Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / Winter Home Projects: Beating the Blues and Organizing Memories
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in. You're listening to Home
- 0:04Speaker 1: in Progress sponsored by recoll Like Paints and Benjamin Moore.
- 0:08Speaker 1: And today on the show, we're going to be continuing
- 0:10Speaker 1: a series that I started last week about organizing our memories.
- 0:15Speaker 1: Last week we covered digital photos, you know, basically the
- 0:18Speaker 1: mess that we keep in our phones. Today, we're going
- 0:21Speaker 1: to go down to the storage shelves in the basement
- 0:23Speaker 1: or whatever, and we're going to start by tackling our massive,
- 0:27Speaker 1: massive collections of photos. We'll also be talking about a
- 0:30Speaker 1: surefire cure for the winter blues if you happen to
- 0:33Speaker 1: be feeling those, I've got the cure. And we'll also
- 0:37Speaker 1: dig into everything you need to know to have great
- 0:39Speaker 1: results with your interior painting in the winter. There definitely
- 0:43Speaker 1: are a few things that you need to be aware of,
- 0:45Speaker 1: and we'll get to all of them in a little bit.
- 0:47Speaker 1: But right now, let's tackle something simple but practical, an
- 0:51Speaker 1: old car emergency kit. The idea came to me the
- 0:55Speaker 1: other day when my kid called from a parking lot
- 0:58Speaker 1: at seven point thirty in the morning to let me
- 1:01Speaker 1: know that the exhaust system had fallen off of his
- 1:03Speaker 1: car on the way to college. The pieces were hanging down,
- 1:08Speaker 1: they were banging on the road, and so he pulls
- 1:11Speaker 1: into this parking lot and begins trying to figure out
- 1:13Speaker 1: a way to rig the whole thing in place so
- 1:17Speaker 1: he can, you know, at least drive to a repair
- 1:20Speaker 1: shop somewhere, and of course he had nothing in the
- 1:22Speaker 1: car that would work to do that. Well, this isn't
- 1:26Speaker 1: the very first time that this has happened. It's not
- 1:29Speaker 1: our first Rodeo. The exhaust system or parts of it
- 1:32Speaker 1: have rusted through and fallen off one or more of
- 1:34Speaker 1: our vehicles, you know, probably four times in the last
- 1:38Speaker 1: eight years. And every single stinking time that it happens,
- 1:43Speaker 1: the fix is always the same. Someone has to drive
- 1:46Speaker 1: out with wire and wire everything back in place so
- 1:51Speaker 1: that we can drive it to a fixed shop. So
- 1:54Speaker 1: this time, on my way to help him out, I
- 1:56Speaker 1: decided that we're going to get a coil of wire
- 1:59Speaker 1: and some wire cutters and put it in a little
- 2:02Speaker 1: duffel bag that just lives in his trunk. You know,
- 2:05Speaker 1: he's the only one with a really old car at
- 2:07Speaker 1: this point, but we're gonna keep that there just in
- 2:11Speaker 1: case anything like this ever happens again. And that got
- 2:14Speaker 1: me thinking about other things that have saved our bacon
- 2:17Speaker 1: or would have saved our bacon over the years, you know,
- 2:20Speaker 1: with our older cars, you know, not a disaster kit,
- 2:23Speaker 1: not some roadside survival collection of goodies or things like that,
- 2:27Speaker 1: just a few simple things that earn their keep. So
- 2:29Speaker 1: I started making some notes as I was driving out
- 2:32Speaker 1: there to help him, and here's what I came up with.
- 2:35Speaker 1: Here's my recommendation. If your kid, or your grandkid, or
- 2:38Speaker 1: maybe you are driving around in an old vehicle that's
- 2:40Speaker 1: seen better days, maybe this is worth adding to your trunk. Okay,
- 2:45Speaker 1: first thing, I've already mentioned it, but i'll say it again.
- 2:47Speaker 1: Wire and wire cutters. It's perfect for stringing up exhaust pipes,
- 2:52Speaker 1: heat shields, loose brackets, basically dangly things that need to
- 2:56Speaker 1: stop being danglely. Right now. You know, it's not pretty.
- 2:59Speaker 1: It's not a permanent fix. Of course, it's not a
- 3:02Speaker 1: permanent fix. Don't let it become a permanent fix. But
- 3:05Speaker 1: it does turn a you know, we're stuck here situation
- 3:09Speaker 1: into a we can get this home or get it
- 3:11Speaker 1: to the shop kind of situation. So I like that item.
- 3:14Speaker 1: A second item to think about, a portable tire inflator.
- 3:18Speaker 1: You know a number of our tires over the years
- 3:20Speaker 1: have had slow leaks for one reason or another. And normally,
- 3:23Speaker 1: when we discover it that it's got that situation or
- 3:26Speaker 1: that it's got that problem, you know, we're not sitting
- 3:29Speaker 1: at a gas station or a place where we have
- 3:31Speaker 1: an air compressor handy. You know, normally it's very inconvenient
- 3:34Speaker 1: when we realize that the tire is way flatter than
- 3:38Speaker 1: it should be. Well, do your research, you know, make
- 3:41Speaker 1: sure that what you're buying is decent. But there are
- 3:43Speaker 1: a number of options out there that are small, easy
- 3:46Speaker 1: to use, inexpensive portable tire inflators, you know, for under
- 3:50Speaker 1: fifty bucks. You can certainly find something. And the ones
- 3:53Speaker 1: that I'm looking at, the reviews are really good. Now
- 3:55Speaker 1: that doesn't mean those reviews are real. You know, everything's
- 3:59Speaker 1: a I know, you know, maybe I'm not even talking
- 4:02Speaker 1: to you right now. Maybe I'm not even real a
- 4:05Speaker 1: real person. Maybe I'm just AI. Who knows anymore. So
- 4:09Speaker 1: you've got to do your research. But from what I'm seeing,
- 4:12Speaker 1: it looks like these will work. You know. They're not
- 4:14Speaker 1: air compressors, you know, or anything like that, so it's
- 4:17Speaker 1: not going to be just you know, a real quick,
- 4:19Speaker 1: you know, lickety split solution, but it can get you
- 4:22Speaker 1: out of a problem and on the road again, so
- 4:24Speaker 1: you can more thoroughly get the problem fixed, you know,
- 4:27Speaker 1: in a more convenient manner. All right, So a portable
- 4:30Speaker 1: tire inflator like that idea. A third item, add duct
- 4:34Speaker 1: tape to your duffel bag. You know. Just a couple
- 4:36Speaker 1: of months ago, a guy that I worked with backed
- 4:39Speaker 1: off a job site and clipped something just right with
- 4:41Speaker 1: his passenger side mirror, you know, knock the mirror loose,
- 4:44Speaker 1: but not completely off, so it's just kind of dangling there,
- 4:48Speaker 1: and he knows it's going to bang against the side
- 4:49Speaker 1: of the car if he tries to drive anywhere and
- 4:52Speaker 1: he can't make it stay in place. He's trying to
- 4:54Speaker 1: figure out what to do. Does he just completely break
- 4:57Speaker 1: it off and put it in the back seat? What
- 4:59Speaker 1: does he do? And as he's thinking about it, he
- 5:01Speaker 1: remembers he's got duct tape in the back of the car.
