Retrospect
Retrospect
Too Much Stuff, Not Enough Space | Retrospect Ep.196
In this week’s episode we discussed how consumer culture, emotional attachment, and clever marketing have led to a nation buried in stuff. Americans are surrounded by more possessions than ever before, from overstuffed closets to overflowing storage units. We talk about clutter, psychology, and minimalism to uncover why we keep accumulating—and what it might take to finally let go.
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Clutter, digital clutter, physical possessions, storage units, generational differences, minimalism, emotional attachment, decision fatigue, self-storage industry, digital organization, email overload, app overload, notifications, decluttering challenges, psychological impact., Notifications, Do Not Disturb, Work-life balance, Promotional emails, Decluttering, Stress management, Comment sections, Retrospect podcast, Email address, Website, Grandparents, Scarcity, Memories, Space, Life priorities
Jason 0:01
Let me ask you something, when was the last time you opened a closet, a garage or that one drawer we all have and felt overwhelmed not by what you couldn't find, but by how much was already there. We live in an age of abundance, two day shipping, endless sales, storage units and impulse buys. Somewhere along the way, more became the measure of success, and enough became a moving target. We spend years collecting, upgrading, replacing, only to find ourselves surrounded by stuff we barely use, don't really need, sometimes can't even remember buying. But here's the deeper question, what is all this stuff really costing us today? We explore the hidden toll of clutter on our minds, our money, our time and our relationships, from the psychology of accumulation to the quiet revolution of letting go, we're diving deep into what it means to live lighter in a world that constantly tells us To want more. So take a breath, clear a little space and stay with us. It's time to talk about having too much stuff and how to begin living with less you.
Ian 1:46
Welcome to the retrospect podcast. I sure people come together from different walks of life and discuss a topic from their generations perspective. My name is Ian, and as always, I'm joined by Jason.
Jason 1:55
Hello, everyone.
Ian 1:56
and Stoney.
Stoney 1:57
Hello.
Ian 1:57
How's it going?
Stoney 1:58
It's going. So what is too much stuff? Okay,
Jason 2:03
that would be subjective, a
Stoney 2:05
state of owning more physical possessions that one can reasonably use, manage
Ian 2:12
or store. I just love the I just want to say, I love the way you said. It made it sound like you were about to defend yourself. You're like, so what is too much stuff?
Jason 2:21
Well, it's true, because too much stuff is probably very subjective, because everybody's got a different definition of what too much stuff is. A
Stoney 2:28
couple of interesting statistics I got, and I know Jason is our resident statistician here, but the average American home has over 300,000 items. Okay, wow. Think about that, one in 10 US households rent a storage unit. And on top of that, Americans spend $1.2 trillion annually on non essential goods. That's great. Trillion trillion dollars. It's crazy, trillion dollars annually.
Jason 3:03
We love our stuff. Oh, our stuff. We love our stuff. Yeah, that 300,000 number, I believe that was in LA Times, yes, article, yes, if I remember right.
Stoney 3:14
And the part of this is, and as we are, a generational show. The generational lens to this is that the boomers grew up in scarcity leading to accumulation. Later in life, the Gen X inherited a lot of these items from their parents, who also participated in the consumer boom, and the millennials and Gen Z may be more minimalist in theory, but are kind of burdened now by inherited clutter and fast fashion and furnishings. So that's kind of the generational lens for this episode. There is the who, what and whys,
Jason 3:52
I agree. Yeah, the self storage industry in the US is now worth over 40 billion a year. Wow. So we're paying to rent for things we don't even use. Yep,
Ian 4:05
I remember in some, like, areas around where we live, like, I remember like, watching these, like, big, like, two, three story buildings get built, and I was like, oh, man, I wonder what that's gonna be. And like, then, bam, storage, slap a big storage sign on the side. I'm like, what, what you, you, you, you tore down like, this large area that's like, shopping center or something, and erected this massive building, and it's like, it is a storage I was like, Oh man, that's kind of sad. It made me sad. I was like, Oh man, that's
Stoney 4:36
I had a fun conversation with one of our listeners. I'm actually the godfather to four of his children, okay? And He's an avid listener. So is one of his sons, all right? And I told him what this week's topic was gonna be, okay? And he goes, Oh, man, I wish I could be I got something to say. And I says, Well, go ahead and say it, and I'll say it for you. All right. This is Chris, all right. And he goes, You know, my mother in law has been living in this house. House for 15 years, and all of her stuff is in a storage unit. I said, Okay. And he says, let's think about that. What the hell is in that storage unit that's worth $80 a month for 15 years? That's true. So if you do $80,000 I mean $8,000 $80 $80 a month, times 12 times 15, right? What is worth that
Ian 5:27
much money? Yeah. Well, when you put it that way, it's hard to, you know, it's hard to, well,
Stoney 5:34
it goes now, it goes down to the psychological point of why we do that. And you know, the drivers behind that. Why would somebody do that sentimental value, which is fear of letting go of memories, of course, scarcity mindset, especially those of us who grew up with less, Yep, yeah, I better hold on to that. You know, like our dads who had the little screw things, don't even throw away screws.
Ian 6:01
My dad had a, like, had, like a had a bucket of stuff, screws, nails or tools. Oh my gosh. And
Stoney 6:07
another one is identity projection. People equate things with self worth and then the fear of waste. I'm again, I might need this someday, right? Syndrome, basically as well, yes, and your dad and his
Ian 6:22
dad's bucket, yeah, sometimes it came in handy. His bucket of of knickknacks came in handy sometimes, but, but there were other buckets and stuff that was not like that.
Stoney 6:31
Since the 1950s the average home has doubled in size, yeah, and we still don't have enough room.
Jason 6:40
Houses are bigger and we still run out.
Ian 6:43
Here's another statistic, a goldfish. You put it in a bigger tank and it'll fill it.
Stoney 6:47
25% of people with two car garages don't park inside, right?
Jason 6:53
Yeah, I know plenty of people that can't even get into their garage. It's active. It's crazy. Now
Stoney 7:00
we, you know, hottie doctor, and I have a two car garage, but we don't park two in there, because she's special, and there's not enough room because she can't back in and not in anything, I guess, and so she parks inside.
Jason 7:13
Psychologists have this, this thing they call the endowment effect. I don't know if y'all saw that. It says, once we own something, we place more value than it's actually worse. That's what it's called. It's called the endowment effect. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, I'm going through that right now. Yeah. I mean, I am
Ian 7:34
decluttering. That was, this was kind of a hinge upon this episode, exactly because
Jason 7:39
you're going through this process right now, and for, for if 20 years in my house, and you could you accumulate stuff in 20 years and, oh yeah, it's unbelievable the amount of stuff that I've just sitting there saying, you know, I'll get rid of eventually. You just don't, and just goes on and on another day, another week, another month, another year. Just sits there and sits there.
