Why Spring Cleaning Breaks Us And How To Fix It

Why do we cling to clutter we don’t even like? We dig into the history of spring cleaning, the emotions behind stuff, and smart ways to make progress without burning out. Ready to try one tiny change today? Which one?

#dysfunctionjunkiespodcast #podcast #springcleaning #dysfunction #declutter #openthewindows

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Welcome to the new and improved dysfunction junkies podcast, where we may not have seen it all, but we've seen enough. And now, here are your hosts, Chrissy and Carrie.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

I can't hear the music, so I'm we're ready to go. Hi, Junckies. I'm Carrie. I'm Chrissy. Did you hear the music, Chrissy? You didn't hear. I did. No. How come Carrie can't hear the music?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

So probably I'd probably need to it because a Bluetooth directly is.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

I figured so.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

So well, everybody, we But I still thought you would I still I still thought you would hear that, but oh well.

Why Spring Cleaning Now

Downsizing Regrets And Space Shock

SPEAKER_04 0:57

Hey, we're learning, everybody. So hi, this is Carrie and Chrissy, and we are coming at you in our new format. We're coming at you with videos. So here we are, junkies. Chrissy, how you feeling about all this? Doesn't it? Is my smile fake enough for you? I'm trying really harder. I feel okay. I would have felt better if I was about 35 years younger, but we'll give it a try. We're giving it a try. I'm not gonna hide who or what I am. So this is it. Yeah, both Chrissy and I decided, you know, at first we're like, I was when I was getting ready for tonight. I'm like, oh well, I'll do my makeup, I'll do my hair. And I went, I'm not gonna do this every time we record. So here I am. This is what I'm normally like. I got my hair up in a messy bun, I got my sweatshirt on. So, anyways, but we are gonna talk and I have my third grader ball cap on, yes. Seriously, yeah, that's how I roll. Seriously, is it from third grade? No, okay, no, well, you know, it's a valid question, it's newer. I don't know. I probably didn't wear a ball cap when I was in third grade. Now I do. I missed out. I feel I need to make up for lost time of not wearing a ball cap. There you go. There you go. Well, today we are gonna talk about spring cleaning. Boy, I have a lot of content for this today, but so as you all know, I have moved across country. I am here in St. George, Utah. It has been quite the experience of spring cleaning over the past, I don't know. I think I've been in this purging and cleaning mode since October. I'm over it. So are you? I really am. I need to get started. Oh, so well, you know, you definitely got one up on me. Here's the thing: we were doing so good. We were throwing things out, we were donating to goodwill, we were giving things away. I really thought we downsized a lot until they came to pick up all of our stuff in the semi-truck, and then it's like, oh, we we still have a lot of stuff. Then we get here at a new house, which is actually bigger than our old house, but the way the rooms and stuff are, it's like I don't have as much room. It's it's really weird. So I'm basically still giving things away and throwing things out that I just paid to move across country. So well, I'm I don't know who is that successful at not falling into that trap that you still have to give away stuff and you relocated it with you and you don't want it, but it is what it is. I'm sure you're you know, it's working out. Yep, it is. So, what did you find on your AI searching of spring cleaning and the dysfunctions? Well it is dysfunctional. Oh gosh. I mean, look at you, you just moved a bunch of crap across country that you didn't want to do it. And I paid to do it and it was for it too. I'm sure it wasn't. I only moved 70 miles away, and I know what we paid to move, and we didn't even have them move everything, we only had them move the heavy stuff. Oh my gosh. Uh so yeah. That's what we don't talk to family anymore. They don't talk to us after that move. It was devastating for everybody. So it's the dysfunction of spring cleaning, and we have some points here, overwhelming, as you know, very uh, and you get burnt out, and there's decision fatigue. These are just the points that we're gonna talk about, I guess. Uh, of course, there's that lovely physical risk when you pull your back out or strain your legs. I got a story for that.

