Kathi (00:00.656)

Well, hey friends, welcome to Clutter Free Academy where our goal is to help you take small doable steps every day to live life with less clutter But more life and guys, it’s a special day around here She is one of my

Favorite follows on social media if you’re not following her I’m gonna drop the link below because you need to Because you just need to be in that place where you get a little shot of hope a little shot of humor and a little shot of love every day and that is what I get from our Guests guys. It’s Amy Betters-Midtvedt.

Welcome. Welcome back to Clutter Free Academy

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (00:50.472)

Thank you so much. And it always just gives me such a thrill to hear you say anything, all these nice things about me because I was following you for so long before we even met and was such a fan. So it’s just like, I’m always like fan girling a little bit. So thank you. I appreciate

Kathi (01:04.39)

Stop it, it, stop it, because here’s the thing. I just feel like you have there. There are probably, I don’t know, like 10 people who have a daily impact on my life. Like I learn a little something from them or, you know, it’s just that shot of humor. I don’t follow anybody who isn’t funny. OK, that’s not true. There are a couple of people who kick my butt in the best way possible. But you are funny and you are so relatable.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (01:29.372)

Yes, I hear

Kathi (01:33.758)

And I’m so grateful to have you as a daily part of my life. So, and you have your first book baby. And I know, okay, you’ll make it and they will too. Okay, can I tell you I have made it and they have too? But can I tell you, it doesn’t stop. I will say I’m very grateful that they are all grown adults.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (01:53.785)

Stop.

Kathi (02:01.904)

They’re all pretty much what they’re doing, what they’re supposed to be. And here’s the thing that I’m super grateful for now that I don’t take for granted anymore. We are in each other’s lives and we like being in each other’s lives. And has it surprised you how many people are not in that situation anymore? I, you know, I never, first of all, I never knew it was an option not to have a

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (02:15.996)

Yes, that’s the goal.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (02:30.418)

Right?

Kathi (02:31.982)

Like I didn’t know that that was I mean i’m so up in my mom’s life that I live in her house three days a week now but I I used to think it was just about getting them across the finish line And by the way guys if you’re like, my kids are out of here. We’re fine I want you to listen to this Because we’re not just talking about I mean we are talking about teenagers and pre -teens and all of

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (02:39.61)

Ha ha

Kathi (03:00.538)

But also, we’re going to be talking about communication, we’re going to be talking about household. But I used to think the goal was just to get them raised and make them productive members of society. But that’s not, I mean, that’s not the goal. So tell me what the goal is and how do you get

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (03:20.146)

Well, think the goal, think is that exactly what you’re talking about that you are experiencing is that lifelong connection with these people that you love more than anything and staying in that space together where you want, they want to be with you. Like they want to be connected to you and you want to be connected to them for all the days, right? That you are each other’s people always. And that it sounds like great, but also it’s not actually

Kathi (03:38.084)

Mm -hmm.

Right. Yeah. Yes.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (03:49.584)

super easy always to do. It’s not necessarily automatic. Like I assumed that would be automatic, but I could see in my parenting ways that I was pushing kids into a totally different space. You know, then why would you want to come back and be with this version of me?

Kathi (03:51.928)

Right,

Kathi (04:07.29)

Okay, first of all, that’s hard for me to imagine, but you have a chapter in your book that is basically saying you’re not parenting you. okay, so unpack that because I, you know, I really did grow up thinking, well, I’ll just do what my parents did and I’ll get the parent, you know, the same results. And that is, that is not true. So, so tell me about that. Unpack that for me.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (04:30.8)

my gosh, it’s so false.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (04:34.962)

Okay, so for me, I really very much expected to be parenting five little versions of me, right? And so I did this just what you said, like what my, I had great parents. I am still in their lives. We live in the same community. We attend church together on Sunday. I love being with them. And so just thought that’s what it was gonna be. But very quickly I realized I had created very different humans with my husband that were not me. I was a very, I know.

Kathi (04:40.036)

Yes, yes.

Kathi (04:59.11)

How dare they? How dare they?

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (05:04.766)

just needed to go back and tell my mom she was lucky. Like I was like this rule following, church attending, just right. I wanted to do well in school, all the things. Give me some rules and some guidelines and I will follow them like a boss, right? And I birthed five questioners who really liked to, they don’t rules? What are you talking about? I’m going to forge my own path and have my own ideas. And it was very shocking when.

