Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to episode 83. Today we're sharing part two in our smooth home management series. Today is all about organization. Who wants to spend all their time cleaning and organizing and maintaining their home? Not us. And so we've got five steps for you today to organize pretty much anything into a smooth running home so you can spend more of your time doing what you want to do.
Speaker: Hello and welcome to Outnumber the Podcast. I'm Bonnie. And I'm Audrey. We're experienced moms to a combined total of 18 children. Our mission is to help overwhelmed parents find peace in parenting and humor in the chaos. Come join us as we attempt uninterrupted conversation about parenting with joy and intention.
Speaker: OK, and welcome back. We are so excited to talk to you about organizing today. We saved all our information about organizing into this second episode on Smooth Home Management. And we kind of had to dial ourselves back because we had so much to share and so much information. But we're really excited to jump in today. However, before we do, we wanted to read this really sweet review that we got on iTunes.
Speaker: It's from SeaMoney96. It says, every mom should listen. It's a fabulous podcast that is full of great information for moms, a variety of topics from puberty to homeschooling and everything in between. Thank you for that review. We really appreciate it when somebody leaves a review because it helps other people find us on the iTunes algorithm. Yeah, definitely. And plus, it just makes our day. So thank you so much. We appreciate it.
Speaker: Um, so just talking about, so if you haven't listened to episode one of smooth home management, go back and listen. It's a couple episodes back. Um, we talk a lot about structures and schedules and kind of the less concrete way of organizing life. Um, like I said, the, the systems and things where you're, you're keeping things moving regularly throughout the day. But mostly when we talk organizing, everybody thinks about physical space, right? And, uh, Audrey and I obviously have
Speaker: a decent amount of experience organizing physical space because we have so many darn kids that if we don't stay organized, like everything just evolves into chaos in five seconds. So we learned how to get rid of the things that we don't need and stay fairly organized just because of the massive amount of people we have in our homes. Yeah, organize or die in the avalanche.
Speaker: Yeah, do true. So we're going to go through five steps that you can use to pretty much organize anything, any space. So we're talking about physical organization. And the five steps are empty, clean, sort, put away, and return.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. And we'll break those down one at a time. You can usually use these steps to organize pretty much anything. And as we break down the steps, we will give you both an example of something very small to organize and a space that's much larger. Right. Right. We thought it would be helpful to provide actual examples. So let's say our small space is going to be like a hypothetical kitchen drawer in need of organizing. And maybe our large space is like a closet or something
Speaker: something larger, like a closet that would need organized. Yeah. Although when Audrey said larger, I thought a garage at some point that's a little bit overwhelming, but that can be done too. So we're not going to do a podcast on episode on organizing your garage. Cause that's like basically never going to happen. Right.
Speaker: Well, at least I have an excuse for like seven months out of the year, it's too hot. So I'm like, I'll get to that when that weather cools down. So right now it's like the worst time of the year for my garage. Everything that doesn't have a place in the house. I'm like, take it out to the garage. Exactly. Exactly. Plus our van is too both. It's too tall to fit in our garage. So basically we just have a four car garage full of junk. It's awesome.
Speaker: So obviously there's some exceptions to organizing. You're going to, for sure, encounter some space that you have to have an added step or whatever. But in general, these five steps should be applicable to just about anything.
Speaker: Okay, so let's start, let's dive right in. So the first step is empty, empty it out. This seems kind of self -explanatory, but it does super require discipline because everything has to be taken out of this space. And we're going to talk about why, but it's basically to give yourself like push the reset button on this space. So you take everything out. And I don't know how many times have I tried to organize something and I just kind of shuffle things from one little part of this.
Speaker: space to another and then by the end it's kind of not how to refresh. So if we're going to truly organize we're going to start by emptying it all out.
Speaker: Yeah, I totally try to cheat on this step all the time. I'm like, well, I really need to organize my closet, but I don't have time for emptying. And that's fine. You can totally shuffle anytime you need, but if you want a real true organization day, that's the first thing that has to happen. I remember reading that when I read Marie Kondo's book and just thinking, yeah, I definitely don't have time for all of this, but maybe I'll do one or two closets at a time because it is a big job. But only then can we really truly grasp everything that we have in that space and what needs to come out.
