Episode 390 – 10 changes that make the biggest impact in your home

Ingrid: In today's episode, we're exploring 10 changes that make the biggest and most immediate impact in your home. These aren't overwhelming whole house decluttering projects. They're simple shifts that create clarity and calm in your home. We'll look at what really moves the needle and why these tweaks matter so much.

Ingrid: Hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid.

Lesley: And I am Lesley. Now, if you are here for the very first time today, or you've been listening in for ages, we want to say a huge thank you we have a little favour to ask.

Ingrid: If you like what you hear, be sure to hit that follow or subscribe button. Share us with your friends or leave us a review. It makes a huge difference to us.

Well, hello Lesley. Another podcast, another Friday. Oh my gosh, it's nearly blue Monday. Lesley, the, the most horrible day of the year, but we are trying to get some positivity going right by talking about 10 things she can really do that are, are, are manageable and that are going to make a big impact. And it's a 10 things podcast.

What's not to like?

Lesley: I know exactly, and I've got myself all prepared. I've just been sharing with Ingrid that I have got my cold weather, so I've got my blanket. I, I'm a bit of a cold person. Right. And so I, as I've probably shared before on this podcast, I kind of. Sit in my room at like 25 degrees. I'm always cold. I got, you know, my husband's constantly turning the heat down, you know, that kind of scenario.

But I've got this, I've got a foot warmer, which I love, honestly. So it's like an electric blanket for your feet. And so you just like put your feet into it and then turn it on and you just all warm and toast and it puts me in such a good mood. So I'm ready, I'm ready for the high impact changes you can see straight away. Really that's what we're gonna talk about. So things that you can do to make a difference in your home. I'm here for it with my foot warmer and my blanket in tow, Ingrid. But luckily you can't see that on camera.

Ingrid: So actually Les, you're not a cold person. You are a warm person now.

Lesley: I know. Well I'm getting there 'cause I've only just put it on, so we'll see how it goes. But anyway, let's get

Ingrid: me to buy one and I'm like,

Lesley: Anna.

Ingrid: one. I'm fine.

Lesley: I know exactly. Some people are cold people and some people are warm people, right? It's just the way that it goes. But anyway,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: less about the foot warmer and more about the high impact changes that you need to make in your home.

That's what we're here to talk about. So I think we'll go straight in with a really big one, Ingrid, which is number one, don't put it down. Put it away. And this is one of Ingrid's favorites. We've spoken about it before, but let's reiterate this. Look at her. She's happy, she's smiling. Ingrid.

Ingrid: this is so important, honestly, and it's, you know what? It sounds simple. It is simple, but it's hard if you know what I mean. It's so important that you don't put things down, but you put it away, honestly. Life cha. I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but it's life changing because you're gonna save your future self so much time later. It's that little thing of not leaving things or dropping things, but just taking that. 3, 5, 10, 30 seconds to put it away where something belongs. Perfect example of that is you come in after visiting somebody or being at work or whatever, and you come through the door, you hang up your coat on the coat rack, you put your keys where your keys always are.

You put your bag where your bag always is. You put your shoes on the place. You don't just kind of come in and create some sort of trail of stuff randomly. Because then your future self is gonna go, all my stuff? And you have to then use up a lot of brain power to retrace your steps and go back in ca in in instead of, oh, this is where it is.

Because it's always there and you own. That only happens when you don't put it down, but you put it away. And it also is, you know, when you have had dinner, don't just leave the plates on the kitchen counters. No. You immediately load the dishwasher or you immediately start with your washing up, you're just not gonna leave it there because then all the food remnants get crusty and horrible.

And then it takes you far more time to, to sort it out. You're not gonna just drop your dirty underwear somewhere in your, in your bedroom. You put it in the laundry basket. It's all those tiny, micro, micro things that I, I'm sorry, Lesley, I can take over this whole podcast.

Lesley: I know. I was like, yeah, no, it is, it is. But I think a lot of people will be thinking, well, that's all well and good that you're saying don't put it down, put it away in the place that it belongs. But what if I don't have a place that it belongs in? So. There is a whole load of things that come before this.

So a lot of these things that we're talking about are kind of things that you're gonna work towards. So if you're, if you're sitting in chaos, then these things might not be as simple as the way that we're making them sound. But think about this. And if you do have a home for something, even if it's just that's good enough, you know, think about it being good enough at the moment, you know, it might not be the perfect spot for it, but it needs to be somewhere, you know, the, the washing up is a great example of that, Ingrid, which is.

You definitely have somewhere in your kitchen and you can put it even if it's just on the side, but it's clean and not dirty. And so you've taken that extra step now to avoid having to do way more work later. 'cause it always takes more time. That's why chores build up and ti up builds up and washing up builds up because we've not taken action one thing at a time.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah.

