153 | Conquer Daily Clutter - A Simple Solution to Get Your Home Back to Baseline Each Day - Intentional Edit

A quick daily cleanup might be just what you need to keep up with the typical mess that happens in your home on any given day. Find out what you need to do to pick up in just minutes each evening.

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Full Episode Transcription (not edited):

A quick daily or nightly cleanup might be just what you need to keep up with a typical mess that happens at our home was on any given day. Stuff is you as it comes out sometimes it doesn’t get put away but i’m going to give you a solution to that on this episode you’re about to find out exactly what you need to do to pick up in just minutes literally just a few minutes every single evening

Hey friends. Thanks for joining me for this tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast today, I will be answering a listener question and I came in and I think this is another one that you’re really going to relate to because it’s so common. It’s kind of the typical norm. If we haven’t set up intentional routines to conquer the clutter, I want to remind you before we get into this episode, that I can answer your question.

So [00:02:00] whatever questions that you have send. One of them or send me a couple of them go to intentional, edit.com a little button that says record. Now we’ll pop up either on the bottom or side of your screen. You just click that button. It asks you for your name and leave a message. It is as simple as leaving a voicemail, you could ask your question, tell me what you are struggling with. And I will answer that specific question on a future tip Tuesday episode. It’s a very easy to do. I really good at me. Get any more simple for you. So go ahead.

Intentional edit.com is where you want to go click on the record now button and leave me a message so that I can answer your question on a future tip Tuesday episode. Now I want to get into the question of the day. And I’m going to answer this one the question that came in today says it’s gotten to the point that I’m embarrassed by the amount of stuff in my house. Some would say it’s not bad, but there are things everywhere. And most of it’s toys and stuff, my kids get out all day.

I pick up, but it never is really done because they get everything out again. I’m pissed off before I finished with breakfast, because there’s always stuff everywhere and I know I need to deal with it again and again, our house is very open, so I see the mess from the kitchen, breakfast table and family room. It’s everywhere I look, what am I doing wrong? And how can I get things put away and not have to do this throughout the day?

A few times. Great question thank you so much for submitting that let’s get in to how you can conquer the clutter and come up with a solution to help you so that you are not dealing with a constant mess and letting that mess constantly stress you out.

The first thing you want to do is actually spend time a decluttering spend some time going through the stuff that you are keeping in this open space, this dining living. Family room, kitchen area [00:04:00]combo. What really needs to go there? Do you know that kids actually play. With more and they are more likely to engage with the toys for a longer time when there are less toys to choose from. So reduce the number of toys in your home. Keep the favorites.

And keep the thing is that are age appropriate. If you have kids that have outgrown something, Or they’ve lost interest. They haven’t played with it for months. That is a great time to say, we can donate this. It’s no longer useful and our home let’s get it out of there and get it to someone that will actually use it, remove these things from the main areas in your home, so that these things are not something that you have to pick up.

You don’t have to maintain them, clean them, or deal with them at all, any longer. These things. That our Xs are currently a burden to you. They’re not benefiting your family during this decluttering. I want you to think about being intentional with where you are, putting things back, make sure that everything that you have determined is worthy of staying in this space has a place of its own. It has a place to be stored.

It should be stored when it’s not being used. And then start encouraging your kids to clean up when done. this could be a little cleanup. You can do a little cleanup chat. You can use a simple chore chart or some type of motivation, or even have a specific time at the end of the day, or when things are kind of wrapping up to do a family pickup time to get things put away. If you are modeling this behavior, that is one way to show them that it is important to you.

And if you’re encouraging that they pick their things up to the, this will eventually become a habit. It takes a lot of effort on the front end, but you have to set the expectation and be realistic with how this process plays out. And how the kids are responsible or what the ages of the people in your family are. they can be [00:06:00] in charge of putting some basic things away to help with that maintenance and to help maintain things on a daily basis.

You have to remember the less clutter you have, the less access you have. It is easier and faster to pick things up and put things away. And it’s faster for everyone that is contributing to this. When you have less. And when you have things that have a storage location, They have a place to go when they are not in use. It is easier for everyone to put everything away.

Because you can visually see when there are extra things in the room, you can visually see when things are out of place, because you have created this atmosphere where you know, what it is supposed to look like. And I like to call that the baseline of how. We want the room to be, or I, sometimes I say, you have to get the house back to that status quo of is back to the baseline. It feels good. what are you going to do to maintain this newly picked up robe? That’s where you have to have this baseline. You need to have a baseline for the room that feels good to you.