Ian 8:02
I'm guilty of, like, putting things in a closet, or putting things kind of out of sight, and it totally goes out of mind, and I forget about it, and I'm like, Oh my gosh,
Jason 8:09
I've got this the fear of needing it later. I'm telling you, I deal with that constantly because, unfortunately, it's couching some truth here. Because there's times I've thrown stuff away and it's like, I come from. I needed it later. And it's like, Why did it do that? So it doesn't
Stoney 8:24
think about this. What about, like, the weight loss thing I was, at one point in time, I was a little bit bigger. In the end, low buff, but you know, then, all sudden, I gained some weight. And then the brain surgery and the accidents happen. I lose all the weight. Well, now do I want to get rid of that bigger stuff, right? Right? Do I want to hold on to it just in case I accidentally eat an extra donut or two and I go back to that weight? Or do I want to get rid of it and force myself right, to stay this weight and not have to go buy more clothes? So I got bags and boxes full of fat guy clothes, right? You know? Which brings me to the other day, Miranda and I were in the bathroom. We were getting ready for the day, and I was looking in the mirror, and I said, you know, baby, whenever I look in this mirror, all I see is an old, fat, ugly guy. I really need you to give me a compliment, right now? All right? And she looked at me and said, Okay, I can do that. Hey, baby, your eyesight is 100% correct. It was a compliment. I
Ian 9:29
mean, all right,
Jason 9:33
I could see that,
Stoney 9:34
but, but my, my friend, Chris, he was just, yeah, I want to get back to a little because he was just kind of dumbfounded about how much, what's that number I'm looking up 80 times 12 times 15. Yeah, what does his mother in law have? That's, how much is this worth? $14,400 $15,000 almost. What is, what could possibly
Jason 9:58
be in this night it falls. Back on one of these things you just said, there's this fear of needing it later, that sentimental value, like I had this perfect, perfect example of this. I was going to have a charitable organization picked up some stuff today from my house. Okay, to get rid of. I don't need it. I don't have room for it. I'm trying to make room for her stuff that way because we're sharing the house, of course, well, I have some roared iron furniture that dates back to probably the late 70s, and it was the some of this stuff was at the house I grew up at, really. And I told my mother that I was going to be getting rid of some of this roaring. It's just ratty looking. It needs to bring finish, yeah, oh, no, you're not gonna get rid of that. And I'm like, What do you mean? I'm not gonna get rid of it. She goes, I mean, I said I have no room for it. I gotta make room for Yeah, and it's just doesn't look very good. It's old. Nobody wants stuff. You could
Stoney 10:55
take that to a sandblasting place. I could. But will you, one day, I'll do it actually.
Jason 11:04
I've reached out at work. I've actually bringing it to the out to and have them, okay, possibly redo it and, you know, clean it up, repaint it, make it look nice. Maybe somehow I can use it at the house. Or eventually, eventually get rid of it. But my there it is. That's a perfect example. Yeah, you're not gonna get rid of that, that middle value of, like, Mom, nobody wants this stuff. This stuff is old. You can't buy roared iron furniture anymore. Well, you can buy it. It's just right, right? It's not like, it's not out there. It's just what it is. But it's little small. It's a small little, little bench, yeah, hardly enough of one person to sit on and choose even smaller chairs. So it's very impractical,
Stoney 11:50
right? You're touching on something that I've kind of been going through. And this is what's great about the generational show. I was married. You were getting married. You know, we're at different places in life. Well, you know, how do you dr Miranda and I, you know, we have two households coming together. I had a full household
Ian 12:09
years, mine and hours, yeah,
Stoney 12:11
and and just downsizing to be able to stuff. Oh, yeah,
Jason 12:16
I'll tell you what. It has been liberating for me. Yes, I have, when I tell you garbage bags full of stuff that I thought I needed, oh yeah, is is gone or donated to a charitable organization that can possibly sell it or use it for people. But, I mean, I have, I've cleaned out a lot of stuff, and I'm gonna tell you what I've needed to do this for a long time.
Ian 12:42
There's like, there's two sides of that coin. Sometimes it can be really liberating and nice to be like, Oh, wow. I'm actually kind of like, there's a lot of space, or, you know, getting rid of stuff that I've been thinking about for a while and just haven't gotten around to taking care of. Or there's the other side where it's like, some people get, like, really anxious, and they start to, I know
Jason 12:57
it, believe it. Yeah, there's some things that I was like, I know that I could probably get rid of, but I couldn't do it, because somehow it was like it had a hold on me. It was like, I can't get rid of
Stoney 13:09
this. What's that lady, Marie KUNDO, or whatever she has. It's called the Marie KUNDO effect, yeah. And it's when you look at something, does it bring you joy? Right? You got more joy out of donating some of that stuff than you did by keeping the stuff. So if you look at something and if it doesn't bring you some type of joy, get rid of it if you haven't. I think that's part of her rule if you haven't used it in a year. Condo, Marie Kondo, is that it? Condo? I can't remember.
Ian 13:42
I appreciate you what you typed in to collected it for me so
Stoney 13:47
and you know, if you haven't used it in a year and it doesn't bring you joy, get rid of it. Give it to somebody, or just get rid of that, maybe we'll bring joy to somebody else. You know, that's also one of the things that is kind of hard. Miranda and I used to try to do the estate sales right? And these are all of the effects that we're talking about today, the sentimental value. Because this in the garage sale, they want top dollar for this crap that they're, you know, somebody In real lifetime, you'll never get it, yeah, and, but then they're holding on to it, or they have to get rid of it. And it's
Jason 14:22
just, I'm gonna tell you, I learned when my neighbor passed away, she had no family around here, and the lady that came down to do the kind of the go through the house, clean the house, up, try her brother, who lives in another state. He's got like Parkinson. So this lady, I think she was somewhere in the northeast, came down, got nowhere, very friendly, enjoyed working with her. I helped her some, but that was a perfect example of what people really think of your stuff when you're gone. Oh, that's, I'm gonna tell you, junk. It's junk other than a few heirlooms that might be of value, right? It means absolutely nothing to people that was right there, told me is like when I'm gone, yep, none of this stuff people gonna want at all. No, ain't nothing. There's nothing unique, right? You know, maybe a few collectors items. But even that, well,
Stoney 15:26
you know, when I don't know if I've said this on the show or not, but I've probably told you two guys this, that when I first had my first diabetic coma event, 1520, years ago, and almost died from that, I have guns, lots of stuff. Yeah, nobody wanted any of my stuff. They wanted to know where my recipe book was. They wanted to know where my 30th at the time, 25 year list of recipes, and what I was cooking and what I could do. So at that point in time, I said, Okay, I changed my will, and I said, okay, at the funeral, everybody gets a taser. Last person standing gets my shit, right, you know, but nobody wanted my stuff, yeah? And nobody asked me, Hey, that, uh, you know, you won't put me in that wheel for that. Uh, 44 you got no no, where was your Recipe Book? Yep, where's your recipes, man,
Ian 16:18
the stuff they can't get anywhere else, right?
Jason 16:19
That's unique. Oh, unique. That's 25 years of experience as expensive as guns are, unless it's a rare collector item, the generic gun, right? Nothing that doesn't mean anything to anybody at all.
Ian 16:34
Speaking of like, like, there's a but it was a wake up call, right? Right? It was a wake up there's a to kind of talk to that. Like, there's a specific shotgun that has been that my grandfather had, that my dad has, and then hopefully one day I'll have, right, my dad has other guns, but, I'm like, but that's the one. I'm like, I mean, I keep an eye out for him, like, I just want to make sure that, because our name isn't great on the stock. I'm like, that's, I mean, come on now, that's special. My
Jason 17:00
daddy shotguns got stolen. Yeah, after he passed, somebody burglarized our house. So my daddy's Browning sweet 16, which that's, they don't that's expensive shotgun today. That was his hunting gun. And all got stolen. I would still have that, that would be in my safe today, if that, if their house wouldn't have gotten burglarized. But, yeah, unfortunately. You know, it's funny. It's like, I love this quote. He goes talking about junk, and before we know it, we're surrounded by, just in case, clutter and maybe someday piles.