Speaker: So a small space, I'm gonna talk about the kitchen drawer that we talked about. It will take really just a small amount of time, right? Because it's just a drawer. But as we all know, we can be amazed at the amount of things that find their way into small spaces where they don't belong, okay? Audrey, do you have any examples of weird things you've found in places they don't belong?
Speaker: Kids around this could be really good. Oh, yeah, because my kids, oh, it's always under the couches at my house. You know, my kids get assigned one room a week to clean and I'll go in and I'll be like, hey, this room looks great. And then I'll look under the couches in the living room and there's like cucumbers and shoes and keys and. I like that you said cucumber because the first thing that came to mind was surely I found a cucumber somewhere that doesn't belong.
Speaker: The cucumbers are like that one vegetable where kids are like, that looks delicious. And they take a couple bites. They're like, no, not really in the mood.
Speaker: Honestly, for us, it's half -eaten apples. We find half -eaten apples everywhere. It's disgusting. I'm not going to lie. I mean, we found some that are so beyond disintegrating. They've just, like, calcified. Petrified. Yeah, they've petrified. Yeah, and it's like a little rock apple core. I'm like, fantastic. Thanks, guys. Everywhere. So, yeah, super gross. Kids are the worst.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely. Alright, so let's talk about emptying a larger space. Now, if you've decided to organize a closet or a room or heaven forbid your garage, it might be harder to empty the whole thing, but it's incredibly effective to move everything. I know that we've talked about before how excited kids get when you rearrange furniture in a room.
Speaker: Like taking everything out, okay, this does two things for you. You're touching and examining everything you'll need. So let's say you're doing a coat closet. You're looking at every coat and you're like, oh, hey, this one's got a hole in the elbow. That's why I don't ever wear it. Or, oh, this coat, you know, so -and -so fell down in the mud and this one needs cleaned. Or, you know what? My husband hasn't worn this coat in 17 years. It doesn't fit. It's time to go.
Speaker: And you'll find hidden items you might not have seen otherwise. So for example, in that closet, unless you took all the coats out, you wouldn't have seen the stray mitten or earring or fill in the blank that was laying on the floor at the back of the closet that you looked everywhere for and never found it. So two advantages of taking everything out is you get to see why it's in that space and then find the hidden junk.
Speaker: That's right. Yeah, totally. And I think this is why moving from one house to another is such a great purging tool and organizing tool because everything has to be emptied. And generally, we're not pulling everything out of a closet, throwing it in a box, and then just throwing it into another closet. We're going through stuff as we do. And one of the benefits of living in a permanent domicile is that you have all this space to store things.
Speaker: And I, for one, love treasures. I'll find some fun thing that I think, oh, maybe we'll use this for XYZ in the future. And I store it, right? And then five years later, huh, that thing never got used. And so when we do these regular organizing and we pull everything out, we're able to touch and see everything and realize, yeah, that didn't serve its purpose. Let's move it on. So that's why a move is so fantastic. But if you don't want to move, you can still mock it, mimic it.
Speaker: So on to step two, clean. So now that that space is empty, we get to give it a thorough cleaning, which is really also another benefit of moving that you can mimic in this organizing process. You can also find other things that might need to be addressed, like repairs, mold on the wall, maybe a patch of carpet that needs to be nailed back down, etc.
Speaker: And when you're doing this cleaning process, you can make it into a space that you're really excited about. So an example I have is we have literally only one closet in my entire house that's not in a bedroom.
Speaker: It's under our stairs. So one of those awkward ones, right? With the slanted ceiling and everything. And we figured out the best usage for it. But I recently cleaned it all out to organize it and realized that two things, we had forgotten to tell our carpet guys. We don't have any carpet on the main floor. We had forgotten to tell our carpet guys who were doing the upstairs to also carpet this closet. So first of all, it has old dirty carpet from the old owners.
