Keeping small spaces organized

February: 2024

[00:00:00] All right. Welcome to the episode. So thank you for listening to the Q and A episodes, if you have listened to those, and thank you for being patient while we figure out why for some reason there is a huge echo when we do the audio recording. So if you've submitted an audio question, thank you so much.

We've received a bunch of them so far, and I'm really excited to share them. We're just going to wait until we can figure out how to upload them correctly to the podcast. We will figure that out. And for now, I'm going to read you the questions. But last week we left off on the question of, We have 17 whisks.

I started helping her back in: 2019

Telling her lead by example. Don't declutter his stuff. You can still declutter community area things like 17 whisks, right? So my advice to her was, just get rid of I don't remember exactly what I told her but I know it would be something along the lines that I tell everybody when this question comes up in its own form and that is Don't get rid of every single thing, and don't go super extreme.

But if you have 17 whisks, you can definitely cut it down to half the amount and still have enough, eight whisks is still enough. Even just getting rid of seven whisks and only having ten is still enough. Realistically, nothing bad is gonna happen. And unless your hus unless you told your husband that you had 17, and now you only have ten he's not gonna notice, right?

ht? Like reducing the amount [: 00:02:00

The chances of you needing 17 whisks all at once and, not having them. is there's nothing there that's going to happen. And I love this example because it's dramatic and extreme, but we can apply this same idea to the other stuff in our homes. So when it comes to, my kids have three pair of snow gear and I have five kids.

So that comes down to 15 pair of snow gear. What if you just reduce it down to two? All of a sudden you only have 10 outfits to manage versus 15. Because that's a lot, and that, not everybody's going to be comfortable with that, but that's just an example, but, maybe if you have five bins of Legos, maybe reduce it down to just two bins of Legos, or three bins of Legos.

y in the listener Q& A. But, [: 00:03:00

For example, if he wanted to keep all of the whisks. She could say, great, we're going to keep four in the kitchen, you can keep the rest of these in storage, somewhere where, I'm the one who's doing the dishes the majority of the day because I'm the one here at home with the kids cooking and using the kitchen utensils.

happen. If you have one, go [: 00:04:00

And I would love to walk you through the process of how to figure this out in your own home. So that was last week's questions. Let's tie or let's jump into. This week's question. Which is from This question is from Michonne. They're a family of six, they're dealing with a small space, and this is what she says.

I feel like my twins room is always cluttered. I can't find peace with space, toys, clothes, and organizing has failed me mainly because space is the biggest downfall. The rooms in my house are very small, and we're a family of six. We all try to work with the space we have, but we can never seem to break free.

We try to use what we have to organize. I've tried so many ways to save space, but I have to store bedding, seasonal clothing, and we don't have a separate playroom. My kids are rapidly growing us out of our home. Really, my main concern, and beyond help, cry, is my twin girl's room. I need ideas for dresser space, closet storage, and bedding storage.

nk bed, and they need double [: 00:05:00

I've condensed their toys, but it remains a complete mess. They are seven years old. First thing I want to say here is if you have a question like this, the Motherhood Simplified Facebook group is a great space to ask this question. You will get really good advice in there. And the great thing about the Facebook group is that you can submit photos because when we're talking through questions like this, it can be difficult to conceptualize like what is the space that you actually have or, can we see how much stuff they actually have?

e's overwhelmed. Utilize the [: 00:06:00

Okay, so what I notice, First, in this question, is that she talks a lot about working with the space that she has, organizing, and condensing. But I don't hear any talk about actually decluttering. So decluttering means to actually get rid of the stuff from your home for good. It's decluttering it, getting it out of your possession, it is no longer yours.

Which means you don't have to worry about storing it, condensing it, or organizing it. And so that would be my big, my first suggestion to you is that you probably don't realize how much you actually have. And this is especially essential in a small home, but it's even more essential in a small home when your kids are getting bigger because we have big kids.

We have kids ranging [: 00:07:00

Have you let things go? Have you intentionally, taken stock and taken inventory of what you have as well as how much you actually have? And when it comes to small spaces, we've lived in small homes, we've lived in an RV, right? We lived in an RV when we had to have winter gear for our kids, we had a huge, giant dog.

than being very intentional [: 00:08:00

So it might be that you're used to having all of this stuff and you're maybe nervous or hesitant to get rid of some of it. Maybe you're hesitant to get rid of some of your shoes, some of the seasonal clothes, some of the bedding, some of the toys, but when it comes to small spaces that's key.

That is the secret. That is really the only way to make this work. Unless you want to go buy a bigger house. And I'm happy and excited to be answering this question, because Danielle, who we opened this episode with, she When we first started talking about decluttering, she was convinced that she needed a bigger house.

that stuff and realized they [: 00:09:00

Based on how this question was asked and not being a lot of mention about decluttering and letting go of things and really being meticulous about, looking at what you have and how much you have, because a lot of times we don't even realize it, how much we have that would be my guess, is that you've got to take a big focus on decluttering.

Decluttering decluttering um, and then being really mindful about what you're bringing in because it doesn't do you any good to just let things go and then bring just as much back in, right? And the other thing that I want to touch on is that a lot of times people just don't have a clear point of reference of how much space they actually need.

absolutely be enough. If you [: 00:10:00

There is one exercise that I teach inside of Decluttering Simplified that you can check the description if you are interested in joining that. But one of the exercises that we used to do, and this doesn't work for everybody it overwhelms some people, and for some people it gives them a whole lot of clarity that gets them moving into the action.

e like duplicates of so many [: 00:11:00

I have so many things that are broken. I have so many things that are trash. So like I said, for some people that's going to be motivating and give you a lot of clarity for other people that's going to totally overwhelm you and shut you down. But if you haven't done something like that before, I would encourage you to at least try it.

Even if you don't finish the full inventory, you can get far enough along and be like, Okay, yeah, like this is too much. This is way too much stuff. And A lot of it can go just do as much as you need to get yourself that motivation to start letting things go because usually that is the problem.

If you can't keep things organized, if your kids can't keep their stuff cleaned up, if it's chronically messy, if it's chronically chaotic, then it's almost always a clear indication that you have too much stuff and you're living outside of your clutter threshold and you've got to get rid of some things.

to give when people couldn't [: 00:12:00

I know you will have a really good time. Just getting inspired, asking questions, maybe even helping other people because we have a really good mix of new to decluttering moms, but also what we call alumni moms who have graduated from decluttering and moved on with their lives, but they still stick around to help everybody else get to where they are, which I think is really cool.

So that is our listener question for this week. Let's wrap it up with our final question that I will answer for you next week. And it is a fun one.

- ATR: 2100

Microphone (2- ATR2100x-USB Microphone): And I can't seem to figure it out. So [00:13:00] I will answer this question in full on next, on the next episode, I would say next week, but it might be sooner. Might be later. I am not giving myself strict deadlines with this podcast anymore because they stress me out. And I liked doing them when I'm inspired. But the short answer is no, I don't do it that way anymore. I did it that way during a very specific season of my life.

- ATR: 2100

Microphone (2- ATR2100x-USB Microphone): So it makes sure to tune into the next episode.

- ATR: 2100