#585 Designing for Decision Fatigue: Minimal Choices, Maximum Freedom

#585 Designing for Decision Fatigue: Minimal Choices, Maximum Freedom

585: Designing for Decision Fatigue: Minimal Choices, Maximum Freedom

Welcome to Part 3 of the Abundant Home Conference series! In this segment, Kathi and her guest Amy Betters-Midtvedt talk about having a neurodiverse family and how having a brain that processes differently affects how people declutter. Together they discuss:

  • The process of body doubling: helping someone complete a project like decluttering by completing pieces of that project for them while training them to take over the entire process eventually 
  • Why it’s important to decide on systems like organization and decluttering as a team
  • Chaotic creativity and why not everything needs to be special all the time

If you missed Part 1 of their conversation, Why Just in Case Is a Trap or Part 2 Fear, Finances, and Finding Peace: Decluttering Your Mind and Home, click the link. Be sure to sign up here and be notified when the next podcast episode drops.

This conversation is a small excerpt from the Abundant Home Conference – a half-day conference held exclusively for members of Kathi Lipp’s Clutter Free for Life membership community. Are you ready to take the next step in your decluttering journey? The step-by-step plan inside Clutter Free for Life can guide you, and the community you find there will encourage you to keep going. It’s time to change the way you think about your home and your stuff! Click here to learn more and join us today, for only $24.99 per month.

The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home

Homesteading [hohm-sted-ing]
noun
1. an act or instance of establishing a homestead.
2. the act of loving where you live so much that you actively ignore the fact that your house is trying to kill you on a regular basis.

For Kathi Lipp and her husband, Roger, buying a house in one of the most remote parts of Northern California was never part of the plan; many of life’s biggest, most rewarding adventures rarely are.

Kathi shares the hard-won wisdom she’s gained on her homestead journey to help you accomplish more at home, gain fresh perspective, and give yourself grace in the process. Here’s a handful of the lessons Kathi shares:

  • Prepare before the need arises
  • Everything is always in process, including us
  • Your best household solution is time and patience
  • You don’t have to do everything the hard way
  • Be open to new and better ways of doing things
  • A lot of small changes make a huge difference.
    Highly practical, humorous, and inspirational, The Accidental Homesteader will encourage you to live with more peace, joy, and contentment.

Order your copy of The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home here.

Kathi and Amy talked about offering less choices as a way to create less barriers between their people and systems. For example, two muffin choices for breakfast and not 25 muffin choices!

Question: If you could have two muffin choices for breakfast, what would you choose?

 

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

  • Leave a note in the comment section below.
  • Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Amy Betters-Midtvedt

Amy Betters-Midtvedt is a writer, educator and mom of 5. Her passions include piling on the couch with her family to binge watch the Office, buying all the books she possibly can, trying to finish a conversation with her husband without being interrupted and writing to help people find the joy in their everyday lives.

You can connect with Amy at amybettersmidtvedt.com. 

Transcript

#584 Fear, Finances, and Finding Peace: Decluttering Your Mind and Home

#584 Fear, Finances, and Finding Peace: Decluttering Your Mind and Home

584: Fear, Finances, and Finding Peace: Decluttering Your Mind and Home

Welcome to Part 2 of the Abundant Home Conference series! In this segment Kathi and her guest Amy Betters-Midtvedt face the fears and hidden perfectionism that often sabotage our decluttering efforts. Together they discuss:

  • How can you avoid a scarcity mindset and start to think differently about your stuff?
  • How do you combat the feeling that the things you have are not enough?
  • How can you challenge the idea that your stuff is protecting you and instead realize that it is limiting you?

If you missed Part 1 of their conversation, you can find it here: Why Just in Case Is a Trap. Be sure to sign up here and be notified when the third part of this three-part conversation releases next week.

This conversation is a small excerpt from the Abundant Home Conference – a half-day conference held exclusively for members of Kathi Lipp’s Clutter Free for Life membership community. Are you ready to take the next step in your decluttering journey? The step-by-step plan inside Clutter Free for Life can guide you, and the community you find there will encourage you to keep going. It’s time to change the way you think about your home and your stuff! Click here to learn more and join us today, for only $24.99 per month.

The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home

Homesteading [hohm-sted-ing]
noun
1. an act or instance of establishing a homestead.
2. the act of loving where you live so much that you actively ignore the fact that your house is trying to kill you on a regular basis.

For Kathi Lipp and her husband, Roger, buying a house in one of the most remote parts of Northern California was never part of the plan; many of life’s biggest, most rewarding adventures rarely are.

