SUMMER SERIES Ep 2 — Keeping Stuff Will Not Making Teaching Easier

Your classroom can be full and still feel empty of what you actually need: time, clarity, and space to think. We kick off our summer Q and A series with a listener question from James about minimalist principles and how to finally start letting go of items that are hard to part with, especially when you’ve collected years of “just in case” teaching supplies.

We talk honestly about the mindset trap many educators fall into: believing that more stuff will make us more prepared, more professional, or more at ease. Instead, we walk through a simpler way to evaluate what’s taking up your shelves, cabinets, and mental bandwidth. We share practical prompts to decide what adds real value to your classroom space or office space, what quietly drains your energy, and how to make progress without turning decluttering into an all-day project.

We also dig into the toughest category for many teachers: books. We offer a realistic “keep or release” filter that respects how educators use books for learning and reference, while still making room for what matters now. To close, we connect it all to our favorite starting point: the triple P framework, purpose, priorities, and paring down, so every area in your workspace earns its footprint. If this helps, subscribe to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, share the episode with a teacher friend, and leave a quick review. What’s the one item you’ve been keeping “just in case” that you’re ready to question?

Transcript

Summer Series Kickoff

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hey there, and welcome back to the Minimalist Educator Podcast. The podcast that fits perfectly into your summer break. Over the next few weeks, the Minimalist Educator Podcast is keeping it short and sweet. Just quick answers to the questions you've been wondering about. Perfect for however much summer break you've got left today. A coffee break, a pool lounge, or those first few minutes before you remember you don't have to lesson plan. So relax, you've earned it. Quick questions, quick answers, all summer long.

Listener Question On Minimalism

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Let's dive into today's question. Hello and welcome to our very first summer series episode of QA for the Minimalist Educator Podcast. What have we got in our very first QA, Tammy?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Today, Christine, we have a question from James. He messaged on LinkedIn a few months back, and he was curious about minimalist principles. So I noticed that he became, I think he started following the newsletter that's on LinkedIn. And so he was just curious about what are the some principles? Because he had a classroom space and an office space, and he

The Mindset Shift Behind Less

SPEAKER_01 1:26

was looking for some ideas for how to move forward with getting rid of some of the things that he was having a hard time getting rid of. So you want to kick us off?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

A couple of principles. Okay, minimalist principles. So I think one of the main things is with minimalism is that idea that having more and more and more actually doesn't help you feel better. It doesn't make you feel more prepared or happier or more joyful or any of those things. So I think letting go of that idea, sometimes we can be a little bit hoarder-ish in the teaching profession. And we think like we're always going to need it for something at some point. But I think that's the first thing to sort of embrace is that idea of like, actually, this is not helping me. It's not helping my students, it's not increasing my professionalism in any way to be holding on to all of these things. So I think that's probably the first and foremost thing to kind of tackle.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah. Yeah. It really does have to do with your mindset, right? Because it is like once you can understand the idea that like what is the value of this thing that's holding physical space, whether it's in your classroom, your bedroom, your office, kitchen, whatever, if you don't use it and it doesn't have some kind of even special sentimental value

Fast Wins And The Book Dilemma

SPEAKER_01 2:52

for you in the time, then you probably don't need it. And so, like one of the things that I had mentioned to James was that was these things that you've already mentioned, but also just, you know, just kind of do look around and see what kind of just grabs you right away that you can do some quick rigs, like, don't need this, don't need this. It doesn't have to be a ton of things, it might just be one or two things. And I did mention too, because he was, he said he had a lot of books. I'm like, oh yeah, books have special rules when it comes to minimalist price. Because I mean, books are sources of knowledge and information for us. And a lot of times we do go back to books to, you know, for research or reading, read things again. And so it books are hard, especially for educators to declutter. I've noticed. But you can go through the same type of process. Like, is this a book that I'm gonna read again? How much value did it add to my current knowledge base? Like, was it something that I need to go back to? So, you know, similar type of process, but I think the main things there are, you know, what adds value to the space that you're in. And also is it is it sucking up your energy? Because if it if it is, then you really have to evaluate what's what's

The Triple P Decluttering Framework

SPEAKER_01 4:15

there. Anything left in our last, say, minute of this episode?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

No, it just reminds me of the chapter in our book where we go through the triple P thinking about purpose, priorities, and paring down in your classroom and that idea of like focusing on each separate area in your workspace and thinking, what is the purpose of this space? Okay, so what are my priorities for it? And then what can I get rid of? Because it's not so it's not actually meeting my priorities or my purpose. And I think that's that's a really good place to start, I think, with that triple P.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah. So thank you, James, for your question.

Quick Wrap And Sendoff

SPEAKER_00 5:02

And that's today's question answered. Thanks for spending a few minutes of your summer with us. Remember, quick questions, quick answers, all summer long. We'll see you next time on the Minimalist Educator Podcast. Now go and enjoy the rest of your break.