Lesley: let's go on to number two. And, and this is quite an interesting one really, because we could go either way on this, right? But there I'm talking about there are places in your home where things don't have a home, right? Does that make sense? There are things where it's not entirely obvious where things should immediately go.

Things like. Shoes. Ideally you would put shoes when you come in from the thing, you'd put 'em back in your wardrobe or where all your shoes are. But actually it makes sense for you to have those shoes that you are using more frequently in the hallway. 'cause you're gonna put 'em back on again in half an hour and go out, particularly if you've got kids or multiple people at home.

We need to make things look intentional. So number two is about making. Things like clutter, hotspots look more intentional by the introduction of storage or containers of some kind. Now it can be tricky and you need to keep on top of it because we can't have these things that, like dishes for keys for example.

We can't have them start building up into being not just for keys. You know that you start putting, this is where you get like little junk. dishes and stuff like that, but ideally we need a space for our keys. 'cause if you've got a little dish or something where you can immediately put your keys in when you come in, or you've got a little truck that you can immediately put your shoes on when you come in, or if you've got a hook in the hallway that you can immediately put your, your coat on when you come in.

Those things look way more intentional than just leaving them wherever. So something, sometimes the introduction of something makes it look more intentional and makes it look less messy and therefore has more impact. Another example of that, Ingrid, is like, oils and vinegars and things on your work surface.

As you go around the shops at the moment, there are tons and tons of the equivalent of lazy Susan's marble bowls, marble plates for bathrooms, for kitchens. They're everywhere at the moment. All designed for you to kind of place things nicely on top of them so they look less like a collection of bottles and more like an intentional collection.

It's a visible, it's a small visible change, but it makes all the difference in my opinion.

Ingrid: Yeah, definitely. I think it really prevents things from just kind of laying on the sideboard. Like

Lesley: Yeah.

Ingrid: my, my wallet and my phone and my keys and my car keys and some loose chain. Suddenly, when it's in a bowl or in a plate, it's like, ah. is actually the pla, the this, the place where these things go.

So it already immediately looks less messy. But I agree with you. Lesley, of course, you have to stay on top of these things. They can't be, oh, I've got a little something in my pocket and I don't know where to put it. I'm gonna put it in that bowl. That's not the idea. It needs to stay intentional. But again, that can then be a temporary place where things are being put down.

And put away instead of randomly placed somewhere. So you're training your mind slowly but surely over time, this is the place where things go. And then at some point you can kind of go, actually, that bow or that tray is better in that place than where it was. But that is, that comes later. At first, you need to just create some more time for yourself by doing these little bits.

Lesley: Absolutely. okay with, let's go for number three.

Ingrid: Yes, Lesley, we have number three as don't overlook your entrance hall or your hallway as a really important place to get sorted and decluttered and organized because it's the place where you, that you see last of your house when you leave in the morning, whether you're going to work or volunteering or dropping the kids off at school or whatever it is. And it's also the first place you see. When you come in from all of your activities. So it's really nice to have that space decluttered and organized. And also because then you have somewhere to put the things that you come in with before you put them away, right? So you, you, if you come with hands full of stuff, when you've done maybe some weekly shopping, your groceries or whatever, there's normally a couple of bags.

You have room to put them down before you then. them into the kitchen to put things away in the fridge. So it's an important room to get the get to get right.

Lesley: Yeah, absolutely. I think you're right. It's all about your mood, isn't it? so it is about that mood when you walk in and leave your home. And getting that right, you need, you deserve to have that nice transition. You deserve to have that nice, oh, I'm home feeling. But if you immediately are faced with loads and loads of clutter when you come in, then you are already thinking about the chores that you've got to do.

It just doesn't give you that positivity that we should all feel about our homes when we walk through the door. And I think also because it's such a thoroughfare in the home, it needs to work well, and it needs to work hard. You know, and they're, they're tricky rooms to get, right? I mean, bigger houses have got big cupboards now and things like that.

We've got under stairs, cupboards, we've got hooks. We've invariably got more coats than we've got hooks, you know, things like that. So you really need to pare down and really think about that whole way. It has a huge impact, not only on your home, but on your wellbeing. Even though you're not sitting in that room, typically, you're going through it every single time you enter and exit the house, and so don't overlook it.

Super, super important.

Ingrid: Yeah. It's, it's in, it's a room. Lesley, I, I tidy up a lot, you know, I don't, you know, I do that on my daily reset. I kind of, in case some of the shoes have, are not on the ba on the shoe rack back, I will make a point of doing those three seconds of le just put the shoes away if somebody forgot or if I forgot myself.

Right. Because, you know, it, life gets in the way

Lesley: Have you not been? Don't put it down. Put it away. Ingrid, have we failed on your number one?

