WEBVTT - Weird Things I Do to Keep a Cleanish House 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:01.760 It's like, say, for example, I have to send like 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.320 an email, I will literally teach myself how to retil 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:06.520 a bathroom. And I'd rather do that than actually just 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:09.600 send a two minute email. Hello guys, and welcome back 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:11.799 to Stepping Up. I'm so excited to be back today. 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.080 I'm going to be changing your life. Okay, well changing 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:19.360 it at enough so you can actually keep a cleanish house. Yes, 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:21.439 this episode, I want to be telling you all the 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.360 weird things I do to keep a clean ish house. 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.520 And now I say a cleanish house because I am 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.240 not a type a kind of girl. And you know, 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:34.400 growing up, I literally was so messy that my mother 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.760 had to cover my Like I had these big they 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.720 were like these handmade shells that I think you know, 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:42.920 my family made and they were painted blue because I 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.400 really love dolphins at the time, because dolphins were rule, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.800 and I had so much mess behind it. It was 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.239 just so much mess, and my mother would walk in 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.720 every day and my family and they'd just be so 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.720 sick of seeing. You know. There was like Pokemon toys, 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.400 there was more my books. There was just bits and bobs, 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:01.200 Like I used to collect all these little things like 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.920 member polypocket, I USEDI toll love that, and then when 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:05.760 I'd lose it, I'd be devastated. And it's like we 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.600 didn't really stand a chance to not lose it anyway. 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:11.000 So one day I got home from school and my 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.759 mom had actually hung some shower curtains across my shelves 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:17.400 and they were like, of course on theme, they were 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:19.880 on brand, this big. It was a big white shower 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.520 curtain and there was blue dolphins across it. So you know, 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.520 I could really hide my mess with marine wildlife, which 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.559 we love. And you know that's the thing with mess, 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:31.720 we do tend to try and hide it until it 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:35.000 builds up. And it did. It kept accumulating and accumulating 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.120 until the shower curtain could no longer hold it. So 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.760 the fact I've managed to find some weird things and 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.840 some hacks that have really helped me keep a cleanish house, 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.040 I feel like I'm qualified to talk about this, and 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.240 especially you know, being a mom and like we've got 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:54.240 the kids and all the things. It's it's tough. And 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.040 I will say, I will say the house was easier 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.240 to keep clean when the kids were little, Like I'm 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.160 talking like babies, because babies can't move and my girls 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.800 were both really late to walk. They were I think 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.000 sixteen months I believe sixteen seventeen months. And with Harper 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.040 my first daughter, at first I was freaking out. I 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.280 was like, oh my goodness, what's wrong. And then with 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.960 Willow my second daughter, I was like, yeah, don't rush, honey, 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.840 you just keep doing like the slug because you know, 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:22.480 people do like the worm. I used to call it 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.520 the slug and they just like drag themselves along the floor. Anyway, Sorry, Tangent. 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.240 The house was so much easy to keep clean back then. 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.760 And look, yes we were sleep deprived all the things, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.480 but it was just much more simple. Because now my 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.120 girls are into the polypocket phase as well, and they 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.760 are losing the same things that I did. You know, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:41.800 the apple doesn't fore far from the tree, does it. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:45.440 So this is just me being really realistic giving you 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.640 tips and things that aren't like overbearing. I'm not gonna 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.520 expect you to be running your house and keeping it 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.160 spotless like a boot camp, like we're not doing that here. 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.239 It's just about being realistic because at the end of 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.560 the day, you know, it's not about having like a 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.640 pintre perfect home. It's not about that it's not about 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.160 you know, trying to keep up appearances. It's about making 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.600 your life easier because we all know how much mess 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.639 and clutter affects us and a lot of people. You know, 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:15.920 I've talked about this so many times, but there is 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.560 studies and science that show that it affects us not 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.560 only mentally but also physically, like our actual health. So 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:24.760 you know, you just think about it. As a woman, 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.440 we have so much of the mental load that we carry, 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:32.800 and it's so important that we work out systems and 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.680 ways that can alleviate it because you know, the stress 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.400 from the mental load of remembering all the things. And 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:42.680 you know, we weren't taught in school how to clean 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.600 a house. You know, we did cooking class, which is cool, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.280 like I remember we made really cool chocolate chip cookies, 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:50.920 but didn't really help us too much. And I really 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.760 