Episode 378 – 10 Freebies That Are Sabotaging Your Home

Ingrid: Freebies feel like little wins at a time, whether it's a two for one offer at the supermarket, a free lipstick sample at the makeup counter, a tote bag full of goodies from a conference or a free version of an app that invites you to upgrade every hour. This seemingly free stuff sneaks into our homes and our minds takes up valuable space and time and creates more clutter than joy.

In this episode, we're looking at 10 common freebies that might be sabotaging your home without you even realizing it. From goodie bags to free giveaway sites, we'll explore why they're so tempting, the impact they have on your space and your mind. And what to do instead.

Ingrid: Hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid.

Lesley: And I am Lesley. Now, if you are here for the very first time today, or you've been listening in for ages, we want to say a huge thank you we have a little favour to ask.

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Listeners, you are in for 10 Things podcast, and you know that Lesley and I love a 10 Things podcast and this creating this list was well far too easy to be honest. We were thinking about it and it was like, wow, we get free stuff. All the time, don't we, Lesley?

Lesley: We do. I'm actually interested now that I'm start now, we've hit record to see what our tally is. Because I don't know

Ingrid: Yes.

Lesley: sit on the freebie front, Ingrid, so I

Ingrid: Oh

Lesley: we've prepped these. I know which 10 we're saying, but I've not thought about whether or not I fall foul of them because we're human beings, right?

Like everyone else,

Ingrid: yeah.

Lesley: stuff. But I think that it's important to keep that free stuff in context and to understand whether it's a good thing or whether it's sabotaging the things that you want to do in your home. And that's what today's all about Now. We are gonna do something different here today we're gonna talk about five things that are kind of more physical things, actual stuff, and then we're gonna talk about some digital things as well, because just because it's digital doesn't mean it's sapping.

It's not sapping energy, time, and your mindset. So let's get cracking. Let's do the physical stuff first, Ingrid, and then we can move on to the digital free stuff.

Ingrid: I can't wait to see how we end up with our tally. Lesley, I'm excited about this. So let's get cracking with number one, two for one deals. So you go into the shop and it's buy one, get one free, and I mean, nothing is as good as seeing a free sign. And then you think, oh, well, well yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Let me buy one and get one free. But does it really help? Because you might be buying more than you need, of course. You know, WI think the thing is, it's not a problem when you think, okay, I've got one free. That's good. Possibly if you use the stuff, but are you maybe then tempted to go, let me buy three so I can get three free, and then you can't fit it anywhere in your house.

Ooh. It's very tempting.

Lesley: It's very tempting. I think it's the way it's positioned, isn't it, really Ingrid and it is all about that intention. I suppose we can, we, if it's consumables and quite often these things are, are, are consumable and it is something that we know that we need, then it's probably okay. it's understanding that. It is not free, right? It's

Ingrid: Yeah, yeah,

Lesley: Yeah. It's

Ingrid: yeah.

Lesley: let's be honest here, not free, right? They've

Ingrid: No,

Lesley: their pricing and also that, that buy one get one free offer, or buy two, get a free one or whatever. It'll come back

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: so we don't need to go crazy, but what we see sometimes if it's your favorite thing. If you love tuna and you see all of a sudden it's on a buy one get one free, you're tempted to then overbuy, which adds to clutter in your home, which has a negative effect. So it's not to say that you're never gonna consume it, although we have seen many, many instances where people. Lose track of what they've got and stuff then goes to waste because you've not seen it.

Ingrid: Yep.

Lesley: of it. So it depends how in control you are of your home. I re doesn't it really Ingrid. And so,

Ingrid: Mm.

Lesley: need a level of honesty with yourself, honestly, about pricing, whether something is actually free and whether, whether or not you are just buying it because really, really important.

So that's more supermarket purchases, right?

Ingrid: Yeah, I would say so. So, oh, do I do? Well, my husband thankfully does most of the grocery shopping. But I would say he would do a buy one, get one free if it's something that we would actually eat. But he wouldn't suddenly randomly start buying other stuff. But I think also because he's very good with his grocery shopping, apart from the Middle Island, Lidl, that's dangerous, dangerous place.

But overall, I think he's very good. So I think this is in control. I would not see this as like, Ooh, this is something we need to really work on here. But yeah, I can definitely understand. How about you, Lesley?

Lesley: Yeah, well we, I mean, I suppose the point is not that you ever buy a buy one get one free. 'cause you went through life without buying a buy one get one free. You'd be a bit of a fool really. 'cause budget would

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: that's an offer, isn't it? And so we want to

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: So yes, I would. Succumb to a buy one, get one free for things that I need.

And so it's not outta control, so therefore I'm gonna go zero. I'm not taking number

Ingrid: Yeah,

Lesley: I think it's

Ingrid: yeah,

Lesley: in control, basically.

Ingrid: yeah, yeah.

Lesley: So number two might be a little bit more tricky.