Kathi (05:07.398)

Right

Kathi (05:18.416)

Yeah, yes.

Kathi (05:23.238)

Mmm.

Kathi (05:26.702)

Yeah, yes, yes.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (05:33.438)

my oldest daughter, you know, met those teen years and very much was her own person making her own decisions and doing things that 14 year old me never would have dreamed of doing. And so I felt like, well, what do I do now? I’m grounding her. I am taking things away. I am like, you know, I am giving her lectures. None of this is working. And it was a hopeless feeling for a while

Kathi (05:43.745)

Right.

Kathi (05:47.738)

Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

Kathi (05:56.464)

Right?

Kathi (06:00.888)

Yeah, you know what? All you had to do was show me the picture of your son leaning against the car and say, you guys, we’ll drop that picture into the show notes because I don’t know his personality, but I just know he has tripled the personality of your average child.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (06:11.368)

Yeah.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (06:20.254)

Yeah, that is him a thousand percent. That is all of my people that live in this house.

Kathi (06:27.544)

Well, you know what? This would not be a Clutterfree Academy discussion without talking about, I want to hit on two things. I want to talk about chores, because you have a whole chapter about chores, which I think some of us are relearning as adults how to do that. But first of all, I want to talk about communication. And can I tell you, you gave me so much relief.

that somebody who is raising such fine human beings as yourself, because we’re a blended family, my husband’s kids call him and talk to him.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (07:04.638)

You’re going out a little

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (07:11.304)

I missed the beginning of

Kathi (07:27.366)

for 30, 45 minutes at least once or twice a week. And my whole relationship with my children is by text. And you know what? We have a great relationship. If I called them or they called me, it’s probably because one of us is in the hospital or jail. But you actually say using technology can be a strategy with your kids. Talk about

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (07:56.638)

Absolutely. It can be really hard to get our teenagers to talk. that’s, we say technology is all bad. It’s not like there are things that that kids will tell you over a text that they couldn’t tell you with their mouths. And that is a wonderful, beautiful thing. And texting is also like, it’s so easy and immediate that especially when our kids leave, like when my girls went to college, it was really easy for them just we could drop a couple of texts as they were walking to class. And you can leave that thread lay there for hours until someone comes back to it.

Kathi (08:04.589)

It’s not.

Kathi (08:08.227)

Mmm.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (08:25.426)

where a phone call just seemed like they just didn’t have time. So I relate to that when my were out now they’re all five are back for the next year. but yeah, there’s a whole nother book there. so yeah, so, so we did a lot of that, but it really is, you know, the text I asked them not to send me is just like the mom question mark or mom. need to tell you something like that. Those strike fear of like, just tell me the thing.

Kathi (08:32.459)

wow.

Okay.

Kathi (08:50.724)

Yeah. Right. Right.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (08:53.65)

don’t set it up for me because it’s either going to be like, want money for Culver’s or I’m in jail. I don’t know. So right. Whatever it is. So we need, we need to tax appropriately, but that I think is a wonderful way, especially when they’re really stuck in their rooms and not coming out a lot. We’ll just text and it works great.

Kathi (08:58.65)

Yes, yes.

Kathi (09:09.262)

Yeah, yeah.

And you know, I think about that. I am 57. There are times when I do not want to talk to people. know, there are people that I, you know, they’ll send me, you know, they’ll call me and leave a voicemail. And I’m like, in the year of our Lord 2024, that just feels really aggressive. Like, yes.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (09:33.982)

It’s aggressive. Like you should be in jail if you’re gonna do that. Or you should be a medical professional that’s telling you when my appointment is. That’s it. And even then they can text. I’m gonna tell you.

Kathi (09:41.23)

You know, and I have, right. I feel like, you know, oftentimes I’ll say, I need, I need to talk to you, but just know everything is okay. Nobody’s in jail. You’re not in trouble. Like all the, but there are some things you do want to say, but it’s almost like I’m sending an invitation to, set up a phone call. Okay. Amy, we’re going to take a quick break. We’re going to pay a few, few bills. And then when we come back, I want to get down to it.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (09:51.314)

Right, right.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (10:00.626)

Yes, yes, I love that.

Kathi (10:09.826)

rules and chores because can I just tell you I feel like this when I think about the biggest struggles of my parenting life these are them these are the things so we’ll we’ll we’ll pay some bills and come right

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (10:11.89)

You got it.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (10:20.913)

Yeah. Yes.

