Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - 5 Minutes Matters - Your New Mantra for a Productive 2021 | Clutterbug Podcast # 100

Episode Date: December 22, 2020

Do you want a productive and happy 2021? Try adopting the new mantra" "5 Minutes Matters". To learn more about my new course, Take Your House Back, visit http://takeyourhouseback.com       You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/   #clutterbug #podcast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I love mantras. I'm that person that like, I love to just have little quotes I can tell myself to motivate myself. This is what I'm living by this year or whatever. Last year, instead of a New Year's resolution, I decided my word, my mantra for the year was simplify. How funny is it that I've simplified more than just my home and my day to day. I've simplified the number of people I see the number of places I've go. Maybe COVID took simplification to the extreme when it comes to my life. But that sort of was my mantra for this year was simplify. And I repeated this over and over again.

I made myself a vision board with all the ways I was going to simplify my life. This year I have a new mantra and it's five minutes matters. Hey, clutterbugs, welcome back to the clutterbug podcast. Today we're going to talk about things that we can do, mantras that we can have, steps that we can take to make 2021 awesome. What I'd love you to do is think about this podcast as a process. productivity podcast. If you could pause it right now, if you're home, and grab a garbage bag, grab a box that you could put donations in while you're listening, I want to encourage you to go

around your home, find trash that can go in the trash, maybe do some quick tidy-ups of things that need to tidy. Maybe you're folding and putting away laundry, or maybe you're looking for things that can donate. Use this podcast time to be really productive. We're going into lockdown here in Ontario, Canada. The entire province is going into lockdown. And I'm sad about it. Honestly, we're supposed to be visiting family over the holidays. That's not going to happen. We're sort of stuck in the house. And we're stuck in the house for like a month, at least, before we can even do anything or go anywhere and the kids are home from school. And I feel like the positive of this is this is my second chance to do all the things I always,

said I would do if I had the time. And then, you know, in March I was given the time. I was given like a lot of time and I didn't do any of those things. And then I look back and I think, why when you actually had the time? Did you not do the things that you wanted to do? And now I've given a second chance to do those things. So I'm trying to look at this as a positive. And what I've been doing this whole last week is decluttering like crazy. And I know you must think, gosh, Cass, you have a shopping problem because you declutter all the time. But the truth is, I still have more to go. And it isn't that I have a shopping problem. It's just that we're constantly bringing things into our home. And my kids just had birthdays in September and October. And we had just things coming in all year

long. But I wasn't letting things go at the same rate. So our house filled up again. So in anticipation of Christmas and gifts and new things coming into the home, I've had this new resolve to go through my areas, to go through the rooms, to go through my home, and let things go. And I'm using this mantra as I'm doing it to motivate myself that I learned from Don from the Minimal Mom. So a couple of weeks ago, Don from the Minimal Mom and Dana from a Slob Comes Clean and I, we got together to film a course, take your house back. And honestly, I thought I sort of knew everything about decluttering and organizing because I've been doing this for 10 years and I've read every book and I watched all the videos and I watched Don's videos and I watched Dana's

videos and I've read Dana's books. But Don kept saying something to me that just really clicked. She said two things that really stuck with me and have had an impact since I've left her on my life and my home. And the first thing she said to me was it's really selfish to to hold on to things that you're not using and loving. So it isn't about taking away space because everything has a home now in my home. Things are really organized. But what she said is it's selfish to hold on to something that somebody else could be using and enjoying if you're not, even if you have the space for it. And I had never, ever, ever looked at my stuff that way.

I had never looked at my things and thought, how selfish is it of me to hold on to this that we're not using and loving? and so I took this while looking at my own clothing that I'm like, well, I know I don't use it, but I have the room in my closet, so why not? I was like, wow, you know what? This is a beautiful dress. This is a beautiful sweater that I don't actually wear or love. Why am I not sharing this with someone? Why am I holding onto it and not giving it to somebody who could really use it?

And then I went in my son's room and he went through a phase where he was so indistinguished. superheroes and we bought him these really like every Marvel character he had Superman he had all the action figures he has not played with them in two years they're just sitting in a bin and he has the room and he has the space and these really cool amazing action figures he has Aquaman he's got black panther he is like every little thing doesn't touch them at all hasn't touched them he's going to be nine I can't see him touching them in in the future and so I said to him I was like buddy do you want these days like no mom I don't want those action figures give them away but I've been holding on to them I've been feeling bad about it because I'm like they were expensive

they're special to me as a mom maybe because he went through this phase where we used to play action figures together but and I'm still like he's still so young like getting rid of toys at this age seems crazy because he's still at that toy age but the truth is he isn't playing with those toys When he does have time that he's playing with toys, he's more drawn to Lego or connects or coloring than he is to actually playing with action figures. And so I looked at this amazing collection of toys and I thought, how selfish am I for holding onto this? How selfish am I for holding on to these expensive, awesome toys?