The Dysfunction List: Overwhelm To Injury

SPEAKER_03 4:48

I took a face plant hard while we were removing, but we'll talk about that when we go through each one.

Rituals And Roots Of Spring Cleaning

Cleaning Habits, Parents, And Chores

Emotional Barriers And The Bad Move

Broker Deception And Stolen Gear

SPEAKER_04 4:55

Oh my god, you didn't tell me about that yet. Nope. Uh all or nothing uh trap, I guess. Yeah, everybody's gonna know how blind I am. I'm really working really hard. I've marked to your face and reading face. There you go. Yeah, that's what it's a Chrissy I know. Yeah, emotional barriers. I'm not sure what that all means. I got my lovely print out, of course. And shifting to clutter management. I love that line. Clutter management. So and you have a lot to contribute on this one because of your most recent adventure. So I think that's great. So who made it spring cleaning? I wonder how that all started. I guess after the holidays and it starts getting warmer and people can open up their windows and they think they they share it out, clean all the dust that their furnace generated running all winter long. Yeah, that's probably. I don't know. That sounds like I'll we'll go when did you we'll go with it. When did you fall into this spring cleaning trapper? Do you are you spring cleaning all year round? God bless you. I feel like because we have animals, we're always it's always spring cleaning. I I definitely feel that way. But I will say, like when we lived in Ohio, as soon as the weather would break and I could open up the windows, that was 100% it. Open up the windows, air it out. And there were times, even in the winter time, I would open up the windows for an hour just because I was like, I need fresh air, you know. Right. But yeah, for me, it's like cleaning is a constant thing, slightly germophobic in a way. And yeah, so I feel like I'm constantly cleaning, but yet at the same time, it's never clean enough. It's like always like I find dirt places, or I look at the baseboards and I'm like, oh I gotta wash those, or I look at a light switch and I'll find one that has a spot on it, and I'll be like going through the whole house cleaning light switches. So yeah, that all or nothing, that's that's kind of me with the cleaning. What are you laughing about? Because I look at my light switches and I'm like, who had dirty fingers and turned on my light? And then I just walk my hands and keep moving. My kid, I when you I guess when you had kids, I don't know. But of course, I don't remember ever getting away with putting dirty hand smudges on light switches when I was little. I probably would have gotten in big trouble for that. Yeah, so I guess I'm a big cleaner. Like, I I really my mom would clean the house on Saturdays, and that that was like the cleaning for Saturday mornings for like two or three hours, she would clean the whole house. What was your mom's schedule growing up? Yeah, yeah, I think I think that's pretty similar. I uh she did, yeah, she was pretty tidy. Not my father was real, I mean, she was tidy and clean and kept everything the way it should have been. But he was like he was a little obsessive. Oh, okay. I don't know if that's a military background type thing where he just or he might have just been that way. Yeah, but his he wasn't in charge of the whole house, but his area is like he had his family room, yes, where you know everybody had to go down and the man where the TV was, and he was in charge of that and he kept that real neat, and of course, his own he had his own bathroom, and that was always pretty pristine. So but uh I don't yeah, I think my mom had a similar schedule like your mom once a week that was doing the major stuff. Yeah, I I really honestly can't tell you ever seeing my dad clean anything. Oh, really? Wasn't you your dad did serve in the military though, right? No, oh he didn't. Oh, I thought I don't know why I thought I think he did like R O T C or something like that in high school, but no, he was not in the military. I honestly don't ever remember him running. I never saw him run a vacuum, never saw him clean a toilet. He would occasionally maybe clean some dishes in the kitchen, that I would say, but in general, no, all my mom. So but I don't ever remember like dirty fingerprints on the light switches or the baseboards being dirty, but yet I don't ever remember seeing my mom clean them. So I don't I don't know where my obsession with it has come from. Probably just did it. It wasn't anything that was I don't remember seeing her do that, but I don't remember yeah seeing anything either. Yeah. So it just got somehow got done. But well, you have a little bit of background with military personnel, yes, previous relationships. Yeah, yeah. Was that uh were they pretty picky about that kind of thing? Um I don't remember that, but you know, we were only together for such a short time in a shared household, so I don't I don't know. Uh-uh. So I can't say it rubbed off from me for maybe not must not have been well, yeah. No, I you I'm sure you've pretty much been conscientious about it for a while. Yeah. So when we first got married, I think I tried to do the Saturday thing. Yeah. But then I started having like hostility that this thing that I didn't like doing very much was taking up my Saturday. Yeah. And then I sat down one time because I always try to make everything way more complicated than it needs to be. Really? And I think I wrote out a schedule, yeah, not me, of everything I was gonna do. Like if I I said, well, if you just do one thing every day and get to it eventually, then you won't be so overwhelmed. Right, you know. So I like made this whole schedule. Like, I was gonna do this, yeah. Just run my vacu just do the carpeting, right? Run the vacuum all over this day, yeah, do your windows on this day, you know, that kind of stuff. I I have yet to adopt it, but I've turned it into 19. A couple years. No, no, there was a two, there was a 20. It was probably just a couple years ago, but I'm gonna try it. I don't know. So it helps me out a lot, which I think is good when you can do it as a couple. Yeah, you know. So that helps. Jim Depple speaks mine language. Yeah. Jim speaks mine love language. I mean, a little bit, but oh really? What what is the words that he says that are at nighttime before you know, like I'll usually go to bed before him and he'll uh clean up the kitchen, he'll get all the kitchen cleaned up, dishwasher started, get the bird food bowls out, get them like that's huge