Stop Organizing Your Home and Focus on Reducing Your Clutter
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Here's how to know if you're caught in the organizing trap, where you're trying to organize different areas of your home and try to make them look as orderly as possible. And why that's never going to make a difference in your home.
Hey there, I'm Nicole from The Maximizing Momma and I am obsessed with creating a home that gives me more peace of mind, more time to myself, and more time with my kids. I teach you the tried and true secrets to clearing your clutter, getting organized, and managing your household in a realistic and sustainable way.
This show is where we talk about things like motherhood, decluttering, organizing, creating routines, mindset, energy, and everything in between. Our homes are the foundation for the rest of our lives, and it's so important to have a calm, relaxing household so you can have the time, the peace of mind, and the freedom to truly enjoy motherhood.
So sit back and get ready to take charge [00:01:00] of your home.
Hello. Hello. And welcome back to the Take Charge of Your Home Show. My name is Nicole from the Maximizing Momma and today I want to talk to you about why you need to stop trying to organize your home and instead focus on reducing your clutter. This is a big one that so many moms and women and people are always trying to do because society has taught us that we need to be more organized and everywhere we look, we see people who have these tidy, organized homes.
And we want that, it's aspirational. It's something that we want to achieve. And so it is very normal if you can relate to this, if you feel like you have spent a while trying to get organized.
So first, let's talk about how to know if you are caught in this trap, it's what I call the organizing trap, where you [00:02:00] are trying to take charge of your home, but you're really just organizing. So the first thing that you may be doing is buying more baskets and bins. And this is a big one because they look so beautiful. They're all on the shelves at target. You know, the Home Edit, those clear plastic bins that again are so aspirational, something that we think is going to make our homes look more beautiful and organized in orderly and peaceful. So we see them and we think, oh my God, I need this, this is going to make a change in my home. I'm guilty of this too. Every single time I go to Target and I've been going a lot lately because I'm going on a little trip and I didn't have any luggage or travel stuff because of our house fire. So I've gone to Target like three times in the last two weeks. And every single time I go, I make a little detour to the desk organizer stuff, and I'm always looking at it and there's this one [00:03:00] particular mail sorter that's like this leather thing in it is so beautiful and I'm like, I want this, I'm going to put it right on my desk. So that way I can put our bills in there, the ones that we need to take action on.
And then I always remind myself, Nicole, you do not need this. You already have somewhere to put your bills. And so I put it back on the shelf and then I slowly walk away. But it's not just desk stuff.
Just this morning, I was at Target and they have this new line of like, Paper organizers. And it's like this natural. Design it's like this light brown, I don't even know how to explain what it is.
And I was like, I can buy this and this, and then I can organize our papers and have them more easily accessible. And then I reminded myself, you know what Nicole, you're not going to do that, like you will buy this and it will just sit there on that table for weeks. So go ahead and set it [00:04:00] down and if you want it again in a couple of weeks, you can come back.
And the main reason why I, it was very easy for make that for me to make that choice with the paper organizers is because like a week ago I bought a file box at Target to store our longterm reference papers in. So before I move on, keep in mind that some of the products that I buy and then I talk about buying on social media. A lot of them are to replace the things that we lost after our house fire.
We don't have a filing cabinet. And so that's why there's paper piling up on that console table by our door anyways, because I don't have anywhere to store those things long term. So I bought a file box and I plan to put the papers from the table by our door, into that file box and actually store them away long-term. And so anyway, it's where I'm going with all of this is that it is so easy to buy more baskets and bins, to [00:05:00] want more, to think that you need more, and to think that that will be the solution to the problem in your home. But that is just one sign that you're caught in the organizing trap. And before I move on, I want to remind you that, I think I may have said this a few minutes ago, that this is something that we do because society has encouraged us and taught us that this is normal and that this is what we need to make a change in our home.
And I don't really know where this idea came about from if it's, it was definitely not the Home Edit, because their clear bins that they sell at Target, those just came out in the last couple of years, but we've been, as a society wanting to buy more baskets and bins for my entire adult life for the last like 20 years since I was, since I turned 18.
So this is something that came about many, many years ago. And if you're my age, if you're pushing 40 or over [00:06:00] 40, then you know exactly what it is that I'm talking about. The baskets and bins are something that we feel like we need more of. So if you can relate to this. Just remind yourself that you do not need more products.