feel like for people like myself who aren't Type A 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.280 and you know, especially with ADHD, like I'm naturally a 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.760 messy person, like we need help with that. And I 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.760 think if we had subjects taught at school on how 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.640 to do this, we would be much happier people. So, yes, 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:10.760 today's episode is really going to help many, many people 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.040 out there. And also you're going to get a freebe 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.320 as well my viral cleaning schedule, which you can change 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:18.320 and make it like whatever you want. You fill it in, 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.359 and it's just going to help really just stop the 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.600 micro decisions, which I'll talk about in a minute, so 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:25.960 that will be linked in the show notes. But before 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.039 we get into it, a bit of a life update. 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:30.960 I've really been trying lately to get back into like 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:33.760 the hobbies and things that I love. As you guys know, 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.040 last year I actually started learning to play guitar and 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:38.360 I loved it. It's something I want to do since 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.960 I was eight years old, and I even went to lessons. 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:43.560 And it's funny because so like for me, you know, 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.080 I haven't played guitar for a little bit, for like 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.080 a few weeks, and she's a bit rusty. Like my 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.080 goal was to learn how to play Wonder War. I 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.680 love Wonder War, and now Wonder War doesn't really sound 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.840 like wonder Wall anymore, so I want to get back 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:59.960 into practicing that like just five minutes a day. And also, 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:04.000 as I mentioned, probably a few episodes ago, I haven't 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:06.800 been reading since I know I wrote the book, I 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.320 just haven't been able to read. I've been trying and 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.040 it's not happening. So if you guys have any recommendations 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.320 to help me get out of this reading slump. And 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.880 it's actually funny. When I come into the studio today Xander, 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.080 who is a producer here at Nova, we started talking 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:22.680 a bit about like when we were children and the 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.039 hobbies that we had, and they were kind of considered 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.080 to be lame, like the interest that we would hype 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.120 fixate on something, and now people are thinking those things 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:32.159 are cool. This is like a bit of a story 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.160 of one of the types of things I would hyper 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.359 fixate on. When I was younger, I was obsessed with horses, 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:39.159 Like I was like a horse girl, you know, and 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.720 people tend to say the horse girls are weird, which 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.479 you know, I'm not saying that anyway. So I was 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.479 so obsessed with horses, and I begged my parents for 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.719 a saddle. I really wanted to saddle because I thought, 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.520 you know, if I could kind of I thought I 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:56.600 could kind of trick them into buying me a horse 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.839 by saying I need a saddle, Like obviously I'm like seven, 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.679 and I thought I was a mastermind. So I finally 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:04.960 got this second hand saddle. They even brought me a 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.520 grooming kit, like how lucky am I? But you know, 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:12.960 the horse never came, which was very devastating anyway. So 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:14.880 what I would do is I would chuck. I would 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.200 literally stand by my saddle every day and just wipe 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.680 it down like a little weird horse girl, and I'd 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:21.840 chuck it on the couch like the arm rest of 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:23.920 the couch. And I even had a helmet, like guys, 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.920 I had the whole shebang except the main event, which 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:30.480 is the horse. And my mother at the time took 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.400 a photo of me riding the couch as like a widow, 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:35.360 and my helmet was super tight and it would pull 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.560 my eye brows right up, so I just looked constantly 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.120 in shock. Anyway. So that's kind of what I was 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.320 like as a child. And as you guys know, Ryan 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.440 and we've been together since we're seventeen, and we were 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:49.400 in our twenties and Ryan came over to the family 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.520 home and he was flicking through the photo albums and 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.919 he freaking found that photo of me riding my couch, 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:00.840 So that was fun, but he stayed, so that's nice anyway. 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:02.720 So what I'm trying to talk about. Is that how 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.640 people would have hobbies back then, like you know, be 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.360 knitting or something and like old lady hobbies that people 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.200 thought were lame and now they're like really trending online. 