So this is those things on makeup counters, cosmetics, you know, toiletries, all those kind of things where have, you know, you go to Marks and Spencer, they've got the summer beauty box where you've got like for 30 pounds, you've got like 200 pounds worth of value or the, or advent calendars. All of those kind of things that are coming as well. great value, aren't they? But they're typically things that you wouldn't buy. They're good value, they're good quality, things that you wouldn't necessarily have bought had it not been. It's not free, is it as such? Sometimes it's free. It can be perceived as free. sometimes you've gotta spend a certain amount and then it comes in. But that it is, it is a lack of intention, I think. And definitely when you spend, you know, you go somewhere like Clinic or Clarin's or those kind of counters and it's like spend 70 pounds and you get this free beauty bag, right?

Ingrid: Yes, yes, absolutely. Like it's boots, you know, I mean, I go to Boots for a lot of my stuff and you're like, oh, let me get, like, I need a. Maybe a powder and a mascara. And then you think, oh, and it's like, oh, if you spend 25 pounds, you're going to get these little free, like little makeup bag. And they always make the makeup bag like super cute with like these lovely little flowers on and you think, oh, that looks nice, and oh, it's free.

So you take it then home and you open it up and you're like, oh, but there's like a blue mascara that I would never use, or a color of lipstick that drains your face, or you know, all these, and you're like, oh. And now you're stuck with a super cute back that you already have 12 from.

Lesley: I know, I think the, you know what I, if I'm being honest, I would say the bigger problem for me is the bags than the actual makeup

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: them. So typically use the makeup or a pass it on or somebody else, or one of our friends or, so there's always an outlet for those things. But those bags, I mean, they're. They're ridiculous, aren't they? The amount of bags you've got. So the bags are a problem.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: on number two, I am gonna go, yes, I would fall foul of that.

Ingrid: I think I would've fall foul in the past a lot more, but I think now I'm like. I'm like going to the makeup counter. You know what, what's the free gift? No, thanks. I just, I just, I'm like more absolutely no than yes. So I, I've become much, much better because you just start to recognize all of these things.

So I, oh, I,

Lesley: I, I would, I would agree

Ingrid: I'm, I'm f

Lesley: so it's not, I'm not always definitely better. Definitely thoughtful. Definitely mindful, but do I of it sometimes? Yes, absolutely.

Ingrid: Mm mm Yeah, I, I would go halfs. I'll go halfs with you, Lesley, but

Lesley: gonna go, oh, we're gonna go halfs here. Half each. I think I'm probably

Ingrid: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lesley: I'll go,

Ingrid: Okay.

Lesley: I'm gonna go one. I'm gonna give you a

Ingrid: Okay.

Lesley: be nice today. I'm gonna

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: of the doubt and say that you're better than me, so you can have half.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: right.

Ingrid: Yeah, right. Number three of our 10, freebies that are sabotaging you in your home is event goodie bags. So you go to a conference or you've got a meeting from like work or a sales thing that you have to go to, and they give you stuff, whether it's pens or key rings, water bottles.

notepads, the bag itself, that can be really nice. You know, you can even go to like, maybe, I don't know, the London Excel to go to a thing that you do, and they give you stuff, and the, the stands give you bits. Well, it doesn't even have to be a conference anywhere like that. The plane, when you're traveling, they give you a bag with like a toothbrush and a thingy and all of those things.

You get your stuff everywhere, but what do you do with it all? Oh dear.

Lesley: yeah, you're right. And there are some that are another. So I would say in general, I'm very mindful 'cause I know it's a load of tat, most of the time. But the problem is nowadays. It's not a load of tat a lot of the time. So they give you like little portable charges. They're clever, right? You talk about water bottles, you know you're

Ingrid: Hmm.

Lesley: water bottles, you're getting little handy portable charges. You're getting pens that never, you know, pens are always kind of useful, aren't they? So a lot of the stuff is decent stuff. You know, we were recently at the Clean and Home Show. We got loads of free stuff there, and it is good stuff because they are trying to give you free samples to encourage you to buy, so it's not a load of tap.

And so again.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: It's a tough one. I think you need to look at the event that you're at and the stuff that you're getting. Really, don't you?

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: good

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: some of it is there designed for you to, to buy more. But have I then got stuff that I got at last year's clean and tidy home show that I've never used. Yes.

Ingrid: Mm. So what are you gonna do with that then, Lesley? I am, I am. Oh my gosh.

Lesley: I'm gonna put it on Olio.

Ingrid: Mm, yeah. I did. I did. So when we, yeah. you know, and that's the thing, you know, I've. I was like, okay, so much great stuff. But it was so much. So I went, okay, I'm never gonna use that. Never gonna use that. But there was some stuff that was excellent that I'm actually now considering. Wow. That was, but they had really fantastic stuff as well.

