12 Tiny Changes to Make to Your Home Today

I like to think about my home and the stuff in it as an employee when you have an employee they provide a service and you pay them for that service you need their service to be worth what you pay them your home and the stuff in it is like that too but instead of paying them in money you pay it in time everything you own takes time to house it to maintain it to inventory it and you want the value it gives you to be worth that time so let me share with you some ways that you can make your home better employees so it can serve you better [Music] number one give up the convenience illusion we all have places where we leave things out for what we believe is convenience we leave out a stack of magazines because we're definitely going to read them soon some toiletries in the bathroom sink because we use them every single night the kids lunch boxes because we're going to need them in the morning a hammer and nails because we are really for sure gonna hang that picture this weekend I know we said last weekend but we're gonna do it this weekend we leave these things out because we think we're saving ourselves time and simple find Our Lives sure we may save a couple of seconds by leaving it out but let's look at The Lunchbox example if I time myself for how long it takes me to put away the lunchbox and then take it out again in the morning I clock about 10 seconds now is this 10 seconds of time saved really more convenient I've saved 20 seconds of my life on these things but what I'm giving up in its place is excess clutter out on my counters and if you know anything about clutter it's the Clutter attracts more clutter and I know that clutter is also directly related to stress anxiety procrastination and a lot more a 2010 study found that those who viewed their homes as cluttered awoke more stressed in the morning and remained at a higher level stress throughout the day so let me ask you again is that 20 seconds of time saved really worth it the convenience illusion is saving us time but at what cost number two create Drop Zones a dropped zone is a designated place in your home for everyday items you can have multiple Drop Zones from multiple types of things one of the most common ones is for the stuff when you first come inside inside the house we're talking about things like your keys your phone your purse your shoes your sunglasses typically we drop these things on the floor as we come in or we drop them on the sofa Drop Zones are specifically for these frequently used items where you're allocating a specific place to drop it the things that you use daily maybe even multiple times a day the items in your home that need a drop zone will become very apparent to you you do not need to seek them out these are the things that constantly end up on the floor by the door piled up on the counters in my home it's my kids school stuff right their lunch boxes their bags their jackets the paper the stuff coming in every single day and then my husband and I's Tech stuff like our phones our laptops our chargers we're constantly bringing those from his office from my studio into the kitchen and then shoes always always always their shoes once your items that are in need of a drop zone have become very obvious to you you'll want to create an easy drop zone for them a place that you can drop them in like 10 seconds or less going back to my point of the convenience illusion you want it to be easy enough to access so that it's more convenient to put them away than to leave them out for the tech in my home I have this acrylic stand to house all of them I invested in a few wire management items to keep my cords from laying out all over the place now for my kids stuff I have a drop zone right by the back door for shoes and jackets then I have a second drop zone for the lunch boxes in the kitchen and this is behind the basement door which is in our kitchen now an effective Drop Zone doesn't have to be fancy or key here is functionality over being Pinterest perfect if it's not quick and simple you're not going to stick to it the key is right in the name Drop Zone you should be able to quickly drop the things off or quickly hang them number three focus on function over Perfection so on that note the next thing is to make sure that you focus on function over perfection in your home we've all seen Pinterest perfect perfect organization Solutions on Instagram on Pinterest and they are beautiful and great for some inspiration but the key to good organization is functionality if it's not easy and effective you're not going to stick with it so it's fine to try to make things look really pretty and aesthetic I love love that for you I love that for me but don't get so caught up in the looks that you let functionality slip next up we're going to talk about the places that tend to end up with excess so I'm talking about cleaning products grooming stuff toiletries Pantry items these are products that we typically need daily and are common culprits to get cluttered I buy a new face wash before the other one is used up and now I have two face washes because I didn't initially throw away the old one we get a can of beans because we can't remember if we already had some now we have two cans of beans and then a few weeks later I can't remember if I have a can of beans so I get another one just in case these are the areas we easily accumulate excess because we think more is more these are things that we use and we use them a lot So eventually it's going to get used more usually just leads to a feeling of overwhelm when we look at it and so these areas don't end up serving us as well and they end up just kind of stressing us out and now we're digging through eight bottles of cleaning supplies looking for just the one we want so focus on being really ruthless in these areas and really just keep the items that you truly need and are really using I'm gonna to take a quick break here to thank the sponsor for today's video which is iherb iherb offers a curated selection of products at the best value in categories such as supplements Sports Nutrition Beauty and baby when I was pairing back the stuff underneath my kitchen sink for this video I turned to iherb for my cleaners I'm using the modular lab soap concentrates to refill my dish soap and hand soap as well as their mild by Nature dishwasher pods all of I her Brands meet strict good manufacturing practices except by the FDA and are verified by third-party labs to confirm quality so you can feel confident in what you're buying they also have free shipping on all orders over 25 if you are in the US as well as a 90-day money-back guarantee on I her products is for any reason you are not satisfied with your product within 90 days you can return the product and get your money back IRB also has a great rewards program that allows you to earn credit by referring friends or family and reviewing products when you check out I have for yourself make sure to use my code which is Cali that will give you 20 off if you're a new customer 15 off you if you are an existing customer there will also be links in the description box down below to all the products that I mentioned and showed in this video okay and that brings me into my next Point really well which is just because you have the space doesn't mean you gotta fill it so often when we're organizing or decluttering we're putting back things back into our space and sort of filling up that