Taking Out the Trash in Your Life: Spring Cleaning Edition

Welcome to The In Between Podcast. I'm Astrid.

And I'm Alexis. And we're 2 best friends on a journey to living a fun, intentional life.

We know it's easier to share on a season of life once it's behind you, but what about when you're in the middle of the growth, confusion, and decision-making?

This lifestyle podcast is for the everyday gal who loves to travel, talk about business, relationships, fashion, and everything in between.

Hello friends, and welcome back to another episode of The In Between Podcast. This is one of your hosts, Astrid.

And the other half, Alexis. And I am so looking forward to this topic because we're going to be talking about taking out the trash of your life, AKA spring cleaning edition. And as Astrid and I were prepping for this, we bucketed it into 3 core categories. So when we're talking about taking out the trash in your life, We're talking about taking out the mental trash. So like your habits, your thoughts, what things you need to let go of to enjoy your life this spring and summer. The second category is physical, um, and like your space trash. So what things in your physical space do you need to let go of and throw away? And the last category is relationships and your environment. What trash, which is such a harsh word, but whatever, we're owning it. Uh, what do you need to let go of, recycle, Um, reduce, um, or throw away in your relationships to enjoy, you know, life and feel lighter and feel fulfilled this spring and summer. So I'm looking forward to this because we're gonna have— I don't know if you have some spicy hot takes, but I'm ready for whatever this episode, uh, unearths.

I am so excited. I think my mind has been gravitating towards this. With the new weather, with like just so many changes happening. And I know I'm gonna leave this episode with my own list of things that I want to spring clean this season.

Yeah.

But I am stoked. I feel like it's always good to stop in April and reevaluate our habits, reevaluate our environment, and we get that energy in the new year a lot. And then it just dies down a little bit by March. So this is where we're going uphill again with you all. We are grabbing our habits, we are grabbing all of our intentions, and let's spring clean together. I am so excited for this.

I am really looking forward to this. So before we dive in, uh, any quick life updates that you have to add?

Yeah, life update. I become an American citizen on Friday. I am so excited. I moved to the States In 2000. So it's been 26 years or 24 years.

I'm in the future. I'm like, it's 2026. Could be. Who knows?

Yeah, it could be. If you're listening to this in 2026, it is accurate. But yeah, I am stoked. My family is coming with me. It's like a whole ordeal. Yeah. And then I'm headed out this weekend to Dallas for a really cool branding shoot. So she is a wellness creator, and she's starting her own business in that front. It has been so incredibly fun to put that together. I just adore branding shoots, and all the complexities that can come of it where I'm like, how do we get you the most of your money? And like, you don't need, you know, to be in one outfit for a whole hour. Like, let's change it. It's very, very high energy, like let's go, go, go, this is a whole production kind of vibe, and I am ready to lean into that. Um, and then after that I'm going to Florida for an elopement, and one of my girlfriends is going to meet me out there. So, so excited for that one, and just being able to be back in the beach. I'm just such a beach girly.

You are a beach girl. I love that. I love that you're like every month you're like, I I mean, I think now every month you've been at the beach, which has been iconic.

Yes. Besides January. Yeah. So we're going to keep the trend rolling. I have full confidence from now till August that we can make this happen.

I believe in you.

And last highlight is we finalized a lot of bigger things for our trip to the South of France.

Yes.

That was so fun to just See where everything's at. It's becoming more of a reality. So if any of y'all have been to the South of France and your recs are away, yeah, we're very excited for Nice.

I'm so proud of you for the brand shoe and like everything that you've got going on the work side. And also your beach soul is going to feel so nurtured. I'm very happy for you. And yes, for Nice, like my energy is literally Like we, and if you've listened to any of our other episodes around planning trips with friends and being intentional with travel and like, how do you plan a good trip with your friends or your family or your partner? One of them is like setting intentions. So Ashlyn and I asked each other, we're like, wait, we're, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Like, what are the top 3 things that are most important to you? And then we really kind of shifted the trip around a little bit based on. what those were. And it was so cool to see us like focus in. And her and I want to just be at a beach club every day. Like, I want to be on a lounge chair. I want someone bringing me like ceviche and Aperol Spritzes. We're both going to be reading something on Kindle and taking cute pictures and just like soaking up the sun. Iconic. Like, I just—

I cannot wait.

