Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - Cleaning Motivation with Andrea Jean | Clutterbug Podcast # 201

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Have you ever removed your toilet seat to clean?  In today's podcast, Andrea Jean from Andrea Jean Cleaning joins me as she shares her best cleaning hacks that save you time. Andrea bestows her wisdom on how having a clean and tidy home will make all other aspects of your life easier!  So grab some cleaning supplies and let's get cleaning!   Follow Andrea Jean Cleaning on YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@AndreaJean     You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/   #clutterbug #podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, Clutter Bugs, are you ready to get your house sparkly? I need this today. I need cleaning motivation because Christmas is right around the corner and my house is looking a little shabtacular. So I am so excited today. I have an incredible guest here to motivate us to get cleaning. This is Andrea Jean from Andrea Jean Cleaning, huge YouTuber, tons of following, getting amazing views, motivating, inspiring and teaching people all the home hacks, all the cleaning hacks so they can have a beautiful home with less effort. And I am very excited today. Welcome, Andrea. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Oh, thank you, Cass. Thank you so much for that warm introduction. I'm so happy and grateful to be here. And I'm excited. I'm excited to have you. So fun fact, you actually started your YouTube

channel two months after I did. I feel like we're like OG up in here. We're like OG YouTubers. So that's exciting. I had Malatose 79, but Clutterbug, it was like exactly two months after that you started your channel too. So this is exciting, but tell me, it's a weird industry to be in. Anytime someone's like, what do you do for a living? I'm like, I make YouTube videos, question Mark. So like how and why did you start this? And wait, before you answer that, my listeners, your goal while we're chatting, because we are going to get to some amazing cleaning motivation and tips coming up soon. I want you to focus on tidying while you're listening to Andrea. All right, Andrea, give it to me. I love it. You are so right about you too. What a roller coaster

of now a career, right? Who knew it could be a career? But anyway, I was sitting in corporate. I used to be a from mental health professional. And I had a baby and I knew I wanted to have more babies. I worked really crazy hour, 80 hour week type thing. And I would watch Mommy YouTubers because I felt so alone in like being a new mom, a working mom. And all said like over a year's time, like their lives transformed right before my eyes. I'm like, wow, they're in a new house.

Their husband works for them. Like what's happening in here? and I was intrigued by the idea of video making. And of course, I was drawn to, like, the cleaning-related channels because it's just an innate sort of passion slash obsession for me. And I was like, I think I could do this. And then I asked to work from home. So I had a little bit more time on my hands.

I could manage things a little bit better. And I think with my, you know, I have four kids, you know, after my fourth baby, shortly after that I was able to do this full time. time and quit this career. I had spent my whole life building, which is kind of crazy and bizarre that I did that. But I just knew that this was what I was meant to be doing. I love that. Okay. So did you have to teach yourself how to film and edit and like all of that stuff? Was that hard for you? Because a lot of people say to me, I would love to do this, but I'm not tech savvy where I really struggle. And I'm like the most untech savvy person. So I'm curious,

your experience. Did you just use your phone? Did you use the camera? Did you like have to teach yourself all of this? Or did you kind of know how to do video making? None. Yeah, I started with my phone and, you know, I look back at past videos and I'm like, you could probably relate to this. I'm like cringing. Like, oh, what are you doing? Yeah, they were terrible. Mine was so bad. also learned the more videos that I made each time I made a new video. Like I just got a little bit better and then you improve your equipment and even now, you know, almost 700,000 subscribers. I still just am making minor improvements every day. It's a journey and it's definitely a very challenging one. But if you love it, it's worth it. Yeah, I think that's what I found that

really surprised me. I actually enjoyed the video making aspect of it. Like not a only do I enjoy what I'm talking about, but I kind of enjoy the video making. It's like it feels like crafting maybe or like art or something, even though they're not great videos. I like making videos, which is something I never thought that would be a thing that I would ever enjoy. Do you find the same thing? Like you actually enjoy the process? It's like storytelling. You know, how can you hook people? How can you get them to stay? How can you get them to leave feeling that they got something out of your video. So it's like reading a book, but a really fun way to do it and quick. Yeah, I feel the same way. I love that you feel. I talk to a lot of content creators. Most of us

are all moms for sure. But it does become this like, this is what we do. Our job is to entertain, but also to educate, to inspire, to motivate. And I get so, I get just as much from making the videos as I feel like people, I get more actually than people do watching the videos. It's like this beautiful relationship with the community. We're so lucky, aren't we? We're so, so lucky. You know, once you've gotten to a place where you can sustain this, financially speaking, you really see how much it takes and how few people are able to take it to that level.

So your gratitude bucket just overflow it. Yeah, we're so, so lucky. And so my husband also is like, I want to say stowed home dad, but our kids are grown, so not really. But we went from a place where I was, like he was the sole breadwinner and we really relied on his income. And I was kind of, and now I'm like girl bossing over here. I'm just like, you don't need to work, Joe, I got this.

