- Well, in one of my very first videos, I was talking about simplifying kids' toys and I showed this method where basically you box everything up and you pack it away for a while just to see if anyone misses it. If you go back and pull anything out of it, or if you literally can just donate it after a few months because nobody missed it. And so it's a really great tactic and one of the comments on that video was, it's kind of like you're quarantining it. Now this was about three and a half years ago before quarantining had kind of a negative name and so since then I'd call them quarantine bins. And so today I want to talk about some of the lingo that we often throw around when we're talking about simplifying and minimalism, but more importantly how these things like quarantine bins and Sunday baskets and frog projects can make our lives easier and better. Well hi, I'm Dawn from The Minimal Mom. I'm trying to decide if you can hear the air conditioner running in the background. It has been so hot here in Minnesota. When I say hot, I mean like 90s, mid 90s, which is hot for us. So those of you who it's actually really hot, I don't know how you do it. But it's been hot and our poor air conditioner has been running non-stop so I think it's okay though. But today I want to talk about some of these terms that we often use. I see questions like, what's a quarantine bin? What's a frog project? What's a Sunday basket? And so today I thought we could revisit some of these terms because we throw them around but they're actually concepts that can be completely life-changing. They can make it easier for you to declutter your house, they can help you get on top of your to-do list, and so for me these things really have been life-changing. So let's talk a little bit about them today. So like I said the quarantine bin, and like I said, it didn't always used to have such negative connotations with it. But basically what it is, it's a box or a Rubbermaid tote that we use to pack stuff away to see if we're really gonna miss it or not. And so often I recommend that when we use a quarantine bin or box that we pack it up with stuff that we're not sure if we're actually ready to donate or not. Only put stuff in it that you're really not sure about. Often when we're decluttering we have the stuff that's garbage, no brainer to declutter, like for sure we're not using it, don't need it. And then we start getting into the gray area. And so if it's truly down here on the end of, I just really don't know if I'm gonna miss it, then the quarantine box can be a great tool. But if it's kind of in that middle, I'm gonna encourage you to let it go. Like if you're like, eh, I haven't used it, I don't actually know when I would use it again, let's just donate it and move on with life because i can almost 1000 percent guarantee you, you're not going to miss it, because if you haven't been using it and you don't know when you're going to use it in the next month or so, you're not going to use it and you're not going to miss it. So let's put a couple rules around the quarantine bin, like only put stuff in there that you really aren't sure. Maybe you have used it once in the last year, but do you actually want to let it clutter up your drawers and cabinets anymore? I don't know. So that's the really good stuff to put in a quarantine bin. And so I like quarantine bins best for kitchens, toys and clothes. Beyond that I think most often we just need to make the tough decision to get rid of the stuff. But those three areas I think it's really good and also when you do get it boxed up, so say you just went through the kitchen, you pulled out everything that you weren't sure about, once you go to box it up, make sure you put a date on it. So I like to make sure with my quarantine bins that I don't have to look in it again. So if I don't go back to this and pull anything out over the next three months or so, I put the date on there, I say donate after September 1, 2021, and my my goal is to not have to look into it again, that literally then I can take that whole bin and take it to the donation center. And so like I said though, this can be a really powerful tool because say you want to declutter your kitchen really quickly, well the stuff that hangs us up is the stuff we don't know about, right? So if we can just throw it into a box, close it up, put a date on it and pack it away for a little while, we really can make progress quickly when we're decluttering. And like I said, works great for clothes too and also for kids' toys. Alright, next up let's talk about frog projects. I wish I had a frog to hold up. Frog projects come from the book Eat That Frog, and basically the premise of the book is that if you had on your task list for today to eat a frog you would want to put it at the top of your task list and get it done first thing in the morning instead of doing that thing we all do where we push it off all day and a lot of times we don't even get to it that same day and then it just hangs over our head throughout the whole week. And so examples of things that could be frog projects are