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[00:00:00] Diana Rene: Welcome to another episode of the Decluttered Mom podcast. We did a q and a all about decluttering and systems and routines and cleaning. And now we are going to do a q and a on some personal questions. I thought that would be fun. I get questions in my dms a lot, just, um, not necessarily about.

[00:00:21] decluttering or simplifying, but just about me and my life and my family and all of those things. And so I thought it might just be kind of fun to do this again, please. I love the feedback if this is something that you thought was fun or, um, you could do without or , um, I mean, be nice to me obviously, but, uh, I always want to hear what you guys are thinking and what you are wanting to hear because this podcast is for you and I'm doing this podcast.

[00:00:48] For you, and I wanna make sure that you are getting things that you want to hear.

[00:00:56] You're listening to the Decluttered Mom Podcast. [00:01:00] A podcast built specifically for busy moms by a busy mom. I'm your host, Diana Renee, and in 2017 I had my second daughter and it felt like I was literally drowning in. Okay. Not literally, but I felt like I couldn't breathe with all of the stuff surrounding me over the next 10 months.

[00:01:20] I got rid of approximately 70% of our household belongings, and I have never looked back. I kind of feel like I hacked the mom system and I'm here to share all the tips, tricks, and encouragement. Let's listen to today's.

[00:01:39] Okay. So the first question I'm gonna do again, I got so many questions you guys, and I wish I could answer them all, but I can't. Um, and I'm gonna answer some random ones. Okay? So the first question is, how did you get the milk smell out of your car? ? And for those of you that were not following me on Instagram [00:02:00] at the time, I think it was last summer, Got Happy Meals from McDonald's for my kids.

[00:02:07] Okay. And I got chocolate milk, which I don't normally do. I normally get the bottled water option, but I was like, oh, we're gonna do chocolate milk today. I'm gonna be the fun mom. And we got home and we went inside and I totally forgot about the chocolate milk. And the girls didn't remind me because they didn't even know that I got the chocolate milk.

[00:02:26] They're used to me just getting the waters. And so we went inside and ate our lunch. That night, and we didn't leave the house again that day, so my car was parked in the garage. Um, so that night we all got sick, um, not sick from McDonald's, like we got like some respiratory virus thing, uh, that started.

[00:02:48] And so the next day I didn't go anywhere and then the next day I didn't go anywhere. And then the next day I didn't go anywhere. And you guys. You guys can see where this is going, right? [00:03:00] So like we got really sick, like we were, we were really sick, and so we were in the house for like six days, seven. Like I did not go anywhere in my car for six or seven days.

[00:03:13] And when I got to my car, I realized that the milk was in there and it had spoiled and it had spilled. So I had spoiled literally rotten milk in my car. And you guys, the smell like I can still smell it, just thinking about it, it was so bad. It was so strong. Um, and it was in this enclosed shut space for a.

[00:03:45] So I went on Instagram and I was like, please help me, like give me all of your suggestions. Um, like I called car detailers and they all were like, that's, I hate to break it to [00:04:00] you, but like that's a really hard smell to get out of the car. Um, like they taught one guy was super nice and he taught me how to at least get the milk.

[00:04:10] like really, really well cleaned out. Um, and it wasn't, it didn't spill a lot. That's the other thing is that it's just the smell like permeated the car. Um, and so, I posted it on Instagram, I got all of these ideas. I feel like I tried everything. The thing that finally worked, or I, you know, who knows? It could have been a combination of all of the things.

[00:04:31] I left the windows down as much as humanly possible. Like I didn't wanna leave them down at night all night because I was worried about spiders, which I know sounds silly, but like it was summer and there's always spiders and I was like, Ugh, I don't wanna like be driving and have a spider calling me. Um, so.

[00:04:49] I, anytime I was in the car, um, the windows, all the windows were down at all times, and I was like really trying to air it out as much as possible. Um, but then I got [00:05:00] these like things on Amazon. They were like charcoal bags. Um, and I put those underneath all of the seats. I put 'em like on a paper plate.

[00:05:11] and put 'em underneath the seats. I think I tried coffee grounds also. People recommended that, but I, I really think it was the charcoal bags that like finally did it. Okay. I just looked it up on my Amazon account and they're called Bamboo charcoal air purifying bags. Um, and they just look like little.