All right, sounds

Kathi (10:27.064)

Okay guys, we are back with amy betters midvet you guys the name of her book is you’ll make it and they will too And you may not be in these teenage years, but you know somebody who is and so this is not to give them advice. We’ll let amy give advice because You know, she’s the she’s the she’s the one in the trenches and actually has got some kids out of the house But here’s what I know we can be such a support to our friends

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (10:43.602)

Hahaha!

Kathi (10:56.912)

who are raising teenagers and without giving advice, but just saying, I’m here for you. Yeah, my kids did the same thing. It won’t be like this forever. So I need you to help me unpack some trauma when it comes to house rules and chores. It’s, right. What is the resistance? Like, I think we’re not raising selfish kids.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (10:57.246)

Amen. yes.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (11:15.127)

I know. It’s a thing. It’s a thing.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (11:24.732)

No, no.

Kathi (11:25.264)

But the idea that I have asked, like how offended my kids would get with the request to unload the dishwasher.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (11:33.554)

thousand percent, a thousand percent relate to that. And we have had that here so many times. And I think this is where a little of my like teacher education background has really played a big role and helped me to really work on this. For thing number one, we needed to debunk in this house. And I think everybody who’s listening can relate to this, whether you have kids or not, or teenagers or not, is this idea that somehow mom, everything is mom’s job.

Kathi (11:44.486)

Ahhhh. Yeah.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (11:59.91)

And if I am unloading the dishwasher, I’m helping mom. So I think that’s part of why people get offended. It’s like, I don’t really want to help you right now. You’re not helping me. Like it’s not all my job. This doesn’t like for some reason, like I’m the mom. And so I own all the jobs in the house. So I did take chart paper at one point because I’m a teacher and I put it up and I listed all the jobs that it took to run a household. And I pulled the kids in and I just said, who, who is responsible for this? Well, almost everything was mom. There were some things that were dad. Every once in while, a kid’s name was mentioned. I said, look at

Kathi (12:07.445)

No!

Kathi (12:16.134)

Yeah. Yeah.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (12:29.49)

Look at this list. Look at all the jobs I have. Can you walk around the house and rate me on how I’m doing?” And the house was just trashed. They walked around and came back and my little Sam, who was like eight at the time, said, no offense, mom, but you’re not doing a very good job. I said, you are correct. Because it is impossible for me to do all these jobs because they’re actually not all my jobs. These are all everybody’s jobs. These are just the jobs of the community that live in the home. So we’re no longer going to say these are mom’s jobs. These are community jobs.

Kathi (12:34.841)

Mm -hmm.

Kathi (12:52.976)

Yes.

Kathi (12:57.656)

Mm -mm. Mm -hmm.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (12:58.866)

And we’re going to talk about how we can actually work together so that the house doesn’t look like this. You’re right. There is a problem and we’re all going to fix it together. So leaning into that idea that we are a community. We need to take care of our property in the community. We need to take care of our home. We need to take care of our lawn and our cars and all the things. And everybody who lives here is responsible for that and move them out of this mindset that they try to hold onto from when they were little is that mom’s always going to take care of me. I am, but I’m also going to teach you how to be.

Kathi (13:11.226)

Mmm.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (13:28.326)

a person that other people won’t hate to live with and a person who understands their role in the community. Like this is what it is. And so that mindset shift, we work on that continually along with this mindset that like if you’re a boy, you also can do laundry. And if you’re a girl, you can also probably change the oil. Like gender does not determine what you are able to do. So really breaking a lot of those things and then trying to make it fun. Like I bought a chore wheel. So like all the worst chores are on the chore wheel.

Kathi (13:32.366)

Right?

Kathi (13:45.039)

Yes.

Kathi (13:56.078)

Yeah. Nice.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (13:57.436)

and we spin it every week and we all get one of the bad chores. I get a bad chore, my husband gets a bad chore, each kid does, because we’re just as, we’re on the same level. We’re all the same people. And so that’s really been the biggest shift. It’s a work in progress and my house is a work in progress, but it’s really, I think that’s the linchpin to actual lasting change.

Kathi (14:02.574)

Right, right.

Yes.

Kathi (14:13.605)

Yes.