So I think it really depends on where you go and what it's at. But I think the trick in, in this case is as soon as you come back from the conference or the exhibition or whatever it is. Don't just put the bag in a cupboard somewhere or in a shelf somewhere or fling it in a corner and go, well, hold on a minute.

I'm gonna look at this stuff and immediately decide what can go to the chair to show what am I going to use? What can go on Olio and what is absolute like falling apart because it was crushed in the bag somewhere and needs to be thrown away and kind of take action there and then, but yeah, I, I, I definitely take this one.

Lesley: Yeah. So yeah, and I, I think the point is that the stuff that you get given to you is really useful and handy to somebody, but it's about understanding whether or not that's something, are you going to change your behaviors? So I think last year it was like Febreze or something. I don't use fabric, for people who do use Febreze, it's a brilliant.

Freebie because you're gonna

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: don't then have to buy it. And so it's, you're right, it's about taking it home and going, right, here's the stuff that I've got. Got some great stuff. 70% of it's fab that I'm gonna use, but the other 30% I'm gonna give it to somebody who will use it because it's good quality

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: save someone some money. So it's about, it's about what you do with it afterwards, isn't it? 'cause you can't start picking and

Ingrid: Yeah,

Lesley: you've gotta take the full bag. So yes, event, goody bags, conferences, all of that kind of stuff. Come home, make decisions, let it go.

Ingrid: So are you gonna take this one for our tally then, Lesley?

Lesley: Yes. I am gonna take it. So I'm gonna go.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: at two and you are at 1.5, right?

Ingrid: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Let's do number four then. Oh, a very well intended, not always suitable or wanted, but hand me downs from other people. You know, they kind of show up at your house and they go, oh, here, I've been doing some decluttering. Here's a bag. And, with some stuff that I think would be super helpful for you or the kids, or whatever, whatever.

And boom, before you know it, there's a black bin back in your hallway, which, oh, do you like my sound effect?

Lesley: Very nice,

Ingrid: And

Lesley: extra sound

Ingrid: And,

Lesley: Ingrid today.

Ingrid: and then you're like, okay, now I have to go through it all. And then you find out that, oh, but I know it's like it is free stuff, but it's now in my house full of, you know, what am I gonna do with it all?

Lesley: Yeah, exactly. me downs. I can't remember the last time I got a hand me down. I think it's like when you've got little kids, really mostly, isn't it?

Ingrid: Yeah,

Lesley: yeah. No, I don't have any hand me downs. I'm not taking that one. I don't have them. I don't

Ingrid: no. Me neither anymore. When the kids were little it was different. But now, no. You know, I mean even, you know,

Lesley: now that I'm thinking,

Ingrid: Ooh.

Lesley: now that I'm thinking, I say I don't give them, so Luke and Ellie have just moved into a house and there's a lot of things that I'm letting go from my house thinking that it might be useful for their house, but I'm very. Do you want it? Do you not want it?

If you don't, it goes, so I don't,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: here you go with the commitment of keeping it and going through it, it's like, I've got something that I think might be useful to you. I mean, I come into things with

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: head on me, so I know that people don't

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: of nonsense, you know, they don't need, and so I'm mindful of that all the time, so I will only really suggest it if I think that it's a possibility.

And I think 50% of the time

Ingrid: Mm.

Lesley: and 50% they haven't. So,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: yeah.

Ingrid: Yeah, very good. No, I'm not taking this one either. I, I, I've got no hand be downs coming in, but yeah, when the kids were little, definitely either people gave me stuff or I would pass on stuff to somebody else and everything Now. 19% of of all stuff goes to the charity shop goes on, or that kind of thing.

So yes, I'm glad to have kind of eradicated hand me downs because it's just, you know, I mean sometimes they're super good stuff, but other times it's a bit like, oh, you know, thanks, but you have to be strong. But if you are the person who's known to take hand-me-downs. You get known as the person who takes hand-me-downs.

So you then have to be strong yourself and go, I really appreciate it, but we're good here. I this, you know, thank you for thinking of of above me this time, but this will be the, you know, it's fine. I'm good from now on. So maybe you can, you can make somebody else happy with your, with your items, but we're good here in this house.

So start, you know, it's kind of, it's a bit rude to go. I don't want your bag of stuff, you know, take it back and put it in your car, but maybe, you know, kind of put the wording around it. I really appreciate you always thinking of me, but you know, we're starting to get through this here and the kids want to, you know, choose their own clothing more and maybe that kind of things to kind of give the signal and if they then still keep bringing stuff at one point you have to go, listen, I'm sorry.

Stop bringing stuff to my house. But that's kind of, I think after several tries of trying to tell them to stop giving you stuff. But I think, you know, it's really true. People are known to accept a lot of stuff. Keep getting stuff. So important one,

Lesley: Absolutely. So I'm, yeah. So we're going, no, we're going no on hand me downs. So what, what's the tally

Ingrid: no.