And you have a similar thing. So your husband helps you out with your business. Is that right? Hugely. So he was a stay-at-home dad for four years where I provided for the family. And then I added YouTube. And I know when you start YouTube, you have to treat it like a full-time job. So I had these essentially two full-time jobs, one that didn't pay me. And I didn't even know if it would actually work. And so then probably shortly after, after I was able to quit my full-time career. I'm like, I need help. I need a video editor. And he joined me doing that. Now we have a couple other video editors. I'd say his role more now is anything I need.

He helps me with it. Like, you know, we have four kids. So there's like appointments. Can you email our CPA? Can you edit this video? Can you review this video? And he's on it. So I'm so, so grateful.

Now, he may sing a different tune and working for me. But, you know, he also's like, do I want to go back and work for another company or do I want to deal with my wife? And so far he's chosen his wife. Yeah, I feel like Joe would have a different story too because I'm, yeah, he doesn't do the editing or anything like that, but he helps like with construction and then he picks up a lot with the kids. He does a lot of that stuff. But I think like I don't know how he'd feel about, I guess technically I'm his boss. That's so awkward and awesome. Can we just say it's also awesome? Yeah. Go awesome. It is so cool. And YouTube, any kind of social media, really, it is. It's a long time working consistently without making any money, but the passion kind of holds us in.

And all the other moms and women that I talk to who do this for a living, we all have the exact same story. It's like we saw, we loved it enough to stick with it and we saw the potential with it. And we just really loved helping people, and it grew into an incredible career over time. And we're not up here saying this is for everyone, but I love it when other people are brave enough to say, I think I really want this. I'm just scared to try, and they get over that fear, and they kind of like, come, come, not that we're a cult, but like, join us, join us, because it's awesome. I agree. And I think if you have passion behind what you're creating, you can be successful. And if people ask me, I have to say, you've got to want this thing that you're building more than what you have. Like, this has got to be

your driving force to keep the engine going. Otherwise, you just won't stick with it. And I want it out of corporate. I wanted to be my own boss more than I wanted to just stay where I was. Yeah, I love that. Okay, and also fun fact, you're like an athlete. Is it true? You're a pole vaulter? Yes, that's how my husband and I met was pole vaulting in college. Yeah, but gymnastics was my main jam. I just did pole vaulting because generally if you're a gymnast, you can pole vault.

And so I polvalted for a year in college, and I was like, I'm bored with this. I met my now husband, and then I just continued with gymnastics for four years in college. I love. I am so unathletic. I mean, I think I attempted a long jump once, you know, where you run and you're just, pull vaulting seems insane. You're like up in the air, just a pole holding you and then you're falling on a mat. Did you ever hurt yourself? This is just like a weird question, but I did. I sprained an ankle, but it's because there was like a crack in the mat. So it wasn't really like the athletic sport. It was an equipment thing. But other than that, yeah, no. And my husband actually in our garage, he still has poles. And so when we had our first two kids, he's still pole vaulted. But now he's like obsessed hockey dad and just didn't have time for that.

Yeah, that's why my husband's too like an obsessed hockey dad. Our kids play hockey and he's coaching all of them. And there's like different ones. And he's like, I can't. I got two at the same time. You're going to have to coach. I'm like, I don't do hockey. You're going to have to call someone else.

I wouldn't even know how to tie a skate. No, I know. My husband asked me to get my seven-year-old dress for hockey practice one day. I was like, I need a manual. Can you send me the manual, a video? Like there's too many pieces going on here. Can I just put them on the ice? Exactly.

It's not my jam. Let's talk about cleaning because you're like hardcore, okay? You're hardcore. You clean, you take off a part. the toilet seat and clean under the bolts kind of cleaning. I have never done this and I watched your video and I saw the horror show that was under there and now I literally want to grab a screwdriver but I'm also scared. Have you always been a person who's like into, because you clean, man, you clean, clean. Have you always been a person who enjoyed that? Yes. And it's

therapeutic. So I grew up in a home, both of my biological parents had met. health issues. So the home was just like a disaster. So I found cleaning. Like I could control this little piece of my life, even though the rest of my life was chaotic. So from a young age, I've always loved cleaning and organizing. And so my YouTube channel is like taking a lot of different turns because as you know, it's trying to find a mix between what people like and what you enjoy doing and how And sometimes it's like how you present that content is more important than anything. But I love cleaning. And I think recently within the past couple months, I've just really brought it back home from where the channel started after I've tried a lot of different things.

And I'm just, I feel so grateful and peaceful that it's resonating with people as well. Because I've had struggles on the channel like trying this, people don't like it, you know. and my channel blew up sort of, I want to say, an accident because I had tried something out. And six months later, the algorithm picked it up. And I was like, oh, my gosh, like people like this. This is what this is what they want to see. And I'm like, okay, well, I guess I can do that. And but after a while, some of those things, it just stopped resonating with me.