I know it's literally like May, April, May, and we're talking about something that's going to happen in July, but that's how excited we are. Anyways, um, life update. I'm headed to Boston this weekend for a long weekend with my best friend from Nashville, Kate. I'm literally so looking forward to spending one-on-one time with her. We only get to see each other about twice a year. And those long-distance besties, man, like they, they are like your real ones, you know? And I think friendships that can stand the test of distance. And time. I think that's like when you know that you've got a soul sister. Um, and I, I just am so excited to spend time with her and just explore Boston. Her and I did the same thing when we were planning that trip. There's a couple of things where like, this'll be fun, but I told her, I was like, I literally just want to get coffee and walk around the city and talk and walk and just see things and just spend time together. I actually don't care what we do. I literally, I only want to spend time with you. So I'm really looking forward to that.

Aw.

to that. And then, yeah, I think that's most of my life updates. Just my birthday is at the end of April, so celebrating that and, um, putting together a fun dinner with my friends here in Houston. And Matthew is so sweet. He's like, where do you want to eat? I'm gonna make the reservation. I want a cake. He was like, will you let me, let me, let me take care of the cake? So he's been so thoughtful and attentive with my birthday, and it just feels really nice to like not have to plan. that and have someone that comes in and like, he's obviously letting me choose everything, which makes me happy.

Yeah.

He's helping with all the logistics, which I really appreciate. So yeah, all good things. And then Europe for a couple of weeks. So I feel very blessed. I feel very grateful, feeling very like, wow, I can't believe this is my life in a lot of ways. And in some ways I can because I freaking worked and planned and and had goals and like wanted this life. And then the other aspect of it is like, it's actually here and it's happening, and I feel so lucky and grateful for that. So yeah, just living in like a little happy bubble right now.

Oh, I love that so much for you. What a great space to be in right before your birthday, feeling so loved, getting all the quality time in with family and friends, and being able to feel the love by the acts of service too from your sweet husband. Like, That is a 10 out of 10. I know how stressed you were leading up to it as well. So for you to be like, this is what I want, and then him take care of the logistics is a love language all on its own. It really is.

It really is.

It really is.

Um, okay, shifting into what are you in between right now?

Um, okay, we always know this question is coming up and when the time comes, you get a little stage fright. So many to choose from. Right now I am in between. Okay, so I am in between shifting so much focus from finances to how rich I am in life in general.

Yeah.

And it doesn't mean that I'm not focused on my finances, that I don't have financial goals, because if you listened to last week's episode, that's exactly what my in-between was about. I very much have have that. But I think that right now I'm in a season where I'm really grateful that I own my time, that I can go to my personal training session at 10:00 AM, that if I need to start work at noon, I can, that I choose the clients that I work with, that I choose the team that I have. I just have the privilege of choosing.

Yeah.

And I feel— actually, this hit me this past weekend. We were driving And I was like, you know what? I am so rich in life experiences. And I just felt so grateful because 15-year-old me didn't get to travel a lot, didn't get to have those quite a bit because our financial situation was different. And somehow I ended up in a career that is my job. It's not just like I go on vacations every month. It's literally my job to go to Dallas next week and then to go to Florida. I went and traveled in February too, and just getting to see so many different places and the fact that people want me there and are paying me to be there just feels really humbling.

Yeah.

And yeah, so I'm just having one of those out-of-body experiences where I just look back on my life and I'm like, okay, there's a lot of things I want to work on and there's a lot of things that I want to work towards. And I never want to forget how rich I am in life experiences. My life is so full of life. I have hobbies, I have people I love, I have travel, I have a family that I love to hang out with. There's just so many different aspects of it that I feel so rich in. And so I'm trying to figure out how I can keep this in the forefront of my mind.

Yeah.

Whether it's adding it to my daily prayer meditations and being able to remind myself of all the ways that I am rich, that even as I'm working through the other goals, I never shift my heart and focus to material things because I just never wanted to go that route either where that overtakes my mind or I value that more over quality time at home with the people that I love. So yeah, I'm glad that I'm there. I'm glad that my mindset shifted because quite honestly, a few months ago when finances were a little bit rockier, it's almost like I turned to survival mode and the most important thing was that at that moment.