Speaker: And second of all, the painters also didn't paint this closet because they were just doing the other living areas. So the inside of this closet is gross. It's old carpet and it's got like coloring on the walls and fingerprints and disgusting stuff. So I'm like, if I'm going to make this storage space work for me, it has to be pretty and it has to be neat and orderly. And the first thing to do is make these walls pretty. And we haven't done anything about the carpet yet, but that's the next step.
Speaker: Oh, you know, it is a fun space for an under under the stairs closet. Now, this isn't going to work for you because this is your only storage space in the whole house that's not in a bedroom. But I have seen some really cute under the stair closets made into book nooks. Oh, cute. Well, you know, what's funny is I often find kids who have escaped from their schoolwork or
Speaker: hiding in the back of this closet reading. And I can usually tell someone's in there because I'll hear, like I'll trip over a court or something. There's no plug in this closet. So they'll like put a mini fan in there or a mini nightlight or something. And there's an extension court across the hall. I'm going, somebody's in there reading. I've got a kid pass out in there and just fall asleep after reading a book for multiple hours. It's nice and cozy, I guess so.
Speaker: Oh, that's so cute. I've even seen like little playhouses people have created. Yeah. I saw one woman, she just cut out the side of the wall and it was like this cute little playhouse that you could go in through the door or through the side. Anyway, so cute. So cute. So fun. But you can't do that because it's your only one. I know. I know.
Speaker: OK, so let's talk about cleaning a small space. So like a kitchen drawer can be quick and easy to clean, right? You take everything out and you clean out the drawer that, you know, bring the vacuum, bring the dust cloth, whatever. Boom, it's clean. But it's also an opportunity to clean the things that go in this space. So if it's a silverware drawer, you can clean out that grody silverware tray.
Speaker: Yeah. Isn't it just me? How does the silverware tray get gross? We just put clean dishes in there and we take out clean dishes. I know. How are they like throwing nasty garbage in there all the time? Life's mystery. It must be, hey, I bet it's the missing socks that are causing the trouble in the silverware drawer. Yeah, seriously.
Speaker: Yeah. Okay. So for large space, obviously like a closet is going to take a little bit more elbow grease, especially if there needs to be any painting or repairs, drywall repairs, that sort of thing. And one thing I wanted to mention here is if you are facing a much larger area, like a garage or an entire room, so you have a junk room, you need to clean out and make it to a guest room or something.
Speaker: Uh, sometimes it really isn't super feasible to empty everything out and then clean everything at once, but you can do it by portion. So this is kind of how we've done our garage in the past. We just move everything out of one bay of the garage or one half of the room, tackle that, and then, you know, move the stuff over again. Just, just for those big areas, it seems so overwhelming. And you're thinking, if I empty this, I'm never going to get, I'm never going to be done. That's just a thought. No, yes. Smart.
Speaker: I like that you keep mentioning moving. That's the feel that I want to have whenever I organize something, is I want to have that refresh of moving. I want to love this space again. If I just put everything back in a space that's sort of cleaned up, it's not going to be that new, fresh, exciting feeling. That's what I really like about organizing.
Speaker: All right, so step three is now sort. So I first of all make two big piles. If I'm doing a big space, I do two big piles, things that belong in this space and things that don't belong in this space. And so I've got a yes pile and a no pile. So then for the no pile, then I separate that into three pieces.
Speaker: Three categories. Throw it away. Trash. Donate it. Or like, can somebody else use it better than me? Or put it away where it belongs. So go somewhere else. It just happened to be under the couch. And then the yes pile. This is where, um, this is where it can kinda get, uh,
Speaker: Like, sometimes I start having to do some character assessment when I'm to this phase of the sorting. Like, okay, my yes pile. Ask myself questions. Is it useful or helpful? Do I love it? Does it still serve its purpose? Am I keeping it for me or is there for somebody else? Like, is there this weight of guilt you know so -and -so gave this to me so I better keep it?
