Speaker 1: Hello, guys. It's Steph here, Steph the Mess, and I'm
Speaker 1: taking a little break this week. I am just enjoying
Speaker 1: some family time and I think I had too much
Speaker 1: fun out of health retreat because I've come back with
Speaker 1: a bit of a cold, so that's fun, and of
Speaker 1: course I've decided to share with the family. So what
Speaker 1: I thought I would do is take you back to
Speaker 1: a few popular episodes in Stepping Up, and this one
Speaker 1: is very, very needed. This is all about de cluttering.
Speaker 1: This is like my best deck cluttering framework and hacks
Speaker 1: and tips one oh one. So we've done the heavy
Speaker 1: lifting for you and this is everything that you need
Speaker 1: to really just like cull and reset, especially at this
Speaker 1: time of year when I feel like everything gets a
Speaker 1: little bit hot and heavy and not in the way
Speaker 1: that we want. So I want to stop yapping and
Speaker 1: first STARp it's three steps from chaos to clarity. Now,
Speaker 1: let's talk about organizing your home. This can be such
Speaker 1: an overwhelming thought and a lot of us don't even
Speaker 1: start because when you think of the house, it is huge.
Speaker 1: It's a whole house, and we don't all get you know,
Speaker 1: Marie Condo popping in with the whole team to do
Speaker 1: a Netflix show where they fix your house up in
Speaker 1: a day. You know, we have priorities, jobs, kids, things
Speaker 1: to do, and we can't possibly overhaul our whole house
Speaker 1: in a day. And I think we do put a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure on ourselves to do that, to think
Speaker 1: we need to click our fingers and the whole house
Speaker 1: needs to be perfect. And look, guys, as you know,
Speaker 1: I am known for my organization. You guys call it stephing.
Speaker 1: And I can tell you now even my house isn't
Speaker 1: fully staffed or organized because we are humans and things
Speaker 1: happen in life, and that is okay. One big thing
Speaker 1: I always preach is when you think of organization, I
Speaker 1: don't want you to think of the whole house. I
Speaker 1: don't want you to think of the big picture. I
Speaker 1: want you to think of that draw, that bench, that surface,
Speaker 1: and that's how you're going to conduct it. But one
Speaker 1: huge mistake a lot of people make when organizing is
Speaker 1: they go out and buy all these tubs and containers
Speaker 1: before they even know what they're going to do with it.
Speaker 1: And then they get home and they realize they've got
Speaker 1: so much mess and clutter that they need to cull it.
Speaker 1: It really is quite simple. Clutter eagles mess. So the
Speaker 1: less stuff you have, the less mess you're going to get.
Speaker 1: And yes, the house is still going to get messy
Speaker 1: every day. It needs to be lived in. People have children,
Speaker 1: have pets, have ryan's. But it's all about having a
Speaker 1: routine and it's all about upkeep. I always say organization
Speaker 1: is like fitness. You know, you don't decide one day, okay,
Speaker 1: I want to get fit. You go to the gym
Speaker 1: for a few months, and then you finally do get
Speaker 1: to a level of fitness you're happy with, and then
Speaker 1: you stop and you stop going to the gym, stop
Speaker 1: eating healthy. You can't do that because your fitness won't
Speaker 1: be upkept. So it's the same with organization. You can't
Speaker 1: just organize your house one day and think it's going
Speaker 1: to stay that way. No, because unless you kick out
Speaker 1: all the people in your house, it's not going to happen.
Speaker 1: It's something that needs to become part of your daily
Speaker 1: routine and rituals, and that is going to upkeep and
Speaker 1: maintain the organization of your house. So when I organize
Speaker 1: any space, there's always three steps you want to do.
Speaker 1: The first one is cull So this is obviously decluttering.
Speaker 1: And again, you don't have to do the whole house.
Speaker 1: I'm saying do a space at a time, So spend
Speaker 1: five to ten minutes per day on a small space,
Speaker 1: start with the junk draw and cull that area. Now,
Speaker 1: I know decluttering can be really hard, and I will
Speaker 1: be doing a full episode on decluttering as well later on,
Speaker 1: but it is necessary to do that. I've actually got
Speaker 1: a free resource for you guys. It's been out for
Speaker 1: a very long time and it's probably one of my
Speaker 1: most downloaded resources, over like hundreds of thousands of people
Speaker 1: have downloaded. It's called My Declutter Challenge. It's thirty days
Speaker 1: and basically it's a small task I set for you
Speaker 1: every day. So I will link it in the show
Speaker 1: notes below, and it is really really helpful for you
Speaker 1: just to break up the house. So let me know
Speaker 1: if you guys do that, because it is really really helpful.
Speaker 1: So let's say you're going to tackle the junk draw,
Speaker 1: so open it up, take everything out, and then you're
Speaker 1: going to sort it into categories. So the categories you
Speaker 1: use are going to depend on your space and your lifestyle.