like taxes, calling the accountant, making an appointment you know you need to make, maybe you have returns that you need to do. A lot of times it's phone calls, I find. We don't like talking on the phone anymore. And so what I like to do now, is when I make my task list, and I have a separate video on this that I'll link to, but I called out the frog projects and I put them right at the top of my task list especially when I was working full-time selling real estate but also taking care of four kids, I never knew how my day was gonna play out exactly, so it was imperative that I did those frog tasks that were related to work first thing in the morning so that if the rest of my day went awry I knew that I had those most important things done. But here's what's cool about frog projects, is that often when we make our to-do list, we list out everything. A lot of us will sometimes even put stuff on there that we've already done and cross it out, just to feel like we're getting a little momentum. And so it's easy if I make my whole task list for the day, what do I do? I'm like, well I want to start with the easy stuff, right? I want to ease into my day. The problem is easy stuff doesn't actually give us momentum. Do you know what gives you a shot or a boost of momentum first thing in the morning? Completing a frog project, because you get done with that and you feel so good about yourself and you're like, all right, what's next? I just got the hardest thing off, this thing that I've been putting off for a week, and I just did it and it's done and it took way less time than I thought it was going to. What's next? And it is incredible how it empowers us, but like I said, the best part of it is that it's done. It's not hanging over our head anymore. You know, things like loading the dishwasher or emptying the washing machine, those don't actually make me feel that great about myself. You'd think, oh, writing it down and crossing it off like, yay, look at me. It doesn't, right? It wasn't actually that big of a deal and it wasn't really hanging over my head. But these frog projects, these tasks that we put off, they grow bigger, they become uglier, less tasty the longer we put it off, and we know how it actually deteriorates our quality of life when we always have these things hanging over our head. And it makes us feel not good about ourselves. So by training ourselves to do frog projects, those unsavory tasks, right away in the day, right away at the beginning of the week, we build confidence and we improve our quality of life. That's huge, right? I'm not even trying to make light of this, like this actually really can make your life more enjoyable. Okay, let's talk about the Sunday basket. So the term Sunday basket is coined by Lisa from Organize 365, that is her term. But basically it's a weekly planning basket, or we like to think of it as paper clutter station, paper central, basically when paper comes into your home, where does it go? Not a pile on the counter. Where does it go? And so a Sunday basket or a weekly planning basket can be a really awesome solution. And what we especially like about them is that they're portable. So I have separate videos on this that I will link to if you want to go in more depth on how we set it up, but this is Tom's newest Sunday basket. I got this container off Amazon and I really like it because it has the metal rods in here that these file folders can actually hang on, so the folders stand up really nicely and then you got this really nice pocket in the front. You can put like a checkbook and stamps and envelopes or whatever kind of stuff. But here's the deal. Paper clutter is horrible for most of us, right? I hear that all the time. Like my house is out of control with paper, it keeps me up at night, it's daunting, right? And so one of the main problems that we see is that we don't have a system that's sustainable for paper clutter. So by creating your weekly planning basket, now you know that every time paper comes into your house, it has a place to go. So of course we sort out the trash and the stuff that needs to be recycled right away, but then from there we have folders for our to-do items, for bills to pay, for receipts when they come into the house and then something else that I have that goes along with this is also a Time Will Tell basket. So here's what's so cool. When paper comes into our home, now Tom has his own and I have my own, but anyways when paper comes into our house, like I said, okay, here I'll even pull out the garbage can. Like when paper comes into our house, it goes to one of these three places. If it's something that we have to do or a bill it goes right into here. Garbage, recycling into there. And if it's one of those just silly things that I just don't know. I