Ian 17:41
It's very true. And
Jason 17:44
believe me, I was in that same boat just now going through my house and thinking I got a lot of junk.
Stoney 17:52
Okay, all right, let's go there. This is a question for both of y'all. If you choose to throw it back at me, you can What's the weirdest thing? You can't seem to let go of
Jason 18:03
I can tell you. I mean, for me,
Stoney 18:05
that's what I'm asking. For you, what's the weirdest thing that
Jason 18:08
I can't let go? Can't let go, I can't let go of it because of it's weird. But, like my, all my Dungeons and Dragons stuff, okay, that is weird from the early 80s. Hey, that's all boxed up in my attic now. But I was like, that's not going anywhere. I am keeping that because I feel like that might actually be worth something, some, oh yeah, one day, you know, I think it's already got some value, because I looked at some of the collector sites with some of this stuff. Yeah, and, and, believe it, my own mother, who is far from a Dungeons and Dragons type of she goes, You better not get rid of that stuff. Might be worth some money someday. I'm like, so obviously she even recognizes that there's a collector's value to it. Like, you know, I've got, I've coins. Oh, yeah, you know, I've been a coin collector in my entire life, so I'm always on the lookout for for stuff. You know that I so I have that. But if we're not being honest with you, there's not much. I mean, I literally, I just have been going through this. Yeah, why do I have this? I I don't need this. It's been sitting here, but it sounds like
Stoney 19:25
joy. Well, the way it still sounds like it brings you joy, the way,
Jason 19:30
the way I look at it is, and this has been my problem is, is being a single person, you know, if it's out of sight, out of mind? Oh yeah, you know what I'm saying. So I have been forced to be you confront myself with, Okay, I've got to take action on some of this stuff. And so it has been liberating to get rid of. I should have done this 10 years ago, right? I really should have, but I just was not. But
Ian 19:55
sometimes a little push to kind
Stoney 19:57
of takes a woman to walk in and go, yeah, and. She's gonna hold up your items. She's never gonna hold up her items. She's gonna hold up your item. And this is gonna what she's gonna say. Do we really need this?
Jason 20:10
Yep, well, she has, I've heard that, and believe it or not, we've had discussions on that. But you know, there's a lot of duplication of things. Sure, believe it or not, there are some things that I had that she didn't have. And so I've got stuff that she's got rid of, stuff that that's a duplicate of, because she liked my stuff better than her nice there's some things that she's got better than mine, right? So we kind of go through it. I have to say, she's been, it's been a joy, because it's never, I've heard stories of guys saying they basically lose all their stuff, yes, and and the woman keeps you've heard that for me and my in my case, that has not been, it has not been the case,
Stoney 21:00
because she's moving into your place, right? And I moved in to Miranda's
Jason 21:05
place, yeah, so, right, you should have moved into your house. Well, it wasn't gonna work out that way, but, but, yeah. So, I mean, I It's been a pleasure. Now, of course, eventually, her and I will eventually buy a house, right together, and at that time. So she's moved twice, somewhat recently. So she's purged
Ian 21:28
a lot. I'll tell you what. There is nothing that's here to purge than move. There is, there is nothing that has that helped me declutter more than whenever I moved to Canada and I was in like a couple different housing situations there. I was with some friends for a time. I was, I got, I was, you know, I got really close with, with some people, and I basically stayed almost rent free there, like they didn't want it was, it was I there was a couple different living situations there, but I moved, like, a grand total of like, four or five times just and, man, you talk about, I don't like moving like, it's not all my stuff. And I tell you what, there's nothing that helped me, like, clean out more and like, choose what is important and necessary and what is not, than having to move her all around the second I started moving it to, like, the second or third. I was like, Oh no, all this stuff's got to go. This is what I need, and this is all the stuff I want. And I want. And I was like, I'm not
Jason 22:23
gonna I wish I could have done this, you know, could have hired somebody to come into my house and help me get rid of some of this stuff, because to me, it becomes overwhelming. And this kind of brings up a topic of here, what is the cost of clutter? And I ain't talking about just financial, just psychological, how it affects relationships and everything else.
Stoney 22:43
Well, the National Association of professional organizers, which I was just fixing to go into, reports that 33% of couples argue regularly about clutter.
Jason 22:54
It's called decision fatigue. Oh yeah, it's called decision fatigue, because what to wear, what to keep, what to store, and believe I have felt that, oh yeah, it's like, I want to get rid of this stuff, but I can't. I just can't think, I can't get the energy up to go do this. And, you know, I need something to motivate me to do it. And I just, finally, I've got that, but, you know, it's a cluttered home. Isn't just a space problem. It's a life problem. It's a
Stoney 23:21
mind problem. It
Jason 23:22
is and people that cling to this stuff, I suspect there's something else going on there, because I do know people that are hoarders, that are just have way too much. I mean, closet stuff to the brink. You know, rooms completely full, and garage is completely full of stuff. And it's like, Why do you have all this? You know, what is it? This is going on here? I just think there's probably something else going on with there's an attachment to physical things. Oh, yeah.
Stoney 23:57
UCLA did a study and found that women who describe their homes as cluttered or unfinished showed significant higher levels of cortisol, that's the body's primary stress hormone. Chronic cortisol elevation is linked to anxiety, weight gain, sleep problems and depression. Our brains see the excess stuff as unresolved tax tasks, a visual to do list that we never complete. We walk by it. We may see it and pass by it, because we're used to it, but our subconscious brain goes I need to take care of that. I need to take care of that, and you take care of that, and you take care of that, right? And it just, it, just it, just it just wears us out.
Jason 24:43
Yeah, you know, it's have some, you know, some suggestions about, you know, items about bringing you love, you know, does it bring you joy? Yeah, I had this little checklist here. I saw it said, you know, you know, you have to start small. Of course, cannot, because. It overwhelms you. You know, one drawer at a time, one shelf, one box, and it says, Ask yourself, Do I use this? Yep, do I love this? Would I buy this again today? That's a big that's a good one. Would I buy it again today? And if the answer is no, let it go, yep. To
Ian 25:17
kind of circle back around to your question, because this is, I think it's very appropriate. You were talking about, like, things that I can't seem to get rid of in a closet. I've got, like, a collection. It's not a huge collection, but it is a rather sizable amount of old CDs from bands. Some of them are signed, and some of them are really special, like that. Are a little more sentimental. But if we're talking about weird things that I can't seem to get rid of, is a bunch of CDs that I probably will never use again, but like, some of them, like, I got at the concert after it was over with, from like, bands that I really enjoyed, or, you know, I got at Target, or whatever, you know, after, like, it was on release. And it's just like a bunch of those that, like, have Spotify, and I pay for Spotify every month, and I listen to those bands still, or listen to the albums on my phone or whatever, but it's just a weird thing, like I said, What I to answer those questions when I buy it again? Is it sentimental, like, or, you know, whatever, that kind of stuff. It's like, yeah, no, I wouldn't buy it again. I think some of it still kind of brings me joy, because it is a little bit nostalgic, but Right? It's just a little box of CDs that I still hold around. I'm like, what I know why, but it's still like, but why?
Stoney 26:26
I know why.
