What makes you different then all the minimalist here on utube is you talk over your decisions, and explain to us WHY and HOW you decide to keep, or donate. I don’t know Erica you just seem like an old friend, I love when I see you put a video up ❤❤❤❤ PS I just got back from goodwill with a bag of donations, it feels so good😂 The dinning room looks GREAT
When I avoid putting away stuff I usually realise that I’m either micro organising too much for my energy levels or that the container is too complicated for me to want to do quickly. I used to store my art work in portfolios but now I just have a giant box with them in. Unless they are finished, then I put them in a pile and once a week I have a dedicated ‘admin’ time for framing, or storing them in an archival way.
Love the video. What i had to learn is that i had to stop changing myself and start facilitate my habits. Have a dedicated place for art downstairs. So that whenever you have the energie you can put it away properly. Have a place to put little niknaks untill you have time to organise it. Truely, this is lifechnging.
@@gelukkig1357it really is! My husband used to pile all his pocket shrapnel on the mantelpiece when he came home from work so I got a ceramic dish and put it in his spot. He can dump all he like in there until it is full and I poke him to empty it. Marriage saver, his adhd brain and my organised autistic brain can live together now.
I so wish that you would consider keeping the second table in the school room. Put it in the center with four chairs for you and the kids. You always do schoolwork at the DINING TABLE when you have the space for a dedicated classroom. Just like parents who work from home do best when they’re able to have a dedicated office where ALL work items are contained AND they can close the OFFICE door and “leave work for the day.” I think it would have a calming effect on the entire family if the dining room was used and decorated ONLY for eating and playing games as a family.(not for games played during school,that would be on the black school table) Think how nice it would be during the school day to go make lunch while the children set the CLEAR dining room table,because it was last used at breakfast and cleared. Then at the end of the school day, all do a tidy of the classroom and then the kids set the clear dining table for supper while you start preparing it. Family dinners should be a magical time of conversation and interaction,not distractions. Wish you would try it.🫤
I have occasionally wondered about the school room and dining room balance also. Nice idea of having a very clear divide between the function of the two rooms.
@@thehappinesstree8089 I have been watching her channel from the beginning so I remember something like that for a little bit,but since it obviously didn’t suit better, just a suggestion looking from another angle.
I would recommend a basket bin space for paper items that have a second step to do to hold and then go through them on a weekly basis. Also it might be productive to try Dana K White's no mess decluttering method for clearing off surfaces. You could go through your area or surface and gather all the items that belong in a certain space and take them to their home.
I take my hat off to you for pushing through! I agree that this video was different than your usual and it was hard to watch you struggle. But then, bam, you had a realization that made so much sense and you pushed through doing all those dreaded tasks! Amazing 🎉👏👏 you are such an inspiration and I wish I had your stamina!
That happened quickly, efficiently and it looks great!! Paperwork/ surface clutter is the bane of my existence!! Insurance😝 🤦🏻♀️ I sat down and finally got mine done today🙌🏻🙌🏻
Idk if you will like this idea. But you can take large posters, your kids make for projects and bring to Staples or a similar office supply place. They can reduce it down to an 8 x 10 that can then be placed into a keepsake photo album/ memory book. My kids did a lot of art work and I did that as well as using Artkive, for items they wanted to keep.
the cheap way is to take pictures or scan the item ( if 8x10 or less to scan)... then just keep a few physical items that the kid likes and the parents like. I saved a bunch of old newspapers by taking pictures... a few pics per page as its too big to scan. and school or other things like documents, certificates etc. they can then be organized and tagged in folders.
I used to tack the larger posters my kids made for school that wouldn't fit in their memories bin up on the wall in their room because I wanted them to know that I was proud of them and I wanted them to honor that feeling of accomplishment for as long as they wanted to. Then they got to decide when it was time to take a photo of it and let it go to make room for a next thing. LOL we always had a boundary of 1 wall for this 😊 I love that your children are creating games!!! Edit...I stopped the video to comment and then started it again right as you and Andy decided to hang it in his room 🤣
I use Dana K White’s No Mess Decluttering process. It helps me to tackle an area without leaving anything to do later. I heard about it through Dawn at The Minimal Mom when she did a video using that method. It has helped so much! Best of luck to you!
Excellent video and explanation. You are spot on as to why these tasks get delayed. It's easy to put away a simple item but when you have to follow through with subsequent tasks related to that item, we have a tendency to delay for another day or time. Our minds play a game fooling us into believing that it will take much longer than it actually does. Keep up the great work with your videos. They are inspiring!
Something you could do with those "action required" items is put a bin or something in each room where those items can live and set a time each week that is dedicated to taking those actions
A tip which might help your art portfolios take less time to deal with: have either a bin for all of them or each child have a bin. If each child has his/her own bin they can immediately add things and a good chunk of the work is already done. If you have one bin with everyone's artwork, when you are ready for those things to be put away, have the whole family around the table and pass out the art work. As you call out names and hand over the corresponding art work, each child is putting his/her artwork into his/her own portfolio (if they are old enough). At the very least it is a quick sorting method. It can work wonders in a classroom for sorting and organizing portfolio work.
I agree with other commenters that it sounds like something like a Sunday Basket (coined by Lisa at Organize 365) is the way to go. Some place where those to-dos can live until your dedicated weekly time to process them.
Dana K White’s “Take it there now” is life changing for preventing the declutter and then reclutter from happening … you can easily see improvement AND never make it worse even if you have to stop in the middle.
I remember our children learning how to put things into a binder in grade school. Maybe it could be of your school day to have your ikds put things into their art binders as part of their home school day.It could still take an hour!
