Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - How to go from Super Slob to Clean Freak! | Clutterbug Podcast # 5

Episode Date: April 7, 2016

How I transformed myself and my home from Super Slob to Clean Freak....one drawer at a time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So hey guys, welcome back to the Clutterbug podcast. Today I'm going to talk about making a transition from really cluttered to clean. So this isn't definitely going to apply to the people out there who are already pretty organized and pretty on top of things. Today I really wanted to talk to you and address those of you out there who are really drowning in clutter, who really are living in a very cluttered home. And first I want to tell you that I feel your pain because I'm naturally just not an organized person. I'm a messy person naturally and though I love organizing and decorating, even in my slob days, you know, I love trying to make a room pretty. I was definitely drowning in clutter and things were not put in proper homes. And in my early 20s, there were even a time,

unfortunately I have to admit in my life where I had paths from my door to my bed and from my bed to my kitchen. You know, I was just living on my own. I was working a lot of jobs and it wasn't garbage and dirty things. It was clothing and, you know, other stuff that was just laziness. I'd come in. I would drop the stuff where it is and it would just add up and add up. And before you know it, I had, you know, knee-high piles everywhere of stuff. And then it becomes overwhelming. and where do you start at that point and how do you start at that point? You can shove it all in the closets and you can hide everything under the bed and shove things in places, but then the next time you have to go and get something that you're looking for,

you have to pull everything out again. So that type of cleaning up is just a vicious cycle, and that's the vicious cycle I was in for a really, really long time. Even when I was at a point where my house was really clean, when people would come over, it looked really clean. you know if I needed the umbrella or I was looking for my favorite pair of shoes I would have to completely trash my closets and pull everything out from all my hiding spots to find things that I was looking for and I would end up with like this huge mess that would then need to be shoved back into the

hiding spots so I understand and I'm going to tell you a few of the little secrets that I did to get over that get over the clutter and have a really clutter-free life now. I am still a slob. I'm not going to lie. I still, you know, get dressed and throw my clothes on the floor and throw my pajamas on the floor. And I have to, you know, pick them up later or remind myself you need to put those in the hamper. It's still just in me. I think it will always be in me to be that type of person. But because I have systems in place now that make putting things away just as easy as throwing it on the floor. It's just staying clean. You know, I can still be a slob and just toss things in a drawer, but it's being tossed into its appropriate home. And I'm going to

tell you now how I got there. And it is definitely a process. You can't start by just organizing drawers and hoping it stays that way because it's not going to stay that way. In the beginning, we have too much stuff to micro-organize. And that's That's what it's called when you spend your time organizing a drawer or, you know, reorganizing your pantry so it's really pretty and putting labels on everything. That's called micro organizing. And unfortunately, while that stuff is really fun, it comes last. That is the last step on getting really organized.

The first step is macro organizing. And what that means is, you know, organizing the big stuff, the big chunks and not taking the time to really sort things down on a really micro level. So I'll just quickly give you an example. If you have a bathroom, that's pretty much a disaster zone. I mean, you go in there and the counter's covered in makeup and hair products and your brush and your curling iron and all your stuff and the floors piled with dirty laundry. And every morning you're greeted by that, that's depressing. But the mistake that a lot of people make to try to organize that is they go and buy a bunch of, you know, fancy containers and they try and put all their stuff in little bins and containers, and it stays neat and organized for maybe a day or two,

and then everything's pulled back out again. Instead, what you really want to do is first, and this is no fun, you want to follow the space acronym. So the space is acronym is S-P-A-C-E, and it's literally what all professional organizers follow when they're organizing someone's home, and it's what you should follow as well. So the first thing you want to do is sort. So you want to look what's out laying all around and you want to open up all your drawers and all your cupboards and take everything out. I know the horror, right? But we have to do this in order to get organized for good. And we want to put all the makeup together in a pile. We want to put all the hair stuff together in a pile and all the cleaning products together in a pile. You get the idea, right? And then comes the P for Purge. So this is

the part where we're like, oh my gosh, I have 15 lipsticks. I actually hate every. You single color. I know you guys feel me on that right? And you're like, but this one isn't that bad. And then get rid of the ones you hate. I mean, I have bright red lipstick. I look like a night walker. And it's like in my makeup collection. I'm never going to wear it. Why am I holding onto it? So then comes the purging. So you're going to look and you're going to say like I have 16 different kinds of wrinkle cream. I still look super wrinkled. None of these are working. But this one's my favorite. And get rid of the rest. I know they're expensive. I know you think, well, what if I run out of some of these ones and I need these in a pinch? But it's that type of thinking that has led to our clutter problem