Yeah.

So yeah, I am in between letting go of that version of me, holding onto this version of me, and wanting to sustain this one much longer and implementing it into my daily habits.

Yeah, that's huge. I think that's a huge, like, step deeper into your maturity as well. I think that that is like, you're very mature. So I'm not saying like, oh, you're mature now. But like, I do think that our, our perspective on life and our perspective on what we value does evolve as we mature and get older and wiser, hopefully. And it's really beautiful to see you step into that and like have that evolve in a way that feels really organic to you, but also really meaningful and honest where it's like, okay, I've, I've tried that and I've tried this and I've tried that and I want to live in this headspace. Um, yeah, I'm really proud of you.

That's awesome. Thank you, love. Thank you. I am excited for what this will bring for sure.

Rich in life, baby. Rich in life.

What are you currently in between?

This is a little bit of like an in-between slash celebration. That's something I feel like I've been in between for a while that now I feel as if I'm on the other side of it a little bit more. So I'm going to kind of take that angle with Mm-hmm. This question for this episode, but I have been struggling with acne for a couple of years now and off and on. And a lot of that had to do with being on birth control and my hormones being imbalanced and irregular and my diet and nutrition. And there were just like so many factors and I felt like I could never get to a place with my skin Where I looked, I could not wear makeup and look in the mirror and be like, wow, your skin looks really glowy and beautiful and smooth. And not that that is like the ultimate, but it was something I found a lot of insecurity around. And like, I would always feel like I needed to be wearing a ton of concealer and like thick makeup and like just to cover up acne, which I don't believe that you need to do. And even through that, I would force myself to not allow that to be an insecurity by not wearing makeup. And like, I really tried to like overcome that while I was going through it. But I will say over the past 3 months, really, since getting off birth control in January and upleveling my skincare and simplifying my skincare and using higher quality skincare at the same time, Mm-hmm. Those 2 things, I really do feel like my skin is in such a better place and I feel so proud of it. I'm like, okay, my skin, I feel like I have gotten to this place where I have taken the steps to make it better and it's finally paying off, which feels really great. So yeah, my in-between is like, Overcoming the insecurity that I felt from my skin, even though it's in a good place. And I know that that will even ebb and flow over time. And like just being able to not wear makeup or, you know, only wear sunscreen or a tinted sunscreen, like the ability to do that from where I was a couple of years ago just feels like a really lovely place of growth for me.

Yes. Oh, thank you so much for sharing that. I could not be happier for you. And the, the— not just where you're at right now, but admiring your journey through it all and your level of acceptance through it all. I think that can be such a hard place for us to accept ourselves in the in-between, in whatever season you find yourself.

Yeah.

And I've always admired how much you put certain actions in place to be like, this is me accepting myself, my body, my face, my habits, etc. And that is an And now seeing you be on the other side of it is so, so beautiful and so encouraging too, because it's like, okay, we can put those things in place and still work towards the other side of it. But we're not working out of like, once I get there, then I'll be great, then I'll be fine, then I'll feel beautiful enough. It's like, no, I am beautiful and I'm working towards this.

Mm-hmm.

So it's beautiful to see how it hasn't shifted your confidence. I'm sure it's increased it, or just like you feel good in it and you're like, yay, it's finally looking how I want it to. But your confidence was always there, or you navigated it in such a beautiful way. So thank you for sharing your journey with that.

Yeah, thank you. I'm glad you said that. If I could simplify what I said, it's like the in-between of acceptance and growth. It's like I'm accepting where I am and accepting my skin for what it is and loving myself through that and also still wanting to grow and figure out a skincare routine that works for me and double cleansing. There's so many things that have really helped with my skin. So yeah, I feel really good about that. So yay.

I love it. I am so proud of you. What are the, just real quick girly talk, what are 2 products that you're like, this was a game changer?

I love double cleansing with the Tatcha. There's an oil cleanser and then there's a rice cleanser. So I cleanse with the oil first and then I do the Tatcha rice wash second. So double cleansing in general, huge.

Mm-hmm.

