Inside Marcy's Mind
Having hosted the Aging aint for Sissie's podcast for two years, I wanted to expand what I could discuss. This podcast will touch on the fun of aging and whatever has crossed my mind! Please join me as I walk through life! #retirement #travel #fun #aginggracefully Link in my bio! Listen now!
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Inside Marcy's Mind
Tennis Balls, Toilet Paper Tubes, and Other Cleaning Hacks You Never Knew You Needed
Spring has arrived in Chicago with its wild temperature swings, and Marcy is ready to tackle a deep clean while sharing her wisdom on decluttering and housekeeping hacks. Between sips of morning coffee, she opens up about applying Mel Robbins' powerful "let them" philosophy to family disappointments—especially valuable as she navigates cancer treatment and learns to stop trying to control others' choices.
Before diving into cleaning tips, Marci alerts listeners about 23andMe's potential bankruptcy and the importance of retrieving and deleting your DNA data before it's sold to unknown entities. This thoughtful privacy warning reflects her crime-show-influenced caution about personal information, even while participating in medical research studies for cancer treatment.
The heart of the episode features a treasure trove of decluttering challenges, from the "30 bags in 30 days" method to the balanced "12-12-12" approach (finding twelve items each to trash, donate, and keep). Marci's cleaning hacks showcase her practical ingenuity—using tennis balls to erase floor scuffs, repurposing toilet paper tubes as vacuum attachments, and revealing why dryer sheets should never touch towels or cleaning rags.
With warmth and authenticity that makes listeners feel like they're chatting with a friend, Marci shares her recent car organization project and closes with a fascinating fact about the Eiffel Tower's summer expansion—paired with the gentle humor of revealing she's never visited her husband's favorite city. Whether you're looking to refresh your space or simply enjoy the company of someone navigating life's challenges with grace and humor, this episode delivers connection and practical wisdom in equal measure.
Ready to tackle your own spring cleaning? Share your favorite hacks by emailing insidemarci'smind@gmail.com or visit insidemarci'smind.com for more episodes and information.
Hello and welcome to Inside Marci's Mind. My name is Marci Backus and I am your host. Wow, what a to-do getting today's episode started. You know I record this. I do all this stuff myself and I only know what I'm doing because I figure it out. It's not like I really know what I'm doing, although I do know what I'm doing because I figure it out. It's not like I really know what I'm doing, although I do know what I'm doing. But when things go wrong and I have to troubleshoot, since I don't really know what I'm doing, it's not as easy. Anyways, it was not recording this morning and I went through all the obvious things Is the microphone plugged in, is the microphone turned on? All those things were good. I don't know. There was something weird. So I just created a new file, started again and here we are I'm recording and we're going along Well.
Speaker 1:Happy spring, welcome to spring. It's definitely spring here in Chicago because it snows one day. It's 80 degrees, the next Weirdest weather I've ever seen in my personal life, and even I've only lived here three years, but I've never seen a spring quite like this one. We have some serious up and downs. It's supposed to be 80 tomorrow. It's been 30 all week, I don't know. Crazy, crazy, crazy. I'm going to have a little sip of my coffee, but spring is here. Spring is here.
Speaker 1:Have a trip planned to California in April, going to Disneyland, then going to spend Easter at my sister's, very excited about that. My son just called and last night got his flight, so he's going to come in for the weekend and that makes me very happy. My oldest child has was supposed to be there and then the next thing I know they're not. They're doing something else. So you know I'm going to go back to the Mel Robbins. If you haven't started listening to Mel Robbins or following Mel Robbins on social media, I can't. I cannot stress enough that you should.
Speaker 1:Mel Robbins gives the most sound advice that I think I've ever heard in all of my life and she's pretty amazing. So one of Mel Robbins thing is the let them theory. So my oldest child wants to do something else and you know this whole Easter was planned around my oldest child, kyle. So you know what? Let them. That's what Mel Robbins says. Just let them. People in your life, just let them. Somebody wants to cut you off in traffic. Let them. Somebody doesn't want to be nice to you, let them. You can't change them. You can't fix them. It's out of your control. And the more time we spend on trying to control people and understand why people do what they do which is what I do with my oldest child all the time the more my life suffers. And you know what I don't want my life to suffer? I am suffering enough with this stupid chemotherapy and cancer and crap. And if Kyle wants to do something else and go somewhere else and has other plans, then let them. That's what I'm going to tell you. Just let them. So, mel Robbins, if you don't have the book and if you aren't following on social media or listening to that podcast, I recommend it highly. I think you'll really like her. If you're in my age demographic and have some of the same issues that I grew up with, that you grew up with Mel Robbins is a sound bit of advice.