And I feel like I'm at home again. Like, I'm home again with the channel. and I'm just excited to see this next sort of phase with it. Yeah, I've never, I'm not good with analytics and all of the stuff that you're supposed to do as a YouTuber. So I just make videos that I want to make, but you're right. Sometimes they like just do not land at all and they're like, they bomb, they bomb all day. So then you get kind of discouraged because you've made something and obviously either people

don't like it or YouTube isn't feeding it to people or for whatever. reason. So cooking and baking videos is an example for me. Anytime I do something like that, they actually do really badly, like so bad, like 10 out of 10 every time. But I enjoy it. I'm like, this is so fun. But obviously that's not something my audience wants to see from me. So I like stay away from that. But also there's a part of me that's just like, this is also has to be something I love. So I'm going to make the video of what it's pertinent. to my life at the moment or what I feel like doing and if it doesn't work out all well and sometimes for some reason like the video you just think is going to do so badly like kills it do you ever have that

you're like all the time you know effort into this yeah i agree i agree because you try to reverse engineer the ones that did well like what was it about this video and sometimes it's just things are out of your control it seems like maybe just viewers were more interested in that time and that topic or the algorithm was promoting it or it was a longer video so it did better or whatever I mean you can make yourself crazy over this stuff you can make yourself crazy so we just we just make what we like and what we would like to watch and kind of what we're passionate about but I do enjoy as much as like when I make a cleaning video it does not do well when you make a cleaning video Yeah, it's kicking butt all day. But you really do teach in your cleaning videos and you inspire and I watch them and I was like, I got to take apart my toilet now. Thank you very much for that. I'm like, should I be cleaning my grout with hydrogen peroxide? I don't even clean grout because yeah. So let's get really talking about cleaning now because I know a lot of my listeners are like me and we want a clean house, but we don't want to.

clean our house. We, we just, a lot of us have ADHD. I know I do, so I can't focus on a lot of things and I'm lazy and I just want the results without the work. So here, I'm going to pick your brain. If somebody listening, and I know for myself, I have one hour. That's all I'm going to give my house today. One hour. What's the biggest bang for my buck? Like, what can I do that's going to make the biggest impact when it comes to cleaning, not tidying, but cleaning. Do you have advice? I would put yourself in the shoes of a guest walking into your home. So assuming the tidying's done, whatever, if you are a guest in someone's home, what do you typically notice? And for me, it's like, I'm going to sit down at their kitchen countertop, probably. We're going to hang out in the kitchen.

Is there sticky stuff all over your counter? Okay, clean the counter. Get that done, right? Where would my go next. She's probably going to want to use the bathroom. So then I'm going to like get some lightsaw wipes and wipe that baby down, put a new dry towel in for her. So I just kind of strategize where would my guests go? Where would she look? Like if there's fingerprints all over the refrigerator, you know she's going to be sitting there just quickly. Get some whatever cleaner you want to use and clean that off. Does your house smell okay? Light a candle. Get that going. So take it down a journey of your guest and whatever you can get done at that time. Carpeting is huge. So if you have carpet or floors, just fluff up that carpet real quick with your vacuum. Where are you going

to be hanging out? I am in the living room quickly vacuum that living room up. You know, have you not dusted in a few weeks? She's going to sit down on that coffee table. Just wipe that dust away as fast as you can. Fluff up the blanket, chop the pillows. You're good. Yeah. So surfaces. You're like, just like clean the surfaces that you can see, basically. Because I do, I get, I go down. rabbit holes of like, oh, I notice a baseboard's kind of dusty. And then the next thing you know, I'm spending my hour wiping baseboards and no one's going to notice that. I'm lying. I never wipe baseboards. But like some random stupid thing that I do, then I'm tired. And I'm like, this made no difference. So I guess if you look at your house from the perspective of what would a

guest see, that's also what you see. Right? That's what's in your vision. And so you're like, yeah, I have a cleaner house. I'm getting the biggest bang for my buck, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Another little tip is I have a routine every morning. And if I can't do it, then my husband will help me out.

Is there certain things that I do? And so people will always say, Andrew, your house is so tidy. And I'll say it's because, well, my kids aren't home. Like, if you come to my house, 2.30 to 8 p.m., like it's like a tornado. NATO went through it. My boys peed all over the toilets, like there's toilet paper everywhere. You know what I mean? It's like, you have a good routine that you can quickly whip it up into shape that help. I like that. Yeah, I'm a nighttime person. I'm not a morning person. It takes me a while to get started, Andrea. But I have a nighttime routine. So every morning when I wake up, at least it's tidy for like a hot second, you know, for like for like a few seconds. I have teenagers and I give them lists. And I'm like, this is the things I want you to clean. They suck at cleaning. They suck at it.

It never looks good. And I feel like I got to go back and do it again. But what I'm learning is at least it's not from scratch. And I can keep telling them they got to do better, but they don't care. They're trying, trying with air quotes. But I do need to learn to let go. And I do need to learn to delegate more, even if they don't do it as well as I do. And you are like an expert at cleaning.

