Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - Effortlessly Clean: Cleaning Hacks with Clean Mama | Clutterbug Podcast #234

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

In today’s podcast, I am joined by the amazing Becky Rapinchuk, the queen of clean and the mastermind behind Clean Mama! Becky is going to share all her best cleaning tips and hacks that will transform the way you approach house cleaning. Learn how to simplify your cleaning routine and create habits that will keep your home spotless with ease. Get ready to be inspired to clean your house today with Clean Mama! Learn more about Clean Mama Here: https://cleanmama.com/ Learn more about Becky's Homekeeping Society Subscription: https://homekeepingsociety.com/ Shop Clean Mama's Cleaning Products: https://shop.cleanmama.com/ Try Clean Mama's 30 Day Cleaning Class: https://shop.cleanmama.com/products/30-day-cleaning-class     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

Are you ready for some incredible cleaning motivation? I am so excited for today's guest, Becky Rapintuck, from Clean Mama. I swear she is the queen of clean and definitely one of the OG cleaning experts online. Her incredible business called Clean Mama is so well known through her blog. She shares her passion for cleaning, organizing, and creating a comfortable, simplified home. She also has really easy cleaning routines that she shares with her followers that make it easy for people to maintain a clean and organized home without feeling overwhelmed. Becky is the author of several bestselling books, including Simply Clean, Clean Mama's Guide to a Healthy Home and the Organically Clean Home. And her approach is all about simplicity

and consistency. So you can get clean in just a few minutes a day. Hello, Becky. Welcome to the Clutterbug podcast. I am so excited to have you here because I'm actually a really huge fan. Well, I'm thrilled to be here. I fan girl a little bit. Not only are you helping so many people get their house in order with cleaning routines and simple organization. You're like the queen of that, but you also like your business is a well-oiled machine, man. It's beautiful and everything's simple and it's laid out and I am just always impressed by you. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. I would love to. Oh, thank you. I would love to hear how you got started, though, because, you know, I got started because I was a super slob and I kind of fell into it. Are you just a lifelong lover of cleaning? How did you become clean, mama? Yeah, I love a clean space. And I was an art teacher. Like, that's where I started. And I loved figuring out how to keep my classroom clean and get the kids to clean up their messes after every project. And so that really,

helped me to simplify processes and look ahead to how are we going to do this, how are we going to get it cleaned up when we're done with it. And so that was, I mean, I started teaching in 1997. So, I mean, it's like that was what I originally did. I taught until 2007. And that's like, I loved being an art teacher and I loved teaching. And I mean, I would send the kids home with directions on how to clean the stain off their shirts. I mean, like pin it on the stain and send it, you know, send it home so that their parents could do their laundry. I mean, that was just kind of how I started.

But my friends always were asking me how I kept my house clean. And I had developed this routine that I was doing. And it's really from my grandma because she was a working mom in the 50s with three girls and which is not normal in the 50s. And her house was immaculate. And I was always like, how did you do it with three kids and, you know, keep this little house clean and everything. And she was like, every day I had to do something.

And she just said, you just need to decide what you want to do each day of the week. And then just do it. And so I kind of took that and started with my own routine. And through the years, I kind of honed it and changed it. And then in 2009, I decided I was going to start a blog and talk about cleaning because that was what I really enjoyed doing and teaching my friends what I was doing and sharing my routine with them. I mean, I had this, I called it a docket. I had a docket that I would print out for myself before I ever started the blog and I would share it with my friends and, you know, print off copies for them because we didn't have PDFs, right? That was so and that was kind of how it started and when I started my blog that was originally how I was just sharing my cleaning routine and no one else was really talking the same way that I was about cleaning and I felt like sometimes I was talking to know like does anyone really care does anyone want to do a routine and then by like within a few months 2010 I opened an Etsy shop and I started selling my printables on.

