Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - Small Changes, Big Results. Get Organized in 2023!! | Clutterbug Podcast # 155

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

Do you want to see big results this year? Believe it or not, it's the SMALLEST changes that can have the BIGGEST impact.  In this podcast, I share my top FIVE tiny daily habits that can change your life and help you get organized in 2023.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're talking about five tiny changes that will have a huge impact on your life. Hey, clutterbugs. Welcome back to the clutterbug podcast. I'm Cassandra Arson. If you are new to this podcast, I love sharing, organizing, decluttering, and I guess just life tips. Not that I have my life totally together. But listen, I am a recovering super slub. I struggled with not just home management, but definitely home management.

but so many areas of my life, from my finances to my weight, to just, oh, everything that I guess you would think of when you think of adulting for some reason is a big struggle for me. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, and I think a lot of my struggles definitely tied into that, but even without ADHD, even now that I take medication and I know I'm just a person who I'm not great at being self-disciplined. So I love sharing with you ways that we can kind of hack this, that we can still have all the amazing things we want out of life without it feeling like hard work. The thing that has had the biggest impact has definitely been getting my home under control. Going from a really

cluttered space, and no exaggeration here, I had a path from my apartment door, I had a path to the kitchen, a path to my bedroom, and a path to the sofa. And some of the piles were almost waist high. Like, I would walk on clean clothes, dirty clothes, trash, garbage. I just, I don't know. I mean, even when I was doing better than that, mostly had a mortification, if I'm being honest, I started, I got married and we had a baby and I was like, man, I can't live this way anymore. I still would shove and cram every hidden spot full. So even though you would walk in and there would no longer be like an episode of hoarders, you couldn't find a matching pair of socks. You couldn't find two shoes to leave the house. Like everything was everywhere. And there wasn't one

day where I wasn't looking for something. I just remember every day feeling the sense of panic because I know I'm running late and I couldn't find my purse, my coat, the umbrella, my keys, whatever it was. I knew I had. I thought it was someplace where I put it. That's that anxiety, that stress, the fear. I remember it like it was yesterday. And I'm to a point for honestly the past probably 10 years or more, I rarely lose anything. I mean, sometimes I can't find my phone and I have to call it. And there is the occasional time where I cannot find my keys. I cannot lie. But my homes is tied. It's tidy and it's organized and it doesn't feel like work. I don't have to be that person

that has to clean all the time and tidy all the time in order to maintain a home that feels effortless. So that's why I like talking about this because it is so life changing because I'm so passionate about that because I want this for everyone. And the crazy thing is it was easier to get here than I thought. I was just going about it the wrong way. Okay. So, Let's talk about how we can actually achieve whatever it is. Hopefully, I mean, you're listening to this podcast. You must care a little bit about organization and cleaning. And hopefully when you're listening to this, you're actually taking action on your home.

You're not just passively listening. I want you to get up and let's clean together. Let's organize together. Let's declutter. But I want to talk about New Year's resolutions, really, because it's the new year. It's January. What is it? It's January 10th today.

and I was always that person who had a big New Year's resolution. Like I was going to be an organized person this year and I was going to lose 50 pounds and I was going to get my life together. And this time of year is like that. It's about fresh starts and big changes. And I used to get so excited about the new and improved me that I would be every single year. Like December, I'd be like, oh, it's okay because January is coming and I'm going to be amazed balls in January.

January. But I kid you not, after a few weeks, I'd always give up, like always and go back to my old ways. And here's why. Because I kind of had this all or nothing mentality. And we've talked about this in other podcasts, but this is so common. Like, I'm going to change everything on Monday. And this is motivating. Like, it is motivating at first. But it's almost impossible to start a drastic change overnight and keep it up. This is a struggle that almost everyone has. Like, trying to completely reinvent yourself overnight is a recipe for disaster. And this is why 80% of people give up their New Year's resolutions by the third week of January.

80%. Because when you have, like, a big concrete goal, it is. It's awesome. It's awesome. It's like, I'm never going to eat gluten again or whatever it is. It's really easy to see it as all or nothing. so it's really easy to quit if you mess up, right? Like, oh, I had a slice of bread.