Speaker: you know, that sort of thing. So then I start asking myself, well, what kind of person am I if I'm just like trying to please everybody else by hanging on to all this stuff they gave me and it doesn't really serve me, you know, or all this kind of, I don't know, somehow I sort of start to maybe I should get a snack during the sort phase.
Speaker: It really is kind of like a bit of a psychological stressful time to sort through these things and ask yourself why you're holding on to them. There is a lot of emotion involved in stuff. Absolutely. I think we all know whether we tend towards more the hoarding side or more the minimalistic side. And regardless, there's just a lot of psychology to it. And so it can take some time. It can take some acceptance.
Speaker: wrapping your head around being able to let go of things and, you know, allow more space for the things that you really truly do love and use. But it's tricky. And sometimes you do need a break, a cup of tea or something. Yeah. And just because like you loved it and it was useful in the past doesn't mean you have to keep hanging on to it. Like it served its purpose. Like I love this one, this one thought that I have discovered recently that
Speaker: So when someone gives you a gift, they never would have intended for that gift to, you know, bog you down or have a load of guilt with you keeping it like they want this gift to enrich your life and not become a burden. And so if they knew that, you know, that thing that they gave you was now just cluttering up space in your house, they would be like, well, get rid of it. That's not what my intention was. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, so to sort a small space, now we know that the goal is to have this empty space, right? Obviously nothing stays empty because that's just life, everything. We had one or two empty drawers when we first moved into this house because our kitchen was bigger. And yeah, it was only a matter of time before it got filled with junk. But we can prep that space to be better organized when it does start filling things.
Speaker: So, I wanted to share my example when I'm always thinking about a kitchen drawer, I think about our junk drawer, right? Everybody has a junk drawer where just random stuff gets thrown in there, pens and pencils and paperclips or whatever. So, sorting really small items like this can get very tedious and cause you to burn out and go, this is pointless. So, what I do when I'm organizing spaces like this is I pull out the things
Speaker: that are really important or that really need to get put away, you know, so the stapler and the pens and the pencils and the, um, I'll try to corral as many smaller things like push pins as I can or whatever. And then the rest I just throw on the garbage.
Speaker: And maybe that's not super environmentally friendly, but it is so much more likely to keep me going than to go, oh, I got to sort out 57 paper clips and some broken pencil lead. And you know the random stuff that ends up there and the back to three earrings and 14 rubber bands. Just chuck it. Start over. It's OK. You don't have to sort through all this minutia, right, if it's going to make you crazy.
Speaker: Yes, yes. I'm the worst at hanging on to little things that I don't know what they belong to because I'm afraid to throw it away. Like, you know, it looks like some sort of little mechanical screw part or something. And I'm like, well, my husband really needs to decide whether to throw this way. And like I bring him up, eventually I'll bring him like this whole box of could you look at this stuff? And he's like, that's all trash. Like, why have you been holding onto that for four years?
Speaker: I will say that we do have one little jar where we put important pieces that we know go to something but we're either too lazy to put it away or we're not sure where it is yet. Usually those are game pieces. So my kids inevitably will get out of board game and there will be two pieces left in the corner and I go to vacuum and they're there. I don't want to throw them away because then it destroys the game. So we stick it in this little jar and then anybody knows if they need a spare die or...
Speaker: little guy for sorry or whatever that is in there. So that's been helpful for us to not stress about those little pieces that are important. Oh, so smart. Such a good idea. A dedicated little space for that.
Speaker: Okay. So sorting in a large space, the goal is to have, like we were talking about, um, this, like the feeling of this large space to be improved. So what do you want to call it? Good vibes or positive energy or a happy feeling for this space? Like, like moving into a new house, like kind of that, that refresh, like, you know, we talk about how excited kids get when you move around furniture.
Speaker: And when you start cleaning and reorganizing things, like I do this every single fall before we start our homeschool. I clean out the entire homeschool room, not because it needs it, but because my kids get excited and they're like, yeah, we get into school again and it's going to be clean. It's going to be great. And I then move everything around. It's just like shaking up the energy of the place and they get all excited about it again.