So do you find like your husband isn't as good as you are? Are you blessed? And he's like, he's a scrubber too. He doesn't do it as well as I would like. Okay. But just notice, I'm a little on the nutty side, but he does a great job. And I'm just so grateful that we team up and do those sorts of things. Like I do all the washing and the laundry and the folding. He'll put it all away. So we kind of divide and conquer in that way. Now, when it comes to kids, I'm going to tell you and be straight up with you. My oldest is nine. My youngest is three.

You know, they make their beds every morning. They get incentives for that sort of thing. But when it comes to cleaning, I'm in the phase right now where it is such a hassle to try to, I mean, they're busy with sports. They come home. They have homework. And then now I'm going to try to, you know, get them to do some sort of cleaning related activity and, you know, keep up with that.

It's just like, oh. So we're into bed and putting. your dirty laundry way. That's where we're at at the stage in life. The fact that they're making their bed, I'm so jealous. I can't get my teens to, I'm lucky if they take their dirty dishes out of their, after I've nagged them five thousand times out of their bed. I got to get tougher, man. I got to get tougher. I don't know. Pick your battles. I'm like, whatever makes life easier, they're going to be out of your house generally by the age of 18, right? And, you know, they're going to gravitate toward what they like. Some

just prefer naturally cleaner. space. Some could care less and they, you know, clutter is fine fine by them. I'm not going to make myself crazy, like, ensuring that they can scrub a toilet and scrub it. Speaking of toilets, so I just moved into this house and I have five bathrooms plus a bathroom in the garage, which I will never clean. So technically six bathrooms. Can we just say it's, it's horrible, actually, it's horrible because I'm not good at cleaning. And before I had a really small home, not really small, but 1,400 square feet. So I could do like the swish and the wipe. This is a whole new ballgame. There's stairs. I forget about most of the bathrooms. I forget to clean them. And I'm finding

like I'm getting behind. Dust is piling up, dirt is piling up, grime is piling up. And I'm looking for shortcuts here. Do you have products that you are like, this will save you time or tools that you're like, invest in this and this will save you time? I love my swiffer wand, but I feel like it's not enough, man. I'm behind. So give me your wisdom. Give us your wisdom of things that can just make life easier. Yeah, a couple things. So in every bathroom, whether you have one bathroom or five bathrooms, You usually have a cabinet of some sort where you can keep items, even if it's small, have a toilable cleaner, a multipurpose cleaner, and some sort of good, you know, mirror cloth, an E-cloth, a Norwax cloth, and fish-scale cloth, whatever.

That way when you're in there, like everything's there. You don't have to travel around, you know, you went to the bathroom and you're like, I got two minutes, let's go, you know, that sort of thing. And the other thing is, I probably shouldn't say this, but hire help if you can. If you have the resources, I would have to say, like, most of the people in my neighborhood, hire people to clean or help or maybe come once a month to do that sort of deep cleaning because most families where I live, there's two full-time working parents. And they just can't get to that stuff, you know, and maybe they forego a couple coffees for that week because having someone come once a month a deep clean saves their marriage, their sanity, and their health. if you're not able to do that, just do what you can. You know, if you stress about it, you're going to hate it.

You're going to hate it even more. So make cleaning supplies easily accessible and convenient. I love smells, like things that smell good. So if I have a product that's got some sort of scent, I'm like, yeah, you know. Yeah, it is. I agree. The smell makes a difference, right? It really does because you're like, this feels almost lighting a candle.

Like, yeah, it's important for sure. Do you have like a favorite smelly cleaner that you like? Anything fresh linen. Like, I want to bathe in fresh linen. You know, I just love it. I can't get enough of it. I love that. I feel like maybe the universe is giving me a sign because I had a podcast yesterday with the minimal mom and she's like, Cass, hire someone to help you. But it feels almost like, I don't know, the idea of hiring someone, I feel. wrong doing that. I feel like maybe I'm disingenuine to people who are watching. Like, yes, you can have a clean house, but I hire someone to help me. But maybe the whole point is it isn't shameful to ask for help sometimes because it is impossible to do it all alone or even for a little bit of time to help catch up, especially during the holidays, maybe just have someone come a couple

times to take some of the pressure off. Yeah, giving permission. Yeah, that's really good. Absolutely, because the only reason my house is more meticulous than the average person is because I do this for a living. So this is where I spend my time, right? If I was not doing this, I'm probably not getting under my toilet rim unless there's a really foul smell up in there. You know what I mean? And my blinds are going to be dusty as I'll get out for a year. long because why I'm not going to, you know, when you have time, I want to hang out with my kids. I want to have memories around that. Like, I don't want them to be like, mom just claims 24 hours a day. Because when I look back at life, I'm going to remember the time with my kids. So if that helps

people in terms of asking for help if they're able to, just know your time is being allocated to something more meaningful. Not that even rest. Cleaning isn't meaningful, but. I know, but even rest sometimes is meaningful. Like sometimes I think, oh, I worked all day and then we had dinner and we hung out with the kids and now maybe I should clean for an hour. But maybe I should just, it's okay to just chill and watch a movie also or read a book or lay in bed on a Sunday until noon and that's okay. And it's not lazy. It's recharging your battery and it's making sure that you mentally are in a really good place so that you can be there for other people. in your life. And if things have to go when it comes to the house or if you have to hire somebody

to catch you back up, that's okay. Gosh, it's a weird time. I think, I always say this, but like, especially for women because not only are we still homemakers and in charge of a lot of things, but now we're also, like, working full time and there's so many added pressures in the world and so many other things. We're busy, man. We are so, so busy, yet we still put the same expectations on ourselves to keep things like our grandmothers did when that was their full-time job. I think, too, your home and the cleanliness is often wrapped to identity, especially too, with our grandparents. Like, what type of woman are you, you know, what type of house do you keep?