- 5:03Speaker 1: So he grabs the duct tape the solution for everything,
- 5:07Speaker 1: and he fixes it. He tapes the thing back in place.
- 5:10Speaker 1: It's ugly, you know, I saw it after he got
- 5:12Speaker 1: it done. And it was ugly. It wasn't a permanent repair.
- 5:15Speaker 1: Of course, it's not a permanent repair, but it did
- 5:17Speaker 1: let him get to where he needed to go. You know,
- 5:19Speaker 1: for the rest of that day he could drive around
- 5:21Speaker 1: and do what he had to do and still use
- 5:24Speaker 1: that mirror. And he actually had it that way for
- 5:27Speaker 1: a week or so until he was able to get
- 5:29Speaker 1: a new mirror installed. So duct tape, you know, it's
- 5:32Speaker 1: a go to fix all and it can definitely get
- 5:35Speaker 1: you out of a lot of jams. A fourth item
- 5:38Speaker 1: that I'd recommend would be jumper cables. Of course, jumper cables.
- 5:41Speaker 1: They're not flashy, but they're handy, and that's what we're
- 5:44Speaker 1: after here. We're not creating a bag of emergency things
- 5:47Speaker 1: that are flashy and exciting. These are, you know, just
- 5:50Speaker 1: core boring items, but they're going to help you. And really,
- 5:53Speaker 1: you know, jumper cables, that's not just for older cars.
- 5:56Speaker 1: Batteries fail no matter how old the car is. You know,
- 5:59Speaker 1: a year ago, my mom's battery died and I had
- 6:01Speaker 1: to run out there with jumper cables. You know, just
- 6:04Speaker 1: having them in your vehicle means that you might be
- 6:06Speaker 1: able to convince somebody nearby to help you get your
- 6:09Speaker 1: car going again. Lots of us already have them in
- 6:11Speaker 1: the vehicle, but if you don't think about it. A
- 6:14Speaker 1: fifth item to add heavy duty zip ties. You know
- 6:17Speaker 1: they're perfect for loose panels, hanging plastic shields, things that
- 6:21Speaker 1: just need to stop moving and for which you don't
- 6:23Speaker 1: need wire or something like that. A few last items
- 6:26Speaker 1: to toss in work gloves. You know they're nice to
- 6:29Speaker 1: keep your hands clean and protected, but also because a
- 6:31Speaker 1: lot of parts can be pretty hot to the touch,
- 6:34Speaker 1: so work gloves would be great. A first aid kit.
- 6:36Speaker 1: You know, even just a small one can be really
- 6:38Speaker 1: handy if you slice a finger or something while you're
- 6:41Speaker 1: working on your car. Finally, I throw in a small
- 6:44Speaker 1: canvas drop cloth. You know, I know this is this
- 6:46Speaker 1: one's kind of on a left field, but with Andrew's
- 6:49Speaker 1: exhaust dilemma the other day, we were laying on a wet,
- 6:52Speaker 1: dirty parking lot trying to get things wired into place
- 6:55Speaker 1: underneath his car, and I had to go back to
- 6:57Speaker 1: work way filthier than normal. You know, I'm not always
- 7:01Speaker 1: perfect because I work alone in a great, big warehouse
- 7:05Speaker 1: that's where my studio is, so I'm not always perfect.
- 7:07Speaker 1: But this day, I was way worse than normal. You know,
- 7:10Speaker 1: a dropcloth would have provided a much better work area. Anyway,
- 7:14Speaker 1: there you go, a quick emergency kit for older cars,
- 7:18Speaker 1: and you know what, I am aware of the fact
- 7:22Speaker 1: maybe there's a handful of people out there who are thinking,
- 7:24Speaker 1: wait a minute, all these things that he's added. You know,
- 7:27Speaker 1: if the police ever search your vehicle and they if
- 7:30Speaker 1: I find a duffel bag with zip ties, wire, you know,
- 7:35Speaker 1: you got gloves, you got duct tape, it does look
- 7:38Speaker 1: kind of like, you know, you might be up to
- 7:42Speaker 1: nefarious things. But maybe if you put a sticker on
- 7:45Speaker 1: it or a little note inside that says emergency you know,
- 7:49Speaker 1: kit for my old car, you know, maybe that won't
- 7:52Speaker 1: be a problem. Just don't get pulled over and don't
- 7:55Speaker 1: give them reason to search your vehicle. That's really going
- 7:59Speaker 1: to solve all of that. But anyway, I wanted to
- 8:01Speaker 1: point out I was aware that a number of these
- 8:03Speaker 1: items could lean themselves towards nefarious you know, the drop
- 8:07Speaker 1: cloth you got to put the body in something. Just
- 8:10Speaker 1: saying I'm not recommending or endorsing Repcolite does not endorse
- 8:13Speaker 1: any of what I just said. I'm gonna move on
- 8:16Speaker 1: think about it. An emergency kit for your car might
- 8:19Speaker 1: be a good thing to do. All right. I don't
- 8:20Speaker 1: know about you, but there might be just a little
- 8:24Speaker 1: bit of the winter blues going on around at my house.
- 8:26Speaker 1: The good news is I've got the cure, and I'm
- 8:29Speaker 1: going to get to that right after. This home in
- 8:31Speaker 1: Progress is brought to you by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin Moore.
- 8:34Speaker 1: You know, people often think of paint as just another
- 8:37Speaker 1: line item on the project's supply list. But here's the thing.
- 8:40Speaker 1: Everything you do, every hour of prep, every stroke of
- 8:43Speaker 1: the brush, all comes down to the quality of the paint.
- 8:46Speaker 1: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the best,
- 8:49Speaker 1: you know what. Every single winter this happens. You know,
- 8:52Speaker 1: things start to get a little dicey in our homes,
- 8:55Speaker 1: you know. I mean, especially after this past week or so,
- 8:58Speaker 1: with all of those school closures, the business closures, the cold,
- 9:03Speaker 1: you name it. With all of that, the things got
- 9:05Speaker 1: a little bit dicey at my home and I'm assuming
- 9:08Speaker 1: maybe at yours too, you know, because I received multiple
- 9:12Speaker 1: texts from friends, and the idea in those texts was
- 9:16Speaker 1: always the same. Basically, they were saying, I need to
- 9:19Speaker 1: see somebody other than the people in this house with
- 9:22Speaker 1: me right now. And I get it. I mean, I
- 9:25Speaker 1: love everybody in my home dearly, I dearly, dearly love them,
- 9:29Speaker 1: and yet face to face for days on end gets
- 9:31Speaker 1: to be a little much, if you know what I'm saying.
