Motivation to Organize or Clean — PCP 042

Motivation can be hard to get and hold onto. How can you GET motivated and get GOING on the things you want to make a change with?

This post is inspired by my post on motivation. I think we all WANT to make a change, it’s just all about getting over that bump to doing it!

Big thanks to our sponsor The Organized Home — if you’re looking to make a change it is going to MOTIVATE you to get going!

AND, if you’re not ready to jump into the full course — check out my 5 word organization challenge:

What we’re talking about today:

• WHY to make a change in your house (finding your REASONS motivates you!)
• Ways to get over the “bump” of motivation (or lowering that bump)
• Something to do AFTERWARDS that will help you get motivated next time!

Items Mentioned

• Family Routines can really help YOU to help kids get organized!
• I workout with Lindsay Brin from Mom’s into Fitness
• My podcast on what to do when you’re overwhelmed by the clutter

Other posts that might interest you:

I have a post on my favorite organization hacks, my favorite organization systems in my house and creating a cleaning schedule (because sometimes being told what to do so I can check it off is a great motivator!)

Producer: Drew Erickson

Check out my other household tips podcasts:

Check out all my podcasts:

Transcript:

0:00
Hey guys, welcome back to the pulling curls podcast today we’re talking about motivation. Okay, we’re going to talk about what motivation is. We’re going to talk about some of the reasons you might want to make a change. And we’re going to talk about some of the best ways to get going easily kind of needing less motivation to get started. So let’s untangle it. Welcome to the pulling girls podcast where we untangle everything from pregnancy parenting, home routines, even some family travel because heavens knows our lives are tangled. I’m your host, Hilary Erickson. Okay, before we get started, just a reminder that I love reviews.

They mean so much to me, and I really appreciate it when you guys drop one in in the podcast platform of your choice. Also, be sure and check out in the show notes. I have a completely free five word organization challenge that you guys can join. It is all about getting started the steps you’re going to do because sometimes you need motivation to just like what am I going to do, right? You’re just overwhelmed. So These are five words that are going to get you started totally free. Check it out in the show notes.

This episode of The pulling curls podcast is sponsored by the organized home the realistic way to manage a home reduce clutter and clean less ever wished you could relax with Netflix rather than worrying about the state of your home or that last paper you need. No more needing hours to prep for company be prepared for any doorbell. Let’s simplify organizing so you can enjoy life more save 15% with the coupon code untangled you can find it at point curls calm and the menu under courses or in this episode show notes.

Okay, so what is motivation? It’s like a course I turned a Webster you know because I love me some definition. So it says it is a desire or willingness which let’s be honest, I’m actually recording this during the whole COVID mess and not a whole lot of desire going on around here. I mentioned to a friend that I was recording a podcast on motivation and she just laughed because it’s just hard to be motivated by anything right now. Right in it. Also the reasons behind what you’re doing for it.

So looking for the positive end benefits is definitely a motivation. And honestly, it’s the only thing that’s working for me right now. So what are the reasons? So I came up with five reasons you might have reasons of your own, maybe these will ring true for you as well, you’re going to decrease your stress in a cluttered house. And that that’s really important right now, because I am stuck at home all the time. And so it’s really nice to have systems that just work efficiently that I don’t have to worry about that is so nice. During this crazy time, I’m able to find what I need. Like in the kitchen, when you’re looking for that you’re looking for a pie server and you can’t find it.

It’s so nice to be like, Oh, it’s just in this drawer and you kind of have an organization system that makes it work or like let’s say you need papers that you you know, let’s say you have a roof contract and you’re looking for a roofing contract. I have a spot where all of my current papers go and it just makes it so much easier. So having less stress in those arenas is so nice. Also, it’s not happening right now but if you were to have guests over, it’s so nice not to have to worry about what the state of your house looks like when they’re coming over. And so I really appreciate that whenever somebody comes over, I can invite them in and not feel weird about it. Now Honestly, I don’t think you should ever feel all that weird about it. Because I’ve never judging somebody’s house, I know that there are crazy days. And I figured that’s just one of those if your house is a mess, but it just is less stress.