Another thing is retinol. Retinol has actually really helped the texture of my skin because of acne and there was some scarring and some discoloration. Retinol has really helped. Putting on retinol before moisturizer where I was doing moisturizer then retinol. And, my esthetician was like, you have to use your retinol or your benzoyl peroxide or anything that you're wanting to penetrate the skin barrier, you need to use that first and finish with moisturizer, which I feel like sometimes we just don't know these things, right? No, not at all.

Yeah.

You literally blew my mind. No joke, I started using the retinol before moisturizer, letting it sit for 30 seconds to a minute before putting the moisturizer on, and it works so much better. And so sometimes it's not even that the product you're using isn't good. It might just be how you're using it in your skincare lineup that it's kind of dissolving the initial value of the product because you're not using it in the right way.

Mm-hmm.

So those are some things that have really helped me.

Oh, well, I love that. Thank you for sharing. I think getting into retinol is something I want to try this year. I'm scared of it because it's so intense and my skin went through a very intense situation already. But I think this is the year. She's become resilient now.

Honestly, just consult your esthetician. Find a brand that you feel like is good for your allergies and good for your skin. Um, especially if you have like preexisting skin allergies or conditions or things that flare up, like just work with your esthetician. Don't go to Ulta and put on a bunch of products like I did and then burn your freaking skin.

So yeah, well, you know what, you got glowy skin right afterwards.

It was part of the process. One thing I will do is I will go through life loud and I will tell you every little thing I made a mistake on.

I love you for that.

I love that about me. So let's talk about taking out the trash.

Yes, you're a girl's girl. Well, I am so excited for this episode. I feel like spring cleaning, whether it's going to be your habits or it's going to be your space, is something that can bring us so much peace. And I don't know about you all, but whenever your house is messy or your habits are messy or life is just chaotic, I start feeling more anxious. I start feeling like my peace is just all out of sorts. And as soon as I clean up my space, my situations didn't change, but my mind feels clear. I feel more grounded. Same with my habits. I'm like, I'm waking up at a great time. I'm following my routine and I just feel more grounded to take on the day. So really, this will be an episode where we talk through some of the ways that we are spring cleaning our mental trash, spring cleaning our physical space, and also our relationships or environment to really have a conversation of reflection of what are some areas that you want to spring clean this season and feel lighter and more peaceful throughout it all.

A great intro, babe. That was fantastic. I love you. So let's start with mental trash and habits. Um, a question I wrote down, and it's very similar to what you said, was like, what mindsets do you need to let go of this spring so that you can live your fullest life? For me, that I recognized that my habit of procrastination, or like I would look at my calendar and I would get very stressed when I looked at my calendar, and then I would procrastinate, or I would feel this like sense of anxiety. Kind of like Sunday scaries-ish, but like throughout the whole week, not just reserved for Sunday. And something that has helped me is like actually blocking out time for my habits, but also I'm using my calendar in a way where I'm putting all of my personal and professional things on my calendar. And so it's like, okay, this is— these are the blocks. And if I start the day, I'm like, I know my first thing is at 8 and my last thing ends at 6. Okay, that's okay. Now I now I can like focus on the things I want to get done that evening. What I usually would do is I would allow my work stress, my side business, and my main job, and even recording the podcast. Like there's so many different things to keep up with, and I know that you you understand this as well. That in the evenings, I would just want to almost like revenge my calendar, and I'm like. We're not going to go to bed till midnight. We're going to veg. And we're going to watch TV. And we're like, that is so okay. But I find myself where I was doing that so much and it was becoming a consistent thing, not a break or a pause, but like this is now becoming my evening habit. And that is something that I am letting go of this spring is I want to continue to allow my evenings to still be productive in some way. So that might be like, hey, I know we worked till 6, but we're going to go on a quick walk with Piper for 30 minutes and we're going to listen to something girly. Like, that's another thing is listening to fun podcasts instead of professional development podcasts. Yes. Yes. Because I'm like, my brain just can't after a certain point. I can't absorb that kind of high-level intellectual stuff. So I'm like, you know what? We're listening to like pop culture. We're going to listen to a girly podcast and that makes me feel Good and light and like doing something productive right after work. And then if I want to be in bed at 8 o'clock and read on my Kindle or scroll on TikTok, like that's my prerogative. But that 6 o'clock to 9, 6 to 10, where I'm just like down for the count, that is a habit that I am currently like breaking this, this spring. So I love that.