Lesley: AM I two? You're one and a half.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yep. Still, still. So let's do number five then, Lesley. Hotel freebies, hotel freebies, the toiletries, the slippers, the little lovely, cute little soaps and things and ooh, tempting.

Lesley: I'm gonna go No, it's like really nice. Stuff. So if it's really nice and if I'm there and it's like a little white, you know, if you go into a really nice hotel and get really nice stuff. the thing is, you see nowadays it's mostly even in a really nice hotel, they have those big, bigger refillable bottles, which is great for the environment. And so the opportunity to take little freebies away, but I'm not taking soaps. You know, shower caps and, and I know, 'cause I remember us talking about that. Look at at. Ingrid shaking her head and she absolutely told us on this podcast not very long ago, that she takes sewing kits away with her. Do you remember?

Ingrid: I can't

Lesley: why

Ingrid: remember.

Lesley: can't

Ingrid: I can't, I can't remember the last time I took a sewing kit. I might have. I, I think I, I did take him in the past, but now there it, maybe I found it when I was tidying up a sewing kit or something, but no, I don't take 'em anymore. No, don't take 'em anymore. I'm glad they've got, I'm glad they've got the big bottles.

I'm glad they've got the big bottles now, so you don't get tempted.

Lesley: Maybe you don't take the sewing kits anymore because I'd berated you so badly for taking the sewing kits. Maybe you

Ingrid: That's

Lesley: in.

Ingrid: it. Yeah.

Lesley: Yeah, I think it's I, but I think the problem is as well, even though we learn, so as we're going through a decluttering journey, we learn, don't we, Ingrid, we've done all, we've had all these habits in the past. We then go through a very mindful process of trying to have less in our home. we learn along the way and we see that

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: of things will sabotage our journey. And so we make adjustments along the way, but that doesn't, that means that we've still potentially got loads of stuff from before. Now a lot of that stuff, if we haven't used it, will be out of day.

It won't be that nice. So you need to rid of that stuff, but then you need to bring in a use first container. You know, we spoke about that many times before. I use first container is super helpful 'cause if you have got this stuff, there's no point in just throwing it away and not using it. You know, we may as well go through the process of trying to use it up and trying to save ourselves a little bit of money.

But the only way you're going to do that. Is by saying, do you know what I'm gonna compromise. I'm gonna use some of these hotel toiletries, even though actually I want to buy the, the shampoo and condition that I bought from the supermarket that I would choose last week. You need to compromise. If you wanna go through that process and choose stuff that's further down your pecking order of choice really, and that, and then, but then you can consume it, you can use it, and it's super handy.

and it feels good to get rid of stuff, right.

Ingrid: Yeah, for sure, for sure. I think, I haven't think about it. I don't think I, I need to take this one. I can't remember. Maybe, maybe the, oh, slippers. The one slippers is always handy. Toiletries, no more shower caps, no more.

Lesley: in like cardboard, like slippers that you get? They're like designed for you to just bob around in your hotel room for five minutes. I mean, they're a bit comfort,

Ingrid: I know. I know.

Lesley: great support in them or anything, have they? They're just

Ingrid: yeah, yeah,

Lesley: or go to the spa,

Ingrid: yeah.

Lesley: They're not gonna be like

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: slippers. Especially when you get into our age. I, my plantar fasciitis and hotel slippers are not gonna go well together. So, but you are saying that you would take slippers and people, ba people take them and go, oh, they would be really handy for guests,

Ingrid: Yeah, yeah. But I normally wear the slippers in hotel room and then I'm like, well, they're gonna throw 'em away. I might as well, because like last year I didn't have my new slippers bought yet, so I kind of had a nice kind of, because finding slippers is not like easy sometimes if you like a certain one.

So I kind of had to kind of get a bit of a carry. I thought, oh, I got those little slippers from the hotel that I took last. Ages ago, and while it was getting colder, but I, my mind was not yet on, I need to buy slippers for winter. So yeah, it came in handy, but

Lesley: Do you buy a new pair of slippers every.

Ingrid: no, not, not every year. Not every year.

Lesley: did you

Ingrid: But that happens.

And.

Lesley: between autumn and

Ingrid: Yeah, because

Lesley: into my

Ingrid: be

Lesley: yet.

Ingrid: because I'd thrown them away at the end of the winter and I wasn't mentally in my head. It was still summer and suddenly it was freezing. You know how it goes here? The one moment it's like, Ooh, nice weather, great. It's summer, and the next thing you know it's chucking down with rain.

You wonder where your winter coat is?

Lesley: and do you not wear slippers in summer?

Ingrid: No. No.

Lesley: you wear in summer then?

Ingrid: Flip flops.

Lesley: Oh, you wear flip flops in the house in summer?

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: think I, I'm not sure you are coming clean on this about what you're doing. I think you're changing your slippers up every year. So you, you know, and then you're walking

Ingrid: Not every year.

Lesley: slip not every year or just some years, but you do, you do

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: checkout.