got the seed catalog in the mail. I'm not sure if I'm going to order it. I got a new clothes catalog. I got a coupon for a fast food place. I don't know if we're going to use it. I don't want to clutter up my Sunday basket or my weekly planning basket with that because I need to keep this very simple if I'm going to stay on top of it, and so I like the Time Will Tell bin because we throw all of that random stuff that you just don't know what to do with in here. And the best thing about this is that if this fell off the face of the earth, it does not matter because there's no to-dos in here, there's no actions. You might miss out on saving ten dollars on seeds or whatever but at the end of the day there's no bad consequences if this goes unnoticed, you don't do anything with it except continue to throw more stuff in it. And that's what I love about it. But then we have this and the reason Lisa called it a Sunday basket was because she would go through hers every Sunday. So the idea is that you plan one time a week where you go through it, you do your to-dos, you pay your bills and that kind of thing. Now I know what you're thinking, is that that is beautiful. That sounds so great in a perfect world. But knowing myself I would set this up and I would never go through it again. But here's what I want to tell you. Even if that is the case, at least you know that anything important is right here. It's not floating around your house in random piles, it's not on the counter and on the coffee table and on the dining room table. It's all right here. So even if this gets overloaded you still know that everything is
right here and even just knowing that takes a huge weight off. So it might still take you a while to get back through it. Like for me and what I've heard from others, is that if you do this on a regular basis you can do it in 10 to 15 minutes a week. Like it does not take very much maintenance. But say okay, worst case scenario I let it go for two months. Okay, so it might take you an hour to get through it, but again you know that everything is right here. So this really is a game changer coming from someone who is super messy and never organized with paper, I've been able to keep up with this. Tom was kind of hesitant, of course. He likes it too. So if you need a change of pace, this really does work well. Alright, if I could get on my knees right now and beg you to do one thing, it would be to have a memory bin for every member in your household. Because otherwise what do we do with the special stuff? So if you or anyone in your household struggles with sentimental stuff, special stuff things that were given to them, if you will introduce a memory bin it makes it so much easier. And so what Dana from A Slob Comes Clean says, is we'll hold something up and we'll say, is it container worthy? Is it worth going into my memory bin, my curated collection of special things? And because now we have a spot for the special stuff and we have boundaries to it, we have a limit, we're only going to keep as much special stuff as fits in there, now when I hold something up I say, okay, I like this, right? Oh it was a present from the kids and I like it, but was it so special that I want to keep it and take up place in my memory bin? Well no, not really. It felt like an afterthought of something they bought at the store, right? Or yes, this is so special, of course I want to put it in there. And so it causes us to ask, is it container worthy? And until you try this, I can't, I just cannot even tell you how well it works and how many people I've heard from that said, I was hesitant to get a memory bin, I thought I'm not that sentimental. Or I thought I had too much stuff, I would be overflowing. They say they get a memory bin and now they have a guideline, they have a boundary. Now we know how much to keep and it makes it so much easier. So if you do not have a memory bin, I just highly encourage you. So each of our kids have one this size, and then Tom and I have one that we share that is the same size. So the memory bin is a game changer and if you have struggled at all with sentimental stuff, please, please get one, try and prove me wrong. Like just do it. Like I really think that
you're gonna be so glad that you did. And along those lines is the Container Concept. So this also comes from Dana from A Slob Comes Clean and what she says about the Container Concept is it's how we declutter without using emotion or math. So my potholder drawer is right here,
so I like to give this example of, we could say okay, how many pot holders do I want to keep? Well on Thanksgiving we use 12 but on a weeknight we use two. And then we're trying to figure out so how many do I need? Or we could just say this drawer is for pot holders how many comfortably fit in there? Six? Okay, that's what I'm gonna keep. Done deal. I don't have to think any more about it or rack my brain about how many potholders to keep. And so Dana talks about how you can simplify basically your whole house using the Container Concept saying, here's the space I have to work with, everything needs to comfortably fit in there. If it doesn't, I'm gonna pare down putting in my favorites first and then I'm gonna get rid of the rest. And if something doesn't fit then I have to donate it. Well, I'm not the bad guy, it's the container. My house is only so big. My cupboard's are only so big. This is key. Dana did a video on this recently. I'll link to her video about that down below as well because this concept is, it's really key to being able to declutter your house quickly. Alright, let's talk about inventory. This is my favorite term. So I was doing a meal planning video and talking about my meal planning system, and I realized, I was like, why does this stuff in the back of the cupboard, why do I forget about it? Why do I forget about stuff in the fridge and then it expires? And I realized, I'm like, well it's like it's