It sounds like you might need to schedule in some "life admin" time... I have found this useful for those tedious tasks that can't be done quickly. You decide how much you need (15 to 30 mins per week day) and then find a time that will work. This was a great video where you came to some great revelations about what was causing your clutter 😊.
After your realization in this video and reading many comments about the Sunday Basket,maybe try a long,narrow table,(like a “back of the sofa” table)against the wall over the charging station area.Actually set that up on the right side and then clear bins next to each other for projects. The bins could either be labeled per person or if they are mostly for you,label the approximate time it would take,like a fifteen minute bin,half hour and hour bins. Before the “end of the school day tidy”, you could say,”Mommy has a half hour paper project to do,so you all finish up your last assignment.”
I have my to-do basket too! And sometimes it's a to-do bag that lives in the car for embarrassing long time! I think, btw, we can tell kids about material things. Still teach responsibility, choice and agency but there are times when "because I said so" aka ... "You are young and I do know better" works. Not that it has to be phrased that way, but they can receive guidance/instructions on what stays in the house and what does need to go. My parents let me keep absolutely everything and it made my life unnecessarily rough and messy.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you choose to deal with these tasks in the future. I had a realisation with my kids memory bins that I was putting off putting things in them because they were stored up high on a shelf and it required me getting a chair, pulling it down etc etc to be able to put anything in them. And I had to do it rather than the kids. I now have them at the bottom of their wardrobes instead and any of us can go and open it and put something in it easily.
You essentially generated what we refer to as a "waste management audit", or in this case a "put away management audit". A meta-analysis of thoughtfully considering how larger tasks get dealt with combined with actually timing the task (a 30 minute tax job only took 20 minutes) will help you on a move forward basis. Also, I would encourage you to delegate management of your children's files (eg. gymnastics, art portfolios) to your children. They are all old enough to manage them, with support. I very much liked your helpful husband dropping in and doing the "putting" put away easy items for you, as a runner. He is sweet, and definitely belongs in the "keep" pile! 😉💜
Your realisation is going to set you up going forward Erica 👍 As you like checklists and questions to ask yourself, perhaps for these pending action items, can I take the action needed now? If I don't have time now can you create a place for these to go, like you used the laundry basket, that is a pending area to be cleared on a certain day. At the end before moving on to something else, have I completed the task I'm working on? I think that's a good question where am I going to look for this and put the item there. Putting things away as you pick them up I think that's extra steps for the day 😂
Yep, I totally have the ‘delayed actions’ clutter. Hearing you say it takes more than 2 minutes is exactly what I have too. I leave it out so I don’t ’forget’ that I have to do it, and it becomes a clutter magnet! Refreshing to hear you experience this also.😁. Sounds like you had a bit of a ‘life admin’ hour there. MuchelleB has regular days like this where she clears off all the niggly errands and to dos like this. So great to see it happen in a family setting like mine. X
This was a great video Erica to explain why we let things pile up and not deal with them. However, I think a lot of this comes down to procrastination and the mindset that putting things away is time consuming and simply “not a fun activity”. Changing the mindset is a big step in stopping clutter from happening. It takes far less time to put the things away once we have finished using them or completed the activity than letting each thing create a mess which begets more mess. The things is it takes discipline and a want by everyone in the household to be tidy before that can happen.
PS Have you ever heard of the Sunday basket? I toss things in there that require more action than just put away. Then once a week I deal with them. (Not on Sunday usually!)
I love that there a decision making piles; find a place for, decide, donate, trash. And the question what will my life be without that item? 😊 Probably the "decide" is the hardest one to make a choice for. And keep the two baskets, you' ll reuse them.😊
I would keep that 2nd table in the school room, get 3 or 4 chairs and let that be the school room table! Keeping the schoolroom separate from the dinning room😃
Thank you for including the task doing and the time it takes. It took you a shorter amount of time than you anticipated and think that is a good light bulb moment for us all.
Do you have a Command Center/"Sunday Basket"? I keep everything taxes there until I schedule an appointment with myself to compile the necessary materials. In most cases, all the necessary materials are already in the folder and only need organizing. The only other things i need to do for taxes is for deductions. At the end of February each year, I print out a record of all payments made from the checking accounts and all purchases made by credit card, from 1/1 through 12/31 of the previous year. (Cash receipts are already in the tax folder in my "Sunday" Basket.) Win-win, at least it works for me. YMMV
I think your show is the only channel showing how real homes look. Seems like most channels have a professional house cleaner come in before shooting the video. Thank you.
This reminded me how tuff I had dealing with everything that my family made or brought home from school.. I was overwhelmed most of the time.. I wish I knew to declutter and simplify our home back then.
I love using your idea of the daily 5 and daily check list. Maybe you can do a seperate one that deals with your homeschool room. Each day of the week tasks and a daily 5 created just for homeschooling rooms.
Hey🎉 (rewatching some videos 11/5/2024). It's true... Clutter reappears. Cleared table tops collect more stuff and we get to figure out what to do with the keeps & the donates. We're blessed to have enough to make these kind of decisions.🙂 P.S. I saw the vid where you showed your daughter's room and how organized/useful it is. It looks really good. 👍 😊
I found this too over time. I spent a lot of time figuring out permanent homes and ways of storing things that worked for us but didn't give enough thought to items, mostly paperwork, that came into our home but needed some sort of action before you could either store them or trash them. Paper attracts paper and before you know it you have little piles of paper in various places around the house. It also happens for toys, clothing, and other things that need repairing or batteries replaced or returning to the car. My hubby made me a wooden two section letter rack type thing, a bit bigger than a regular letter rack, to corral the papers that come into our house and to store a few actioned ones to file when there's a bunch of them. Our permanent filing is stored away in a cupboard in another room so it made sense to collect a few things to file together later, rather than dig in there every time one thing needs filing. It doesn't take up much room at my desk and seems to be keeping surfaces clear. Another paper fix I've found works for me, is to keep an A5 sized journal on my desk. I write everything in there. Things to do, shopping lists, reno ideas for our house, anything and everything that would normally have gotten written on a scrap of paper and lost, gets written in the book. We still haven't mastered putting things back into the car though. Even if we have the things sitting by the door ready to go, a lot of the time they are still sitting there after numerous trips in the car. I'm really not sure how to make that an easier and more memorable thing to do.