Speaker: Okay, so some tips for sorting large spaces. I like to put, obviously put similar things together and then heavier items lower. I mean, this seems so obvious when I say it, I feel almost dumb saying it, but how many times have I stored something big, huge and heavy way up high?
Speaker: Call your teenage boy to come get this thing down. Yeah. Yeah. That's me raising my hand over here. So make, you know, and, and so then when I, when I walk into the room and I see that thing up there, it's like this mental block, you know, uh, I got to get that thing down, you know? So like, think about, think about the feeling of things that you want it to have when, when you're sorting things out in a large space. Yeah.
Speaker: Well I'm glad that you mentioned schoolroom because that's what I've been doing the last couple of mornings is just pulling things out and we're actually starting a new curriculum for quite a few subjects. And so that means I got to clean out a lot of our old stuff because we just don't have room for all the new stuff.
Speaker: And it's heavy, it's emotionally heavy too. There's a lot of things that I've bought in the past and meant to use and never got around to using. And thinking of getting rid of them makes me feel, you know, I'm like, I love books, I love resources, I love learning, getting rid of it. It's like, oh, but what a waste, you know, even if I'm passing it on to another family. And yet it's not serving me the purpose that I, for which I purchased it, which is
Speaker: to teach my children, right? So anyway, it's been fun, but it's always a little bit of a job for sure.
Speaker: Yeah, one thing Marie Kondo says in her book, The Life -Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is that if you have something that falls in this category, you just say, I mean, it sounds a little silly, but you just thank it. You say, thank you for serving my purpose. And then it's like release. You have acknowledged that it was a good, useful thing and you can let it go, or that it could have been a good, useful thing and then you can let it go. It seems a little silly, but it does allow me to be able to let things go.
Speaker: Yes, I agree. And there are a few things in her book that made me kind of roll my eyes. Like, this is kind of kooky. But that one I really liked. I thought, OK, this is a way for me to wrap my head around moving on that it doesn't serve me anymore. And it can go serve somebody else via the thrift store or passing it on to a friend or selling it on Facebook, whatever.
Speaker: Okay, so we're gonna move on to step four, which is putting away. So now we're gonna first put away the stuff that goes into the note pile, okay? So usually when you organize, the first thing you wanna do is empty, clean out, sort it all, and put everything back beautifully. But then the problem is you're left with this massive pile of junk that didn't belong there, and you have zero energy to put it away.
Speaker: And it just kind of gets stuffed somewhere else where it doesn't belong, right? Oh, how many times have I done that? Like, I'll be organizing and like the no pile is behind me and I don't even see it and I'm like feeling so good and then I turn on and it's like, uh, now you're gonna lay on the floor and die. Exactly, exactly. Now I will say that we have a couple of tips that make organizing and cleaning out regularly a little bit easier.
Speaker: One is that we always have an ongoing pile to go to the thrift store. So I just have a big bucket in the garage or a garbage bag or whatever I'm using at the time. And that's the Goodwill bucket. And anytime I come across something, it's a sweater someone's outgrown or it's, you know, the third can opener that we're just never used and is cluttering up the kitchen. I go stick it in that bucket.
Speaker: So that's helpful rather than trying to corral everything, go put it in the car and make it to Goodwill to just always have this ongoing pile. Garbage is easy. You just take it out to the garbage can. Probably for me, the toughest pile to tackle is the one where there are things that we're keeping, but they all need to be put away in different areas of the house.
Speaker: But a good tip for this is to recruit kids. Say, hey, I'll give everybody a cookie. If you all help put these things away and you divide them into rooms, like this goes in the girls' room, this goes in the bathroom, this goes in the living room, et cetera, and you can knock it out in no time. But that's definitely probably our biggest tip in putting away is to do that no pile first.