Ingrid: know probably, you know what I mean? You know, it happens, you know what I mean? But it's one of the things that I'm thinking, okay, that's, now I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna put it away. Now I'm don't gonna leave it there because it's, it can, it can be really a, a busy room with a lot of things get dumped, so you wanna stay on top of it.

This is not an area that you can kind of, you know, you cannot close the door on it because you're through it the whole time. The

Lesley: Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So really, really, really important. And I think going into number four, Ingrid, is really, there's one room in the house. I mean, there's lots of rooms in the house to be fair, where reducing volume is critical. But I think. Pair down in your kitchen, that makes a huge difference. We've talked about the hallway being an important room in your house, 'cause of it being a thoroughfare.

The kitchen is invariably the hub of the home. Probably one of the rooms that you spend the most time in. It needs to function effectively and if it's crammed with stuff, then it's really difficult. So, really.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: Think about whether you need all that stuff in there. So there's one room to focus on. It's always the very first room in our roadmap for this reason, is by having less.

The organization just feels so much more easy, doesn't it? Ingrid? And so just look around your kitchen and go. Do I really, is that really enhancing my life to have all those extra appliances or those duplicates of, you know, 16 cans of beans or whatever, can I live with less? And invariably we just get stuck in a rip a rut of overbuying, particularly with food, don't we, in our kitchen?

And we have way too much. And then it makes it awkward to organize, it makes it awkward to see, it looks more cluttered, all of the things. So pairing down in your kitchen gives you, gives massive impact, doesn't it? Ingrid?

Ingrid: Less is definitely more in the kitchen. And of course you are in there all the time preparing breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. It's, it's like, it's a hardworking area that that really, you know, This needs a lot of TLC and needs attention and I mean, like in my house for example, my washing machine is also there.

I am not lucky enough to have a separate utility room, which I would absolutely love to have, but I'm not that lucky. So it's also room that where the laundry gets pulled in. In the washing machine, outta the washing machine. I have to stay on top of that. I have to be able to keep it clean easily because it's just a room that has to work so hard and. If you have, if you're eating in there as well, it has a table where you eat like I do, then you'll look at it. So it's a room we spend a lot of time in. So exactly what Lesi said, that is why the kitchen is one of, is the first room on our roadmap because we know what an important room it is. And the nice thing is it has smaller cupboards and smaller drawers so you can.

More easily say, lemme just look at that category of items. Lemme just do that drawer, that cupboard, which then is really good for motivation.

Lesley: Yeah, and this takes us to number five, Ingrid, which is all about a bedroom. So we've, we've talked about three very key rooms in your house and it's, it is less about. I was telling you to declutter these rooms and more about the feeling that these rooms give you, give you, so the entrance hall is more about that transition into your home.

The, the kitchen is more about every day, making sure things work in a busy, busy space. And finally, we're gonna talk about a bedroom. Now if you can, then it's the always possible 'cause we all live in different situations and different circumstances, different homes. Make your bedroom a bedroom as much as you can.

If it is packed to the rafters with other stuff that don't belong in a bedroom, then it's really difficult to create that sanctuary like environment that we want to. So. Focus on that and go, do all these things need to be in here? And sometimes the answer to that might sadly be, yes, I need to have my books in here.

I need to have a, a desk in there, you know, a working space in there, exercise equipment in there. All of the things that gravitate into a bedroom you might need that might need to happen. But evaluate whether that is the case. 'cause for many of us, there are a little bit, a little bit more, have got a little bit more space around.

It might be entirely possible to move things out of your bedroom, to create a bedroom as a space where you just relax and sleep because it then in turn helps you sleep, gives you more energy, and makes you ready for doing, tackling more decoring projects or things that you wanna do or going out or whatever.

Because if you, if your bedroom. If you're struggling in your bedroom because it's an overwhelming space, then it affects your sleep and it affects your mood and it affects everything else around you. Sleep is everything and your bedroom needs to facilitate that. Right. Ingrid?

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: Yeah.

Ingrid: because people might think to themselves, but in a bedroom, I sleep and I've got my eyes closed, so I don't see the clutter. But the thing is, it doesn't work that way. If we see clutter still around us when we fall asleep and if it's the first thing that we see when we wake

Lesley: Up

Ingrid: we already wake up feeling

Lesley: like, oh.

Ingrid: and like all over the place and. Just stressed out about it all while when you have a calm bedroom. It's really good for, for, yeah, your soul. It sounds a bit dramatic, Lesley, but it really makes a massive difference. The impact of sleep that has on people and having a calmer bedroom is so beneficial for a better quality sleep. You

Lesley: You might still, but I can

Ingrid: still

Lesley: still sleep eight hours,

Ingrid: but if at, if the five or

Lesley: six hours.