Kathi shares the hard-won wisdom she’s gained on her homestead journey to help you accomplish more at home, gain fresh perspective, and give yourself grace in the process. Here’s a handful of the lessons Kathi shares:

  • Prepare before the need arises
  • Everything is always in process, including us
  • Your best household solution is time and patience
  • You don’t have to do everything the hard way
  • Be open to new and better ways of doing things
  • A lot of small changes make a huge difference.
    Highly practical, humorous, and inspirational, The Accidental Homesteader will encourage you to live with more peace, joy, and contentment.

Order your copy of The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home here.

Hidden perfectionism can make it difficult to get things out of our house, because we want to find the perfect recipient for each item.

Question: What can you let go of, imperfectly, this week?

 

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

  • Leave a note in the comment section below.
  • Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Amy Betters-Midtvedt

Amy Betters-Midtvedt is a writer, educator and mom of 5. Her passions include piling on the couch with her family to binge watch the Office, buying all the books she possibly can, trying to finish a conversation with her husband without being interrupted and writing to help people find the joy in their everyday lives.

You can connect with Amy at amybettersmidtvedt.com. 

Transcript

#583 Why “Just in Case” is a Trap: Your Guide to Living Clutter-Free

#583 Why “Just in Case” is a Trap: Your Guide to Living Clutter-Free

583: Why “Just in Case” is a Trap: Your Guide to Living Clutter-Free

Do any of these sound like you?

  • I’m afraid to get rid of things, because what if I need it in the future and don’t have money to replace it?
  • My kids’ notes and artwork are all so special and I can’t part with any of it!
  • I better buy three of those, that way I’ll always be able to find at least one.

If so, then today’s podcast is for you! In this session Kathi chats with self-proclaimed “pack rat” Amy Betters-Midtvedt about her process of digging out from under all the clutter. They talk about green bananas, earring emergencies, and how worry and sentimentality can trip us up. You don’t want to miss it!

This conversation is a small part of the Abundant Home Conference – a half-day conference held exclusively for members of Kathi Lipp’s Clutter Free for Life membership community. Are you ready to take the next step in your decluttering journey? The step-by-step plan inside Clutter Free for Life can guide you, and the community you find there will encourage you to keep going. It’s time to change the way you think about your home and your stuff! Click here to learn more and join us today.

Be sure to sign up here and be notified when the second part of this three-part conversation releases next week.

Also, if you haven’t listened to Kathi and Amy laugh through episode 547 Why I Don’t Eat Green Bananas Anymore, put that one in your queue!

The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home

Homesteading [hohm-sted-ing]
noun
1. an act or instance of establishing a homestead.
2. the act of loving where you live so much that you actively ignore the fact that your house is trying to kill you on a regular basis.

For Kathi Lipp and her husband, Roger, buying a house in one of the most remote parts of Northern California was never part of the plan; many of life’s biggest, most rewarding adventures rarely are.

Kathi shares the hard-won wisdom she’s gained on her homestead journey to help you accomplish more at home, gain fresh perspective, and give yourself grace in the process. Here’s a handful of the lessons Kathi shares:

  • Prepare before the need arises
  • Everything is always in process, including us
  • Your best household solution is time and patience
  • You don’t have to do everything the hard way
  • Be open to new and better ways of doing things
  • A lot of small changes make a huge difference.
    Highly practical, humorous, and inspirational, The Accidental Homesteader will encourage you to live with more peace, joy, and contentment.

Order your copy of The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home here.

In this episode, Kathi and Amy discuss fears that cause us to hang on to stuff.

Question: What are you hanging on to, not because you love it and use it, but because of fear?

 

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

  • Leave a note in the comment section below.
  • Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Amy Betters-Midtvedt

Amy Betters-Midtvedt is a writer, educator and mom of 5. Her passions include piling on the couch with her family to binge watch the Office, buying all the books she possibly can, trying to finish a conversation with her husband without being interrupted and writing to help people find the joy in their everyday lives.

You can connect with Amy at amybettersmidtvedt.com. 

Transcript

#582 Garden Or Grocery Store: Eating Like a Homesteader No Matter Where You Call Home – Part 2

#582 Garden Or Grocery Store: Eating Like a Homesteader No Matter Where You Call Home – Part 2

582: Garden Or Grocery Store: Eating Like a Homesteader No Matter Where You Call Home, Part 2

Have you ever read the ingredients on the bread you buy from the grocery store and thought, “I can’t even pronounce these words! What are they?” Maybe you’d like to take control over what you put into your meals but don’t know where to start?

Start here!

In this episode, Kathi and Roger Lipp discuss what they have learned on their homestead journey about getting closer to the source of their food and what goes into the meals they prepare. As they continue to celebrate the release of Kathi’s new book “The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home”, Kathi and Roger share ways we can all eat like a homesteader even if we don’t have a garden.