Etsy and that was kind of where it all started. So I mean, I had like 50,000 sales on Etsy before I before I closed it down and put it on my shop. I mean, people, just my cleaning routine and printables from from there. So I started. Yeah. That's crazy numbers. Yeah. Because you're right. there isn't a lot of just real life simple, here's what works info out there. And you kind of fill the niche. But more importantly, it's a passion for you. Like you genuinely love this. Oh my gosh, that's so awesome. Okay. I want to know all the good stuff because what I love most about you is it's simple cleaning routines and simple products. You use like non-toxic, a lot of DIY cleaning products. I am a big fan of TikTok and I'm going on there and it's like how to

clean a toilet, pour an entire jug of Fabuloso down it, an entire can of shaving cream and then flush. And it's like there's so much misinformation. So I'd love to know if you have like core principles or a cleaning philosophy that can help people kind of just simplify it. something everyone should adopt that just makes it easy. I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but no. Well, and I think the main thing is that it has to work for you. So if you're, everyone's coming at cleaning their home from different places. So we're all, we all have dirt. We all have a place. If we're living in a home, living in an apartment, living in a townhouse, wherever you are, there are things that have to be clean. And I think that the thing for me that

really like kind of tripped the trigger in my mind with a cleaning routine was that you just you have to do it like you can't just I mean unfortunately it's not going to clean itself and the more you allow things to pile up the more overwhelming it gets and regardless of like how your brain works and how you process things you still have to pick these things up and put these things away teach your family members how to do that. But my philosophy is that if you just do something every single day. And so I have always said every day a little something. And if it's 10 minutes, if it's 15 minutes, if it's, I mean, my goal is like never more

than 30 minutes because I think that anyone can do that even if, I mean, if you're working overnights and you've got, you know, you're sleep deprived. I mean, there are always going to be situations where things are going to be. more difficult to fit in the time. But I think that if you can do a little something every single day, that's going to help you. So I started assigning daily tasks. That's where I always say to start is these five daily tasks because they will, even if you don't want to do anything else, that's going to help you keep your home clean all the time. So it's a load of laundry every day. You're going to pick up your clutter. So putting away what you took out.

wiping counters. So that can be like, that's good. I always think of that like your kitchen. It can also apply to your bathroom. So if you want to wipe down bathroom counters every day, you can. But if you're thinking that's like way too much for me, fine. Just wipe down your counters after dinner. That's it. You could wipe them down after every meal. I mean, there's always things, ways that you can like up level it. But like keep it as simple as you possibly can. And then we're making beds. That's easy. It takes a minute or two. And then the last one is, hold on, clutter, check floors. So you want to check your floor. So if you've got dust bunnies in the corner, vacuum them up. If you have crumbs under your kids' high chair, under the kitchen table,

pick that up. But you don't, you grab your little stick back, grab your broom, give it to your kids, whatever, like, get those crumbs picked up, that's, those five things are going to really help your routine. And that's where I always say to start, because that's the simplest. I love that. Yeah, I definitely, that's kind of my routine too. It's like a five-minute pickup, sometimes a 10, if I've really let it go, like, all day. That makes such a big difference. And just surface, quick wipe of the surface because I used to be a person who would just clean on the weekend and it would be bad bad and then on the weekend i'm scrubbing like i have to have hot water and a scour brush to get off the cooking grease and the goo and i'm like this is horrible why would

someone do this every day but the thing is it's not like that right if you do it every day because if you wipe it now you don't have to scrub it later right 100 and you don't have i mean like you don't have like the toothpaste kicked up in the bathroom sink you don't have the dishes piled up on the counter you don't have food that you've got to scrape off the counter that you didn't get I mean it's just just adding those simple simple things in every day it's starting there to me that's the best place and that's motivating to keep going and to add a little bit more too so that's when you can add in those weekly tasks and that's the things every single day that I recommend doing like bathrooms on Monday, dusting on Tuesday, vacuuming Wednesday, washing floors Thursday.

