The Real Reason Your House Still Feels Messy

Common things that are making your home feel more cluttered than it actually is. The thing is, you just don't know what you don't know. That's what I've experienced when it comes to minimalism and simplifying your home, decluttering your spaces and creating a peaceful environment, which is something that I think all of us want. We want to live in a home that's beautiful and peaceful and clutter just absolutely ruins that. So today I'm going to give you some solutions for the main things in your home that are making it feel cluttered and messy and just not your favorite place in the world. Your home should be your favorite place in the world, not a vacation spot. Your home. Welcome, for those of you who are new, my name is Margaret. I'm a mother of four little boys. We homeschool. I'm obsessed with simplifying life and my home because I've lived on the other side where I was a stressed, chaotic person trying to keep up and it was miserable. So here I am sharing what I've learned and the power of simplifying. I welcome you here. Make sure you like, subscribe, even sign up for my newsletter. I share recipes that are simple. I share what I'm working on day in and day out to simplify our home. And yeah, I'm just grateful to have you here. So stay a while. Okay. The first few points are all going to be things that are eye level. Those are the ones we want to attack first. This is not difficult. This is not a full home declutter. This is just, you got to know these things so that you can simplify these spaces and your whole home will feel better. Number one, countertops. I talk about this often, but a cluttered countertop is going to make your entire space feel cluttered. Whether it's your bedside table, your kitchen, your bathroom counter, your dining room table, your coffee table. Simplify these areas. Make them clean with very minimal things on there. If you are going to put items on there, make them very functional, like a beautiful electric tea kettle or a vase, a plant, a lamp, maybe some books that you're reaching for every single night. But because these are at eye level, you will be affected by this clutter more than anything else. So reduce the clutter on these areas and you will find like instant relief. If you don't listen to any of the other points, utilize this point. Take it with you. Go declutter all of your countertops and watch what happens. Just watch what happens. Blankets and throw pillows. Okay. Before you get mad at me, I'm not condoning throw pillows and blankets, but you have to be really wise as you move forward. Okay? We don't want excess. Clutter attracts clutter. So if you are able to fold up your blankets every time you use them and make sure that your throw pillows look nice and neat every time you sit on the couch, by all means, keep them. But in my lifestyle right now with four little ones, these pillows and blankets become weapons and forts every day. We have like the beautiful figgy couch that they can build forts with downstairs. So instead of fighting them, I just kind of took them away and I made it much more manageable and easy for our family to pick up our living room. So for this point, just know that clutter attracts clutter. If you can manage it, keep the beauty, keep the cozy, warm blankets and pillows, enjoy the color and the character that they bring into your home. I'm not a minimalist who says like go beige, go white, go dull. I'm not. But I am a minimalist who says if they are serving you, great. If they're unmanageable and they don't fit the season of life, tuck them away or give them to somebody else. A refrigerator covered in papers. We're going to get rid of this because visually it is an eyesore and not only does clutter attract clutter, but clutter affects the emotional, the mental state of women more than it does men. I say that fact because I want you to know the power that clutter has even if you don't feel stressed. Right now as you're watching this, there's a subconscious thing happening when there is mess around you and a refrigerator covered in papers can be one of those secret spots, those hidden spots that is causing stress. My suggestion is moving the paper spot to the inside of your pantry to a different section in the home where there's not as much traffic or where it's not exposed as much. There's some gorgeous cloth boards out right now. You can get a cork board. You can get a magnet whiteboard. There's tons of options where you can make these papers look a little bit more beautiful. You can get a filing system. Keep that in a place where you're paying your bills. Like maybe not on a refrigerator, maybe on your desk or tucked in a drawer that you open every single day. There are a lot of options. I encourage creativity here and I also encourage you to take it down. Take it all down. Make it beautiful, clean. It sounds weird, but notice how you feel when you declutter something. Like you have this wave of energy, this hit of dopamine when you're like, wow, I like that a lot better. We were designed as humans to like tidiness and cleanliness and these are just really easy ways to get that. Quick pause to thank the sponsor of this video, Ruggable. Ruggable is an incredible company that created machine washable rugs. In this season of my life with four kids, a lot of traffic coming through our home, these are the rugs that I've opted for. I've actually had a Ruggable rug in my living space for six years now and I just love them. They're durable. They come in so many beautiful patterns and prints. We just got the tuft rug that's actually really soft and it instantly, instantly changed the dynamic of our living room space. We just had regular flooring, but we added this piece and it made everything feel so much more warm and cohesive. Rugs are so powerful when you are creating a peaceful, calm, and inviting space. They have area rugs, they have doormats, they have kitchen runners. Their options are incredible. The artwork on these rugs, absolutely incredible. So I have a code down below for you guys if you are interested in checking out Ruggable. So thanks again Ruggable for sponsoring this portion of the video and let's get back to it. Okay, I think this next point is my favorite point. It's about the entryway and the pile-up that is happening there. Let me read you what the Japanese say about the entryway. In Japan, the entryway or the genkan, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, is a vital transitional space that represents the face of the home, setting the tone for the rest of the space and influencing the flow of energy, fortune, and hospitality. A cluttered entrance can block the flow of positive energy, so keep it clean and free of unnecessary items. I love this. That was a blend of feng shui and what the Japanese, how they value the entryway. But if you put this into practice, you will notice a substantial difference when you enter your home. I've lived in 17 different homes, some apartments, some very big homes, some just a bedroom that we used for a few months. And what I've picked up from this is when I'm setting up a home, when I'm doing a deep clean, when I'm welcoming people into my home, what I do is I stand in my entryway. From that view, I look