Ingrid: do get you, are you, you know, it's good for you. a calm bedroom can really, really be beneficial for that. So that is why next to the hallway and the kitchen, this is a super important room to get right.

Lesley: Do you get eight hours a night?

Ingrid: I really try because I'm somebody who needs to sleep. I might be a, I'm, you know what, I'm an in the evening, I don't wanna go to bed, but in the morning I don't wanna get up because I just, I, I'm an, I'm an evening person, but I do try to get around eight hours. Yeah. If I

Lesley: And so do you think that, you know.

Ingrid: then, then, then things function better for me.

Lesley: Yeah, maybe for me as well, but, but yeah, so I mean, I think I'm more of a, I don't think I could get, even if I, all of the situations, circumstances aligned, I don't think I could get anywhere near. Eight hours, I think it would definitely be seven. I just, you know, sometimes I just wake up in the morning and go, if I've had like a restful night, please let it have a seven in front of it and not a six or a five.

Do you know what I mean? Please just give me one thing and it's that I'm not waking up. It's six something. Now. I know a lot of people like waking up early, but I really don't. I just want, and then eight would be like, you know, that, that rare occasion I feel like I've had like one in like. 10 years where it's like eight, 10 when you wake up like, oh, I feel like I've died and gone to heaven.

Do you know what I mean? So I, I think I'm a seven hour, I just can't do eight hours. I can't, I can't get to eight hours, even if all the situations. But anyway, I just thought I'd ask. 'cause but you, I'm not sure you get eight hours, what time are you getting up?

Ingrid: about quarter past seven.

Lesley: But you don't go to bed until like way beyond 11, do you?

Ingrid: yeah. 11, 11 15. So I just about, I mean, getting, for me, getting eight hours will be good, but,

Lesley: But to be fair, you don't take your phone to your bedroom, do you? You don't take your phone to your bedroom, which is a good thing, right? So you're not, so once the phone's gone, it's gone. Whereas I go up and then I faff around on my phone, and then I wake up and get on my phone and do you know what I mean?

So, interesting.

Ingrid: is banned. Phones are banned. Phones are banned from the bedroom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No phones allowed.

Lesley: Okay, so let's do a little,

Ingrid: clock, Lesley.

Lesley: Let's do a little tally. Let's do a little tally of whether we're doing these things that we have, suggested. So, are we putting Don't put it down. Put it away.

Ingrid: Yeah, I, I mean, I would say 99.9%. I'm there. Yeah, definitely.

Lesley: Yeah. I, I mean, I'm not going 99.9. I think that's a bit kind of, I, I'm probably going 90.

Ingrid: Okay. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, no, I'm good. I'm good. I'm good at that. Yeah.

Lesley: So have you got intentional spaces for clutter hotspot?

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: Yeah. Have you, got your entrance hall sorted?

Ingrid: yeah,

Lesley: Have you got a sensible amount of, clutter or stuff, sorry, in your kitchen?

Ingrid: Yes.

Lesley: And is your bedroom a calm sanctuary of peace that allows you to sleep eight hours a night? So we're good.

Which is a good thing, right?

Ingrid: we're good. I'm good. How about you? I think you, you got all of these as well,

Lesley: yeah. Yeah. I think we're, I think we're good. I, I, I think I'm a bit,

Ingrid: benefits, right?

Lesley: yeah. I'm a bit more haphazard to be fair with things. As you know, I am kind of like.

Ingrid: Yeah,

Lesley: Flying by the seat of my pants nine to 9% of the time. but yeah, I think I do,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: yeah. I'm not quite as meticulous and perfectionist as Ingrid, but but I do, I do thankfully do most of these things.

Right. Okay, so we are up to number five. We've got five more where that came from. Let's pop to a break and come back in a moment.

Ingrid: Right everyone, welcome back. We're doing a 10 things podcast and this time it's the 10 changes that make the biggest impact on your home. And we've done five before the break. We are good so far. Let's move on then with number six. And these are more kind of changes that really can help you transform how the way you kind of your, your home. Run that. It runs like clockwork, as they say. And the first one we need to talk about is of course, again, one of our favorite things you need to create and establish daily reset. Lesley,

Lesley: I feel like a broken record. I feel like, I feel like we're boring ourselves. Are we boring ourselves saying this?

Ingrid: I, you know what?

Lesley: How many times have we said this? I know.

Ingrid: Yeah, but it's so important.

Lesley: I know you gotta do it, haven't you? But I bet people are like rolling their eyes like, ugh, they're going on about daily research again. But yeah, we can't not put it in there because they are absolutely transformational and many, many people do not have. A successful daily reset. Nailed. So first things first.