in the first place. It's that type of behavior that, you know, we say, well, what if maybe I need it? What happens if this? Worst case scenario, I should have this. We need to stop thinking like that. When it comes to our belongings, when it comes to, you know, savings and money, that's a good way to think. But when it comes to our belongings, it's actually a really bad way to think because we just don't have enough space to live like that. And we end up never, those emergency days never come. And the truth is, we are wasting our space. We're having too much to take care of and we're getting stressed out and overwhelmed by all the clutter. So we're going to stop thinking that way. We are just going to no longer think, well, this is a good backup because we just don't need it. And ask yourself, if you're really

ask yourself, have you ever use that backup face cream? The answer is probably no. So we're going to purge all of the stuff that we don't love, all the stuff that we're not using, and then we come to A for a sign. Now, this is actually a really important step when it comes to organizing, because if you're using your, you know, hair products every day, but your makeup on only certain days, then your hair products should be the easiest to access in the bathroom. And this goes for your kitchen. This goes for your bedroom. It goes for every room in the house, your pantry, everything. It's called the valuable real estate.

So you really want to assess your bathroom or assess your space and say, what do I use the most? And that stuff needs to go in the spot that's easiest to access and easiest to put away. So if you, you know, toss stuff into a drawer and you know that you're able to do that more than you are to open up a medicine cabinet and put things in there, then it should the easiest stuff, the stuff you use all the time, should go in the drawer. It should go in the easiest spot. Now, I don't know how you work and how you think and how your space is set up, but you, you know, only you will really know that. But if you take a look at your space, you should be able

to identify the easy space, the easy spots to access and put the stuff you use most there. So now that you've assigned spots, you haven't put this stuff away yet, you've just like in your mind to sign the spots. And if you're doing a really big space, a great way to do this is with Post-it notes. So you just bring a pack of Post-it notes, sticky notes, and just stick them on and write what it is that's going to go in there. Now comes contain. Now we're going to macro-contain this stuff at this point. We're not going to micro-organize it. We're going to macro it, which means if you have, you know, all your hair products, get a rough idea of how big that is, how much stuff that is, in what size container will fit in the space you've contained, you've assigned for it,

and then go ahead and purchase a container to put all your hair products in. We're not going to worry at this time about sorting, you know, mooses together and hairsprays together and all that type of stuff. That can come later. Right now we're just going to put it in a container and put it in the assigned spot. And the reason you don't just want to put your things in on the shelf away, I mean, this does work for some people. But for people, but for people, like you and me, if you're a really cluttered person, just having things on a shelf, they're going to fall over, you know, you're going to toss it in when you're in a rush, and it's just going to get all jumbled together with the other things that could be stored, say, under your bathroom

counter. Instead of you had a bin for hair products and a bin for, say, face products, if you open up that cupboard and you toss into the hair product, it's at least going to be organized. It's not going to be pretty, but it is going to be functional and it is going to keep you organized. You're not going to have to look all and dig all through under your bathroom counter to find your hair spray because you know what's going to be in your hair products bin. So that's what I mean by contain. You're going to you're going to see what size you need for what you have and make sure that the bins are going to fit in your assigned spot. So then you're going to go and buy the containers. And the reason, other reason is we really need to buy containers is, let's be honest, you can

hold so much more stuff in a bin or a basket than just putting it on a shelf. And I have a lot of stuff. I have a lot of stuff. I am not a minimalist. So I need bins and baskets not only to keep it contained and keep it organized, but also to be able to hold more stuff, to be able to hide and house and organize more stuff. So it's pretty essential that you get yourself a bin or a basket. So then you're on contain. Now the last. part of the acronym space is E and that's where the evaluate comes in. That's where you can really, once your whole house is done and you're living with it and you're getting used to putting things back away when you're done with them and you've been doing this for a little while, then you can

really evaluate that space. Then you can go back and say, okay, every day I put my hair products and I put my brush away and I put all this stuff away, I want to make these bins a little bit needer. I want to make it even more organized. Then you can work on dividing your bins with even more little bins inside or having certain spots for certain items. But again, that has to come after you've lived with your organizing system for a while so you can see, is it really working? What's the best way to do it? And the only way to figure that is to just live with it, to just, you know, be organized for a little while, get used to putting things away and say, you know what? I thought this was a great spot for my hairbrush to go, but it's such a pain to put it away that I leave it on the counter.