into my home and I say, how does this space feel? The entryway is a powerful place to utilize when you want a calm and peaceful and beautiful home, which is why we're decluttering, right? That's why we're decluttering. So some practical tips here, shoes off before you walk in the house. If you have a space, which I've lived in many, remember, if you have a space that doesn't have a mudroom and it's very small, get teeny tiny little shelves to put your main daily shoes on. There are some really cute shoe cubbies out there right now where you can literally tuck them away so you don't even see shoes and it looks like a standing shelf. But shoes are just, they can clutter up the space so quickly. So we'll get rid of the shoes. We use our daily coats in our entryway. Our church coats, our fancier ones, we put in a hog closet and we store them. We get them out once a week. Backpacks, everyone has their own hook. In the past, we had a hallway door and I hung the backpacks on the inside of that door so you didn't see it when you walked in. They were tucked away but still easily accessible. And I would say add warmth and character to this space. Nothing big, but warm lighting or a cute little key hook, a frame, maybe even like a pretty signature grouping of wall hooks that just add character to this space. This is the first thing you see. This is the first thing everyone else sees in your home and when it's cluttered, when it's beautiful and filled with character and purposeful, yes, that's what we're looking for. Countertop appliances that you don't use, this kind of goes with number one, but I think we're over the era of decorating with your kitchen aid mixer and we are entering in an era like it is just the thing to simplify, add warmth to the space instead of more of that big clunky clutter. So add a lamp instead of the kitchen aid mixer. Add something with value, purpose, and warmth. We're going to tuck the toaster away too. I put it on a little tray that's really easy to slide in and out in my pantry. It's easy to get out, it's easy to tuck away, and putting it on a tray means all the crumbs stay on the tray, not in my pantry. I don't like storing cutting boards on my countertops. If I'm putting things on my countertop, I want it to be a bowl of fruit where my kids are reaching for or a lamp or a candle. Things that are functional and just say peace to me. I need that in this life with my boys, whom I love so much, but there's not a ton of peace unless I curate it and bring it in. My tip here is if you are tucking these things away, your coffee maker, your kitchen aid mixer, your toaster, first try to put it where you would plug it in. Where you're reaching for the bread, you're also reaching for the toaster. Like put it in the same place. Coffee maker, coffee press, put it with the coffee, with the mugs, all in the same place. And this is going to reduce the wire clutter up there too, which is not something that we like. Next point, open shelving, that's too full. That's an eyesore, that's also visual clutter that is subconsciously overwhelming you. So let's simplify it. This is actually an art, it's a skill that you have to learn over the last few years of studying interior design. Here are a couple tips, all right? Groups of three work really well. Alternating your heights of things, putting them on a tray so that they're all in one group instead of like thing, thing, thing, thing, thing, thing, thing, thing, thing, thing, thing, thing. It's group, group, group. But I'm also thinking about bookshelves that can easily get cluttered where you're stacking books this way, then you're stacking books this way just to fit them in. That's adding clutter to your space. Be creative, place things there that you are going to use every day or maybe once a week or maybe once every two weeks. Your favorite candle, your favorite books, the book that you and your family are reading right now, a plant obviously, a watering can, pictures are great. I encourage creativity here. I think you along with me, all of us are a little done with the excessive buying trendy things habit where like somebody shows something beautiful on Amazon, you're like, oh I need that. No, get the practical stuff you already have around. This is going to add warmth, character, and practicality to your space. That is value. Towels, major stressor. Have places where when you walk out of the shower, you hang them up. I put hangers on the back of the bathroom doors and those don't even get used in our home. Have to make it practical and functional. Right when you step out of the shower, dry off and hang it up. Anything stored on the floor, this is a point that I am adding in here because of what I've experienced as a mother. Floor storage can get really tricky. A messy floor is just, it literally makes your home feel messier, much messier. We have a catch-all bucket with all the kids stuff we're going to be putting in a cabinet here soon, but we have a catch-all bucket right now and it's a big eyesore. So I'm not living proof, well actually I am. I am living proof that when you store things on the floor with a lot of stuff in it, it's just messy. I'm gonna find a different home for it because it's just blech. But that's for another video. We're gonna get there. Kids toys. I'm doing something pretty drastic here soon, so stay tuned for that. Cute baskets that are too full. Been there, done that. No judgment, but it just, it looks messy and it looks cluttered. Get creative, get another basket, take some things out, put it somewhere else. This was a point for me. Just, we've got a lot of baskets in our home. It's great easy storage for kids, for homes with a lot of traffic. So I'm not condoning baskets, but use them wisely and declutter when you need to. And instead of fitting 50 clementines in a small little wicker basket, put 10 in there and then put the rest in the fridge and when you need to refill, refill. Okay, market? I don't know why it took me so long to figure that out. Okay, we've tackled the easy things to declutter on eye level. We've tackled the floor. We've even tackled the fridge. We've tackled things that we walk past every day and the entryway. Big things. Last one is your bathroom, a place that easily becomes a place of storage and clutter. Put those beauty products down below. Tuck them away and when you walk into a clean bathroom first thing in the morning, tell me how you feel. This is huge. There are a lot more things I can go into detail for creating a calm and peaceful bathroom and the reason behind it and what it will change in your life. That is coming in my course. I'm relaunching it. It's gonna be so good, but for now we're just gonna take those beauty products and we're gonna put them away and we're gonna keep it, the countertop tidy. I love that. I feel like it's the bookend to this video. Countertops, a lot of other goodness and then back to the bathroom and solving that countertop issue. I'm gonna end with get creative. You can do this. Make it easier on yourself. Pick one or two of these things. I hope this video helps you and guides you and encourages you. Makes it simple. We're not doing a massive declutter. We're just simplifying. So thank you for being here and I will see you guys next Friday.