Oh, well, I guess that's over. If it feels impossible to keep up, if it's like if you screw up once, then it's over, then how can we possibly achieve these goals, right? This all or nothing mentality means that when we mess up, I guess it's nothing. We kind of give up. So that doesn't work for me,

which is why I'm really trying to remind myself that it's the small and consistent habits that shape my life, not the big dramatic changes. Small and consistent changes can kind of suck, though, you know what I'm saying? Because small and consistent changes be like they aren't enough. It feels like you're not doing anything. So like when your house is a disaster, you could say to yourself, I'm just going to let the dishes soak or I'm just going to wash the dishes for five minutes. When you're looking around and your kitchen is wrecked, just doing the dishes can feel like that's not even going to do anything. I'd better wait to like and clean the entire kitchen, right? This is how our brain just naturally thinks. Almost everyone. I'm going to wait

till I can do it all at once. Or I want to lose 20 pounds. I got a little gym. I have to do keto, whatever it is. What if I just swap white bread for whole grain bread? That's feels so small it feels like why even bother it feels like a meaningless change but the truth is it's those little things like i'm just going to do the dishes or i'm just going to you know change my bread this week at the grocery store it's those things that actually last it's those changes that actually make an impact and i am such an instant gratification person like i want results immediately i have zero patience. I have the attention span of a hamster. I don't want to be patient and weight. Slow change sucks. I want it today. I got weight loss surgery for Pete's sakes. Like the idea of like,

I have to eat healthier and exercise. Nah, I'll cut my guts out. Like this is honestly where my brain goes. But if I'm really, really being honest with myself, always that I've had a really big change that has lasted years, like a long-lasting, real fundamental change. All of those times, all of those habits are when I took teeny, eity-bitty baby steps, right? That's where those tiny steps that felt like it was going to do nothing at all by far have led to the biggest impact in my life. And I want to share with you the five. the five things that like I've done a ton of little tiny baby things but like the big ones right the

five things that have had the biggest impact on my life because you may have big goals for 2023 and that's awesome and maybe you have new year's resolutions and you're sticking to it and that's incredible and I'm so proud of you and I'm cheering for you and I don't want you to say well cast it'll never work so I'm giving up but I do want you to think about incorporating the baby steps to the daily habits that we can be really, really consistent with so that we can have real long lasting change in our lives. So I'm going to talk about the top five, my five changes. And I hope while you're listening to this that you will, well, hopefully you're like, I don't know, putting away your laundry right now. Do that. Put away your laundry or do the dishes or let's declutter something. Let's fill

a trash bag while you're listening to this. Let's actually take action while I'm talking to you about all these things. But I also want you to kind of think about seriously incorporating some of these. I get it. I listen to a podcast for entertainment purposes only. But let's pick one. Let's pick one of these things. You're like, you know what?

Maybe I'll give it a try. I want to challenge you to give it a try for maybe even just a week. every single day, do one of these things and see what happens. Okay, before we jump in to my five favorite tiny itty-bitty changes that will have a huge impact on your life, I have to thank today's podcast sponsor, HelloFresh. I honestly love HelloFresh, and I get three meals delivered to me every single week, and especially with New Year's, for me, I want to be healthier. I do.

I used to get a lot of takeout. but now three times a week I have meals delivered to my door that are farmhouse fresh. Everything's already pre-portioned. It's all ready for me. I just put it together. And it's like gourmet, you guys. It's amazing delicious recipes that I wouldn't have thought of. So it gets me out of that rut of always making tacos and spaghetti.

It's new amazing recipes. My family is like super excited when this comes. I'm eating healthier and it's definitely. a treat to myself. And right now, you can get 21 free meals plus free shipping. Go to hellofresh.com slash clutter pod. So clutter, C-L-U-T-T-E-R-P-O-D-21. And use the code ClutterPod 21 for 21 free meals plus free shipping. You're going to love it. Okay, so now let's jump into my five Favorite. Super, super tiny changes that are going to have an insane impact in your life. Like insane, insane impact. And the first one is definitely my favorite. And this is the thing I did

before my house was even tight. Like I was still a wreck, you guys. Okay. I was still struggling with clutter everywhere and total disorganization. My dishes were never done. I had piles of clothes everywhere. But this is a habit that I started probably, I mean, oh my gosh, 17 years ago, no looking back. And that is a daily tidy up routine. Like for me, it's nighttime, but if you're not a nighttime person, do it in the morning. But 15 minutes, my 15 minute nighttime cleaning routine changed my life. Hands down. I started out, I'd have to set alarms and reminders and I'd have like notes all over the fridge.