But I just, one, recognize if we're having those thoughts. Like, I'm wrapping my identity and quality of a human into whether my house is clean or not. You're like, that's ridiculous. Why would I do that? I'm good at all these other things and it's okay if like, you know, my carpet's not pristine, vacuum lined. Yeah, absolutely. But I feel I do, I am happier now that my house is under control.

And I know a really big part of that. Definitely cleaning and organizing was important, but like decluttering made a big difference because it was just less to do, less to make. manage less to clean, less to tidy. And I just, a lot of people are so afraid to let go. And there's a lot of scarcity minds. Like, what if I need that again? Or I can't afford to replace it. And I've got to hold on to it. And I feel bad letting it go. But it's this total double-edged sword because now we feel bad that we can't manage the amount of crap that we have in our house. Do you declutter often? Is this like part of your kind of managing your house routine?

Absolutely. The less stuff I have to touch and care for and plan for means I can spend that time with something that's meaningful and valuable, going to a workout class, going for a walk, taking my kids out for ice cream. And like every week I have a basket and I'm filling that basket with stuff. And we take it, my mom takes a different different place. to families who need those sort of things. And I tell my husband all the time, like, this is going to sound terrible. But I say, if the house burnt down, I'd be fine. Like, there's just, I want my

computer so I can do my job because I love my job. And maybe a photo album. That's it. Like, I've just stopped attaching myself to my things. It's great to have them. If they're causing stress, I can't. I can't. Yeah. I got really less attached to stuff the more I decluttered to. Like everything used to feel really, really important. And I would like, I don't know, it caused me almost anxiety about the thought of letting things go. And now I've decluttered so much. I've just trained my brain. I'm like, meh, me.

It's just insurance will replace it. Like I don't have the same mental, like sentimental attachment to physical things anymore. And that came from just consistently letting go and building up that decluttering muscle. And what's really fascinating is I still declutter all the time, like all the time. I'm constantly decluttering. And people who watch my videos will say, how did you have anything left to declutter? And you must buy a lot. But the truth is that isn't true.

It's just decluttering is part and should be part of a weekly cleaning routine. And I think that's something that us who've always struggled with mess have no idea. I don't realize that the tidy homes, the average person who has tidy homes, they're getting stuff out every single week. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I think, too, we're sort of programmed of how we grew up in a way. Like, we take on those ideas of what things mean and what a clean space looks and feels like.

And it's not usually until we get to a point where we're so fed up and frustrated. We're like, we need to change these belief systems. that we didn't know we were operating on because I want something different for my life. I don't want to spend all this time like sorting to find stuff. Yeah, for sure. I grew up in a house like I don't feel like it was really, really cluttered, but my parents never got rid of anything unless it was destroyed. So what would happen was we would pack up clothes I outgrew or toys I outgrew or things

that they didn't want anymore and they would just put it in the attic or put it in the garage and then it would go moldy or it would get like mice infestation and then it would be thrown out because it was ruined. And it's kind of like, well, what if we just donated that stuff before it got ruined or out of date or right? And given it to somebody who could have really used it. But that wasn't even on the radar. Like that's not what we did. We put things in the garage to die and get destroyed. And then we threw it in the garbage. And we were justified at throwing it out because because now it was actual trash. And I talked to a lot of people that this is also a normal thing that their family did.

Like, we would just, the vacuum broke, we'd get a new vacuum, that old vacuum would go in the garage or the basement or wherever. For why? For what? The poor vacuum. I know. Just like, why? So my mom's now decluttering basically for the first time in her life.

and she's so excited. She's calling me. She's like, I got rid of a whole trash bag of stuff. And she's like feeling that kind of therapeutic, that freeing feeling of going through your things and letting them go. And I just think, man, you don't have to wait until you're in your 70s. I agree. It's so liberating once you do it.