And so I gathered them up. I took a picture. I posted them on Facebook for free for anyone. that's in need or looking for gifts for children in need and I found a great family for them to go to and then I was so inspired by that I mean this family was so grateful to get these toys for their five-year-old son they couldn't really afford to get him anything and they were so grateful that I was like all right Abby we're doing the same thing man and Izzy come on there are things you're not using and loving here that are good that we can gift for free that we can share with people who would

love and appreciate them. And we all felt so good. I got rid of necklaces. I got rid of clothes. Abby got rid of so many clothes and all of her slime. She had all these DIY slime kits that had never even been opened. I don't know. I feel bad for the poor families who got the slime kits. But so many things. She had all these beautiful headbands from Justice and little toys and dolls and collectibles and things that she hasn't played with in years and years and years. and it felt so good to take pictures to line it up and we wrapped them in packages and we put them on the front door and we found families for them when we gave the address and the family came and and got these great gifts at our front door and it felt amazing it felt so amazing so was the shift

in not about do I have the space in my home for it not do I love it not any of those questions but just changing it to looking at it as really selfish to not share what we have that we aren't using and aren't loving. That's being wasted in our home to not share that with others. And looking at that as being something that's a really selfish thing to do, it made it so much easier for me to let go. Like garbage bags and garbage bags this week have left my house in boxes and, and we wrapped things and put it at the front drawer. We had so much fun, so this was amazing. And so I wanted to share that with you.

The other thing that Don said to me that really, really motivated me was, she didn't even say it to me. She was saying it to people watching the course was five minutes matters. Five minutes matters. And I'm definitely a finisher in a lot of areas. So if I start an organizing project, a drawer or a clock, or a pile or an area. I want to finish it because I want to see how it looks when it's done. But I also can hyper focus with ADHD and so I become obsessive over projects like that and I will

work on it till it's done. But the things that don't interest me, the things that don't make me excited, I procrastinate and I put them off and I don't like doing them. And so the mantra, five minutes matters has really stuck with me. I hate cleaning my master bathroom. And this morning I got out of the shower and I was like, oh, the toilet should be cleaned. And I was like, and Joe's been trimming his beard. There's like little pieces of hair all over the counter and my makeup was everywhere. And I was just like, this is a dumpster fire. Ugh, it's going to be a project to clean it.

It's going to take so much time. I'm going to have to devote like an hour to this. I don't want to do this right now. But I thought five minutes matters. And so I cleared off the counter and I wiped all Joe's beard trimming hair. and I quickly clean the toilet, five minutes matters. And it did. It made a difference.

It made a difference. I was looking at this stack of laundry that I didn't want to put away that I build up in my head. I hate putting away laundry. Who likes it? Let's be honest. Five minutes matters. I emptied that basket and put everything away in five minutes. I can do five minutes.

Anyone can do five minutes. Even if it's just filling the sink with soapy water and letting the dishes soak, five minutes matters even if it's just taking out the trash to the garbage right taking it outside five minutes matters it makes a difference it's all these five minutes that add up to a huge impact and so that is my mantra not only for right now but for next year it's everything from exercising i mean i i need to exercise you guys i lost over a hundred pounds and i've lost a lot of muscle mass because of that and I'm weak. I'm like, I'm like so weak. I need to lift some weights. Five minutes matters. I can do five minutes of arm curls with a five pound weight. I could do five

minutes of crunches. Five minutes will make a difference. Five minutes matters. So that is my mantra for this year. I'm feeling really inspired because of it and I'm really like, I don't know, I'm just repeating it to myself so many times and you're probably heard it in this podcast at nauseam. You're like, rolling your eyes but I'm just going to say it one more time five minutes matters because the more I repeat it to myself the more it pops into my brain throughout the day at like random times and motivates me I'm feeling so motivated to do things that otherwise I wouldn't want to do and it isn't like I'm excited to do it isn't like yeah I get to put away the laundry now it's like yeah I can do this I don't want to I don't want it at all but I can do it for five minutes I can do it for a little bit of time it doesn't have to be

my night. I don't have to make a project out of this. I don't have to put off doing things that are fun or that I would rather do. I could just do this one quick thing for five minutes and make a difference in my life. And yeah, it's a mantra that I would encourage maybe you adopt into your life as well. Also, man, I forget, I shouldn't forget, but I forget how amazing it feels to have less. So this morning, yesterday is when we went through Abby's closet and we got rid of two garbage bags of clothes and she came out today wearing the cutest outfit and she had done her hair and I mean we're not going anywhere. It's quarantine time. And I was like that I've never seen her wear this outfit ever, ever. She was wearing these cute little plaid pants and this matching

