If you have ever felt like you have no time to declutter your home, this episode will give you a strategy that you can use to ditch your clutter and get organized in just a couple of minutes a day.
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, 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.
how can you ditch your clutter when you barely have time to reset your kitchen every night? How can you find the time to declutter your home when the decluttering process makes a big old mess and seems too overwhelming to even consider? I have spoken to many people and worked with many clients who asked this same question. Everyone wants to know how to declutter when they barely have time to stay on top of the everyday messes.
And this is one reason why I teach about the three different types of stuff or the three different types of things that make our homes look cluttered. Because doing the laundry and the dishes and tidying up each day is not the same thing as decluttering. I know it seems like it's common logic that they're not the same thing, but so many people are getting caught up tidying up and they consider that actual decluttering. So dealing with these everyday messes and the laundry and the dishes and tidying up that might make your house look more neat and tiny. But it's only going to keep you stuck in this endless cycle of tidying up, putting things away, rearranging your things and shuffling your stuff from room to room. And then your house will end up messy again within another week.
And the hard truth is that this cycle could go on for years.
So in this episode, we're going to break that cycle with quick clutter wins. By the end of this episode, you will have the complete rundown on this strategy that allowed me to ditch my clutter, even with four kids and a chronic illness, even with very little time available.
Because let me just say we're all lacking time. We're all busy. It's funny, I hear so many people say, but I have like no time. But neither does anyone else. From the moment that we wake up until the moment we fall asleep, there's always something that needs to be done. It seems like you're barely getting things done as is.
And in order to tidy your main living areas each night, you need to put something else off. So the clean laundry ends up sitting in the same spot for several days on end. The bills go un paid, the errands are put off and before you know, it you've reached the end of the week and felt like you didn't do a single thing.
I know from experience that this scenario happens all too often. And it's why I teach my clients and students to have a holistic plan for their homes, because trying to declutter, tidy, clean and organize randomly is exactly why nothing is getting done well. It's all half-assed and that's why you're stuck in this cycle.
On the other hand, a holistic plan will help you manage all of this so you can easily stay on top of the messes, like the laundry and the dishes, keep the clutter at bay, stay organized and run your household like a boss. So anyway, this summer, I am releasing a brand new program that will give you this entire holistic plan. It's the only program that you will ever need to get your household where you want it to be, free of clutter, neat and tidy, Organized and well running. So make sure that you're subscribed to the Take Charge of Your Home Show, because I will be sharing all the details on the podcast as soon as it's ready. But today, we're talking about how to declutter when you're short on time. So, like I said, we're all short on time.
.No one person is busier than someone else because we all interpret our own lives in our own ways. So to start, I encourage you not to compare yourself to anyone else. Too often we tell ourselves, but she probably has more time than me. But just like the popular saying goes, Beyonce has the same 24 hours in a day as everyone else.
Now sure. It's kind of funny because now she currently has most likely a chef, a nanny, a professional organizer, et cetera. But she didn't when she first started, she started right where we all are doing everything herself. This might not be the best example because she didn't have any kids when she made a household name for herself and started her singing career.
But you can really think about any famous person who became successful at a later stage in life after they already had kids. When they first became successful, they had the same 24 hours as all of us do. And yet they were able to find the time to focus on what they wanted and needed to do to get to where they are now.
And decluttering is just like that. It's something that we want and need to do in order to achieve the type of household that we're vying for. So on that note, there is one thing I want to mention before we get into the strategy. If you have a goal to declutter and organize your house, but you're not doing it, it might just be that you're not making it a priority because of the fact that it is a goal. Because in your mind, you're viewing it as a nice to have. So instead, I want you to see decluttering and organizing as something that you need to do. I believe with every ounce of my being that this is why I was successful.
As I said before, my mom was very anti clutter and she was almost a minimalist. I was raised in a home where not a single thing was left out. But yet she wasn't like strict about it. She, she just kept everything tidy. And so because of that, that's how I was raised and that's what I was used to. And therefore, when I grew up and moved out on my own, I kept my first apartment spic and span and neat and tidy.
But then as I reached my thirties and became outnumbered by kids, my family became inundated with stuff. So in my mind, I viewed a neat and tidy home as something that I needed to accomplish simply because I was trying to achieve the same type of environment that I had grown up in. There was no ifs, ands or buts about it.
I had to get it right. No matter what. Now on the one hand, this belief costs me precious time with my kids during their baby and toddler years that I will never get back. I was so consumed with figuring it all out that I spent all of my time cleaning up after my kids' childhoods. And before I knew it, they were preschoolers who no longer wanted to be held. And all I had to show for those years were a few blurry photos and some fading memories. So I definitely don't advise anyone to become obsessive as I was, but what I'm really saying here is that when you view decluttering and organizing as a necessity, it automatically takes precedence in your mind.
