Full Transcript of The Simple Home Podcast Episode 1
Welcome to the very first episode of the simple home. I’m your host Jenna, and I’m so excited you’re here with me today.
In this episode, we’re going to talk about what this podcast is all about, a little bit of my journey so far, and three easy things you can do today to jumpstart your journey to simpler living.
I’m going to start with a little background on my journey into motherhood and why I started this podcast. In order to get the full picture, you really have to understand my thinking.
Before I had kids, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this, so before I had kids I had a picture of what I would look like as a mom.
- I thought I’d be skinny right after baby came.
- I knew the way I would talk to my kids and what I would never say.
- I thought I’d be making homemade meals three times a day as well as snacks.
- I was never going to be frustrated or overwhelmed and just enjoy every moment I was given with my kids.
The expectations I had for myself were impossible to reach. As soon as our first baby came, I quickly realized I was failing at this thing called motherhood. At least the motherhood standard I had set for myself.
As our family grew, the more overwhelmed I became. I couldn’t keep the house organized.
I couldn’t get meals on the table.
I had piles of laundry around the house and I was drowning.
I knew I had to find balance and make changes if I was going to be able to give my kids the love and nurturing they needed. So I started on this journey to simplify my home and my life and when I say journey, I mean it.
I think simplifying is a journey you will go on for some time and continue to refine as your life. Seasons change. I have a long way to go and continue to learn and grow as my family and life circumstances change.
But what I’ve learned so far is that living a simpler life makes a positive impact on almost every area of life.
Having a clutter free space gives me more time and less stress. Having less to do allows me to focus and be more intentional. We’re more purposeful with our finances and there’s time for what really matters.
Living simply will not only benefit you but it also benefits your kids. Your children mimic your behavior and your feelings no matter how you try to hide those feelings or behaviors. If you’re stressed or anxious, they will be too and on the other hand, if you’re relaxed and happy, they will be too.
Having less and doing less has been shown to have educational, behavioral and health benefits that will last into adulthood for your children.
That’s where this podcast comes in.
Each week we will discuss actionable ways to simplify your life and the importance of simpler living.
You will probably hear me interchange the terms of simple living and minimalism. I don’t consider myself a minimalist mostly because it stresses me out to put restrictions on myself and although that’s not the purpose of minimalism, I find myself trying to live up to something if I call myself a minimalist. With that said, I do find immense value in the minimalist movement.
The purpose of this podcast is not to transform you to minimalism or any other parenting or life philosophy, but rather to help you find the peace you are looking for in motherhood.
So you can live a lighter, more joyful life. I hope to open your eyes to some new ways of thinking so you can take what works best for your family and develop the right mix of simple living tactics that work perfect for you.
I want you to live a life full of experiences with those you love rather than spending all your time with the maintenance tasks of motherhood.
Motherhood is a journey and there is absolutely no shame or guilt in any decisions you’ve made so far or those you will make in the future.
The goal is to allow yourself to go on the journey knowing that your journey will look different than someone else’s journey, and that’s absolutely okay. With every episode you’re going to find actionable tips that you can take with you, something you can do right now to help you move along on this journey to simple. I know that your time is super, super valuable, so we’re going to jump right in and today I’m going to share with you three ideas you can take with you to jumpstart your journey to simple. I’ve also created a special bonus guide to help you get started with a couple extra tips.
Make sure to go download your free guide by visiting the show notes, which you can find @ athomewithkids.com/episode1. Again, that’s athomewithkids.com/episode1 to get your free guide that goes along with this episode.
Here’s my three simple tips to help you jumpstart your journey to simple.
The very first one is, clear your counters.
You will be amazed with how much this helps just give you calm and peace in your house. If you can figure out how to get your kitchen countertops, your tabletops, your desk clear on top, you will be on your way to having a much more peaceful household. So there’s a couple things you can do as you’re thinking about clearing off your countertops. These are usually active spaces in your house, meaning lots of things are coming in and out at any given moment.
So in order to clear them, you have to put some systems in place to make sure they won’t get overwhelmed again. So look around your house, see where these spaces are that just often get filled with clutter, maybe paperwork or stuff that comes home from school bills or mail, different things like that. Often clutter up our counters and figure out a system that you can use to put into place to get those counters clean.
Now here’s my system. I call it the Sunday folder or Sunday box.
And I did not make up this system. I wish I remember who told me this because I would love to give them credit because it has changed my life. What I do is I have a container. It’s just a box. You can use anything. It doesn’t have to be fancy and any paperwork or mail or school work or anything that usually ends up as clutter on my counter goes in this tub. Now, it could be things as simple as like a remote that needs a battery. You know how often that sits on your counter for a month before you actually get a battery to put in it, put it in the box.