for me. Just that little bit is just like thank you. So yeah, because then I don't feel like it's all on me. Right. No, that's wonderful. No, I have no complaints. Nick's hard worker, yes, and sometimes I'd have to say, probably all the time I'd have to say he's probably working a little bit harder than me. Because I get distracted a little bit. Oh, definitely. I know that. Like, yeah, definitely. The emotional barriers, you know, when you were saying about that one for me, I interpreted that as like I couldn't throw something away whenever we were in Ohio. I was like, no, I can't get rid of that. No, I gotta keep that. We moved here. The stress of the move. Oh, don't even get me started on the moving company. Oh my god, what a nightmare! Oh, he seems to have a moving company story. Oh, yeah, I got some stories for that. But any case, after all that frustration and things were coming in, things came in broken. We did have something stolen, our black stone griddle was stolen. Oh man, brand new in the box. We hadn't even used it yet. You mean somebody at the moving people did it? Yes, they did. Yes, I had because you know me, a little OCD about things, I had a very detailed list and a number of every single box that we had. So every box had two stickers on it, had what was in it in general, and a number, and I had a spreadsheet, so I knew exactly how many boxes were on that truck, how many pieces of furniture, everything was labeled. So as it was coming off the semi, I was literally standing there cross-referencing everything, and the only thing that didn't come was our Blackstone, brand new Blackstone griddle. Yep. And what was their excuse for this? I haven't even talked to them because you know it's not worth a fight for me, and I know that's horrible, but it's just like this company was such it was so horrible the experience. It was 100% completely different than my experience across country, which was a different company, but still, um, it was horrible. The most stressful thing. And from what I understand, the whole moving industry is kind of like it's fallen into this decline, and that this is just basically commonplace, no matter what moving company you pick with. But um, it was, it was just it was a nightmare. So when things came off the truck and they were broken, damaged, whatever, I just was to the point where I'm like, I'm just glad I got most of my stuff. I mean, we did, we got everything arrived except for that one thing, but then there were like 10 pieces that were broken, including one of my recliners was completely shattered, broken, unusable. Um yeah, and a couple other things were were broken enough that I was just like, and they were pieces that I struggled whenever we were moving at this emotional barrier. I couldn't break that barrier to say, let it go, I don't need it. It's you know, and I so I brought it only to throw it out when it got here because it was broken, damaged, or I didn't have room for it. And I'm just like, that's what it took me to get over that emotional barrier to be like, okay, it's out. I don't have I've no that I guess this ties in with that emotional fatigue or something. Was that what the other statement was on there? Yeah, it was um decision fatigue, which uh yeah, I was just like, I get that before I even make a decision. I'm fatigued first. It should say fatigue decision making. I don't know what it should say. Yeah, that and then the overwhelm and burnout was the top two there. Yeah, you obviously experienced pretty much all of this. This was just in your moving experience. This wasn't even your spring cleaning. No, well, my spring cleaning. This should be. I guess this applies to this, it's but this applies to moving, also, I guess. That's it. I guess it's a good start since you've moved. This is probably a good first show. That's why I thought you picked it, to be quite honest. So well, I picked it before you left, but I'm glad I guess I'm glad. I mean, not glad that you had to go through this, but it's obviously current and fresh in your mind. But so here's yeah, I mean, here's the crazy thing about the moving story. So um I don't know. I've been debating whether or not I want to say the company's name because I mean it's my experience with them, but I also don't want to give them any free advertising by saying their name. But um, if you message me, I will be glad to tell you. If listeners, if you want to know who this horrible moving company was, but in any case, um here you go. Yeah, that'd be bad. Yeah, I joked around and said um that, well, first of all, they were supposed to be a carrier, not a broker. So a broker simply they're gonna get your job and they're gonna pawn it out to Joe Schmoe's moving company, whoever's available. Carriers has their own trucks, their own company, blah, blah, blah. And that was very specific reason why I picked this company because I didn't want a broker. Well, guess what? They lied, they're a broker. So this brinkity dinkity truck shows up, and it wasn't a semi-truck, and um, it was a 30-foot box truck. And I'm like, wait a minute, why is this box truck showing up to my house? And they're like, Oh, well, we're gonna put it on a semi-truck. And so, right there was my first anxiety because I'm like, No, I want to see my stuff go in the truck, the door shut, and know that when it comes to me, they're opening it and it's not being passed around. So see it hasn't been moved around several times. That's a real that is a red flag, you're right. So, this isn't why I was so glad I had everything labeled, but also why the item was stolen because who knows how many hands were touching it from my house to the warehouse to the semi-truck to whatever. We were joking around saying that watch when the semi-truck comes, it'll be like an old moving company that you know, a previous moving line that had the paperwork all you know, the logos and stuff all stripped off, that they bought this like at a used semi-truck auction kind of a thing. Sure is stit. When this semi-truck pulled into our neighborhood, the first time we saw it when it arrived here in St. George, it sounded like it was on its last leg. It was like kaklong, kak clunk, kaklong coming down. Oh my god, and it was exactly that. You can see the old logos on this semi-truck of a previous moving company. They literally had an eight by ten piece of paper taped to it with the typed on it the new name of the company, and it was like just taped to the side of the truck.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 18:52