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.240 They're calling it like cozy hobby. So, like I bought 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.800 a Nintendo Switch a little while ago, I'd play Hogwarts 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:20.360 Legacy because I love Harry Potter. Like my first year 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:24.160 in high school, everyone had like Jesse McCartney on their books, 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.840 like covering their books, and I had Ron Weasley because 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.480 he knows he's pretty cute. Ron, I'd have to say. Anyway, 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:32.440 moving on, so I'm trying to get back into all 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.280 of that, and yeah, that's pretty much it. It's just like 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.320 it's just life as usual. Also, before I get into it, 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.320 please don't forget to follow us on Instagram at Stepping 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.560 Up and also my Instagram page which is steph Pace Underscore, 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.040 And also check out our Facebook community because we'll be 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.480 dropping more hints and tips and people like. It's a 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.880 place for you guys to just chat about the episodes 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.080 we talk about and I'll always be giving you extra 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.320 value in there as well. So let's get into it, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.160 shall we. Now let me ask you have you ever's 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.200 you know, being at home and then suddenly you look 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:07.320 around and think, how did it get this bad? And 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.800 you feel like it's like a weekly occurrence, even though 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.840 you swear you just cleaned for me. My biggest thing 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.520 is on the weekends. I feel like when I wasn't 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.680 doing these things, I would feel like every weekend I 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.320 would have to reclean the bathroom like and I'm not 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.240 talking like like dirty, I'm talking about like clutter, Like 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:28.040 you know how there's dirty you know mess, and then 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:32.319 there's clutter mess. It was the clutter mess. And I 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.280 would always feel like every weekend I was just spending 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.320 like a day just cleaning up after my own shit, 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.920 literally because I couldn't up keep it during the week 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.120 And you know, and then when the house does get 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:45.840 into that state and you're looking around, you're like, how 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.520 do we get here? Instead of cleaning, you're just feeling 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:49.920 too over a one, so you end up sitting down 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.640 and scrolling or doing something completely different. And this is 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.440 something I relate to. It's very much the avoidance. It's like, say, 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:58.880 for example, I have to send like an email that 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:00.760 I really don't want to send, I will I will 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.199 literally teach myself how to retile a bathroom, and I'll 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.600 rather do that than actually just send a two minute email. 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.600 And that's just because it's that resistance that we experience 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.400 as humans and it's bloody hard. And as I said, 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.720 they don't teach this stuff at school, and you know, 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.840 I definitely do the same. Like there'll be so many 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.320 times where I know I should be cleaning and all 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.520 the things, but then you feel like soon as you 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:26.720 do it, you turn around and it's gone back to 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.360 how it was. And I tell you what, kids are 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:31.560 really good at making messes, Like they're really really good 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.160 at it. They give young Steph with her dolphin shower 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:36.960 curtain a run of her money. You know, my house 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.640 isn't spotless. It's not like Pinterest or anything like that, 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:41.800 but it's clean ish and that is good enough for 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.480 me because that really helps me with my mental load 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.200 and also gets me my time back, you know. And 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.400 for me right now, cleanish is good enough. That's the 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.360 season of my life. Like I'm happy I don't need 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.400 to have you know, I want my kids to feel 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:57.520 like they can still play and they can do the things. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.200 But there's little rituals and things that we do that 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.599 really really help for it not to turn into a 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.679 shit show. Like for me, I always just thought I 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.760 couldn't like I was incompetent, Like there was something wrong 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.560 with me that I couldn't keep a space clean, Like 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.080 I just had to be better. I had to be 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.640 more organized, I had to be more disciplined. I just 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:18.640 had to be better version of myself. But it turns 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.240 out I just didn't have the systems. And these are 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.640 the systems I'm going to be giving you today. Now, 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.400 before I give you these weird and amazing systems to 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.760 help get your house cleanish, we need to talk about 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.120 why is this so hard? Like why is this such 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:37.120 a punish for us to do a simple life task 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.000 such as even like things like do you many dms? I 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.840 get daily about even cooking and meal prep because it's 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:46.120 like you think you think that when you when you're 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.280 growing up. I think for me, I thought I'd get 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.520 to a certain age and something would click into place 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:52.720 and then everything would make sense. And I've talked about 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.480 this before. How you know our parents' generation, it was 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.960 very much you don't question them, and they look like 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.800 they had their shit together. So then for us growing 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.920 up especially as like millennials, we're waiting for this switch 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:10.160 to flick and for us to understand the world and 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.000 how to do our tax returns and things like that. 