[00:05:32] like canvas bags, like, kind of like bean bags almost. Um, but they like drew the smell into them. Uh, so I think that, I think that is what finally. Handled it, um, for a while last summer, if it got really hot, like if the car was in the parking lot during the middle of the day when it was really hot and sunny, like the smell would, would still come out.

[00:05:56] Um, but I'm fingers crossed this [00:06:00] summer. It will be like totally gone when it gets hot. I thought this was a really good question. . I talked about this quite a bit in a podcast episode with a member of my program, and the question is, do you experience angst with all of the time after decluttering, even though time is what we wanted.

[00:06:22] So in a nutshell, yes. Um, I do, I honestly like, and it sounds like it's kind of hard for me to say this because I know that, um, when you are like in the midst of it and you were like in the overwhelm, in the chaos, the idea of like having too much free time, um, is like, okay, come on. Like major eye roll, side eye, right.

[00:06:47] But, . Yes. And I , I have found that members of my program have expressed similar things to me. Like I have so much extra free time now [00:07:00] that like I find myself getting bored or like, I don't really know what to do with myself. Um, for me, like I really struggle with, um, not filling my time with like mindless.

[00:07:15] TikTok all day long. Like so, I don't know. This is an interesting thing because time is what we want, right? Like we want to be able to have more time to do the things that we want to do with the people that we love and we want to be around. Um, but too much free time can be almost counterintuitive. Um, especially hi, if you have ADHD like me and you have a hard time like getting started on things, it's really easy to go into the mode of like, just not doing anything if you like, have a lot of free time.

[00:07:47] So this is a really nice problem to have. Right? And so like for me and the members that have expressed this to me also, I just really try to remember that this is [00:08:00] like a great problem to have. Most people are not going to be upset that they have extra free time. And I use it as almost a challenge to myself to.

[00:08:11] Rediscover who I was before I became a mom, because I think I lost a lot of that in motherhood because I just became all consumed by it. Um, but also like who I want to be. Like, it doesn't have to be, um, who I was before, but like what interests do I wanna pursue now? What types of things do I want to get into or how do I wanna spend my time?

[00:08:34] And I think that's been really eye-opening for me and really interesting and that is encouraging as we have. Free time. Okay. The next question is, what age did you potty trained? Um, so I think I had to really stop and think about this because I could not remember. I think it was two or three. Um, but. . I know that's not really helpful and that doesn't really answer your question since I'm not sure.

[00:08:58] But I wanted to answer this [00:09:00] question just because I used the book called, um, oh, what was it called? Oh Crap . Um, and it was a potty training method and we followed that pretty closely. The only thing that we did differently was that we did separate daytime and nighttime, and we didn't do nighttime potty training basically until they were just ready.

[00:09:18] And, um, by the time that they were old, I don't even remember what age that they ended up doing it, but they both were just like, I don't want to wear diapers or pull-ups to bed anymore. Um, and so it just worked, but we did separate. I think the book says not to do that, but we did do that. But otherwise, that book was really, really helpful for us, um, through like the whole daytime process.

[00:09:41] Okay. The next question is, what did you study in university and were you passionate about it? Um, PS I love that. I'm assuming that. Person does not live in the us um, because you called it university and I love that. I feel like university sounds so much [00:10:00] cooler than college. But, um, so I went to Central Michigan University and I, my major was, um, interpersonal communication and public speaking.

[00:10:12] And my minor was journalism. My major was actually journalism and I think my minor was marketing until, Junior year and then I switched. Was I passionate about it? I would say, yeah, more so the journalism aspect I really like. I was an editor in my high school newspaper. I worked for like the local newspaper when I was in high school, and then I.

[00:10:42] For college, for the newspaper. I actually did not write for them on like a journalistic way, but I was the opinion columnist, which is hilarious to me because like 18, 19, 20 year old Diana was apparently full of wisdom, or at [00:11:00] least my editor thought. So. Um, but I really, really love journalism. However, I wasn't really sure.

[00:11:07] But I could make it into the career that I wanted to make it into. Um, and my advisor at college really like encouraged me to open it up a little bit more and do communications and have my minor in journalism so that I could still do it if I wanted to. But communications is obviously a much more broad thing.

[00:11:29] I did communications. I really, really liked it. Um, I had really great professors for the most part, and it was a great department. Um, and I learned a lot. I learned a lot about how people interact with each other and, uh, almost like the science behind communication. I. Also like that it prepared me for like a wide range of careers.