Your dining room looks amazing Erica! Soooo minimal - ish! So easy to clean now etc! It’s such a journey - I am still travelling! Thank you for this video and inspiration! X
Hey, you might want to look into the thoughts behind the "Sunday Basket" for those things that are really to-dos. One thing you could do is have a big basket for "to-do-laters" so they dont end up on display on a flat surface. Then you use a cheap index card or post-it note to write down what the task is so its easy to see at a glance. Then you pick a day to get that stuff done (the Sunday Basket is named for doing it all Sunday afternoon, but I do mine on Wednesdays). The goal is to have the tasks not stress us out while they wait for their turn and to keep them easy to do when it is their turn. Anyway, those are just my thoughts from something that has helped me. You're doing great and it's always nice to clean while I listen to you!
I also just realized, this time consuming reality of organizing and completing is exactly like my job at work as a manager/ department head/ supervisor with many staff and an administration to follow. Yes, at home we’re the manager with all those decisions & restraints. We also get to compose or problem solve the administrative foundation & rules. In our homes we get to choose & clarify the decisions & strategies. No wonder that this takes so much energy …. and heart.
I gotta admit, I was super frustrated with this video for the first 2/3 and then….your amazing insight came. Yes! What a revelation to realize it was all items that involved a second and/or third step. Perhaps in order to not leave clutter that will attract more clutter you could take the pile in the moment to where the second step needs to happen? Thank you so much for your videos and for sharing your process and journey!
Oh! Because the title didn’t reveal what I wasn’t expecting until then! Thank you for this note. I will mention that in future videos so people know when to expect of I edit this way again. ❤
Thanks for this video. ❤ I am a homeschool mom as well and I really appreciate your ideas on making space for what your kids are doing. Like game design and art portfolios. I remember you moved maybe a few years ago into your current home - we are moving unexpectedly. And now I am needing to think through a lot of kid creations and involve them as much as I can. It’s helpful to know some stuff is for a season and some can be stored as a keepsake. Anyways I just get so much out of you sharing. Even more life stuff than just what is on the surface. You are a mentor to me. So thank you Erica!! ❤❤
“Sunday” Basket! (or Bin). To catch all the weekly “delayed actions for stuff that needs to be processed” clutter, esp paper clutter. Love the way u walk thru ur processing!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts process as you go from item to item. Hello to your husband and kids too. ❤ Watching this video I wondered if you would benefit from the decluttering methods from Dana K. White from A Slob Comes Clean. Have you heard of her?
That was very insightful! Maybe it would help if you put the piles in different places - your important papers on your desk, the kids' artwork in their room, Rebecca's gymnastics stuff on her desk / into her room. That way everybody would have their own task waiting for them in their space and the dining room table wouldn't be so overwhelmed. Also - we are forced to clear our dining room table every night, as we eat dinner there. Do you eat dinner at this table? Just a thought - it is always easier to give advice to other people than managing my own house. :-D Love your videos! Keep up the great work!
I love that you think and take action alongside us instead of beginning the video like you already know the answer. It's really refreshing. When you were going through your thoughts it really cemented for me (a very distractible person) Dana K. White's method of "take it there now" works so well for me. You delt with those pencils 3 times. I would have gotten interrupted or distracted and would have wayyyyy overestimated how much work the put away bin was and therefore never finished. Much better for me to have just put things away from the start. I'm really amazed at how you stuck with your decision to deal with it all that day! That's a big task.
I just detailed what I do to clean up and organize over on the latest The Carla Project video. What you have left that you're describing as delayed action items are really just projects. You need to decide if you will then complete the task or just put it away. You can have each family member put away the project pieces. For said projects, just write down a list and try to complete one project each day :) For writing down to-dos/projects, I recommend post-its the most. They're at Dollar Tree. This morning I went through around ten post-its and crossed out what I had done or decided what wasn't important to do any longer. I'll also fill in blanks till a post-it is full. If necessary, I'll start a new one with a master list. Just keep going! Simplifying what you need to do can be a very fulfilling reaction towards decluttering.
Like your thought process. As I sit here looking at my daughter’s pile of art and art supplies, I thought perhaps we could assign our daughters the task of filing their art work after it’s been displayed.
Spot on. I agree that it's the delayed action that leads to stuff sitting on my table. The method of clearing the Put away bin is my delay in dealing with clutter. If I practiced the Put away bin, I'd create lots of put away bins. I just have to take the actions to clear the clutter and they are definitely not 2 minutes tasks.
You actually demonstrated the reality of decluttering with delayed 2ndary & 3rd actions to perform. This was excellent & brilliant. Such reality, so helpful. And then you went for task completion in one room at a time. BRILLIANT! Thank you!!!!!!!!
The fact that you can talk about "more simple living" without it sounding like the punchline to a joke is REALLY a testament to how far you've come on your journey. I just remember your home school basement a few houses back and it was so hoarded that it seems like learning was the last thing that your kids could have done. And cleaning?!?! Not implying that you lived in filth, but if you have to spend an hour getting enough off of the floor to vacuum or an hour to clear counters so that you could wipe them down. Absolutely crazy how far you've come. I'm only sad that you're not in the same house so that you can do a split screen before and after of the exact same rooms. I'd love to see how your things would fit in that house now!!!