Yeah. I love that you share that. I can relate to that. A lot. I have been doing the vegging out nights mostly this past week because I had such intense days.

Yeah.

And after like day 3, I could not take it anymore. I'm like, I feel like my entire day just got— it was work and then recovering from work and then repeat. So yeah, we need to, we need to shift that over. But I love that you talked about the personal development podcast because I think that can be something where our mental— I don't want to call them trash, but maybe load is maxed out. So maybe putting some boundaries around how much content are we consuming that's personal development. I caught myself last month feeling very anxious because I was navigating a lot of changes in my business. And as I listened to all of the podcasts, it basically added to my to-do list where I felt like, okay, now I have to do this on social media. Now I need to do this in my workflow. Now I need to do this in my pricing. Do I even have the right things in my pricing guide? Well, stock photography looks great. Literally just all over the place. So I think being able to check ourselves on where we're at mentally.

Yeah.

And also if it's a heavy work week, heavy day, just not gravitating towards that. Which I feel like if you're someone who loves personal development or someone that's in the business space, it can almost feel like that's what you're supposed to be doing.

Mm-hmm.

Or like punishment. Like, if I want to be the greatest, then I must listen to all of this and put everything into action. And that is just discipline. And so we're here to debunk that, that if that doesn't feel good to you right now in this season, It doesn't have to be. You can still be disciplined. You can still be taking action in your business without overloading your mind and your habits. Um, but I think that can be such a huge crossover in our minds as business owners. So something that I'm, uh, working on is spending without a budget. I feel like I've gotten a lot better at, um, navigating that. I've had like ebbs and flows of it this year. But I think that being able to plan ahead for some of these bigger trips that I haven't really taken a trip that long before and set some specific habits for that, like, okay, I know I may spend it. I know if it's in my account, it might just fade. And then suddenly after the trip, then I'll have to pay off all this stuff because I needed to. So on the flip side, what I did was every month I just send an X amount of money to a separate account. And I started that in January and now it's April and I'm looking at it and I'm like, oh, now I don't feel anxious about my trip in the summertime because even if I didn't put a single dollar more right now, that is a pretty decent amount to spend over there and to be like, okay, my food, my, like, activities and things like that. But I still, uh, I'm, I'm bringing that back in. And I think the habit of looking at yourself in the mirror of like, how much are you spending, is really important. And so for me, it's like, I will spend so much money on coffee. Like, that is my crutch. That is my thing. And, um, last month I had to like sit down and do the budget for the previous month, even though the month was over. Because I'm like, I know I need to know that number because that number will allow me and push me to not spend without intention. So yeah, I think like being able to spring clean some of our finances too, if that's something that's giving you anxiety or just in general, like you want to feel like you're stewarding your money really, really well. Um, that is something that I'm working on.

Girl, yes, I feel that. It's like Matthew and I too. And there's something about when summer is approaching, you're just like, smells like spending money. Like, what is that? You know, you want to go out, you want to do things with your friends, you want to get a new dress. And like, I think that that is more than okay in moderation. And so it's mostly just the frequency in which we do those things that we need to adjust so that it fits inside the budget. So I love that.

Mm-hmm.

The last piece around mental trash is letting go of any shoulds that you feel in your life. So like, I'm glad you brought up the personal development podcasts and people that are career-focused or, you know, have a business. They feel like that's something that they should be doing. They should always be learning and like consuming that content. I just want to like peel that back and, and apply that to everything. Like, anything that you feel like you should be doing that at your core you don't really want to do, I want to encourage you to let that mental trash out, take it out, put it in the dumpster, let the city come pick it up, you know, on trash day, because it's just not serving you. And that should is usually attached to shame and criticism and judgment. And when we keep those shoulds around, It just creates this like internal insecurity around not doing what we could be doing or should be doing, and we're not who we need to be. And we start to feel this pressure and this resistance and kind of this disconnect from ourselves because we focus so much on what we think we should be and what we should be doing that we forget to live life and we forget to actually like touch base with ourselves and Say, what is it that I really want? And so that's something I'm constantly reminding myself of and just want to encourage you if that's something that you are navigating too. Like, I'm giving you verbal permission to throw out the shoulds this spring and every season after, uh, because it, it takes up mental load that we don't need to carry.