For example:

  • Making your own bread (Keep scrolling for recipes!)
  • Making your own cake & brownie mixes
  • Making your own cheese (Kathi and Roger are in LOVE with her homemade mozzarella cheese.)
  • Canning and preserving your abundance
  • Batch cooking and creating Kathi’s favorite fast food swap out: individual serving cubes of soup

Haven’t listened to Part 1 of Garden Or Grocery Store: Eating Like a Homesteader No Matter Where You Call Home? Don’t miss those tips! Click here to listen.

As promised, here are Kathi’s favorite soup and sandwich bread recipes.

Sandwich Bread
1 cups warm water
½ Tablespoon active dry yeast
2 T honey
2.5 cups all purpose flour, divided
1 teaspoon salt
2 T melted butter, divided

  1. Mix the water, yeast, and honey together. Add 2 cups flour, salt and 1 T melted butter together and mix.
  2. Put dough on a surface with ¼ cup of flour and knead it for about 5 minutes adding in the other half cup of flour to get a doughy texture.
  3. Take your dough ball and put it in a bowl. Cover it with a dishcloth and stick it in the oven with the light on for an hour (it should approximately double in size.)
  4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  5. Butter loaf pan. Shape the dough into roughly the size of the loaf pan.
  6. Let it double again, covered.
  7. Bake for 30 minutes.
  8. Let cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing.

Soup Bread
Prep time: 12-16 hours (rise time)
Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water, room temperature to warm
1/2 teaspoon yeast
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

  1. Mix all ingredients together in an ovenproof bowl. You may use a stand mixer to combine and leave the dough in the bowl.
  2. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and place it in the oven with the oven light on. Let it sit undisturbed for 12-16 hours.
  3. Remove the bowl from the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F.
  4. Line a Dutch oven with parchment paper. You may find it helpful to crinkle the parchment in your hands so it stays in place.
  5. Flour a surface and place the dough on that surface. Stretch and fold the dough ball, then place it in the parchment-lined Dutch oven.
  6. Use kitchen shears to make three snips on the top of the bread, allowing the bread to expand.
  7. Cook the bread in the covered Dutch oven for 30 minutes.
  8. After 30 minutes, uncover the Dutch oven and continue cooking for 15 more minutes.

Serve warm, accompanied by salted butter or a mix of oil and balsamic vinegar.

Yields: Dependent on serving size (typically 8-12 servings)

Kathi also mentioned her favorite cheese making kit. It can be found on Amazon. Kathi is not an affiliate of this product.

  • Mozzarella & Ricotta Cheese Making Kit | 5 Piece DIY Kit Includes Cheesecloth, Vegetable Rennet, Citric Acid, Cheese Salt, & Cooking Thermometer

Click here for the Clutter Free Academy newsletter and be notified when future episodes are released.

The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home

 

Homesteading [hohm-sted-ing]
noun
1. an act or instance of establishing a homestead.
2. the act of loving where you live so much that you actively ignore the fact that your house is trying to kill you on a regular basis.
For Kathi Lipp and her husband, Roger, buying a house in one of the most remote parts of Northern California was never part of the plan; many of life’s biggest, most rewarding adventures rarely are.

Kathi shares the hard-won wisdom she’s gained on her homestead journey to help you accomplish more at home, gain fresh perspective, and give yourself grace in the process. Here’s a handful of the lessons Kathi shares:

  • Prepare before the need arises
  • Everything is always in process, including us
  • Your best household solution is time and patience
  • You don’t have to do everything the hard way
  • Be open to new and better ways of doing things
  • A lot of small changes make a huge difference.
    Highly practical, humorous, and inspirational, The Accidental Homesteader will encourage you to live with more peace, joy, and contentment.

Order your copy of The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home here.

After listening to this episode, which “Eating Like a Homesteader” tip are to going to implement? 

Tell us in the comments!

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

  • Leave a note in the comment section below.

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

Roger Lipp

Roger is a productivity and quality engineer for a Fortune 50 company.

Roger helps teams reach their full productivity potential by teaching them the practical and simple steps to reach their goals. Roger and his wife, author Kathi Lipp, teach communicators how to share their message through social media and email marketing.

He and Kathi coauthored Happy Habits for Every Couple with Harvest House Publishers.

Transcript

#581 Garden Or Grocery Store: Eating Like a Homesteader No Matter Where You Call Home – Part 1

#581 Garden Or Grocery Store: Eating Like a Homesteader No Matter Where You Call Home – Part 1

581: Garden Or Grocery Store: Eating Like a Homesteader No Matter Where You Call Home, Part 1

Is it possible to eat like a homesteader even if you live in an apartment? Yes, it is!