How do you do that? You need to work out when your best time is for your daily reset or resets. So when have you got time to do this? Re be realistic. Look at realism. When have you got time to actually do these resets? You know, what's your situation in the morning? Do you get up? Are you an early bird? And get up at half six.

It's not the time to do your daily reset 'cause you're so exhausted the night before. Is it, have you got a little bit of downtime in between dropping the kids off at school before you gotta start to work? Or do you need to fit it into the day? You might need to fit it into the day and go, do you know what?

I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna do a 15 minute reset in the middle of my working day, just to reenergize myself. If you're working from home, have I got time in the evening? Have I got some help, for example, to bath the kids or whatever that might be so I can do a daily reset. Then do I need to do a daily reset in the morning or in the evening, or both?

Or three times a day, which is the more people you got in the house, the more often you need to be doing, doing these resets. So really important to think about when and how with realism very much paramount in your mind. Then after that, we need to think about non-negotiables. Ingrid.

Ingrid: Yes. What are the tasks that you need to do on a daily basis? So everything just becomes that little bit easier you know, maybe you're like, okay, every day I need to do my washing up, or I need to load it, unload the dishwasher. When is it happening in your daily reset? Is it happening in the morning, in the evening?

What's going on? day? You might say, okay, I need to make sure that I bring the recycling and the food waste and all of that outside to the bins because I don't wanna have all that trash and that rubbish in my kitchen. That is non-negotiable. Every day, you might say, every day I wanna spend, some time on meditation, or I need to remember to take my medication every day, or I need to feed my pets.

Or, I, we are with five people in this house, so laundry is crucial. We need to do laundry every day. What are your non-negotiable? What is the bare minimum that you need to do to make sure that at least you can eat? There's plates. You have clean clothes and that things kind of, if, if, if life is crazy basically for a week, these are the minimum things I need to do to make sure that I don't go backwards, but I kind of stay on an even keel and I then can pick up things again when it all just. Calms down a little bit and when I've got a little bit more time, that's what you need to figure out. And once you know what your non-negotiables are, you can go right now. I'm gonna fit them in the times that it makes sense for me. And I'm going to, and I'm gonna do this once a day, twice a day, three times per day. It depends on how busy your life is, how often you need to do this daily reset. It's also, for example, you might say, okay, in my non-negotiables, I wanna make sure that the kids' backpacks and shoes, and that my keys and my phone are always in the same place. That is a daily non-negotiable that I need to do. Because if I don't know where the shoes and codes are, I'm gonna have trouble in the morning. So you need to figure this out, and once you can figure it out, you are honestly on your way.

Lesley: Yeah, I mean so many people don't have this Ingrid, right? And I just kind of, you know, I talk about flying by the seat of my pants a little bit, but daily resets are just second nature. Don't even think about them. Don't even think that that's a thing. I don't go, oh, I need to do my reset. It just happens as a matter of, Just as part of my morning, my evening, whatever, and everybody in the house is the same. And so it's just, it just happens because it just becomes a habit, right? And that's what we're aiming for. So you have to try really hard for it to become habit. Then once it's cemented. It is an absolute game changer.

It really is. So that's why we keep

Ingrid: yeah.

Lesley: ourselves and banging on about it. So you have to get a daily reset established. Now, we've already mentioned within that daily reset laundry, and I think the light bulbs can really go on when it comes to laundry because we see it as a whole. We need to create a manageable laundry system.

This is our number six. It's part of a daily reset as well. Often laundry is part of that because you need to do it on a daily basis, not always in every house. Now there's less people in the house. I'm probably doing my laundry, Ingrid two, three times a week max, you know, so I'm not doing it every day, which is brilliant.

So it changes ebbs and flows depending on how many people got in the house, who's there, what's happening, all that kind of stuff. And so, but you need to break it down and understand where your laundry is going wrong. Like we, we, we spent a lot of time a couple of years ago, didn't we, Ingrid writing a course for our members and you know, we were like, let's really break it down 'cause this becomes such a colossal problem for people.

Like we need to break it down and work out where it's going wrong. And so, 'cause this is, again, this is second nature to England AI as you would expect, as professional organizers, but we really need to focus and go right, what's going wrong and where's it going wrong? Is it at the dirty laundry stage? So is it at the going in the basket stage?

Is it at the washing stage? Is it getting left in the washing machine and not putting the dryer or put wherever you put it to dry? Is it getting it out of the dryer to the, ironing? Is it if you do ironing, is it getting it from the ironing? To the bedroom and put away, where is it going wrong? And there's a chance that it might be in all of those places as well, but you have to break it down.