Speaker 1:So what are we going to talk about today on our podcast? Well, we're going to talk about spring cleaning. Why not In spring? I got some good tips for you. I got some good decluttering tips for you. I think you'll enjoy it. Maybe some little tips and tricks you didn't think of or didn't know I love a good hack, I love a good trick, I love a good learning something, especially in the cleaning and decluttering realm. You all know I cannot stand clutter, so we're going to talk about that.
Speaker 1:But before that, um, this week has just been an ordinary week. Lots of days at the gym. Already been to the gym three days this week doing my workouts in the pool and going to go again today. I'm going to take a little time off on Saturday and not go. I don't ever go on Fridays or Sundays. I'm going to give my hip my hips giving me a little bit of an issue. It's letting me know it's not quite happy this week. So we're going to give it three days off and let it have a little bit of a respite. You know that pain that's just telling you. You know you just do a little too much and I'm going to really hurt. That's kind of where I'm at. So I think a few days off will do it some good.
Speaker 1:I hope the weather's great where you are. I'm hoping when I go to California it's sunny and warm, because my old body needs some sun and some warmth. We have sun here, just no warmth with it, and I'll take that, because I do love the sun, but I need some warmth, I need to sit outside, I need, I need vitamin D. I do take vitamin D prescribed but I still need vitamin D. So my nephew, chris, texted me the other day and I had heard that 23 and me is going out, is going bankrupt, and they have a lot of DNA people.
Speaker 1:I never did 23 and me just because of who I am and all the crime shows that I watch. This is the truth. You judge me as you will let them. This is my thing. I just did not want my DNA in a database and although I know I go to the doctors and stuff and I have blood and they're giving blood and done all kinds of things and my tissues in a bank and all that from because I am being part of a study, as a matter of fact, both things that I'm doing are a study. My pill chemotherapy is already used worldwide, but they're doing a study so that they can offer it to more people. It was offered to me because I cannot support a port, but they want to be able to offer it to everyone, and so that's what this study is. And then I signed up to be in a study for my tissue from my breast cancer so that they can bank all of this information and try to figure out commonalities, et cetera, amongst people and in the chances of eradicating it. And if I can be a part of that doggone it, I will.
Speaker 1:Now, sending my personal DNA into 23andMe never was something I wanted to do. Again, I don't want to be blamed for a crime I didn't commit. Okay, it's crazy, but it's me. Get used to it. People, you're listening to the inside Marcy's mind. What do you expect to hear to it? People, you're listening to the inside Marcy's mind. What do you expect to hear? But nonetheless, if you did do 23andMe, you need to go in and get your information, because they're going to either go bankrupt and that information is just going to be floating around in the world, or they're going to sell it to someone else and that's not the people you contracted with. So Chris sent me information and you can get your information and then delete it so that they don't have it anymore. And when they, when and if they sell your information won't go. So that's my, my big, my big pause for the day. You can go to thevergecom, thevergecom and you can get your 23andMe information. So, just so you know, your data is for sale and that's never a good thing. So my suggestion is, if you did do 23andMe and I can see all the reasons why people would do it get your information. Don't let it be sold, all right. Well, with all that nonsense that I've just talked about being said and I don't think the 23andMe is nonsense I think you should have your data. You should know where your data is anyway. Get it and keep it secure, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to take a little quick break here. I will be right back and we're going to talk about spring cleaning and decluttering, all right. So are you a spring cleaner? I'm really a fall cleaner, but I do clean both times. Tomorrow, when I clean the house, it's supposed to be a super rainy day, so I'm going to do a really deep clean. I clean all the time. I don't always deep clean, so spring is a good time for that deep clean. But before we clean, we do need to do a little bit of decluttering.