Hi! I love your videos. Regarding your clear sleeves for your gardening binder, you just did what I was taught by Dana K White (A Slob Comes Clean): where would I look for this first? That taught me so much about putting things away. Instead of where SHOULD this go? I feel validated. 😊
Thank you for continuing to show your real life messes. I have been with you since your first decluttering video came out and got serious with my house in Jan ‘22. My house still explodes with two young kids and being a single mom. Your videos help keep me feeling normal after the amount of work I’ve put in.
I don't want to try and talk you into keeping something that you decided to declutter but 😉 ...you could paint the 3 stacked book thing and write each of your kid's names on the spines. Just a possibility if you still have it. 😊 And thank you for all your videos. I always enjoy how "real" you are. I think that is why so many viewers can relate. ❤
Good video! I have Decluttering , and instead of just moving stuff from one spot to another, I have been forcing myself to decide right then and there if it’s keep or decluttering. Erica, you are getting me going.
Another great video. A suggestion… sounds like there is a major time commitment needed for the items on your desk. Why not try setting a timer for 15-20 minutes each day and tackle some of the items on your desk. It might take some time, but you’ll make a little progress each day. Just a thought
Hi Erica! I love your videos! But I have a question. You put the things first in the basket for putting away and than you put all the things from the basket back on the table. You now have to touch all the things a third time for putting them away properly. Why don’t you set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and take one item and put it away? You might not get the whole room clutterfree in 5 minutes, but doing that every day will reduce the mountain of things in wrong places you are facing so often. You could involve the kids to help cleaning the schoolroom or every schoolwork laying around in the house. 5 minutes every day when school is finished helps you a lot and the kids learn not to rely on you tidying up their stuff.
I used to like the catchy phrase: Clutter is Delayed Decisions. In reality, decisions are a sort of action, so really my revised catchy phrase needs to be: Clutter is Delayed Actions. I agree that it is magnetic and it really is not a help to me to have "projects/tasks" interspersed with "put in home" with "find a home". But that's me. I would likely make a few more category bins when tackling this sort of surface clear up, though since my attention span/energy level wanes. I do like the "touch it once" approach but when starting with a jumble it would limit how much gets finished. So starting this project how much time do you allot? However much it takes??? It would be neat to have a formula (x minutes/sq foot of jumble) so I can calculate how long my dining table will take! As always love the mind stimulus you provide as we each approach this task of "keeping our house in order". thank you, Erica!
Love the video. What i had to learn is that i had to stop changing myself and start facilitate my habits. Have a dedicated place for art downstairs. So that whenever you have the energie you can put it away properly. Have a place for not finished projects. Have a place for ..... Truely, this is lifechanging.
Hi Erica, I love your videos! I wondered if you would find Dana K White’s (from A Slob Comes Clean) methods helpful? You’ve probably heard of her, and you do awesome your own way, I just keep hearing her methods when I see you getting stuck! Keep doing you - you’re awesome!
I thought of Dana K White too. Her "take it there now" rule might be helpful. Seems like the kids need to have a cleanup time included at the end of their activities.
Consider a cork board for school/art projects. When you put something new, are we ready to get rid of the old art/school project on the cork board. Just a thought.
Not Aware-> non- Minimalists , disregard (?) , the Minimalist , who deals with their stuff ! Is that a strain on you Erica ? Do they know?. The Traditional position of mother carries all household tasks . Asking - is that the structure to want /should , maintain? I appreciate the reflection that comes through you, to us.Thank you ❤
What makes you different then all the minimalist here on utube is you talk over your decisions, and explain to us WHY and HOW you decide to keep, or donate.
I don’t know Erica you just seem like an old friend, I love when I see you put a video up ❤❤❤❤
PS I just got back from goodwill with a bag of donations, it feels so good😂
The dinning room looks GREAT
I find that aspect so helpful!!
When I avoid putting away stuff I usually realise that I’m either micro organising too much for my energy levels or that the container is too complicated for me to want to do quickly. I used to store my art work in portfolios but now I just have a giant box with them in. Unless they are finished, then I put them in a pile and once a week I have a dedicated ‘admin’ time for framing, or storing them in an archival way.
Oh I love that dedicated admin time idea!
I like this sentence: " micro organising" too much for energy levels. "
Love the video. What i had to learn is that i had to stop changing myself and start facilitate my habits. Have a dedicated place for art downstairs. So that whenever you have the energie you can put it away properly. Have a place to put little niknaks untill you have time to organise it. Truely, this is lifechnging.
@@gelukkig1357it really is! My husband used to pile all his pocket shrapnel on the mantelpiece when he came home from work so I got a ceramic dish and put it in his spot. He can dump all he like in there until it is full and I poke him to empty it. Marriage saver, his adhd brain and my organised autistic brain can live together now.
So true, things not put away when “stuff” is used..creates clutter!
Well done Erica!
I love seeing more of you in these shorter, more frequent videos! I'll take all the Erica I can get! ❤
❤
I agree!!
