Is it clutter, or is it life with kids?

Everyday clutter with kids

Krista: [: 00:00:00

And if it doesn't, it probably means that you haven't decluttered enough, right? Or it means that you're not a good enough housekeeper. You're not a good enough cleaner. Then this episode is for you. So I actually had notes written out for this episode a couple months ago, but I never got around to recording it cause I wasn't sure like how I wanted to talk about it because I know that it's something that comes up.

of spaces within their home, [: 00:01:00

And the nice thing about these groups with decluttering simplified is that there are brand new moms to decluttering, and then there are. Like alumni moms that have been decluttering for a while and some alumni moms have been inside of decluttering, simplified for four or five years, which is amazing.

Three, four or five years. And it's a really, it's a really interesting group to host because. Everybody gets to learn from each other. And if you don't know, I am Montessori trained. And that's one of the, like cornerstones of a Montessori classroom is having mixed, mixed ages of children because the older kids get to teach and master their skills by teaching the younger kids.

mni moms who submitted their [: 00:02:00

Or, this is my, our living room space and I don't really know what to do with it. Or somebody, there was also one of a toy room, a playroom, and the mom was like, this room still gets messy and it looks like this. And so I feel like I should, I. Declutter some more, but I don't know what I should be getting rid of.

And I was so glad that they submitted those photos because it was all alumni moms, all moms who had gone through the program and decluttered a lot and made a lot of big changes. And every single one of them, I told them, I'm looking at these photos. I've helped hundreds of moms at this point.

One, like one-on-one spaces. Seeing these one-on-one spaces, either in person or virtually. And this doesn't look like clutter to me. This looks like an everyday life. This looks like a house of a mom with who's living a life with children. And so a lot of us fall into these. We can call it whatever we want.

We can [: 00:03:00

You're gonna have dishes that are always being used, right? Paper and school. School papers and school artwork, right? You're going to have those things around. You're gonna have decor that you no longer like, and you just haven't gotten rid of. You're gonna have, too many toys because it's post holiday or post birthday, or [00:04:00] it's been a year since you actually decluttered toys.

And so you've gotta get rid of some stuff, right? It's, that's just life. That is just living your life, right? But it becomes clutter. Here's some ways that you can gauge whether it's clutter or I. It's just life. It's just your life, right? It's just everyday life. Or maybe it's everyday life, but you need some kind of a routine attached to it.

Okay? So I'll talk to you about both these. So it becomes clutter when it doesn't adequately fit into the space that you have. So one of the examples that I gave in the decluttering simplified. Demos of the toy room, and she was like, this room gets messy. My kids go in there, it's a playroom.

They pull everything out and it's, and it's a mess, right? They're playing. But, when I looked at the photos of the space that she had for the size of the room and for the amount of shelving that she had, I'm like, it looks like it all fits right. This looks like it fits into the space that you have.

t add an excessive amount of [: 00:05:00

Are your kids able to put these things away somewhat independently? And if the answer is yes, then sure, maybe you can declutter some stuff, reduce the overall volume down. But if it's not bothering you and everybody can manage it, then it's not clutter. It's just a part of your life and you're okay with that.

And if it changes down the road, maybe you know something happens, maybe you have another baby, you know something in your life changes and it is overwhelming, then you can evaluate that when it gets there. But a lot of times, something that I see is that moms come into, either this podcast or a course or wherever it is, they discovered decluttering and.

replace their overwhelm from [: 00:06:00

Your a frustration with your communication with your spouse. Your need to delegate because you're still overwhelmed and you need help your dissatisfaction because you wanna do more in your career, or you wanna spend more time on your health and fitness, or you want to now declutter your finances, right?

[: 00:07:00

Okay, so that's the first question. If it fits into the space that you have and you are not overwhelmed or frustrated or burdened by it, then it's not clutter right now. The other thing that I wanted to bring up, especially or specifically about the mom, Who in decluttering simplified, submitted a photo of her kitchen space and was like this, this is the end of a normal week for us.

It feels like a lot. It feels overwhelming to me. And she even mentioned she feels she's stepping back into her old life that was full of clutter because feelings are feelings and overwhelm feels like overwhelmed no matter what it's coming from. And she was like, I feel like it's stepping back into that.

Overwhelmed that I had [: 00:08:00

A weekly reset of your house, right? Because again, when you're living in a house with a lot of people, especially children, Those mini routines are what keep you going, right? I don't know how else to say it, but those are the things that keep you going. And I am somebody who is like routine averse.

I don't enjoy it, but I do know that for some aspects of my life, like I have to have them. If I want to stay on top of my life and I wanna feel okay for some things, I just have to have routines for. I have to have a routine for clearing off our drop zone. I have to have a routine for how I finish laundry.

Things start to slip by the [: 00:09:00

And you don't really think that the solution is to declutter, it might be a matter of implementing those routines and habits. So I'm curious if. Listening to this, you recognize that it is a clutter problem for you, or maybe it's something else. If you wanna reach out either in the Facebook group and let us know, do you need to implement some kinds of routines or do you need to declutter more?

Or maybe you need to post a photo in the Facebook group. The mother hits amplified Facebook group and ask for feedback and say, how can I declutter here? Go ahead and do that, because there are. I think 45,000 moms at this point, and they're ready to give you kind, loving support right on what you can do.

there. So go check that out [: 00:10:00

That's one of my favorite things to do. So tag me on Instagram or post in the Facebook group, and that's it for this week's episode. I will see you next week. I.