It was like, oh my god, here it is. But the funny part was after they left our house, they were had a load to go to Las Vegas two hours away. So we're like, Oh, good luck to those people. So then a couple days later, we're on the golf cart going through the community, just cruising around, checking it out, and we rounded this bin. And by God, that same semi-truck was a couple streets over, picking up a load. They were hired to move somebody out, and I made Jim go and drive over there, and we sat there for like 15 minutes. I was waiting to see the owners because I was gonna tell them, man, be on top of these people because your stuff's gonna get stolen, your stuff's gonna get broken. Like, I was ready to like let these give these owners a total heads up. And Jim's like, No, you can't, you can't do what are you gonna say to them? I'm like, I'm gonna tell them what a shitty company they are that they hired so that they have a heads up. But the people never came out. Did you talk to no? Oh, they knew I don't honestly, I'm not even sure if they were home. Uh, but and then then the truck parked there for like two days, and we kept saying, like, why is that truck still there? And I'm like, I bet you it broke down, it probably broke down. They couldn't pull away. The truck broke down because you're not allowed to park in this. Oh god, it was so fun. So, so anyways, we digress. Well, that's terrible. I know. No, it's fine. Well, I mean, it that's it's you know, you're cleaning to move, or you're just cleaning to clean, clean because it's like spring, I guess, right? Right. But no, that that's a nightmare. Oh, it was that's probably why I just don't want to ever move, ever. Well, somewhere, but not real far away. Across the street. Uh the yeah, there's still extra lots in this development. If I think I need to change up my house, maybe I'll just buy another piece of property and move two doors down. Um that speaks volumes about my energy level. Which is uh nil.

