Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - Self Isolation is Making me Rage Clean | Clutterbug Podcast # 86

Episode Date: March 22, 2020

Anyone else feeling a little ragey being stuck at home all day? Anyone else feeling like their home is a mess and no one is helping to clean it? You are not alone. In this podcast, I offer support and solidarity to all of us silently (or loudy) rage cleaning our homes so that we don't throat punch our family members.  A special thank you to Better Help for sponsoring this podcast. Visit http://.BetterHelp.com/clutterbug for more details.        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

Anyone else rage cleaning? I feel like I'm rage cleaning to deal with the fact that I want to throat punch my family. We're stuck together in the house, all five of us. Everyone is just being lazier than normal. And maybe that's due to stress. Maybe that's due to the lack of structure that we normally have. But whatever the reason, the house is a disaster and I want to murder everyone. Hey, clutterbugs and welcome. back to the Clutterbug podcast. If you're like me and you're self-isolating, even if you're not, your kids are probably home from school, which means they're all up in your face more than they usually would be. Maybe your spouse isn't working or you're not working. I don't know your

situation, but I got to tell you, this is a stressful time. And when people are home and together and confined in close quarters, we all get a little cabin fever. And we definitely have that in this house. And I'm an introvert. I feel like I've been preparing for self-isolation. my entire life I don't really like people I don't really like being around people and I grew up in the country as an only child so this is like nothing for me but having four other people in the home all the time all day long yeah it's crazy pants the other thing that I'm really noticing is everyone's treating this sort of like a vacation in my home and when you're on vacation you don't really pick up after yourself you don't really have to do laundry or load the dishwasher or

or anything like that. So my kids are doing really nothing. We went from having some sort of structure with school and coming home and chores that we do on a regular basis to the fact that, I mean, it's 4 o'clock in the afternoon and they're still all in their pajamas. And we have rules and a schedule that I printed out and put on the fridge that everyone, including my husband, is sort of ignoring. I'm kind of ignoring it too, if I'm being totally honest. But I woke up this morning, I looked around my house, there's dirt and crumbs all over the floor. Everybody's missing the garbage can for some reason. The garbage can was also full and people were piling on top. And then as it's falling off the top of the garbage can onto the floor, then people just

started throwing their garbage on the floor. I mean, it's, the house looks like a war zone. It looks like there was a struggle maybe or something. You know what I mean? It's, uh, or we were robbed. And for some reason, they dumped the garbage can all over the place. I don't really know what's going on. No one's loading the dishwasher. Everybody's putting their dishes just on top of the counter. They're getting dressed. They're leaving their clothes on the ground. They're having showers.

There's wet towels all over the place. Like, I don't know what's going on here, but I feel like I'm going to snap. I feel like I'm going to snap. And I started out this isolation. It feels like it's been a million years. I realize that it's only been a couple of days. But looking at this as a really great opportunity to get a handle on my house. But if you're like me,

And you're trying to look at the positive and use this time to declutter and organize and do those home projects that you've been putting off because you don't have time and you're like, now I'm home, I have the time. And you're finding that you're being sidetracked by the fact that everything is just getting so messy, so fast. I just wanted to tell you that you're not alone. And I think what we really need to do is create more structure and routine for our new life who knows how long this is going to last, so that we're not overwhelmed by this,

especially so our mood isn't overwhelmed by this. Nothing is more depressing than waking up to dirty dishes and garbage. Nothing. It just literally feels like it ruins your day. So I went from having a nighttime cleaning routine that I did all the time to just also being really lax about it, to being more like, well, you know, it's a crazy time. we're all just kind of, you know, taking it one day at a time, but we definitely need to bring back some more structure. And so this is a really good opportunity for us to absolutely tackle those things on

our list that we want to, to really look at the silver lining and take back some control in this uncontrollable time and focus on something that we can make a difference, that we can change inside our home. So for you, maybe it's decluttering, maybe it's going through your closet and purging. For me, this is a really big opportunity for me to make my kids step up. It's time for them to step up. And yes, they are amazing when it's school time. They go to school where it's really structured. So they're sort of in that mentality of having a structure. So when they come home, they sort of do the things that are habits, empty their backpacks. They make sure they make their bed. They do their homework, they do a little bit of chores, and then they have free time for the rest of the night.