teal shirt with this navy blue little cardigan over top. Never seen this outfit together and the plaid pants were teal and navy blue and white plaid check and I'm like you look so cute where'd you get that outfit she was like mom I didn't even know I had these pieces but my closet didn't have it wasn't stuffed so I saw it and she put together this cute outfit she was like and look at this outfit I put together she made me come and see her closet and she's like look this goes with this and this goes with this and I forgot she's right it feels so much better to get ready in the morning when you have less stuff. You can actually see the clothes that you love and it's fun to put outfits together and to get dressed in the morning when you have less stuff, whether you're 12 or

you're 41. And so I was really inspired today to go through and purge more out of my closet too. So I could have that same experience of opening up my closet and feeling excited by the opportunities I saw instead of like ugh i have nothing to wear and that's the difference i know it sounds really counterintuitive but it's true when we have less options we have more freedom when we have less options we see more opportunities in our stuff it's it's the same with our kitchen gadgets when we have less ways to you know cut a cucumber or cut our carrots when we have less dealers, we have less things, we're more excited to actually make dinner when we just have a knife. Less options feels like more opportunity. It feels like freedom. It feels less overwhelming.

And that's what really gives us that feeling we're looking for. So I want you to go through your kitchen and look for those things that only have one purpose. You know, the, I don't know, the rice maker where you could just use a pot or the carrot, curler where you could just use a knife. Rough chop those carrots. You guys, it's more fun to cook when we're not bogged down with options. When we're not feeling overwhelmed with all of the things in our house, we're not feeling in our kitchen, in our closet, in our wherever. It's freedom. It really is. And so the last mantra that I want to leave you with today before I leave you is, Glennon Doyles, we can do hard things.

So I just finished Glennon Doyle's book Untamed. It was very motivating. There was a lot of things that I didn't love about the book, but the biggest takeaway was this mantra, we can do hard things because it is. It's hard work decluttering our house. And it causes a lot of uncomfortable feelings. It causes pain.

It causes emotional response. It's like, ugh, there's things we'd write. rather be doing. Who wants to do it? It's hard, but we can do hard things because we know that the hard things is what leads to the easier things. So yes, decluttering is hard. Yes, organizing is hard. Yes, doing the dishes is hard. Yes, putting away laundry is hard, but we can do hard things because doing these things is going to lead to an easier after. I can tell you with honesty, and I know a lot of you listening to this might not believe it, but my house is always tidy.

It stays tidy. And it sounds crazy to say this because I came from a place where my house was never clean. Or I'd have to work like a dog for a weekend to clean it and it would be clean for all of 30 seconds and it would get messy again with toys and paper and clutter. Just stuff. Just, I don't even know. Just stuff would pile up everywhere. That doesn't happen anymore.

And that doesn't happen anymore because I did the hard things. I decluttered. Oh, it took me forever, but I decluttered. I'm still decluttering. And I organized. And I organized over again and again. And I maintained it and I switched it around and I moved things. And it took me like a whole year to get things organized.

And I'm still doing the hard things so that every single, day is easy because I have to do those hard things less and less often now because I did them before because I actually like I was like okay I'm putting on my big girl pants five minutes matters I'm doing something really hard right now I'm decluttering for five minutes or I'm decluttering for 15 minutes or I'm you know organizing this closet and it sucked at the time but it's so worth it now and I want you to know that there is an end that this is a a mountain that you're always going to have to be climbing, that while you're decluttering and while you're organizing, I just want to encourage you to keep being consistent because you will get to a

point where you don't have to work on your house all the time, where it does feel effortless, where it is easy to maintain. Yes, you're still going to have dishes. Yeah, you're still going to have to clean up the kitchen after dinner and you're still going to have to put away laundry, but you're not going to have to pick up after yourself or other people anymore. When you get to that point where you've decluttered enough and you've created easy homes for things to go. So we're going to adapt these mantras. Five minutes matters.

And you can do hard things. If you're looking for more inspiration, for more direction and more productivity podcasts, I really want to encourage you to join the Take Your House Back, course. It actually opens January 1st, but it's on sale, $20 off. You can get it for just $79 right now using the coupon code, Early Bird 20. That's Early Bird 20. And the course is with Dana from a Slob Comes Clean and Don from the Minimal Mom and I, all three of us getting together to support you and encourage you, teach you, lead you, inspire you to take your house back. And it also comes with a Facebook group which is already filled with amazing inspiring people. Every day they're

posting things. They're already decuttering. They're already taking back their house. They're already doing these incredible things and I'm feeling inspired just being a part of that group. We're also going to be going live in there every single week, sometimes twice a week. So again, the course starts January 1st, but you only have until December 31st to save that $20 off and get it for $79. So go to www.takeyourhouseback.com now. And thank you guys so much for listening, and I'll see you guys next time.