Jason 26:27
But why? Because, I mean, we live in a consumeristic world. I mean, that's what we do now. We buy stuff, we consume stuff, and then we get rid of it, we buy something else. I mean, it's just that's kind of the the modern life. Now, you know, 80% of what we keep that we never use, and I can, I would agree with that, because the vast majority of stuff in my house I never use interesting, never use it as a handful of things that I use on a daily basis, and outside of that,
Stoney 26:58
nope, well, it falls into something I found called the 8020
Ian 27:02
rule. Oh, yeah, everything in the everything in the world. Most people
Stoney 27:05
only use 20% of their items 80% of the time. Yep. And so, you know, that's a great, actionable rule there. You know another one is one in, one out. For every new item brought in, you have to donate or discard one, right? That's gonna be hard for somebody. The 14 day box test. Put items in a box if it's not used in 14 days, donate. It
Jason 27:33
interesting. I'm fixing to go through another storage thing in my bedroom this weekend. Yeah, and there's, I care. There's a ton of stuff that has just been sitting out there for a
Ian 27:43
long I know you've been, you've been doing this for a while. Do you think you're like at or do you think you're almost done? Or are you like? You still like you? You feel like you still have, like, a long way to go, like
Jason 27:52
I've probably, I'm probably over 50%
Stoney 27:57
okay, he says that, until she moves in. Well, start completely over again.
Jason 28:04
We'll cross that bridge. For example, my house is small, okay, so in the reality is we have to rent a storage room because we've got a place to put some things because we're just the way it's going to work out now, when the time comes when we buy a house together, you know, we'll get rid of that and we'll put it, you know, we'll put it into the house. But, you know, it just, I just, when you got a small home, she's got not, her home is not very big, so do not have all a ton of stuff,
Ian 28:37
but still, you have two small houses worth of stuff. You can't fit it all,
Jason 28:42
and we're not going to try to do that. I don't want to live in a house that I got years, yeah, I got crap all over the place. I just, I don't live like that. I mean, I can't, I can't even stay and see in a box sitting in the den. I mean, I was like the whole time, you know, just, and she she laughs, she goes, because I know exactly how you feel. I don't like seeing all that either, right, right? But it's just what it is right now, until we get it all make, you know, I make room, and she adds her stuff, and I say the essential things, the things that you need to have, and then we work on the things you'd like to have, and we'll, we'll, we'll just make it work as best we can, right? But I mean, for us, this is not the permanent house, right? Her and I eventually will get another home. So yeah, we're kind of just in a little bit different, different predicament. But did Sony? Did you say 10% of US households rent a self storage unit. Did you mention that
Stoney 29:42
earlier? Yeah, yeah, I think they said they I think it's more than
Jason 29:45
that. Well, they say 13 million households pay monthly fees for extra space.
Ian 29:51
I know that growing up, my family had one. So, I mean, I probably currently I don't have one. But,
Stoney 29:56
like we had, I had one when I tell. Moved in with Miranda.
Jason 30:01
We were looking at storage spaces, just perfect example this. We started talking to this lady that showed up because the office was knocked on the door, nobody. Lady pulls up and she's actually got a storage space, and she was head and we're just kind of going to conversation about, what is she storing there? It's her Christmas decorations. And I'm sitting there going, you need a storage room for Christmas decorations, and you got to go drag all that out. Yeah, every Christmas, and then bring it all I mean that to me, is where it just gets Yeah, a
Ian 30:37
bit much as
Jason 30:39
60% of people admit that they have difficulty partying with possessions. That's from Psychology Today.
Ian 30:45
I mean, that's why the the freaking storage market is, what was it? Yeah, 80 million, or what, or 80 billion, or whatever it
Jason 30:52
is, they say people waste an average of 2.5 days per year looking for lost. I know. Yeah,
Stoney 30:58
I could see that. Oh yeah. It's more for me now with my bad memory because of the accident, but yeah, that's one statistic. I found that in 2023 AARP did a study on the great decluttering, okay, and they found 54% of boomers believe their kids want their heirlooms, but only 23% of the millennials actually wanted something. Yeah, that sounds about right. Think about that. That's, that's a big difference, yep.
Ian 31:33
Well, I think also comes from, like, a time to where, like, I mean, this is probably a much deeper conversation, but like, we, you know, once upon a time, or, like, used to have really nice things, or used to have actual heirlooms, and it would be passed down, you know, you know, upwards of 70 to 80 years ago now, you know, you would have something nice and pass it down to your children. Whereas now I feel like, now I feel like it's, it's it's all everything feels throwaway, or everything feels cheap. And we
Stoney 32:00
kind of was gonna say, we kind of did an episode on this. Why is everything disposable? Oh yeah, my parents and their parents, the TV was an heirloom. These were gorgeous pieces of art with the woodwork, and those were supposed to be left down. Now, you go buy a TV, it breaks. You throw and go get enough. You have a TV
Ian 32:19
for less than five years, and you probably get another one. Yeah,
Stoney 32:23
yep. Then they were heirlooms, and they were thinking, I'm gonna leave that. And you wanted that because it was gorgeous. Some of those pieces of wood were fantastic, right?
Jason 32:32
Yeah, I have some generational statistics, some of this stuff, Tony, you already mentioned, so I don't know if I'm just repeating that. Okay, say 60% of boomers say their children don't want their heirlooms or possessions. That was a New York Times article, and 54% said they don't know where to start decluttering. These are boomers. Wow, yeah, yeah. Storage Unit use is the highest among boomers. Really, yep, followed by my generation would be x,
Stoney 33:04
but we still had stuff that was worth kind of keeping. Now, everything's built in, kind of like
Jason 33:10
disposable we grew up. I grew up. My generation grew up in the rise of consumerism, right? The idea of now getting short time discarding. You notice all the appliances change. Oh, yeah, everything is now, after so many years,
Stoney 33:26
couches aren't worth keeping. No, you know, my granny had a couch that was gorgeous with the woodwork and the fabric and everything, it was fantastic. Now you buy it's junk, it's junk and it's not comfortable.
Jason 33:40
Yeah, Gen X has the highest average household debt of any generation, and that's according to Federal Reserve in 2023 41% of Gen Xers say they feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in their home. 30% of Gen Xers admit to having unopened boxes from previous moves
Ian 34:01
get out. Yes, that's crazy. Yeah, if you haven't opened the box from a previous move that you gotta get rid of, you
Stoney 34:09
got, you guys will just go bring that. Don't even look in what just get rid of.
Ian 34:14
Yeah, because it definitely ain't worth it. Because, you know, the second you open that, you're gonna be like, Oh, I can't throw that away. Oh no, I can't get rid of that. Believe that was in there. Yeah, yeah. You know
Jason 34:24
what? According to the millennial mindset report, in 2023 60% of millennials prioritize minimalism, or decluttering.