Speaker 1: For example, if you're doing categories for your pantry, it's
Speaker 1: going to be things like oils and vinegars, spreads, cooking, baking, meal, kits, snacks,
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. Whereas if you do it for
Speaker 1: your linen closet, it could be things like flat sheets,
Speaker 1: fitted sheets, dinner covers, cushion covers, et cetera. So you're
Speaker 1: going to put it into categories. So if something like
Speaker 1: the junk drawer, it could be things like keys, coins,
Speaker 1: gift cards, things like that. And yes, it does get
Speaker 1: worse before it gets better. You know when you like
Speaker 1: decluttering your pantry or something and you're like half an
Speaker 1: hour in and then you look around You're like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, what do I start this because there's shit everywhere.
Speaker 1: Just remember it gets worse before it gets better. So
Speaker 1: once you've done your categories, now you want to contain
Speaker 1: slash storage, so you want to find storage for it.
Speaker 1: So yes, but this is where you can measure up
Speaker 1: your space and then you can go buy storage. But
Speaker 1: you don't have to buy storage. Guys, look around your
Speaker 1: house for things like baskets, tubs, containers that you've already
Speaker 1: got and you can use that. So things for like
Speaker 1: your junk draw I love using a cutlery Cuddy because
Speaker 1: it separates everything in the drawer and look, it becomes
Speaker 1: organized chaos over time. But again it's about the upkeep.
Speaker 1: So those three steps are going to be your holy
Speaker 1: grail to organizing any space in your house cold, categorized,
Speaker 1: storage or contain. Now, the next step is upkeep, and
Speaker 1: this is all about your daily routine to keep it
Speaker 1: organized and keep the clutter at bay. So for me,
Speaker 1: my biggest thing is doing things like my AM and
Speaker 1: PM non negotiable. So these are things I have to
Speaker 1: do morning and night to keep the house under order. Now, look,
Speaker 1: if we've got a busy period just recently, I've just
Speaker 1: gotten back from traveling and I'm busy recording all these podcasts,
Speaker 1: I have an unpatched look. Life happens. And this isn't
Speaker 1: about being perfect, Guys. Everything I share on my podcast
Speaker 1: is not about being perfect whatsoever. I'm not perfect. I'm
Speaker 1: far from it. It's just about not feeling like a
Speaker 1: slave to your home and your life. And that is
Speaker 1: all I'm here to do to help you with. So
Speaker 1: my AM routine consists of a few different categories. Can
Speaker 1: you tell I love category? So we've got my health aspect,
Speaker 1: which is things like journaling, meditation, all the things, but
Speaker 1: we also have the organization part of it. So in
Speaker 1: the am, I'm doing things like getting the kids ready
Speaker 1: for school, looking at the day ahead for the work week,
Speaker 1: trying to get myself sorted to get out the door.
Speaker 1: So some non negotiables for me is unstacking the dishwasher,
Speaker 1: popping them away, cleaning up the kids breakfast, cleaning up
Speaker 1: any toys, or getting them to help, which is a
Speaker 1: big thing, getting the kids to help me put their
Speaker 1: toys away in the morning, wiping down the benches, and
Speaker 1: then checking my planner for the day ahead, which I
Speaker 1: also do the night before, but I have the memory
Speaker 1: of a goldfish, so I also need to do it
Speaker 1: in the morning, so I'll check my planner make sure
Speaker 1: no plans have changed. I also, just because I run
Speaker 1: a business, I jump on emails and make sure no
Speaker 1: one's canceled any meetings and things like that. So that
Speaker 1: is an example of my AM routine because that means
Speaker 1: when I get home after work or when I get
Speaker 1: back from dropping the kids off, the houses in order
Speaker 1: and I'm not spending the time I'm meant to be
Speaker 1: doing other tasks cleaning up after everybody. Now, my PM
Speaker 1: non negotiables is always one that will struggle with because
Speaker 1: you just don't feel like cleaning up at the end
Speaker 1: of the day. And I get it, I really do.
Speaker 1: But my biggest hack for that is set a timer
Speaker 1: for ten to fifteen minutes, just to ten. And if
Speaker 1: you anything like me, you're gonna want to beat the
Speaker 1: time and a cleanup because it becomes a challenge. So
Speaker 1: what you do is you set your timer and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to get this house sorted and then I
Speaker 1: can go to bed, or then I can binge some
Speaker 1: true crime on Netflix. So set your timer, and for me,
Speaker 1: I do things like spot, vacuum, dishwasher, clean up toys,
Speaker 1: tidy up the lound room, wipe the benches, check my planner,
Speaker 1: and then I can go to bed. And it honestly
Speaker 1: really does help. So these AM and PM non negotiable
Speaker 1: routines are going to help you with the day to
Speaker 1: day the business of life. And then when it comes
Speaker 1: to the ongoing decluttering of your home, this is when
Speaker 1: you just spend five minutes per day. If you see
Speaker 1: a bench or a draw start to get cluttered again,
Speaker 1: you just get stuck into it. It honestly will take you
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes. Again, set a timer if you
Speaker 1: have to, but this will become a habit, just like
Speaker 1: brushing your teeth, And for me now, just like going
Speaker 1: to the gym, I don't even think about it. I
Speaker 1: just go. Another thing that really really helps is having
Speaker 1: a cleaning routine. And I feel like a lot of
Speaker 1: us spend all the weekend just cleaning for the week ahead,
Speaker 1: and you don't want to be spending your Saturday and
Speaker 1: Sunday deep cleaning the bathroom, doing all the things. So
Speaker 1: what's really good and what's helped me over the years
Speaker 1: is having zones. So for example, I will clean one
Speaker 1: part of the house per day. And look, this has
Speaker 1: changed a lot for me over the years. Now I
Speaker 1: can't afford a cleaner to help me with the deep
Speaker 1: cleaning as well, and I just keep on top of
Speaker 1: the maintenance. So if you are able to outsource that
Speaker 1: help and get a cleaner, one hundred percent, do it.
