Today is the first Tip Tuesday Episode of The Intentional Edit Podcast. I share simple solutions that you can use to get more done and even easy things to reduce your stress.
Episodes for Tip Tuesday are when I answer listener questions. The question today comes from a busy mom of two that wants to get more done without being stressed out all the time. Head over to the episode to see what strategies can be implemented to help improve her situation.
Let me help you! Submit your questions to be answered on a future Tip Tuesday episode here.
Full Episode Transcription:
Hey there. Thanks for joining me for episode five. It’s the first tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast. That’s kind of exciting. These are short and sweet episodes where I answer listener questions. So if you have questions, be sure to send them to me so I can use them for future to have Tuesday episodes today, I’m answering a common question from a busy mom of two. How can she get more done without being so stressed and grouchy all the time. I’m about to share some ideas and solutions for you and her. Let’s get going on. Today’s tip Tuesday episode. Hey friends, quick tips that make a big impact in your daily life are my favorite ways to implement systems around the house. I’ve been sharing easy strategies and my go-to organizing products for tip Tuesday on the intentional, at an Instagram feed for a few years.
(00:45):
Now I’m excited to bring it to the podcast was short episodes, answering your questions every Tuesday. If you want me to answer your questions, go to the podcast page on unintentional, edit.com and submit your questions there. Let’s get started on this tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast. The question that came in for today’s intentional edit podcast tip Tuesday episode is hi Lauren. I have a five and eight year old and work part-time from home. I always think I can do more in a day than I find time to actually get done. And I end up stressed out and grumpy by dinnertime. Life has me in over my head with easy things that parents do daily. How can I not be? So crabby have time and energy to play with my kids at the end of the day and not feel stressed all the time.
(01:30):
First of all, thank you for submitting the question. And I think this is a question that a lot of parents have, but first of all, when you are a parent and you have kids at home, you are busy. Not only that, but you’re also working and working. Part-time full-time. These are things that can be stressful if you don’t have set boundaries. First of all, give yourself a little bit of leeway here and try not to be so hard on yourself. There are definitely things that you can do throughout the day. And we preparation, simple routines and coming up with systems that reduce your stress and increase your productivity or what you need here. Let’s just dive into this. It’s a tip Tuesday episode. It’s supposed to be short and sweet. The first thing you need to do to eliminate some of the stress that you’re feeling is to prepare for your week, really prepare for each day, spend a few minutes over the weekend, review your calendar for the upcoming week and get everything out on paper.
(02:27):
If you use a digital calendar or a planner, it’s going to seem at first, like this is like a double thing you’re doing because you already have your appointments and your meetings in your digital calendar. But what you need to do is find a place where you can easily look at this. I talk a lot about this in my courses, and we go into detail of how to do this quickly. Look at your calendar and then get it all out on paper. Whether that’s a wall calendar or a paper desk, calendar, write everything down. When I do this, I to color code different activities, have different colors that represent them. You don’t have to go into detail like that. Another way to do it is color code for each member of the family, but have a place where everyone in your house can go and look at this calendar at a quick glance and see what’s going on for the coming week.
(03:19):
This you will want to do over the weekend, write everything down for the next five to seven days. So at a quick glance, everyone knows what is happening. Then add the things that have to be done for your schedule, activities, meetings, whatever you have coming up. An example of that would be if there’s a birthday celebration or something at school on Wednesday, that you need to buy cupcakes for on Tuesday, added in there. At some point, you need to get those cupcakes and then take them to school on Wednesday. You know, Halloween’s coming up. Maybe you need to finalize Halloween costumes. What’s your first event where you need those costumes Friday for trunk retreat. Okay? Finalize your Halloween costumes early in the week so that you have time to get those last minute items or whatever it is that you need so that you’re not running around stress an hour before the trunk or tree on Friday.
(04:08):
After you do this, add in your non-negotiable to dues for the week, scheduling a doctor’s appointment, things like that, whatever you have to get done this week, no matter what, add those into your to-dos for the week, then each night spend just a couple minutes, go Lance at this calendar, see what is coming up for the next day. And then when you go to bed, you know, in your mind what your plan is for the next day. One thing that is helpful is to do the most difficult task on your to-do list. First, get it out of the way and just move on from it. You’re fresh and not burn out. And think in the morning when you’re sitting down to do those tasks, whether it’s a home thing or a work thing, do the thing that you’re dreading the most. First, you have more energy to put into this.
