How can you take back control of your home when there is stuff overflowing all over the place that you don't know what to do with, when your family isn't helping, you can't find a thing when you need it, and you're not even sure where to start or how to tackle the mess? In this episode, I'm sharing the number one thing that you need to do to take charge of your home when everything feels impossible.
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 in a realistic and sustainable way.
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 it's so important to have a calm, relaxing household so you can have the time, the peace of mind, and the freedom to truly enjoy motherhood.
So sit back and get ready to take charge of your home.
Hello. Hello and welcome back to the Take Charge of Your Home Show. Now I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that you're a busy mom, whose house is totally overwhelming and out of control.
It's overflowing with stuff that you don't know what to do with, your family isn't helping, and you're not sure where to start or how to tackle the mess. You want to be organized, you want to have a neat and tidy home, and you absolutely want more peace of mind. And you have earned the right to trim back your house work, find what you need, right when you need it, and spend a nice evening with your family, enjoying your life, the way that you had always dreamed of. But you're juggling it all. At any given moment, you have a dozen things in your head that you need to do, call, manage and buy, and you can't remember a single thing because the mess in your house has you spinning your wheels and putting fires out left and right.
Raising your kids and running your household leaves you zero time to get anything done, to accomplish your goals, or heaven forbid to take a bath once a year.
I'll
tell you with four kids, a part-time job and a business. I have experienced this on such a deep level. Recently, in fact. In the last three months, since the start of the year we have had COVID, the flu, an ear infection, a skin infection, fifth's disease rashes, our puppy keeps getting through the fence and got into a fight with the neighbor dog. My son's soccer coach decided to stop coaching mid season, so we had to find a new coach. I could go on and on and on. Because that's life. These kinds of things are never going to end, at least not for the next 18 years.
So anyway, life has been crazy the last few months and it showed in our household. Clutter has piled up, projects were getting left behind, I was running late on bill payments, for getting things left and right, especially in my business. And I just felt very scattered. So I took it back to the basics by organizing my mind.
And that's what I'm currently doing right now in our household. And that's what I want to share with you today. A few ways that you can organize your mind. Because your mind is the center of everything you do. In your home, your family, your relationships, your work, and your life. So if you feel scattered, overwhelmed and defeated, it rarely has anything to do with your physical environment and everything to do with your mental environment. Because our homes are a mirror for what's going on internally. If you feel overwhelmed, your home will be overwhelming. If your mind is disorganized, your home will be disorganized.
And that's exactly what's happened to me over the last few months because of everything that's happened, my mind grew disorganized and it was reflected in the shape of our household. But it also goes both ways. If your home is dis organized, your mind will be disorganized. And you will be hard-pressed to get your household under control until you organize your mind.
And unfortunately this could go on for years. As long as your mind is this organized, you'll be putting out fires, digging for things you can't find falling behind on projects and looking for every opportunity available to escape the chaos. Even if that means retreating to your bedroom, instead of spending time with your family.
The fact is you'll never have true peace of mind. Instead, you'll be frustrated and defeated and overwhelmed for the next 18 years of your motherhood journey. And that will cause you to miss out on precious moments with your kids. Which we all know are fleeting.
You see, in this digital information age that we live in, we are inundated with 30 gigabytes of information every single day, every single week of our lives. 30 gigabytes is enough to watch 60 hours of video. And we're consuming that every day. So when you consider all the stuff that we have to keep track of from one day to the next, it's no wonder why we feel so overwhelmed.
I mean in the last few weeks, as I've been taking it back to the basics and organizing my mind. You would not believe the amount of information that I have dumped out of my head and organized. And to think that I had been keeping all that stuff in my brain. It's just mind boggling.
Some of the things that I have categorized and organized had been all my projects and the things that I want to do over the next year. A, very long list of tasks that I need to get done, as well as dozens more tasks that pop into my brain at random times throughout the day. My calendar, schedule, bills I need to pay, things I want to buy for the house and more.
And I can say that I already feel so much better. I feel like I can actually breathe. Just having a dedicated space to keep track of all of this. I call it my dashboard. This is such an important conversation because even I, someone who is obsessed with de cluttering and organizing, had forgotten the importance of organizing our minds.
I initially did this years ago when I first got organized in 2017. But then, since I had a pretty good idea, a pretty good handle on everything. I kind of let it all slip through the cracks over the last year. And as I've gone back to the basics, I've realized that this is the reason why my home has felt so hard recently.
A few episodes back. I mentioned how things in my marriage have been hard, and my husband and I separated. And I noticed that the clutter was starting to pile up. But really, my personal relationship with my husband has led to chaos in my head. And that's been a big contributor to the clutter starting to pile up.
So my mind needed a good organizing, and I know that's what most people, moms in particular, need as well. Because we're super heroes, right? We're juggling it all. We have a lot of plates in the air at any given time. And your mind is the center of all of it. I mean, just think about it. You're the head of your household. You're the sole contributor for making sure that things are getting done, that the house is clean, the meals are cooked, the kids are bathed and everyone is going to sleep at a reasonable hour.
So as long as your mind is dis organized, your home, your family and your projects will be disorganized too.
But I know you don't want that. So let's talk about what you can do to organize your mind. So you can also organize your home and your life.
First and foremost, you need to have one dedicated space where you write things down at all times. One dedicated spot. No more keeping things in your head, whether it's an appointment., Something you need or want to do, or even just the simple task of buying cat litter. Don't keep it in your head.