I have Friday as a catch-all day. So that's a day you can catch up on anything you didn't do or you could menu plan or you could not do anything. It's your day to kind of tailor it the way that you want to. And then I always recommend doing sheets and towels on Saturdays because chances are there's more people in your house that can help and take care of their sheets and towels themselves. I got to wash my sheets more, Becky. Listen, once a week, I am not good at this, okay? This is my number. I love this. This is really simple. Okay. So I'm just curious for personal reasons. When you clean the bathroom, are you like deep down scrubbing it every week? Like the shower, you are? Oh, no, no, no. So I do, I have a 15-minute bathroom quickly. And this is what I tell people, like, this is where you, you're like, you're like. I'm not. You're like. I'm not. So I do, I have a 15-minute bathroom quickly. And this is what I tell people, like, this is where you. want to how I clean my bathrooms every single week. When you do it this way, it keeps them clean. So you aren't having to do this big deep clean. You don't need the, I don't like the toilet bowl cleaner on your tiles or the shaving cream around the base of your toilet or any of that

stuff. So all that I recommend doing is it's kind of like an assembly line method. So you're, I can do four bathrooms. in 15 minutes. Like I promise you like that's, I, but I'm not doing the floors. So because I do those on Wednesdays and Thursdays. So I'm not vacuuming the floors. I'm not washing the floors. So that helps cut down that time on Monday. But I'm just, I clean the mirrors and then I spray down the sink, the toilet and the top. And when I do the toilet, I do like top to bottom. So we're spraying the tank, you're spraying the base, you're spraying the entire toilet, like a lot, like thoroughly spraying it. And then I do the same thing in my tub and showers. And then I go to the next

bathroom and I repeat that. I do the mirror, spray everything. Next bathroom, like, that's how I, how I do that. And then I come back to the first one and I wipe it all down. So good. So you've let the chemicals, or the product, it's probably not harsh chemicals, do the work for you. Yeah. That's so good. That's so, so good because, yeah, it does have to, like, break down enzymes and it takes time to do that. Oh, you're, yeah. This is good. So that's how I mean, and then you're not, it's not having, you're not having to do like this big, like, donning of hazmat suit and, like, getting into bathroom to clean it.

It's just simple cleaning. I love this because I'm a person who is like, if I'm cleaning the bathroom, I'm doing, I'm cleaning the bathroom, but I'm also vacuuming it. I'm also mopping it. Like, it's a whole thing, Becky. I like the idea of you're just doing bathrooms and you're just vacuuming floors and you're just mopping. Like, you've really broken it up into a way that it doesn't feel overwhelming and it would

help keep focused. So my ADHD brain gets really distracted, even dragging a lot of tools around like the vacuum and the mop. And that's enough to derail me sometimes. Well, and it does keep you on task. because like you know what you have. You've got your equipment. You've got your supplies.

You're ready. That's all you're doing. You can. So, okay, let's pretend that you're like, oh, this sounds great. I would love to do my bathrooms on Mondays. But I haven't cleaned my bathrooms in two months. Okay. So if that's you, instead of saying I can't do it because I don't have three hours,

tickling the bathrooms and get through this gunk. All I recommend doing then is breaking. the bathrooms up even more. So you could say, okay, I want to try this routine. My bathrooms are disgusting. So either, so choose part of the bathroom to do. So like, let's say you're going to start this on a Monday. The first Monday, just do toilets. So clean all your toilets. Okay. Now, the rest of your bathroom still needs to be clean, but at least you did the toilets. And then the next week, do your sinks. And then the next week do the tubs. Now, granted, it would be nice if everything was done.

But who cares? Like if it's been two months since you've cleaned your bathroom, it's not another week isn't really going to matter. So break it down into manageable steps. And then as you start to see how great your bathrooms look, then you can add this 15 minute quick clean and it will change your life. I mean, it really will because no one wants to clean bathrooms. I clean them on Mondays because I hate cleaning them.

But that's, but I hate cleaning a dirty bathroom more than I hate cleaning a sort of dirty bathroom. Oh, it's so good. That's so good. Yeah. This is the, that was the biggest eye opening thing for me too and my journey from like slop to someone who has their house clean all the time was the real magic is in little consistency. Instead of, oh, I got it.