Speaker 1: But you still need to upkeep anyway during the week.
Speaker 1: So for me, for example, Mondays could be kitchen, Tuesday's bedrooms,
Speaker 1: Wednesday's lounge room, Thursday's entry away, and laundry etc. Etc.
Speaker 1: So break it up and I have, of course a
Speaker 1: staff pace planner cleaning magnet you can chuck on your fridge,
Speaker 1: and this is so important. But getting your partner on
Speaker 1: board so you don't feel like you have to nag
Speaker 1: them all the time. Last thing I want to do
Speaker 1: is have to nag Ryan and be like, can you
Speaker 1: help me with this? Can you help me with that?
Speaker 1: So if I've written it on the cleaning magnet, he
Speaker 1: can see it. And yes, I do have to remind
Speaker 1: him it's on the cleaning magnet, but at least it's there,
Speaker 1: and at least I know what needs to be done
Speaker 1: and we can tag team it. That was three steps
Speaker 1: from chaos to clarity. Now we're tackling one of the
Speaker 1: biggest decluttering challenges of all, which is how to de
Speaker 1: clutter when you don't want to let go. I honestly
Speaker 1: feel this because I still have a lot of random
Speaker 1: jerseys from high school. So you're going through your shit,
Speaker 1: You're going through all the stuff in your room or
Speaker 1: wherever you're looking, and you just don't know if you
Speaker 1: should keep something or not. Now, these are the key
Speaker 1: questions that I ask myself for everything I go through
Speaker 1: and these help me determine the answer. So the questions are,
Speaker 1: if I saw this in a store, would I buy it?
Speaker 1: Think about our taste, change, our styles, change, even just
Speaker 1: normal household items. If you saw it in a store,
Speaker 1: would you buy it? And if the answer is no,
Speaker 1: get rid of it, donate it, sell it whatever. The
Speaker 1: next question is have I used this in the last
Speaker 1: six months? Now. I know this can be a bit
Speaker 1: difficult because everyone thinks, oh, you never know that bloody
Speaker 1: cake mixer I haven't used for five years. I might
Speaker 1: need to make a cake one day. Oh you're not
Speaker 1: going to You're going to go to Woolies and you're
Speaker 1: going to go buy that really nice mud cake they
Speaker 1: sell and you're going to use that. Okay, So if
Speaker 1: you haven't used it, get rid of it now. I
Speaker 1: know with clothes it's more like seasonal. So with that
Speaker 1: I like to say every six to eight months. And
Speaker 1: then with me because where we live it doesn't really
Speaker 1: get super cold, so I do keep one really big
Speaker 1: puffer jacket, but everything else I don't need a lot
Speaker 1: of things for that. So just be honest with yourself. Now,
Speaker 1: the next question is does this add value to my
Speaker 1: life or not? If it doesn't, then it's clutter. So
Speaker 1: if that fifth batchela doesn't give value to your life,
Speaker 1: it's clutter, all right. Obviously we need things like spoons
Speaker 1: and knives and forks, but you don't need all this
Speaker 1: excess of stuff. We just always have such an excess. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how much easier it is when
Speaker 1: you have less stuff. Again, it's less cleaning. Now. The
Speaker 1: next question is there somebody in my life that would
Speaker 1: get more use out of this than me? So, for example,
Speaker 1: my cousin, she just moved out, she moved into a
Speaker 1: new home. That fifthspatula she could probably use that. I'll
Speaker 1: give it to her. I don't need five done. And
Speaker 1: the last thing, if you're just really not sure, if
Speaker 1: it's not a yes, like straightaway yes, then it's a no.
Speaker 1: Now I want to move on to more of the
Speaker 1: emotional stuff because those questions don't especially apply to things
Speaker 1: that are a bit more emotional, things that maybe we're
Speaker 1: given to you as a gift. The kids drawing things
Speaker 1: like that, the kids could literally I remember when the
Speaker 1: kids started drawing and they draw like a line on
Speaker 1: a piece of paper, and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: she's Percasso like. But you can't keep everything. But there
Speaker 1: is a way that we can do things a bit differently,
Speaker 1: so you can keep it, but you're not really keeping it.