Ian 34:34
I like I said, before, after I got back from living in Canada for a little while and moving all those times that I did, that was one thing. I mean, I think I've gotten more comfortable at where I'm currently living at, and I think more stuff than I had in the past. Because again, after you rest at it, like you said, if I was to spend 20 years at a place like you were saying, Jason, I think I may be seeing a different story whenever I got back. Like, the more the more areas in which I can, like, look. Around and say, let's get rid of that. Let's get rid of this, almost to a point where people were kind of getting upset because they were like, hey, that's kind of like, sentimental or like, that's whatever. And I was like, I don't, I just want to, I want to be minimized everything. I don't want stuff, mostly because, again, I was like, I don't if I have to move, I don't want to have to carry this around again. But now I've gotten like I said, I've gotten a little more comfortable. And I think I
Stoney 35:21
do, you know they say that clutter is that clutter is not physical. It's also emotional noise. It's like every item you release is one step closer to peace, clarity and better relationships, interesting, you know. And Jason's kind of living that right now. I've already lived it with hottie doctor, you know, but we still going through,
Jason 35:39
it's gonna be a, it's gonna be a, it's gonna be an adjustment for me, because I've never lived with anybody, so, but
Ian 35:45
it's good at least, like you're going into this already thinking, like you said before. You're like, I kind of need to do this 10 years ago. I agree. So now it's like to get rid of stuff. So it feels like you're already, kind of, you're pointing in the right direction already. So whenever that push came, you're like, All right, let's, oh yeah, you
Stoney 35:59
said something earlier. I want to, I want to bring a statistic that I found that the US self storage industry is now worth $44.4 billion yeah, that's in 2023 okay, that is more than the global music industry or theme park industry.
Jason 36:17
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all. Think about that. There are places are all over 51,200
Stoney 36:25
self storage facilities in the US. Okay, that's more than all McDonald's, Starbucks and subways combined. There's
Ian 36:35
no way that equates to
Stoney 36:37
1.9 billion square feet of rentable space, which is nearly six square feet per person in the United States of America.
Jason 36:48
You never saw, I never saw storage growing up as a kid. I just never remember seeing that stuff.
Ian 36:54
There's some, there's some new development, like, out where, kind of, where I live, where they, like, they've put a bunch of like, it's been needing to kind of be renovated anyways, but like, they've got a new, like, brand new, big apartment complex, I gotta know, like, like an old folks home back there, they've got a bunch of, like, restaurants and like coffee shops opening up, but, but at the far end, like, once you go down the road, there's a big self storage, yeah, spot that open. And I started looking back, because I found out on Google Maps you can, like, you can go back in time as, like,
Stoney 37:24
previous routes they've done. I just curious about it. This is probably like, gosh, it's
Ian 37:28
probably a few months back. I did this because I was curious about what that I was I was talking about it with a friend of mine, where I was like, I've lived in that part of town for a while, and I remember when all that stuff wasn't there. Because, again, it's probably been the past like, five or six years, they've done all that development. And I was like, I thought about, I was like, Oh, let me go back and look, let me look at this thing that, like the Google Maps to see, like, what it was like, you know, a handful of years ago. And we were like, looking back and like, it's crazy to see, like, like, where that self storage place was, there was, like, a home with, like, a really big yard, right? And it's been there for probably, if I was to guess, 30 some odd years or whatever. But that, I guess whenever, I don't know if that they moved out, I'm not sure if they passed away, whatever. But whenever, this whole development stuff, that whole that whole area of land that was like someone's property and house and that kind of stuff, the house is gone and is now in its place as that big self storage. And for me, I was like, again, I got a little bit sad. I was like, man, they're
Jason 38:26
this, they're crazy everywhere. Now, business, look, that's a great business to go into, because you don't have much over, yeah. I mean, you just got storage buildings. I mean, you know, there's not much to really, oh, yeah, you know, especially it's not
Ian 38:40
climate controlled or anything like that. You probably just that. You probably just, I don't know. I'm
Jason 38:45
gonna tell you pay for security, maybe, but I'm gonna tell you what you talk about millennials here, about having, you know, 1/3 of millennials rent storage space, but 72% said they'd rather spend money on experiences than things. So that's you starting to see the transition. I agree with that, but digital clutter. Hold
Stoney 39:09
on, let's get there in a minute. A couple more real statistics. I was going to do the digital thing too, but I wanted to say by 2023 boomers were 22% of the renters of storage space, downsizing or managing inherited belongings. Gen X, 28% prime sandwich generation, which we talked about earlier, with the parents and kids kind of living with you, dealing with both kids and aging parents stuff. Millennials were 33% frequency of moving urban dwellers and lifestyle overflow, then fun Gen Z, 12% mostly college students or renters sharing small spaces. Yeah. And the people, the top reasons people are using it, and Jason kind of mentioned something that falls into this statistic, moving or relocation, is 42% Wow, not enough space at home is 29% life transitions, divorce, death or downsizing, is 15% storing inherited items is 9% and the Christmas items, seasonal or sports equipment, is 5% really,
Ian 40:27
yes. I mean, it's like, it's so much, even had a show about it, like, you know, about Storage Wars and all that stuff about, you know, Oh,
Stoney 40:34
yeah. And right now in America, the average cost of a standard unit is $90 climate controlled, is
Jason 40:41
130 that's about, right? Yeah, because that's about what the price for. And
Stoney 40:45
in urban centers like New York City, it's 180 to $250
Ian 40:50
a month out $250
Jason 40:52
trust me and trust me. Look, they some of the stories I've heard. They just raise the rates on you because they've got you. They've got you, because they know you're not going to get
Stoney 41:02
rid of it. That's what happened to me before I moved in with Miranda, yeah, and the guy. And I was so mad, I want to say the name of who he is, but I won't do that. There was a 12% increase every year
Ian 41:17
get out,
Jason 41:18
yes, just to keep stuff
Stoney 41:21
and hold her stuff. Yeah, so 67% of readers keep their storage for over a year. Yep. 25% keep them longer than two years. 9% say they've forgotten what's even in their unit.
Ian 41:34
No, get out. Well, that's what, if you're paying that dude, we
Jason 41:39
have too much stuff, if you
Stoney 41:41
just have to, well, think about it, that's the out of sight, out of mind dilemma. You know, we've been talking I
Jason 41:46
mean, you get on, get living with life, and you just like you get used to paying that monthly bill like any other bill.
Stoney 41:53
And I felt into this category here. 74% of renters say they feel guilty or an anxiety about having their storage unit. It made me crazy to have because I had a, I think it was a 10 by 10, and it was $115 a month. And every time I had to cut that check, it just Yeah. It just made me sick, Yeah,
Ian 42:14
cuz you're like, I could be using
Stoney 42:17
one day Miranda and I woke up and we said we're done, yeah, because I knew another 12% increase was fixing to happen. And she says, you know, if we get it out by the end of this month, oh yeah, okay, for 30 days, they can't do that to you. And that's what we did. Hey, we literally did that. And just poof, got it out. There you go, you know? But you know, it's kind of funny. These decluttering challenges, like on Tiktok, YouTube and Pinterest have over 2 billion views combined. I believe it. That's insane to me. My
Ian 42:48
mind's starting to kind of roam too, where I'm thinking about, like, you know, increasing the price like, to kind of turn over tenants almost like that, like thinking about that, if I had, like, I don't know, like, that's great. 12% every year, that's ridiculous. But anyways,
Jason 43:06
well, Gen Z, 70% of Gen Z, they're actively trying to reduce consumption or live more sustainably. So they are the generation most likely to sell, donate or recycle items within six months of purchase. So they own fewer household items, which, you know that would be understandable because their age, but they buy more clothing overall, yeah, often cheaply made and disposable. That's what I
Ian 43:35
was thinking too. Is like, I mean, I think there's probably a double edged sword to that, like, they probably get rid of things faster, because it's also, like, things probably don't last as long either. Potentially, it's,
Jason 43:45
it's, I mean, telling you it's, we've got some, it's a lot of stuff. I mean, we do, we got it. We got a stuff problem, you know, and that's, you know, just what it is. Now,
Stoney 43:58
all right, let me throw this at y'all, are you a storage addict? So grab a pen. All right. All right, I want you all to keep track of this. I'm going to ask y'all some questions. All right, just already keep tracking in your head, if you can. I've got 10 Questions to ask you to find out if you're actual storage addict. Okay, if you answer the question Yes, score a point. Question number one, do you currently rent a storage unit or have in the last three years? Okay, okay. Do you have boxes in your home that have not been opened in over a year? Okay, okay. Do you avoid certain closets, rooms or areas in your house because they're too full, okay, all right. Number four, have you ever bought something again because you couldn't find the original All right? Number five, do you keep things that you haven't been used in over a year? Just in case you. Okay. Number six, are there items in your home belonging to someone else, like your grown kids or parents? Number seven, have you ever said I'll deal with that later, and it's been six months or more?