I think of decluttering a closet. I do this all the time. And I only keep in my closet what I ask. absolutely love now. So I don't have a lot in my closet. And you'll go through, you'll pick out the things, and then go back again, and you're going to find more things, and then go again. Like, it just become like, and then before you know, you're like, wow, I can't believe how much I was able to give to somebody else so they could love it more than I'm loving it. Yeah. And it's hard when you feel like I can't afford to replace it. Like people listening might be like,

well, must be nice. You can afford to go and replace the things. But you're not going to wear something more by keeping it in your closet. So it isn't about the money because you wouldn't buy that thing again. You've tried it. It wasn't for you. You didn't like it. And now it's just taking up space. You're not holding onto it for someday because there's, you're never going to use that thing. You've already made, you've decided it's not for you. And it's really freeing when you put yourself first and say, I trust myself enough to know that I don't like that thing. And even if tomorrow I, you know, didn't have money, I still wouldn't choose this thing. You know what I mean? Like I trust myself enough to let that go. And when I started decluttering, I didn't have any money at all.

I was like super, super broke all the time. We were living paycheck to paycheck. And it really helped me think twice about buying what I was bringing into the home because I felt the pain of letting go. And this magical thing started like I started saving more money because I was more thoughtful and mindful about what I was bringing in because it hurt so much to let all the stuff I should never have bought go. So it transformed my finances. And that's, I feel like people don't, you could say it and you don't really get it. until you've done it, right? Yeah, you got to walk through it a little bit on that journey and how that, because I've been poor and had nothing and I've been secure.

I've been all phases. We've done the debt-free Dave Ramsey thing several years ago and just all those different experiences. I've learned something through the process on what I want in my life. I got to interrupt this podcast for just a second to thank today's sponsor, aura frames. Christmas is right around the corner and the best gift I've ever given or received was an aura digital picture frame. I love giving this as a gift because not only can I load it up with photos and memories and videos before I even open the box and give it to my loved one that I can invite

all the extended friends and family to this frame as well and anytime we have new photos we can instantly upload it from anywhere in the world. There is no subscription fee and there are no photo limits. The best gift, especially my mom, my grandmother, my mother-in-law, they are floored and love this. And right now, you can get $40 off their best selling Carver Map Frame with the code clutterbug. Go to auraframes.com. Use the promo code clutterbug. That's A-U-R-A-Frames.com promo code clutterbug. Are you like a self-help junkie? I'm just curious because no, are you like, no. Oh my God. Yes. Well, yeah, I was getting that vibe. Yeah. All of my books are nonfiction. And I remember in grad school, one of my professors is like, maybe you should just read a fiction book, Andrea.

That maybe help. I'm like, why? What am I going to gain from a fiction book? I'm here to learn something. Yeah. I'm all, I was getting that vibe because you like have all this wisdom and you, you know, you've grown so much. You've continually like leveled up in your life. And all the people I talk to who, because I interview a ton of people on podcasts, when I get that vibe from them, that they're like really leveling up and continually leveling up, they're always huge self-help consumers, whether it's an audio book or a physical book or a podcast on self-help. Like self-improvement is a huge aspect of their life and the results show that.

Like they have changed their mindset. They're borrowing knowledge from these people and their life improvement is a huge example. of the like the fruits of that reward so I'm curious like let's go I didn't think we were going to go here but I was getting that fine from you. This is the latest. I mean, this is you're taking notes. Every day. Yeah, I read something.

I, oh my gosh, I love that. Yeah. I talk about this a lot on my podcast and even on my channel I try to encourage people to like dip their toe in the self-help book or whatever waters. But they're boring sometimes and it could feel like, what's the point and listening to other people talk about their success. But it really does, maybe even subconsciously, it gets in there, in your noggin, in your brain. And you'll notice subtle improvements every time you consume something else. So let's go there. Do you have a favorite,

something that you recommend for the listeners? Yeah. So I love anything, lob attraction. I love anything. related to the psychology of mind and understanding why we function the way we function and how can we create the future we want? Because our future happens based upon what we do right here and right now. And I truly believe that anyone can change their life and their trajectory. You just have to want something different. And, you know, I came from very humble beginning. and I would never have predicted that my life would be where it is now, but it's because I just

believed in my ability to create a different life. I just kept at it every day. Yeah, I think that's the secret right, consistent action. So I have a loved one who is like a big dreamer and really believes all this amazing stuff is going to happen, but is waiting for it to happen, waiting for the luck to come instead of focusing on what small? little thing am I going to do today to make that luck? What am I going to do? What action am I going to take? And it's not big things. It's not working 24-7 like a crazy maniac, but it's having a goal and consistently like, oh yeah, that's important to me. I'm going to do something baby towards that bigger goal today. And sometimes we have like 20 goals. And it's like, well, I'm going to do something babyish towards

one of those goals. But yeah, it's so, so fascinating. For me, atomic habits was. James Clear. A huge changer for me. Mel Robbins, she's just more what I needed to hear, I guess, which is like the get off your butt and do something. Like, stop it. Get up and take action. Yeah, one, two, three, go. I'm like a tough love kind of girl. So I definitely resonate with Mel Robbins, but I know a lot of people who struggle with perfectionism. That's not me at all. But a lot of people who really struggle with like in their head, it's got to be perfect. and a lot of negative self-talk really connect with Bray Brown. So anything from Brunay Brown can really like heal your soul and help you love yourself more. So it's like a more gentle approach where Mel Robbins like, get up, fool. Bray Brown's like, you know, Renee Brown's like, you can do anything and you're amazing. And she's like a hug. She's like a hug. If you need that. Like a kick in the butt. Exactly.