- 9:34Speaker 1: You know, the dogs too, my goodness, the dogs even
- 9:37Speaker 1: more so than the people. The dogs. I love them,
- 9:41Speaker 1: I do, but I could do with them having a
- 9:43Speaker 1: dog vacation, you know, away from me. You know, right
- 9:46Speaker 1: now it's just us twenty four to seven, and they're
- 9:49Speaker 1: in your face all day long, making sounds looking like
- 9:54Speaker 1: they need something, like like you've let them down in
- 9:58Speaker 1: some regard. I don't know what their deal is. I
- 10:01Speaker 1: think they're feeling the winter blues as well. They're certainly
- 10:05Speaker 1: playing into my experience of the winter blues. They're helping
- 10:09Speaker 1: make sure that I really feel it this year. You know,
- 10:11Speaker 1: in the spring, summer, fall, pretty much the rest of
- 10:14Speaker 1: the year. We can go outside comfortably, you know, we
- 10:17Speaker 1: can go walking, we can find some distraction. You know,
- 10:20Speaker 1: I can go outside right now. I get that because
- 10:24Speaker 1: there are some people shouting at the radio right now
- 10:26Speaker 1: that you just go outside looser. You can do that
- 10:29Speaker 1: right now. I know I can, but it's cold out,
- 10:32Speaker 1: you know, it's not really tons of fun out there.
- 10:35Speaker 1: And when I'm outside, really, you know, all I really
- 10:38Speaker 1: want to do is go back inside until I get
- 10:40Speaker 1: inside and see everyone and the dogs, you know, sitting
- 10:43Speaker 1: there waiting for me. Then I want to go outside again.
- 10:46Speaker 1: You know. Maybe I'm stir crazy, maybe I'm just crazy crazy.
- 10:49Speaker 1: I don't know. But it's winter in Michigan, and everybody,
- 10:52Speaker 1: or at least lots of us, end up feeling a
- 10:55Speaker 1: little off as the season deepens. So what is it?
- 10:59Speaker 1: What's going on? Well, the common answer is that it's sad,
- 11:02Speaker 1: you know, seasonal effective disorder, the winter blues. But you know,
- 11:06Speaker 1: what really doesn't get talked about enough, at least not
- 11:09Speaker 1: that I've read or run into. Is anything beyond saying
- 11:13Speaker 1: it's the winter blues or that it's sad and a
- 11:16Speaker 1: seasonal effective disorder. That's what we land on, and that's
- 11:19Speaker 1: what we usually name it, and that's usually all we
- 11:22Speaker 1: really say about it. But think about it for a minute.
- 11:26Speaker 1: Why do you think you feel, or that we feel,
- 11:29Speaker 1: the winter blues? You know, because it's cold out? Is
- 11:32Speaker 1: that it is it because it's dark and dreary? Is
- 11:34Speaker 1: it because we can't get outside as much. You know,
- 11:37Speaker 1: those are all possibilities, and I'm sure they play into it,
- 11:41Speaker 1: but I really think there's something else that runs a
- 11:44Speaker 1: little bit deeper. And I've done a ton of research
- 11:47Speaker 1: on this, you know, I've found the best experts that
- 11:50Speaker 1: the internet can offer us. And here are some of
- 11:53Speaker 1: the things that I found that are outside the normal
- 11:56Speaker 1: conversation about what winter brings about. And also better than
- 12:00Speaker 1: just having that info, I've got a plan for how
- 12:03Speaker 1: to fix it, all right, So let's dig into some
- 12:05Speaker 1: things that winter brings about, and then let's talk about
- 12:07Speaker 1: the cure. And let's start here. When winter hits, a
- 12:11Speaker 1: lot of us stop doing things that leave a mark,
- 12:13Speaker 1: things that matter. We go from moving and building and
- 12:17Speaker 1: fixing and changing things to just kind of sitting around,
- 12:21Speaker 1: scrolling and thinking. And let me say something that probably
- 12:24Speaker 1: doesn't need to be said, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Thinking,
- 12:28Speaker 1: especially when you're already feeling a little bit low, that
- 12:31Speaker 1: can turn into a loop. And it's not a good loop.
- 12:35Speaker 1: It's more like a spiral, you know, a downward spiral.
- 12:40Speaker 1: So that's what winter can bring about, that lack of
- 12:45Speaker 1: motion or action and the cure. The fix to that
- 12:48Speaker 1: is to do something with our hands. The fix is
- 12:50Speaker 1: to get busy and tackle a project. And that sounds crazy,
- 12:54Speaker 1: but psychologicalists, those psychologists, the psychologists is how you know,
- 13:04Speaker 1: the lay person might say that, you know, in the
- 13:06Speaker 1: industry we have you know, we like to use extra
- 13:10Speaker 1: syllables makes us sound smarter, But I'm going to just
- 13:13Speaker 1: use the syllables that the normal, everyday working person's going
- 13:16Speaker 1: to use. Psychologists confirm that when you're standing, painting, fixing,
- 13:21Speaker 1: organizing things, your brain can't spiral the same way. You know,
- 13:25Speaker 1: you're engaged with the world outside your head, and it's
- 13:28Speaker 1: a good thing. And of course, because they're psychologists or psychololologists,
- 13:34Speaker 1: they've got a name for it. They call it embodied cognition.
- 13:38Speaker 1: Embodied cognition. Instantly, that makes this sound smarter, And it's
- 13:41Speaker 1: the idea that your body leads your mind more than
- 13:45Speaker 1: you think it does. You know, your hands are busy,
- 13:47Speaker 1: your eyes are focused, and so your brain quiets down
- 13:50Speaker 1: a little bit. It's all about being occupied. It's about
- 13:53Speaker 1: distracting yourself, but in a positive, goal oriented manner. Okay,
- 13:57Speaker 1: another thing winter does is it shrinks our world's right.
- 14:01Speaker 1: I've mentioned it already, but we're not outside as much,
- 14:04Speaker 1: we're not traveling, we're not changing environments as often. And
- 14:08Speaker 1: that's not just something that makes us feel bored. It
- 14:11Speaker 1: actually messes with our sense of control. You know, when
- 14:14Speaker 1: we feel trapped by anything, really, whether schedules, finances, health, whatever.
- 14:20Speaker 1: When we feel trapped, our sense of agency or control
- 14:23Speaker 1: over a situation drops dramatically. You know, we just feel
- 14:27Speaker 1: like we don't have the ability to change this situation.
- 14:31Speaker 1: Life is starting to feel like something that happens to
- 14:34Speaker 1: us rather than something that we're you know, participating in.
- 14:38Speaker 1: So that's going on right now in a lot of
- 14:40Speaker 1: our minds. The cure again. Home projects they're the silver bullet.
- 14:44Speaker 1: And I'm not just hammering this point for fun. It's real.
- 14:48Speaker 1: With a home project, you decide something right, you change something.