Don't forget to do your 15 minutes. And I'm serious. My house was a disaster. And yet I would spend 15 minutes every night just putting things back or tidy. up the kitchen or like doing something so the next day was easier. And this crazy thing happened. So I would start just tidying, picking things up, putting things back, putting things back. But every single night like consistently 15 minutes, not a ton of time. And not everything would go back. Like it's not like I would clean my whole house every night. I would do it for 15 minutes a little bit.

Or I would just do like make sure the kitchen or the sink was empty. Fly Lady says like shine your sink seriously. this little bit of everyday consistency, what ended up happening was I was kind of training myself to clean as I went. I've never been a person who, when I'm done with something, I put it away. I always left it out. I don't know why. It's just my jam. I brush my hair. I leave the brush on the bathroom counter. And so this 15 minute tidy up, I was like actively taking things and putting it away. And what I was really doing, because I was doing it every day, I was training. my brain to subconsciously pick up after myself.

And so I noticed after a couple of weeks and then definitely after a couple of months, everything was just tidier. Like I didn't, it just slowly picked away at the mess but didn't get messy again because I was teaching myself to be a tidier person. Even in the midst of complete mess and chaos, I was teaching myself to put things way when I was done with them by forcing myself every day to do a little pickup. So that was pretty incredible. Eventually I got to the point where, you know, all those 15 minutes kind of added up. So I wasn't making as much messes throughout the day. So I was kind of like those 15 minutes was like

the backlog now and I was chipping away and chipping away. And I eventually got to the point where yeah, like my kitchen was clean every night. And I just kept going. This 15 minutes, this 15 minutes just kept adding up and pushing the needle forward and getting me closer to a very tidy home. It wasn't organized, but it was tidy. And this was incredible. This, honestly, if I did nothing else, if you do nothing else, a daily 15 minute dedication to picking things up and putting it away every day, not waiting until Saturday like I used to do or waiting until I clean the house, like this all or nothing thing.

No, every day setting a timer no matter freaking what. I cannot go to bed until I've done this. I'm telling you this changed my brain. It changed my life. It changed my home. And you have to give this a try. The second tiny change that has had an insanely huge impact on my life is writing a daily to-do list.

My mom used to write lists like crazy. So I had like an issue with lists. don't know, she's so triggering for me, but she would make these ridiculous lists of things that she wanted me to accomplish in the day and she'd make lists for my stepdad and list for herself. And I thought list makers were so neurotic. But then when I did try to make a list, it would be like my mother, 50 million seven gazillion things, which would overwhelm me and I would do none of them. So here's the thing. Here's the tiny change. Every day when I get up, I have a pat of paper on the side of my fridge beside my coffee maker and I just list the three top things I want to do that

day on a piece of paper and I leave it on the side of my fridge every single day. Top three things and it isn't clean your entire house. That's nuts bars. That's that's like that's too big of a task. It's actually attainable things that I want to do that day. Maybe it's go grocery shopping. But usually it's honestly really small things like call my mom or I don't know, organize a junk. drawer or declutter 20 things like not insane things every day I write three sometimes it's a little

bit more than three but never more than five listen nope no siry bob don't make a huge to-do list for yourself every day because it's overwhelming and maybe you have other things you also want to do but if some of those are mundane things that you know you're going to do anyways just focus on this list being the big impact things that you want to do, the things that are really going to push the needle forward. But the act of writing a to-do list every day and keeping that list relatively short means that every day I'm kind of like, oh, I got to check that final thing off. So, because tomorrow I'm writing a new list. Like it motivated me to get stuff done. And I am not a getter done or type. I am not a self-motivating type. I'm lazy. I want to watch the Netflix.

so it was like it's a mindset shift right it's training our brain to think differently to be different I'm less lazy when I make a list every day I've trained myself now I'm not going full workaholic and doing 20 things a day but keeping my list really short means that I know I can get it done and I actually am motivated to get it done because I know tomorrow I'm making a new list I'm telling you a daily to-do list and keeping it super insanely short is a tiny, tiny habit that you can start doing. Send a reminder in your phone. It will change your life. I know I keep saying life-changing, but I'm not even exaggerating.