I, I'm, I'm giving you number five. You are having number five 'cause of the slipper situation.

Ingrid: Okay, this is not going well. People, we are already like, we're only five in, and we're like, okay. Okay, so two and a half for me then. So how, how, where are you then?

Lesley: I think I'm on two as well,

Ingrid: I.

Lesley: I would only take the hotel freebies if it was really good quality, but I would immediately use it. So I don't think that's, I think that's fine. I think that's an intentional freebie.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: do you go somewhere? There's

Ingrid: So maybe I should give you a, maybe I should give you a half for it then. So we're both on two and a half.

Lesley: I am just not sure about the slippers situation. Ingrid, and even though you are

Ingrid: Hmm.

Lesley: the sewing kits, it was less than like 10 episodes ago that you were talking about taking the sewing kit, and you seem to have eradicated that from your mind.

Ingrid: Eradicated.

Lesley: help. Yeah, and it's like, I've never said that I've taken a sewing kit.

I'm like, I think you have. I think you absolutely have. Okay, well we'll go even on this one then. Two and a half each.

Ingrid: Well go Eve. I, I, we need to go for a break, listeners, because I'm, yeah, we got five more to Let's go for break. We're equal two and a half each. And, yeah, see you soon.

Ingrid: Right. Listeners, welcome back. This took a lot longer than we thought. I thought we're gonna breeze through these first five freebies, but yeah, it was, we got into a tally two and a half each. We're on now, so let's then continue, because we had, of course, the physical freebies now. Oh, oh, let's go to digital freebies, Lesley, where to start?

Lesley: Yeah, and so this is a kind of a bit of a hybrid digital struck physical. Actually, it comes from a digital forum like Frugal free cycle, Olio. But we get free stuff right now. We love Olio, as you know, for example. And it's brilliant for if you wanna get free food, it's the great place. If you're an organized person.

Olio is fantastic, you also need to be an intentional person, so you need to know what you're doing. When you get that free food from Olio, you need to know that you need that thing that you see on offer, not just getting stuff just because it's free. And so

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: important too. Understand your own mindset.

You don't just want to grab all of this stuff just because it's free. You have to have a plan with that

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: away some incredible stuff on Olio all the time. People are absolutely delighted. It's great stuff, but it's stuff that won't quite work at a charity shop. That's what I use Olio for.

And what did I give away last week? I gave away like a, a, a sort of metal. I did my laundry room upstairs and I had a metal thing and it had a little bit of, it was perfect on the outside, but on the inside I had a little bit of corrosion on the inside of the thing, you know, 'cause it was some kind of chemical in the, somebody's happy as Larry, but I'll put on the oleo thing.

It's got a little bit of corrosion inside, still looks great on the outside. Decide whether or not you want it. put a close a hanging rail with the, you know, just a rail that I took out of my laundry room with the, the, the, no, with the pro, what do you call 'em? Like the, the things that, the hangers, the whole things that hold it up. you give away that

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: shop, it's just not gonna work, is it? But it's

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: Some for somebody go, oh, I could do with that. And I cut it down size and everything's intact. So it's brilliant. So Olio is

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: unusual things like that.

Ingrid: Yeah. I agree. I only put stuff on Olio. I I never go to the, free giveaway stuff because I think it's, it's, it's, it's a minefield. But of course, if you are struggling with budget, if you need things, it's like, perfect. But I'm like, I'm blessed with, you know, having stuff that I, I, I can.

Lesley: I could

Ingrid: buy it.

So I love to donate an oleo. That's what I use it for. But be careful because once you get into these free giveaway apps, also, you know, Facebook marketplace, lots of stuff for free. Very tempted to go, oh, that looks good. I, I want to try and get that. But if you don't need it in your house, you get more and more and more and more and more stuff.

So, thankfully I don't have to take this one, but it can be a minefield for people. So we just wanted to mention definitely. So number six.

Lesley: just on that, on Oleo Facebook marketplace, I dunno about ing, but I find is like a kinder place than Facebook marketplace.

Ingrid: Hmm.

Lesley: Facebook marketplace was quite often, it's quite a sort of. Cutthroat environment of like, is this available? You know, be, I think 'cause a lot of it's like kind of AI generated, isn't it, with the, the little kind of, you know, you can ask this and it always looks very abrupt to me and then it annoys me and then I don't wanna give it to them 'cause they've been rude.

Do you know what I mean? So,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: because Olio is is very much based on reviews and things like that, and you have to review the kind of person who picks it up and they can review you. I just feel like it's a much kinder place. So I don't

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. I love it.

Lesley: Yes.

Ingrid: Love it.

Lesley: am, I am a giveaway on Olio and not a taker of things from Olio.

So no

Ingrid: Yeah,

Lesley: on that one.

Ingrid: no. number seven. Oh, free delivery if you buy oh, for a certain value. They do this everywhere. I mean, on, on when you buy clothes, when you buy shoes, when you're on Amazon, when you're alone. If you buy a little bit more, you can get it delivered for free. Otherwise boom, 5 95 or you know, or a 7 95 and you're like, oh, that's a lot of money.