- 14:52Speaker 1: You see the result of those changes of that work,
- 14:56Speaker 1: and that matters more psychologically than we realize. You know,
- 14:58Speaker 1: a painted wall, a fi store, a reorganized space, it's
- 15:02Speaker 1: all proof that our actions still matter even if the
- 15:05Speaker 1: rest of life feels uncertain. This one thing responded to
- 15:09Speaker 1: what I did to it, and I know that sounds
- 15:12Speaker 1: really silly. On the surface. It really does. I get that,
- 15:15Speaker 1: and I don't think many of us think of it
- 15:17Speaker 1: in those terms. You know, I don't look at the
- 15:19Speaker 1: organized workbench and think, Wow, my actions still matter. You know,
- 15:24Speaker 1: I'm important still. I don't verbalize that or even clearly
- 15:30Speaker 1: think that out, but the reality of the organized workbench
- 15:34Speaker 1: really does help me feel a little more control, a
- 15:37Speaker 1: little more agency, even if I don't put words to
- 15:40Speaker 1: the feelings, if that makes sense. So, home projects they're great,
- 15:44Speaker 1: anything from painting a living room to reorganizing a closet.
- 15:48Speaker 1: They're really really good for this time of year. But
- 15:51Speaker 1: and this is a really big butt. When somebody's already
- 15:55Speaker 1: feeling low, the very worst thing they can do is
- 15:57Speaker 1: bite off something massive. So big renovations they've got a
- 16:01Speaker 1: tendency to stall or crawl, you know, installed or crawling
- 16:04Speaker 1: projects become guilt. Guilt feeds avoidance, and soon you're back
- 16:08Speaker 1: on the couch, eating pringles out of the tube and
- 16:11Speaker 1: feeling worse than you had in the beginning. Small projects
- 16:14Speaker 1: they're the answer. Small projects with big impact are sheer gold.
- 16:19Speaker 1: You know this time of year, So paint the inside
- 16:21Speaker 1: of an entry door and unexpected color. Really simple project
- 16:25Speaker 1: with the potential for a huge payoff, you know, huge
- 16:27Speaker 1: impact on your entry or your foyer or whatever. And
- 16:30Speaker 1: we talk about it all the time on the show.
- 16:32Speaker 1: But an unexpected color on the inside of, you know,
- 16:35Speaker 1: specifically an entry door, really can spark your creativity in
- 16:39Speaker 1: that space. It might be all you need to do
- 16:42Speaker 1: in that area, you know, just put a new color
- 16:43Speaker 1: on the door and the whole space looks great, but
- 16:45Speaker 1: it also might give you ideas for new ways to
- 16:48Speaker 1: fill that area. It gets you moving and it's a
- 16:50Speaker 1: simple project. Paint your bathroom another small project. Usually you
- 16:54Speaker 1: don't need much paint for this, but the impact, again
- 16:56Speaker 1: is huge. The bathroom is typically one of those recharged
- 17:00Speaker 1: in our homes. It's a self care area. You know,
- 17:02Speaker 1: not only are you doing some physical work and tackling
- 17:05Speaker 1: a project, which is good you know this time of year,
- 17:08Speaker 1: but you're also creating a space that's going to feel
- 17:10Speaker 1: even more rewarding to spend time in, so double benefit
- 17:14Speaker 1: with that. You could freshen a bedroom up, you could
- 17:16Speaker 1: organize a closet, you could fix a squeaky door that's
- 17:18Speaker 1: annoying you, you know. Back in August I talked about
- 17:21Speaker 1: some squeaky floor fixes well. Two nights ago, for some reason,
- 17:25Speaker 1: I had a dream about the annoying squeaky floor in
- 17:27Speaker 1: my hallway. I'm not kidding, and I was down in
- 17:31Speaker 1: the basement getting ready to fix it in my dream.
- 17:34Speaker 1: You know, maybe this is a sign that this is
- 17:37Speaker 1: bothering me more than I realize. But if you've got
- 17:39Speaker 1: some annoying squeaky floors, check out episode four nineteen and
- 17:42Speaker 1: fix them, or fix anything that's been annoying you. Just
- 17:45Speaker 1: make sure it's small and accomplishable. Psychologically, completion is going
- 17:49Speaker 1: to matter more than the scope of the project. All right,
- 17:51Speaker 1: So that sounds good, but there's a common complaint or
- 17:54Speaker 1: struggle or issue that comes up all the time. I
- 17:56Speaker 1: can't spend a lot of time on it, but it's
- 17:58Speaker 1: this I don't feel like it. You know, it all
- 18:01Speaker 1: sounds good, but at the end of the day, I
- 18:03Speaker 1: don't feel like it. I don't have the energy. Well,
- 18:05Speaker 1: I was kind of surprised to learn this, But there's
- 18:07Speaker 1: something again, psychologists. Psychologists will tell us they figured out
- 18:12Speaker 1: a long time ago, and it runs totally backward to
- 18:15Speaker 1: how most of us think. But you don't wait until
- 18:17Speaker 1: you feel better to do something. You do something and
- 18:20Speaker 1: then you start to feel better. It's called behavioral activation,
- 18:24Speaker 1: and it's a fancy term for a really basic idea.
- 18:27Speaker 1: Activation comes before motivation. So if you don't feel like something,
- 18:32Speaker 1: just waiting around for that day when you're going to
- 18:35Speaker 1: feel like doing it, it's probably never going to come.
- 18:37Speaker 1: But if you start doing something, you're going to find
- 18:40Speaker 1: you don't mind this project at all. So really you
- 18:43Speaker 1: kind of got to just jump in and get going.
- 18:46Speaker 1: So find a small project. I think it's the answer
- 18:49Speaker 1: for kind of what we're feeling right now. And it
- 18:51Speaker 1: doesn't have to be paint related. But if it is
- 18:54Speaker 1: paint related, you're going to want to know a few
- 18:56Speaker 1: things about painting inside in the winter, and we're going
- 18:59Speaker 1: to get to all of that right after. This home
- 19:02Speaker 1: in progress is brought to you by Repcolite Paints and
- 19:04Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore. Think about it. You spend hours prepping, sanding, taping,
- 19:08Speaker 1: and then finally painting. Don't throw all that work away
- 19:11Speaker 1: with an inferior product. The paint isn't just another supply.
- 19:14Speaker 1: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the best.
- 19:17Speaker 1: We're deep into winter right now, and I don't know
- 19:20Speaker 1: about you, but I am starting to hear the same
- 19:22Speaker 1: thing from a lot of people. I just need to
- 19:24Speaker 1: do something, and maybe after last segment, you're one of
- 19:28Speaker 1: those people. You know, maybe I've convinced you. If that's
- 19:31Speaker 1: the case, a great project to do is a little
- 19:34Speaker 1: interior painting. Now. I know it doesn't need to be
- 19:37Speaker 1: paint but painting is a pretty good place to start now.
- 19:40Speaker 1: For me, I've always been a big advocate of interior
- 19:44Speaker 1: painting in the winter, but I've been surprised lately to
- 19:47Speaker 1: run into some people, a number of them, who think
- 19:50Speaker 1: that painting inside in the winter is kind of a
- 19:53Speaker 1: no go, you know, that it's not something that you
- 19:55Speaker 1: should be doing. That's very strange to me, but that's
- 19:57Speaker 1: what they're thinking. You know, it's not the right time
- 20:00Speaker 1: for an interior project. Well, the big concerns that they
- 20:03Speaker 1: usually bring up are the fact that it's cold outside.