I would do it all. Then be so exhausted and burnt out and kind of. angry at it, that I would wait, wait, wait, wait again. And then it would be this huge job again. And I was stuck on this cycle of never getting off. And a little bit every day feels effortless. Yeah. It really does. It does. Yeah. I would love to know if you have cleaning products. I have cleaning products that I love, love, love, but they're not probably the best for me. I want to try something a little, especially we talked before I started recording. I have this rash that's not going away. So I'm embracing now, like scent-free, more, more, more healthier

options that are less harsh. So do you have some cleaning products that you really love that you would recommend? Yeah. Well, I, I always say, like, if you're, if you want to take the tax out of your cleaning routine and you want to make it more non-toxic and safer, the easiest thing that you can do is take like a plant-based soap. So whether it's in plant-based meaning not petroleum-based. So like there's certain brands that are petroleum-based like dish soaps. So you could use that. But if you wanted to kind of take that toxicity out, then you're going to want to use something that's plant-based. So like even like castile soap is plant-based. And you're going to put like a teaspoon in hot water in a spray bottle. So you've got like two cups of hot water, a teaspoon of your

castile soap, shake it up. Use that to clean with because that's going to, I mean, you can use that everywhere in your house. Now, if you are, like, I used to be very germ. I don't want to say a germaphobe. But you were like killing things. with bleach kind of. I was a teacher and I used like a bleach water mixture in my classroom, spray down all the tables. I mean, but I had an experience with my daughter when she was about a year old where it was like

poison control and that was when I started like looking into what was the ingredients in my product. So that's like 18 years ago. And that's, before I even started clean mama, I was looking at the ingredients. And it was before there were a lot of good products out there. Now there are a lot of good products.

I sell products in my shop. Everything is non-toxic and made in the United States. And it's all uses essential oils or earth-derived ingredients. And that's what's important to me. But you can also, you can, cleaning, there's cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting. And when you are cleaning, you are removing the germ. you're just not getting it like surgically ready. So you can't do surgery on your counters at this point.

But is anyone really doing that? No. So that's kind of where I land on that. So you can just simple soap and water is going to clean a lot. A microfiber cleaning cloth is going to pull those germs off of the surfaces. when I disinfect, I use hydrogen peroxide. I mean, that's my disinfectant. I keep it in a brown bottle.

I put a sprayer on top. And I spray that on toilets and bathrooms, like sinks, those surfaces to disinfect. That's like, I mean, you can, that's an approved disinfectant for like 99.9% of germs. So, and it's not toxic. I mean, you can brush your teeth with it. So, like. It's true. I feel like I'm going to run to your store and try and get some new cleaning products that are less

harsh because we actually had, I used to clean everything with like Lysol with bleach when my kids were younger and we had an incident where my daughter started going to daycare and was sick all the time. And then she had a antibiotic resistant strain, you know, of strep or something. And the doctor said to me, are you over cleaning? And this was so eye-opening for me. I was killing every type of bacteria that she could ever come in contact with. So then when she was around something, her immune system was craptacular. Because I didn't allow her to build natural immunity because I was over disinfecting and over cleaning everything.

So that was a hard lesson to learn. But also, I'm like, I don't need all these harsh chemicals. It's like it's not so great. Okay. This is so good. I'm feeling excited. I have to take a second to thank today's podcast sponsor, Skylight Calendar. I am so excited about this sponsor because I have wanted a Skylight Calendar for so long and it did not disappoint.

This is basically a command center all in one so that your entire family can stay organized with chore charts, dinner planning, customizable lists. It has a calendar. It has our entire schedule for all of our family members all in one place on a beautiful frame that sits on the kitchen counter and the best part I chose to add the photos to it as well. So when we're not using it as a calendar or a meal planning menu board, it can display beautiful family photos. The skylight calendar comes in two sizes. You can get the 10 inch or the 15 inch and it's also wall mountable. I am so in love. And right now, just a this is special limited time offer for my listeners. You get $40 off your purchase at Skylight