Speaker 1:How are you doing with that decluttering? For those of you of a certain age, how are you doing with getting rid of things? Not good, you say, hmm, not surprised, but I do understand it. I did find this great little thing on stuff to declutter in 10 minutes Things. Stuff to declutter in 10 minutes, things you know, things that you can do, so let me see. I had it up on my screen and of course is it gone. Yep, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, anyways, decluttering, here we go, decluttering ideas. So I'm going to give you a few ideas on decluttering. There's the 30 bags in 30 days. Fill 30 bags with clutter and remove them over 30 days. Easy to do Walk around with a trash bag, put things in it that are going to goodwill, have another trash bag. Things go into trash, get rid of it, get it done or, one day, just do trash. The first couple days start out with doing trash, getting stuff in bags that you're going to throw away, and then go back in each day and do a bag of clutter.
Speaker 1:Four box decluttering challenge. Sort items into four boxes one for trash, two to donate, three to keep and four to storage. Really, think about that. Storage. One I have all my fat clothes in storage. I just think I'm going to get fat again. I can't get rid of their beautiful clothes. Some of them have tags on them. They are in my storage unit. I think one day I will get ready. I I've kept the weight off for almost two years now. Yeah, going on a year and a half, but I don't trust myself. Personal issues, but yeah, they're out there.
Speaker 1:Here's the closet hanger challenge. I hate this one, but if it works for you, turn all your hangers backwards. First of all, that's a pain in the ass. After wearing something, hang it the usual way after three months. Keep only the ones you wear. I don't understand that. Here's how I would do it. After I wear something, I would turn the hanger around and all at the end of three months, all the hangers facing forward, get rid of like why would you go through your whole closet? That's just stupid. So that's my suggestion Paper declutter challenge.
Speaker 1:Now, this is something I've been tackling. I am really low on my paper. I've scanned things in. There is certain paper that I like to keep. But do your paper declutter challenge? Tackle piles of paperwork by sorting and shredding unnecessary documents. I do know a few of my friends that have been doing this.
Speaker 1:The surface suite Clear all flat surfaces in a room and return only essential items. Well, I've done that in my house before I when I had a big house. I don't need more. But when I had a big house once a year, I would take all my tchotchkes that you've put on shelves and you've put here and people give you gifts that you don't really want and you stick them on a shelf and all those kinds of things and I'd bring them all to my dining room table and I'd rethink where I wanted to put them. I loved that. It was one of my favorite days.
Speaker 1:The five minute purge set a timer for five minutes and declutter as quickly as possible. 10 minute daily declutter spend 10 minutes each day decluttering and tidying up a small space in the house. 12, 12 and 12 challenge find 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate and 12 items to keep. I like that one and if you do that one every couple of days, you will be surprised how fast. So 12, 12 and 12, 12 items to throw away. Donate and keep items to throw away. Donate and keep. One in, one out rule. Well, I've tried to do that one. I bring one thing and make one thing leave. If you could do that, hallelujah to you. Donation box challenge set up a donation box and add items to it daily for a month. Room by room challenge declutter one room at a time. I believe in that 30 day minimalist game. Remove one item, one, one, oh sorry. Remove one item on day one, two items on day two, three, so forth for each day for 30 days. That's kind of a fun one.
Speaker 1:Digital declutter clean out your computer files, inbox and apps. I've been doing that and that feels really good. You know what a good time to do that is on a plane, because you don't need Wi-Fi to do it. You know your stuff on your computer is on your computer, so you can get rid of it without having internet. And I've done that on my phone and I've done that on my laptop when I've been on a plane. All right, those are your big decluttering ideas. I thought they were just a fun little grouping. All right, here's some. Um Okay. Well, I had to do a quick stop there because Craig came in from his run this morning and he ran faster than usual. But then I found out he didn't go outside and run, he ran on the treadmill. So that answers that question.
Speaker 1:Here we go, okay, so we're going to talk about spring cleaning and I'm going to give you some really fun tips and tricks. So the first one is if you get scuffs on your floor, did you know that you can take a tennis ball and use it as an eraser? They'll scrub away the scuff. The best part is this little trick is safe on hardwood tile and all kinds of flooring. Always check in a space that doesn't show too much, but a tennis ball can't do much.
Speaker 1:Now this next one is genius, first of all. Second of all, I've done it and it works. So if you don't have, like that crevice tool for your vacuum on the hose, you know where you can get in, put it, and sometimes I like this one better because it's not angled like the other one. You take a toilet paper tube, put it on top of the end of the hose and squish down the front, so it's like a crevice tool. It works really, really well. And if you need a little bit of a longer one, use a paper towel tube. But I have done that. It's a tool that's narrower, and it's narrower than the crevice attachment that comes with your vacuum. So just grab a tube and start vacuuming. I like that one. I think it's a really good one. Now this is a one for your bathroom. Now I don't use hair products, spray ones, and I know my sister sprays her hair outside.