(04:54):
It’s the hardest thing. It’s usually the most time consuming, but once it’s done, you can feel the relief of having it finished. And then you don’t have to be stressed and annoyed by it all day long or all week long. Just get it out of the way and move on from there. Come up with little things ahead of time that will lower your stress each day. These are the systems that you will hear me talk about all the time, having good routines, evening routines morning routines, those save time. One thing I can tell you that I used to do when I worked outside of the home and had to leave the house by six o’clock every morning, I would pick out my outfits for the week on Sunday or Saturday. And I could look at my calendar, see what was coming up for the entire week, pick out my outfits and be done with it.
(05:37):
So every morning I’d get out of the shower and I could put my clothes on without spending any time, not even one minute thinking about what I was going to wear. Now I do it the night before, before I go to bed, I figure out my outfit. I usually the dog on the Walker get some exercise in, in the morning. So I have that sitting on my bathroom, counter, waiting for me to get out of bed. I don’t have to rummage through the drawers or go into the closet and figure it out. Then I get home, take my shower. And my outfit for the day is waiting for me. So in both things like that, save you a lot of time in the moment, you know, do things like that. What can you do the night before? Can you pack lunches the night before? Absolutely eliminate the things that are causing you.
(06:15):
Stress. These are all examples of block scheduling. If you are at work and you have a boss or a manager or someone who is teaching you how to be more productive, they’re going to implement some kind of block scheduling because it saves time. And it eliminates you from doing tasks that take a few minutes each day, where you have 15 minutes to figure it out, get it all done. Boom. That’s what block scheduling is. Think about how you can do that in your house. Also think about your physical space. Is your physical space, comforting, calming. Does it make you feel good? If you’re surrounded by clutter? If your kitchen counter is always collecting the items that are coming and going and everything that doesn’t have a home, then your physical space is adding to your stress. I can tell you in my house, one thing that has bothered me lately is the plastic bags that come from the grocery store.
(07:07):
The container that I have for those is overflowing. I like to use the reusable bags during the COVID restrictions. A lot of grocery stores were allowing you to use reusable bags. So you had to take the plastic or paper. I’ve also noticed that with grocery delivery or pickup, it’s the same thing. In the last year, I’ve seen an increase in my home, in the paper and plastic bags that come home. When they come home, I do have a spot for them and we reuse them. What has been happening over the last few weeks is anytime they come home, they’re getting put in this saner. It’s overflowing. It’s a mess. When I walk into the pantry and these bags are over, this is a little thing, but when your house is simplified and systemized and decluttered, you notice these things. I decided to take a handful out, recycle them because I will never get to the bottom of that container and use up all the bags by eliminating those plastic bags that are overflowing.
(08:02):
I don’t have an annoyed. When I opened the pantry door. It’s simple. Things like that, that you implement into your life, that eliminate the little stresses, and then you don’t ever get to that point where you’re like boiling over because you’re so stressed. Routines and systems are the key to living with less stress and not feeling overwhelmed. Think about what you can do right now at some point today, take only 15 minutes. I want you to think about what you can do right now, or at some point today that will take you 15 minutes or even less than that. It can take you five minutes, but think of something that will take you 15 minutes or less, that will reduce your stress moving forward. When you haven’t done a thorough purge and decluttering of your home, which most people have it. These are usually tasks that eliminate unnecessary items.
(08:47):
They’re eliminating physical items to save you time. Two examples just popped into my head. If you’re short on time, the where’s the stress coming from what’s you to be short on time. If you’re struggling with getting ready, looking nice, getting your makeup done, clean out your makeup drawer. Simply take five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever it is, but make sure it’s 15 minutes or less clean out your makeup drawer, drawer, cabinet bag, whatever it is, go through your makeup and take anything out of there that you don’t use daily. You’re only going to keep the makeup in this area that you use daily. And this will save you time every single morning, because you’re only dealing with the items that you are using. You found a different place for the, those other things. And if you do this, make sure you throw away old items and expired items.