I love that so much. I think that We can carry so much of the shoulds into our everyday life, honestly, without realizing it, where you wake up and you're like, I should have woken up earlier. And then you have your breakfast and you're like, I probably should have ate a healthier breakfast. And then you're answering all your emails and stuff. You're like, oh, was I direct enough? Was I strong enough? Like, there's a lot of shoulds that we can navigate throughout the day. And when you really become aware of those—

Yeah.

Really, that's the first step in like being able to clean that up is like, how often do we second-guess ourselves and second-guess our abilities and our choices and then backtrack to, I'm gonna let that go. Um, the last thing I wanted to say on spring cleaning your habits is just mostly an encouragement of like picking 3 habits or 3 things that you want to get better at, or in overall, when you do those things, it brings you so much more peace and you feel very aligned. So say meditations, like at least 3 times a week, or prayer, or the walking, or movement, or nutrition. Like, what are those things that have maybe fell to the back burner that at the beginning of the year you said, this is important to me and I want to focus on that? And how do we bring that back to your habits in a more sustainable way. And I love talking about this. It's like being able to clear the all-or-nothing mentality and say, I'm going to do this every day. No, how about we start with your minimum first? What is the bare minimum of that habit that you would feel so happy with?

Yes.

And if it's once a week, twice a week, great. Let's start there. Anything you do more than that, fantastic. Um, but being able to build that confidence in— so I think like as the season changes, whether it's scrolling on social media or, um, cleaning up your house every night or, uh, waking up earlier so that you're able to have a more productive day, just being able to bring that back into your radar and really take some action on that. So I know for me, those are some things that I'm working on and that I want to bring to the forefront is cleaning up my house at night. It just rolls into the next day and it makes me feel stressed when things aren't cleaned up. And I want to feel that peace every single day in my own space. So with that, shall we shift over to our physical space?

Physical space trash. The biggest one that I think comes into spring cleaning that we hear all the time is cleaning out your space, organizing your space. Not to be too redundant, but mine is cleaning out your closet, cleaning out specific places in your house that cause you stress when you look at them. There was a point over the last couple of months, and I went back and looked. So I cleaned out my closet in early April, late March. And I had not done that since July of last year. So it had been like 9 months of just, you know, the same, which is totally fine. But I recognized that what led me to finally get to that closet clean out was anytime I walked into my closet, I was feeling a bit of like, ugh, ugh, like I don't like anything in here. And that's actually not true, but because I hadn't tried things on and I hadn't actually like put different outfits together or shop inside my closet using things I already have, I was kind of getting really frustrated with my wardrobe and starting to feel almost a little bit of like, ugh, I got to get ready, but I don't know what to wear. And so I would just wear the same rendition of an outfit. Have you ever done this where you're like, your closet is annoying and you just end up wearing almost a little uniform? You're like, okay, I'm going to wear these kind of pants, this shirt, and then I'm done.

It's in a different font every day. You're like, here are— I have— I've been having that lately where my mind has been so overwhelmed. It's like my denim and I just switch it to a different crop top. I mean, my loose denim with a crop top.

If it works, it works. And then there's also that like, okay, I want— I don't want to wear that all the time. What do I actually have? So go through your closet and Get rid of things that don't serve you, but I'm going to go through an extra step. I think that if you aren't clear on if you want to keep it or not, we sometimes default to keep. And I want to challenge you to try it on in the moment because you're just prolonging that decision. And if you have the time, try it on. Okay, you know what? It doesn't fit the way I want. I don't like it. Okay, now something that I was going to keep that was going to take up space, I'm now going to donate. And so just like going that extra mile with your closet clean out for things that aren't an immediate no, that's a big one. The other one I had was organizing different spaces in your house that are causing you stress. So like your pantry, under your sink, your junk drawer, like little places, clean out your car, little things that like start to kind of pile up. If you can set aside, set a timer, I'm big on this, set a timer for like 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and just go at it. And then once the timer goes off, you can choose to continue or you can be like, okay, cool. I've put in my time. It's better now than when I started. And just make those little incremental, um, like organizational sprints. I like to look at them as organizational sprints where I'm like, I'm going to go in here for 30 minutes. 40 minutes. I'm not going to commit a half a day. And I think this is a big thing with spring cleaning, and I'm curious how you feel about this, is like we hear this and we're like, okay, I gotta, I gotta set up, set up the whole weekend and I gotta do this all weekend, or I gotta do this all day. And I think that's a big reason why sometimes we end up not doing it.