Once you break it down to work, work out where the problem is, then we can start putting things in place and looking at how many baskets do we need around the house for a family of five? Do we have one basket? Do we have five baskets in every room? What's working for me, you need to evaluate it. And laundry is something that every single day, each of us are wearing four or five items of clothing that some, not all of them need to be washed every day, but that's a lot of throughput.

So if you, if that's a family of five, and I know not everybody is with a family of five, but that's probably at least 10 to 12 items of clothing that are gonna need to get washed every single day. And that's a lot. The volumes are high. You really need to break it down and evaluate it. So it's easier said than done.

We've given you 60 seconds of this, but it's important to really focus on that and to think about it as an Ingrid.

Ingrid: absolutely. I mean, and on top of the clothing, got your, your bedding, you've got your towels, you've got, if you are a sports sporting family, you've got all the sports gear as well. It's something that you really have to stay on top. Very few people can do a laundry day once a week and do five or six loads of laundry in one go. If you don't have, you know that. And then the problem is if that day suddenly gets taken up as something else, you are in trouble because you're immediately out of your routine. Another big problem, of course, with laundry often is that it can't be put away. So it's clean, but it can't be put away in the, in the wardrobes because your wardrobes are overflowing.

So that's why, you need to then, of course, start to think, okay. I am always falling down on the, on the part where I have to put it away. So the problem is the putting away. So I need to start working on my wardrobe. So it's all interlinked with decluttering, but having a look at that laundry cycle will really have a massive impact on, on your home, because we have seen the mountainous amounts of laundry, and the problem is at some point nobody knows anymore.

Whether something is clean or dirty, and then you're gonna give yourself even more work than you already have. So very important to get that under control.

Lesley: Absolutely. So we're gonna go back to one of another one of Ingrid's favorite quotes, not her quote. She has stolen it from, William Morris, which is, is that, no, no, that's not William Morris, is it? Why did I say that? That's not William Morris at all.

Ingrid: I dunno be, no, it's not William

Lesley: William Morris is,

Ingrid: have nothing. oh gosh,

Lesley: yeah. Have nothing in your house that you know not to be beautiful or useful or whatever.

Ingrid: abuse.

Lesley: Yeah,

Ingrid: Yes, exactly.

Lesley: so that is not what this is. And English has not stolen it from William Morris. It is a completely different quote, but I just, my mind just went to a different place. But now number eight is actually a place for everything and everything in its place.

And I dunno who originally said that, not William Morris, I would say.

Ingrid: no, not, not Dolia Morris, but it is very important to have a place for everything and everything in its place and. get asked this a lot, right? Lesley, where do you put stuff in your house? If you, Ingrid, you are an organized person, if, can you just tell me where everything lives in your house? Because if you're organized and I'm gonna put it in in the same place in my house, I can be organized too. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, but the principle still stands. You need to decide. What lives where in your house kind of make it a bit kind of, as an example, pots and pans live in the kitchen, right? They're not gonna live in your bedroom. That, that's, that's, that makes sense. But then the pots and pans you need to go.

Okay. Which cupboard in the kitchen do they live? They're heavy. They're big. So they probably live in one of the lower cabinets. So you need to designate one of your lower cabinets. For the pulses and pens to go in. So when you do your washing up and when you do unload your dishwasher, you know the pulses and pens go in that cupboard. So I'm gonna put them back to a place, and you need to basically do this with just about everything. Everything needs to have a home where it lives, because as soon as you know where it lives or you decide where it lives. You can retrieve it and find it, you can then, you know, don't put it down. Put it away, because it actually has a place where it goes, so you then don't need to buy it again and again and again and again because you can't find the item. Now, sometimes you can't determine the exact place, drawer, shelf books, container, but if you know it has to be in this cupboard can already be a great start. And then once the collateral goes down, you're like, okay, this is the cupboard for. Blah, blah, blah. Then you could go, now I'm gonna tidy up this cupboard and make sure that I put like, with like, and that it makes sense.

And then that I have, you know, a, a containers of boxes in there so I can label them. kind of the next step. But you first need to go, where would I look for this item? What makes sense in my head to look for this item? So, you know, that's the place where it needs to be put.

Lesley: Absolutely. It's all about logic and about your own personal logic, isn't it, Ingrid? I think that's what it's all about really. And that's why everybody's home is different and what makes logical sense to one person is absolutely not what makes logical sense to another. So you need to try and work that out.

So our number nine is all about. Storage boxes. And so I think this is about, there's a couple of things with storage boxes, which are gonna be a real game changer. They're gonna have a big impact. One is having the right storage boxes so they are the right size. And so, you know, we need to really look at the stuff that we've got and go, what's an appropriate size box for that?