- 20:06Speaker 1: You know, even though we're painting inside, they're worried about
- 20:08Speaker 1: it being cold outside. And that's not completely crazy, so
- 20:11Speaker 1: don't blow that off. There are some thoughts with that,
- 20:15Speaker 1: but it's not not a major thought. Another concern that
- 20:18Speaker 1: they've got is that they can't open windows to ventilate
- 20:21Speaker 1: as they work, you know, at least we can't open
- 20:24Speaker 1: them as freely as we can during the rest of
- 20:26Speaker 1: the year. Well, those concerns, you know, like I was
- 20:28Speaker 1: kind of saying, they're really not that big of a deal.
- 20:31Speaker 1: And we're going to get to why that's sew in
- 20:32Speaker 1: a little bit. But first, here are a few reasons
- 20:35Speaker 1: why I think winter is surprisingly good for interior projects.
- 20:39Speaker 1: First off, you're already inside, right It's not like the
- 20:43Speaker 1: great outdoors is calling your name right now. I know,
- 20:47Speaker 1: being stuck on an indoor project when birds are singing
- 20:50Speaker 1: and the weather's beautiful, that's tough. It's tough to stay focused.
- 20:54Speaker 1: It's tough to not want to go outside. But right now,
- 20:56Speaker 1: the only birds out there are vultures, and they're circling
- 21:01Speaker 1: over your house, just waiting for you to go outside.
- 21:05Speaker 1: If they're even outside, they might even be inside. They're
- 21:09Speaker 1: probably struggling with the winter blues too. So being involved
- 21:12Speaker 1: in an indoor project right now, that's really no big deal.
- 21:16Speaker 1: You know, it's a perfect time for it. Second, professional availability.
- 21:20Speaker 1: You know, if you're not interested in doing the work yourself,
- 21:22Speaker 1: you know, it's maybe a little better for you if
- 21:25Speaker 1: you do it yourself. But you know, maybe you know
- 21:27Speaker 1: you and you know that's that's not the way to
- 21:30Speaker 1: get good results. If you are interested in hiring it,
- 21:33Speaker 1: don just seeing the changes happen in your home will
- 21:36Speaker 1: be really good and really helpful. If you're thinking along
- 21:39Speaker 1: those lines. It's sometimes easier to hire a painting contractor
- 21:43Speaker 1: in the winter. You know, a number of our contractors
- 21:45Speaker 1: find that customers just aren't scheduling as heavily during these months,
- 21:49Speaker 1: So it's possible to get on the schedule and get
- 21:51Speaker 1: the work done faster. Right now, you know it's a possibility.
- 21:54Speaker 1: A third reason winter painting or winter projects are great.
- 21:57Speaker 1: As I've already mentioned, tackling a project is good for
- 22:01Speaker 1: our brains and our psychees. This time of year, it's
- 22:03Speaker 1: good to be busy, all right. So let's say you're
- 22:05Speaker 1: thinking about jumping in you're gonna tackle a project. There
- 22:08Speaker 1: are a few things that you need to know to
- 22:10Speaker 1: make sure that you get the best results. The first
- 22:12Speaker 1: one I want to talk about is humidity. You know,
- 22:15Speaker 1: the humidity level in the air affects the dry time
- 22:17Speaker 1: of paint. And if you do a little research about
- 22:19Speaker 1: painting in the winter, you're gonna find all kinds of
- 22:23Speaker 1: sights most of them saying that winter's great because the
- 22:26Speaker 1: paint dries so fast. But what they don't say is
- 22:30Speaker 1: what I want to get to right here. That's not
- 22:32Speaker 1: always great. You know, paint doesn't just need to dry,
- 22:35Speaker 1: It needs time to level, you know, self level, flow
- 22:38Speaker 1: out and look good. You know, that's the short window
- 22:41Speaker 1: what I'm talking about there is that window of time
- 22:43Speaker 1: where the brushstrokes kind of soften, you know, they kind
- 22:46Speaker 1: of fade out, roller textures relax, and everything smooths out
- 22:50Speaker 1: and you get a nice smooth finish. When indoor humidity
- 22:52Speaker 1: drops below forty percent, which happens all the time in winter,
- 22:56Speaker 1: you know, with forced air heat, that paint can dry
- 22:59Speaker 1: before it has time to level, and that's when you
- 23:02Speaker 1: are going to see brush marks that don't disappear, roller
- 23:05Speaker 1: stipple that states visible lap marks where sections overlap, and
- 23:08Speaker 1: things like that. Now there are solutions here. You know,
- 23:11Speaker 1: check the room humidity with a hygrometer before you start painting,
- 23:15Speaker 1: and bring in a humidifier if necessary, to get the
- 23:17Speaker 1: room to an acceptable range. You know, right around forty
- 23:20Speaker 1: to fifty percent humidity that's ideal. You know, that's going
- 23:23Speaker 1: to be where paint levels properly has enough open time
- 23:26Speaker 1: to avoid lapmarks and so on. And at that range,
- 23:29Speaker 1: drying is still going to be predictable and curing is
- 23:31Speaker 1: going to happen evenly. So keep that in mind when
- 23:34Speaker 1: you're painting indoors in the winter. You know, the humidity
- 23:37Speaker 1: all right. Another thing to talk about is room temperature.
- 23:40Speaker 1: You know, you might have your thermostat set to, you
- 23:42Speaker 1: know whatever, sixty eight degrees perfect right, Well, most paint
- 23:46Speaker 1: manufacturers are going to say the ideal range to paint
- 23:48Speaker 1: is roughly sixty to seventy degrees. So it sounds great,
- 23:52Speaker 1: you've got it set perfectly, you know, and we wouldn't
- 23:55Speaker 1: think the outdoor temperature is going to matter. But here's
- 23:57Speaker 1: where it does matter a little bit. Your walls might
- 24:00Speaker 1: not be sixty eight degrees. You know, the exterior walls
- 24:03Speaker 1: in winter can be much colder than the room air.
- 24:06Speaker 1: You know, feel it, go touch the wall that that's
- 24:09Speaker 1: you know, the other side of it's the exterior of
- 24:11Speaker 1: your home. Interior walls are going to feel you know,
- 24:14Speaker 1: the side of those walls is going to feel warmer
- 24:17Speaker 1: than that wall that you know is an exterior wall.
- 24:21Speaker 1: Does that make sense? Do you know what I'm saying,
- 24:23Speaker 1: I'm talking about the inside of the house. I'm not
- 24:24Speaker 1: saying go outside and touch the wall. Wow, surprise, that's colder.
- 24:28Speaker 1: I mean the walls that border the exterior of your home.