The Clanking Semi And Red Flags

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Um so you guys asked why spring and why is it springtime?

SPEAKER_04 21:06

Oh, he looked it up. Oh, let's let's hear this.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Gemini was so yeah, so coup couple different things. Um the Persian New Year. The what? The Persian New Year.

SPEAKER_04 21:19

I don't know any Persians.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Iranian. Okay, modern-day Iran is Persia. I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 21:25

Oh, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Yeah. So occurring on the first day of spring. This tradition involves. I don't even want to I know I'm gonna mess up pronouncing it, but it's kinda to Kani.

SPEAKER_04 21:35

Oh my gosh, you even tried to do it.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Shaking the house to it's called Shaking the House to welcome the new year with a fresh start in good fortune. Also in the Jewish tradition, Passover, before Passover homes are thoroughly cleaned to remove all the leave and food. Um Chinese New Year, a deep cleaning ritual that symbolizes sweeping away bad luck and misfortune. And then Practical necessity before modern heating, homes were sealed against the cold, resulting in a buildup of soot from the candles and the fireplaces, um, making spring the time to open windows, air out rooms, and scrub away winter grime. Which I actually relate to this. I mean, we did have modern heating in enough apples, but both of my parents smoked in the house. And they frequently they frequently wash the walls while my mom did. But she she would very seasonally, like clockwork, always wash the walls. And it probably had a lot to do with the fact that they both smoked in the house when I when I was growing up. So and then um there's some ancient Greek and Roman roots as well, similar rituals performed during the Greek celebration of Great Lent and the Roman festival of Lupercalia. So um the term itself gained traction in in our country during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, evolving from the necessity of physical chore into a widespread symbolic tradition. So here we are today.

Physical Risks: Falls, Ladders, Fatigue

SPEAKER_04 23:08

Here we are. Would you say then that this is like a lot of other traditions that are now pretty strong in this country that it came over with the people coming over from Europe in other countries? Probably. Probably so because you're the timeline you're talking about that makes me think that's probably the case. And what I'm hearing is that cleaning has been something dysfunctional forever. For all times. I mean, listen, all different, it doesn't matter what region, whatever, what timeline, cleaning dysfunction. I think we've probably made it worse as time's gone. This seems like it does seem like our family's mothers, and I don't want to make this into a female-male thing, but I mean it's kind of what it is. Yeah, it does seem like they kind of did it, and maybe again, I wasn't that interested in the paying that much attention to anybody around me. So if it I'm trying to think of the people I saw on TV, what they were doing in their houses, probably wasn't paying attention to what was going on in mine, but they seem to do it effortlessly. Like my grandmother, I think, with this sort of she was in a wheelchair, but she used to roll a Christie. She would roll away. She would dance, she was nothing held her back. I'm being very uh that's good, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Uh compliment.

SPEAKER_04 24:37

She didn't let it stop her, and she kept her house, you know, tidy. So I do remember that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

You're giving me ammunition now. I'm gonna be like, your grandma who's a listener could do it. Why can't you?