calendar when you go to Skylight Cal C-A-L dot com slash clutterbug. That's S-K-Y-L-I-G-H-T-C-A-L-C-A-L-C-A-L-C-L-C-A-L-L-L-L-T-A-L-R-T-R-E-L-B to get $40 off. Do you have pets? I do. We have two dogs. They're... Do they shed? A little bit. They're 80-pound Weimar runners. So they're two very large dogs, but with short hair. I used to have labs, and they shed a ton. And a Weimariner is like a lab, but with less chevy. But I know, I mean, it's an issue. It's an issue. So my dog sheds. And then my coworker brings in her dog every day who sheds. And then we had an outtower. door cat, Mr. Bojangles. He got into a couple fights. So now he's an indoor cat. Holy Moses, there's cat hair on everything. This is new to me. Do you have secrets? I do vacuum regularly. I have like robot vacuums, which are maze balls that go around. But I still notice it's on furniture and it gets on your clothing. And it just, you got a secret? I don't know if I have a secret.

But I do think anytime, like brushing them regularly is as helpful, which, I mean, that's hard. It's like when you have kids and it's like another, to me, I mean, that's going to sound horrible if someone's, I mean, I love my dogs, but it's like another thing to do. So it's one of them. But brushing them regularly, washing their bedding. And to me, that's also helpful just to kind of keep things clean because then you don't want to walk. into a house and smell a dog and you know that like i don't know i feel like you're kind of blind to that dog smell if you're in that home but you don't want that so like keeping getting rid of the fur um there's like certain like how is it like a ferminator where it can remove some of the extra

fur from them a giant um lint roller is helpful um and then then just, I mean, my dogs, they will get on the couch any chance that they can get, which drives me crazy. And so, like, keeping them off of it and then keeping it vacuumed is kind of the pain of my existence. It's the pain of my existence, too. I'm just getting into this, like, pet for people complain about it all the time. But yeah, it's just, it is, it's maintenance. That's what I'm hearing over and over again.

It's just these regular little things is how you keep it. at bay. What if you're like me and you hate routine or you always, it sounds great, but then you just forget to remember. You know, you're like, I want to clean bathrooms every Monday, but I'm not used to doing this. And now it's Monday. How do I remember? Are you setting alarms? Like, what's your secret for kind of creating these new habits if you're like me and you suck at creating new habits? Well, you've got to figure out a way to remind yourself. So whether it's making a list somewhere, having it in like on your Google calendar, having a reminder.

Like I, my routine is on the cozy app for free. Like if you like something like that. I also, I mean, I have the routine in a whole variety of different ways. I send out text reminders to members of my community. So, I mean, there's ways that you, that. Stop it. Becky, listen. Listen, stop it. Becky, wait a minute. You're going to nag me and remind me to clean my bathroom on Monday. Heck yeah. How do I get this? Tell me. Tell me. How do I get this? Please text me. Please. So that's in my Homekeeping Society's subscription and you just opt into it and then I send you the text. But I make people opt in because I'm like, I don't want to be the annoying person that's texting you at 7 a.m. reminding you to. I love this. Okay.

I am definitely going to put this in the description of this podcast. Tell us again how you can get this because, yes, I need the, I need, you're my friend. I need you to text me and remind me of the things I need to do and keep me accountable. That's what works for me. All right. How do we get a hold of this program? Yep. So that's Homekeeping Society.

It's on the Cleanmama.com website. There's like a link to it or you can just go to homekeepingsociety.com. But yeah, that's like the whole membership. and that's where I hold your hand and we work through the routine together and with the community and super fun. Oh, I need you to hold my hand with a new routine. That's so brilliant. You're really, you're not just providing the tools.

Now you're providing like the support that goes with it so that you can actually succeed with starting something new because that's the hardest part. It's great to have it on a piece of paper and you stick it on your fridge, but you need someone to hold you accountable. Well, and if you know, it's definitely like we, we like to be told what to do sometimes. And I think that that's where I'm always like coming from is like sometimes you just need someone to say, hey, let's plan our bathrooms today. Hey, let's us today.