We need to think about whether it needs to have lid on or lid off. Very, very important. 'cause we need to see where the barriers are, what is stopping us from putting things away. Sometimes if we've got lidded boxes. It is as simple as that. You are like there's a psychological barrier there in place because in order to put that thing in that box, I've gotta.

take the lid off and so sometimes get those lids off if it makes sense. Not, it doesn't always make sense, but sometimes it's just so really looking and analyzing the storage that you've got because we are massive storage over the years. You know, we just gather along the way and then we have a mishmash mishmash of boxes.

Which are not always fit for purpose because things change. You know, something that used to be useful is no longer useful. 'cause we have less stuff, we have bigger stuff, we have more stuff, we have less stuff, whatever that might be. So really think about the storage boxes that you've got and in terms of visual impact, once you've worked out the size of box and whether it's got a lid on or, or a, not a lid on.

Then try if you can, which will have a huge aesthetic upgrade for your home, is to try and have similar boxes in one space, particularly if it's a living area. It doesn't matter quite so much in a, a garage and stuff, but we've all seen those places and, you know, the, the kind of a. On Instagram and stuff are all about beautiful boxes.

Now, we might be a long way from that, but that will indeed make a big impact in your home. So boxes and storage, the right boxes, lids on lids off, and if possible, having the same type of box is gonna be a big deal for you.

Ingrid: Yeah, I think so too. And if, if you've got similar boxes, then you can really think about the labels you're gonna put on them to make it even more, you know. F visible what is in those boxes. So it's not as, oh, I'm just gonna quickly gr run to the store and grab a few boxes. You have to really think it through.

You have to really measure, you have to kind of go, right. type of books works for this? We would always go for. Rectangular box or square books and not a rounded container because a round takes up a lot of time depending on the room where you're looking for, boxes. Like a plastic box is better for a bathroom than, for example, a carton or a paper books because of the humidity. So you really need to think this through. And that's also one of the reasons why buying books in containers is one of the last steps when we are doing, we're working with our membership. Our membership on. On their rooms, we, we say, first you need to declutter, you need to organize. You need to decide where it's going to live.

Then you need to move it. And the last step is those containers. But once you get there, and once you start to kind of put similar containers together, it can have visually look really nice and then it looks calmer, which is really

Lesley: Beneficial for you. Absolutely. So we've done nine fantastic, transformational, impactful things in your home. and number 10 I think is a really sensible one, and we, we would love you to everybody to do this. Now, at the moment, less and less paper-based post comes into our home, but it still comes through the door, right?

We still have letters that come into our post box. Way fewer than we used to have, but now we do. Yeah, but one of the things that you can introduce in your home is sorting out your post and your paperwork straight away. Take it from your letterbox behind your door, wherever you are bringing that in from.

Take it straight to your recycling bins and sort it out. Get rid of the junk mail. Open the envelopes, put the stuff that you need to action in a place that you can action it later on that week and put everything else straight into the recycling or shredding if you need to shred address. It is an absolute game changer, and not having all those random bits of paperwork knocking around your home has a huge impact.

Paper clutter is one of the worst things, isn't it? And we need to try and eliminate that. And so we need to have what we have left over after we've done the recycling and shredding. Is intentional, it can go into a pile that can be dealt with later that we can action and file and all that kind of stuff.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Lesley: yeah. And it's an easy fix writing with and really easy one to do.

Ingrid: Yeah, definitely. Because I think, you know, the thing you really wanna prevent is creating in your hallway this pile of posts that's just being collected and collected, and then you lose control about what's happening and then people start to send you reminders in the post, and then you see the reminders and it's, you create more posts.

So doing this on a daily basis can. Absolutely be a game changer. You know, if you're not, if you're like, yeah, but Ingrid, my, all my paperwork is in total chaos, just start with, I'm going to create a little tray where the stuff that I need to do something with, I'm gonna put that there and I'm gonna create a tray of the stuff that I need to file.

And then once you start to work on those kind of beginning principles, by indeed, like you said, recycling, shredding, junk, mail out, you are already kind of. Ha. The volumes are so much less, and that doesn't matter yet, that your whole filing system is not sorted net yet. But you've made a start. So the flow that comes in is getting under control, and you start to pick up things that need action before they become a problem and take up so much more time.

Lesley: So we've done 10 and let's do a little tally.

Ingrid: know,

Lesley: I mean, to be fair, if we didn't do these. I don't know how we could sit here as the host of the Declutter Hub podcast. If I'm being honest. We would be, it would be a fraudulent thing to do to go actually no place for everything. Everything's place. Nah. Laundry completely outta control.

No daily resets in place. My boxes are all over the place and the postage was piling up in the hall. If we said that, then we would be, yeah, not good professional organizers. So I think it's fair to say we don't do a tally and you don't do them. And I don't do them. So we have zero out of 10.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah,

Lesley: Yeah.