SPEAKER_04 24:49

Chrissy, did you have to watch there wasn't as much on TV now? You know, God, now it's even worse. I can watch whatever I want whenever I want. Yeah, it's pretty bad. What were you gonna say? Uh I was gonna say, did you have to do chores growing up? No, and I don't even know how to assign them. Oh, your kids you don't have our daughter. No, I mean he we he wants like our oldest. He thinks you know she she and I'm like, Well, uh, I don't what I how do you do that? You mean they'll do that? That seems strange to me. Did you have Chores Nick? She didn't either. He didn't have 'em. No, but I because he had four older sisters.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Yeah, but I did I did just as much cleaning as they did. Probably not much, but no, but my mom was very egalitarian, you know.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

No boy, here comes one of the words again. I don't have the energy to look that up. Define, please. Egalitarian, just equal. I gotta admit, you had a big ego. What did you say? Equalitarian. There's a g in there. Huh? It sounds like there's a G.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

There is a G in egalitarian.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

I thought you were saying equalitarian. Now he's looking at it. I gotta look it up now. Maybe I'm saying it wrong. While he's doing that, let's see.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Did you have chores? All the education I had, right?

SPEAKER_04 26:19

Yes, I did. But you assigned chores, you were. Okay. What was the least favorite of your chores? Um I don't really remember if I had I I can't really say that I minded doing chores. Um, like I never uh it was just you just did them. You know what I mean? So like I would help with the vacuuming and the dusting, and I would have to clean up my room. And obviously, when we had animals, I was had to take care of the animals, and the animals were always supposed to be taken care of first. So, like in the morning, you went out and you fed the animals, took care of them before you had your breakfast. And same thing at night, you had to go take care of them before. So, like that was always ingrained, and I still do that to this day. I get up in the morning, I take care of all the animals, then I take care of myself, you know. So um, I can't really say I never had anything that was terrible that I had to do. Um, but again, I think it was also I didn't have a choice, you know. This is you just you did it. So, but I remember also, I mean, it was from early age, too. Like as far back as I can remember, I was doing some kind of chores. I didn't get paid for it. It was no like foreign allowance, it was just you did that. Nobody let you in on the fact that you could have been earning cash for this.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

Nope. It's egalitarian with the G.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

Oh, is it okay?

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Yeah, relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.

SPEAKER_04 27:58

In your household with your family, this sounds smart.

All Or Nothing Thinking

SPEAKER_02 28:02

There was no although my sisters would argue this point. Um I think my mom treated treated me pretty equally to my sisters. They would say, no, I was spoiled, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, because I was the youngest also. But um, no, I was I did my share cleaning around the house. And I think to this day you've probably you're probably benefiting from that. Oh boy, maybe I shouldn't have pulled this as a topic to talk about.