And they've been doing that for so long that that's a habit for them. But now everything's like topsy-turvy, so there is no structure, there is no habit. And everyone's resorting to just like laying around in their pajamas all day. So building structure and habits is hard. It's so hard. It's taking something that's against your nature and like trying to force yourself. to do it and your brain's telling you, I don't want to do this. This seems like work. I want to do this fun stuff instead. So it's hard, but that is going to be my challenge for the next

couple of weeks is getting my whole family, especially my kids, on board with a new routine. And what this new routine is going to look like is hopefully a lot of self, I don't know, what's it called? Like when they have to do things on their own, like, you know being I don't know the word I'm having a mind fart but they're going to be like making their own lunches and they're going to be like helping prepare dinner and I'm going to teach Milo to do his own laundry and I'm going to get them to be cleaning the house more and vacuuming and dusting teaching them the proper way to clean a toilet um they're not doing school right now we're doing a little bit of activities learning every day but this is such a cool opportunity

for me to exploit them for the child labor that they are to teach them the proper way to clean a house, to teach them the proper way to like fold laundry. I can really take this as an opportunity for all of us to have more structure in the day and for me to not want to murder them by having a cleaner house. So yeah, I wanted to share that with you guys. And just let you know that if you're feeling out of control and overwhelmed, especially when it comes to your home now that we're home all day and we're looking at it, that you're not alone.

I feel you. And I'm also struggling. And I feel like a little bit of a hypocrite the fact that I am struggling because I'm over here telling you guys just, I'm always saying like if you want to get your family on board, do it with positivity and do it with, you know, positive reinforcement and give them cookies. And all of that is very true. It does work. But that also takes time. And right now, I don't have the time or the patience or the mental ability. to be Mary Poppins to my kids.

So mommy's going to have no screen time until they've done their chores in the morning until they're dressed, until their beds are made, and until they've done their chores. Me and Mommy's coming out because I just keep reminding myself that it's good for them. So I'm curious about you guys. Let me know if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram,

go ahead and pop in some comments about what life is looking like for you right now. do you have toilet paper? I know that's a weird thing but do you have toilet paper? Is your house staying tidy or is it a total mess? Are you feeling motivated to tackle those projects on your list? Or are you feeling overwhelmed with just the stress of everything that's going on in the world? Are you procrastinating or are you feeling like this is a fire lit under you? Everybody reacts to things in really different ways and I want to be that person who has a fire lit under them because of this. I really want to really turn this and look at the most positive outcome that I can from it.

Like take this horrible negative thing and turn it into something. It's at least a tiny bit. That's a positive. And I think teaching my kids those basic life skills, I have a real opportunity to do that for them now. They're not going to like it. They're not going to. I mean, I started this week thinking, oh, they're going to have such fond memories of this. You know, I'm going to do crafts with them every day and do all these fun.

things and we still are doing that but it's also okay to be a little bit of a mean mommy and use this as an opportunity for them to learn some life skills like cooking and cleaning laundry yard work whatever it is that you need to get done and also we're a team right now you and your family you're a team and it's all hands on deck and if no one else is stepping up to be the captain it's time for you to step up and be the captain I'd like to take a second I'd like to take a 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. BetterHelp 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 started today? Check out BetterHelp.com slash Clutterbug to learn more. If you're like me and you really struggle with procrastination, you're looking for some ways to self-motivate. I definitely recommend checking out the 30-day decluttering challenge. In all likelihood, I hate to say it, but we could be in this for a couple of weeks. So the 30-day decluttering challenge is 15 minutes a day. It's a free decluttering challenge. You can find it online. Just Google Clutterbug 30-day decluttering challenge. There's a video for every single day and a printable you can look at. And it's 15 minutes a day, different areas of your home that you can declutter. I feel like that's such a

manageable thing, right? And then at the end of 30 days, you're like, man, I actually accomplish things. The only downside to this is we don't actually have a place to take these donations at the time, right? We're stuck at home. So putting them in your car, putting them in your garage, having a corner of their house where you're stacking the donations, that's a downside. But also, as that pile grows, you can really see the impact that you're having in just 15 minutes a day. So let's try to look at the positive of that. I also wanted to share with you. There's a ton on my website of free cleaning printables.

