In honor of Halloween, we’re sharing a genuinely spooky incident that happened at our beach house—one that stumped us for months. Even I, normally the skeptical one, found myself thinking, “how did that just happen?!” Alongside that story, we chat with author Miranda Anderson about her family’s yearlong shopping ban and how that experiment fostered gratitude, patience, and a renewed sense of adventure. Plus: a progress update on our increasingly messy bathroom renovation and the tool that’s helping us keep the whole project manageable.
You can also find this episode on your favorite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher, and Spotify.
What’s New
- Here’s a look at the current state of our bathroom after the demo we completed this week so the plumbers and electricians we hired could do their work.
- Everything went remarkably smoothly, and now we’re focusing on rebuilding. Next up: prepping the floors and shower walls for tile.
- If you’re curious about the responsibilities of serving as your own general contractor versus hiring someone to manage the whole project, there are helpful articles and resources that explain the trade-offs and what to expect.
- We’ve also covered working with contractors on past podcast episodes—topics include selecting a contractor, building successful relationships with tradespeople, and navigating estimates and bids.
Our Haunted Room?
- This is the middle bedroom at the beach house we mentioned—this photo was taken partway through a recent makeover, not during the summer when we experienced the “haunting.” You can see the attic access door on the ceiling in this shot.
- We’ll share a separate blog post later this week with detailed photos and instructions about installing the board-and-batten treatment in this room.
Miranda Anderson, More Than Enough
- Our guest this week, Miranda Anderson, writes about practical minimalism and how an intentional shopping pause changed family life. She shares tools for simplifying, decluttering, and refocusing on what matters.
- Miranda’s book, More Than Enough, explores her family’s year of practical minimalism—why they tried it, where they encountered challenges, and the lessons they carried forward.
- She also offers a short course called “Live Free From Clutter,” a structured program to help people reduce possessions and create calmer living spaces. When available, the course often has limited enrollments, so it’s worth watching for the next session.
- Miranda hosts the Live Free Creative podcast, where she covers topics like family finances, marriage, and home life. If you enjoyed our conversation, you might explore episodes that dive into money mindset, optimism, decluttering strategies, home renovation basics, and resilience when plans go awry. She also shares excerpts from her book in selected podcast episodes.
- We referenced a few past Young House Love episodes in our chat—examples include conversations about minimalist experiments and the practical side of managing household belongings.
We’re Digging
- Our wet/dry vac has been indispensable for cleaning up the bathroom demo. It’s an older, full-size model that handles big jobs well, though a smaller, more portable vac can also be handy for quick cleanups or for working in tight spaces like a car interior.
- We’re also listening to a true-crime podcast called The Clearing and enjoyed the trailer and episodes that set a suspenseful, binge-worthy tone.
If you’re trying to remember which episode covered a topic we mentioned, we maintain a master list of topics and “we’re digging” items from past episodes. We also keep a Book Club page that collects all the books we’ve recommended on the show—great if you want to track down a title we talked about.
A big thank you to Social Print Studio for sponsoring this episode. They make it easy to turn photos into prints and gifts, and they offered a discount code for listeners during the sponsorship period.
Thanks for listening and following along—your support means a lot to us as we juggle renovations, family experiments, and the occasional unexplained mystery at the beach house.
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