Let's talk about the difference between tiny cleaning, organizing, and decluttering. I know that seemed like four distinct concepts, but we've never actually been taught to differentiate them. And on the surface it might seem like common sense, but when it comes down to it, when it comes down to actually doing these things, we're jumbling them all together. We have the voices of mainstream media and the back of our heads telling us to sort our stuff into piles.
They clutter the access. Label our baskets teach our kids how to pick up after themselves plan and prep our meals and keep our homes clean because of covid monkeypox and rsv and it's overwhelming i mean no wonder it doesn't work so this is why your house is so messy because you're trying to do them all randomly because you've never been taught to do them separately until now
Hey there, I'm Nicole from The Maximizing Momma and I am obsessed with creating a home that gives me more peace of mind, more time to myself and more time with my kids. I teach you the tried and true secrets to clearing your clutter, getting organized, and managing your household one realistic step at a time.
This show is where we talk about things like motherhood, decluttering, organizing, creating routines, mindset, energy, and everything in between. Our homes are the foundation for the rest of our lives, and I believe that with the right strategy, everyone can create a household that works for them. So sit back, relax, and get ready to take charge of your home.
Hey guys, I am so excited to be here today because this is the first weekly episode that I have released on a time-based schedule. The first few episodes of this show were recorded all at once over the course of two weeks while I was learning how to even record a podcast episode in general, as well as how to edit audio, and it was a mess.
It really was. By the time I launched, I was quite literally in tears because the software that I was using was causing my, my audio to fade in and out. So anyway, I decided to go ahead and launch and just get the show out into the world, and I decided that I would just come back later and record some more episodes.
So I'm currently using a temporary software until I find a better one. But my point is that I'm just really excited to be doing this and committing long term to showing up and helping you take charge of your home. So today I want to quickly talk about the difference between organizing, tidying, cleaning, and decluttering because we have never been taught to differentiate these four concepts.
Now, on the surface, I know it seems like common sense. But when it comes down to it, when it comes to actually doing these these things, we're jumbling them all together. We have the voices of mainstream media in the back of our heads telling us to sort our stuff into piles, declutter the excess, label our baskets, teach our kids how to pick up after themselves, plan and prep our meals, and keep our homes clean because of Covid, monkeypox and rsv. And it's fucking overwhelming! I mean, no wonder it doesn't work! So this is why your house is so messy, because you're trying to do them all randomly because you've never been taught to do them separately. Until now.
So before now, what's likely been happening is one day, you tidy the messes and put everything back where it belongs because your house is a wreck and you can't deal with it anymore. Then the next day you decide to declutter, but you end up rearranging your things and organizing them, maybe letting go of a few items. And then on Saturday, you spend hours cleaning, but your home ends up messy again the next week, and you have to do it all over again because you still have the same problem- too much clutter, more stuff than can fit inside of your house, nowhere to put the things that you want to keep, and naturally more dirt and germs. This is why I teach my clients and my students to tackle their homes in stages so they can master each one of these concepts before moving on to the next.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. So let's go over each of these four concepts one at a time, and then we'll go over the different stages of our homes. So tidying is picking up the messes and putting things back where they belong. All that stuff that's getting left out all over your house that needs to be put away, all the stuff that already has a dedicated home. I'm looking around at my desk right now trying to find an example. Um, Like my daughter's glasses case that has a dedicated home in her room. Tidying would involve picking up her glasses case and putting it back where it belongs. But of course, it's way more detailed than that because there's stuff all over our house, all the time because our family leaves stuff left out everywhere. Now where it gets very confusing is when we have things that we don't know what to do with. So we're trying to find a home for them, and that's why tidying the messes can seem so never ending and why we end up rearranging our things.
Because as another example, I have a broken necklace on my desk right now that I need to buy a new chain for, for my daughter. That necklace does not have a home. So when I come through and I'm tidying my desk, I would pick up these glasses case and go put it where it belongs in my daughter's room, and then I would pick up this necklace and try to find a home for it right then and there.
So you, I you, we would maybe end up putting that necklace somewhere else, but that's just rearranging your things. It's not finding a permanent home for it. And that's why a week later you wouldn't be able to find the necklace. So decluttering is letting go of the excess stuff. To give another concrete example, if you have a stack of papers on your kitchen counters and it's full of, you know, scribbles from your toddler and you know you don't need to keep them, but they're just sitting there, well, they're taking up space in your home and you don't need those toddler artwork pieces anymore, so you need to let go of those. But it's, it's way more concrete and detailed than that because as you know, there's clutter piling up in all areas at all times. You could have clutter behind closed doors, but you can also have, like I was saying with the necklace, homeless clutter.
So whenever you are decluttering you are likely trying to let go of the excess things that you no longer need use or want. But then you're also trying to deal with the homeless clutter and find a home for it, like a broken necklace. And so the reason decluttering gets so confusing is again, you end up just rearranging your things. You find, a necklace isn't the best example because it's not necessarily making my desk look cluttered, but if there was, um, a stack of books piling up on a shelf or an end table in your living room and they're just like toppling over all over the place because you don't have anywhere to put them and they're just piling up there because there's no permanent home for them, that's making your living room look cluttered.