Now is a great time to do some spring cleaning. When's the last time you pulled out your fridge? It's been a while for me. I could definitely pull out my fridge and stove and clean behind it. Those are things that we can do that we don't need supplies for. We don't have to go out for. We can dust all of the light fixtures. We can wash our baseboards.

We can pull out and move all the furniture. are in vacuum underneath. We can switch out all our winter clothes and winter coats and we can put them somewhere and bring out all our spring stuff or just rearrange the closet so that the spring stuff is all together. We can really have an opportunity here to make positive changes in our home. And if you're looking for motivation, there is lots on my website, clutterbug.com. there's also lots of other places online everybody on youtube is posting spring clean with me and i love watching clean with me videos i hate recording clean with me videos so i don't make them myself but there's so many people who are making really motivating clean with me videos that you can put on in the background

watch other people clean their home while you clean yours you feel like you're doing it with them or listen to some great podcasts or audiobooks while you tackle some things and you're your home that you've been neglecting because you're busy. We are not busy now. We are home. We have endless amounts of time. Let's not waste this opportunity. So I'm making a list of all the things I want to teach my kids. I'm going to teach my kids to bake and cook. They're going to be in charge of dinner three nights a week. Each of them are picking one meal from the stockpile that we have, which is dwindling every day because my kids are man handling all the snacks. Like, why are they eating so many rappers and why can't they put the wrappers in the garbage. I'm getting off topic, but they all get

to pick a meal and they're going to cook it. Milo got to pick and we're having pizza pops. It's like pizza pockets, you know, whatever, whatever. He's learning to use the stove. He's going to be proud of himself on taking them out of a box and a wrapper and putting them on a pan. I don't care. That's awesome. Izzy's making spaghetti and Abby's making us homemade mac and cheese, which I feel is like super ambitious, but good for her. So this is such a cool opportunity to teach your kids those type of things and really try to, yeah, look at the silver lining of this. And I'm not going to lie until my kids tell you that my kids are happy about this. They are not happy about the fact that they're going to be cleaning the house and doing laundry and making dinners. They are whining and complaining about it.

But I don't really care. I wouldn't let my kids eat cake for breakfast. I am not going to let them just get away with laying in their pajamas all day. accomplishing nothing while we're all home. So mean mommy's coming out and that's okay sometimes because I'm definitely doing it for their for their for their health and for the good of them. And if you need a little mean mommy for yourself, don't be afraid to parent yourself during this time too, right? Don't be afraid. Sometimes I yell at myself. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but sometimes I'm like, get it together, man. Get up. You're not allowed to have any tablet or watch any TV or do anything until you've accomplish this, this, and this. And I parent myself like I would my kids and I get mean and I get

stern with myself. It's not about being abusive, but it's about having boundaries. Boundaries. You cannot engage in this fun stuff until you do the not fun stuff. As I'm recording this podcast, I can hear my kids fighting upstairs. It's life. It's life right now. So anyways, parent your kids, be a little tough. Parent yourself. Be a little tough. And let's make the best of this. together so again check out lots of the free resources at clutterbug.com and if you want to follow me on facebook or instagram it's clutterbug underscore m e so clutterbug underscore me if you want to find me and let me know what you guys are doing during this time uh also curious if you guys have toilet paper like what's up with the freaking toilet paper there is none anywhere in my town none on amazon

We live here in Canada and everything's gone. Oh my gosh. It's Battle Royale up there. Can you guys hear this? The slamming and the bum. Oh, gosh. You know, oh, kids. Home.

Home. If you also want to just throttle your family because you're stuck home with them, know that you're not alone. Let's all take deep breaths together. We will get through this. We will get through this and will be stronger and better for it. So thank you guys so much for watching. You're not watching.

Thank you guys so much for. listening. I'm not even going to edit this out. I love you guys. You're so supportive. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening and we'll see you guys next time.