Transcription
I promise after today's video, you're never going to look at clutter the same. We're calling it mess mapping. Now, the purpose of a mess map is to be able to look at your clutter objectively, to take away the guilt and the shame, to stop looking at these recurring hot spots as proof that you're lazy, unorganized, unmotivated. No, instead, we're just going to look at it as data. Because when we begin to look at it as data now we can look at the patterns, we can find the breakdowns, and most importantly, we can find a solution that will work and keep this from continuing to happen in the future. So again, the goal of a mess map is just to be able to look at what's happening and going on in our space and come up with a solution that actually lasts.
Okay. So we're going to look at it as data and we're going to use the three H's to decipher what is going on. So here's what you're going to ask yourself: Is it homeless? Is it habitless? Is it hopeless? Here's what I mean. First, we're going to say, does this item have a home? Is the reason it's getting left out or piled up because it simply doesn't have a home? Then from there, if it has a home, but it's still piling up, then we're going to ask, is it habitless? Is it because we just haven't developed the habit of putting it away? But then we're going to get to the most important one, and the one I think that hijacks us the most, and that is, is it hopeless? Is there simply too much inventory for this space to hold or for our family to manage in this specific category? Again, no failure, just data. When we can start to decipher the clues that these messes are giving us, then we can stop turning on ourselves and say, "I just need to try harder." Then we can create homes, build habits, and reduce the inventory to make our homes so much easier to manage. This doesn't have to keep recurring in your house.
So, in any space like this, there's only two types of clutter. They're things that have a home and that don't have a home. So, step number one, we simply want to put away the things that have a home. So, I can start putting away shoes, putting away the broom, even my purse has a home now. So, question number one, we are asking, does it have a home? And if it has a home, that's awesome. That's easy. We're just going to put it there. And what you're going to notice is as we do that, we're already significantly reducing the amount of clutter here. Now, what if it doesn't have a home? Like, what if you have some things you need to return and they don't have a home and that's why they sit here by the back door? Then we want to make a home for it. But again, let's get this stuff that has a home out of here. And then we can look at the stuff that needs a home.
Now, what's so great about this method is now that I have everything put away that has a home, that was my first question. Does it have a home? Now I can see the things that don't have a home. I have a couple things for returns. And so I need to think about where do I want returns to live in my house. But again, we're deciphering the mess here. If most of these things here had a home, why was this mess created here all of the time? Why is this such an ongoing battle? And that brings us to the second question: Is it habitless? So do we have a habit of picking up the shoes daily, nightly, at a set time each day? And so sometimes we need to create a habit around it of putting away the shoes, coats, and purses. But we do have a leftover pair of shoes here, which leads me to question number three, and that is, does it have hope? And here's what I mean by that. We just put this like really cool organization here into our mudroom. And now what I can tell you very confidently is that my mudroom can host or accommodate 20 pairs of shoes. 20 pairs of shoes for five people. That's pretty good, right? This has actually solved a lot of our problems here. However, it cannot accommodate 21 pairs of shoes or 30 pairs of shoes, and so often the inventory for our space has crept up. I am fortunate. I have a huge mudroom here. Like, don't I? I feel so grateful for this every time I walk in. I just want you to know, like, the appreciation has not been lost yet on how awesome this is. But we have to be realistic with the space that we have. So, my mudroom can comfortably hold 20 pairs of shoes. How many can your space hold? Lots of us are limited by space. And so, maybe the members of your family can only have one pair of shoes there, two pairs of shoes there, and everything else has to be stored elsewhere. And when we were organizing this inside of our membership community recently, I actually even went so far as to put labels on the shelves. And so we know exactly where shoes go, how many pairs each person has, and if their shoes start overflowing, then we can say, "Hey, these shoes have to be kept in your bedroom. This is the limit. This is the container for how many shoes can be kept here." It has been working awesome. And I am not the type, I am not the type to label my shoe shelves, but I'm learning. And having a clear home, step one, for everything has been a huge part of the battle. So, we look as it the home, the habit, or simply too much inventory. There's no hope of managing that many pairs of shoes in this limited space.