This will make an impact. The third tiny change that has had a really big impact in my life is regular decluttering. And I don't mean like how this is a tiny change for me is, I stopped stuff shuffling and started putting stuff in the trash. So when I would come across something and I'm like, I'm not sure where this should go or what is this? Or is this a piece of plastic of some? I would like put it in a junk drawer, shift it somewhere else or move it into a different room. Like I was just constantly stuff shuffling my house.

Which is why it never, I never got ahead. It was like this continuous cycle of just tidying and cleaning and then messy again and tidy and cleaning and messy again. and tidy and cleaning and messy again. And when I did this tiny change where not every time, but sometimes I was like, instead of just shoving this somewhere, I'm going to shove it in a trash bag. Holy freaking Hannah. Regular decluttering, like consistent decluttering has made my life manageable.

It's just I have less inventory. It's less on my brain. I feel less stressed. My kids are able to keep their spaces tidier. It's pretty much a miracle. regular decluttering. But the secret is like actually removing things from your home. So this is the tiny change.

You come across something and you're like, oh, I see. This is what I would do. I'd be like, oh, this old planner from 2022 is full. It's now 2023. And I would take it and I would put it in a drawer. Like why? Oh, this toy is broken and I'd put it back in the toy box. Or I'd stick it somewhere.

You know, like, this pen is dead. Oh, I'm tossing it back in the drawer and getting it. another pen. So this mindset shift of put it in the trash casks, put it in the trash cas, just daily little decluttering. Get it out. Get it out. Get it out. Get it out. It's a tiny shift. I'm not talking about you having to fill a million trash bags. I mean consistently every day throw something in the trash, like not just food waste, but get something out or donate something. Have a donation bin somewhere in your house all the time and just like every day put something. in it. Pretty freaking magical is what this is. I just did the all-day declutter as part of the

Take Your House Back course and I was I was doing my laundry room and this is a space I feel like I've decluttered a million times but decluttering is like peeling back layers of an onion because as I was actively hunting for things to go, it's like I saw things from a new light. We become clutter blind to our homes. We see it every day. We don't notice the things that we're not using. and loving unless we're actively searching for them. So I was looking and I was being really critical. I'm like, what can I find that I can show on camera that I don't use anymore? And I am not exaggerating. I found eight trash bags and six full boxes, hello fresh boxes because I get a lot of hello fresh to donate. Crazy amounts of stuff we're leaving from from that day. And even after the all day

declutter was done. I was exhausted. I went back in that laundry room and I was like pulling out old blankets. I found a bin full of like baby blankets too. I'm like why I didn't even know it was in paint cans. I got rid of so many paint cans and picture frames I had taken off the wall that I thought maybe someday I would hang back up again. But I took them off the wall like three years ago. Stop it. If I haven't hung them in three years and I forgot that they were even in there, I would never remember. I would go and buy new picture frames. I wouldn't think to hang those ones. So they're gone.

It's gone. And it felt so good. And this mindset of I'm not just going to stick something in a closet just in case. I'm going to stick it in the garbage can instead. This is a tiny shift. It doesn't have to be a big thing. You don't have to get rid of eight trash bags and six boxes. You can get rid of one thing a day, one small thing a day.

Start with your melon baller. You're not making melon balls. You'll never make melon balls. Let it go. Right now, the salad spinner, it can go by little things. This is a tiny change that will add up to a house that you are in control of. Okay, this fourth tiny change that I did. I'm not consistent with this, so I can't lie to you.

But I think about this. I try to think about this as often as I possibly can. And I know that this is a small mindset shift. that has made me have success in some of the areas of my life where I struggle the most. And that is picking a word to describe the person that I really want to be and then just randomly asking myself, what would that person do? So here's an example. You want to be a tidy person.

Not that you want to have your whole house organized, but you yourself fundamentally want to identify as a tidy person. So you're going to go to bed at night and you say before I go to bed, what would a tidy person do before they went to bed? Or what would a tidy person do when they first got up in the morning? What would a tidy person do before they left the house? What would a tidy person do when they entered the house? This is like a thing that I tell myself all the time. I actually tell myself what would a healthy person do? What would a healthy person do?

So I go to a restaurant and I'm looking at all like the delicious burgers and are like stacked and mac and cheese on them. and like delicious bacon. And I'm there and I'm like, okay, what would a healthy person choose if they were here? And sometimes they would choose still the burger, right? But they're going to choose like a slightly healthier option. And so it's not this huge change of I can never eat things like this again. Or if you want to be a tidy person, you don't have to be insane. But what would a tidy person do when they get out of bed in the morning?

