Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - How to ”zone” your home for more function | Clutterbug Podcast # 91

Episode Date: May 27, 2020

Are you tired of a cluttered messy home? If you struggle with chronic mess, I'm going to guess that you haven't "zoned" your home properly. This simple and easy concept can transform the way your home looks and functions.          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

Hey guys, today we're talking about zoning your home and how it's such a critical part of organizing that so many people just don't realize they're not doing. Hey, clutterbugs, welcome back to the clutterbug podcast. Today we're talking about zoning your home. And this is a really simple concept and it's something you're probably already doing in your kitchen without even realizing it. Zoning is just setting up spots for your items where you're actually using them. and it's it's all about creating function.

So laziness, walking the least amount possible to find something and put it away. I'm going to use your kitchen as an example because you're probably naturally already zoning your kitchen and you may not even be realizing you do it, but you probably have your plates and glasses close to the dishwasher, right? Ideally right above the dishwasher so you don't have to move when you're emptying it. You probably have your coffee mugs right above your coffee maker, or hopefully you do anyways. You probably have your utensil drawer again close to the dishwasher and your spices, your pots and pans are probably or should be beside the stove. It's all these ways that you're setting up a kitchen for function to save you a few seconds here and there, finding things and putting it away.

But zoning your home, it's more than just the kitchen. It's your entire house should really be set up in this way that's just making it as functional as possible because that's how it stays tidy. When things are easy to put away, you're going to do it. If things are hard to get put away, you're just probably not. You're going to leave things out and you're going to pile. And rezoning your home is this really simple thing that you can do.

It's not about setting up Pinterest-worthy organizing systems. It's not about buying new containers or late. labeling everything. While I think all of that stuff is fun and go ahead and do it if you want, zoning is a free thing that you can do, just moving things around, creating new spots for things to go that is going to really make your life easier. All of those few seconds that you're saving add up to a lot of time. And so let's talk about it. Let's talk about sort of what zoning looks like. It's definitely taking advantage of your valuable real estate. So your valuable real estate in your home are the spots that are easiest to access.

And in your kitchen, that means your countertop, the top drawer of your kitchen, the one right underneath your countertop, and your upper cabinet lower shelves. So the bottom shelf of your upper cabinet. Those three spots are the easiest to access. so only things that you use every single day or at least multiple times a week should be in those spots. Maybe you have all of your cookie cutters in a drawer. But if you're only baking once or twice a month, those should be relocated to a different drawer and things like your spoons and spices, whatever, things you're using all the time

should be located in the easiest access spot. So this is really something easy that you can do in the kitchen. but it also means your bathroom. So the top drawer in your bathroom, and if you have a medicine cabinet or something like that, the lowest shelf, those are the areas that are your valuable real estate and only things you're using every single day should go in there.

It shouldn't be where you store extra bathroom products. It shouldn't be where you store those like, I don't know, your curling iron you use once a month. It should only be for the items that you're using. the most often. And those hard to reach areas like really down low cabinets or really up high shelving, those are the things, those are the spots you're going to use things you're not using as often. But zoning is more than just that. It's about taking the time to really think about how you're functioning in your home. And the best way to do this is to look at your piles of clutter.

It's to look at where you're naturally piling things. If in your bedroom, the top of your dresser, is change from your pockets and maybe keys or sunglasses or other things that you just naturally are leaving there, that's exactly the spot where you should be creating a home for these items, whether it's a basket on top or clearing out the top drawer of your bedroom dresser to create a home for those hot spot items, for those things you're using all the time. The other thing that's really important when we're talking about your bedroom is to zone your closet. So putting the items you use most often where it's easiest to access and the things you're not using as often at the ends of your groats or up high on the high shelf or down low. It seems really simple.

I know you're like rolling your eyes probably like Cass. I'm already zoning. But I promise you, I promise you, you're not. and you have to look no further than where you're naturally piling things to realize this. I would say at least 70% of my clients have issues with clutter on the kitchen counters and specifically paper clutter. There's bills that need to be paid. There's school homework that needs to be done. There's things that need to be just dealt with piled on the kitchen counter.

And many of these families have paper systems set up in different rooms. They have offices. They have places upstairs, but they're not using it because it's too far away. And because naturally they've already created a zone for their command center, yet they haven't take the time to actually create the command center. So we're going to talk more about some examples of how you can rearrange and rezone your home in just a minute. ticking off the wall. But tonight I'm letting the goal.

Spend my coin for show. I'd like to take a second to thank BetterHelp online counseling for sponsoring this podcast. Getting counseling was one of the best things I ever did for myself. Honestly, it was like an investment in my mental health, in my sanity. And it wasn't that I was even depressed. I just felt like something was interfering with my happiness. like there was a roadblock in my life. Better help has over 3,000 U.S. licensed therapists all across 50 states, and there's more than just one way to get help. You can chat through text, chat, phone, video.