I almost forgot. I want to tell you about my favorite container in here, and that's having a clutter catcher in this space. And I maybe started calling it a crap basket, but I also realized that our mudroom back entryway was also a spot where little random stuff was accumulating. So, I added a clutter catcher in here, and it has been so helpful. There's things that accumulate in here, like extra pieces from putting the furniture together. I don't think we need it, but I know if I will time test it for a little bit, time brings clarity and it'll be much easier to make the decision down the road. We also were patching the holes in here, so I had this in here. I still have another layer I need to do, but so I don't want to go put it away all the way with the paint stuff. I needed a spot for it. So many little random things that just accumulate. Now they have a home. Now the fear is that we're deferring decisions and I'm just going to have this basket full of crap and I'm not going to know what to do with it. Not true at all. It gives you such helpful data to work with. And like I said, time brings clarity over time. This becomes so easy to get rid of because it's very clear that I'm not using any of the stuff in there. And then here, I also created a spot for my purse and keys, uh, one for Adeline and Maggie, and then also a basket for the vacuum attachments.
The two things I want to do next. I want to talk about creating a home for things that don't. Especially things that clutter up our flat surfaces and our spaces like Amazon returns and other things we don't want to forget about. How do we create a home for those? I know, 'cause I know what you're going to say: "Out of sight, out of mind." Don. All right. So, we're going to talk about that. I want to show you this uh floor in my office, too, where we can practice this together again. But real quick, there's another place where you might be losing hope. I was recently asked on Instagram how I stay so positive, which is a very kind compliment, but one of the main ways is that I have been prioritizing my sleep. And I think it's almost nearly impossible to be level-headed, in a good mood, be able to decipher the clues that your clutter is giving you without getting overwhelmed and feeling really stressed out by it if you don't have the foundation of a good night's sleep. And today's video is sponsored by Helix Sleep. You've probably heard me talk about it because I've been sleeping on a Helix mattress for 5 years now and you could not take it away from me. They are such awesome mattresses. So, Helix has over 20 mattresses to choose from. They also have a new line of premium mattress toppers, too. But something that impacts a lot of our sleep, especially as we get older, is running warm during the night. And so, Helix actually has their Glaciote cooling cover as well. And so what I love about Helix is while the mattresses come conveniently rolled up in a box delivered right to your door, they are still premium mattresses that are customized to fit your specific needs. And so how they do that is you go online and you take the Helix sleep quiz. It only takes about a minute. They're going to ask you questions about your sleep preferences. What position do you normally sleep in? Do you ever wake up with back pain? Do you run a little warm while you're sleeping? And then they're going to make a recommendation for you. And then, like I said, it's going to come completely rolled up in a box, delivered right to your door, super easy to set up, but then you also get their 120-night sleep trial. So, you get to test it out and make sure that it's just the right mattress for you. And then beyond that, they also have a limited lifetime warranty as well. So, if you have been thinking about upgrading your mattress, now is an awesome time to do so with the Helix Fourth of July sale where you can save 20% off sitewide. So, you just go to helixsleep.com/minimmom and you're going to save 20% off sitewide. Whether you want to upgrade your sleep with a premium mattress topper or if it really is truly time to go all-in, get a new mattress, sleep well, set up your bedroom space to be super peaceful and conducive with a great night's sleep. It makes such a huge difference. Okay, I'll stop now. Let's get back to work.
All right, now let's talk about making a home for things that don't have a home. So, we want to ask ourselves, is this thing worth making a home for? But yes, I had noticed as I'd been observing and collecting the data that we had things that needed to be returned, whether it was actually to a store or to Amazon, and they were cluttering up our flat surfaces because I felt like I had to keep it visible so that I didn't forget about it. What was the problem? Well, this just got mixing with all other types of clutter and then I was still forgetting about it. So, that system wasn't actually working. But I also knew from past history if I put it in a cabinet, which I wanted to do to create a spot in here for it, that I was going to forget about it. And so the solution is that instead of relying on the visual reminder of things that need to be returned, we actually need to add it to our to-do list because this is something that takes time and needs to be planned for. And so just having it sit around as a visual reminder does not work well. But if I add it to my to-do list, and you know me, I really like to use the to-do app. I can put more details about that down below. Now I see it on my list: returns, and then I can figure out what day works best. I can schedule it for that day and I can grab them on the day that I'm actually going to make them. So this is the best solution that I have been able to come up with. This is my shelf for returns. Now it has a home, but again, the secret sauce is that it's going on onto my to-do list. This is still not a perfect system. If I don't add it to my to-do list and if I don't schedule it, then it's still not going to happen, right? But again, it's sitting around on the floor in the back of my car, all that. That was not a perfect system either. In fact, we know clutter attracts clutter. So, it was not working at all. So, still an imperfect system. It's still not going to make the returns for me, but much better than what I've been doing in the past. Right.