Any of those kinds of things that end up there, put in your box and then choose one day a week. I choose Sundays to go through that box and do all the action items in it. That could be paying the bills that are in there, that could be filing papers that are in there, finding a battery for that remote, fixing something that was broken, whatever it might be.
In order to make this system work for you, you have to make sure you actually do it once a week.
Otherwise you’re going to end up with a box full of stuff that you never want to go through because your box is overflowing and looks overwhelming. If you sit down and do this once a week, it might take you 5 to 10 minutes. Your counters will be clean all week because you’ll have it all in that one box and your mind won’t have to be used up thinking about those things you have to get done every time you see them, because you’ll know which day you’re going to take care of it.
Now the other tip I have is that you have to make sure that anything you put in this box is actionable, meaning that you can do something to take care of it. So only put things in there that need your attention and something to get done with.
All right, so the second step I want you to take to help jumpstart your journey to simple is to look around for low hanging fruit.
This means things in your house that you can get rid of without even thinking about them.
- Things that are broken, things in your closet that just don’t fit.
- Things that your kids never play with.
- Books that you no longer read.
- Food in your refrigerator that’s expired or that’s been sitting there for just a little too long.
All of the things are easy for us to get rid of. We don’t have to think about them. We’re not emotionally attached to them.
Now this is not where you need to go through and deliberate and say, Oh, but I really want to keep this or should I get rid of it? If you have any second thoughts that’s not low hanging fruit and we’ll deal with that later today.
I’m just talking about things that are super simple for you to get rid of. I’m sure there’s things in your house that you need to throw away or recycle or just donate because you don’t use them anymore.
Now I also want you to look at your schedule and if there’s any low hanging fruit there, things that you could take off of your to do list, things that you could take out of your schedule or your kid’s schedule. Things that are just easy to get rid of, that will bring you some peace and some space, will be really, really helpful on this journey of yours.
And the third one I have for you is called experimental decluttering.
I don’t know if that’s a real term, but that’s what I call it and this is when you have some items that you’re thinking you could get rid of but you’re second guessing and you’re just not sure like maybe I need to keep this coat because I will wear it next winter even though I didn’t wear it this winter or these clothes that I’ve had in here.
I really, really love this cute dress but I haven’t worn it forever but I might wear it so I’m just not sure I’m ready to get rid of it. Things that you’re second guessing that you’re just not sure you’re ready to let go of or maybe things your kids are second guessing like toys you haven’t seen them play with in awhile, but all of a sudden you mentioned getting rid of them and it’s their favorite toy.
Things like this you could box up, put it in your basement or in a closet and just leave them there for a little while and see if you miss them. If you miss them, if they really are something that brings purpose to your life, get them back out and put them where they go. But if not, then go ahead and get rid of them. Donate them or give them to a friend or however you want to go about that.
So that is what I call experimental decluttering and it can really, really help with those items that you’re just not really sure you’re ready to let go of.
Okay. Let’s do a really quick recap of the three things you’re going to take away with you today to help you jumpstart your journey to simple.
- The first one is to clear your counters and remember I gave you the technique of having a Sunday box or folder or whatever you want to call it and I hope that you give that a try if it resonated with you.
- The second one is to get rid of low hanging fruit, both in your house as clutter and the things on your to do list or your schedule that would be easy to get rid of.
- And the third one was experimental decluttering, where you’re able to kind of hold on to things for a little while, but put them away to see if there’s something that you really, really love and want to sell.
I hope that those three things have been super helpful for you today. I really want to see you be able to take that move from feeling cluttered. Whether it’s your mind or your space or your time. All of those things really play a part into how much joy we have in our lives. And so hopefully with this podcast we’re going to be able to go on this journey together and find those steps that help us to live a more joyful life. A life that we really want to be living. If we were able to slow down for a second, take a breath and decide what we wanted that life to look like.
Thank you so much for spending your time with me today. I know how very precious your time is and I’m so grateful you made the journey to simple a part of your day today and I hope you will make it a part of your week every single week.
So we will be here same time, same place every single week and I hope that you will join us. If you’re loving this podcast, would you please take a moment to write a review and give me a rating on iTunes that helps this podcast reach more people and I absolutely love reading your responses.
And if you have a friend you think would benefit from this podcast, let them know about it so they can join us each week.
For the show notes and your free guide, remember to visit athomewithkids.com/episode1 and you’re going to find tons more tips and tricks for making a simpler home and a simpler life.
Okay, well that’s it for this week. Don’t miss next week’s episode because we’re going to be talking about 10 benefits of minimalism for parents. We’re going to discuss one benefit that I think you just can’t ignore because it’s that important and something that I learned this past year that has changed my life. So I can’t wait to share those things with you in the next episode.
Find this episode of The Simple Home Podcast and others you’ll love on your favorite podcast player, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, and TuneIn! Remember to subscribe on your favorite podcast player so you don’t miss an episode.