Agreed! I get to watch the whole thing on my 30 minute lunch break. 😊
I so wish that you would consider keeping the second table in the school room. Put it in the center with four chairs for you and the kids. You always do schoolwork at the DINING TABLE when you have the space for a dedicated classroom. Just like parents who work from home do best when they’re able to have a dedicated office where ALL work items are contained AND they can close the OFFICE door and “leave work for the day.” I think it would have a calming effect on the entire family if the dining room was used and decorated ONLY for eating and playing games as a family.(not for games played during school,that would be on the black school table) Think how nice it would be during the school day to go make lunch while the children set the CLEAR dining room table,because it was last used at breakfast and cleared. Then at the end of the school day, all do a tidy of the classroom and then the kids set the clear dining table for supper while you start preparing it. Family dinners should be a magical time of conversation and interaction,not distractions. Wish you would try it.🫤
I have occasionally wondered about the school room and dining room balance also. Nice idea of having a very clear divide between the function of the two rooms.
Erica used to have it like that a year or two ago but she decided to change it as it suited better
@@thehappinesstree8089 I have been watching her channel from the beginning so I remember something like that for a little bit,but since it obviously didn’t suit better, just a suggestion looking from another angle.
I would recommend a basket bin space for paper items that have a second step to do to hold and then go through them on a weekly basis. Also it might be productive to try Dana K White's no mess decluttering method for clearing off surfaces. You could go through your area or surface and gather all the items that belong in a certain space and take them to their home.
I take my hat off to you for pushing through! I agree that this video was different than your usual and it was hard to watch you struggle. But then, bam, you had a realization that made so much sense and you pushed through doing all those dreaded tasks! Amazing 🎉👏👏 you are such an inspiration and I wish I had your stamina!
Ps. And yes, this floral top looks lovely on you. Reminds me of getting myself one or two, as well, as long as this fashion is on!
That happened quickly, efficiently and it looks great!! Paperwork/ surface clutter is the bane of my existence!! Insurance😝 🤦🏻♀️ I sat down and finally got mine done today🙌🏻🙌🏻
Idk if you will like this idea. But you can take large posters, your kids make for projects and bring to Staples or a similar office supply place. They can reduce it down to an 8 x 10 that can then be placed into a keepsake photo album/ memory book.
My kids did a lot of art work and I did that as well as using Artkive, for items they wanted to keep.
the cheap way is to take pictures or scan the item ( if 8x10 or less to scan)... then just keep a few physical items that the kid likes and the parents like. I saved a bunch of old newspapers by taking pictures... a few pics per page as its too big to scan. and school or other things like documents, certificates etc. they can then be organized and tagged in folders.
I used to tack the larger posters my kids made for school that wouldn't fit in their memories bin up on the wall in their room because I wanted them to know that I was proud of them and I wanted them to honor that feeling of accomplishment for as long as they wanted to. Then they got to decide when it was time to take a photo of it and let it go to make room for a next thing. LOL we always had a boundary of 1 wall for this 😊 I love that your children are creating games!!! Edit...I stopped the video to comment and then started it again right as you and Andy decided to hang it in his room 🤣
I use Dana K White’s No Mess Decluttering process. It helps me to tackle an area without leaving anything to do later. I heard about it through Dawn at The Minimal Mom when she did a video using that method. It has helped so much! Best of luck to you!
Excellent video and explanation. You are spot on as to why these tasks get delayed. It's easy to put away a simple item but when you have to follow through with subsequent tasks related to that item, we have a tendency to delay for another day or time. Our minds play a game fooling us into believing that it will take much longer than it actually does. Keep up the great work with your videos. They are inspiring!
Something you could do with those "action required" items is put a bin or something in each room where those items can live and set a time each week that is dedicated to taking those actions
A tip which might help your art portfolios take less time to deal with: have either a bin for all of them or each child have a bin. If each child has his/her own bin they can immediately add things and a good chunk of the work is already done. If you have one bin with everyone's artwork, when you are ready for those things to be put away, have the whole family around the table and pass out the art work. As you call out names and hand over the corresponding art work, each child is putting his/her artwork into his/her own portfolio (if they are old enough). At the very least it is a quick sorting method. It can work wonders in a classroom for sorting and organizing portfolio work.
I agree with other commenters that it sounds like something like a Sunday Basket (coined by Lisa at Organize 365) is the way to go. Some place where those to-dos can live until your dedicated weekly time to process them.
Dana K White’s “Take it there now” is life changing for preventing the declutter and then reclutter from happening … you can easily see improvement AND never make it worse even if you have to stop in the middle.
You may want to consider trying Dana K. White’s method. It’s a 5 step process that allows you to stop 🛑 at any time and no space is worse.
I remember our children learning how to put things into a binder in grade school. Maybe it could be of your school day to have your ikds put things into their art binders as part of their home school day.It could still take an hour!
It sounds like you might need to schedule in some "life admin" time... I have found this useful for those tedious tasks that can't be done quickly. You decide how much you need (15 to 30 mins per week day) and then find a time that will work. This was a great video where you came to some great revelations about what was causing your clutter 😊.
After your realization in this video and reading many comments about the Sunday Basket,maybe try a long,narrow table,(like a “back of the sofa” table)against the wall over the charging station area.Actually set that up on the right side and then clear bins next to each other for projects. The bins could either be labeled per person or if they are mostly for you,label the approximate time it would take,like a fifteen minute bin,half hour and hour bins. Before the “end of the school day tidy”, you could say,”Mommy has a half hour paper project to do,so you all finish up your last assignment.”
I have my to-do basket too! And sometimes it's a to-do bag that lives in the car for embarrassing long time! I think, btw, we can tell kids about material things. Still teach responsibility, choice and agency but there are times when "because I said so" aka ... "You are young and I do know better" works. Not that it has to be phrased that way, but they can receive guidance/instructions on what stays in the house and what does need to go. My parents let me keep absolutely everything and it made my life unnecessarily rough and messy.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you choose to deal with these tasks in the future.