And the top is only 15 pounds. So if I get another top for 15 pounds, I have now got free delivery. But you've actually paid 15 pound more. That is sneaky, isn't it? So sneaky.

Lesley: it's sneaky from a marketing perspective. And, and the other, the other one, and there are, there are other benefits that come along with things like Amazon Prime and stuff, but you know, you pay, what is it, like, 90 pounds a year or something for Amazon Prime, but it kind of almost encourages a little bit more to. Buy

Ingrid: Yep.

Lesley: Whereas if you

Ingrid: Yep.

Lesley: the kind of, you had to be paying that three, four pounds delivery each time, it might make you think a little bit more. So you

Ingrid: Yep.

Lesley: need to, none of these things that we're talking about, we're not being prescriptive on anything You do you, but it's all about understanding the way that free.

It makes your mind change really, really important. So once we paid our 90 pound or whatever, it's for Amazon Prime and we've got free delivery, it's so easy to just go, oh, I need that. It's only myself, you know where I go,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: a two things on the same day. If they were both. Four pound 95 delivery.

There's no way that you would do that. 'cause you would think that was completely frivolous. And so it changes your mindset completely. And so, you know, I told you, didn't I, that I can't remember the figures, Ingrid, but I went to this, recycling site in Manchester. Long sense to look at how everything fits together and the amount of Amazon box.

So they said the paper recycling in Greater Manchester, it was something like, it was like between 60 and 70% of that is like. Amazon boxes. I mean, that is like crazy, isn't it? What kind of

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: Whatever it is. It was like ridiculous. I can't remember what it was. It might have been, it was 50 90, but what it, whatever it was, it's like, wow, that is.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: statistic because

Ingrid: Yep,

Lesley: existing on Amazon deliveries, basically. But it's really about how having something that that is perceived to be free, whether it's, oh, well, you know, you've spent 25 pounds ly, I, I definitely do this.

Ingrid: yep.

Lesley: five pounds away from delivery and I can, I can buy something for 10 pound that's gonna

Ingrid: Yep.

Lesley: only cost me five pound.

'cause the free delivery, I'll probably do it.

Ingrid: Yeah, I'm, I'm, without a shit of a doubt, I'm taking this as well.

Lesley: Yeah.

Ingrid: and, and you forget about the Amazon Prime subscription because it's like once a year. It is a lot, but it's not a lot, you know what I mean? You forget about it. So in your head, Amazon delivery is free, which is of course is, but you know, when I don't, if I buy something online, it's mainly kind of clothes, unless it's like on Amazon stuff.

But then you do think, oh, if I just get one more thing. Whether it's Mark, Spencer or Next, or Boots, or, oh gosh, I'm definitely taking this one. There's no shadow of a doubt because you do it. You do it

Lesley: you do

Ingrid: because then you see how much delivery really costs. So you're like, okay,

Lesley: I, and so the, the, again, the point is, are we then by doing that, getting things that we don't need? We went in with

Ingrid: yeah.

Lesley: to spend to buy a top that cost us 40 pounds, and they said to us. Oh, it's 45 pounds gonna give you free delivery. So we bought something. You can't find something for a five, can you?

So therefore you spend another 15 pounds on something that you went in without the intention of buying that you've done because of clever marketing and free stuff that

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: behind. So we're definitely

Ingrid: yeah,

Lesley: of that. Ingrid and I as well, we are

Ingrid: yeah.

Lesley: that one, but it's something to be

Ingrid: Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.

Lesley: eight, Ingrid is, is. It's an interesting one actually, because this is something that in the Declutter Hub we do and we offer as well. So this is digital freebie, free stuff, free downloads, free PDFs, free webinars. For us it's free challenges you're gonna think about is whether it's actually free if you're never using it.

So the point is, you know, 'cause it can kind of really clutter up. There was something that we did, recently. there was like a, it was free for 24 hours, there was like a hundred classes. So is that actually good for you? Is it gonna make you feel obligated to watch them? Is it gonna stress you out because you've only got 24 hours to watch something and then it goes, you know, we we're kind of kinder here, aren't we?

And so we give you plenty of time to watch things. And of course people like, cause you know there's a, and we wanna be honest with you, so when we do our free challenges. We give you, what do we normally do? So if it's a five day challenge, we do a week two, you get two weeks, we get

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: weeks to be able to watch our free stuff. the reason why we cap it at two weeks, because if it's open-ended. You don't take action. So there's a balance

Ingrid: Mm.

Lesley: in a, in a kind of procrastination world, which we live in really with decluttering and Organising your home, if we cap it at two weeks, which is probably, towards the kind or longer end of things, I would say in the

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: but it still allows you.