Like it's just because it's not for me like it's just part of me. I mean, I can't get away from it. I'm always thinking about it. but I've been doing this for 20 some, well, I don't know, 20, almost 30, no, not 30 years. I don't know, 20 some years. And it's the same. And so I know what. I committed it to memory, obviously, but it's, you definitely want someone to, like, help you

tell you what to do and help you follow through with it. I know this is a podcast and this has nothing to do with anything, but why do you look so young? And what do you use on your face? And why do you look 25? How is this possible? Please, I'm almost 50. You look so good. I'm just saying you look so young and fresh.

Do you have a secret? This has nothing to do with cleaning, but I'm just nosy. I don't know if I have a secret other than just, I don't know, I like merit beauty products like that. That's pretty much it. I'm just born like this. I love it. I love it. You're beautiful.

This is so good. And I love that you're so, so passionate. Okay. You are busy and you're running a business. It's like an empire. Let's be honest here. You've got kids. How do you juggle it all? Like, are you, do you ever feel overwhelmed? Do you ever like just think, man, I need, I can't do this. I need a break. Yeah. And I think that, I mean, if you're a business owner, you've gone through. And so I know you are. Anyone that's listening, like there's like ebbs and flows. and it's the same, I kind of take the same approach with everything.

Like there's times when your kids are little where it's like all hands on deck and you're barely in that survival. Like I can't get any sleep mode. There's times like that in business. And I have been through it many different times in many different ways. And I think that just continuing to persevere and persevere. And remembering what the reason is. And like my whole mission is to help families clean their homes in minutes a day.

And however I am able to do that is what like I just continue to think about that. And the business side is the part that's like, I feel the same way. I'd rather be like if I had if I had more time, more energy, like I would. have a YouTube channel. I do have a YouTube channel, but it would be active. There's so many things that I don't do because I've chosen to focus on other areas. And so that's kind of where I'm at. I just focus on what I can do. And if I have to hire for certain things I do, if I am not able to hire for whatever reason, I just table that for right now. And at some point, I'd love to have a podcast I mean, there's so many things I would love to do, but I just like, you're crushing it.

Listen, you're crushing it. You're like the queen of clean over here. You don't need any of all that stuff because you are providing. Do you know what it is? It's because it works. Your systems work. Your routines work and they're simple and there's not a lot of fluff. And you're like, here, I'm going to help you.

And here's exactly how to do it and let's do it together. And I'm impressed. I think you're, it's awesome and you're like the top of the mountains. Oh, gosh. Congratulations. Before I let you go, though, I do want to talk about organization because I'm curious. And for me, organization changed the game, finally getting organized because every drawer, every closet, every, everything was just a hodgepodge of whatever.

It was all mixed together. And it was always hunting for things and then shoving it back into a range. random spots to clean. And that was the rat race I was on for a long time. Are you an organized person? How do you feel about, yeah, yeah. Yes, I am. Have you always been organized? Yeah. Yeah, you know, I think I just, it's like the, I'm so, I'm like creative, but I am also organized, like, I just kind of see things a little bit differently. And I think that that's just, I've learned how to use that to my advantage with, like, making things like take less time than they need to. Like, so I can do things very quickly.

And I can also like, and this is probably the teacher in me. I can look at a situation and just like, all right, do, do, do, do. I can like order it really easily. Whereas I think that most people, it's hard. I mean, you have to like draw it out or do. I'm just so visual that I can just. kind of survey it and order it and get those things done. Now, is every single drawer covered closet perfectly organized in my house?

Absolutely not. Like, are there areas where, like, my kids' rooms are my kids' rooms? Like, they, that's their deal. That's fine. Our bedroom closet needs to be worked on. My bathroom cupboard needs. I mean, there's always things that I need to do. But I'll get to it.

You're naturally organized. I am not. So I love that. My whole thing is that, you know, it isn't one size fits all. And I started working with clients helping them organized years and years ago because detailed organization is not my jam. And that's why I was failing. And while working with people, I definitely started noticing trends like, oh, you're really visual and you get stressed out and you want things hidden. And you're a really detailed person. And you are not a detailed person. And you are not a detailed person. And that's where the clutterbug philosophy kind of came from. Now, I know you can't put everybody into four boxes and it's definitely a spectrum. But I would like to diagnose your organizing style if I could just for a minute because I like to do this and this is fun. So you mentioned your visual. Do you think your visual with your stuff too? I think paper is a really good indication of your style. Like, do you need sort of a visual reminder, leaving things out so you remember to pay it?