(09:33):
Makeup does not last as long as you think it does. That was one example. The second example I can think of is water bottles. If you have kids, they probably take a water bottle to school with them every day. You probably have a water bottle, mug cup, something that goes with you. When you leave the house, usually these are a problem point in kitchens. Water bottles tend to be all over. They often come with a lid that you don’t use. You switch it out for a different kind of lid. There are straws and accessories that go with these things. And they’re kind of like Tupperware, where they become mismatched. They’re stored in more than one location and you can’t always find what you need when you want. Sometimes they’re tall, cumbersome. They fall over. You don’t have a good storage system for them. Gather your water bottles, cups, and mugs that you use to leave the house with you.
(10:21):
And that come back each day, gather them all, make sure they all have pieces that fit. If you have a water bottle that doesn’t have a lid, get rid of it. If you have a lid that doesn’t have a water bottle, say goodbye to it, eliminate those things and then only keep what you need and what you’re actually using. The freebie water bottles that you get at events that get pushed to the back of a drawer or cabinet. You can donate those because you’re not using them. Keep the ones that you’re using. Come up with a storage system networks every day. You’re not wasting time trying to find the lid for a water bottle where the lid is broken and doesn’t exist anymore. Or the other way around you get the point. You’re eliminating clutter. You’re eliminating unused items that do not serve you so that you spend less time finding the items and using the items that actually do.
(11:09):
Now, if your house is truly de-cluttered and you don’t have anything extra around, the things that you can do to simplify are going to be short tasks, and they are going to revolve around creating systems or altering systems that you already have examples for this one could be adding a hook by the door that you leave the house with w where your person keys goes, designate a basket or drawer for technology items, you know, remote controls, game controllers, things like that. Find a place where those goes, talk to your family about this new location, where all of these things go. This is their new home. It might take a little while. People might forget a reminder is okay, once or twice. And then you might have to implement some consequences. If your kids are leaving the game controllers out and not putting them back, then they might lose gaming privileges for 15 minutes or a day or a week.
(12:00):
Whatever you determine is right for your family. With a few small corrections, everyone will be on board and we’ll be replacing these things to the appropriate basket or drawer. This is how you create systems, figure out what are you struggling with? What is annoying you throughout the day, those little things you need to create systems for, because when you eliminate all of the stress around the little things you don’t ever get to that point of being really stressed out and overwhelmed and where you do become grumpy. The bottom line here is what you’re struggling with. What’s causing you stress and to feel overwhelmed, declutter, and create systems around those things. Oftentimes it’s both you’ll need to purge and then create the system to maintain it, give it a few days or weeks. If it’s a huge change, then it definitely will need a few weeks, not just a few days.
(12:49):
And once that becomes a habit for you and your family, something you are now just doing and not even thinking about it has become a habit you’re simplifying. And you have eliminated that stressor in your life. It’s up to you to use these tools and get going with it. Good luck message me if you get stuck, or if you don’t know where to start, or if you have questions, submit your questions for a future tip Tuesday episode through the podcast tab on the ends and central audit website, go to intentional, edit.com. There’s a podcast page and the top menu. So click on podcasts. There’s a way to submit questions on there, or just send me a DM on Instagram at intentional edit. I am here to help you.
(13:34):
That wraps up another quick episode of a tip Tuesday. If you want to be featured on intentional edits, tip Tuesday, go to intentional, edit.com, click on the podcast page in the menu bar, and then scroll all the way down to the bottom. You will find a button that says record, tap on that and record your question or share what is currently overwhelming to you. What is going on that you need help with? I want to know, I need it to know your struggle so I can share actionable solutions to help you create simplicity in your home. If you’re having this issue. I know other people are having it too, and we want to help as many people as possible. Head over to the podcast page of intentional, edit.com and record your question for me there.
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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!
Intentional Edit participates in select affiliate advertising programs. If you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on this site or any related social media platforms, Intentional Edit may make a commission. All opinions are my own.
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