Jordan and Niki discuss the cure to clutter, how to figure out what stuff you don't need, and best practices for eliminating clutter, after a brief detour about Harry Potter.

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling on Amazon

zenhabits: Living Simply: The Ultimate Guide to Conquering Your Clutter

$24 billion spent on self-storage in America in 2013.

Behind the Ever-Expanding American Dream House New home sizes being built in the United States

* 1950 - 983 sq ft
* 1970 - 1500 sq ft
* 1990 - 2080 sq ft
* 2004 - 2349 sq ft

The Pareto principle (or the 80-20 rule) on Wikipedia

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg Mckeown on Amazon

Mac Power Users: Episode 85 – Paperless

Mac Power Users: Episode 172 – Paperless Workflows

More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity by Jeff Shinabarger on Amazon

The Art of Simple | Exploring the craft of living simply.

Joshua Becker from Becoming Minimalist

The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life on Becoming Minimalist

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Niki’s blog: Frame of Reference

Jordan’s blog: Theology | Technology | Methodology

Niki on Twitter - @nshirkman

Jordan on Twitter - @jshirk

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Jordan and Niki discuss how to prepare for travel well, surviving airports, and making the most out of your trips.

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Niki's Friday 5 on Ft. Collins Hotspots

Driving Age by State Apparently it's not a big deal for everyone to be 15 and a half.

8 Questions to Ask When Planning a Trip

1. What is most important to you on a vacation? (e.g. relaxing, seeing sights, eating local food, local entertainment, activities, tours)
2. Would you rather relax more or do more?
3. Do you want every day planned or just have options to go with the flow?
4. How much, total, do we want to spend on this trip? (e.g. travel, food, accomdations, entertainment)
5. How will we get around in this place we're going? (e.g. car, public transportation, taxis, bicycles, walking)
6. Will we do individual things or everything together?
7. If I my flight / it gets canceled, will it ruin everything? (miss a cruise, miss my presentation, etc.)
8. Do we want to cook dinner or always eat out? 

The Rip Stick–one option for bi-pedal transportation on your next vacation

Kayak.com/explore Go anywhere in your price range.

AirBnB Rent a room or apartment from a stranger. Like taking candy from a stranger, but you're paying for the candy.

TravelMath Is it better to drive or fly to the Carribbean Islands?

6 Questions to Decide What to Pack * What's the weather going to be like? * Will we be mostly inside or outside? * What could I bring that will save me time / money / hassle? * What kinds of activities will we be doing? (i always take at least a pair of dress pants) * Can I do laundry / do I want to where I'm staying? * Is it worth it to check a bag?

Larabar The official snack of the Shirkman family. Jordan's favorite: Peanut Butter and Jelly Niki's favorite: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

PackPoint for iOS An app that tells you what to pack. Note: it won't actually pack things for you.

Jordan's blog on 30+ travel tips

5 Questions to Ask When You're Going to and Through the Airport

• How am I getting to the airport?
• How much time do I need to leave to get to the airport and through security?
• Am I ready to walk through security?
• What are my plans once I land? (eat in the airport, etc.)
• How am I getting from the airport to where I'm staying?

Questions to Ask Your Seat Mate

• Is __ your final stop?
• Are you from there originally?
• Are you on business or this a vacation trip?
• What do you do for a living?
• What's your favorite place where you've traveled?
• Did you grow up with a spiritual background?
• Do you think about spiritual things?

City Maps 2 Go for iOS Download maps of a city to use without using data once you're wherever you're going.

Viber for iOS

Connect with Us

Niki’s blog: Frame of Reference

Jordan’s blog: Theology | Technology | Methodology

Niki on Twitter - @nshirkman

Jordan on Twitter - @jshirk

Email feedback to feedback@unpacked.co

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Jordan and Niki discuss developing habits, finding keystone habits in your life, and giving grace when we inevitably fall short. Chock-full of book recommendations and quotatious quotes. Sorry the first few minutes of audio are a bit up and down–Jordan's volume is a bit low and Niki's is a bit loud. It's a long story, but it should be all equalized once you reach the 10 minute mark.