Speaker 1: So I want to get into that now. Now this
Speaker 1: is really about being smart, so I want you to
Speaker 1: look into your storage situation. Firstly, this depends on how
Speaker 1: your home is, how much space you have. We'll start
Speaker 1: with the kids' artwork as an example. Kids art work.
Speaker 1: Every day I get like twenty pieces of art, especially Willow.
Speaker 1: She loves drawing. It's so cute. So I had to
Speaker 1: have tubs for the girls. They're the suspension file holders.
Speaker 1: I'll make sure I link a blog or something below
Speaker 1: for you guys who can see, and then I have
Speaker 1: them labeled for like daycare, the year, kindy, one, two, three,
Speaker 1: bah blah blah blah. So that was working really well.
Speaker 1: Now if your kid is like Willow and does a
Speaker 1: lot of art, and you don't really have space for
Speaker 1: a couple of tubs because those tubs generally that will
Speaker 1: probably become at least two or three, then some other
Speaker 1: option is you can scan them and keep digital copies
Speaker 1: of them, so you've got them digitally. You can make
Speaker 1: them into a photo book. There's all these photo books
Speaker 1: that you guys see. You guys know, if you've been
Speaker 1: following me for a while, I use chat books for
Speaker 1: our photo albums. I know. There's so many different brands'
Speaker 1: is like Once upon a Time and things like that.
Speaker 1: People will literally scan them and make them into photo books,
Speaker 1: which is such a good idea. Some people will scan
Speaker 1: them and then make them into artwork, like brands that
Speaker 1: will make them into a piece of art on the wall.
Speaker 1: There's so many things you can do with it. So
Speaker 1: those are some options that also can be if you
Speaker 1: get a lot of letters, any of those types of things. Again,
Speaker 1: it is always just a good idea to keep things
Speaker 1: digital as well in case like something ever happens. It's
Speaker 1: just a good idea to scan things. So I've got
Speaker 1: a letter from my nand which I literally have in
Speaker 1: a frame and it's so important to me, and I
Speaker 1: scan it and have that on my computer just in case. Now,
Speaker 1: I want you to think, if it is a gift
Speaker 1: from someone, it obviously depends on the situation, but just
Speaker 1: don't feel obligated to keep it because it's a gift.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, if you're not going
Speaker 1: to see it, and it depends what it is. Again,
Speaker 1: everything's different. You can always take a photo of it
Speaker 1: and keep it like that, so you've always got a
Speaker 1: memory of it, But just don't feel obligated because it's
Speaker 1: a gift. Because all of the time people keep things
Speaker 1: because of guilt. You feel guilty. That's why we don't
Speaker 1: get rid of things because you feel guilty or it's
Speaker 1: attached to a memory. So that leads on to my
Speaker 1: next point, that is, remember that these are things, not memories. Now,
Speaker 1: if it's like a hairloom or something really special from
Speaker 1: like your Nan or whatever, of course keep it's really precious.
Speaker 1: You put it in like a cabinet, But just remember
Speaker 1: not every like just because you're getting rid of it,
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're getting rid of that memory. That memory
Speaker 1: is with you forever. You know. I'm sure you have
Speaker 1: photos of that event all that time, and it is
Speaker 1: an item, it's not the memory itself. Now, some options
Speaker 1: you can do again is like I said, take photos
Speaker 1: of the items, or if there's a lot of them,
Speaker 1: like if there's multiple items, keep one thing from that
Speaker 1: event or whatever. So like for me when Nan passed away,
Speaker 1: I did get a lot of stuff, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff we had to share around, so I
Speaker 1: took photos of them so I've got them in my heart,
Speaker 1: you know. And now weird things like baby clothes, you
Speaker 1: could do something like for me, I have a thing
Speaker 1: with baby clothes. I can't up myself. I know some
Speaker 1: people get their first outfit framed. That'd be super cute.
Speaker 1: Another thing you can do is get a vacuum bag.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest. Look, I do this, but the only
Speaker 1: time I'll probably over open them again is if they're
Speaker 1: really old, like the kids is like pro teenagers, and
Speaker 1: I just want to bring them out, but I probably
Speaker 1: will never open them unless my friends have babies. But
Speaker 1: these are the items from them that really does spark
Speaker 1: that memory. So I just kept one thing, so I
Speaker 1: tried to really reduce it and then I kept it
Speaker 1: in a vacuum bag, which really seals it up. If
Speaker 1: you guys want a full episode on like storage hacks
Speaker 1: and things like that, let me know because I have
Speaker 1: so much storage hacks I can give you that will
Speaker 1: really really help. Now I want to recap that really
Speaker 1: fast to do with the emotional stuff, So number one,
Speaker 1: look into your storage situation, because that's going to determine
Speaker 1: how much you can keep. Number two, store things digitally
Speaker 1: if you can, or think outside the box, get them
Speaker 1: made into a book, artwork, things like that. The next
Speaker 1: point is, if it's a gift from someone, don't feel
Speaker 1: obligated to keep it. It's up to you. You'll know
Speaker 1: what's right, not even right, You'll just know what's right
Speaker 1: for you. And just remember that these are things, they're
Speaker 1: not memories themselves. Take photos of the item so you
Speaker 1: don't have to actually keep the item. And if you
Speaker 1: have multiple things, then just choose one thing. Now. The
Speaker 1: biggest trick with decluttering that you've listened to this episode,
Speaker 1: you like, I want to do this when I did clutter.
