enjoy. Now you might be able to enjoy it. And if not, that memory can still live on
00:39:56.180in a different way yeah i agree i love that see now we're not ending on a downer we're ending on
00:40:02.240a hopeful happy happy note about a piece of a piece of a pasta maker and that pasta part it
00:40:07.780just might work it might work i don't know we're gonna we're gonna unpack the the kitchen aid
00:40:11.720mixer today so we'll know soon stay tuned what color did you get i forget is it a color it's a
00:40:18.940of course it's a color i think i did the robin's egg blue but i forget because we haven't opened
00:40:23.220I saw something on threads. This woman had found one with this beautiful wooden bowl. And she was
00:40:29.240like, this is just the most beautiful thing that I ever could have dreamt of. And I was like,
00:40:33.800thank you, KitchenAid, for building this. Yeah. For building this. Exactly. No, I mean, I love
00:40:39.640good looking appliances, to be honest. So yeah, no, I'm very... That would fall into your assess.
00:40:46.120So that's very good that you know that about yourself, because that helps you make decisions
00:40:50.200about what comes in what comes in and what goes out oh my gosh we're gonna have to do this again
00:40:54.000let's do it halfway through the month and we can do a check-in and see okay perfect perfect done
00:41:00.860but again you don't have to do your underwear it's done yeah so now just move on just move on
00:41:04.320move on to the other things other things okay tell everyone one more time how they can find you and
00:41:08.420also remind them about your wonderful book which i love so much thanks so yes so you can find me
00:41:14.140on instagram at tidy dad and then on sub stack is where a lot of the things that we've talked about
00:41:19.060today live so my stub stack is the tidy times and then my book is celebrating its one year
00:41:24.620anniversary tidy up your life so really just google tidy and you'll see marie kondo and then
00:41:30.320hopefully me and you can find then you can find everything yeah perfect so so good to have you
00:41:34.660here you are the best i love it every time thanks