Micro-Cleaning And Gamification

Outsourcing, Rest, And Listener Stories

SPEAKER_04 28:29

I'm loving that people are gonna see your facial expressions now because you have the best facial expressions. I need to wear one of my Ben Cooper masks so you can't see my page. Anyhow, yeah. What's the next thing? What is this? Emotional what did that say? We said emotional barriers on um oh physical barriers. That's it. Now this I have we have to talk about the physical barriers. Yeah, now, yeah. So let's talk about what happened here with your physical uh again. This isn't about spring cleaning, but it's you're moving, but you got it's all time together right now. It just happened to be my spring cleaning was a spring cleaning move across the country, but it happens, trust me. So um, so yeah, so we have boxes everywhere, you know. I was trying to get this office set up so that we could get back to recording. And I mean, it was just boxes and boxes and boxes, and um, so I had I bought this new desk, and so it was still in the box on the floor, but it was so heavy, so it was just kind of like somewhat in the hallway and somewhat half in my office, and we knew we were gonna get to it, but it wasn't gonna be for another day or two, but it was just too heavy to move, and I'm like, oh, just leave it there. So I was walking and I had to go down the hallway past it, and somehow or another, I tripped over it and I started to fall, and then I kind of caught myself, but then I tripped on something else and fell, and I totally face planted. I mean, just boom, face planted. Jim was in the living room. I thought he was like, Oh my god, are you okay? And I was laying on the floor, more like I mean, yeah, it I banged up my knee, and you know, like I was banged up, but I was fine. But I was just laying there, like, I give up. Like I was just like so defeated. And Jim's like, Are you okay? Are you okay? Oh my god, oh my god. And then I got up and he goes, I can't even believe you're able to stand after the fall that you took. Because I mean, I I went down hard and flat. I mean, just I had things in my hand that literally like flew across into like two rooms down. Oh, it was bad. So, yeah, there could be definitely physical injury when you're cleaning because things get in the way, you're taking things apart, you're emptying things out to reorganizing stuff up you probably shouldn't pick up because it's too heavy, right? Climbing up on ladders. Okay, so here's the other thing like um we have these in the kitchen, the the cupboards don't go all the way to the ceiling, so there's a space. So I was putting some decorative pottery up there. So I'm climbed up on this little ladder and I'm walking on the counters to reach over the top. Jim comes in and he's like, Oh my gosh, Woody, you're gonna fall, you're gonna fall. It's like he's literally walking around, like holding on to me, which I think almost made me feel more like I was gonna fall than just being up there by myself. But after him watching me faceplant, he wasn't he wasn't leaving me by myself. So I could see how spring cleaning could be a physical risk to one's well-being. It is, it is, it seems to be an emotional uh and physical um nightmare. Yeah, yeah. Are we doing it? It needs to is there anybody who makes uh what I'd like to know is if there's anybody out there who actually makes spring cleaning fun. Because I bet you the right type of person could probably do it. Like Mary Poppins probably make it greening, I guess. Or is that Cinderella? Mary Poppins. Cinderella. No, well, no, Cinderella is just abused. Mary Poppins, maybe, I don't know. I just people who are organized and enjoy organization to a level. I enjoy organization, I don't enjoy getting. Yeah, doing it. You enjoy somebody else's done, but not the process of getting there. Correct. Very much so. So but I don't know. Now when you fell, not to focus on falling, did you like fight so you wouldn't go down? Um, I I trip, I have a I found out that I have somehow they did all these x-rays on my back. I wasn't having pain, but my posture is not great. And I was concerned. And so they did all these x-rays and they found out that I have a small fracture in my vertebrae. Oh my gosh. And I don't have pain or anything though, but it definitely is gonna affect my posture. So I gotta try and be real conscientious about how I sit and stand, and I fail quite often. Nick's always trying to overcorrect me when the way I'm slumped over, but um, and it causes me to trip on my left foot a lot. So when I walk, I I don't walk as quick as I used to because I'm afraid I'm gonna fall, but I do catch like the like your toe part of my shoe. Yeah. And then I start falling forward. I have gone down a couple times. My poor my oldest daughter was there, I think twice when I did it. And she just she probably thought I was having a heart attack. All of a sudden I just went down and was on the floor. And I kind of would just sit there and like make sure I didn't break any. At this point, you're wondering, did I break something? You're doing the internal assessment. Okay, that's okay before I move. Yeah, exactly. But I do know that I've I've started to trip and I really fight not to, you know, fall forward. And sometimes when you do that, you actually will fade, like you said, faceplan. Yeah, because you've like pushed yourself too far, and now you're headed to something that's gonna disconnect with your face. That's pretty much what happened. I think the only thing that saved me from actually smacking my face into the floor was I fell over that box. So there was the box was just a few inches that spared my nose because I mean I was flat, but that box, because I kind of went over it a little bit, was just enough lift that it it spared me from breaking my nose. But no, I think what actually um just from um, I don't know, being around animals, riding horses or whatever, I've kind of learned how to fall, I guess you can say. So um I was catching myself appropriately, but then when I caught my foot the second time, there was there was nothing I can do. I was already in the almost going down position, and that was just it just catapulted me forward and flat. But um, but yeah, I there was a few minutes of self-assessment thereof, um, yeah, this was a bad fall. So, you know, you know, now we're at the age when we go to the doctors who are like, have you had any falls in the past year? It's like, well, yes. I'm like, oh, define the fall. Like, what how do you mean? Yeah, I don't I don't know what to say, and I generally I have enough that I have to talk about when I go to the doctor, so I don't need to talk about anything else. You need to add to it as my main topic. No, so I usually just check no. I haven't fallen 10 times since the last time I saw you. No. I'm just looking quickly as we wrap this up. Chemical exposure, yeah, physical injury recovered, burnout and resentment, uh, psychological distress, the all or nothing. That's another thing I think I fall into. I feel like I have if I'm gonna do this, I need to do it to the extreme. And that's what sort of basically con you know it defeats me before I get started. Because I just thinking about it exhausts me. You you bit off more than you can chew, kind of a thing. Yeah, instead of let's hoarding behaviors. Well, you know about that. Um, but I'm breaking myself. You're doing good, you're on your way. I'm trying. And then there's how to counteract the dysfunction. So there's a silver lining here. So it says micro cleaning, yeah. Instead of a full weekend. Oh, this was just what I was talking about at the beginning. Yes. Set timers. Oh, you just have to clean for 15 to 30 minutes and then you stop. I've done that. I've set a timer and said, you know, set the Alexa for an hour, and I'm only gonna do this for an hour, and then I'm gonna stop. Because otherwise, and see, this is what I was getting into that first week we got here. I was so like, I gotta clean, I gotta unpack, I gotta do it. And we were running ourselves into exhaustion. I mean, pure exhaustion. And for me with my lupus, that just like exasperated it. So I finally had to start saying, I am only going to unbox like five boxes, or I'm only gonna do this for an hour, or I will stop at nine o'clock. So good strategies. It sounds like you can make this into a fun game with your significant other, and you can like set, like you said, set a timer, or maybe play a song, and then when the song stops, you have to get to a specified chair in the house first. And whoever gets to the chair first doesn't have to do any more cleaning anymore.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:25