Speaker 1: Focus on your emotional items first because they're hard. But
Speaker 1: the biggest thing you need to do is make sure
Speaker 1: you upkeep it. You can't do clutter ones and it
Speaker 1: stays that way. Does not work like that. You have
Speaker 1: to keep at it every day. It's like cleaning the house.
Speaker 1: It's like fitness, like I always say, you can't get fit,
Speaker 1: and then you sit on the couch forever and then
Speaker 1: you're done. Now it doesn't work like that. Love, Sorry,
Speaker 1: you got to keep going. So every day, any space
Speaker 1: in your home that you start to see gets cluttered,
Speaker 1: spend like a couple of minutes just fixing it up.
Speaker 1: So for us at the moment, we've always found that
Speaker 1: the junk draw At the moment, we have a junk
Speaker 1: tub because we don't have enough drawls in this house.
Speaker 1: We have like a bit of a basket I bought
Speaker 1: from Amazon. I have to go to that every three
Speaker 1: weeks because it gets so full. Kids' bedroom once a
Speaker 1: week because Willow brings home all this random shit. It's
Speaker 1: all about the upkeep. So every day literally, if you
Speaker 1: can just spend five minutes a day, it's going to
Speaker 1: really really help. And also just being really mindful of
Speaker 1: what you're bringing into the house. I like to have
Speaker 1: a rule if you're bringing something in, get rid of
Speaker 1: something now, don't forget to use the Golden Red source,
Speaker 1: which is the thirty Day de Clutter Challenge. I'll link
Speaker 1: it below because that will change your life and make
Speaker 1: it so much easier for you. It is honestly just
Speaker 1: something that's like really good to go off. Something you
Speaker 1: can do every day and tick it off as you go,
Speaker 1: and then your house will be done. You're listening to
Speaker 1: the best hacks and tips of my decluttering episodes, and
Speaker 1: we looked at how to create clarity and how to
Speaker 1: let go of the things holding us back. Now, let's
Speaker 1: finish with some practical tips from eight hacks to keep
Speaker 1: a tidy home and stay sane. So the first tip
Speaker 1: or rule that you want to do to upkeep your
Speaker 1: home is don't put it down, put it away. And
Speaker 1: now don't want to roll your eyes with this, because
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've heard of it before, but this is
Speaker 1: something that when I'm really exercising this rule, the house
Speaker 1: is so much cleaner. Now. Some examples of don't put
Speaker 1: it down, put it away is when you get home
Speaker 1: and you take your jacket off or your jump up,
Speaker 1: don't check it on the bed, hang it up, or
Speaker 1: usually wear again. Hook. Yeah, you wear again. Hook is
Speaker 1: the best. If you guys don't know what it is,
Speaker 1: it's basically command hook. And this is the hook for
Speaker 1: clothes that are too clean to gone the wash, but
Speaker 1: too dirty to go back in your wardrobe and you
Speaker 1: know you're going to wear them again. Why it's called
Speaker 1: a ware again hook. Perfect for work uniforms, stuff of
Speaker 1: the kids. Just use a wear again. Hook. You know
Speaker 1: the moment where you look at a surface or an area,
Speaker 1: it could be kid's bedroom floor, and you look at
Speaker 1: it and you're like shit, like I just don't want
Speaker 1: to do this. It's too much and it just feels
Speaker 1: like so much effort. But when you do do it,
Speaker 1: it takes not long at all. That is because when
Speaker 1: you are looking at all of the items. You know
Speaker 1: I said before, all the items in the house are
Speaker 1: like coming together for a meeting, and they're from all
Speaker 1: over the house. The reason why you get so overwhelmed
Speaker 1: and feel like you can't start it is because not
Speaker 1: only does your brain have to do the executive function
Speaker 1: of starting the task, it has to look at every
Speaker 1: single item that's in front of you figure out what
Speaker 1: it is, what does it do, and where does it go?
Speaker 1: Which is going to lead me on to my next point.
Speaker 1: And I know I don't have to say this twice,
Speaker 1: but clutter equals mess equals more cleaning for you. So
Speaker 1: this is also where doing a daily decluttering practice comes
Speaker 1: into play. And now when I say that, I don't
Speaker 1: mean I want you to pull out everything in a
Speaker 1: drawer or like take a section each day, which you
Speaker 1: definitely can. And as I always say, when you're decluttering,
Speaker 1: I do not want you to think of the whole house.