I love it. But there is something, we're all different. And there is messages out there that I think we really need to hear because that's the most amazing thing about being human, right? That's what sets us apart from all the other species is we can learn from each other. We have the ability to read and write and take knowledge from each other. So we don't have to learn everything the hard way. we can learn from people who have done it already and we can take a shortcut and jump ahead

from their knowledge and their wisdom. And yeah, so self-help, man. I could feel it coming from. I'm like, this chick is a self-help junkie. I can feel it because it's really obvious to me that you, yeah, you've got a lot of things under control. And you're young. So that's amazing. Oh, I'm not as young as you, I think.

Well, you look fantastically young. Let's be the Botox. Actually, speaking of which, I remember one of your older videos, you got Botox. And I remember you talking about it. It was horrible. This chick, like, she went on and talked about it. I was like, you know, because that's sort of a vulnerable thing. It was horrible the first time because I have hooded eyes, so I raise my eyebrows a lot.

And I couldn't. So I was like, this is awful. And then it wore off. And about six months later, I looked in the mirror and I thought, wow, I look so much better after having that Botox. And so I still get it. I got it again. But I only go once every nine or ten months when I really start to look haggard.

It's expensive. My husband's like, why do you do this? Same. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't know. It's not permanent. I feel really refreshed after.

I hate it the whole time. It wears off at about three months, right? I hate it the whole three months. I'm like, I hate this. But then it really does like eliminate a lot of those wrinkles. So I don't know. Would I get it if I wasn't on camera all day? Probably not.

But editing my own videos and seeing my face every day, it's like I feel like, oh, God, I'm getting old. Same, yeah. Yeah, I think too. and this is sort of a younger, I don't know how to say this, this industry attracts a younger population generally for creators. And so sort of underlying like, you know, will people still want to watch me when I'm 50 years old, that sort of thing?

Yeah, I feel you. I'm creeping up on 50. I'm getting really close. No way. Well, I'll be 45 this year. So I'm five years away. And I feel like that's freaking close, man. That's going to fly by. And it's scary because, yeah, I don't feel that old and I don't feel like I'm like, I still want to do this. But I've always said I'm not doing YouTube in my 50s because the channels who have like young, beautiful girls cleaning their toilets or organizing, those do better because we're human, man. People want to watch beautiful people doing beautiful things. End stop. That's all there is to. it. So it is. Yeah, I'm definitely not on YouTube for my looks here. This is not, that's not why I'm doing it. And it's not why I have views. That's for sure. It's despite my face. There's pressure. There's

pressure for sure to not look too haggard, unfortunately. That sucks. That's the sucky part. That's the only part I really don't like. Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. And I think, too, when you have passion behind what you do, some of that can go to the wayside. because I know a lot of people are nervous to get on camera, you know, and that's cool thing. And the more we can let go, the happier everybody is. Because you can tell if you're watching a YouTube video on this chick spent like five hours contouring and hairs perfectly. Like, I love you, girl.

That's a lot of work to get all that together. I don't got time, nor do I want to do that. Yeah. There's also like this really, I'm not a big, a short form content, creator so I don't understand how to make short form content, but I consume it all day. I really do enjoy TikTok and Instagram Reels because maybe I have ADHD or just because it's great to have like, give it to me, give it to me, give it to me, right? Fast, fast. Your brain is like firing. And it could be just the people that I watch. Now this could be like

an algorithm thing, but I watch a lot of TikTokers and their moms and they're just like themselves. their hair's a mess and their mascara is smeared and they don't care. And I'm like, you're so brave. And I really resonate with that. So I actually consume a lot of that content of people who are just like, yep, my house is kind of trashed. And I look like a hot mess sandwich. But let's do the dishes together. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. I love that. Personality. Yeah. Maybe things are changing in the future and it's going to start being less about, you know, more about integrity and just honesty and authenticity as opposed to like this fake beautiful image that kind of has been the last 10 years of social media. Yeah, yeah, with Instagram. Fingers crossed. I know. I remember when I was doing

the Clean With Me videos, those are like the first ones that I ever started creating. My house was I was grateful for the house I had, but I quickly learned that my house was just not beautiful enough for this sort of audience, you know? But then I learned that that doesn't have to be my audience. Like I can find a new group of people that relates to what I'm doing as well. And so I think all facets of that will exist. It's just about finding your tribe. And I do think people are craving more of that authenticity too. I think so too. I mean, I watch a lot of organizing videos where people restock their million dollar pantries with their $10,000 worth of gorgeous, you know, bins. And it's like, that's so expensive. Like all of that is so ridiculously expensive and not

something the average person not only doesn't have space for. I mean, I have a big house. I don't have space for that. That's ridiculous. That's insane. But I still consume that. So I'm part of the problem too, right? Like I watch this because it's so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, but then when I'm done watching it, I just feel kind of bad about my own house. Yeah, same. I was like, why is this video? Like this woman about thousands of dollars worth of Mrs. Myers so that her house can look like a convenience store. I'm mad about it. I'm mad about it too, but yeah, I can't stop watching it. Yeah, it's ridiculous. And they're like decanting everything and everything's like, gold and clear and shiny and perfect and, you know, they're filling up their tide pod things in

these little like perfect gorgeous. They have a whole counter just for coffee. And I'm like, what is happening here? You have a whole pantry just for your appliances. It's crazy. You live in like a six million dollar house. You definitely do not have a job. This is your thing. You just crazy. Restacking beautiful things. You've just, it's crazy. It's just, but also it's so beautiful. And my daughter, she's 17.