I just developed the best game ever. Uh musical chairs. Chairs, right, right, right. There you go. So I'm gonna play this song and we both clean, and then when the music stops, you have to get to whoever gets to the chair first is done for the day. There you go. I think that's a good way to get into this. Nick, tell me how that permission later. You have to be able to give yourself permission to fail. Yeah, geez, it's just cleaning. It's not like you're making a life decision here, but give yourself permission to fail. Because this doesn't speak any volumes about you or who you are. Let me see here. I don't know what this says here because I can't read it. Oh, I don't know what this word is. Gamification. Gamification. Oh, hey, this is what this recommends. Listen to podcasts or music to make the boring task of cleaning more stimulating. So I guess we should tell everybody to listen to us. Listen to us while you clean. You'll yes, and then outsource. Well, that's where I want to go, right? There you go. Molly perfect. Outsource it. Get yourself somebody who you can trust to help you. Yeah, there you go. So happy spring cleaning, everybody. Happy spring cleaning. Definitely. So while you're spring cleaning and listening to podcasts and everything, make sure that you also cut some time out for yourself and take some rest and don't let yourself get overwhelmed and burned out.

unknown 39:59

Yeah.

March Cause: Best Friends Sanctuary

SPEAKER_04 39:59

And if you're like Carrie and I and you fall down in the process of cleaning, wear something fluffy and roll around on your floor a little bit. Multitask. There you go. Oh, well, this is fun. So that you can. I'm glad that we're back on this. We look forward to this new format and coming at you not only through the audio, but now you can video visually see us. Be sure to check out our Facebook page. We'd love to hear your cleaning stories. Did you have any unsurprising falls or moving horror stories? We want to hear it. So let us know. Find us on Facebook. And then also for the month of what month are we in now? We're in March. For the month of March, our Junkies Care Initiative is Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. If you haven't heard about it, you might want to tune in to our uh Junkies Care episode that was posted on the first of the month. It's a great organization. They do a lot for the animals. It's the largest animal sanctuary in the country, located in Canab, Utah. So check them out too. But otherwise, we'll see you next week. Everybody.