Speaker 1: It's like what they say about the staircase. You don't
Speaker 1: want to think of the whole staircase. You want to
Speaker 1: think of the first step. It's the same as when
Speaker 1: you declutter your home. And I will link my decluttering
Speaker 1: challenge below. That is a great way to get started.
Speaker 1: But what I mean about doing a daily decluttering is,
Speaker 1: for example, I get home from work or from the
Speaker 1: gym and I see there's a couple of toys chucked
Speaker 1: in the back, there's a bit of rubbish shoved in
Speaker 1: like the cup holders. I will just grab that. Stuff
Speaker 1: goes in the bin, stuff goes where it lives. And
Speaker 1: it's just doing these like little daily tidy ups as
Speaker 1: you go. And this will kind of go into my
Speaker 1: next point. But if you see a surface or a
Speaker 1: draw that has a little bit too much stuff, or
Speaker 1: you know, like half of this stuff's just junk, just
Speaker 1: quickly do it. It'll take you two seconds. So once you
Speaker 1: get into the practice of that, and then you can
Speaker 1: be a bit more intentional by doing like decluttering sessions
Speaker 1: where you literally spend fifteen minutes on one area, you'll
Speaker 1: be so surprised what you can do in fifteen minutes. Honestly, So,
Speaker 1: when everything has a home, not only does your brain
Speaker 1: have to work less hard and try to solve the problem,
Speaker 1: it helps you find things quickly and everyone in your
Speaker 1: family also knows where things go. How many times does
Speaker 1: your partner not know where to put shit? Like mate,
Speaker 1: you live here too, So once everything has its home
Speaker 1: and everyone becomes aware of that, you can actually help
Speaker 1: each other. Now you're probably asking, Okay, that's all well
Speaker 1: and good, stuffy, I'll do my decluttering every day, but
Speaker 1: how do I actually organize everything into a home. Before
Speaker 1: you organize any space, you do want to do a cull.
Speaker 1: It's like a draw. So say, if you've got a
Speaker 1: drawer and you've got like pens and pencils and all
Speaker 1: this stuff, and it's really messy and there's rubbish in there.
Speaker 1: Are you going to try and put tubs in that
Speaker 1: and organize the mess or are you going to get
Speaker 1: rid of the mess and then see what's left, categorize
Speaker 1: it and then put your storage in Literally the process cull, categorize, contain. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're someone who really struggles to look at a
Speaker 1: space and organize it. I kind of want you to
Speaker 1: think of your room or home as zones. So you know,
Speaker 1: you've got your entryway zone. So when you come in
Speaker 1: the door, you've got space by the door, maybe you
Speaker 1: have a bin for shoes. You walk through and you
Speaker 1: think about what you're doing. So you've got keys, you've
Speaker 1: got your phone, and now you want to think about Okay,
Speaker 1: so how am I going to stare this? So you
Speaker 1: want to start designating zones for practicality. That's where things
Speaker 1: like my drop off zone comes in. So a drop
Speaker 1: off zone is basically storage. I've set up near the
Speaker 1: door where we chuck our shoes. You can chuck your bag,
Speaker 1: you put your keys in there, and you like those
Speaker 1: coins and mail, they all have a place and we
Speaker 1: all know where to put them, and you also know
Speaker 1: where to find them. And then you can really break
Speaker 1: it down into specific shelves or drawers or containers that
Speaker 1: you keep all your tech charges. So we have a
Speaker 1: million phone charges and things. I don't know why. I
Speaker 1: have this big plastic ikea container that's divided into a
Speaker 1: fair few sections. Then I organize the cables into sections
Speaker 1: by what type of charger. They are even down to
Speaker 1: having a certain spot in the kitchen in the cupboard
Speaker 1: for anything the kids need for school lunches, whether that's
Speaker 1: the lunch box themselves, the lunch cooler bag, the insulated
Speaker 1: cup for breaks. Everything goes in the once spot. Now
Speaker 1: you may not have a lot of storage, so this
Speaker 1: is where you really want to be utilizing vertical space
Speaker 1: as well. I've done this so much in the unit
Speaker 1: here I get over the door hangers that have organized
Speaker 1: on them, even under the bed storage, which is really
Speaker 1: good for like you know, your seasonal close, extra toys
Speaker 1: for the kids, things like that, but just really like
Speaker 1: think outside the box. You can use the door organizers
Speaker 1: to store your shoes. We use the kids door organizer
Speaker 1: for school shorts, certain items that they were losing all
Speaker 1: the time. It's because I know they're up off the
Speaker 1: floor and they're like literally as they go to walk
Speaker 1: out the door, they write there because every day I
Speaker 1: bought them these little shorts to wear under their school dresses,
Speaker 1: and they'd always lose them. And since I've put them there,
Speaker 1: no problems. It's all about just trying to think of
Speaker 1: like a solution. Another thing that can really help with
Speaker 1: decluttering is having the one in, one out rule, so
Speaker 1: every time something comes in the house, something needs to
Speaker 1: go and that just really helps with yes, stopping the
Speaker 1: accumulation of stuff that gets brought into the house every
Speaker 1: single day at Bay. Now, the next thing, which we
Speaker 1: all know is from the OG steph days, is having
Speaker 1: a daily and weekly cleaning routine. Again, I don't enjoy cleaning.