I had a realisation with my kids memory bins that I was putting off putting things in them because they were stored up high on a shelf and it required me getting a chair, pulling it down etc etc to be able to put anything in them. And I had to do it rather than the kids. I now have them at the bottom of their wardrobes instead and any of us can go and open it and put something in it easily.
You essentially generated what we refer to as a "waste management audit", or in this case a "put away management audit". A meta-analysis of thoughtfully considering how larger tasks get dealt with combined with actually timing the task (a 30 minute tax job only took 20 minutes) will help you on a move forward basis. Also, I would encourage you to delegate management of your children's files (eg. gymnastics, art portfolios) to your children. They are all old enough to manage them, with support. I very much liked your helpful husband dropping in and doing the "putting" put away easy items for you, as a runner. He is sweet, and definitely belongs in the "keep" pile! 😉💜
Completely true! This happens here...if I don't put it away where it goes, more clutter starts to happen!
THIS is the 💣💥❗delayed action clutter is THE WORK. thank you for the visual and solution! satisfying ending!!
Another thought provoking video. You are so good at explaining your processes. Thank you, thank you!
Your realisation is going to set you up going forward Erica 👍 As you like checklists and questions to ask yourself, perhaps for these pending action items, can I take the action needed now? If I don't have time now can you create a place for these to go, like you used the laundry basket, that is a pending area to be cleared on a certain day. At the end before moving on to something else, have I completed the task I'm working on? I think that's a good question where am I going to look for this and put the item there. Putting things away as you pick them up I think that's extra steps for the day 😂
Yep, I totally have the ‘delayed actions’ clutter. Hearing you say it takes more than 2 minutes is exactly what I have too. I leave it out so I don’t ’forget’ that I have to do it, and it becomes a clutter magnet! Refreshing to hear you experience this also.😁. Sounds like you had a bit of a ‘life admin’ hour there. MuchelleB has regular days like this where she clears off all the niggly errands and to dos like this. So great to see it happen in a family setting like mine. X
This was a great video Erica to explain why we let things pile up and not deal with them. However, I think a lot of this comes down to procrastination and the mindset that putting things away is time consuming and simply “not a fun activity”. Changing the mindset is a big step in stopping clutter from happening. It takes far less time to put the things away once we have finished using them or completed the activity than letting each thing create a mess which begets more mess. The things is it takes discipline and a want by everyone in the household to be tidy before that can happen.
PS Have you ever heard of the Sunday basket? I toss things in there that require more action than just put away. Then once a week I deal with them. (Not on Sunday usually!)
I was going to say the same thing, Dawn’s(The Minimal Mom) Sundays basket was a GAME CHANGER for me!🙌🏻
I love that there a decision making piles; find a place for, decide, donate, trash. And the question what will my life be without that item? 😊 Probably the "decide" is the hardest one to make a choice for.
And keep the two baskets, you' ll reuse them.😊
I would keep that 2nd table in the school room, get 3 or 4 chairs and let that be the school room table! Keeping the schoolroom separate from the dinning room😃
Another great video! PS I LOVE your floral blouse! I'm glad you didn't declutter that one!
Thank you for including the task doing and the time it takes. It took you a shorter amount of time than you anticipated and think that is a good light bulb moment for us all.
Do you have a Command Center/"Sunday Basket"? I keep everything taxes there until I schedule an appointment with myself to compile the necessary materials. In most cases, all the necessary materials are already in the folder and only need organizing. The only other things i need to do for taxes is for deductions. At the end of February each year, I print out a record of all payments made from the checking accounts and all purchases made by credit card, from 1/1 through 12/31 of the previous year. (Cash receipts are already in the tax folder in my "Sunday" Basket.) Win-win, at least it works for me. YMMV
I think your show is the only channel showing how real homes look. Seems like most channels have a professional house cleaner come in before shooting the video. Thank you.
No, some of us are just very organized and clean a little bit daily so things don’t pile up. We’re real people in real homes.
This reminded me how tuff I had dealing with everything that my family made or brought home from school.. I was overwhelmed most of the time.. I wish I knew to declutter and simplify our home back then.
I love using your idea of the daily 5 and daily check list. Maybe you can do a seperate one that deals with your homeschool room. Each day of the week tasks and a daily 5 created just for homeschooling rooms.
Once again Erica thanks for keeping it real, showing us how long it can take and changing the plan. Have a great week. Mary, Joes wife 🙇♀️👏👍💪🙏💐🐕🦺🦮
Hey🎉 (rewatching some videos 11/5/2024).
It's true... Clutter reappears. Cleared table tops collect more stuff and we get to figure out what to do with the keeps & the donates. We're blessed to have enough to make these kind of decisions.🙂
P.S. I saw the vid where you showed your daughter's room and how organized/useful it is. It looks really good. 👍 😊
Love seeing your videos. Like that they are under 30 mins. Can’t wait to see the next room.
Thanks for the feedback!
The dining room looks great with all the horizontal surfaces cleared of!
I found this too over time. I spent a lot of time figuring out permanent homes and ways of storing things that worked for us but didn't give enough thought to items, mostly paperwork, that came into our home but needed some sort of action before you could either store them or trash them. Paper attracts paper and before you know it you have little piles of paper in various places around the house. It also happens for toys, clothing, and other things that need repairing or batteries replaced or returning to the car. My hubby made me a wooden two section letter rack type thing, a bit bigger than a regular letter rack, to corral the papers that come into our house and to store a few actioned ones to file when there's a bunch of them. Our permanent filing is stored away in a cupboard in another room so it made sense to collect a few things to file together later, rather than dig in there every time one thing needs filing. It doesn't take up much room at my desk and seems to be keeping surfaces clear. Another paper fix I've found works for me, is to keep an A5 sized journal on my desk. I write everything in there. Things to do, shopping lists, reno ideas for our house, anything and everything that would normally have gotten written on a scrap of paper and lost, gets written in the book. We still haven't mastered putting things back into the car though. Even if we have the things sitting by the door ready to go, a lot of the time they are still sitting there after numerous trips in the car. I'm really not sure how to make that an easier and more memorable thing to do.