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Tsh Oxenreider - Art of Simple Podcast

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg on Amazon

Morning and Evening devotional by Charles Spurgeon

Jordan’s Morning Manifesto

The Briefing podcast by Albert Mohler

Episode 2 – Being Present

Leverage

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero on Amazon

A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller on Amazon

SMART Goals on Wikipedia

The Weekly Review

7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey on Amazon

The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley on Amazon

Jerry Seinfeld’s Productivity Tip

Habit List for iOS

Lift for iOS

Connect with Us

Niki’s blog: Frame of Reference

Jordan’s blog: Theology | Technology | Methodology

Niki on Twitter - @nshirkman

Jordan on Twitter - @jshirk

Email feedback to feedback@unpacked.co

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The Gift of Being Present by Niki

“YOLO only live once, but you can die twice" – by KB, "Anomaly" 

Beyond the To Do List Episode 59 with Merlin Mann – Erik and Merlin chat about lots of things, and one of them is distractions vs. interruptions.

Living for Notifications by Jordan

According to a survey by TIME Magazine, in "Your Life Is Fully Mobile" 84% of cell phone users say they couldn’t go a single day without their phone.

Beware: The Bible Is About to Threaten Your Smartphone Focus by John Piper

Drafts for iOS - Pay Attention!!

Clicking this link with Drafts for iOS installed will allow you to pick your favorite person who needs to pay attentions and send them a message swiftly. 

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Niki’s blog: Frame of Reference

Jordan’s blog: Theology | Technology | Methodology

Niki on Twitter - @nshirkman 

Jordan on Twitter - @jshirk

Email feedback to feedback@unpacked.co

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The first real episode where Jordan and Niki get way too excited about one of their favorite topics: budgeting. 

Episode 1 - Show Notes

Niki’s Oatmeal Pancakes

Dave Ramsey Budget Sheets

You'll see notes and comments in this Excel spreadsheet, along with 4 different tabs. The denomination calculator is under Paycheck 1 and Paycheck 2, and as you plug in your budget it will calculate which denominations you need from $50s to $1s.

YNAB - You Need a Budget Software

With this referral link you'll save $6 and we'll get a $6 kickback for your purchase.

Jordan’s YNAB Review

Jordan's review of our favorite budgeting software.

Mint.com

We use Mint to see a dashboard view of all of our different bank accounts, but we don't use it for budgeting because it's more reactive than proactive.

Dave Ramsey

The ever-helpful Wikipedia on Dave Ramsey.

Chipotle's burrito giveaway in Athens, Ohio

Ok, so maybe it wasn't quite 20,000 burritos--more like at least 5,000

The Global Rich List

Making $20,000 / year puts you in the top 3.65% richest people in the world by income.

A Praying Life by Paul Miller
 
Jordan wrote a review of A Praying Life and, as you heard, Niki's a big fan too. The link above is an affiliate link to Amazon.

Budgeting an Irregular Income

This is a little different than the way we chatted about budgeting an irregular income, and you use your lowest month's salary instead of an average to calculate your budget.

Dave Ramsey Baby Steps–steps 1 to 7 for getting out of debt and building wealth, according to Dave Ramsey.

Student Loan debt over $1 trillion, surpassing credit card debt

Dave Ramsey’s - Financial Peace University

This class was incredibly helpful in growing our understanding of money and bringing us to the same page in our marriage.

My Giving Bank - 3 Banks in 1

The bank Jordan’s dad gave him as a kid that instilled the different ways we can use money.

Niki’s review of her current elite budgeting system. A Christmas present from her mother-in-law and how she uses it.

A few of our budgeting posts:    

Skinny Budgeting by Niki

Budgeting for Twenty-Somethings by Jordan

Connect with Us

Niki’s blog: Frame of Reference

Jordan’s blog: Theology | Technology | Methodology

Niki on Twitter - @nshirkman 

Jordan on Twitter - @jshirk

Email feedback to feedback@unpacked.co

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The inaugural podcast episode that attempts to answer the question: why did we start a podcast? Jordan manages to use the word conversation upwards of 3 times in the first 45 seconds of the show. Then we talk about podcasting in general and what to expect from The Unpacked Podcast.

Episode 0 - Show Notes

Family photo of our deer:

Terrestrial Radio

Jordan's Five Favorite Podcasts

Niki's Five Favorite Podcasts

GeoCities

Michael Hyatt’s 3 Voices for Bloggers (we kind of botched this)

1. The Sage (advanced degree, extensive experience, wisdom that comes with age, credentials)

2. The Sherpa (the guide, been there and know how to get back, lots of mistakes, know pitfalls)

3. The Struggler (honestly reporting back what they are experiencing, let people in on the adventure)

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Jordan on Twitter – @jshirk

Niki on Twitter – @nshirkman

Jordan’s Blog – Theology | Technology | Methodology

Niki’s Blog | Frame of Reference