Speaker: Yeah, this is, to me, it's all about sparing my energy. So if it helps me to sort it into piles for the kids to put away, okay, this is your pile, it goes upstairs, you go deal with this stuff, so that I can preserve the rest of my energy for
Speaker: cleaning and making, you know, finishing strong on the organizing the spot that I'm working on. Yeah, I have no problem with asking kids to help. And they're usually excited about it. And, you know, if I explain, hey, we're not going to move on to putting everything back until all this stuff is all the way so we don't have to do it when we're done, then they they hop on board. Right. Right. OK, so a couple of tips for organizing, putting away from a small space, it only takes a few minutes and it helps clarify what's left to be organized. This is what I really like to do it.
Speaker: I'm put away things first, not only so I don't have to do it when I'm done, but so that, you know, maybe as I'm putting those things away, I can look at what I have left and say, oh, hey, you know what, this thing doesn't really need to go back in this spot. Or, you know, this is the third can opener we have, and this one needs to be donated. And so pare down even more.
Speaker: after all the nose, because you're kind of in the putting away, giving away, throwing away mode. So then you can, yeah, then you can kind of look at what you have left and you're like, oh, hang on, here's three more things that don't have to go in this space.
Speaker: Right. And I don't know about you, but multiple times I've gotten to that phase where I'm ready to put things back and I start putting it back and I realize this stuff still won't fit. There's still too much, right? Yeah. And so if you get rid of those nose first, then you can look at what's left and go, hmm. Actually, I think we need to pare down even more. I think we need to continue either moving things to a different area or pulling them out and putting them into one of the no piles before you go through all the effort of actually organizing it into the new space.
Speaker: Okay, and as far as large spaces go, this moves me on to this point. We try not to ever buy new organizing bins or containers or systems until that no pile is gone. And again, for the reason that I just mentioned, sometimes there's just still too much.
Speaker: Sometimes we're not entirely sure that everything really is going to go back into that space. Once all those no's are gone, then you're left with this small pile and you think, okay, yes, this is the perfectly intentional pile of stuff that is going to go back into this cabinet or this closet or whatever. Then you can go out and try to better sort things. This is one of my biggest weaknesses because I love organizational stuff. Me too.
Speaker: But oftentimes I do it before ever deciding how I want things to get put back, which we're going to talk about in a minute, what I want that to look like, or before I've even pulled things out that don't belong there. It's just a mess. Like hold back on that purchasing power and just wait until the nose are all gone. Yeah, I agree. I do not know how many times I haven't made that mistake. Like, okay, I think this spot is probably going to need like four large containers and three small containers. And I go buy it.
Speaker: before I've even done the work. And then afterward, I'm either standing in the return line or I'm like, where else can I repurpose this? This is kind of waste all around. So yeah, totally agree. I made that mistake enough times to say, hey, don't do that.
Speaker: especially if you're buying expensive organizing things, which is kind of a habit too. Yeah. Yeah. And if you like, if you do the work first, then you can even afford maybe more expensive organizing things because you know exactly what you need and you don't have to guess and you know, well, I can't afford that really cute set. So I have to buy this cheaper set because I know I'm going to need more. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: OK, so finally we get to the fun part, step five, where we return everything to the space we're organizing. And this is the part that really most people think about when they're organizing. I mean, if we had to think about all the other steps, maybe we wouldn't start.
Speaker: Sorry. But unless the other steps are done first, what we're calling organizing, this returning, putting back, it's not going to be sustainable. And it'll be unorganized again really fast unless we do the work to make this part successful.
Speaker: Yeah. And you know, we've all done that before, right? Where we've thought, oh my gosh, I have 20 minutes. I'm going to organize this drawer, when really all you do is just open it, pull out a couple of things you know don't belong there, and then close it and go, well, that didn't work so well, but whatever. Yeah. And you want it to stay done if you're going to go through all this effort, for sure. So examples of returning to a small space is
Speaker: maybe you will set up the space exactly how you had it before, right? So let's say it's a junk drawer and maybe before you've always had your pens in this one little container and then your pencils and then you had a little container for your
Speaker: push pins and your, whatever, your paperclips. Maybe after you've pulled that out, you've realized, actually, now we have a desk area in this other room. Really, the push pins and the paperclips should go into the desk area. I can just keep pens, pencils, and a notepad for whenever I'm on the phone, right? Or, you know, any other number of things. But just getting that clarity after going through all those other steps will help us to organize and return things so much better than they were before.