Speaker 1:But if you have sticky baseboards, this is a really great hack Not really a hack, but a way to clean. They get sticky and then dust and dirt stick to them. So the first thing you're going to do is go in and you're going to clean the baseboards with an alcohol Test a small batch, to make sure it doesn't hurt the finish of your baseboards. But this is an FYI. It's a beautiful sunrise here this morning. It's pinks and blues. Anyways, clean the baseboards with alcohol, get them nice and clean and then take a dryer sheet and run that along the baseboards. It leaves behind a waxy coating that helps repel staticky hair and the stickiness. So I hope that helps if you've got sticky, hairy baseboards.
Speaker 1:Speaking of dryer sheets, you know when you dry your towels or your cleaning rags, you should never put a dryer sheet in, exactly because what that hack said there a waxy finish. You do not want waxy on your towels. You do not want waxy on your cleaning rags. They will not work the same. So, if you have, I suggest you do a load of cleaning rags, dry them without dryer sheets, get that off. Throw some vinegar in the wash to cut off the waxy that's already there, and and start your towels out. You'll find, if you throw vinegar in with your towels and your cleaning rags, they're going to come out much better and you definitely, definitely do not need dryer sheets with them. So there's that. Give your wood cutting board a good salt scrub. Zap food pigments like beet and berry juice stains from your wooden cutting boards by sprinkling salt and rubbing with half a lemon. This is a great way. You should do this once a month or so to your cutting boards anyway, but if you haven't done it, that's a good spring cleaning.
Speaker 1:You should always clean your shower right after you use it. We do. We have all white, beautiful big tiles, thin grout, all the tiling I had done a couple years ago here when we redid completely redid the kitchen and the bathroom. I have small grout lines. I wanted as little grout as possible, but you should wipe down your shower before soap, scum and stuff do get stuck to it. I use one of those sprays that makes the water run off and then we always squeegee our. We only have one piece of glass. We don't have a door by choice. I did not want a door. No need for a door. There's just no need for a door if you really think about your shower, if it's designed right and ours isn't, and it's not a problem. It was one less piece of glass to clean, so we only have one piece of glass, but we do have a. Get yourself a good squeegee. Don't skimp on your squeegee. Get yourself a nice looking good squeegee and squeegee that shower. I even squeegee the tile, so so does Craig. Here is a really important tip Now. No, none of us get taught how to vacuum, we just start.
Speaker 1:Vacuuming. Pickles is going crazy this morning from window to window because the birds are out flying, but anyways, it's kind of funny. So many vacuums do the most sucking when they're pulled backwards, not forwards. So go forwards at a decent motion, but slow down when you're pulling your vacuum backwards. I think you're going to be amazed at how much stuff that vacuum picks up. The suction works more when it's coming towards you than going away from you. Let that sink in.
Speaker 1:People Turn packing tape into a duster. A fabric lampshades are notoriously hard to dust. You can vacuum them or blah, blah, blah. But use your packing tape, stick around and ours gets cat fur on it, it like. And then I think what I do is um, once I get all the cat fur off it, then I do use a dryer sheet and go around the fabric shade so that hair does not stick to it and that eventually wears off. And you got to do it again.
Speaker 1:Steam your oven. I do this both in my microwave and in my oven. Oven. You can rub half a lemon on the bottom, half a lemon on the bottom where food spills. I have from Amazon. You can get these sheets that are fireproof and you put them on the bottom of your oven and they catch all the spills and they wipe off. They're like teflon. They wipe off super easy. I get those. But if you have spills, go ahead and rub a lemon on the bottom. Preheat the oven to 250. Then then preheat the oven to 250. Fill a medium-sized oven safe bowl with water and four lemon halves, place it on the top rack and close the door. After an hour turn off the oven, open the door and allow the inside to cool enough to touch. Use a damp microfiber cloth and rub. I do that in my microwave as well. Put a little bit of lemon water in there, steam it up and then wipe it out.