It's completely up to you, and you can do it from the comfort of your own home. The best part is that it's really an affordable option. And all of you listening, all my Clutterbug podcast listeners, get 10% off your first month using the discount code Clutterbug. So why not get starting today, check out betterhelp.com slash clutterbug to learn more. Zoning your home is a really, it's a hard concept to grasp because it's hard to know what you don't know. It's hard to realize where the best spot is for your things when you've been living with your items in certain spots probably since you moved in. You're unpacking your boxes. It's moving day. You probably have people helping you. You're tired. And you just put things away. Setting up a home,

on moving day or the couple of days after you move in is like the worst possible time to actually design and set up a home because here's the thing it's a new space you don't even know how you and your family are going to function in it and you're tired you're exhausted you're rushing and so you're just putting things wherever they'll fit even if you've given it some thought how could you possibly know how you're going to function in a home until you've actually lived in it i'm not suggesting you don't unpack for a while. I think it's a really good idea to put things away in a good enough home for now, but I do think it's important after you've lived in a space for a while to re-evaluate, to go back and say, okay, this is a natural clutter hotspot in my home. Why? Why am I putting things here? How can I

move things around so that it's easier to put this stuff away or create homes for this stuff that's naturally piling. Maybe you don't actually use your entrance way very often. You, you know, come in your side door, but all your shoes and coats are still stored in the front door. Maybe you and your family always go at the back door to enjoy your backyard, but your shoes are located somewhere else, so you have a pile of shoes always at the back door for your family going in and out. It's about looking at those piles of clutter and saying, okay, how can I create zones for this stuff. And for us, we have shoes like a flip-flop bins at the back door. We have outside, we have like an outdoor shoe thing under an awning where we house all of those things. So we don't

have to have a pile of shoes at the back door. But I didn't realize I needed that until after we had lived here in a while and the clutter started to pile up. One of our biggest issues was we had a playroom in the basement where all of the kids crafting supplies were. But every day they would like bring up their crayons and their markers so they could color in the kitchen with me while I was cooking and then we'd always have like kids coloring clutter in the kitchen. So I cleared out a spot in the kitchen and created three drawers dedicated one for homework and two for arts and crafts for the kids. And I mean in a relatively small kitchen that was like kind of bananas at the time. But I moved things like aprons and placemats and things that I wasn't using all the time.

somewhere else to make room for the things that were naturally piling there. We also had paperwork that was constantly ending up in the kitchen, so I made a little command center for things like schoolwork, for coupons. I created a home for gift carts, a place for receipts, coupons, things that were naturally piling in the kitchen that at first I had homes for in the office, but it didn't really make sense to keep that in the office. We also have a garage which has lots of tools but with three kids it meant we changed a lot of batteries we fixed things so we were bringing in like little screwdrivers and different tools all the time to change batteries to fix small things and then tool clutter was always on the kitchen counter so we created a little

spot just around the corner in our closet for tools not all the tools but the tools we used all the time like needle nose pliers a hammer measuring tape screwdrivers, extra nails, little things that we were running back and forth all the time to the garage for. We zoned a spot for that right beside the kitchen. And so the best thing that you can do to create zones is like I said, look at your natural clutter hot spots. Look at things in your home and say, okay, I love knitting and I have a craft room, but I'm knitting all the time. So I have like all my knitting supplies and they're always all over the living room. Create a spot, maybe get a little side table, some baskets, something to house your current projects that you're working on right there in the

living room. Maybe you're constantly playing board games with the family in your dining room, but all of the games are stored downstairs in a craft room or in a family room. It's okay to zone a spot in your dining room just for board games. It's okay to take out all of the China you never use or your decorative, I don't know, Royal Dalton or whatever is in your hutch that you're never using and not enjoying. And instead, fill it with things that are naturally being used in the space. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Don't be afraid to look at your home with a new light. Get a pad of paper and a pet and look at every space and say, what is this space functioning as?

what am I doing in this room? And are the supplies I need to do those things close by and easy to access? Is there a way that I can create a zone in this space and reorganize and move things around to make my home more functional? And what this does when you do this, it means it's easier to put things away. It means you're more likely to actually engage in those activities because it's easier to get the things out. But the big plus is because it's easier to put things away, you're no longer going to have a constant mess. I cannot tell you how many families have have playrooms,

but kids don't want to play alone in the playroom. So they drag toys out into whatever room the parents are in, the living room, the kitchen, and then they end up with toy clutter all over the place. And they're like, why won't the kids just keep the toys in the playroom? Why don't you just create a small shelf with some toys up in the living room. Why not zone a small area and do toy rotation out of the playroom? But create a toy zone right in there. Again, it isn't about creating a beautiful Pinterest-worthy space. It's about making your home function for you. And I can't tell you exactly how to zone your home because everybody's home is different. Everybody's space is different. and everybody has different stuff.

You are the master of your home. You know it better than anyone. So grab that pad of paper and a pen and do a real walk through your home with a critical eye. Take a look at where you have piles naturally adding up. Take a look inside cabinets and drawers and see how you can shift things around, shuffle, reorganize to create a more functional space today.

If you're really struggling with this concept and you honestly don't know where to start, I'd recommend when you are looking at your piles of clutter to ask yourself this one question, where is the first place I would look for this if I needed it? If I couldn't find this, where is the first place I would go and look? And that is probably the spot which should be its new home. That's exactly the spot that you should zone for it to go because that is its natural spot in your home. home. Hopefully this makes sense. Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you guys next time.