So again, that is the first sign that you're caught in the organizing trap. Now, the second sign that you're caught in the organizing trap is if you find yourself frequently categorizing your things or rearranging your items. And what I mean by this is if you have an area of your house that that looks a little bit out of sorts, it looks messy or cluttered, and you're trying to categorize the items within that area. So I don't mean you know, gathering up toys and going and putting them with other toys in the playroom or trying to put all papers together, because that is definitely something that we want to be doing in our homes. We want to [00:07:00] try, to the best of our ability, to house and categorize and group our things together so that way everything has a dedicated to home and it's all streamlined in one spot. But what I mean is within one particular space. So as a tangible example, I'm looking at my desk right now. And there is some laundry stacked on here. There is some notebooks. There is a DVD that I bought from a used store the other day. There's some toy weapons that belong to my son. And then, um, A big bag of dog food and some dog treats. And, um, a flashlight. And then my desk stuff, like, you know, the microphone and a ring light and a DVD drive . So the example that I'm trying to give here is that if you're caught in the trap of categorizing or rearranging your items, [00:08:00] Let's say you would walk up to this desk and you would want to make it look more orderly to the best of your ability.
So you would you know, take the clothes and you would put them , all together and then you would put all the desk items together, you know, and kind of like neatly arrange them or rearrange them so that way they're all grouped together. And then the toy swords, you would put those together and you would just kind of like again, like neatly rearrange and reorganize and categorize this stuff within this desk. And yes, you might grab the DVD and go put it at your TV stand. Or you might take the flashlight and go put it in your junk drawer. But in the grand scheme of you dealing with this particular desk, you would find yourself categorizing and rearranging these things together as a whole.
And so what I mean about this is [00:09:00] this is, this is really a tough one to explain. But if you are categorizing and rearranging your things, Within one particular space, that is a really big sign that your caught in the organizing trap.
And the reason why this matters so much is because those actions will never get you a neat and tidy home, they will never help you take charge of your home. They will never get you an organized household that is easy to keep clean.
And when you're caught in this cycle and this organizing trap, months or even years could pass by where you don't even realize that you're doing this, it becomes habitual where we believe that we're tidying up and we believe that we're organizing our homes and we're doing the best that we can and this is really the only option because we want to make each space look as orderly as [00:10:00] possible.
But keep in mind. What I really, really want you to remember here is that the reason why these actions will never work is because you have too much stuff in your home.
The reason why there is a stack of stuff piling up on a table is because you don't have anywhere else to put it. And that's why you resort to trying to categorize and rearrange your things, or even going out and buying more baskets and bins to try to put these things in, to try to make this space look as tidy as possible.
When in reality what you really need to be doing is reducing your clutter, clearing away the excess stuff and letting go of as much as you can from behind closed doors, you want to free up your space, clear out your things, purge your belongings, and strip away [00:11:00] everything that you no longer need, use, or want from your closets, your cabinets, your drawers, and your shelves.
Because once you can do that, Then you will have so much more space for the things that you do love, for the things that are important to you, for the things that you do want to keep in your home. And then when you have more space, you will be able to store the swords and the laundry and the notebooks and the DVDs with ease.
You will be able to put those things away in your closets, your cabinets and your drawers, and your shelves. You will be able to put those things where they belong. And then as a result, Your counters and your tables and your flat surfaces will be free and clear of stuff. Does that make sense?
So what I want to leave you with today is to stop trying to organize your home and instead focus on reducing your clutter, let go of as much as you can. And I have many [00:12:00] episodes here on the Take Charge of Your Home Show, as well as a lot of free content on social media and even on my old blog that will tell you how to do this.
But there is something that's coming in the next couple of days that will tell you exactly how to clear away your clutter as simply as possible, in as little time as possible so that way you can reduce your physical items, that way you can purge, and clear out all this excess stuff and then have more space for the things that matter to you.
I've been creating a brand new course called Simplified De cluttering that will make it easy for you to clear away your clutter and one afternoon. And it's going to be open for enrollment in the next couple of days on Tuesday, March 5th. So, if that is something that you need in your life, if you are ready to clear away your clutter without the complicated methods and without getting caught in the organizing trap, without sorting all your things into piles [00:13:00] and making a huge mess and taking up all of your time, go ahead and join the VIP list at the link in the show notes. Adding your name to the VIP list is just expressing interest, it's not a commitment. But when you're on the VIP list, you will get early access, you will save 25% off the already very low price, and you will get an extra added bonus, a live group call, an intimate group call with me and the other students inside of Simplified Decluttering to help you come up with a plan to tackle the clutter from your entire house in trade it in for a more organized home.
So go ahead and add your name and your email to the VIP list at the link in the show notes. And if you have any questions about this episode or what's inside of Simplified Decluttering or any questions about anything else, you can find me at the Maximizing Momma on all social media platforms, you can send me a DM. Or you can always send me an [00:14:00] email.
So thank you for being here. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for tuning in to the Take Charge of Your Home Show. I love helping you clear away your clutter and get your house in order. It really means the world to me to have you here as a listener. And I can't wait to support you with your home.
I'm going to be back in a couple of days with another episode where I'm going to be convincing you, why you need to have a declutter plan. So make sure to subscribe to the Take Charge of Your Home Show. Let me know if you have any questions, add your name to the Simplified Decluttering VIP list at the link in the show notes. And I will chat with you soon. Bye.