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:15.080 But it doesn't happen. And I'm thirty five years old 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:18.520 now and I'm still working things out. And it's the 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:20.320 thing is, it was just it was a facade. It's 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:22.760 obviously they obviously felt the pressure to do that too, 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:27.160 and it's just, you know, keeping your house clean is 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:29.480 another one of those things like some people, yes, they 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:33.880 probably are just naturally gifted with it, and then there's 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.840 people like me who have like five spatchelors and just 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:44.880 have doom piles bloody everywhere. And the thing is, keeping 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.480 a house clean isn't just tough physically because you have 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.280 to physically do the thing. I feel like it's more 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:55.280 so tough mentally. And that's because you know, imagine walking 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.880 into a messy room, you feel your body tightened up 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:00.280 straight away. And that's because every single thing thing you 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:04.120 see is a micro decision. It's another decision you have 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.680 to work out that cup on the bench, decision, the 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.839 washing pile, or decision that toy under the couch, Another 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.720 decision like should I wash this, Should I do that? 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.240 Should I wipe that? What should I do today? And 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:19.760 it's not so much keeping the house clean, it's about 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.160 decision fatigue. We get it. We're so exhausted. Like think 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.000 about when you wake up in the morning, if anything's 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.640 not like a habit, like brushing your teeth, you wake 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.320 up and you're like, oh, like, what am I gonna 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.880 have for breakfast? What am I gonna wear? Which I 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.319 have so many good hacks on for this later another time, 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:38.959 like what time do you have to live house like? 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.520 And if it's not like a habit, it's just exhausting. 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.200 And that's why for me, especially when it hits like 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.200 one PM or even lunch, I'm done. My brain is 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.319 done for the day. And it's so hard too because 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:53.160 I'll come home from work or like a day of 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:57.320 meetings answering questions all day. And then you know my 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.160 daughters who are so inquisitive. They they're so clever, and 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:01.800 they have all these questions and most of the time 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:03.560 I can't get the hump of them. Let's be honest, 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.600 I'm usually like googling things because Harva wants to know 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.760 some they're just so smart, and I'm just done. And 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.040 that's because it's decision fatigue and our brain is just 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:15.040 checked out. You know, you walk into every room every 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:16.680 single day and you're like, do I follow this? Do 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:18.960 I put it away? Do I vacuum? Do I ignore it? 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.800 Do I spiral? Do I banish my family? And like, 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:26.720 go live in the freaking forest. Your brain's already full. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.959 Your brain is so full of like the schedules, kids, work, emails, 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:35.920 like is this person angry at me? You know, it's 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.320 just like it's it's there's like forty seven micro decisions 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.200 happening every minute, and then what do we do? We 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.160 avoid it? We the mess accumulates and we feel like 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.960 we're lazy, and we're not. We're just overloaded. And that's 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.640 why I'm here. I'm here to help now, to get 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:52.680 into the systems and the weird things I do to 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.240 keep my house cleanish. Now, I want you to think of, 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.920 say you're driving, and then it could be a song 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.200 and the last time you heard that song was literally 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.319 it could have been fifteen years ago, and you still 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.600 remember word for word. But then it comes to things 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.520 like maybe an appointment one day, or just things going 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.840 on at school or at work, and you forget, and 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.160 that's because our brain likes patterns, has like that pattern recognition. 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.560 So one thing I do I really like to hack 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:20.600 my brain a lot. And this is where I came 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.800 up with the thing of theme days. So you know 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.600 you already know I love alliteration unless you haven't noticed 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.160 already from stuff face planners and things like that, and 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.680 a lot of our marketing and stuff. I love just 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.440 using alliteration and ponds. So I'm like, you know, I 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:35.800 want to I want to play on that. I'm want 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:37.880 to play with that, like pattern recognition and how our 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.360 brains remember slogans like old ads and stuff like better 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.840 go to all, better go to lows or whatever. And 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:45.960 I want to do that with the cleaning, because cleaning 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.840 is boring. Let's make it fun. Okay, So we're gonna 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.680 use our pattern memory or pattern recognition, whatever you want 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.840 to call it by having theme days, which I'll explain 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.160 what they are in a minute. It's removing more micro decisions, 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.240 so like every day, you're not gonna wake up and like, oh, 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:01.800 should I do the laundry today? Should I do this? 