She's like, mom, if you want to do TikTok, you have to do restocking videos. She's like, but our house isn't pretty enough for that. And I was like, yeah, I know. Thanks. That stings. You're going to save so much money, though. I'm going to save so much money. It's also not realistic.

Like, we don't live like that. So to do that would be inauthentic. I think those people actually do live like that. and I'm very happy for them. And I wish that was my life sometimes, but it's not. But I see a trend. I see some trends. I also follow like the 85 year old grandma who's cleaning her toilet while swearing like a sailor. So there's something for everyone. And I'm excited for more authentic real life content that just honestly inspires people to be a little bit better, like self-help. That's what I see social media as the potential is, it's like you don't have to always read the self-help books.

You can consume this entertaining content and get the same life leveling up results from this. You can get the same self-help stuff from watching YouTube videos or TikToks or Reels. Like that would be the ultimate goal of social media, right? a way of entertaining us and educating us and inspiring and motivating us all at the same time. Yeah, absolutely, where you walk away from your screen time and you're like, I feel good, like I'm going to go do something. I feel motivated, not like depressed, less than. Like that's not the goal or the objective.

And we too have to take ownership as if we do feel that, you know, to change who we're viewing and watching and, you know, that sort of stuff. Yeah, and make sure the content that we're creating is empowering people and teaching them and educating them so that they walk away a little bit better than they were before they watched it. And every time I consume self-help, I feel like it's a tool for my toolbox. And I really want my video to be a tool for someone's toolbox, but also interesting enough that they don't click away in the first 10 seconds. It's a fine line. It's a fine line. I agree. Ever since doing this job, I've gotten very good at, well, okay, I've improved on getting to the point as quickly as possible. But the downside is when you're in real interaction with people, I want to get to the point so fast. That's right. And they're like telling me this long story. And I'm like, but I don't think like that every day. I'm like thinking Cliff's notes for my audience.

Yeah, because you're keeping them, you're like, they only have so much attention. And I want them to get it and feed them in a way that they can consume without being bored. Yeah. I appreciate that. As someone who has ADHD, your videos are not boring. And I walk away inspired. I literally was like, where is the flathead screwdriver, Joe? I got to take apart the toilet seat and clean under it.

He's like, it's 7.30 in the morning. I was watching Andrea Jeanne's cleaning videos. And now I wonder how much urine is under my toilet seat. My gosh, I know. But you know what? Sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes it's not. If you're feeling extra, you know, get that cleaning vibe going, then you're like, okay, let's go with this.

You're a late night person. That's what your videos do, though. They give me the cleaning vibe. They give the viewer the cleaning vibe. And sometimes we need that. Because it sucks and we don't have the motivation. We don't want to do it. but we got to do it. So if you can watch a video that teaches you something and gives you the mojo,

gets you like in the mood and the get up and go, like that's why you're so successful because your videos do that. So congratulations. And I hope my listeners, you know, you're feeling it right now. You're feeling the mojo. And if not, get over there and watch Andrea Jean cleaning videos and you're going to feel it. You're going to feel that mojo and that get up. and go and let's clean something today. I'm going to fill like a bucket with some multi-purpose cleaner, soapy water, no rag, and I'm just going to go around and wipe stuff today. That's my goal. I'm just going to wipe stuff today and clean my toilet. And clean your toilet. Yeah, put it some good music, you know. The only thing is like physical activity. You feel like you've been sitting for a while.

You get up and clean, you're bending, you're getting your heart rate up a little bit. You know, you kill two birds with one stone. Yeah, I love that. Okay, so let my listeners know how they can find you, learn more about you, and be motivated and inspired by your content. It's so sweet. Andrew Gene Cleaning on YouTube. I also have a brand new TikTok account, Andrew Gene Cleaning there.

So if you like short to the point, sweet, quick hits of motivations, that's where you want to go. If you want more detailed, nitty gritty, YouTube's a great place for that as well. and how to stay motivated. Just take it one day at a time. Don't be too hard on yourself. Don't beat yourself up if you didn't scrub out of the rims of your toilets and you don't have vacuum lines. But also if you want that. But if you want that, I mean, I'm obsessed.

High Five. I'm here for you. I love that. Well, thank you so much. And thank you everyone listening. Happy cleaning today. And I'll see you guys next time.