Speaker: Right. Right. So it's an opportunity to make an assessment as, as if our old system was working or not. Yeah. Yeah. I love to do that because it needed to be organized. Right. True. Yep. Okay. So for a large space, um, like Evan saying all along, it's
Speaker: fun to change things around and have a new energy and feel to the space. An additional advantage to this is if everybody who walks into the space or opens the closet door, they notice that it's different, they might appreciate it more and sustain the new organization system or the new method.
Speaker: If it's visibly different, this could cause people to respect it and to enjoy it and keep it that way. Like if you figured out a more sustainable system of organizing what became unorganized before.
Speaker: Yeah, and you know, keeping yourself organized when you're the only person in a home is hard enough just to discipline yourself to put things away and not leave them here and there or put them in the wrong drawer. But when you are heading up a household with a bunch of kids who don't care one way or the other, it can be extremely difficult to keep things flowing. That's why it's so essential that it be logical, right? And that it be something that works with how your family already lives. Now, sometimes there's a better way of doing things and we can just sit down with the family and say, I want everyone to please
Speaker: Make sure to take your shoes off as soon as you walk in and put them in this basket. This is how we're going to do it. And it takes a little bit of training to get there, but then it gets better. But if there's something that you keep finding yourself banging your head against over and over and over, then it just might not be the right system for you and your family. Even if in your mind it's the right system, but nobody's following along, then do yourself a favor and make it a little bit more intuitive.
Speaker: I'm going to share just a quick little organizational story. One of the reasons I love to organize the most is because it makes things pretty, right? Nobody likes to open a closet and just see a big mess of whatever, stuff, junk, crap everywhere. And yet, sometimes the prettiest organizational strategies are not
Speaker: just don't flow with how you live your life. They're not intuitive, right? So for example, I love bright colors. My closet is full of the rainbow and stripes and dots and all kinds of fun prints. And so one time I saw someone's closet on Instagram or something that they had organized everything in like rainbow order. And I just thought, oh my gosh, that's beautiful. I'm totally going to do that. I mean, I keep my dresses separate from my pants, separate from my shirts, whatever. But I thought within each area I would organize it by rainbow, you know, red, orange, yellow, green, okay.
Speaker: So I do that. And is it pretty? Totally. Super pretty. Until I go to find a shirt for mid -July in Phoenix where it's super hot and sweaty. And I can't remember what color my cool shirts are.
Speaker: So, you know, within two days, I'm like, this is not going to work for me. It's beautiful. And yet I have to categorize my shirts according to weather because that's the most important factor for me. I want to be comfortable. So I'm not going to wear a long sleeve, pretty green sweater when it's July. So instead I had to take it all out and instead organize it by long sleeve dressy shirts. When I get ready for church, I know where to look.
Speaker: short sleeve dressy shirts, you know, and then on and on and on to whatever every day short sleeve shirts, et cetera. So organizing by type was so much more efficient for me because that was how I got dressed and it just, you know, wasn't as pretty, but there you go.
Speaker: That's a cute story. That's a great story about organizing where practicality takes the upper hand over gorgeousness. Which it always should, but you know, Pinterest. Yeah, exactly. Alright, so I have an organization story too.
Speaker: And it comes like a tip to follow. So I reorganized our bedroom. I like to do that every once in a while. And I moved to the laundry basket. It ended up after it was reorganized, like I took everything out and I repainted the bedroom and cleaned the carpets. And I did like the whole all five steps here. I put everything back. My husband was out of town for the weekend. And so he was like, I'm going to do this while you're gone. He's like, yeah, do whatever. Fine. It's a great idea that I'm gone. And so he comes back and the laundry basket ends up
Speaker: about three feet away from where it had been originally, just the way the room was organized. And for the next six months, my husband still, because he usually comes to bed after the baby who sleeps with us is asleep, he would still throw his socks that he took off at the spot where the laundry basket had been.
