This is a guest post from Angela at Setting My Intention.
As I scrolled through the “before” pictures of my future decluttering projects on my phone, my oldest son was looking over my shoulder and asked, “What are you doing with all those photos Mom?” I told him that I was planning on decluttering our house this year and he replied, “Why? That’s our family way.” Hmmm…
My son owning clutter as a family trait was humorous but also alarming. Someday when I ask my children what they remember about their childhood – I hope that clutter and mess is not at the top of the list. I want my children to feel peaceful, loved, and calm in our home. I want to feel peaceful, loved, and calm in our home.
That is one of the main reasons that I began 2015 with an intention to slowly and systematically get rid of clutter in our home. For the past several months I have been reading minimalist blogs, binge listening to simplifying and decluttering podcasts, and putting into action small changes in my daily habits. Nony’s “A Slob Comes Clean” podcast has been my most recent find – and I’m so glad to have found it! I can really relate to her term “Slob Vision” and “Time Passage Awareness Disorder” – both of which I have!
I started blogging in February 2015 to document my progress and keep myself accountable – but like Nony, did not initially let anyone know. I didn’t want my friends or acquaintances to see the “real” state of my house. Listening to A Slob Comes Clean has reassured me that there are others who struggle with keeping their homes clean and tidy. One of the things that I first implemented was a “clutter free zone” in my kitchen. It’s a small part of the countertop but it’s easy to keep clear and clean on a daily basis.
Another habit that we have recently started implementing as a family is a “5 minute pick up” which Nony has written and talked about on her podcasts. My family has done this before in the past but not on a regular schedule. As I have decluttered the children’s toys and books, it’s become SO much easier to pick up and clean. I used to tidy the living room by myself while the kids were in school, but I’ve realized that it’s quicker when we do it together and I want them to develop this habit as a life skill.
Our living room is the gathering spot for the family. My sons don’t do homework on the kitchen table or at a desk – they like to sprawl across the living room floor and do it there. That translates to backpacks, folders and papers left on the floor along with socks and sweatshirts strewn about as everyone gets comfortable. This is generally what our living room looks like at the end of the week:
This was taken after we had done a 5 minute pick up the previous Friday, so a good deal of things that didn’t belong in the living room had been put in their places the week before. The state of the room isn’t so bad…but it’s not peaceful.
I’ve decided that Friday evenings will be the time when we do a 5 minute pick up. It starts our weekend off in a really positive way. Backpacks are put away in our storage bench, socks and clothes are brought downstairs to the laundry area, and toys and books are brought back to the kids’ rooms. We set a timer for 5 minutes and each of us takes an area of the room or a specific task (picking up socks and clothes).
This is what it looks like after a 5 minute pick up:
There are many ways I’m not happy with my furniture, or the layout of my living room, but a clear uncluttered floor makes such a difference in how I feel about the room. When I walk down the stairs on a Saturday morning to a picked up living room, it helps me to enter the weekend feeling peaceful and calm – and when mom is peaceful and calm, the whole family reaps the benefits!
Does your family do 5 minute pick ups?
Angela recently started blogging at Setting My Intention while she tries to overcome her slob vision and actually confront her piles. She is a wife and mom to three boys. She works part time outside the home, and full time inside the home. She loves to hear and see how others are decluttering and simplifying, so please drop by her blog and say hello!
Ha, I love that in your ‘after’ photo, even the cat has been put ‘in its place’…
I never noticed that! Our cat, Annabelle, loves that perch!
What a difference 5 minutes makes! The before and afters are great!
We don’t do a 5 minute pick up as a family, but the other day I did do a 5 minute task where I picked up some items that didn’t belong in a room, then immediately took them to where they belonged… and while I was there, I picked up a few items from that location that didn’t belong there, and kept going sort of like a chain reaction… it didn’t take much time or effort and it felt really good afterward!
That’s super! Good way to get some exercise too!
I do this too, and it really works. It creates small incremental changes in different rooms so not always a dramatic visual difference, but I love the feeling that I “snuck in” a little improvement so that when I tackle that room there will be just a tiniest bit less that needs doing.
I also try to look around anytime I’m going into another room anyway, for anything laying around where I am now, that really belongs where I’m going. It feels so efficient because “I’m going there anyway”.
I totally agree Sue! I always put things on the steps leading up to the 2nd or 3rd floor so that I remember to take it to it’s proper place when I’m heading there anyway. It’s the little things that add up!
Love the reminder that it doesn’t take long to make a room look a lot better. Now if I could just get my son on board with this….
Kristy – it definitely helps to get a timer and set it for 5 minutes and honor the 5 minutes! Sometimes I want to go longer, but if we do it every week – it doesn’t take much longer than.
When the kids were little we did a whole house pickup at 7 pm every night (hubby would join us). We all picked up and straightened up for fifteen minutes.
But I also had them pick up and put away their toys three times a day: before lunch, before dinner, before bed. That kept it manageable and made for a faster pickup at the end of the night, and since they were only allowed to play with their toys in certain rooms (dad’s study and our bedroom, for example, were a no-toy zone) it wasn’t too spread out. I also did a room-check every day at 4 pm to make sure their rooms were cleaned, beds made and straightened up.
But I used to be a real slob, and I fought hard to learn and establish some new habits, and so after having kids I wanted to make sure I didn’t sink back into it, lol!
I think it’s great that you have your kids help you, because every minute they help is a minute of cleaning that YOU don’t have to do! 🙂 Chores are a great way for kids to learn diligence, perseverance and a work ethic.
Wow – I’m so impressed with your routine! I imagine that the kids don’t fight it because it’s routine for them. I still get a little push back since it’s a new habit, but they’re generally good about helping. They love a clean space too! Thanks for sharing!
That cleaning time before major “time of day” changes is a great developmental tactic too, because it helps with transitions. The mind has time to put away the thing they’re doing right now, and prepare for the thing they’re about to do.
This was beautiful! I can relate to so much, and the peace of having a tidy home is indescribable. Getting and staying there, is a conscious every day effort. I’ve been following Nony, for a little over two years and her simple methods have made my home a place that I NEVER thought could be a reachable goal. I’m not where I want to be, but I’m so much better than I was and that was the mindset she helped accomplish when I just started washing my dishes. All the best in your journey.
Thank you! Progress, not perfection is my motto as I declutter and learn to simplify. Thanks for reading and commenting!
My 2014 New Years resolution was to minimize. Before I could do that’s, I found the greatest piece of advice on a minimalist blog. Learn to break emotional attachments to material objects. I had so much stuff that didn’t actually have a useful, daily or weekly function. It was difficult, but I made 4 trips to Goodwill and while I know minimalism wasn’t for me, I was happy to find a middle ground at semi- minimalism. I love it. I am free of the burdens of piles and piles of stuff!
That is wonderful Lori! I’m actually very interested in minimalism and only having what I love and use in my home. It’s going to be a long process, but one step at a time. Thanks for sharing!
We (my partner and I) have a 10-minute pickup at the end of the day. We don’t manage to get it done every day, which is a shame, but when we do it never ceases to amaze him how much of a difference it makes. I’m trying to get him to work it into his evening routine of “shutting the house down” wherein he locks the front door, turns the fan on high, makes the couch up so the cat has her cozy spot without shedding on everything, checks all the lights, makes sure the dishwasher is running if it’s full enough, and heads to bed. If I could get him to think of dishes & a 5 minute pickup as part of that, I’d love it.
Good luck HJ! It’s lovely that you have a daily 10 minute pick up. I can only imagine what a difference that would make!