- 24:31Speaker 1: The inside of those walls will be noticeably colder. The
- 24:35Speaker 1: trim will be colder, the window trim, window sills, all
- 24:38Speaker 1: of that's going to be colder. And it can be
- 24:41Speaker 1: noticeably colder, sometimes ten, fifteen, even twenty degrees colder. And
- 24:45Speaker 1: when paint hits a cold surface like that, it doesn't
- 24:47Speaker 1: behave the same way. You know, adhesion can suffer, flow
- 24:51Speaker 1: can suffer, long term durability can suffer. This is where
- 24:55Speaker 1: a simple tool becomes incredibly useful. And infrared thermometer you know,
- 24:59Speaker 1: they're inexpense crazy easy to use, a ton of fun,
- 25:02Speaker 1: and they'll tell you the actual surface temperature of that
- 25:05Speaker 1: wall before you start painting. And if those walls happen
- 25:08Speaker 1: to be below sixty degrees, turn the heat up for
- 25:10Speaker 1: a day before painting and then keep it constant for
- 25:13Speaker 1: at least forty eight hours after. That's going to help
- 25:15Speaker 1: a lot. Now, another consideration with winter painting is dealing
- 25:19Speaker 1: with forced air heat. You know, keep your temperature steady
- 25:22Speaker 1: mid sixties, low seventies while you're painting, and then for
- 25:25Speaker 1: a couple of days afterwards. That's all, you know, part
- 25:27Speaker 1: of the equation. But you also need to remember that
- 25:30Speaker 1: hot air rises, so ceilings they're going to dry way
- 25:33Speaker 1: faster than your walls typically, you know, and that's why
- 25:36Speaker 1: ceiling paint choice is really going to matter. You know,
- 25:38Speaker 1: you can get a flat paint and put a flat
- 25:41Speaker 1: paint up there and think you're doing well because ceilings,
- 25:43Speaker 1: generally speaking, we want them to be flat so that
- 25:46Speaker 1: we don't see roller marks and things like that as easily.
- 25:49Speaker 1: But there are differences between flat finishes and dead flat finishes.
- 25:53Speaker 1: You know, a true dead flat ceiling paint is going
- 25:56Speaker 1: to do a much better job than even a regular
- 25:58Speaker 1: flat when it comes to hiding texture, roller marks, brush marks,
- 26:02Speaker 1: touch ups, all of that. So if things are potentially
- 26:05Speaker 1: going to drive faster up there, which they are at
- 26:08Speaker 1: this time of year, I would definitely make sure you're
- 26:10Speaker 1: using the right ceiling paint, a dead flat. Coronado's Final Touch.
- 26:15Speaker 1: Coronado is owned by Benjamin Moore, so it's a Benjamin
- 26:17Speaker 1: Moore product, but Final Touch is a great option in
- 26:21Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore's Premium water Borne ceiling Paint dead flat, really
- 26:25Speaker 1: great product to work with, especially if you're going to
- 26:28Speaker 1: add colorant, you know, add color to the ceiling. You definitely,
- 26:32Speaker 1: if that's the case, want to be working with Benjamin
- 26:34Speaker 1: Moore's Premium water Borne ceiling paint because even with that
- 26:37Speaker 1: colorant in there, it's going to remain dead flat. So
- 26:40Speaker 1: use the right product, all right. So what about ventilation.
- 26:43Speaker 1: You know, that was a big concern that some people
- 26:45Speaker 1: online bring up. They worry that they can't ventilate in
- 26:47Speaker 1: the winter and that the fumes are going to be concerning. Well,
- 26:51Speaker 1: the real scoop here is that most modern interior paints
- 26:54Speaker 1: are going to be low voc and soe you usually
- 26:57Speaker 1: don't need to even crack the windows open. It's not
- 27:00Speaker 1: really going to be a big deal. Just allow air
- 27:02Speaker 1: to circulate between rooms and you should be good. If
- 27:05Speaker 1: you've got people in your home who absolutely can't handle
- 27:09Speaker 1: the smell of latex paint, you know, some people just
- 27:11Speaker 1: don't like it at all. If you've got people who
- 27:14Speaker 1: really struggle with it, by all means, crack some windows open.
- 27:18Speaker 1: You just need to make sure that you maintain temperatures
- 27:21Speaker 1: in that space well above fifty degrees you know you're
- 27:23Speaker 1: shooting for again, you know sixty to seventy degrees would
- 27:26Speaker 1: be great, So you may have to adjust the heating
- 27:28Speaker 1: a little bit and heat the outdoors for a little while. Right.
- 27:32Speaker 1: Winter painting works beautifully if you respect the environment. So
- 27:36Speaker 1: to some everything up that I just covered. Watch the
- 27:39Speaker 1: humidity levels. You know in winter, homes are going to
- 27:41Speaker 1: sit close to twenty to thirty percent. Sometimes with the humidity,
- 27:45Speaker 1: that's when problems can show up. So if you can
- 27:48Speaker 1: run a humidifier in the room to bring the humidity
- 27:50Speaker 1: into the forty to fifty percent range. Also when possible,
- 27:53Speaker 1: work in smaller sections, work to keep a wet edge.
- 27:56Speaker 1: And then if you've got to take a break, cover
- 27:58Speaker 1: your paint tray with a damp rag so the paint
- 28:00Speaker 1: doesn't skin over. And don't roll back into the paint
- 28:04Speaker 1: that's been on the wall for a few minutes. That's
- 28:06Speaker 1: another big no no this time of year, really any
- 28:08Speaker 1: time of year, especially now as it's drying a little faster.
- 28:12Speaker 1: Don't roll back into it after it's been on the
- 28:14Speaker 1: wall for a few minutes. Just apply it smoothly and evenly.
- 28:17Speaker 1: The best you can, and keep moving, rolling back into
- 28:20Speaker 1: drying paint to try to make it cover a little
- 28:22Speaker 1: better in this spot or that spot is usually at
- 28:24Speaker 1: this point of the year, gonna leave rollers, stipple and
- 28:27Speaker 1: marks on the wall that you'll see later. Wind you're painting,
- 28:29Speaker 1: we can help you get there. If you've got any questions,
- 28:32Speaker 1: stop out at any Repcolite store. Tell us what you're
- 28:34Speaker 1: working on. We'll get you moving all right. Boxes and
- 28:37Speaker 1: boxes and boxes in my basement of photographs. I have
- 28:41Speaker 1: no idea how to get on top of organizing them. Well,
- 28:45Speaker 1: actually I had no idea. Now I know the steps
- 28:48Speaker 1: I need to take, and I'm going to share them
- 28:49Speaker 1: with you. Right after this, you're listening to Home in Progress,
- 28:54Speaker 1: where the projects are real, the mistakes. They're educational, sometimes painful,
- 28:59Speaker 1: most educational, and the only thing more stubborn than that
- 29:04Speaker 1: old wallpaper on your bathroom wall is your determination to
- 29:07Speaker 1: get it fixed. Probably sponsored by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin
- 29:11Speaker 1: Moore Paint with a purpose, people who care and everything
- 29:14Speaker 1: you need to get the job done right. Talking about projects,
- 29:17Speaker 1: good projects to tackle in the winter months, projects that
- 29:20Speaker 1: will maybe help you pull yourself out of the winter blues.