Ever have clutter accumulate on your office floor, bedroom floor, spare bedroom floor, pretty much the edge of any room? This can happen, right? So again, we just want to look at the data and ask our three questions: Does it have a home? Does it have a habit? Is it hopeless? There's there's a little bit of hopelessness going on here, but let's go back to the beginning of our steps and first look for things that have a home. Now, to be real honest with this type of clutter, what you're going to find is most of it doesn't have a home. That's why it's here. So, what I find to be very helpful is to just start categorizing it, sorting it into like with like, and that makes it easier to decide if there's hope. Has the inventory crept up in one area? And I can just pair it down and get rid of it before I try to find a home. And then also to start to imagine where the home would be for this item and where it would live. So, I'm going to start out by categorizing everything and then we'll deal with each individual category.
Okay, so I have everything categorized. Now, I haven't solved all my problems, but just seeing it in clear categories makes it easier. Like, this box has all of my faux flowers in it. So, I'm going to write on it what's in there, and I'm going to put it down in in the basement right now for storage until I need them. Now, I know when we go to bring this stuff to our storage space, it can kind of feel like we're just piling crap on top of crap, right? Like, "Oh, just toss it in. Here we go." But I want to encourage you that we're starting to look at our stuff differently, even the stuff in your storage spaces. As you keep practicing these techniques, it's just a matter of time before you get to these areas, too. And the same principles actually apply. So, just do your best to keep everything stacked up as neat and tidy as you can. But, it's also going to give me good data. Do I use them throughout the year? Will I need them for next year? Can I just get rid of them? Whatever, right? But I'm going to clearly label them, and I'm going to put the date on it, too, so that I know what's in there and then it can get moved out of here. So, it's allowing me to see really clearly. These are uh returns over here, but they need labels printed for them. So, that's a different kind of return than what I just put in the mudroom. And I'm trying to just challenge myself just to do it today and be done with it. And then I just even had some mail here that hadn't been opened. But again, getting it sort out, sorted out now, my brain's like, "Yeah, we could handle going through that right now." So once we have it split into categories again, we can go back to our question of does it have a home? Is it worth creating a home for? Where would that home be? And we can start to answer that.
Now, just so you know, this is actually the same process that I use on counter clutter, kitchen clutter, flat surface stuff. In fact, this is actually my crap basket or clutter catcher from the kitchen. And it lives here. I have a home for it in these cabinets behind my desk. It just didn't get put back there. So, does it have a home? Yes, it needs to go there. But I also want to show it to you because it has been so helpful. These are the things I'm currently time testing in there. And also, I just came across these too when I was cleaning up in here and they were handkerchiefs that I got for our coaches. Um, we're doing clutter camp inside of our membership community and it had a couple extras. And even as I was looking at them, I'm like, I don't want to have to find a home for that. I don't want to have to try and remember that I have them. They're super cute, right? I love the material, the patterns. I'm like, what else could I use them for? And I'm racking my brain to figure out like how could I use it? How could I make good on that? And the truth is that this is exactly the type of stuff that fills up our homes. Good intentions could maybe kind of someday be useful, but I'm actually not going to remember I have it when the time comes for it. And so now I know just to let this stuff go. So I'm going to donate these. But if you'd be like stuck, they can just go into a clutter catcher or a crap basket. That's exactly what this is for, to time test things. Even this water bottle in here, I'm really hoping that Gage forgets about it and it never has to come back out again, right? So, we time test things, see if things are missed, and if they're not, great data, and we can let the stuff in the basket go. But then these are the categories of stuff I still have left. So, I have tech stuff, these are photo bins, and then this is actual like random stuff. I don't know uh what to create a home for. Even if I stopped here, I could move it all together and this space would feel 85% better. It already walking in here feels so much calmer and better. So, even if I didn't take the final steps to deal with this kind of stuff and I left it for another session or another day, I still would be so much further ahead. And when I come back to it, I have clear categories of what I'm dealing with. Now, I would like to deal with this stuff. So, let's keep going a little bit further.