Kathi (14:19.598)

You know, I don’t know about you, but I have learned so much from my daughters about these attitudes, right? I’ll never forget right before Roger and I were getting married, we had like computers set up in the living room. So the kids had their computers in there. And one of Kimberly’s uncles said, Hey, Kimberly, you know, we’re all working in here. Could you come

And her brother and her stepbrother were on either side of her. And so the uncle came back to me and said, Kim gave me a bunch of attitude about helping out. And I said, so why did you ask Kim? Because Kim came to me and said, why’d they ask me and not the boys? And I’m like, you know what? It is such a good question. And my daughter will point out all these like areas of misogyny

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (15:14.524)

Yes.

Kathi (15:15.562)

I just starting to uncover and I think housework is the number one place where we have been duped and you know, I mean, do you hear people saying daddy’s a little helper? No, it’s mommy’s little helper, right? Yes. And like we’re all helping mom. Aren’t we great? Because we’re helping mom. No, I, I mean, even if you’re a full time stay at home parent,

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (15:17.714)

Yes.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (15:32.094)

thousand percent. A thousand percent.

Right?

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (15:44.915)

Right.

Kathi (15:45.806)

which I don’t think either of us have been for a really long time. It’s not all up to us. And I love your unpacking of that. I love your chore wheel. How’d you do the chore wheel? How did you said you spin it? Like, I need to know this.

Amy Betters Midtvedt (15:47.782)

No. No. No.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (16:02.14)

you spin it. I put, we just put all, so you just buy them on Amazon and you put in each slice. has like a chore, a bad chore that like, so we all have our things we’re sort of responsible for. We kind of have divvied up like different things, who cleans what bathroom, all of that. There’s like the assumed chores. And then there’s just like the junk that like it, some of it’s vacuuming the whole house. Some of it’s like the fly lady stuff too, or like, you know, that kind of stuff. Like what are you, what do have to do? So I kind of tried to be really intentional.

Kathi (16:06.854)

okay.

Yeah.

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Yes, yes. Right, right.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (16:29.586)

because otherwise I was also spending my day off vacuuming the whole house, dusting, dump stuff. Why am I doing that? So that’s all on there. And then you spin it and you go to your Troy. There’s also an inspector and an enforcer on the tour wheel. So there’s one person responsible and it’s not always whoever gets it gets it to inspect the work of each person. So like if I’m vacuuming and Sam is the inspector, he comes to make sure I got my vacuuming done correctly, correctly.

Kathi (16:33.326)

Yes. Yes.

Kathi (16:43.76)

To tell. Yeah.

Kathi (16:55.597)

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (16:58.364)

And then the enforcer is the person that makes sure no one’s like hiding in the bathroom during chore time or like doing getting distracted doing other things. So the enforcer, if I end up laying down and reading and I’m not vacuuming, the enforcer would come up to me and say, mom, it’s time for choice. You’ve got to do your vacuuming as if that would happen. But those were two key pieces that put them into the driver’s seat of this. Like it’s also not my job to make sure you do your job. And it’s not my job to make sure you do your job well, because that’s the other part that happens. Right? Like,

Kathi (17:06.522)

Nice.

Kathi (17:13.99)

my goodness.

Kathi (17:20.559)

Yeah

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (17:28.222)

I’m like, you didn’t actually finish cleaning the kitchen. You didn’t actually finish your laundry. That’s silly. So we put that on them and they love that. Those are, they love

Kathi (17:28.228)

Yes.

Kathi (17:38.79)

Okay, so here’s my question though, because you did not, as you birthed them, they did not come out knowing the chores. Was there a switch at some point? And how old were the kids when the switch happened? And how did you get the buy -in that you needed?

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (18:01.21)

I tried really hard. I don’t know how well I did this, but when they were little and wanted to help, I tried really hard to let them. And that’s really difficult, right? Because we are fast and we’re better and we don’t always want to take the time. where we could, especially I think I got better as I had more kids and like Sam used to love cleaning toilets when he was little, he would clean every toilet and we just let him, right? It’s great, whatever. He was the hero of all time for whatever reason, that was a fun job for him. It is no longer, but.

Kathi (18:06.203)

Yeah.

Mm -hmm. It is difficult. Yeah.