- 29:23Speaker 1: Talking about things like that. Here's one that's really going
- 29:26Speaker 1: to pay off. Organizing your memories. You know, we've all
- 29:30Speaker 1: got a shelf or two or three or more of
- 29:32Speaker 1: them in our basements, or if you're fancy, you know,
- 29:36Speaker 1: maybe you're one of those fancy people. You've got those
- 29:38Speaker 1: boxes in your lower level. Mine's in my basement. You know,
- 29:43Speaker 1: boxes and boxes, stacked up, bins, drawers, all of them
- 29:47Speaker 1: stuffed with all kinds of memories, old photos, the kids,
- 29:51Speaker 1: macaroni art from elementary school. You know, a mouse calling
- 29:57Speaker 1: or not a calling card, but an invite for the mice.
- 30:00Speaker 1: I've got those things. I've got birthday cards coming out
- 30:03Speaker 1: of my ears. I've got drawings and sketches, homework assignments,
- 30:08Speaker 1: homework assignments that we saved. Remember how much they hated
- 30:11Speaker 1: doing this homework assignment. Oh good memories, right, Remember all
- 30:14Speaker 1: the tears at the table. I don't know why we
- 30:16Speaker 1: save homework assignments, but we do. We've got VHS tapes
- 30:20Speaker 1: of all these things that seem like crazy important events
- 30:24Speaker 1: at the time, and more boxes and boxes and boxes.
- 30:28Speaker 1: And I'm assuming your basement looks similar, or your lower
- 30:31Speaker 1: level looks similar. You've got that stuff, and chances are
- 30:35Speaker 1: most of it just sits there, you know, sits there,
- 30:38Speaker 1: taking up space and at least in my case, creating guilt.
- 30:42Speaker 1: Because we love these things, right, you know, they're memories,
- 30:45Speaker 1: they're important, but they're also overwhelming. So today I want
- 30:49Speaker 1: to talk about what to actually do with all of it,
- 30:52Speaker 1: how to organize it, how to decide what to keep,
- 30:54Speaker 1: how to deal with the emotional weight of letting things
- 30:58Speaker 1: go without losing your mind. Because experts, you know, organizers, archivists, psychologists,
- 31:05Speaker 1: that's a little throwback joke to last segment. Psychologists, they've
- 31:10Speaker 1: all figured out some really smart approaches to this, and
- 31:13Speaker 1: I think they can help us. So let's start today
- 31:16Speaker 1: with photographs and next time we'll look at some of
- 31:19Speaker 1: the art and stuff like that. Because it's too big
- 31:22Speaker 1: to break or to cram into this one segment. So photographs,
- 31:25Speaker 1: because that's usually the biggest category people are dealing with,
- 31:29Speaker 1: you know, the biggest struggle. Now, if you've got boxes
- 31:32Speaker 1: in boxes of printed photos, and I'm guessing a lot
- 31:34Speaker 1: of you do. The experts all say the same thing,
- 31:36Speaker 1: don't try to tackle everything at once. This is not
- 31:39Speaker 1: a weekend project, you know, it's just not when professional
- 31:43Speaker 1: organizer said, most people have their photos scattered across catch
- 31:47Speaker 1: this five to seven different places, all right, the basement,
- 31:51Speaker 1: the garage, under beds, in closets, maybe even at somebody
- 31:55Speaker 1: else's house, your parents' house, whatever. We've got our stuff,
- 32:00Speaker 1: photos scattered everywhere. So step one really is just gathering
- 32:04Speaker 1: everything into one place. And that might take you a
- 32:07Speaker 1: day or two or longer, you know, who knows. But
- 32:11Speaker 1: that's the first step. Get it all collected, get it
- 32:13Speaker 1: all organized in one place. Then once you've got it
- 32:17Speaker 1: all in a central location, and this part's really important,
- 32:20Speaker 1: you need to sort it before you do anything else.
- 32:23Speaker 1: Don't start scanning things, don't start buying photo albums, don't
- 32:27Speaker 1: even start tossing anything out. Just sort through all these pictures,
- 32:31Speaker 1: you know, keep it broad at first, family vacations, kids, hollies,
- 32:34Speaker 1: whatever makes sense to you. And once you've got it sorted,
- 32:38Speaker 1: now things are going to get real. And now is
- 32:41Speaker 1: when the hard part's going to really kick in. You're
- 32:43Speaker 1: going to have to let some of this go. And
- 32:45Speaker 1: the tendency we all feel is that we can't get
- 32:48Speaker 1: rid of any of these things. At least that's the
- 32:51Speaker 1: tendency I feel all the time, I feel like tossing
- 32:54Speaker 1: them out is something I'm going to regret later, and
- 32:57Speaker 1: I'm always worried about that future regret, you know, I
- 33:00Speaker 1: worry that I'm not honoring the memories or the people
- 33:03Speaker 1: in the photos. It sounds corny and ridiculous, but I'm
- 33:06Speaker 1: sure a number of you understand exactly what I'm saying.
- 33:09Speaker 1: It's a real struggle of it. There are steps to
- 33:12Speaker 1: help us get through it. We mentioned some of them
- 33:14Speaker 1: last week when we talked about paying down all of
- 33:16Speaker 1: our digital photos. But the same things apply here. You know,
- 33:20Speaker 1: after you've sorted them, you start going through them, and
- 33:23Speaker 1: if you've got blurry photos, get rid of them. You know,
- 33:25Speaker 1: unless they capture some one of a kind moment that,
- 33:28Speaker 1: even if it's blurry, is still valuable. You know, that's possible.
- 33:31Speaker 1: But blurry photos generally, you can get rid of those.
- 33:34Speaker 1: If you've got duplicates or near duplicates, keep one, two
- 33:37Speaker 1: or three, ditch the rest. It's a really easy easy step. There.
- 33:41Speaker 1: Photos of people that you don't recognize, hey, unless there's
- 33:45Speaker 1: a real reason to keep them. You know, maybe it's
- 33:47Speaker 1: an amazing portrait of somebody, and even though you have
- 33:50Speaker 1: no idea who it is. Maybe that's really cool, you know,
- 33:53Speaker 1: photography at its best, Maybe then keep it. But if
- 33:56Speaker 1: you don't know who it is, probably let it go.
- 33:59Speaker 1: Maybe you need to find out from other people in
- 34:00Speaker 1: your family if they know who it is, you might
- 34:02Speaker 1: need to do that. But generally speak and you can
- 34:05Speaker 1: let those things go. Photos of landscapes. I've got so
- 34:08Speaker 1: many photos of what I thought was a beautiful image,
- 34:12Speaker 1: a beautiful you know, landscape, a beautiful scenery all around me.
- 34:16Speaker 1: If I don't have people in those, I never look
- 34:18Speaker 1: at those again. And really they never look as good
- 34:21Speaker 1: as what I was looking at in real life anyway.
- 34:24Speaker 1: It's always kind of just pultry compared to what I
- 34:26Speaker 1: was seeing. So probably you can let a lot of
- 34:29Speaker 1: those go. Think of it this way. You're not getting
- 34:31Speaker 1: rid of priceless memories. You're curating a collection so that
- 34:34Speaker 1: the memories that you keep, you know, can really shine
- 34:37Speaker 1: and can be enjoyed. One organizer, I thought this was great.
