An Uncluttered Life

This is episode 145, and today you’re going to discover how to make everyday decisions easier so you can free up brain space for something more important to you. We call it the Decisions Made Easy Framework.

This is episode 144, and if you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or stuck, we’ve got 10 ways for you to add more freedom to your life.

This is episode 143, and if you’ve become a slave to social media, we’re going to help you break those chains today. You can enjoy social media and still have an offline life— promise!

Sometimes you have to pull out all the stops to get rid of what's no longer working for you. Maybe it's a poor habit. Maybe it's a negative, soul-sucking friendship. Or maybe it's an attitude that's standing in the way of who you want to be. In today's episode, we call in the SWOT team to deal with your problem using a SWOT Analysis. If you're doing the 2-week sprints we outlined in last week's episode, this method will dramatically increase your success this year. What is a SWOT Analysis? The acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It's a matrix businesses have used for years to develop strategies to overcome problems and create success, and now we're making it work for you.

This is episode 141, and today we’re diving into part 2 of our 2-part series on setting yourself up for a better year than the one you just had. We’re taking action on what we learned last episode on the annual review. "If it isn’t in your calendar, it won’t get done." You may have heard this phrase as it relates to business and productivity, but have you ever used it in your personal life? On today’s show, we’re taking what we learned in last episode’s annual review and mapping out a new year with less of what you hate and more of what you love.   We'll be taking our queue from the Japanese concept of "kaizen" to change your perspective of annual planning and set you up for success in the year ahead. 

Most people begin a new year with a list of resolutions. Every year they do it, and every year they fail. There’s a pretty good reason for that. People are cluttered and overwhelmed, and until you resolve that issue, you won’t be able to add anything new. Today, we’re going to fix that so you can make 2016 the best year ever. This is episode 140, and today we’re diving into part 1 of a 2-part series on setting yourself up for a better year than the one you just had. We’re sharing with you a system to review the year that way and plan for the year ahead - one with less overwhelm and more of what you love.

This is a special episode for those of you feeling a little overwhelmed by the holiday season.   Today’s guest is Michelle Steinke-Baumgaurd of One Fit Widow. Michelle is all about living in the present with family and friends, and with a new marriage, a blended household of four kids, a thriving business, a new nonprofit, and building a new house this year, she is one busy woman.    In this special show we’re talking to Michelle about Uncluttering Your Christmas so you can enjoy more of what the season is about.

Research in the Journal of Personality suggests that Self-Disciplined people are happier both in the moment and in the long-run. The study showed these people created environments to avoid their problem triggers rather than relying on self-control, and they focused more on long-term gains than short-term pain. Could you do that with your biggest vice, even for a week? That’s what we’re talking about on today’s show. This  is episode 139, and today we’re talking about experiments in letting go, specifically how deprivation in small doses can dramatically unclutter your life.

Today we’re talking about the difference between deprivation and uncluttering your life. This is the first of a 2-part series that you’ll want to pay attention to, especially if you’re considering making some habit changes in your life.

Married with Luggage has officially transitioned to An Uncluttered Life! Thanks so much for going through this process with us. We're excited about the tight focus on removing what's cluttering your life so you can have more time, space, and money to live the way you want! Poke around the site and test it out. A few things are still in process, but you have access to almost 1000 resources in the archives..and plenty more where that came from!   When it comes to life advice, too often we rely on conventional wisdom. It’s like a one-size-fits all t-shirt. Sure, it will fit most people, but it won’t fit everyone. Today, you’re going to learn how to question the conventional wisdom so that you’ll always have a life that fits perfectly. Learn the 5 questions you can ask yourself before following conventional wisdom.

Does this sound familiar? Feeling overwhelmed with all the stuff that feels like it is closing in on you and leaving you with no space to think Struggling to get things done and never feeling like there are enough hours in the day Money seems to go out as fast as it comes in This is the first podcast as we shift direction and thought the best place to start was to share our own experience with these challenges. We dive into the challenges we faced early in our marriage and the steps we took to get unstuck and clear space to create the life we have today. It is nice to have the perspective from the outside so that we can share the steps you can take in your own life to create more time, space, and money.  This is episode 136 of the soon-to-be-renamed Married with Luggage Podcast, and today talking all about what an uncluttered life can do for YOU.