Ingrid: make me think about the ironing I have to do this weekend though, Lesley. I'm like, Hmm, I've got a pile of irony. I don't iron. Of course, every day I iron every, every two weeks I spend and I'm like, Hmm, yeah, it's time. If my two weeks are up again, I need to do my pile of ironing and I do it all in one go grab the hangers, grab the ironing, do it all in one, go watch kind of a show that I want to catch up on, but then it's done.

But I indeed, I. Normally every other week, but I try not to make it any longer because then the piles get

Lesley: Where do you put your, where do you put your iron in? In between. Oh. Oh, that looks like a guilty face. Where? Where does it go? Where? Oh, hang on. I might be giving you one. I might be giving you a a a point here as a fail. where does it go? I'm just interested. I don't know the answer by the way, everybody, 'cause I don't go to English house very often.

Ingrid: do.

Lesley: No,

Ingrid: you do. You

Lesley: I don't. I've not. I've never Yeah, but you've not. Yeah, I, when I'm coming to your house, I can guarantee that you've shoved it somewhere out of sight, haven't you? So, where, why are you, why so guilty?

Ingrid: 'cause you know you, I'm gonna get grief from you on this. I know you. I am. It goes on my banister.

Lesley: Oh, stop it. Stop it. That, that. Oh, I, I, I give up. I take it all back. I take it all back. So we've got the banister drove and we've got the ironing, and you've got two weeks worth of ironing piled up over your banister.

Ingrid: yeah.

Lesley: Why don't you just have an iron in basket?

Ingrid: Yeah, because I don't like it. I don't like an ironing

Lesley: You know, I don't like the thought of my business partner in the decluttering world, putting piles of ironing over a banister. I don't like that either.

Ingrid: where, where am I gonna put an basket? I know where to put it.

Lesley: You've got a four bedroom house. You can put it somewhere.

Ingrid: Yeah, but I, I wouldn't want irony here in my home office. I like my home office. It's nice and tiny.

Lesley: What were we talking about before about the hallway and making that you, you, your landing is just the same, right? That's your, that's your 2026 resolution. I'm gonna come back to you at the end of 2026 and check in that there's no more ironing or close over that banister.

Ingrid: Okay, well by that time Anne will have gone to off to uni as well, so I do have a whole room that I can make my, my laundry room, Lesley. So,

Lesley: Oh God. It involves one of your children leaving home for you to, practice what you preach.

Ingrid: you've got a nice utility room with like. Things

Lesley: that. I know that.

Ingrid: rails and stuff. I, I, I'm like, I, I,

Lesley: Oh, you poor,

Ingrid: person. I'm

Lesley: Ingrid. Poor, poor Ingrid with a four bedroom house. Honestly.

Ingrid: was trying to, I was trying to avoid this whole conversation, and now you've caught

Lesley: I can't believe we've done nearly 400 episodes, and I've never realized that's why you put your eye in. You see there's something inside me that pops into my head and goes Ask her. Where's your, ask her. Ask her. Lesley. Go on. Ask her where she puts her eye in. And then she went, oh. And I was like, oh my word.

Anyway, we are going way over, we are going way over time. So what should have been a shorter podcast has become long because I've been interrogating my lovely business partner. and yeah, I'm being,

Ingrid: a good start for 2026. Lesley, not a good start for 2026.

Lesley: close up this podcast while I go and cry into my, into my, yeah.

Ingrid: You go and cry into a corner. I'm, I'm happy as Larry where I am so I can find everything. Everything's working smoothly. I can handle a couple of items on a, on a, on a banister

Lesley: Fair enough.

Ingrid: all good here.

Lesley: Fair enough.

Ingrid: anyway, listeners, we hope you've enjoyed this podcast and we hope you come back next week, even after my epic fail of my ironing drop or my banister. this is really take, take these, you know, this is not gonna, just wanted to say, this is not gonna all happen overnight. Right? These 10 things, this is something that you work on slowly but surely that's what the membership, our membership are working on. Slowly but surely, those light bulb moments, like, oh wow, yeah. I'm not gonna put it down. I'm gonna actually put it in the back where I'm gonna use it next. Again, it, all these things make such a difference and we see those light bulbs going off in, in our lovely, forum, in our message board, in our membership, where members are like, wow, I can see now the impact of that decluttering, that Organising, that categorization. Absolutely fantastic. So I can see the daily resets, how important they are now. So listeners, what is the one thing that you're like, okay. I know they talked about 10 things, but this is the one thing that I want to focus on. Let us know. Leave a comment, send us an email. Tell us, because we would love to know what it is that you are going to focus on in 2026 as well.

How can you transform how you can, how could you make a big impact in your home? And for now, I'm just gonna, I know, cry in a corner. That Lesley's caught me out and I'll see you next week. Bye everyone.