- 34:41Speaker 1: She said it perfectly. If everything is special, then nothing special, okay.
- 34:46Speaker 1: If everything is kept, you're really not going to enjoy
- 34:49Speaker 1: any of it. The ones that you keep, the ones
- 34:51Speaker 1: that you curate, you're going to really be enjoying them
- 34:54Speaker 1: a lot more. So think of it that way. That
- 34:56Speaker 1: might help you get through the pile. Now, another thing
- 34:59Speaker 1: that can help you if you're still struggling is to
- 35:01Speaker 1: convince yourself. Tell yourself that you're creating a greatest Hits collection.
- 35:05Speaker 1: You know, ask yourself, if I can only keep one
- 35:07Speaker 1: hundred photos from this year, or this decade, or whatever
- 35:11Speaker 1: it is, which ones would make the cut? Which ones
- 35:14Speaker 1: would make the Greatest Hits collection from twenty twenty five
- 35:18Speaker 1: or or whatever. You know, that question really has the
- 35:21Speaker 1: potential to change everything, because now you're not asking can
- 35:24Speaker 1: I throw this one away? You're asking does this deserve
- 35:28Speaker 1: to be in the top one hundred. It's a much
- 35:30Speaker 1: easier decision, the experts would tell us. Finally, here's something
- 35:34Speaker 1: that gives a lot of people piece. You take photos
- 35:37Speaker 1: of photos before you let them go. You know, if
- 35:40Speaker 1: there's a photo that you don't love enough to keep,
- 35:42Speaker 1: but letting it go feels wrong, take a quick picture
- 35:45Speaker 1: of it with your phone. Then you've got a digital
- 35:47Speaker 1: record if you ever need to reference it, but it's
- 35:49Speaker 1: not taking up physical space. If you want to get
- 35:52Speaker 1: really fancy about it, get a flatbed scanner and scan
- 35:55Speaker 1: these photos in before discarding them. Is that necessary for
- 35:58Speaker 1: most photos or most people, you know? Creating these digital
- 36:02Speaker 1: versions of the picture before we discard them. Now, it's
- 36:05Speaker 1: probably not necessary for most people, but for some people
- 36:08Speaker 1: that's the bridge they need to be able to let
- 36:12Speaker 1: these things go. It's what I needed to be able
- 36:15Speaker 1: to let some of these things go. So I throw
- 36:16Speaker 1: it out there for you to think about. Once you've
- 36:19Speaker 1: sorted and discarded the photos that didn't make the cut,
- 36:22Speaker 1: Now you want to make sure you spend your time
- 36:24Speaker 1: storing those physical prints that you're going to keep, storing
- 36:27Speaker 1: them properly in archival quality boxes or albums, not shoe boxes,
- 36:32Speaker 1: not old cardboard boxes with sticky notes. Another thing you
- 36:35Speaker 1: could do is digitize them. Just as we mentioned with
- 36:38Speaker 1: the photos that you couldn't justify keeping but didn't want
- 36:40Speaker 1: to toss out, digitize them. A digital backup, if you
- 36:44Speaker 1: can pull it off, is brilliant. You know, physical photos
- 36:46Speaker 1: are going to fade, they deteriorate, if there's a flood
- 36:50Speaker 1: or a fire or anything like that. They can be
- 36:52Speaker 1: damaged or lost. Digital copies are safer, they're easier to share,
- 36:56Speaker 1: and they can be backed up. In more than one place.
- 36:58Speaker 1: So we mentioned earlier, you can scale and some of
- 37:00Speaker 1: these to yourself, even with your phone or if you've
- 37:03Speaker 1: got a large collection. There are services out there, I'm
- 37:06Speaker 1: sure you know of them, services that will digitize photos
- 37:09Speaker 1: and even those old VHS tapes that we've got. They'll
- 37:12Speaker 1: digitize all of that stuff and get it back to us.
- 37:15Speaker 1: Some of those places are faster than others, some take longer.
- 37:18Speaker 1: The prices will vary, but the big takeaway is this,
- 37:21Speaker 1: you don't have to do it all yourself. Just look
- 37:24Speaker 1: online and you can find some places and some sources
- 37:27Speaker 1: and get some info and find out if that's going
- 37:30Speaker 1: to help you or not. Once you've got those photos digitized,
- 37:32Speaker 1: a lot of people choose to turn the best ones
- 37:34Speaker 1: into photo books. I'm sure you know all about that,
- 37:37Speaker 1: but really easy to do. It's not that expensive really
- 37:40Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of things, and it just gives
- 37:43Speaker 1: you something handy that can be kept on a shelf
- 37:46Speaker 1: that you can reference and enjoy these pictures. Another thing
- 37:49Speaker 1: you can do is throw them on hard drives, throw
- 37:51Speaker 1: them on USB sticks or things like that. Most of
- 37:54Speaker 1: our TVs have a USB port and we can run
- 37:56Speaker 1: slide shows on the TVs. Remember the old slide shows
- 38:00Speaker 1: with the actual slides and the projector, and you know
- 38:03Speaker 1: they've got a lot of you know a lot of
- 38:06Speaker 1: people have a lot of bad memories about slide shows
- 38:10Speaker 1: that they had to sit through. Well, you can do
- 38:12Speaker 1: that to your kids now and show them all these
- 38:15Speaker 1: old pictures and they'll probably like it better than you
- 38:17Speaker 1: think they will. But having them digitized gives you a
- 38:20Speaker 1: lot of different options. You could put them on a mug,
- 38:23Speaker 1: for heaven's sake, and that's a win in my book. Anyway,
- 38:27Speaker 1: next week we're going to dig into how to do
- 38:29Speaker 1: the same thing with kids' artwork, their baby clothes and
- 38:32Speaker 1: all of the other physical items, physical memories that take
- 38:35Speaker 1: up space in our homes. But for now, that's going
- 38:37Speaker 1: to do it. That's all the time we've got. If
- 38:39Speaker 1: you want to catch this one again, you can find
- 38:41Speaker 1: it online at Repcolelight dot com. Just click the on
- 38:43Speaker 1: the radio tab right on the homepage, or you can
- 38:46Speaker 1: just search for Home in Progress wherever you get your podcasts.
- 38:49Speaker 1: Check it out, consider subscribing. You know, we've got over
- 38:52Speaker 1: four hundred and forty episodes out there, and they are
- 38:55Speaker 1: filled to the brim. With the most brilliant of thoughts
- 38:59Speaker 1: on any many different topics. So check out Home and
- 39:02Speaker 1: Progress as a podcast. It's probably going to change your life,
- 39:06Speaker 1: you know, not to oversell it, but you'll probably never
- 39:09Speaker 1: be the same after subscribing. All right, enjoy today, have
- 39:13Speaker 1: a great weekend everybody, and I'll see you next week
- 39:15Speaker 1: For Home in Progress, I'm Dan Hansen. Thanks for listening.