Absolutely. Retweet to everything that you said. That was a big crutch for me, was I'm in— I can be A perfectionist and an all-or-nothing person. And so when it comes to spring cleaning, I'm thinking, what next Saturday or Sunday do I have open and available where I can go crazy on all of this? And the truth is, it doesn't take that long. The last thing that I cleaned out was my pantry. I did that on a Sunday morning 2 weeks ago, and it took me max an hour to clean out. Mind you, I hadn't cleaned it out since I moved here. So like 3 years ago.

I know.

So yeah, for doing it in an hour for 3 years ago, mind you, a lot of things were expired, so it was easy to clean that out. Exposing myself out here, but it just felt so good to do that. And so whenever we're thinking about spring cleaning, what are some of those things that maybe it's an evening on a Tuesday where you can just set a timer and be like, all right, I'm going to organize my makeup drawer. I'm going to organize my like soaps and things in the bathroom. And being able to make it digestible is huge. Something that also helps me is I want it to look pretty when I open up my drawer, when I open up my closet. And so it's not just the act of taking stuff out, but if I can then organize it in a way that everything has space, like everything's not smashed in together, I feel like that's also part of like— I don't want to say the energy, but kind of like the energy that the space can have where you're just cramming everything into there and there's no rhyme or reason to things. I think it can help to prolong how organized it can stay when you can give things breathing room and we're able to be like, okay, here's the— now I have all of my sauces and things like that lined up and they're not smashed together. There's a space of, um, probably like an inch or 2 in between each one. So when I open my, my pantry now, there's not a bunch of food and like things just smashed in together. Everything has space. I know what I have, and it just feels so peaceful to do.

It also, like, I think it cuts down on buying things that you already have. You actually see, especially in the pantry, in the kitchen, when you see what you have, You don't go out, you're like, oh yeah, I need this. And you get home and you're like, oh, I bought another jar of, I don't know, pickles. And I already had a jar in the pantry. But because you can't see it, you end up spending more money sometimes.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that is huge. And I think in general, we just tend to accumulate so many things over time. So if you find yourself like things are getting overwhelming or you have too much of something, it's time to clean. But yeah, I, on my end, I think just being able to have everything visual helps. Like, I, there's very few clothes that I have folded besides more of my lounge situation. But I have a closet where I hang all my pants, all my shirts. I have a spare bedroom where I hang all of my athletic stuff. And then I have a third spare bedroom, which I'm privileged to have, but where I have all of my like other, uh, like nicer dresses and like the off-season and everything. So maybe find ways to not just get the trash out or like the things you don't want anymore, but is the system working for you?

Yeah.

Because if this system maybe made you disorganized, then like, is there a better or different way that you can sustain being organized this next round? And so maybe it's folding more things, maybe it's hanging more things. So, um, honestly, Marie Kondo, whenever she was so popular in 2020 transformed my life because the way that she teaches you, if you don't see it, you're less likely to wear it and you'll likely not use it. So even the things I fold, I do it almost like in a filing system where if I open my drawers, I can see all my sweatpants as a filing rather than up and down where you only end up wearing the ones at the top. So yeah, I think Marie— We love Marie. We love her. She is so great. I need to bring her back into my rotation of TV.

Does this spark joy? The last thing I wanted to bring up on physical space and just mostly the spring cleaning is buying new underwear. It's, it's your time. Buy some new underwear, buy some new undergarments, some new socks. Like, get rid of things that you've had for 5 years that, you know, we've all been there. Okay, we've all been there. Um, Upgrade your— and hey, you go to Target, it doesn't have to be anything crazy expensive, or Kohl's or Walmart, whatever, but get some new underwear. And then the other thing is clean your makeup brushes because it's contributing to your skincare and potentially acne. So clean your makeup brushes. I need to tell myself that every month. But should we move on to relationships/environment?