Ian 45:17
Number eight, I gotta call me out like that, I
Stoney 45:19
know right. Is your garage, basement or attic used primarily for storage other than function? Number nine, do you feel stress, guilt or overwhelm when thinking about organizing your stuff? And Number 10, have you ever moved something to a new home without unpacking it from the last move? So if you scored zero to two points, you got some minimalist vibes. Okay? You got a healthy relationship with your belongings. And you know where things are primarily and you're not paying rent for stuff you've already forgotten about, right? Three to five points, you're a borderline stasher, okay, okay, you're holding on to some excess, but you're doing okay. Six to eight points, you're a closet contender, okay, all right, you're you're likely overwhelmed. Are you know, are postponing decisions. Your things may be quietly costing you in space, stress and money, right? And nine to 10 points you You are officially a storage addict. Okay, it's official. You might be in a committed relationship with your stuff, but don't worry, every box has a story, and every story can find some closure. Okay, so where'd you fall? In four, in four, four, yeah, all right, okay, that's not bad. Okay,
Ian 46:45
four. And I think I think one of the borderline staff, yeah, yeah. I think I think I was four to five, okay. I think it was one of the questions. I was like, ah, the attic one. I was like, I do have attic, like, quote, unquote function. I mean, no, there's not a whole lot of function by attic, but I do use it for storage. So I'm like, it could probably
Jason 47:02
go half so think I'm somewhere in the middle there. Yeah, I think there's, I'm not a complete storage addict,
Stoney 47:08
yeah. So did you have six to eight points? Maybe your closet contender?
Jason 47:13
Probably was a closet contender, yeah, even though I don't think I was. But obviously I think, yeah, the reality, the reality of it, is probably I had, you know, not that I had any sentimental value to, you know, any of that stuff. And, you know, as I said, I'm going through this process now, and, and I know my girlfriend has told me she goes, I'm impressed that kind of, once you make a decision, it's gone. And I'm like, Yeah, that's kind of how I am. It's like, I hang on to it, and then all of a sudden, it's like, all I gotta do to be pushed a little bit, oh no, I don't need that. Get rid
Ian 47:52
of it. Let's not make it work. Let's not make it hard on ourselves, right? If we're
Jason 47:55
gonna do it, let's go ahead and do it. I'm kind of like, okay, we do this. Let's do it. Yeah? Other than a few things that I felt that I will hold on to the rest of the stuff. Yep, I could care less.
Stoney 48:07
Well, you gotta remember, stuff is just stuff. Yeah, it only gains meaning when you decide that it's worth keeping Exactly Okay, you have to actually decide I want to keep this unless your stuff is controlling your space, your schedule, your time or your sanity. It might be time to reclaim some of
Jason 48:26
those. You know, my DND stuff. I mean,
Stoney 48:29
you smile when you talk about I
Jason 48:31
think about it in this, there's these, there's emotional attachments that, because it occupied a very critical part of my life, and it was a lot of fond memories and good bonding with friends, and we had great times doing that. So there's a lot of of sentimental value to it, even though I'll never look at it, you know, I just like it's I, you know, I just don't do that anymore, but it does carry a lot of emotional value to me. So yeah, I fit into one of those categories. With that stuff, I I'm
Ian 49:05
a collector of mugs I love. I obviously as a coffee guy and tea and all that kind of stuff. I have a lot of paraphernalia for all of it, any kind of cooking, any kind of like coffee brewing device or gadget I probably have. And with that, I've collected some really cool mugs throughout the years. And some of them, like, are one of a kind, really special mugs, and I don't get the chance to use it very often, because I do have like, a certain selection of mugs like to use, like, on a regular basis. But some of them are, like, really special or, like, I remember, I remember getting it somewhere. I remember someone made it for me, or something like that. I'm like, I I can't part with some of those because, and I probably should, but I look at some of them and they do make me happy. Because I'm like, Man, these are really, really nice.
Stoney 49:49
If they bring you joy, they bring you joy. I mean, that's the point, though, if it brings you joy, yeah, you know, that's
Jason 49:53
what I'm saying. But I would
Ian 49:55
like some more cabinet space. So I'm saying,
Jason 49:56
I do believe, though. I mean, for. For me, all it took was a little bit of a push a woman, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna fight that, because there is no really emotional vast majority of that stuff.
Ian 50:12
And the second you hesitate is when, like, you start to second guess, or like kind of stuff. So like, exactly,
Jason 50:17
let's go ahead and do and as I said, I wish I could have done this 10 years ago, just if I had somebody to just help me. Oh, yeah, you know, at the time, it probably would have been beneficial, because all that would be gone and I would be dealing with all that. But yeah, we've gotten rid of a lot of stuff, so I've given a lot of stuff away, yep,
Ian 50:37
um, should have back then. But now you are doing it now.
Jason 50:39
I'm doing it now because, I mean, I had to, and so whatever it takes. But I think the good thing is, is I didn't fight that. It wasn't like I was just really agonizing over, oh, I don't know if I it was like, yep, gone, yep, gone, yep, gone. You know, it was that way for me. It was once that I went there, it was like it was out, right? And it was out of the house. I could care less at the time. You know, that's so funny. I told, I told, I told Tracy and said, You know, I have really no inherent emotional attachment to really anything in my house? Okay? Really nothing, right, other than a few items. And I told her, I said, as long as I have a place to sleep, oh, yeah, a place to take a shower, use the bathroom, a recliner to sit on, there you go, and a TV to watch, and my computer, yeah, I can really care less how the house looks, right? I really don't. If you want to decorate it, you want to put this up, put that up. I could care less that. Matter of fact, I hate inside the house. I'm more of an outside the house guy, right? I like a pretty yard. Yeah, I wanted landscape, right? How the house looks on the inside, as far as you know, how they decorated. I could looks great, yeah, because I don't. I really, I have, literally, no pictures on my wall. I have nothing because I've never cared about that. Literally, it's a utilitarian right thing for me, space to go into, to do it to get away from the world. It's my little secluded thing to go to, but how it looks and having, you know, people, the esthetics on the inside, as long as the yard is pretty, I got a nice flower bed and it looks it looks nice on the street. That, to me, is more important than you know how the house is day now, I don't like a messy house. I've never kept a messy house at all. I'm very much a person that wants a clean, neat, right house, and I've always kept it that way. So, I mean, I have a maid service that comes in, cleans my house once a month. That really cleans. It really good. So one thing I thought
Ian 53:02
was interesting since we've been talking about this, like, like, I've one thing I didn't think about until we were sort of discussing this more, was like, whenever, like, there was a moment when I moving into a new place, would bring the stuff that I did have, would declutter a lot of stuff, and a lot of times, like, I forgot, or didn't realize all the different things I would need in the kitchen until I would, I would come to a recipe, or was gonna cook something, and realize, like, oh, I don't have this tool or this thing, not like, like a super specific thing, but like something like a spatula, or like a whisk, or something like, I don't use all the time, until all of A sudden need it. And I'm like, Well, I I like, Well, I actually have a whisk. So the amount of times I've gone to the store to go buy, like, a something like that, has been hilarious. Because again, you know, at one point in time, I think I got into this place and I didn't have, like, measuring cups, like a, like a, like a glass, like a two cup measuring cup, or like a measuring cup set, or whatever. And I didn't think about it until, you know, I was gonna go cook or bake something. And I thought about and I was like, Oh, I never thought about that until this moment. So I think those are interesting of like, the things that I don't, I didn't bring with me, or didn't whatever. I was like, well, guess I gotta go buy new stuff.