Your dining room looks amazing Erica! Soooo minimal - ish!
So easy to clean now etc!
It’s such a journey - I am still travelling! Thank you for this video and inspiration!
X
Hey, you might want to look into the thoughts behind the "Sunday Basket" for those things that are really to-dos. One thing you could do is have a big basket for "to-do-laters" so they dont end up on display on a flat surface. Then you use a cheap index card or post-it note to write down what the task is so its easy to see at a glance. Then you pick a day to get that stuff done (the Sunday Basket is named for doing it all Sunday afternoon, but I do mine on Wednesdays). The goal is to have the tasks not stress us out while they wait for their turn and to keep them easy to do when it is their turn.
Anyway, those are just my thoughts from something that has helped me. You're doing great and it's always nice to clean while I listen to you!
I also just realized, this time consuming reality of organizing and completing is exactly like my job at work as a manager/ department head/ supervisor with many staff and an administration to follow. Yes, at home we’re the manager with all those decisions & restraints. We also get to compose or problem solve the administrative foundation & rules. In our homes we get to choose & clarify the decisions & strategies. No wonder that this takes so much energy …. and heart.
I gotta admit, I was super frustrated with this video for the first 2/3 and then….your amazing insight came. Yes! What a revelation to realize it was all items that involved a second and/or third step. Perhaps in order to not leave clutter that will attract more clutter you could take the pile in the moment to where the second step needs to happen? Thank you so much for your videos and for sharing your process and journey!
Oh! Because the title didn’t reveal what I wasn’t expecting until then! Thank you for this note. I will mention that in future videos so people know when to expect of I edit this way again. ❤
Thanks for this video. ❤ I am a homeschool mom as well and I really appreciate your ideas on making space for what your kids are doing. Like game design and art portfolios. I remember you moved maybe a few years ago into your current home - we are moving unexpectedly. And now I am needing to think through a lot of kid creations and involve them as much as I can. It’s helpful to know some stuff is for a season and some can be stored as a keepsake. Anyways I just get so much out of you sharing. Even more life stuff than just what is on the surface. You are a mentor to me. So thank you Erica!! ❤❤
It's so cool to watch these discoveries take place as you talk through the process.
“Sunday” Basket! (or Bin). To catch all the weekly “delayed actions for stuff that needs to be processed” clutter, esp paper clutter. Love the way u walk thru ur processing!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts process as you go from item to item. Hello to your husband and kids too. ❤
Watching this video I wondered if you would benefit from the decluttering methods from Dana K. White from A Slob Comes Clean. Have you heard of her?
Good job. I just tend to stop at the put away and never ever get to the deep clean.....so there's that.
That was very insightful! Maybe it would help if you put the piles in different places - your important papers on your desk, the kids' artwork in their room, Rebecca's gymnastics stuff on her desk / into her room. That way everybody would have their own task waiting for them in their space and the dining room table wouldn't be so overwhelmed. Also - we are forced to clear our dining room table every night, as we eat dinner there. Do you eat dinner at this table? Just a thought - it is always easier to give advice to other people than managing my own house. :-D Love your videos! Keep up the great work!
This is brilliant; the decide where it 's home will be bin is a game changer.
I love that you think and take action alongside us instead of beginning the video like you already know the answer. It's really refreshing.
When you were going through your thoughts it really cemented for me (a very distractible person) Dana K. White's method of "take it there now" works so well for me. You delt with those pencils 3 times. I would have gotten interrupted or distracted and would have wayyyyy overestimated how much work the put away bin was and therefore never finished. Much better for me to have just put things away from the start. I'm really amazed at how you stuck with your decision to deal with it all that day! That's a big task.
I just detailed what I do to clean up and organize over on the latest The Carla Project video.
What you have left that you're describing as delayed action items are really just projects. You need to decide if you will then complete the task or just put it away. You can have each family member put away the project pieces.
For said projects, just write down a list and try to complete one project each day :)
For writing down to-dos/projects, I recommend post-its the most. They're at Dollar Tree. This morning I went through around ten post-its and crossed out what I had done or decided what wasn't important to do any longer.
I'll also fill in blanks till a post-it is full. If necessary, I'll start a new one with a master list. Just keep going!
Simplifying what you need to do can be a very fulfilling reaction towards decluttering.
I really enjoyed this video and it was really helpful to me. Thank you for always sharing your thought process ❤
Like your thought process. As I sit here looking at my daughter’s pile of art and art supplies, I thought perhaps we could assign our daughters the task of filing their art work after it’s been displayed.
Hey Elizabeth, good day to you and also how are you feeling today. Nice comment 💖
Spot on. I agree that it's the delayed action that leads to stuff sitting on my table. The method of clearing the Put away bin is my delay in dealing with clutter. If I practiced the Put away bin, I'd create lots of put away bins. I just have to take the actions to clear the clutter and they are definitely not 2 minutes tasks.
You actually demonstrated the reality of decluttering with delayed 2ndary & 3rd actions to perform. This was excellent & brilliant. Such reality, so helpful. And then you went for task completion in one room at a time. BRILLIANT! Thank you!!!!!!!!