Do you like to see your favorite things? Or do you want like everything hidden kind of a minimalist home is your crave? I'm more a minimalist. Okay. So that's, yeah. And you are a detailed person. So if you're going to put something away, will you open the lid to put it away? Will you take time to file your papers?

Like, this is a credit card bill. I'm going to put it in with credit cards. Or do you shove it in a drawer haphazardly? I put it in a stack until I can. And file it. Yes, that's okay. So you're a cricket. I love this.

Okay. So a cricket is like a naturally organized person. They're just born. Just like they got it down, but they prefer to have things out of sight. And they prefer like not to see their everyday stuff. But they do tend to pile till they can do it right later. Yeah. Yeah.

I definitely am like I have the sticks. Or it might be like in a like I have. I have like right now like in process. Like in process is my favorite folder because everything can go on there until it's ready to be dealt with. I love that. Okay. So we've diagnosed her as a cricket. I love, love, love, love, love it.

It's so fascinating to me because what I've also found is most little children are the opposite of that. I call them butterflies. So they're really visual. It's out of sight, out of mind, which is why if you put their toys away, they sometimes forget they've even owned it or they like to line up all their toys on their bed or all over the place. But they also don't do details. Their brain doesn't think about so it's like everything together kind of thing. So I'm assuming your kids, yeah, especially when they're little, almost all little little toddlers are butterflies. There was probably like, why aren't you picking up your

toys? And they're like, oh, let's go. My brain. doesn't work like that. Did you, do you find like you're now kind of compromising on some organizing systems in shared areas that are more laid back that are just quick and easy so that everyone can use them? Oh, 100%. Yeah. I mean, I think that that's probably, well, it was probably my youngest is six and four years younger than the other two. And so the other two had more structure and then when he came along it was whatever whatever it's fine i love that yeah it's how it's how it's energy like i just like i mean there's like different but i think it's i appreciate that that i mean i think i'm i'm better for that because it like it's a better way to approach

things is to like just not be so rigid and to really like truly believe like there's plenty of time to clean it up nothing's going to happen if this isn't put away like there's certain I don't know and and also like their room is their room like I'm not gonna I'm worried I'm not gonna die on that hill yeah where it has to be picked up every night or anything like that because it's just not worth the argument yeah what I'm I found with my kids too is kind of adapting my home to how they naturally drop stuff, kind of working with how they naturally manage their stuff has made all the difference. So I put hooks where my kids naturally would drop their coats and where they would naturally put their shoes.

I just put a basket where they could kick them into. And I've kind of adapted that in their bedrooms too. So they're staying tidy. I mean, it doesn't look like traditional organization. but it's, I'm like catching their clutter in a way that complements how they naturally put things down. And it's been, yeah, it's life changing for me too. Like that's that's the whole thing for me is coming up with a system where I can just live my life the way I naturally do it. And yet my house is always staying tidy. I got to work on the cleaning part. But I've nailed the organization. I'm like, you know, it's always always. It just is because it's just as easy to put it away as it is to put it down.

So yeah, so cool. Okay, do you have any upcoming projects or resources that you would like to share with us or something that those listeners are like, I need help? I know we've talked about your membership. Is that what you're thinking is probably the best place to start? Or do you have something else in the pipe? So I have a 30-day cleaning class that I launched in June. It was a huge success.

I'm putting the finishing touches on that so that it's more like you could start it at any point. It's a 30-day email series. So there's no group, nothing. It's just me emailing you with a video every single day to help you get into the routine. That would be the best place to start because that is like starting from like, nothing and now we can, you know, add the rest to it. Homekeeping society is kind of what comes after learning the routine. Some people join right away and then start with the routine.