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:03.520 Should I do that? It's just like this is the 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:07.480 day we do this because to be honest, we do 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.600 need to be told what to do sometimes. I know 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:13.160 for me being you know, the boss of SVP, I 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:14.960 love that. Like now I've to on my team a 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:16.360 lot of them, like can you just tell me what 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.880 you want me to do today? Like I need someone 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.120 just to tell me what to do. So here is 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.960 where the idea of a theme day is. Each day 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.440 of the week. You can have like a little catchy 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.720 title to it, which I'll give you some mine in 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:31.880 a minute, and that's the day you do a certain 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.280 task or thing. Now, I used to do my cleaning 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.360 schedule where it was more so just like you know, bedrooms, 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.480 a Monday laundry is Tuesday. But now I've made it 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.440 fun again with the whole alliteration thing and things like that. 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:47.360 So when that day comes, your brain goes, okay, oh yep, 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.560 this is the day we do this thing. So some 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.440 examples for me are master and Mini's Monday. So this 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.520 is basically like the master bedroom and the kids' bedrooms. 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.240 So Monday is bedrooms, which has always been that way, 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:01.320 but it really helps me to remember that. So this 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.560 is the day I will vacuum the bedrooms, just like 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:06.160 do a little quick tidy up. It will take me 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.400 like five ten minutes, depending how massy we are. And 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.760 this is also part of a tip later on, which 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.000 is part of our AM and PM reset, which I'll 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.920 talk about later. And then we have toilets and tiles Tuesday, 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.120 so any of the wet areas, any told areas, that's 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.480 the day, like you know, days get wiped down and 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.720 all that stuff. Toilets get cleaned. That's a Tuesday. And 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:29.680 then I've got wipe down Wednesday, which is more like 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.160 a general clean, like just a bit of a wipe 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.080 down for most benches and things like that. And then 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:38.000 fresh sheet Friday. Love that day. Not really, it's like 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.800 you know, when you bloody, it's always like you have 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.200 the motivation in the morning to do the sheets, and 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.320 then you forget because of the laundry, which I'll have 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.640 a hack for soon, and then you're so tired and 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.880 then you walk in and then the realization that you 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:53.760 haven't done the sheets yet and you still have to 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:57.200 do that before we get in bed is horrible. It sucks. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.360 It's worse than having a slow walker in front of you, 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.360 like Dad said. And then we have set up Saturday, 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:04.879 which is like restocking items like the soap, all the 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.600 toilet paper, all that fun stuff, and also just like 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.600 shopping your fridge and freezer to create a meal plan 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.080 like for the week. So it's like you're setting yourself up. 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:15.480 And that's also the day I like to try and 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.000 fill in my planner for the next week. And then 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:22.000 we've got shared space Sunday, so that's obviously any shared spaces, 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.040 so like the lounge rooms a big one because that 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.280 can accumulate fabit of stuff, but more of like a 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.720 deeper clean in there too. And this whole idea of 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.800 theme days works so well for dinners and meal planning. 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.600 The thing is like I feel we do put a 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.320 pressure on ourselves to try new meals every week and 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.840 do something new every week. But for us and our family, 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.320 we eat the same dinners every single week, and it 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.280 works for us. It's like, you know, you like what 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.000 you like, you know, so let's not like fix what's 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.600 not broken, you know, So you can use this same idea. 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.199 So I'm sure you've heard of meat free Mondays and 0:17:56.200 --> 0:18:00.240 then taco Tuesdays, So using stuff like that and just 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:02.680 having a certain day per week where you know, okay, 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.680 that's the day we eat pasta. You know, it could 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:09.440 be Salmon's Saturdays, I don't know, like or whatever, seafood Saturdays. 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.919 Take away those days whatever you want to do, and 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:17.040 that again, it's removing the micro decisions, which also helps 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.280 lighten the mental load. And that's the thing, that's the 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.879 thing we want to do here. And just remembering all this, 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.800 like your theme days or how you clean your house, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.439 that is going to change as your life changes. As 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:29.919 I said, when the kids were little, I didn't have 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.800 to like upkeep the lund room like twice a day, 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:36.240 and now I do because they've decided they want to 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.600 start a band and then do arts and craft and 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.280 then they're going to do barbies or within half an hour. 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.800 But when they were babies, theyre just laying there. I 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:48.679 love your girls, but let's just chill now. My second 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.320 hack or weird thing I do is a brain hack again, 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.879 and this is my having my cleaning playlist. Now every 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:59.520 time I clean my house, I play the exact same 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.480 cleaning playlist. Now, this is all about Q association. So 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.680 I'm sure you've been out and about. Maybe you've smelt 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:10.960 something familiar or you've heard something and that memory from 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.399