Kathi (18:24.012)

Sam, you’re my hero.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (18:29.918)

So leading into some of those moments. And then we had certain things like cleaning the kitchen has always been their job. It still seems shocking sometimes to them when I say it’s time to clean the kitchen, whatever. They’ve been doing it for years. But it’s fine. And we also have to let it go, right? It is how it is. However they do it, if they want to negotiate for 30 minutes about who is going to do what job, go with God, my friends. I don’t care. Just do it. letting them do it their way and really from an early age and

Kathi (18:51.6)

Yeah. Right.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (18:59.386)

easily by the time they were in middle school, they should be doing almost all the things. There’s really nothing by that age. know, I watched my middle schoolers at school. They’re really independent people. If they’re acting like they can’t, you know, wipe down a counter, they’re a hundred percent lying. I’m watching what they’re doing at school and they’re running the show there. So they can run the show really easily

Kathi (19:02.83)

Yes.

Kathi (19:09.038)

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Kathi (19:15.6)

Yeah.

Kathi (19:19.204)

Yes. It’s so true, right? At school, they are so capable and they come home and it’s like, what? I don’t know how to squeeze this bottle. But I love what you’re saying here because statistics show our kids are not going to graduate from college and get their Mr. And Mrs. Like they’re going to go into community living situations. They’re going to have a few roommates.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (19:48.456)

Yes.

Kathi (19:48.536)

And I’ll never forget, my daughter went off to college, and I’ve told this story before, and she was teaching people on her college dorm floor how to do their laundry. And I was like, how did those parents not have kids doing laundry? I could barely keep up. If I had to do four people’s laundry on top of mine and Roger’s, it would be all over. And so what we’re doing is we’re

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (20:09.969)

Right.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (20:13.894)

Right? Right?

Kathi (20:17.846)

just making it so that our house is more livable. We’re making it so that our kids future homes are more livable. And we’re not but you know, we’re busting through that resistance to cleaning. If it’s just a part of your life, if it’s just like brushing your teeth or washing your face, or all of those kind of things. And I’ll have to I have to say I’ve had to overcome some resistance in my own

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (20:27.003)

Absolutely.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (20:38.098)

Right? Right?

Kathi (20:47.43)

Like I don’t know why I feel like somebody else like Sam should be cleaning my toilets, but I really deep down Believe that deeply that I should not have to do that But I have to do it Yeah, yes

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (20:53.02)

Right, thousand, I know. I know. I agree. I feel that way about my bathroom too, like the whole bathroom. I always look at it like I can’t believe this is still my

Kathi (21:07.566)

And you know, giving kids the tools to say, hey, the less clutter, the easier it is to clean.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (21:13.958)

That’s the biggest thing. And I will say my girls are finally learning that lesson as they move home, right? So they’re in a situation, my daughter did just say, she’s like, I’m going coming home. I’m like, well, I feel what’s going on. Why do you feel that way? She goes, it’s nothing you’re doing. I love being home. It’s my room. It’s so overwhelming. She said, I think it’s finally hit me that I’m not gonna have good mental health till I go through my stuff. I’m like, it’s true. You’re

Kathi (21:17.862)

yay.

Kathi (21:35.579)

It’s so true.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (21:35.838)

It’s so true. they are this weekend. It’s finally time. have to they have to they’re storing a lot of stuff because they’ll be out another year. They don’t want to sell everything, you know, so they got themselves they’re going have these on the storage unit. The two girls good for them. They’re paying for it and and really making some hard decisions about what belongs where and we did just have a bunch of water in our basement and had to get rid of a bunch of things. That’s why I’m not in my book room. My book room is yet to be put back together.

Kathi (21:42.434)

Yeah, of course. Yeah. Right.

Good for them.

Kathi (21:58.082)

I saw that.

because your book room is, okay. I’ll pray for you.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (22:05.2)

It’s going to be okay. Thank you. It’s going to be all the books from the bottom shelf and above are okay. Just so I only lost the bottom shelf. So I’m trying to focus on the good, but, that was eyeopening because my husband’s the one who went through our storage area and how it looks now. He’s like, Amy, there’s no excuse for some of this stuff that we had. He’s like, and I’m looking at more things. And he was right. It really helped us identify clutter and doing that as a community. My son’s room was hit.