Eating like a homesteader is really about being more purposeful and thoughtful about what you eat and where you source your food. In this episode, Kathi and Roger Lipp discuss what they have learned on their homestead journey about growing their own food in the garden as well as the non-gardening ways they source their food. For example:

  • The satisfaction of growing your own food
    • Start with a salsa garden/container garden.
  • Don’t have a garden? Try:
    • Shopping at a Farmers’ Markets or Roadside Stands
    • Joining a Food Swap or Bartering Group
    • Be a part of a Community Garden
  • And what to do if you have an abundance of produce

For those of you wondering where Kathi and Roger’s chickens fit into the “Eating like a Homesteader” plan, don’t be worried. Kathi’s philosophy is they don’t want to meet their meat.

Looking for the Meal Planning Calendar Kathi mentioned in this episode? It’s right here!

Click here for the Clutter Free Academy newsletter and be notified when future episodes are released.

The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home

 

Homesteading [hohm-sted-ing]
noun
1. an act or instance of establishing a homestead.
2. the act of loving where you live so much that you actively ignore the fact that your house is trying to kill you on a regular basis.
For Kathi Lipp and her husband, Roger, buying a house in one of the most remote parts of Northern California was never part of the plan; many of life’s biggest, most rewarding adventures rarely are.

Kathi shares the hard-won wisdom she’s gained on her homestead journey to help you accomplish more at home, gain fresh perspective, and give yourself grace in the process. Here’s a handful of the lessons Kathi shares:

  • Prepare before the need arises
  • Everything is always in process, including us
  • Your best household solution is time and patience
  • You don’t have to do everything the hard way
  • Be open to new and better ways of doing things
  • A lot of small changes make a huge difference.
    Highly practical, humorous, and inspirational, The Accidental Homesteader will encourage you to live with more peace, joy, and contentment.

Order your copy of The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home here.

After listening to this episode, which “Eating Like Homesteader” tip are to going to implement? 

Tell us in the comments!

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

  • Leave a note in the comment section below.

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

Roger Lipp

Roger is a productivity and quality engineer for a Fortune 50 company.

Roger helps teams reach their full productivity potential by teaching them the practical and simple steps to reach their goals. Roger and his wife, author Kathi Lipp, teach communicators how to share their message through social media and email marketing.

He and Kathi coauthored Happy Habits for Every Couple with Harvest House Publishers.

Transcript

#574 Best of Series-Back to Basics: Asking Yourself the 3 Clarifying Questions as You Declutter

#574 Best of Series-Back to Basics: Asking Yourself the 3 Clarifying Questions as You Declutter

574: Best of Series-Back to Basics: Asking Yourself the 3 Clarifying Questions as You Declutter

In this Best of Series episode, Kathi and her best friend, Roger Lipp, are taking the clutter free journey back to the basics. Do you need specific criteria to guide your decision making for what to keep and what to get rid of? Kathi and Roger are here to remind us of the three clarifying questions we should be asking ourselves as we declutter. Join in the conversation to learn the art of how to keep the best and get rid of the rest by knowing and practicing these three questions as you declutter:

  • Do I love it?
  • Do I use it?
  • Would I buy it again?

Listen in as Kathi and Roger explain how asking yourself these three questions can get you past the mental block of clearing out your clutter.

The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home

Homesteading [hohm-sted-ing]

noun
1. an act or instance of establishing a homestead.
2. the act of loving where you live so much that you actively ignore the fact that your house is trying to kill you on a regular basis.
For Kathi Lipp and her husband, Roger, buying a house in one of the most remote parts of Northern California was never part of the plan; many of life’s biggest, most rewarding adventures rarely are.

Kathi shares the hard-won wisdom she’s gained on her homestead journey to help you accomplish more at home, gain fresh perspective, and give yourself grace in the process. Here’s a handful of the lessons Kathi shares:

  • Prepare before the need arises
  • Everything is always in process, including us
  • Your best household solution is time and patience
  • You don’t have to do everything the hard way
  • Be open to new and better ways of doing things
  • A lot of small changes make a huge difference.
    Highly practical, humorous, and inspirational, The Accidental Homesteader will encourage you to live with more peace, joy, and contentment.

Order your copy of The Accidental Homesteader: What I’ve Learned About Chickens, Compost, and Creating Home here.

 

Kathi mentions rotating treasured items into your decor. She has a donkey figure that is a part of her Fall decorations. What treasured items do you rotate into your decor? 

Share in the comments!

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

  • Leave a note in the comment section below.
  • Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Roger Lipp

Roger is a productivity and quality engineer for a Fortune 50 company.

Roger helps teams reach their full productivity potential by teaching them the practical and simple steps to reach their goals. Roger and his wife, author Kathi Lipp, teach communicators how to share their message through social media and email marketing.

He and Kathi coauthored Happy Habits for Every Couple with Harvest House Publishers.

Transcript