Speaker 1:How do you lift stains out of those lovely coffee mugs? Some of mine stain, some of them don't. Baking soda can rescue those coffee mugs that just won't clean. Mix a quarter cup and a few teaspoons of water to create a thick paste. Then scrub into the lingering brown spots with a sponge or cloth until mugs look new and clean.
Speaker 1:You know, no matter what age you are, it doesn't hurt to start looking at your cleaning products. Make sure you're using things that are safe. Go back to vinegar. I use a lot of vinegar and water in my cleaning. I try not to have too many fake fragrances and things around my house. I do love candles. That's a really hard one for me to quit because I don't have a fireplace here and the candles give me that feeling. But these chemicals and all of these cleaning solutions are not good for us, so keep that in mind.
Speaker 1:Next week we're going to talk a little bit about decorating advice, some laundry advice, some houseplants advice. Next week is what we're going to talk about. I hope if you have any of your cleaning advice, text me. If you know my phone number, if you're one of my friends, I'm not giving it out to everyone, but you can email me at inside Marcy's mind at gmailcom. I love the emails that I get. If you have any advice you'd love to share, because I'd love to share. I love a hack. I think everybody loves a hack. That's why they're so popular these days. Even if it's not a hack, if it's just good, doggone, straightforward advice, I love that.
Speaker 1:Make sure that you check out my website, insidemarci'smindcom. You can get this podcast anywhere you get podcasts. You can also get it from my website. Share it with your friends If you're enjoying it. Share it with people that you think might enjoy our little community of just information and what's going on in the world.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I get political, sometimes I don't. Right now I'm so irritated, I'm just I can't even talk about it. Remember, though stay active in politics, stay abreast, know what's going on. Things in our country are changing fast and not always for the better, so make sure you know what's going on. Things in our country are changing fast and not always for the better, so make sure you know what's going on. What other little wisdom can I impart on you? I'm trying to think of all of my little tricks and traps that I do do. Can't think of any this morning. Blame it on chemo brain. Well, I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I hope you start your spring cleaning next week. We've got some more things to go with, but spring cleaning always feels good. Tomorrow is my spring cleaning day. I know I'm going to feel good.
Speaker 1:Oh, actually I know what I was I can tell you is I spring cleaned my car a couple weekends ago. I went out I do my car when I'm out in the suburbs and our storage unit is out in the suburbs. And when I took my Valentine's and St Patrick's Day stuff out and got my Easter stuff to decorate with, I stop at one of those big huge suburbian do-it-yourself gas stations and I had gone to the Dollar Tree and I got some compartment things for my center console so I could organize that. I tore my glove box apart and organized that. I use zipper bags to put like the key for the storage unit and the directions on how to get in or in a zipper bag so if Craig's going he can just pull it out, tells him what to do, the repair bills on my car, the registration, it's all organized and I did do a good car organized.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to suggest in the spring cleaning time, if you have not organized your car. It's time to tear it apart. I cleaned it. It felt so good and I had been thinking about maybe getting a new car, kind of just back and forth in my head. Once I got it all like and my car is always neat, it's just something that I do but once it was like all washed and cleaned and organized, I was like you know, I love this car, why would I get a new car? So, nonetheless, that's my last spring cleaning hack Tear your car apart, get it organized, organize that trunk.
Speaker 1:We have our umbrellas back there, I have my charger back there, nothing else. So when I put groceries in, take things in and out, I used to have one of those big things that organize things. That was a pain in the ass and it took up too much room. I don't recommend those at all. Your trunk is a good space, have some shopping bags in there, et cetera. But uh, yeah, that's my last thing.
Speaker 1:Clean that car, all right, hang in there. Yeah, that's my last thing. Clean that car, all right, hang in there, I'm going to have fun, okay. So here is a little fun fact If you're a traveler, if you've ever seen the Eiffel Tower, it can be 15 centimeters taller during the summer. That's due to thermal expansion, meaning the iron heats up, the particles gain kinetic energy and take up more space. So if you've seen the Eiffel Tower in the summer, it's taller. Now here's another fun fact. Craig's favorite city in the entire world is Paris. Guess where we've never been Paris? That's right, paris? Yeah, it's a little bit of a sticky subject in this household. We've traveled all over the world, yet I still have not seen Paris. So think about that today, but also think about that the Eiffel Tower is taller in the summer. Anyways, hope you're going to have a great week. Remember, go out there and do something positive.