You flat surfaces look amazing ❤
The fact that you can talk about "more simple living" without it sounding like the punchline to a joke is REALLY a testament to how far you've come on your journey. I just remember your home school basement a few houses back and it was so hoarded that it seems like learning was the last thing that your kids could have done.
And cleaning?!?! Not implying that you lived in filth, but if you have to spend an hour getting enough off of the floor to vacuum or an hour to clear counters so that you could wipe them down.
Absolutely crazy how far you've come. I'm only sad that you're not in the same house so that you can do a split screen before and after of the exact same rooms. I'd love to see how your things would fit in that house now!!!
Hi! I love your videos. Regarding your clear sleeves for your gardening binder, you just did what I was taught by Dana K White (A Slob Comes Clean): where would I look for this first? That taught me so much about putting things away. Instead of where SHOULD this go? I feel validated. 😊
You learn so much, and we do with you, as you go through this.
Thank you for continuing to show your real life messes. I have been with you since your first decluttering video came out and got serious with my house in Jan ‘22. My house still explodes with two young kids and being a single mom. Your videos help keep me feeling normal after the amount of work I’ve put in.
Thanks for showing real life. Thanks for talking us through it. I think you would like Dana k whites take it there now method.
I don't want to try and talk you into keeping something that you decided to declutter but 😉 ...you could paint the 3 stacked book thing and write each of your kid's names on the spines. Just a possibility if you still have it. 😊
And thank you for all your videos. I always enjoy how "real" you are. I think that is why so many viewers can relate. ❤
Good job getting your flat surfaces clear!
I love the idea of what does my life look like without this ❤
Good video! I have Decluttering , and instead of just moving stuff from one spot to another, I have been forcing myself to decide right then and there if it’s keep or decluttering. Erica, you are getting me going.
I love the phrase I first heard on Hoarder's Heart: Don't put it down, put it away! I try to remember to do this in my home.
sweet erica you looked so stressed. 😵💫❤️
The dining room looks so gooood now!
The room looks wonderful Erica!!!
Excellent insight (once again), Erica! This was very helpful for me.
I LOVE the reality of life! You are the best!
Good to see Andy !
Hey Sheila, good day to you 😊. How are you feeling today, I love your comment ❣️
Your blouse is beautiful on you! 😊
Another great video. A suggestion… sounds like there is a major time commitment needed for the items on your desk. Why not try setting a timer for 15-20 minutes each day and tackle some of the items on your desk. It might take some time, but you’ll make a little progress each day. Just a thought
Hi Erica! I love your videos! But I have a question. You put the things first in the basket for putting away and than you put all the things from the basket back on the table. You now have to touch all the things a third time for putting them away properly. Why don’t you set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and take one item and put it away? You might not get the whole room clutterfree in 5 minutes, but doing that every day will reduce the mountain of things in wrong places you are facing so often. You could involve the kids to help cleaning the schoolroom or every schoolwork laying around in the house. 5 minutes every day when school is finished helps you a lot and the kids learn not to rely on you tidying up their stuff.
I would question the green plate thing on the table after you decluttered.
Ha I did! I moved it to my coffee table 😂😂
Take it there now. Dana K White’s method keeps a 2nd surface clutter from happening.
Great video
💪 powering through delayed reactions! That’s a breakthrough! That makes me think about our school room clutter.
I used to like the catchy phrase: Clutter is Delayed Decisions. In reality, decisions are a sort of action, so really my revised catchy phrase needs to be: Clutter is Delayed Actions. I agree that it is magnetic and it really is not a help to me to have "projects/tasks" interspersed with "put in home" with "find a home". But that's me. I would likely make a few more category bins when tackling this sort of surface clear up, though since my attention span/energy level wanes. I do like the "touch it once" approach but when starting with a jumble it would limit how much gets finished. So starting this project how much time do you allot? However much it takes??? It would be neat to have a formula (x minutes/sq foot of jumble) so I can calculate how long my dining table will take! As always love the mind stimulus you provide as we each approach this task of "keeping our house in order". thank you, Erica!
You are a home making, wonderful educator, Amazon!! 😊 🌷
Loved this action pile realization for myself too. Thanks!
Love the video. What i had to learn is that i had to stop changing myself and start facilitate my habits. Have a dedicated place for art downstairs. So that whenever you have the energie you can put it away properly. Have a place for not finished projects. Have a place for ..... Truely, this is lifechanging.
Place for important papers
Hi Erica, I love your videos! I wondered if you would find Dana K White’s (from A Slob Comes Clean) methods helpful? You’ve probably heard of her, and you do awesome your own way, I just keep hearing her methods when I see you getting stuck! Keep doing you - you’re awesome!
I thought of Dana K White too. Her "take it there now" rule might be helpful.
Seems like the kids need to have a cleanup time included at the end of their activities.
Yes, Dana’s ideas! Something doesn’t have a home? Where would you look for it first!
What a great idea!
Great video as usual. Also I love your shirt. Can you share where you got it?
I would love to see how your basement is looking!
Consider a cork board for school/art projects. When you put something new, are we ready to get rid of the old art/school project on the cork board. Just a thought.
Love your top Erica. Very pretty.
I think you need floor to ceiling shelves in the room with the small shelves!
All the desks need a ‘task’ or ‘action’ basket or place to put them in that space.
Not Aware-> non- Minimalists , disregard (?) , the Minimalist ,
who deals with their stuff !
Is that a strain on you
Erica ? Do they know?.
The Traditional position of mother carries all household tasks .
Asking - is that the structure to want /should , maintain?
I appreciate the reflection that comes through you, to us.Thank you ❤
Quick sort: deciding is the mental drain. Step 2: schedule the “project”
do you have a link to those awesome bookshelves!??