Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - How to Run Your Home Like A Boss | Clutterbug Podcast # 44

Episode Date: March 29, 2018

Here is how I started running my home like a boss and the magic that happened when I did.  My secre tto getting organized and getting more done as a Stay At Home Mom.  For more home organizing, cleaning and just general life tips, visit my website at: www.clutterbug.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys and welcome back to the Clutterbug podcast. Today we're talking about how to run your home like a boss. So it is exactly nine years since I became a stay-at-home mom. I can't believe it's gone so by so fast. Let me tell you. It's flown by. My second daughter was just born and my first oldest daughter, Izzy, was two. Now I had gone back to work after Izzy was born and I was not a fan of being a working mom. I was worried about her all the time, worried about her at daycare, if she's having fun, if she was getting sick, if she was eating enough. And I wasn't a fan of coming home and having that rush. You know, in the morning you got a rush to get them to daycare. Then you pick them up from daycare. You come home. You rush to make dinner, get them fed and bathed and in bed

just so you can start the day all over again the next day. So I think the tipping point was that Izzy was sick a lot. She had pneumonia all the time. she was constantly getting sick from daycare and a first time mom I was overreacting so when Abby was born my second was born I made a decision to be a stay-at-home mom now I had dreamed about this I had you know envisioned that I was going to be this epic amazing stay-at-home mom and we were going to do all these great things and let me tell you the reality of the situation I sucked at it I was failing all the expectations I had of what it was going to look like. It was, that wasn't it. I was not a, that Pinterest perfect mom.

I was in my pajamas all day while the kids were watching, you know, Dora the Explorer, and the house was a disaster, and the kitchen was full of dirty dishes, and I was not accomplishing really anything, yet I felt exhausted. And like I was running around with a chicken with my head cut off all the time. And here's the thing. I actually considered going back. to work. I was not doing a great job and it was straining my relationship with my husband too because he would come home from work after, you know, an eight-hour shift and he would be tired and he'd walk in the door and I would be exhausted and just want to toss the kids at him. But he would see a messy house, me and my pajamas with messy hair and, you know, the kids in probably their pajamas, let's be

honest if we weren't going anywhere. And he would feel like, what did you do all day? Sometimes he would even say that and I would instantly get resentful because he wasn't seeing it as a real job so I'd get mad that he didn't see it as a real job and he would get upset that I wasn't yeah I guess treating it like a real job and it was finally a light bulb moment for me of course he's not seeing it and seeing my contribution because I'm not treating it like something that is worthy of you know an equal contribution. I was working hard, I guess, but I wasn't really accomplishing anything. It was like a hamster running in a wheel, just like spinning the wheel, going nowhere. So I asked myself, if I went back to work and I hired a nanny to come in so the kids didn't have to go to daycare,

what would I expect from that nanny? Would I be okay paying someone and getting the same results as I was giving myself? Would I be okay with paying someone to come in and watch the kids and them not washing the dishes or cleaning up the toys or spending time doing educational things with the kids, would that be acceptable? And the answer is no. And so I just, I decided before I went back to work and and hired someone to treat it like I was the nanny, to treat my home like I was the CEO of my home, to treat it like a business, even though I wasn't being paid. And that one thing, that change in my perspective, changed everything. I decided in the morning I was going to get dressed, like I was going to work, and I was going to create a schedule for

myself, actually typed it out on a calendar like it was a little daycare that I was running, even though it was just my kids. And I scheduled us different events every day. Maybe it was just a walk to the park, or maybe we were having popcorn and movie in the afternoon, or maybe we were going somewhere to go to a zoo or something. But I would schedule something every day in the afternoon for us to do a month in advance. And I wasn't, I mean, I was pretty flexible, but I tried to stick to it. And then I would schedule our day. So breakfast at the same time, lunch at the same time, playtime was at the same time. Mom's chore time was during nap time. And I stopped having the TV watched on all day in the background. And I stopped just,

wasting my time surfing Facebook. It was even back then. There was Facebook. And I structured my time. I mean, there's two things that happened that were pretty remarkable. One, my house got clean, my kids got happier, and I was just doing a better job as a parent. 100%. As a stay-at-home mom, I finally could take pride in my ability. But the most surprising thing that happened was I was happier. Like, I was happier having structure, which is a little crazy pants because, I mean, the idea of structure is terrifying, right? The idea of having a routine seems like, first of all, it seems like way more work. Second of all, it's like, oh, just who wants to do that, not me? So I thought, I thought I wanted to be free and just play it by ear. But the problem is that

just led to procrastination, which led to me feeling guilty and not getting anything done and then feeling bad about myself and being miserable. When I have structure, when I have routine, even if I don't follow it 100%, even if I don't even come close to following it, I'm doing so much more than I would if I didn't have any at all. And with that, I was so much happier. And you know kids need structure too. I mean, when you put a kid on a regular nap schedule and you start structuring their day so you're doing the same time of thing throughout the day. Kids thrive in that environment. Guess what? Us adults do too. So I started treating my home like I was the CEO. And the other thing that happened was my husband started having more respect for me and the job that I was

doing. He could see on the calendar every day what we were scheduling, what we were doing that day. I printed out an actual routine with pictures for my oldest so she could say, you know, this is recess, this. We actually had recess twice during the day where we went outside. This is nap time. This is food time. And she could follow along with the pictures. So she sort of held me accountable too. Like, okay, mommy, today we're doing, you know, pizza party for lunch.