And that works too. But I found that with a little bit more handholding at the beginning, so you kind of understand the routine, it's helpful. So yeah, that's, that'll be coming soon. I have a couple new products coming out. So I mean, there's all sorts of, I'm always doing something. I love it. A 30 day challenge is so good.

Those are my favorite things too because it's a short enough amount of time that it doesn't feel overwhelming, but it's actually the perfect amount of time to kind of cement that habit. Does that make sense? So you can change your brain in 30 days. So I love that you have a 30 day cleaning challenge. I'm going to definitely link that in the show's note in the show notes as well. cool. Okay, before I let you go, do you have like one cleaning hack or tip or something that you just

swear by that you wish everyone knew? Do you have a secret? I do. So my secret is my nightly sink scrub. And that is my nightly routine to clean your sink. I've been sharing this since 2009. Like, that's something I've been doing forever. It's just basically clean. your sink at the end when you're done with your dishes after dinner and I do it a little bit differently because I like a ritual and I like kind of like bring the senses into the cleaning to make a little more enjoyable I just take two cups of baking soda drop in like 10 to 30 drops of your favorite essential oil blend stir it up with a knife keep it in a mason jar under your kitchen sink and then at the end of the night whenever

Everyone's helped you clean the kitchen. All the dishes are in the dishwasher or washed and dried and put away. And the sink is empty or as close to empty as I can get it to. I just wet the sink, sprinkle a little bit of this nightly sink scrub in my sink, dish soap in there. And then I use a scrub brush just for cleaning the sink. It's not my dish scrub brush. It's just for cleaning the sink.

And I scrub it, I rinse it, dry it. and then kind of shut down the kitchen. That is, it's, I think sometimes we're always in such a hurry to get to the next thing or, like, however that's going to work. But if you take the time to just kind of relax, clean your sink, to me, it's kind of therapeutic. I always say it's like therapy at the sink where it's just quiet, clean it. That way when you wake up the next day, depending if, I'm the first. first one up in the morning. I love coming into a clean kitchen and not having a mountain of dishes

welcoming me. And it's, I mean, to me, that's my secret is just kind of like that turned down sort of a routine at the end of the day. So that's that. You're just closing your kitchen at the end of the night. Like it's a diner, right? And you've got your sink scrub. Hey, that's so good. And the fact that it's baking soda, I love so much because, yeah, I use just sprinkle baking soda on my stove, especially when I had a glass top and then just a damp sponge. That worked better than any other harsh stove ceramic top thing I'd ever tried, just straight up baking soda. So going back to the basics, man, because it works. Yeah, yeah. And it's, I mean, you have it in your kitchen already. You can grab the giant bag at your favorite big box discise.

account store for probably five bucks. I keep the same thing in a mason jar in my bathroom cleaning caddy too and I use it in my in my bathtubs or showers. I mean, it's it's a great cleaning. And what's your favorite essential oil blend? My favorite is lemon and clove. So that's what I, that's kind of my signature scent. and a lot of my products too, but I will just do lemon essential oil,

clove essential oil, sprinkle it in the baking soda, stir it up. And it's like a kind of a homey scent. And I'm about to run to your store. This is so good. I'm inspired to go clean my bathroom right now. Like, what? I'm definitely joining your membership. Thank you so, so much for being here.

This is wonderful and inspiring. And please, could you let my listeners know where they can follow you, how they can find more about you? Yeah. So my website is cleanmama.com and it's M-A-M-A.com. So cleanmama.com. And then you can find me on social media at Clean Mama as well. I am on TikTok. I think it's the real Clean Mama.

I can't remember what I. Clean Mama was already taken, of course. Are you dancing on TikTok or just cleaning? No, I don't really do anything on TikTok, but if you're a TikTok person, I do have a presence there, but it's not much. Same, same. Instagram is definitely where I'm the most active, actually mom. Awesome.

Thank you so much. I'm feeling so inspired. And I know my listeners are going to be running over to you, too. You've just simplified it. You've made it easy in minutes a day when people follow your routine. they can have a clean and a house that smells amazing too. Just really simplified it. And I appreciate that.

Thank you again so much. And thank you to my listeners. We'll see you guys next time. Thank you.