And then it becomes a priority. And here's the secret. The reason why you don't have time to declutter is because you're not making it a priority. So when you view it as something that needs to be done and it becomes a priority, you will automatically begin to make the time to make it happen.
Now I'm going to give you my complete strategy for how you can ditch your clutter without taking up all your time. I call this quick clutter wins and it's really very simple.
I want you to imagine that you are fire Mario from Super Mario Brothers. You just got a fire flower and now you have fire power. So you're running around your house, shooting fireballs at all your enemies, all the piles of clutter, all the piles of stuff. It's exactly as it sounds. It's not a big marathon session.
You're not pulling everything out of the space and shooting fireballs at each item as you make a decision. You're just shooting fireballs at the things that you want to let go of, at the things that you know you can get rid of. Or more realistically, you're just finding things that you can let go of.
Quick clutter wins truly take everything out of the equation, everything off the table. You're not pulling everything out of this space, you're not sorting everything into piles. You're quite literally choosing an area, scanning for things that you want to get rid of and then taking action. You gather up things that you can let go of and then you act on them appropriately by throwing them away, adding them to a donation box, putting them on your curb, et cetera. So to give you an example, let's say that your living room is a mess. The coffee table is full of stuff, the entertainment center is overflowing, and then there are piles of things stacked in every corner and every piece of furniture that you can see and all the shelves are full of things that you want to keep.
And you have absolutely zero time to declutter your entire living room. But with quick clutter wins, you could go into that same living room and narrow in your focus on one small space, like one specific pile. Then you would glance through and find things that you want to get rid of. And finally you would take those things and go deal with them appropriately.
That is the complete rundown of the quick clutter wins strategy that I used to declutter the inside of my house. I followed that same method for almost a year in every single area of my home. When I wanted to de clutter a closet, I did not empty the entire closet .I glanced through and looked for things that I wanted to get rid of.
And the reason why this was so impactful for me is because I didn't just do this once. I didn't just go into the closet one time, I made a pass through my entire house and then I went back through the same areas a second, third, and even a fourth time. Because as I've been saying ever since this podcast was first released, ever since it was first launched, we have different layers of stuff in our homes. And sometimes it's really easy to get rid of things like your eight year olds holy socks, but it's not easy to get rid of your favorite pair of jeans. And so when you're following and practicing these quick clutter wins, you're going into the areas of your home, that first layer of stuff, and you're finding things that you can get rid of. Then, maybe in another month or two, you're going back through those same areas. Only, now your decluttering muscles are flexed and it's much easier for you to let go of things because you've gotten really good at it. Alternatively, a quick clutter win could be any kind of a win where you're just taking action in your home, like clearing off your counters, dropping off donations, organizing your makeup, or anything that again is just considered a win. They're meant to be quick and focused, not a lot of time, not a lot of decision-making, just pure and simple wins.
Now it doesn't matter how little time you have available, you could truly have no free time whatsoever and still have time for quick clutter wins. Because the beauty about these wins is that you can tailor them to what works for you. If you have five minutes at the end of the day, then take those five minutes to look for items that you know, you can get rid of. If you have 30 minutes on a Saturday, then maybe that would be a really good time to empty out one of your drawers. If you have 10 minutes while you're cooking dinner, you can use those 10 minutes to clean off your kitchen counters. Or if you have a few minutes before you need to pick your kids up from school, don't grab your phone, just spend a couple of minutes running by your local shelter to drop donations off.
So these are all, some really great examples of quick clutter wins. But the one thing that I want you to take away from this episode is that it doesn't matter how little time you have available. You can still be wildly successful in ditching your clutter in just a few short minutes each day.
As long as you're practicing a quick clutter win, it's highly focused and that is the key to success. Instead of making a big, old mess, overwhelming yourself with options and decisions or getting caught up in the details, you can just get in there, get done what you need to, and get on with your day.
So spend some time over the next week implementing a few quick clutter wins. Because next week, we're going to be talking about how decluttering and decisions go hand in hand. These quick clutter wins are really meant to take a lot of the decisions off the table. But over the next couple of weeks, we're going to be getting more into what to do when there's a lot more decisions involved in the process of decluttering. And in case you haven't noticed, all of these episodes are teeing you up for something brand new and free, that will help you ditch the clutter, even if you're short on time and you don't know where to start. So make sure to subscribe to the Take Charge of Your Home Show so you don't miss any upcoming episodes, and i'll chat with you soon. Bye
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 a reality. I'll see you next time.