So, these are some containers of photos that I've brought back from my parents' house. I've just been using them occasionally and videos and stuff and whatnot. So, I want to keep these. I want to find a home for them. And right now, I do have space in these cabinets in my office. So, it doesn't feel that costly to store these. If I was really short on space, I'd probably try to consolidate them down even further. But, for right now, uh this feels like a manageable amount of photo inventory to be keeping. And I do have room in here. If I didn't have room in my cabinets and these were important, I would try to look for something in there that's less important that I could move out to make room for these, 'cause photos are generally pretty important, especially once we've gotten them paired down to a manageable amount. So, uh, sometimes we have to make decisions to let other stuff go to make room for the important stuff. All right. And then gh the tech stuff. All right. Um, I think it's helpful to sort it out first and then that'll give me a better idea of what we're actually working with. Now, something else that's been working so well for me recently are these zipper pouches. But yes, you can just use a Ziploc bag. I've done that in the past, too. Absolutely. They're a little more durable and whatnot, but yes, a Ziploc bag will 100% work, too. But what's really cool is that you can categorize and contain even things that are kind of odd shaped or a little bit bulky. But what's the secret sauce? It's putting the date on it. So, I had all these random cords. I didn't know if we were going to actually need any of them. And so, I just threw them all in here, put a date. I have pulled like one or two things out of here. So, I was glad that it's here. But, after a while, again, I'm going to have really good data to know if I actually need to keep these cords or not. And you can also like individually label them. So, I've shown this one before where I used painters tape to put the date on it. This is from 2023. Isn't that wild? Time flies. Time flies. And this having the actual date on it, you know, you could get rid of a cord from 2023 that you've never reached for again very confidently. So, never underestimate the power of containing things and also putting a date on them. Do you know what is so funny about that? I was like, uh, I don't want to do this, but I'm like, I'm going to do it. Just just power through it. Right? That took four minutes and I'm able to get rid of these containers now. And now I have two containers. One has just like all cords, but I have them in the zipper pouches. And then the other one is like cameras and hard drives and that kind of stuff. So it's probably still a little more just-in-case inventory than I would like, but not bad. And at least at least it is categorized and contained. My brain can handle that all day long. Clear categories. I'm going to get another label on this one. That's not stressful to my brain. That random stack of just who knows what before, not brain-friendly, right? So, even if you're still keeping a little more inventory in some categories than you would like, we're time testing it. We're putting dates and labels on things. You're going to have really good data to work with. So, a few months from now, you can make very confident decluttering decisions.
Okay, so this pile. So these are curtain rings that actually need to get put up. And so they're a to-do item now that they're not surrounded by all this other junk. It'll be easier for me to put them on my desk and to actually see them and do it. But otherwise, again, if we're looking at a home for something, they don't have a home. I would put them in my clutter catcher for right now, my crap basket, because I would know to go look for them there. So that also becomes a temporary holding spot for things that I don't want to create a permanent home for. I also have a couple books. I've not read this yet, but heard good things. This book I would highly recommend, uh, historical fiction by Sheila Quinn. I've really found that reading historical fiction helps you appreciate what you have and not have so much fear about running out or not having the things that we need. So, I'll put a link to this, too. Highly recommend it. So, for now, I'm going to add these just to my book holders behind my desk, but I'm really trying hard not to accumulate a bunch of books. Um, this I can just put in my cabinets over here. This is actually a three-month wall calendar that the kids and I have been using. And so this needs to get hung up. So this is like another to-do thing. And so now I feel confident putting this on my desk and that it could get done because the rest of the room is feeling more under control. And then this, you know, this is just one of those random things that came with like a deck cleaner. I don't know. Apparently you're supposed to use it to clean your deck. And so it's just another one of those things where I'm like, "Okay, where is this going to live? I don't have any organization in the garage yet. That would probably be where I think to put it. So, is it going to go in the basement?" And we are just confronted by this kind of stuff all of the time. So, again, there's nothing wrong with you. We are just managing so much inventory. And so, that's why when it comes to things like handkerchiefs and other things where I'm like, should I keep this for someday? I'm like, I can't. I can't. There is a steady inflow of stuff all of the time. I can only keep the absolute stuff that we're using and the rest I can't. There is no possible way to manage it all and to remember that we have it. So again, there is nothing wrong with you. It's just there's so much inventory that we're trying to manage.
Now, I know these spaces can feel overwhelming, but just follow the steps and keep working through them. I'll also link to my kitchen video where I went through some hot spots together and also my playlist of long-format decluttering videos. So great to put on in the background while you're working so that you're reminded of why we're getting rid of this stuff and how low inventory really is the key to success. I love you. I hope you have a really good day and I'll see you again.