And so, but people still panic and then, you know, and then actually you run out of time. You want it so badly. Then you end up paying for things like an all access pass, which is great, but you've gotta make your choices about it. So if something is free, is it actually free or, and are you gonna do the free thing in that time?

Really, really important to know. You know,

Ingrid: Yeah, yeah,

Lesley: our all access pass, which is really good cost anyway, and it's nice to have that material. But we would love for the people that buy the All Access Pass who have already. Gone through most of the material to realize that it's useful to them.

And so you

Ingrid: yeah,

Lesley: buy it and then go, oh, right, well do that because you probably

Ingrid: yeah, yeah.

Lesley: the reality.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: just look at whether something that is free in

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: It's actually costing you time and energy in your mind and making you feel

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: not having done it.

Ingrid: And you know, once you sign up for something free, you get an email, you get another email, you get another email, you're in an email, list it. Then, you know. So think about it. Is it really something that you're going to do something with, or is it just another thing cluttering up your inbox and your computer?

that's a good one, Lesley. I think I am, I am tempted sometimes, especially with work things that I see something interesting or I see something and I'm like, oh, that sounds fascinating. I wanna learn more about that anyway. And then I download it and later you think, I don't even know what it is. Why is this in my drive?

Why is this in my inbox? So I, I, I'm gonna take this one, but I have become better. I think I was a lot more tempted in the past, but now I think, you know. If you, you know, some of the free stuff is really good, but if you're not gonna use it, what's the point? But I'm gonna take this one because I have to, we have to be honest to our listeners as well that we fall foul to, to these things.

So, yeah. Yeah. Taking this one,

Lesley: definitely. And I think along the same lines, number nine is free trials as well.

Ingrid: I.

Lesley: on free trials. We're talking about things like apps. You know, whenever you get a free app, there will always be an opportunity 'cause the people need to make money. Do you know what I mean? The bottom line is, you know, an app, a membership, a all of these things. Ultimately they are a business that needs to get some kind of revenue to keep the wheels turning. So people can't give

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: for nothing. And so there has to be something provides revenue. And we're being honest, and that's the same for us. We give an awful lot of stuff away for free. But from time to time we have to charge for things to keep the wheels turning, to keep the revenue, to allow us to provide free stuff for those people that will use the free stuff or paid stuff is, you know, so it is really important, but you've gotta. at what that is, you know? So for example. We are very, upfront about things. So we, we offer, we don't offer free trial, do it, but we offer $1 trial, which is, it's not free, but it more or less is. And so, but we make sure that within that 14 day period, you get two or. You get told at the beginning, you get told on day 10, day 11, day 12, that the trial is coming to an end and you need to then, cancel unless you want to pay. And so, so what? But what a lot of people do is don't take action on that and then it rolls into a subscription. This is not just at the Declutter Hub. This is loads and loads of places. The nice thing that we do is tell you about it, whereas a lot of people absolutely don't tell you about it. And so, know, so we are actually, you know, in that regard because we don't want people to get things that they don't want. Absolutely not. We want people to be committed and you know, to be excited by the things that we have on offer and so, so I think it's really important to realize that actually. You're then going to roll in sometimes into a subscription, whether that be on an

Ingrid: Yep.

Lesley: a free trial, on a membership, whatever that looks like, that you might not want, that's then costing you money, costing you time, and then making you feel guilty because you've wasted

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: so it's really, really important to look at what a free inverted commas trial actually represents to you. It's really important to know that it is. Somebody that behind that trial that is gonna do the right thing, you know, morally, ethically, and tell you that that trial is coming up to an end and then allow you to do something.

So really, really important, but also to balance that out and go, hmm, if something says that it free, is it actually, do you know what I mean? And, and

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: looks like. So. the, the, the, the app, the membership, the whatever that is, has a responsibility to to, to tell you what's going on. But you also have a responsibility to understand the way that business works and that people can't give things away for free.

'cause that's not the way that life works. And so it's really important.

Ingrid: Yeah, I agree.

Lesley: Yeah.

Ingrid: I, I'm, I'm really thinking pondering if I, if I take this one, Lesley, the free trial, because I, I have signed up for some stuff, but I've also then, if I kind of go, if I sign up for something, I do look at the, how does this work and how long I, I got free and I put a date in my diary to cancel it before if I don't like it or want it.

So. I don't think I need this one, but I can completely understand that. Lots of people fall foul to this one.

Lesley: Yeah, definitely. yeah, I think it's important to, to kind of understand the way that, apps work as well and whether or not you are that person that will, you can boost your, like on Duolingo for example, that I use at the moment, it's like, oh, you can have another 15 minutes if you pay for it.

Almost. So you build up kind of credit, I suppose. And then, but there will be a a a point at which. You gotta pay. And that's, you know, a free app often has that pay component. So you need to understand your own mindset With that, just talk about our

Ingrid: Mm. Yeah.

Lesley: anybody does want to take our lovely, trial, then go for it de declutterhub.com/trial and you could trial our lovely membership.