That is a realistic expectation of how you want things to be, how you want things to feel and how you want things to look. Think about how you want the room. To function as well. And that will help you determine what stays in there and what is too much stuff. If you have a especially small area, you’re going to have to put less in that area and get creative with your storage, use baskets, use automations that can open up for blankets and things like that.

But don’t try to stuff a whole bunch of belongings into one space, just because you think you should have them, or you don’t want to take the time to get rid of them. You have to be realistic for the season of life. Your family is currently in and each night when the evening is pretty much wrapped up, give yourself five minutes to do a five minute tidy of five minutes. Heidi is a quick pickup [00:08:00]where you are putting things back, where they go. And when everything has a home, everything has a storage space.

This is so simple because the things that are out and about stick out to you and the kids and the members of your family will also be able to see these. Uh, things they know what goes, where very young kids can even be in charge of putting blankets back in a basket or putting the throw pillows up on the sofa. It might not be the exact way that you want them to look and perfectly fluffed in all of that.

But at least they’re there. They’re not on the floor. They’re not in the walkways. They’re not piled up anymore. They’re back to where they go. If you have plates or glasses or water bottles or things out and about those things, go to the kitchen and get put in the dishwasher. Gabe. Put in the trash recycle, wherever they go. Shoes.

If you, her home that takes off your shoes and they end up all over the house, the shoes, do you have to go back to the closet or back to the mudroom that drops out area wherever they go, wherever they’re stored, because everything in your home, ideally. Has a storage location where it is supposed to go think about all of these things when you are putting them away. Think about getting them back and return them to their designated storage spot.

Of where they are supposed to be stored. Remote controls can have a basket or a place on a table or go in a drawer. All of these things that are out that end up on the floor, or you’re looking for them, or there’s too much stuff, the toys should all have a place to go. This might mean. You have a few baskets and that’s where the toys go and that they’re not organized by category. And it’s not something that has its individual categories and containers and all of that. Maybe you have a big toy box and a basket, and the toys go into those places. Or they have a couple shelves where they belong. The toys, just easy to get put back. So they’re not on the floor. They’re not on the couch. They’re not all over the [00:10:00]table. They’re not in the walkways.

Get them back to that place where they’re stored the five minutes. Heidi is huge because it’s your time where you can say that it’s the end of the day, let’s wrap these things up. Let’s get the house back to. The status that you like it to be, get it back to that baseline. This is not a time for cleaning.

Or organizing projects. This is a time you are just tidying. You’re straightening things up. This is a practice that makes it possible for you to wake up to a home. That feels good to you because your home is back to that baseline. These practices are little chunks of, uh, evening routine. It’s a little chunk of something you are going to do day after day. And once you keep doing them over and over again, this intentional routine that you created of this five minutes, Heidi becomes a habit is an easy habit. It’s a simple habit that helps to maintain your home.

It helps to keep your home orderly and it helps you to feel less overwhelmed and to feel better with the state. Of your home. You don’t want it to be a constant stressor for you and these little intentional things that take five minutes here. Five minutes there. Or these are routines that, or these are chunks of routines that become a habit. So implement the five minutes, Heidi, in this particular situation, when I’m answering this question,

You have to do you clutter. It seems like there’s a lot of excess with the toys. Spend time decluttering, those toys, make sure everything has a place. All the pillows, blankets, remote controls, anything that lives in this room remove the excess of the little knickknacks and the extra decor that can add to your sense of overwhelm and make it seem like it’s more cluttered than it really is.

So remove some of those things and implement this five minute tidy. Get the family to help you. Lay down some rules where everyone is going to start helping and contributing and picking up. And kids can spend easily 30 seconds [00:12:00] a minute, putting a few things away, taking a toys or stuffed animals back to a different room. If they brought them out from another room five minutes, Heidis contribute to getting your home back to that baseline. So you.

Feel good in your space. If you want me to answer a question that you have go to intentional, edit.com. Click on the record. Now button that pops up. When you get to intentional edit.club, you just click on that button and leave me a message just like you would leave a voicemail. And I will answer your question on a future tip Tuesday episode.

Thanks so much for listening. I’ll meet you back here later in the week. For the next episode of the intentional edit podcast.

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Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!

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