Tuesday Time Management & Decluttering Talk - Top 3 Kitchen Clutter Hotspots

Over the next few weeks I thought we could highlight different clutter hotspots and see if we can clear them out little by little!

This week we are looking at the Kitchen:

1. Kitchen counters are like paper magnets. Seriously I think the mail piles up and multiplies into stacks of unpaid bills, election fliers, junk mail and I’m literally not sure what else. Take a moment and toss the trash, put the rest in the right files. Seriously, if you do this several times a week you can keep up with the mess so much more easily.

2. The junk drawer. It’s name even identifies it as such. You know that one drawer that kinda is the catch all when you don’t know where to put the matches, the extra pens, keys, safety pins and crayons. I have no idea how things accumulate there but they do and before you know it you have no idea what’s in it or where to put any of it. Empty it out and toss the junk. The rest needs to find a permanent home.

3. The Spice Rack. Oh my goodness - why is this one so bad? I guess it could be the one recipe that calls for 1 tsp of cream of tartar, and you never use it again. So you need to toss them on a semi regular basis. If they are no longer fresh you don’t want to keep them on your shelf anyway because they won’t add the extra flavor you are craving anyway.

Ok those are my top 3 in the kitchen - what would you add to the list?

Tuesday Time Management & Decluttering Talk - Most Valuable Resource

Time is my most valuable resource.

There was a time when I probably believed that money was the most valuable resource, but the reality is that time is more precious and most fleeting. 

I can’t create more time, but I can work more hours, or sell more things to earn more money.

Once time is used it’s gone, and the seconds turn to minutes which turn to hours and eventually to days, weeks and years. We see the years flow by without any opportunity to stop them and many times we look back with regret.

Instead of living with regret I need to continue to move forward. Pressing on but with intentionality. And don’t think I’m throwing that word around because it’s the current buzzword. I mean it. I mean stepping back and assessing how I am using my time, and in what way and making changes as needed to meet my goal.

If my goal is to spend more time with my family, or be available for ballgames, field trips, and playdates, I have to look ahead and plan.

I either have to take time off work, get a sitter, or clear an afternoon of meetings. If I don’t plan ahead, I miss the opportunity and it’s not one that comes again the next day or the next week even.

While there are seasons in our life where we have to buckle down and hustle, my encouragement to you would be this – don’t let that become the new normal for you. Protect your most valuable asset and make sure you are spending it exactly the way you want to be.  If you are not, reassess and see what changes you could make to accomplish just that.

Tuesday Time Management & Decluttering Talk - Clean It Up

One of the most difficult obstacles to keeping up with a clean households is navigating all the stuff.

Let’s face it compared to much of the rest of the world, even the most modest of households can admit that we are incredibly blessed.

Yet the accumulation of stuff can sneak in and overwhelm us without a doubt.

The challenge of organizing our stuff is that it’s never enough.

Things like food are consumable and must be purchased regularly, but right alongside the food we need is the extra little things. You know what I’m talking about - the air fresheners, kitchen utensils, equipment or my goodness depending on where you shop, shirts, bathing suits and socks! These are the things that consume space and crowd out the room we actually crave.

The secondary issue is that clutter keeps us away from people.

How many times have you decided not to have company over, friend or family member, because your house is a mess? Listen, I’m not judging, I’m sitting right here with you in the midst of my own mess acknowledging there are not enough fingers & toes to give an accurate assessment.

I’m just asking us all - why does our stuff get to take priority over people?

The challenge is recognizing the problem for what it is. It’s not a funny little problem that happened overnight. It’s a sequence of events, behaviors even, that we may not truly recognize or even be able to articulate. It’s buying an extra toy just because you can, because your childhood memories include being told “no” on multiple occasions because there was no money for extras. We justify that we want our children to have a better childhood than we did by overbuying and spoiling and then wonder why our kids can’t appreciate all they’ve been given.

Because this problem doesn’t occur overnight, we have to first attack the clutter with a drill sergeant mindset.

Keep the necessities, toss the broken things and donate things that others might need or want.

As this decluttering occurs, I can guarantee you will feel much happier. The things that are left behind can be displayed, arranged or stored for later and the beauty of this process is that everything that remains can have it’s “place.” When the kids play or things are a bit messy, not having 9,255 items makes it a much faster process for cleanup.

A faster process for cleanup feels more doable than a hours long organizing/hiding fest. Been there, done that, and designed the tshirt. I’ve stashed more stuff than you even know. And honestly the stuff clutters up not just physical space but mental space too, but I want veer off on to that today - it’s a subject for another day.

The blessing of a faster cleanup is that our homes, once again, become places for people, not stuff!

Tuesday Time Management & Decluttering Talk

My One Priority

Keeping our homes running smoothly requires prioritization. Having a good sense of priorities helps us to juggle all the things. As busy as we remain in our daily lives, we can’t do everything we think we need to do in a day. So there are some basic time management principles we can put into play that will help us in our hearts and hour homes.  The first thing is setting your priority.

For me personally this means getting all the things I need to do written out so that I can decide which is most important for my day. Each day my priority is spending time in my Bible and prayer.

It’s a first priority for my heart because it affects my home.

Beyond that I list out the things that I must do for that day, and the things I’d like to get accomplished and then make a schedule. I don’t always accomplish it according to schedule, but I get far more done with a schedule than I do if I just let the day roll along without a thought for how to accomplish it all.  The essence of time management is the plan and exercise of control on time spent on various activities. This increases effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. When we manage our time well we can accomplish more in a shorter period of time.

The irony for those who hate scheduling because it feels limiting is that the reality of the end result of time management is that you have more free time. This is free time that can be spent with family and friends, further your education, start a business, or serve more in your church and community.

A schedule and practice of regular time management helps to lower stress increases our focus which inevitably helps us accomplish more and leads to a better life and job success. Making a schedule and working to stick to it takes effort and discipline but you don’t have to be born with natural ability in this. This is a skill that can be developed and becomes most advantageous when you do work to develop it.