inventory, right? It's inventory that I have to take care of, just like a grocery store has inventory that they have to manage. It's inventory that I have to manage. And so what I realize now is that it just all comes down to inventory and how much can I manage? And so this first occurred to me in the kitchen and managing grocery inventory, but I quickly realized that it actually applies to every single area of our house. How much clothing inventory, how many toys not only can I manage but how many can my kids actually effectively manage? And what's that line where they just start feeling overwhelmed by it, or what's an enjoyable amount of inventory for them to manage, where their toys feel like an asset and not a burden? And so this applies to every single area of our home. What's been very interesting is that I've realized that I can manage way less inventory than I would've originally thought. I'm a normal person. I should be able to manage all this stuff that we're supposed to have in our homes. And I realized, I was like, oh my goodness, I forget about like two-thirds of the stuff in our house. But if it's in the basement there's like a 90 percent chance I've forgotten about it. And so I realized that I had all this stuff in my house I forgot it was there, I never used it or I bought it again because I didn't realize it there and I'm like, oh stop. Just get rid of the inventory, get it down to a manageable amount and it's so much more enjoyable. My house is easy to keep clean, I like being here a lot, it doesn't overwhelm me and most importantly, I feel like I have more brain space and emotional energy for the stuff that actually matters. So I like to just look at everything in our house as inventory that I have to manage and when it's too much, it's too much. And again, it helps to take the emotion out of it, because all of us have these limits and we just can't keep track of it all and that's okay. It is totally okay. And one of the last terms is Clutterbug, which comes from Cas from Clutterbug, and learning your Clutterbug style, your organizing style, and this has been huge. Tom and I are going to talk more about this next week in our own organizing styles and how we did not see eye to eye when it came to organizing stuff in the house. But I love what Cas came up with and when we figure out our organizing style and how to organize for that, this has been such a game changer for me and has really restored my confidence in my ability to organize our home, because I did not even like the word organize when I first got started. I was like, I don't like people that organize because they all do it the same and they want it micro categories and cutesy bins and I'm like, I don't care about that. And so I didn't even want to hear about organizing. But now knowing my Clutterbug style, which is a Ladybug, and how to organize for that, it has made such a huge difference in our home and I feel like now what is so cool is that it is super easy to keep our house organized because I'm working with how I organize and not against it and trying to organize like other people. These concepts have really helped me to declutter my house and to do it really confidently, not feeling like I don't know, am I making a mistake? Like to really have confidence in what it was that I was doing. So these concepts have been key and they just made me feel like I'm on top of things and good at running a household, because in the past I never ever would have thought that and so I just thought like, well, good thing I have other talents because keeping a house up is not one of them. So I have much more confidence now in all of these areas, so I'm grateful for all of the gals that have gone before me and helped to come up with these systems and these terms, and I'm excited for you because as you continue to simplify and declutter your house, it just keeps getting better and better and better, and so I'm really excited for you. So keep going. Oh, the messy middle, maybe that's one I should throw out there too. Well, when you get into the middle and you're like, I'm never gonna get done, this is horrible, how do I have so much stuff? You know, we just feel all those emotions. Keep plowing through because it gets better and it gets
easier and you're gonna get to the other side and look back and be like, wow, that is one of the most worthwhile things I have ever done. So if you haven't done so already, I hope you subscribe so we can spend more time together and throw around cool words together. But I love you, I hope you have a really good day, and I'll see you again soon.