Jason 54:17
Well, you know, we've been talking a lot about stuff, material, stuff. But there's other things that are classified as stuff in our modern world. I know Stoney mentioned he's going to go into some of that too, yeah.
Stoney 54:33
But no, go ahead. Digital stuff. Say this one thing right off the bat, when I first met Miranda, her computer, her laptop wasn't really running that well, okay, so I looked at it and it had almost 400,000 emails that were unread in her main account, okay? And 40,000 pictures. Dollars of stuff.
Ian 55:02
That's a lot of bloatware, a lot of stuff.
Stoney 55:05
Yes, and you were going into the digital arena, so go ahead,
Jason 55:09
yeah, I was just, you know, I didn't be honest with you when I was researching this topic, this I didn't really think about the digital part. I really kind of like it popped up as a separate article. I was like, you know, this might be interesting to talk about, because we live in a digital age now, so our world is transitioning from material things to digital things, right? And these are things you can't necessarily touch and feel it, but they're there and they occupy a part of your brain. Oh, yeah. 24/7 so I just found, I found some interesting stats here. You know, they call digital clutter statistics about email overload. They said the average person receives 121 emails per day. Yep, which to me, is crazy. A lot of it's spam stuff. Yeah, it said most of them are promotion updates, spam and that kind of stuff. 24% of the emails are actually opened.
Ian 56:13
Sound about right? Yeah.
Jason 56:15
The rest remain unread or deleted, adding to inbox fatigue. Oh, yeah. 49% of workers feel overwhelmed by email volume. I can definitely see that many check their email 15 times per day.
Ian 56:32
That's crazy. 1515 times per day. That's ridiculous.
Jason 56:39
So that's taken away from, you know, workflow to increasing stress and everything else. I whenever
Ian 56:45
you brought, whenever we brought up, this whole clutter thing, and I started thinking about digital clutter as well. And even whenever we brought up, brought it up earlier, I I like to have things pretty neat as well, like in a physical space, not, you know, I'm okay with some stuff around. It's, you know, that it depends. But one thing that I've always done, and I've always taken pride in, is the fact that all the stuff my computer is, like, very well organized and very clean and neat. Because if I get on the computer to go do work and stuff, and there's stuff everywhere, and I get overwhelmed I can't do it. Yeah, and whenever I'm doing projects, editing the show, it's all video project. And if I can't find the assets I need, if I can't find the clips, like, that's the kind of stuff I'm like, I can't deal with. I can't do it. And I've gone at like, like, my mom, for instance, love her death, but a lot of times she gets me to go, like, work on her computer or something, or her work my parents is same thing. Oh, my God, I'll open that thing. And I'm like, What in the world is all this nonsense? Because there's folders all over the desktop. There's nothing is, like, categorized by name or date or nothing. And I'm like, and, but she knows where it is. And I'm like, that's fine, as long as you know, organized for me. I look at it. I'm like, I get you. Okay, I can't function in this space. Anybody that was ever, like, touched the computer I've worked on, I have told them I was like, just think really hard as to, like, how you think, what is like the first instinct, where you think I would put it. And a lot of times they're like, Oh, well, it's like, a lot of times, if it's video stuff, they're like, I'm imagining it's in videos, and I think it's going to be in this project, and I think it's going to be here. And I was like, and look at that. You hadn't, didn't need to ask me a question. You knew exactly where it was. Because I'm, like, that's what, that's what I try to do. I try to make it to where, like, if I'm, like, half asleep or drunk or whatever, I can, like, find what I'm looking for, as simple as like, or I could, I could talk somebody through it, because there have been occasions where
Stoney 58:41
that's had to happen. So, so behind the curtains, as you like to see, okay, I've been taking some editing classes, so now that you've seen my computer, yeah, how is it? Does it drive you crazy?
Ian 58:51
I mean, for me, there's probably a bit I again, when it comes to, like, minimalism, especially in the digital space, I like to have it as clean as I can. But the thing is, like, for you, it works for you. And you were able to see, like, I have this compartmentalized here, this here, and I have that there. And I was like, that's perfect. You got, you got your organized. You got your little piles of your different things. You got, that's perfect. And the big thing was that, I think I told you from one of our one of the lessons, I was like, have a folder where you can pull things from and I can, you can date it, you can name it, or number it, or anything that can help you, like, find it easily and put all the stuff in that one folder, and then move on to the next. I was like, that's all I got to do a lot of times, because the software likes it that way, because, right? You know, because it wants to go back to the same spot, right? And especially for you as a human, if you can, if you can hit the same spot each time, that's perfect. So
Stoney 59:43
in this arena, yeah, yeah. Y'all never asked me what time getting rid of what is it? And it kind of falls down, and it's similar to yours. Actually, I have literally 1500 DVDs
Ian 59:59
I forgot about. This, yes.
Stoney 1:00:00
And I would say another, another 300 or so blu rays. Wow. And I have a hard time getting rid of them, because I'm waiting for the great reset when all of the electronics are gone and I'll be the guy who has all the DVDs and be able to watch movies and entertain myself, and I
Jason 1:00:23
threw away all my old video games that are bought into the physical copy. Wow, gone. See, I see absolutely because I don't need them anymore, right?
Ian 1:00:33
There have a really good friend of mine who is he likes the fact that, like, you can buy games digitally, and I think he does, but a lot of times, like, games are now moving to like into a space now where, like, you you buy a digital copy, and a lot of times they're, like, restricting you on what you can and can't do, or, you know, or like, you have to buy a subscription service to like, access all that stuff. And he, he has, like, I think he's seen the blood in the water for a while, and so like, he doesn't get, he has a collection, and he's, I don't think he's up to, up to your number Stoney, but like, he he still has like, old, like, physical copies of games. And the funny thing is, like, now, again, it starts to get into a point now where he's got a lot of consoles, and he has a lot of games like, you can't buy physically anymore, and so they're like, talk about holding onto the DND books from the 80s. He has old cartridges and old games that are like that are crazy expensive now for to go buy them secondhand, because, again, they're you
Jason 1:01:27
can't get it anymore.