They'd probably make their bed. And you don't have to think this thought 24-7. but if this thought comes into your head, even a few times a day, you're going to be pushing that needle forward. This is a mindset shift that makes you start to think about yourself as that person. And this thought, which at first you have to be really mindful to ask yourself, what would a healthy person or what would a tidy person or what would a clean person or what would a happy person? Whatever your word is, you're going to have to be mindful about asking yourself this question. But eventually, I feel like this starts to become just your own pattern of thought. You start repeating this over and over again to yourself,

and now it becomes your subconscious thought as a tidy person. You're not having to remind yourself to think this. So this is a small habit, a tiny change that you can remind yourself to think, maybe put some post-it notes up on your bathroom mirror or set an alarm to remind yourself of your word, right? What would a tidy person do? And have that alarm like occasionally come up. Even if you're sitting at your office and your phone buzzes and it's like, what would a tidy person do right now? You might look down at your desk and just put some things back in your drawer.

Or you might be in the kitchen and you're cooking dinner and your alarm goes off and it's like, what would a tidy person do right now? And you're like, oh, I'm going to actually start the sink with some. soapy water and soak some of these dishes that I'm not using while I cook dinner. Like this is pretty magical when you think about this small tiny things that you can do just by asking yourself this question. And my last favorite tiny change that will have a huge impact. I've talked about a million gazillion, bazillion times.

But it's borrowing knowledge or motivation from other people. and you can do this by reading self-help books or listening to audiobooks listening to podcasts. There is, I mean, you listen to a podcast, obviously you're listening to this. But there is, there is something so incredibly powerful about borrowing motivation, borrowing knowledge, borrowing wisdom from someone else. It's like another tool for your toolbox. And I know I say this all the time, but it is true. I am a self-help book junkie.

I don't always stick with everything that I read. But in that instant, I feel a spark of motivation. And I notice that, again, subconsciously, those thoughts that I'm constantly consuming when I'm consuming positive, uplifting, inspiring, motivating knowledge on a regular basis, my brain is changing, my mindset is changing, the way, my thought process is changing. And I start incorporating this knowledge and this motivation and this inspiration in subtle ways without even realizing it in my day to day.

Listening to Dave Ramsey for years and years and years, I changed the way I think about money. I remember reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and The Wealthy Barber and just, man, like over time, I just stopped being really crap with my money. And I didn't really change anything. It's not like I was consciously changing myself. It was these little seeping in thoughts that other people had put in my brain that now I was taking action on without realizing that I was doing it. And so this is a simple, tiny habit that you can do.

It's like every night before bed or even once a week, maybe read a self-help book for 15 minutes or listen to a podcast while you're cleaning or while you're driving, listen to an audio book while you're going for a walk. Listen, if you're going for a walk, good for you. You're amazing and you're killing it at life. You just generally have at least some aspects of your life together if you walk all the time. That's all I've got to say. But my point is, I'm rambling.

Is incorporating this sort of self-help into your life is a time, not all the time because it can get a little like a little boring. but a little bit making a conscious effort to improve yourself that's what this is really about to like grow as a person to gain self-awareness to get new knowledge and motivation and inspiration to make that conscious effort to incorporate this into your life even if it's just 15 minutes a week i promise you this will add up to a huge insane long-lasting change it will will. Okay. So if you're like, this all sounds great, cast, but I want more examples. I definitely recommend the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. This is one of the best self-help books, motivating books on creating long-lasting change through small micro habits. He calls them Atomic Habits, hence the name of this book. It really is insanely powerful. And one of the best books that I've ever, ever read for having an impact in your life. So go check that out.

You can find it. You got the library. You can find it as an audible book, which is, it's amazing to listen to. It will change your life. And I hope this year for a new year, a new you, you think about just one of these five tiny changes that you can incorporate in your life so that by February, you don't have to feel like, well, I guess. Yes, I'm going to be the same this year because I didn't follow through my New Year's resolution. So by the end of 2023, you will actually not only achieve the goals that you were hoping to, but you will be the person that you are craving to be, right? That person that you are yearning to be in little, tiny, daily, consistent habits.

Okay, thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed. and I will see you guys next week.