Then you need to really reassess where that hairbrush should go. So, you know, I'm using the bathroom as an example here, but hopefully you guys are getting the idea. And this whole concept, I just really applied to my entire house. And I started by, you know, one closet. I started in my master closet. I took everything out. And I decided, you know, I didn't have a lot of dress. space and I decided to use bins for workout clothes, bins for bathing suits, bins for camisoles,

because I'm not a folder, to be honest, I'm a shiver, and a bin for jeans, and it just works. And I'm still using that system today. I mean, it's been like five or six years, and it works so well, I'm still using that exact system in my closet today. So I moved on from the closet and I got hooked at that point seeing how much time I was saving every morning and I went to, you know, the bathroom. And I did exactly what we talked about earlier to the bathroom. And then I moved on to, you know, the kitchen and started doing one cupboard at a time and so on and so forth. So to get started, you know, pick a space, get yourself some sticky notes, pull everything out of that space. I'm not talking about a room. I want you to pick a really attainable space where you can

complete the project in just a few hours. The last thing you want to do is say, today I'm going to organize the kitchen and pull everything out of all your cupboards and then get tired and, you know, have to live with it like that, a giant mess, and you'll feel defeated. You'll feel discouraged and you won't want to keep going. So we want to pick really attainable goals. So maybe it's just one little drawer. Maybe it's just one cupboard. Get that done and then move on. and so hopefully you know before you know it for me it did take a little while because once i got my whole house macro organized i went back to the beginning again and then i microorganized it so then i and i'm still you know if you watch my videos or you read my blog you know that today i'm still

micro organizing i'm evaluating my space all the time as new things come in and as i'm really identifying things that are harder to keep up on, harder to clean up, then I'm always changing the system and trying to find the most efficient way. Let's be honest. I'm lazy. I'm lazy. I'm looking for the easiest and most efficient way for me and my family to keep my house clean with the minimal effort required. And that's really what organization should be. It shouldn't be about being this beautiful space. I mean, obviously your home is going to be much nicer and brighter and more are welcoming and you're going to like it so much more when it is organized, but that is just the side effect of organization. The whole purpose of organization is to save you time, is to be able to

just, you know, sort of breeze through life and not have to think, where's my phone? Where are my keys? Where did I put that thing? You know, oh, I've got to tidy this house up. Oh, I got to schedule my Saturday and my family and I have to spend a few hours cleaning the house. That just shouldn't, you know, happen anymore because you're going to be on top of things and your house is going to sort of run like a well-oiled machine. Well, that's the goal anyways. And so, um, hopefully, you know, just, just stick with it. I can tell you that I am living proof that the laziest, the busiest, the most unorganized person can do it. Um, if I can do it, you can do it. I know you hear that all the time, but it's absolutely true in my case.

This does not come naturally for me, but I can promise you this. It is a wonderful and addictive feeling. When you've taken the time to organize a drawer or a closet or something in your home and you see the immediate effects that it has, you instantly feel proud of yourself, you're like, look at that space. It's so organized. I mean, you feel immediate gratification.

but then you also see the next day that you're using that space that is saving you time. It's easier to find stuff. It's easier to put away. And it becomes addicting. It becomes this great feeling. I always say that, you know, there's no other thing that I have found that you can spend 15 minutes doing and see immediate and long-lasting results. And if working out was like that, I'd be a size too.

If I could go to the gym and like run on the treadmill for 15 minutes and like lose an ass cheek, I'd be running on that treadmill all the time. It doesn't really work like that. You know, you have to put in for the long haul. But with organization, you really will get immediate, immediate results. So thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you feel inspired. I hope you take a few minutes just to organize something today. It's going to be so worth it for you and your family. So thanks so much for listening. And stay tuned. I have lots more podcasts coming. make sure you check out my website at www.gg.m.m.e.

So clutterbug.combeg. There is an organizing test on there that you could take and it'll say what clutterbug am I or what's your organizing style. So you can click on that. It's a free test. You can take on my website. And it will tell you what your style is and some tips to help for your specific style.

So if you're like me and you're a hider or you're a butterfly and it's like, you know, you like to see all your stuff, so you have all your clutter everywhere because if it's out of sight, out of mind, everybody has a different sort of style of organizing. And there's lots of tips on that website. You can find out what your style is and hopefully it can help you get everything under control. So again, thanks so much and I'll see you next time.