I had to be accountable to her. And after doing this for about six months, I realized that. I wanted to start a daycare in my home. I also, you know, wanted the money. So I wanted to create a home based business and it was already running my home like a daycare as a stay-at-home mom. So it seemed like a really perfect fit. And that's exactly what happened. I opened my home up to other kids. I kept running my house and my daycare in the same way with structure. I gave the calendar to my parents, the parents of the children so they knew what was happening every day ahead of time. And they had a schedule of what was happening and they were now holding me accountable too and i was happy

and i was a really good mom and then i had mylo and i decided to stop the daycare it was just too much i wanted to take some time off from the daycare to be home with just me and milo and guess what i fell back into my old routine i fell into the routine of just feeling exhausted and the routine of no routine. Let's be honest. I'm not even going to call it a routine. I fell back into my staying in my PJs all day, not having any structure, really being miserable, which is crazy. I had way less work than I did when I had nine kids in my daycare, yet I was so much more unhappy and unfulfilled than I was when I actually was running it like a business. So after a while, I realized what the issue was. I was, was and I brought it back. And I started again running my home like I was the CEO and running my other

business at the same time. So instead of doing daycare, I started a blog and I started scheduling my time to work when Milo was down for a nap or before he got up in the morning and after he went to bed, I scheduled our day so I could grow my business on the side at the same time as being a stay-at-home mom and I found happiness again. I found happiness in structure and routine. So that's what I wanted to talk to you about today. I want to encourage you if you're a stay-at-home mom, even if you're not a stay-at-home mom,

even if you're a work outside of the home, but you're struggling in the home to get the things done that you want to get done. To feel great about your accomplishments, it could be that you're just really lacking that structure and routine or you're not treating your home like you would a business, or you're not treating it like you would if you were being paid to do it. I use the same approach when it comes to cleaning my house.

When it's like, okay, the house is getting gross, which is sometimes more than it should get like that. When I clean, I pretend I'm the cleaning lady. You guys, it's ridiculous, I know, but I, you know, grab my cleaning supplies and I get ready, and I'm like, for this hour, for this power hour, I'm going to pretend that this isn't even my house and I'm the cleaning lady and I'm going to clean it like I would if I was being paid to do it. I do a better job.

I'm happier with the results. I'm more motivated to keep going and not stop. And just overall it's a much better experience in my house is cleaner. So it works. It works for me. And not only me, it works for a lot of people who have tried this before. It's a change of your mind. It's a change in your perception, I guess, of you and your role.

and how you're going to tackle your home, which is a big part of your life. Let's be honest. Now, I'm not saying that you should clean all the time and you should, you know, make all the stuff a major priority. But even if you're scheduling your playtime, even if you're scheduling like on the weekends, we're going to do this craft and we're going to go to the park, it sounds like it's conformity. It sounds like it's putting you in a box and really stifling your freedom. But in fact, it's giving you more freedom. It's going to eliminate that procrastination. It's going to stop you from falling into that trap of laziness that we do and really push you to do the things that you want to do and you want to accomplish in your free time.

So I'm challenging you to give it a try. Grab an empty calendar, a blank calendar, print one off for next month. Let's do April. And every weekend, I want you to write and schedule something that you want to do, whether it's just go to the, park or bake a cake with your family or family game night every Friday night or family movie night every Saturday night. I want you to write these things on your calendar for the month of April. And then throughout the week, if you're a stay-at-home mom or even if you're not, I want you to write Wednesday, perhaps you're going to vacuum the whole house or Monday. You're going to do

all the laundry. I want you to structure your time like that, but when it comes to your home and family. I want you to have a specific calendar just for your home and family and then put it somewhere where you can see it and give it a try just for the month of April and see how it affects your happiness level. That's what this is going to be about. Try to stick to it. Don't over-schedule yourself and be flexible. You know, if something comes up, don't be afraid to change it. But having a plan means you're so much more likely to do it and it's really going to motivate you to have to actually do those things and not waste your time on the internet or listening to this podcast or whatever it is that you're doing instead of doing the things you really want to do.

So give it a try today. I challenge you to try a little routine and structure for the month of April and see what happens. And I'm curious at the end of April, if you find that it worked and you're feeling happier and you're getting more done and you feel great about yourself, please send me an email. I'd love to hear your story at Cass at clutterbug.m.m.e. For me, it was really, really life-changing, and I hope it can have the same impact on you. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you next time.