space But I work on being really intentional about always leaving Open Spaces when I organize and declutter because I know how homes work there is always stuff coming in and so I like to anticipate some of that stuff that's going to come in and have room available so when something new does come in there's room for it and I can give it a home as opposed to having that bursting at the seams feeling of where am I going to put anything new next up on my list is to tackle that spot that fills you with Dread we all have these spots that spot that you actively ignore because when you look at it you're just like no no no maybe that junk drawer maybe your basement maybe the hallway closet do you have a Monica closet having a spot that fills you with Dread is doing you a huge disservice and it's time to tackle it if you need to sign to do it here it is now if you have a dread spot you've probably been avoiding it because you feel like you just don't have the time to do it I get that and I recently shared my best tip for this in a video about five minute cleaning if you are avoiding your dread spot because you just feel like you don't know where to start try this break it down into smaller chunks say for example it's a closet list out what you need to do you need to clear the floor you need to categorize the stuff inside you need to go through that random box of stuff you need to go through that other random box of stuff you need to buy storage bins that fit the shelves you need to create categories for the shells you need to return some of the things back to the places they belong speaking of return three of the things in that closet are things you need to take to UPS to return list out all of the tasks that will take you to do that closet and now instead of just a task of clean the hallway closet you should have five to ten smaller tasks so instead of trying to find time to do the entire closet pick just one of these smaller tasks you can pick away your dread spot small chunks at a time next have a routine for laundry let's be honest it is so easy for laundry to overtake our lives and thus our home and it happens really fast so if you don't have a routine for your laundry you gotta get on it the best way to count bat laundry is just to keep that Cog wheel going whether you decide what works for you is doing it once a day or having a big day once a week make it a routine it needs to be something that happens over and over and over consistently for me laundry is something I do every day so often I want to skip a morning but I always remind myself just keep that Cog wheel going keep feeding the monster as long as I keep it moving it's always slowly pushing along and I don't end up with it all piled up next invest in smart technology guys it's 2023 and there are some amazing products out there to make your life easier and make your home serve you more than you serve it I'm talking about things like a robot vacuum a security system that has water detectors for your basement to alert you of any flooding a doorbell camera I actually just used my doorbell camera for the first time and it was amazing we had a return and I wasn't home and they came to get it and if I had missed him when I was gone I would have had to haul this big huge air conditioner all the way to the UPS store but luckily I was able to answer the doorbell confirm the return and they took it in my office I just got an echo dot to help me keep track of shopping lists I need for work to give me the weather to play my music Alexa play noacan on Spotify technology makes our spaces a lot more effective and makes our lives a lot easier and thus makes our home serve us better next tackle one thing a day here's the thing about houses caring for them is never ending it can feel like it's just job after job after job and that's because it kinda is so I loved adopting the rule of doing one thing a day I pick one of these tasks that we tend to avoid and I tackle one of them a day maybe it's decluttering a drawer maybe it's finally hanging that picture you've been saying you're gonna do forever maybe it's taking that stuff down to the basement taking some returns to the post office sorting through a pile of paper whatever it is that you're avoiding tackle just one of them a day next be ruthless about giving everything a home if something doesn't have a home it's just going to sit out so get really ruthless about having places for everything by giving things homes it ensures not only that they just aren't sitting out but it also makes tidying a lot faster it helps us create limits for what we have and what we bring in by creating homes for stuff we say okay I'm allocating this space whatever it is to like I don't know pens okay and now this is the only space that I have for pens I can't bring in more pins to my home unless they fit here and on that note make sure you label your stuff I always tell you guys to label your stuff which sometimes feels silly in our own space like I don't really need to label stuff where I live but I'm telling you it makes a world of difference it just creates a little shortcut in your brain to remind you where to put stuff back even if you know even if you're the one who created that organizational system we can only have so much stuff in our brains at one time and by having labels it makes it really really really fast for things to get back where they go to stay in order keep those limits and just ensure that everything is going back where it's supposed to go and last but not least update things in your home as your life changes I think lots of times we get stuck and do certain routines or ruts or things that are just like staying where they're supposed to stain and we don't update them as our life changes as we go through different seasons as people we tend to be pretty habitual we tend to follow routines but make sure that you are changing organizational structures and or home routines to better or serve you as your life changes a really simple example for me is by my back door right what I need by the back door for me and my my kids is a lot different in the summer than what it is in the winter in the summer my kids need changes of clothes by the back door because they're outside a lot more they're getting muddy they're doing water play we also need towels and bathing suits by the back door for that same reason obviously in the winter this changes right we need some mittens we need some hats we need some cold weather gear just because you created an organizational structure or a routine in your home doesn't mean that that's just going to work forever and ever and ever our life is constantly changing and ebbing and flowing so you need to adjust them as you go all right my friends that does it for today's video thank you so much for stopping by and watching I hope this video helped you out a little bit as always I hope you're having a wonderful day remember to be kind to yourself and to others and I will see you all in my next video

Channel: That Practical Mom

Views: 185,894

Keywords: how to change your life, habits that will change your life, habits of successful people, home organization habits, home organization, make your home serve you, home habits, tiny habits, organization habits, personal development, good habits, minimalist living, simple living, 10 small changes that will improve your life

Id: 6PONrpVG_OA

Length: 12min 7sec (727 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 24 2023