Let's do it. So, um, with spring cleaning our environment, our relationships, I think as we jump into a more social space of the time of year, I think it's important to reevaluate maybe what are some relationships or situations that maybe we don't love. And sometimes because we're in proximity to a group, we're in proximity to family members, we feel like we just have to hang out with them more. We just have to be around them more. And so reflecting on how do we feel when we hang out with certain people, with certain friends after we hang out with them? And are certain friendships ones that you want to continue investing a ton of time into? Because again, it's about protecting that environment and that peace that you have. And on the flip side, how can we be able to— the friendships that inspire you, that bring a lot of life into you? How can we nurture those a bit more? But I think our environment and who we choose to spend our time with can really clutter up our mental space as well.

Oh, big time. I, I put, we are surrounding ourselves with good energy and good people this summer. So people that you feel like you can be honest with, people that respect your boundaries, people that are rooted in kindness and Inclusivity. That's another thing, like with social settings, is sometimes it's like, I'm gonna go hang out with this group, but this group doesn't hang out with this group. And like, just no, you know, we're honestly, we're too old for that. Like the petty, the drama, the things that can come up sometimes with different social settings, especially during the summer because everybody's out and about more than usual. Just giving yourself that that mental clarity of like, these are the kind of people I want to spend time with. Here's how I want to make people feel. Here's the kind of people that I want to spend time with that make me feel good about me and that don't make me feel insecure. And then I also wrote, stop saying yes to spending time with people that drain you.

Mm-hmm.

Like, I think that we can, as you mentioned, we can feel that pressure to like say yes and spend time with things or environments, or maybe you are in a place right now where you want to stop drinking and, you know, it's a social, social season. Everyone is like meeting at the bar or they're going out for cocktails and you don't want to do that. Okay, absolutely. So you can say no to that environment. It doesn't mean that you have to not spend time with your friends.

Yeah.

Let them know, hey, I would love to do something else. Like, can we hang out during the day?

Could we go play pickleball?

Can we go play tennis? Can we like go for a walk? Let's hang out at the lake where the environment itself is not centered around, you know, drinking. There's so many different examples of that, but I think that if you communicate what it is that you need or what it is that you're trying to grow in, good friends and good community will support that.

They won't question it.

They might be curious. Oh, tell me more. Like That's so cool. I didn't realize that that was important to you. Like, I'd love to learn more about that. But I think that good, mature friendships and community will support whatever you're growing in this season. And don't feel like you can't ask for that.

Yeah, I love that so, so much. To add on to it and to kind of like wrap up too, the only thing that I wanted to share on this is more, I guess, on a positive note of taking Of spring cleaning, which is when we do have really solid relationships and friendships, part of spring cleaning is also redesigning your space, redesigning like, what do I want this to look like? Right? So when it comes to our relationships and our friendships, being able to think, okay, what do we want to do this summer? What do we want to bring into our relationship? Do we want more adventure? Do we want more intentional conversations? Do we want to double date more? In our friendships, like, hey, let's have a girly night. Let's have a girls' sleepover. Let's have a movie night. Whatever it is that you feel like you're craving, listen to those cravings and spring clean in a way that is more intentional for your relationships and bring that to the table.

Yeah, I love that. This was such a fun episode. I'm like, oh, we're just Just out here taking out all the trash.

I love it. I feel inspired. I'm like, I'm gonna set that timer tomorrow and clean up some spaces, and I cannot wait to feel lighter.

Yes, same. Well, if you love this episode, let us know. You can tag us on Instagram @inbetween.pod or leave a review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you're listening. We're so grateful for you. It's so cool to see the podcast continuing to grow and continuing to see like downloads every month increase. And we just appreciate you coming back week over week and sharing this with your friends. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. It really means so much to us. And Ashton and I are always texting and it's like, oh my gosh, did you see this month's numbers? And it really does— like, you make our, our day. So we appreciate you and appreciate the community that we've built here. So if you ever want to connect with me, you can do that at Alexis Teichmiller.

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