[00:11:50] Um, however, I didn't, to be totally honest, I didn't take college super seriously. I, um, like my motto was, CS get degrees, which, [00:12:00] it is great. You know, not like the most inspirational quote, but I just, I had fun in college, honestly. Like, I, I wanted to like experience college and have fun and have a degree at the end of it so I could get a job.

[00:12:15] Um, and I ended up going into sales. I worked as an intern for an online company. My senior year and I was their first like full-time employee out of college. And then I went into advertising sales and then software sales. And so it served me in a way, not only just for my career, but just being able to interact and communicate better, uh, with people in all aspects of my life.

[00:12:39] I think it was valuable for that. . Okay. And then the last question we're gonna do for this episode is, what is your favorite thing about the girls in this stage and what you're looking forward to in the next? I really liked this question and I, I have a lot of things. Um, I think that parenting a nine year [00:13:00] old and a six year old is so different than parenting them when they were little, because I think when they were little it was so much more about like, Just making sure they were fed and sleeping and they were developing and you know, all of those types of things.

[00:13:14] And now it's so much more on the emotional side. Um, and I feel, hon, to be totally honest, I feel really. Unprepared for that. Like, I don't feel, uh, like, like I know what I'm doing a lot of the time when it comes, especially my nine year old because we're heading into like pre-teen years and, you know, friend issues with friends and like things at school and.

[00:13:40] I'm not ready for that. I know how hard, like for me, middle school, I was bullied in middle school to the point where I switched school districts and I just know that girls can be so mean and I'm not ready for that. And we're already starting to experience that a little bit. [00:14:00] So I will, I wanted to start by saying that like this age for my nine year old has.

[00:14:07] One of the harder stages for me, but at the same time it's been really fun because she's just, they're, I mean, they're both just so wonderful. Um, and my nine year old like, is really into cooking and really into baking. And she's at an age where she's like much more capable to do things on her own. And so it's really fun watching her, like explore her interests and um, really like take ownership over them and see her confidence grow.

[00:14:36] Um, and she's just like a fun kid to be around. And I think same thing with Miss six. She's in kindergarten and she's learning how to read. She's starting to navigate like her first real, like friendships and, and things like that. And so it's just really fun. Like I have fun with them. We get to sit down and play board games and like interact and they're like, Humans [00:15:00] and not like little babies or toddlers that don't really know what you're saying or what you're doing.

[00:15:04] Um, and it's funny because they can like pick up on like funnier, like inside jokes and things like that. And so, I don't know. I think just the favorite thing about both of their stages right now, they also really love each other, which is nice to see. and I just love watching them kind of come into their own and like become the people that they're going to be and like exploring their interests and it's just really, really neat to see as far as like what I'm looking forward to in the next stage.

[00:15:33] I don't know, I think more of that. To be completely honest, I really try not to look forward to the next stage because, um, I find then that I'm like too much out of the present and I really try to focus on just where they are right now and just truly, truly enjoy them. When we, at our old house that we lived at, uh, we moved in October, but when the [00:16:00] pandemic started, our next door neighbor was a high school senior and.

[00:16:05] We spent a lot of time in our front yard and so did all of our neighbors and like we really got to know our neighbors from a little, from six feet away through the pandemic. And I just remember my neighbors, um, telling me like, Just treasure every present moment and every present stage with your kids because the next thing you know, they're going to be a high school senior and they're going to be leaving for college.

[00:16:30] And I feel like my girl was like your girl's ages like yesterday. So just like really hold on to the present moment. And so ever since then, I feel like I have done a good job of doing that. And I just really, really tried to just savor it. Even the hard parts . Um, cuz there's a lot of hard parts too, but just really taking in their current stages.

[00:16:56] This was fun for me, you guys. I hope it was fun for you too. Again, let me [00:17:00] know, gimme feedback. I'd love to hear if you'd like more of these, um, or anything. Give me any ideas of things you would like to hear because again, this podcast is for you. Thanks for hanging out and listening to the Decluttered Mom podcast.

[00:17:14] If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world. If you could write a review or share this episode with a friend or your Instagram. And if you're on Instagram, be sure to follow me at the.decluttered.mom and send me a DM to say hi. I'd love to hear what you thought about today's episode. I hope you'll come back next week and hang out with us again.