Speaker 1: I don't really know who does enjoy cleaning. Maybe on
Speaker 1: the rare occasion when there's not too much clutter around,
Speaker 1: it's okay you need to listen to a podcast, But
Speaker 1: it's not my favorite thing to do in the planet.
Speaker 1: But coming up with cleaning schedules is my jam. I
Speaker 1: love it and mine has changed a lot over the years.
Speaker 1: Now I'm able to outsource the cleaner just to come
Speaker 1: in and do the deep cleaning, which is one of
Speaker 1: the tips I'll give you soon. But I have to
Speaker 1: say here at the unit, it is much much faster
Speaker 1: to clean. It's very quick, and it's one of the
Speaker 1: great things about having a small space is how quickly
Speaker 1: you can clean up. But as I said, as your
Speaker 1: lives and lifestyles change and your you know, routines change,
Speaker 1: so does this cleaning schedule. You can't always just expect
Speaker 1: yourself to do the same thing throughout your whole life.
Speaker 1: I know people probably hear the word cleaning schedule and
Speaker 1: they roll their eyes. They're like, oh God, it sounds horrible,
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, you know, I work full time,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. But I'll tell you, once you start
Speaker 1: doing a cleaning schedule, because you're cleaning certain areas on
Speaker 1: a consistent basis, the cleaning gets cut in half even
Speaker 1: more so, and you get quicker at it. When I'm
Speaker 1: consistent with my cleaning schedule, my weekend cleaning is courted
Speaker 1: at least because the thing is the reason why I
Speaker 1: started doing this too, is because I want to be
Speaker 1: with my family. I don't want to my whole bloody
Speaker 1: weekend cleaning the house with Ryan. We want to be
Speaker 1: with our kids. And it's important that you do get
Speaker 1: your partner to share the load. And I know that
Speaker 1: can't be the same for everybody, And I very much
Speaker 1: acknowledge there's single parents, there's people that with fly in
Speaker 1: and fly out, there's people out there with health issues
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. But I'm saying, if you have anyone
Speaker 1: in your household that you can get to support you
Speaker 1: with cleaning. Please do because you deserve to be helped. Now,
Speaker 1: I want you to think of a cleaning schedule like
Speaker 1: keeping your email inbox organized. Imagine during the day you're
Speaker 1: receiving all these emails. If you take ten minutes once
Speaker 1: a day or twice a day at certain times, that
Speaker 1: allows you to read, reply, delete, do whatever you need
Speaker 1: to each email as they come, then your inbox stays
Speaker 1: half manageable, and you can also find really important messages easily.
Speaker 1: Now I want you to think if you don't do that,
Speaker 1: and you leave your inbox for say a week or
Speaker 1: even a month, Imagine coming in and then having to
Speaker 1: go through all of those emails that have come in,
Speaker 1: that would be so overwhelming and that would take you hours.
Speaker 1: You would most likely put it off as long as
Speaker 1: you possibly can, until you get in trouble or fired.
Speaker 1: It's because of the sheer volume of what you have
Speaker 1: to deal with, and having a cleaning schedule works is
Speaker 1: the same way as checking your emails twice a day. Literally,
Speaker 1: I have an AM and a PM non negotiable routine.
Speaker 1: By having a certain routine in the morning and in
Speaker 1: the afternoon, that allows you to do what I did
Speaker 1: with the inbox. It allows you to get in there,
Speaker 1: sort the clutter that has come in throughout the day,
Speaker 1: get rid of the rubbish that's come in, and put
Speaker 1: things back to their homes. But if you leave it
Speaker 1: to even just the end of the day, or if
Speaker 1: you leave all of the cleaning of the house till
Speaker 1: the weekend, you're going to be way more overwhelmed and
Speaker 1: you're going to spend a lot more time doing it. Now,
Speaker 1: let's move into the weekly cleaning schedule again. I want
Speaker 1: you to designate your weekly cleaning schedule into zones, so
Speaker 1: you can do bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathrooms, entry, away,
Speaker 1: outdoor spaces. I want to give you an example of
Speaker 1: what ours is. So Monday's bedrooms, Tuesday is floors, so
Speaker 1: I have a full day just for floors, just because
Speaker 1: I can smop and vacuum, and I always will do
Speaker 1: a spot a vacuum at nighttime. Wednesday's kitchen, Thursday's bathroom,
Speaker 1: Friday is living areas. Saturday is laundry and meal reset,
Speaker 1: so meal prep and that type of stuff, and then
Speaker 1: Sunday is sheets and laundry and any outdoor areas. Because
Speaker 1: you know Ryan loves to do out and bloody water
Speaker 1: the grass for no reason. It's like a man thing
Speaker 1: I don't get. Now, to make this work and to
Speaker 1: actually stick to a cleaning schedule, you need to have
Speaker 1: it visible to the whole family and in a place
Speaker 1: where you guys are always there, So that's where the
Speaker 1: cleaning magnet comes in. You can also delegate zones per
Speaker 1: family member. So say, for example, you'd be like mondays,
Speaker 1: I'll do the bedrooms Tuesdays, you do the floors, and
Speaker 1: I get seeds on the magnet. If it doesn't work,
Speaker 1: you can wipe it out and change it so easy.