Stoney 1:01:28
I basically still have in a box every electronic phone pager or anything that I've ever had. I had one of the original pagers. That was a pin, okay? And doctors and people like that had them, and you wore it when it beat it just went eat. You knew to call the answering service because they had a message for you. Wow. That was the first real pager, my first car phone, brick phone, my first alpha pager, my first pager that just had the numbers, yeah, literally everything. My first Nokia phone with the little worm that went through the little thing. Yeah, I have it in a box. Crazy. Yep. I had a friend of mine who does props for movies offer to buy that off of me. Oh, of course. And I'm
Ian 1:02:23
like, hmm, yeah, I don't know. I think somewhere, I think, I think we all potentially have this. We have like, a junk drawer, oh, like a stuffed drawer where, like, I have a collection of, like, just odds and ends. I think I take that, I take after my dad in that regard, where I have like, a bunch of cables for things, or old electronics or old little knickknacks or whatever. And I, if I'm not mistaken, I think in that drawer I have the first couple of smartphones that I purchased for myself, not I don't have, I don't have every single one of them, but I think I never turn
Jason 1:02:53
mine in when I buy a new one. Yeah, you never turn I never trade the old one in. So I keep it whatever reason. I don't know why, but
Stoney 1:02:59
you're afraid maybe somebody could take the information off of,
Jason 1:03:03
right? Yeah, for whatever reason, I'm just been always nervous about that. But yeah, I still got several my old iPhones, and now, yeah, sell at the house. But you know, kind of back to just digital stuff. I said, 60% of office workers don't know where their digital files are stored.
Stoney 1:03:19
See, I can't, I can't do that work. I could see that driving you crazy, because as proficient as you are, when we're class with you and you're like, No, oh
Jason 1:03:30
man, workers spend 2.5 hours per day searching for files and information. No,
Ian 1:03:37
it stresses me out.
Stoney 1:03:39
I can't do that. Okay, that's 2.5 a Day. So that's, that's 10 hours 30 work days a year. That's where I was going with that. They
Jason 1:03:50
are lost to digital disorganization,
Ian 1:03:52
yeah. And the funny thing is, you just said that, and then early this week, probably a couple days ago, in the office, I send out a batch email with all the graphics that we need for the rest of the month for like this, this, this series that's happening. So each week is something different, and they're like, each one's a little bit different. And I remember getting a phone call in the office saying, Hey, can we have the second week's graphic? And I was like, I sent out an email that had them all there together, and a different person was at the computer than the person that received the email initially, right? And I was like, she said that she saved him onto the computer, and she said that she saved him in like, this area. And sure enough, I like, peek around, and we start, like, kind of roughly, trying to look for it. And I like, I had to step away. I was like, I don't know where she put them, but call her because again, I was like, I can send them out again if you want to, but like they're saved on here somewhere. There's no need to do extra work. So to hear those statistics about people, you know, yeah, looking for items that stresses me out.
Jason 1:04:54
70% of digital storage is unused or dupe or duplicate content.
Ian 1:04:58
I believe it. Yeah. It's crazy.
Jason 1:05:01
Well, average smartphone user has 80 plus apps, but only uses nine daily Okay?
Stoney 1:05:10
App oversea that I could see that? Yeah. App
Ian 1:05:12
overload,
Jason 1:05:15
distractions, wasted space and longer decision times, notifications, I'm bad with that. Notifications interrupt the average user, 63.5 times per day.
Stoney 1:05:27
I turn all notifications off. I don't allow anything other than my bank when I when, when there's a withdrawal on my account, and that's intentional. I don't want to know when Facebook's happening. I don't want to know when any when I want it. Oh, yeah, I'll find it, but I intentionally turn that off because notifications just drive you crazy.
Jason 1:05:50
No, I can't do it. Digital multitasking drops IQ temporarily by up to 10 points. That's according to University of London study crazy. That's
Stoney 1:06:00
that's scary. Well, we've already done the numbers on what AI is doing to people. Oh, and it's making us stupid, because they, you know, Harvard did that study with people that they they could use AI to research, or they could use AI to do the work, right? And the people that used it for the research could remember some things, but the people that used it to write the thesis could not remember. A week later what was in their thesis. Of course, read it. We're making a stupid copy
Ian 1:06:33
and paste that's send it. Yeah,
Jason 1:06:34
62% of remote workers feel overwhelmed by digital tools and platforms. I can definitely see that, yeah, 50% of digital photos stored are never viewed again.
Ian 1:06:46
50% is crazy,
Stoney 1:06:48
and I think it's more than that.
Jason 1:06:50
One in three people identify as digital hoarders. No, so just I'm saying, we've transitioned to ordering, where it was actually physical objects that you kept in a closet or something? Yeah, now it's just on a digital form, but the mental, the psychology behind it is the same. So you know, that's interesting. The goal, the goal isn't to delete your life, it's to take back control, to create space, not just in your phone, but in your mind, oh, yeah, to live with more focus and less noise, because less digital clutter means more real presence, I believe it. And in a world this loud, that's one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. Yeah,
Ian 1:07:35
I the second I went through my notifications tab as well and sort of turning off things I don't need notifications for and helped
Stoney 1:07:42
out a lot. I turned it all off, literally turned it there.
Jason 1:07:46
Like I said, there are some things that having I need to turn off notifications, because I'll get some paint being pinged all the time, constantly. See, there it goes, right there.
Stoney 1:07:56
That's funny, but you know, if it's an email, it'll put the little red.by it, but no sound right? Because with the doctors and stuff, because of the accident and things like that, I have to know some things, so I'll see. And that's what
Ian 1:08:09
I'm saying. There's a few things I do have, but, like, but again, I have a lot of apps for little things here and there. And they were like, send a bunch of promotional stuff, just like the email. I'm like, Nah, get all
Stoney 1:08:19
that. But also you're like, I used to do not disturb, especially like when I was working for, especially with the corporation that I was with that, right, right? Did this, you know, accident to me at six o'clock, my Do Not Disturb was on my phone. Now y'all are actually on the Do Not Disturb, right? Can get through afterwards, and hottie, Dr Miranda, and of course, you know, maybe a list of about 15 people, but the rest of the world, they can wait till the morning. As far as I'm concerned,
Ian 1:08:46
yep, that's a good work life balance. That's all I gotta say. I've worked on that for the past five years. It's like having a good balance between like, you know, is this that urgent, or can this wait till tomorrow
Stoney 1:08:58
morning? Well, I I miss working. I miss working where I worked, yeah. But you know, that's just sad. It's just sad.
Ian 1:09:09
Well again, if you have any kind of suggestions you want to give as far as topics, or if you want to let us know about your decluttering experience or or
Stoney 1:09:18
what worked for you, yeah, let us know. Some ideas on how we could declutter and not completely stress ourselves out. Would be a big help out
Ian 1:09:27
of Stoney, little quiz, you know, are you? Are you?
Stoney 1:09:30
Send us the results to the quiz. Let us know what you
Ian 1:09:33
are, too. We have comment sections on Spotify and on YouTube where you can reach out there. We also have the email address get infinite together@gmail.com, or you can send us more long form responses, because sometimes because sometimes the comment sections will allow that there's also the website,
Stoney 1:09:45
retrospect podcast.com, correct, but
Ian 1:09:48
anyways, until next week. Thank you so much for listening. Bye, bye,
Stoney 1:09:52
Goodbye, everyone and God bless.
Stoney 1:09:54
Maybe our grandparents saved everything because they lived through scarcity. Maybe our parents. Kept everything because they thought it might be worth something one day, but now, hey, maybe it's our turn to rewrite the story, to keep the memories, but not the mess. Maybe the more space we clear in our homes, the more space we can make in our lives for what really matters. You're the best. Peace.