This is episode 135 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re going to tell you what we decided to do with our business after these weeks of analysis and investigation. That's right, we've chosen a new direction for 2016 and we're excited to share it with you. Listen in as we marry our passion and our business together and set a new deadline for rolling this new venture out.

This is episode 134 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re going to talk about what it’s like to be down to the wire in making a big decision. We've given ourselves one week to decide what we're going to do and six weeks to ramp up for 2016. We know where we messed up before, and it is really strange how we keep coming up with ideas that repeat those same mistakes! Thankfully we've had the help of readers, listeners, and friends to both clarify and confuse the situation! We are getting close to a solution, and in this week's show we work through some of the remaining concerns and zero in on a probable solution. But will it last another seven days? Or will we have a last-minute burst of inspiration?

This is episode 133 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re continuing to give you a behind-the-scenes look as we negotiate some big changes here at Married with Luggage! Join us for a candid discussion of changing paths and making hard choices about the future. Today we discuss our thoughts on the recent survey you completed and what it tells us about our future direction here with the Married with Luggage podcast and business. We share our own thoughts of what interests us most going forward and agree to a deadline for this decision. Today's episode is longer than usual, which is not surprising given we are deep in the throes of a major decision for our business.

We're back. We took a week off (you did notice we were gone...right?) to enjoy a full digital detox - no Internet, no phone (easy as we don't have one). It was a chance to reconnect with each other, read, and concentrate on what matters. Plus, during our time we had several conversations around the future plans for our business and how best to help you more. This week on the episode we're sharing more of the ongoing decision making process we're going to to determine how best to serve you in the year ahead. This is episode 132 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re continuing to give you a behind-the-scenes look as we negotiate some big change in our lives…again!

This week's episode is a bit different. We are at the earliest stages of considering some big changes here at Married with Luggage, but we have yet to determine a direction or a plan. However, we thought it would be interesting to give you a peek behind the scenes as we go through making a big change. Over the next few weeks we'll share with you the conversations we're having, the challenges along the way, and we're sure a few "heated discussions" (aka fights) as we look to outline our path forward. Making big changes in life or business can be challenging and we hope that sharing our own struggles will help you to frame those decisions you face in going after your best life.  This is episode 131 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re talking about change. Specifically, how messy it looks and feels on the inside, even when you’re doing the right thing.

Imagine you could go back 5 years and sit across the table from yourself. You'd have a chance to share advice and recommendations to the younger you. What would you say? What inspiration would you give? Would you provide ideas for how to enjoy more of life? Or, would you warn yourself away from danger? This week, as we celebrate 5 years of living our best lives, we decided hop in our way back machine and share some wisdom with those two wide eyed and slightly pudgier versions of ourselves as they embark on a big adventure. This is episode 130 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re talking about advice you’d give your younger self and whether you’re listening to it now.

This is episode 129 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re talking about FEAR, that monster who’s only goal is to scare you from trying anything new ever again as long as you live. In order to live your best life you will need to move beyond that fear, and today we share the answer. Listen as we talk about our own fears, how to train your fear to work for you, and the importance role that fear should play in your life (hint, it is not as a roadblock).  We also created a special free toolkit to support you and guide you through how to move beyond the fear to create the life you want.

This is episode 128 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re talking about Scarcity, that fear that you don’t have enough money, know-how, or time to have the life you really want. We've all been in situations in which we told ourselves we did not have "enough" (time/money/experience/knowledge) to go after something we wanted. This feeling keeps us from moving towards what we want and we convince ourselves it's not possible. In today's episode we're flipping that idea on it's head and challenging you to look at the obstacle, and your life, in a different way. What if you HAD to do that one thing as if your life depends on it. And frankly, living your BEST live does?

"What is the #1 obstacle you are facing in going after your best life?" This is the question we asked a couple of weeks ago on our Facebook page, and I don’t think we were prepared for the number of people who shared their challenges so openly. We heard about people's struggles with time, money, not knowing where to start, and a multitude of earnest insights into what was keeping them from living the life they wanted. Over the course of a few morning walks we discussed the feedback and how great it would be to provide some guidance for how to remove those obstacles and help get you closer to living your best life. This is where the idea for a new series here on the podcast was born.  This is episode 127 of the Married with Luggage Podcast, and today we’re starting a 3-part series on the biggest obstacles people face in creating their best life…and then we’re going to blow them up. We’re calling this series "The Obstacle Course". First up we're talking about feeling overwhelmed - by trying to please too many p