Kathi (22:11.523)

Okay,

Kathi (22:29.498)

Yeah.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (22:32.072)

you know, a lot of the kids stuff was hit as we walked through that, that journey together as, let me tell you kids who can’t clean a kitchen, they’re darn good. When water comes in your basement, they were like an army. They were amazing. They, that’s when their true colors showed, like when the chips were down, I realized they had a lot of skills and they were really able to let go of a lot more things way more easily than I thought they were. And really that reminded us like, we even started talking about Christmas. Like, do we just want an experience this year? Look at all this stuff that we didn’t care about.

Kathi (22:40.71)

that’s so great. Yeah.

Kathi (22:59.344)

Yeah. Right.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (23:01.064)

do, do right? lot of it’s like Christmas presents that no one, let’s just really use our time more wisely. So being in that community together with those kids during that kind of a trauma really helped us realize what we need to let go. It’s really, it was really kind of an impactful

Kathi (23:14.904)

You know, I it’s we’re coming up on the well, we just celebrated the six year anniversary of moving out of our house in San Jose and moving up here. And one of the things that I said was the true test of love is not who comes home for Christmas. It’s who comes home to help you move. And right. And the true test of your kids is how are they in an emergency like

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (23:34.607)

Kathi (23:43.334)

because they have had all the training, And I mean, what an example of how, you know, building this family community. And we may not always like it, and it may not be kumbaya, and it may not be, you know, what you would put up on Instagram, but when you’ve got water in your basement, your kids rose to the occasion.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (23:46.172)

Yes!

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (23:53.949)

Yes.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (24:07.378)

they worked for days. They’re actually one of my daughter’s boyfriends drove down and just came to help. my, actually my son’s girlfriend was here. She stayed for, like she came back day after day. Like it was like, you’re right. It is a true testament to like that underlying community that we’re trying to build. Then it’s there. Like it holds in those hard times. That feels really, really.

Kathi (24:14.549)

my goodness.

Kathi (24:22.339)

Well.

Kathi (24:29.28)

Yes, yes.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (24:32.558)

good when I’m like looking at the kitchen and they didn’t clean. There’s like a part that’s called the L and no one ever wipes it down. And I always yell, nobody’s clean the L and the L is dirty again. Then I can remember how great they were in the crisis and remind them like you guys like pulled flooring out. You can come and wipe down the L it’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.

Kathi (24:43.535)

Right!

Kathi (24:48.142)

Yeah, it’s so true. Okay, Amy, you know, we were talking a lot about clutter and home maintenance. But can we just say, when it comes to teenagers, that’s a lot of the stuff of this life, isn’t it? And so I love how practical you are. I love how grace filled you are. You’ll make it and they will too. What? Who is this book for? Tell me who this book is

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (25:04.614)

It is.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (25:16.228)

This book is for, first of all, any parent that has little kids that are about to become teens, that has teens, that’s launched kids. There’s a chunk of the book that is about that launch and that coming back. I would say anybody who’s walking alongside someone, a grandparent that has teens, especially because things are different. I have lot of conversations with my mom about that.

Kathi (25:23.307)

Hmm.

Kathi (25:29.061)

Yeah.

Kathi (25:32.58)

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (25:38.578)

Like she will remind me, she’ll give me a good dose of perspective, but then she’s also trying to understand how different it is this generation. So I think it could be really an impactful book for grandparents, educators that are trying to understand the population that they’re working with and what is really making them tick in their homes. Cause they present one thing to us in school. I think it’s really important to see some of that other side. So I really wrote it for that parent that was sitting in the middle of the night, just outside their kid’s bedroom door thinking,

Kathi (25:50.584)

Mmm

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (26:07.3)

I am the only parent that is dealing with this, that my kid is the only kid that is a hot mess. And I wanted them to be able to grab this book and just open it and be like, my gosh, wait, this happened and they made it. Got it. I can do

Kathi (26:18.264)

Yeah, it’s so true. I think one of the biggest things we need during that time is hope and to not feel alone. Okay, guys, we’re going to give links to where you can find. You’ll make it and they will too, which is a big promise. But if anybody can deliver on that, it’s my friend Amy. Amy, thanks so much for being

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (26:24.072)

Absolutely.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt (26:35.658)

It’s a big promise. It’s holding. Yeah. Thank you so much for having

Kathi (26:43.326)

such a great conversation. And friend, thank you for being here. Whatever age and stage you’re in, your kids are in, there is hope, not just for you, but for your home as well. You’ve been listening to Clutter -Free Academy. I’m Kathi Lipp. Now, go create the clutter -free life you’ve always wanted to live.