Speaker: So my tip is keep in mind that not everybody in your house might, like some people are creatures of habit and they just kind of like their laundry basket to be where their laundry basket always was.
Speaker: Anytime you pick up his socks, you really have only yourself to blame, right? Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And some people get really energized with a change. And some people like it's a scary thing for them. Or I'm not saying it is for my husband. That was just a funny little story. But some people really like things the way they are. And like you,
Speaker: you go to somebody's house and and your grandma's maybe and things are always right where they have always been and and that's cool and and that's also okay um it's a system that's working if it's staying organized and clean right but just take into consideration when you live in a houseful with someone else or in a houseful of people or kids that not everybody might be as excited about a new organizing system as you are
Speaker: Yeah, and labeling is your friend, right? I was just realizing this. I reorganized the books in our school room, just the reading books. And then a week later, I'm like, why does everyone keep putting things away in the wrong spot? And then I was like, oh, because I didn't communicate to anyone. I didn't label anything. So only in my mind is that where the fiction goes and that where the nonfiction goes. Okay, so clearly I have a case.
Speaker: Yeah, I think in our episode on toy management, I mentioned that I have come to basically use clear plastic boxes for everything. And then I put a little picture on the front with a word. But the box is also clear so the kids can see through it what goes in it. Because in my house, a system that organizing system that has never worked is to have a gorgeous container with a floral landscape on it that nobody knows what's inside.
Speaker: Sadly, they don't want pretty, they want obvious. Yeah. All right. So to sum it up, we've got these five steps we're sharing with you today on organizing. Empty it out, clean it up.
Speaker: sort it out into yeses and nos, and then step four, put away your nose, get rid of your nose, and then step five, you get to have fun and return everything back to the spot where it originally came from, or the space, or maybe not. Maybe you come up with a whole new way of doing things. We also want to share some of our favorite organizing resources because we've been through a lot of organizing things that work and don't work around here, right?
Speaker: So I think we both mentioned Marie Kondo's book, The Life -Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and some of it works for us and some of it doesn't. Just like anything, some of it will work for you and some of it doesn't. Her sock system totally didn't work for me. So my socks are probably unhappy, but hey. But they're rolling together? Yeah. Another awesome resource that I love for organizing and
Speaker: having the right mindset about organizing, getting rid of things is the entire Live Free Creative podcast. We mention that one a lot, but she's got a lot of good stuff about her book that she wrote and so on.
Speaker: Yes, and I will also share that if for you organizing and clearing up clutter becomes a little bit too heavy for you, a little bit too psychologically draining, then you might consider some research into thought work, into some of these life coaching podcasts that I know we've mentioned in a few episodes. Jodi Moore is one that I really enjoy and then the Life Coaching School is another one.
Speaker: Because sometimes we have thought processes that are really hindering us in keeping things picked up and clutter free, and we don't realize that we're doing it. Like you were saying, not being able to get rid of gifts that someone has given us that no longer serve us, or duplicates of things that we don't really need. So I know it sounds kind of silly to think about doing thought work when it comes to organizing, but it really can be a psychological thing.
Speaker: which is why some of us are prone to having a lot more stuff than others. So if that's something that's bothered you, try it out.
Speaker: Thanks so much for tuning in. Did you know you can help the podcast in several ways? First up, we're on Patreon, and there are three different levels to support us there. Just head to patreon .com slash outnumbered. Next up, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a written review on iTunes. It helps other parents find the podcast and receive the help you're enjoying. And finally, you can follow us on Instagram at Outnumbered the Podcast. We're always having fun over there too.
Speaker: As usual, if you have any questions or ideas for future episodes, you can reach us at OutnumberedThePodcast at gmail .com. Thanks for all your support. We'll talk to you next week.