Now where you write all this down, needs to be easily accessible to you, and it needs to be a place where you can capture different types of information. So a planner isn't always the best spot for this because buying cat litter and researching organizing products are two different types of tasks that you won't always get to in one day, you know?
So I recommend some type of notebook, dry erase board, or a project management system. My favorite is Notion.
Now my second tip is to prepare a quiet space in your home to decompress. A, space you can go to escape the chaos, the clutter, and the busy-ness of life. If you don't have a space in your home that's like that, create one. You can declutter an area, set up a chair, a comfy blanket, candles, picture frames, or anything that brings you comfort.
And then when you start to feel your mind wandering, overthinking, or feeling anxious, go to this space in your home and just decompress. Just focus on yourself and your thoughts. Take a few deep breaths and do what you need to do to decompress.
And my last tip is to use mindfulness tools to help you manage your mind. This could include meditation, self-coaching, self-awareness, journaling, or any number of tools that align with you. I am big on journaling, primarily because I don't notice my thoughts. I could go all day and not notice a single thing that I said to myself throughout the day.
But journaling helps me get everything out on paper so I can visually see what I'm thinking, feeling, and worrying about. And then, I can better understand it and take the next action that will help me move forward. Self-awareness is a very important skill when it comes to successfully decluttering your home, because you need to be able to recognize your own weaknesses and strengths so you can use them to your advantage. And journaling is one of many ways to develop more self-awareness.
And when it comes to self coaching, this is a tool that will help you coach yourself through any difficult situation. I can say with 100% certainty, that self coaching is one key to why I am able to get things done and move through adversities. Like managing my home, despite having lymphedema and frequent bouts of skin infections. Because of the fact that I learned to coach myself. Almost like being my own best friend. As opposed to beating myself up for not getting things done.
Now, I could go on and on about different tools that you can use to manage and organize your mind, which is why I have put them all together in a course called Mindful Decluttering.
It's a self study program that helps you organize your mind, clear the mental clutter, and use mindfulness tools to take charge of your home. It normally sells for 147, but right now you can get access to it inside of a bundle called the Get Organized Toolkit for just 67. Which is an incredible opportunity because you'll also get access to over 60 other resources for decluttering, organizing, and creating efficient home management systems. This bundle is something that I highly recommend for anyone who is at the beginning of their organizing journey, because it's a great way to learn the basics that you need to know.
And taking it back to self-awareness again, one of the main reasons I was successful in decluttering my home, is because I got in there and I got my feet wet. I did the work and found out very quickly what worked for me and what didn't. From there, I develop my own methods and strategies. But that never would have happened had I not got started at all.
So the Get Organized Toolkit is a resource that will help you get your feet wet. You won't be decluttering your entire home. And you don't even need to access all 60 products. Only the ones that are relevant to you and your lifestyle and your needs.
But if what I have shared in this episode has spoken to you on any level, then Mindful Decluttering was made for you. And you can get your hands on it for just $67 when you grab the Get Organized Tool Kit before Wednesday March 29th at midnight.
So let's recap what we have covered today. You need to organize your mind. That's the long and short of it. You need to refine the way that you're thinking about your household. And the way that you're keeping track of all the things that you need to do from one day to the next. So that way you can keep a neat and tidy home and enjoy these precious years with your kids.
Otherwise, you'll be putting out fires for the rest of your life, digging for things you can't find, and missing out on memories with your loved ones.
So when you're able to do this, when you're able to organize your mind, you will have the clarity to move forward on your goals, dreams, and projects, on all the things that you need and want to do in life.
You'll have room to breathe so you can prioritize your own needs, make memories with your family, and enjoy your life, instead of counting down the hours until bedtime. With an organized mind, you'll be able to clear the clutter, get organized, and take charge of your home with ease. And you'll be able to relax at the end of each day, knowing that everything is taken care of to the best of your ability.
So here's what you can do. Have one dedicated space where you can write things down and capture all the information that comes to you throughout the day. Then you can also prepare a quiet space in your home to decompress where you can relax, refocus, and recenter your mind on what's most important.
This is crucial because our minds can't ignore the clutter. Even if we think we're ignoring the mess, our mind is visually processing. All of it. And this is why you can't relax. But when you have a quiet space that is free of clutter and full of items that bring you comfort, you can literally shut your mind off and relax when you need to.
And finally the third option is to use mindfulness tools to manage your mind. This could include journaling, meditation, self-coaching, self-awareness, mindful moments, doing a body scan, or any other number of tools.
Now, if you're ready to put this all in action, I highly recommend grabbing the Get Organized Tool Kit so you can get access to Mindful Decluttering and dozens of other resources to help you get organized. Plus, it also has products to help you declutter your schedule, your beliefs, and more. But the bundle is going away on Wednesday night at midnight. So this is not something that you want to wait on.
I will share the link below in the show notes. Go check it out, take a look at all the incredible resources that are included, and let me know if you have any questions at all.
Now this Thursday for our typical weekly episode, we're going to be talking about de cluttering, what it looks like, what it means, why so many people miss the mark and get it wrong, and what you should focus on to find decluttering success in your home.
Until then. Come say hi on Instagram. Check out the Get Organized Tool Kit, and I'll chat with you soon.
Thank you for listening to another episode of the Take Charge of Your Home Show. Go ahead and take a few moments to celebrate yourself for being here, doing this work, and really learning how to create a calm, relaxing home. Don't forget to check out the show notes and feel free to leave a rating and a review so I can know what you want to hear more about because you and your journey are what make this show a reality. I'll see you next time.