So when you decide to, declutter your living room, you're trying to deal with these books, but it's not working because decluttering means letting go. So instead, you need to find a home for the homeless clutter and then let go of the of the things that you no longer need, use or want. So now let's move on to organizing.
Organizing is arranging your things in a more beautiful way to make them more accessible. This looks like getting pretty baskets and cute bins and even arranging your things in the color of, in the order of the rainbow and putting labels on them and just, you know, all those beautiful organized spaces that we see all over the internet.
That's what it means to organize. Now, it also goes much deeper, just like tidying and decluttering, because you can organize other areas, you can organize your schedule, your life, your, I'm having a brain fart here. You can organize your life in general, and so to organize your life looks like getting all the pieces of your whole life and your entire household together. Or organizing your entire family in general and making sure that everybody's on the same page. But when it comes down to dealing with this stuff in your home, organizing the belongings that you own, that's really about making things more neat and beautiful and more accessible.
And then finally, we have cleaning, which is removing dirt and germs from a surface.
Now, this one is definitely common sense, but we frequently say that we're cleaning up the messes, but we're really tidying. So I really wanted to clarify here. And I know that this is a language pattern that some people have and others don't. But I just wanted to clarify the difference because like I said, in the moment when we're doing things, if we decide we're going to clean up the mess, we end up trying to clean, trying to tidy, trying to, declutter, and trying to organize all at the same time.
Now, I won't be talking a lot about cleaning on this show because to be honest, I hate to clean. It gets on my nerves. But I do follow a cleaning schedule to make my life easier that I'll get into at a later date. Until then, I want to say that cleaning is another one of those things that we have to come to terms with because it's part of our lives and it will be until we leave this earth.
So while you may hear me mention cleaning from time to time, just know that my personal take on it is that you need to find a schedule, a cleaning schedule that works for you. So go all in. What I want you to do is go all in on dealing with this stuff in your home first and foremost, because that is what's stressing you out.
And then of course, clean your counters and your floors and shit. And then, when you have the belongings in your home under control, then you can focus more on getting really good at cleaning. Because the truth is, the clutter, the clutter in your home is only making it harder to clean. If you spend all of your time truly cleaning around the clutter, you'll be doing that for the rest of your life. But clearing your clutter will reduce your housework by over 40%. So we're gonna help you do that first.
Now, let's talk about how these all fit together, tidying, organizing and decluttering. Because as I've been saying, when our homes are a disaster, we can't do them all well.
Decluttering feels impossible when there's so much stuff that you don't know what to do, when you have all this homeless clutter. Decluttering feels impossible when you're going around into your living room and deciding you are going to declutter, but then you have this stack of books, you end up organizing them instead of letting go of things. But organizing doesn't work when you have more stuff than can reasonably fit inside of your house. And tidying is only a bandaid solution to help you keep your home looking more neat and tidy from one day to the next.
But when you tackle and take charge of your home in stages, you can master each of these concepts and really get the results that you want before you move on to the next stage.
So the very first stage is overhauling. And I would argue that it's the most important step because it lays the foundation for the rest to come much more easily. So since this episode is all about breaking down the difference between the main concepts of your home life, I'm gonna quickly break down what it means to overhaul. Overhauling is where you're overtaking the mess in your home.
You're not just tidying and you're not just decluttering. But you're following a specific, and I do mean very specific order, and sort of like peeling back the mess, like layers of an onion. You're putting things away, finding a home for the things that you want to keep but you don't know what to do with, and you're decluttering some major hot spots.
And again, this is so necessary because it lays the foundation for decluttering to come much more easily. But decluttering is also necessary because having less stuff in your home overall will allow it to stay neat and tidy and organized from one day to the next.
So if you are fed up with the mess in your home and you are committed to making a change, you're definitely going to want to sign up for Declutter Like a Boss, the bundle, because the doors are open right now. It's a simple framework for overhauling the mess and winning over your clutter in less than 30 minutes a day.
And I'm super excited because I bundled some pretty amazing products together for a special Black Friday sale. So you're definitely not gonna wanna miss it. I will show you how to have a calm and peaceful home that you can easily maintain, giving you nights and weekends free to visit fun places with your kids and make memories as a family. So you can prioritize your own needs and have more time for yourself to read, relax, or catch up on The Bachelor because you fully trust yourself to manage your home and stay on top of the. So you can fall right to sleep the minute your head hits the pillow because you have the peace of mind and the sanity knowing that your home is completely under control. And best of all, this bundle will lay the foundation in your home, it will set you up for success so 2023 is the year that you finally go from cluttered to calm.
You can join for 60% off right now until Tuesday, November 29th at the maximizingmomma.com/dlab. So go join now and let me know when you're in so I can celebrate with you. I can't wait to see all the progress that you make in your home! I'll chat with you soon.
Thanks for listening to another episode of the take charge of your home show. Make sure to check out the links and the resources in the show notes below where you can join the Declutter Like a Boss Black Friday bundle. This is something you're not going to want to miss because it's 60% off until Tuesday, November 29th. But also because you get exclusive access to our student only community where we have weekly live Q and A sessions. This means that you'll always have the support you need to keep moving forward as you take charge of your home. I'll see you next week.