Speaker 1: And then on the magnet you've got your AMM your
Speaker 1: PM routines on there as well. Now, if you are
Speaker 1: someone that you just like, I can't even do zones.
Speaker 1: It's just too much. All I want you to do
Speaker 1: is spend twenty minutes a day cleaning. That's it. I
Speaker 1: don't want to even think about what you're going to
Speaker 1: clean or where you're going to clean. Just do twenty
Speaker 1: minutes a day. Now for me personally to do like
Speaker 1: the schedule way, because I feel like I take twenty
Speaker 1: minutes anyway. But at least it's kind of a reoccurring thing,
Speaker 1: because I know I'll forget to maybe do the outside
Speaker 1: area for a while and then I go out there
Speaker 1: and it's a shit show. So that's why I do
Speaker 1: promote having a cleaning schedule. But even if you do,
Speaker 1: just do twenty minutes and then you keep going until
Speaker 1: your house is a little bit more clean, a little
Speaker 1: bit more clean, and then over time it just gets
Speaker 1: quicker and quicker to clean. Now we have finally reached
Speaker 1: the part of the podcast that you've been waiting for,
Speaker 1: and this is the life altering hack that's going to
Speaker 1: change everything, literally change the game for you. I've mentioned
Speaker 1: it a million times. Clutter is just random objects from
Speaker 1: around the house that you need to tidy up. It's
Speaker 1: really blood annoying. So there's toys, there's remotes, there's that
Speaker 1: fourth bloody spatchuela that you're meant to throw out. It's
Speaker 1: just everything. They've all just kind of got together. And
Speaker 1: this is where I'm going to introduce to you the
Speaker 1: catch or basket. And this is where you have a
Speaker 1: basket in the main areas in your home. So for us,
Speaker 1: it's the living room and we have one upstairs, and
Speaker 1: then we have one on the stairs. You guys would
Speaker 1: already remember the upstairs basket. I've done that for years,
Speaker 1: and I did that in the old house, so I
Speaker 1: had a basket at the bottom of the stairs. Anything
Speaker 1: that had to go up, we'd go in the basket
Speaker 1: and we take it up at the end of the night.
Speaker 1: This is the same kind of vibe, but basically it
Speaker 1: is you're placing a basket in the main areas of
Speaker 1: your home. So throughout the day, when people are finished
Speaker 1: with things, or there's just things that do need to
Speaker 1: go away and they just can't be bothered, it gets
Speaker 1: put in the capture basket. You just chuck it on
Speaker 1: in there, and then at the end of each day
Speaker 1: you take it with you and you just put the
Speaker 1: stuff away and that's it. That's literally the hack. Well
Speaker 1: there's even like these stair baskets I saw, because if
Speaker 1: you guys up stairs, you know the bloody pain that
Speaker 1: it is of having to constantly put things on the
Speaker 1: stairs and then no one else in the family takes
Speaker 1: it up, and it drives me bloody bonkers. It still
Speaker 1: happens with the baskets, but basically you put everything on
Speaker 1: the stairs and then no one takes it up and
Speaker 1: then you're trying to like carry all of this shit
Speaker 1: and then you end up being like, oh, just take half,
Speaker 1: and then you won't make the trip back. And that
Speaker 1: is why having these baskets is really really helpful. Another
Speaker 1: tip for this hack is allocate a basket to certain
Speaker 1: family members or so to Ryan, you did the downstairs basket,
Speaker 1: or do the living room basket, and the kids can
Speaker 1: do the upstairs basket. Like, get the kids involved and
Speaker 1: it's going to make it so much easier. You can
Speaker 1: even make it a game, you know, you put some
Speaker 1: music on, put a timer on it, and people can
Speaker 1: see how quick they can empty their basket, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, and just make it fun. But yes,
Speaker 1: the catch or basket is a game changer. It can
Speaker 1: be a laundry basket. You can get cute baskets from Kmart.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that is it for this special decluttering
Speaker 1: best of Thanks for spending some time with me while
Speaker 1: I'm away. I hope these favorite moments have inspired you
Speaker 1: to clear a little space and create more calm. Are
Speaker 1: we back in your ears next Monday? And until then,
Speaker 1: take care and happy decluttering. Bye.