There you go. Look at us

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: know, yeah.

Ingrid: Yeah, go for it. We would love for you to have a look around all the fantastic stuff that we have in the membership and meet you at live sessions and see you on accountability sessions and help you with all of our courses. But yeah, it's $1 or one pound, so it's not free.

Lesley: Yeah,

Ingrid: Yeah. Phew. That's good.

That's good. let's go to number. Oh, hold on, Lesley, just to check with the tally. Do you take free trials on, on your list?

Lesley: I do do

Ingrid: I.

Lesley: and free apps and stuff like that, but I would never, ever fall foul of, Not canceling in time.

Ingrid: Okey dokie. So we're each, we're each, I think now, so two and a half from before we both took the free delivery. Both took the free, digital free. So we're each four and a half, so not bad. So let's go to number 10. Then the last one, maybe a bit, you might think it's a bit weird, but bear with us here. Number 10 is scrolling on social media.

It might not cost you anything, but boy does it eat in your time and your focus and your mind and all of the marketing messages that get trickled in while you are kind of flicking through and browsing and swiping upwards or sideways or whatever. You know how it all works these days. It's not free. You think it's free, but it's not.

Before you know it. Gone. Gone.

Lesley: Yeah, it's taking up your time and your energy, isn't it more than anything else. It's not, it's not a financial cost to it. Well, there can be if you buy

Ingrid: Mm.

Lesley: that's coming up every

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: but I think it's really that.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: It takes away the opportunity to do other, the more productive things, doesn't it?

So I think that's where social

Ingrid: Mm.

Lesley: which is free, you know, ultimately Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, they are all free and they provide hours of entertainment for us, which is a good thing. But you've gotta realize at what cost is that coming, and it is typically a time and energy cost. So.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: I going to take social media, taking away my time, my focus and my energy? Like, I'm like a serial scroller line with serial scroller and I, you know, every week I'm like, no more. I did this morning actually. I was like, right, no, no time on social before I get outta my bed and that, and that's what I did this morning.

Ingrid: Oh, I am the worst person at night, Les. So I'm like at like five past 10 when we finish, like watching a series or something like, right, let's turn the telly off. Let's go to bed a bit of a normal time. And then it's like, oh, let me just grab my phone for the last, because my phone's downstairs and not in my bedroom, but downstairs in my kitchen.

And then I'm like, oh, let me scroll check. You know, the last emails, check the last socials check WhatsApp. Poof. 10 to 11 every day. I'm like, where is this? 40 minutes gone. Crazy. I'm, I have to take this one as well. I, I, yeah. Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Have to do much better.

Lesley: Yeah,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: very well. Really have we on this podcast?

Ingrid: No,

Lesley: like,

Ingrid: no, no.

Lesley: two outta 10 and today we're like

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: aren't we? So we're just,

Ingrid: Yeah. Five and a half we're each five and a half.

Lesley: Yeah. So we, we,

Ingrid: Okay. So yeah, we, we fall foul. We, you know, nobody's perfect, that's for sure. But listeners, have we given you food for thought? Are you like. Wow, I got 10 outta 10 here. I got work to do. Or maybe you are super smart and you're like, haha, I've only got three. Let us know. Let us know in the show notes. You know, go to review.

Leave us a comment, send us an email. If you're like, I am, I'm on this girls, I can beat you with the numbers. we would love to know. But if you're thinking to yourself, Ooh, I have got lots of these, maybe it's now time to kind of go, you know what, let me. Get, you know, donate those, those, make up things.

on, on Olio, I've got all of these toiletry bags, I've got too many. I'm gonna be more vigilant when it's two for one if I actually need it. yes, I'm gonna stop myself downloading every time when I see free something, I'm not gonna sign up because I already have. Things that I want to look at. You know, there's lots of things she can do.

It's not gonna be all or nothing overnight. It's gonna take time. But small, small, small, incremental steps will help you and hopefully this May has made us more aware, Lesley, even that we have to stop on scrolling on social media

Lesley: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Let's just did one day. I've done one day.

Ingrid: better than nothing. Lesley, better than nothing. You know what I mean?

Lesley: Start small. Start small. So yeah, I took this

Ingrid: Yeah,

Lesley: media out of the equation. But anyway,

Ingrid: yeah,

Lesley: I, but I've enjoyed it. I think it's really important to be reminded and to know

Ingrid: yeah. Yeah.

Lesley: physical stuff, it is also this digital stuff that's taken away. You know, it's kind of sabotaging our mind a little bit and making us do things that we wouldn't ordinarily want to do. So I think it's really, really important. So I've enjoyed it. I'm glad that we've, as professional organizers, we've literally fallen foul of our own advice. anyway, let's, let's try and do

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: time.

Ingrid.

Ingrid: Great, great. So thanks everyone. It's been an absolute pleasure. I've loved chatting about this, so good luck and we'll see you next week.