For me, that’s for sure. I also think that it’s really important to teach your kids and again, during this whole COVID mess, I’ve definitely been doing that my daughter is really starting to learn how to organize and it makes me hopeful for her future previous to this. I just thought she would live in a house full of washi tape that was everywhere, because that’s what it would look like. But teaching kids how to organize can be a motivator. And if you’re not really that into it for yourself, I think everyone realizes that having organized kids is something they want and need in the future. And so teaching kids is a huge motivator. Side note, I have a whole course on family routines that talks about helping kids organized and cleaning your house.

So if you’re looking for a little something like that I have, check it out in the show notes. I’ll link to it and then finally it just simplifies your life. It is so nice to walk into my closet and everything that’s in there. I’m willing to wear. There’s nothing in there that I’m like that doesn’t really fit. I don’t really like it. I have kept a couple things that I’m like, Oh, I hope I fit into that someday. But I’ve limited it to a couple and then at the very back of my closet, but otherwise everything in my closet is completely wearable. And I feel good when I go into it because my life is simplified versus walking into it and thinking, Oh, I wish I was thinner for 90% of this wardrobe. A lot of organization is decluttering and decluttering simplifies life, which is I think what we’re all looking for, right?

Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about it’s overwhelming, right? I know that when you look at a pile of things that need to be organized you think this will take me the rest of my life I will finish this organization with my last dying breath right? It never takes as long as you envision it just big piles are overwhelming. And once you start to sort through them and and my five organization challenge has lots of things in there that can help you quickly get through a pile but it is overwhelming and I have a whole episode. being overwhelmed. I love how my friend Carly was saying sometimes she walks into the kitchen and thinks I’m just gonna burn this down. That would be so much easier than trying to clean this up. And I think a lot of us feel that way sometimes. So let’s talk about a couple ways to decrease the overwhelm. First, you can use a timer, I’m a huge fan of the timer. In fact, the girl that I work out with, she always says just start, give it five minutes. If you’re five minutes into the workout and you’re still miserable and not feeling it, then stop but a lot of times you get five minutes into the workout and you’re like, this is alright, I’m feeling pretty good. I think I’ll have benefits from this later on.

And so you keep going organization is the same way. Sometimes what I do is I set a timer literally for just two minutes and I pull out everything that I can in those two minutes, I then wipe down the surfaces that I’ve gotten clear and then I put it back and sometimes when I think I can do anything for two minutes, it just gets it going. And then I think you know now I’m going to pull out this next section I’m going to everything pulled out it is addicting a little bit and which is awesome because you’re starting to see benefits. So start with a timer. Start with a realistic timeframe and it might help lower the motivation that you need. In order to get going also just breaking it into small chunks, if I think you know, I’m just gonna do this one dresser drawer today versus thinking I’m just gonna do my whole dresser because that is really overwhelming.

But if you think I’m just gonna do my underwear and my socks today, you’re like, anyone can do that. And you’ll find that that makes such a big deal. It doesn’t sound like it will be a big deal. But when that drawer just opens really easily, and all the underwear and socks that are in there are usable and you like and all that kind of stuff. It makes a big deal and you think you know next I’m going to move to my shirt drawer because this has been such an effective change in my life for 10 minutes of my time. Yeah. So that’s a great motivator to small chunks. And then like I said, with the underwear and socks or appreciate what you did say man, I did that and it’s really made a change in my life and I want to make a change and my shirt or now or my pants store,

say it out loud. This underwear drawers making my life so much better. Appreciate that I got done. Appreciate that you can make a change in your life. I think sometimes we feel like life just happens to us. But the reality is there are changes that we can make in our life and just the underwear and socks. Or just our shirt drawer and it can really make our life more positive and enjoyable and less stressful. So that’s a lot of the motivation to me is really noticing when I’m like,

Oh, I’m so grateful that I clear out my closet. It is really making picking what to wear easier. That’s what I have to say about motivation today. Of course, if you guys want to check out the organized home, it goes through lots of ways to get organized and get going in your own house. It goes through each room. So goes room by room, there’s a bathroom section, there’s a kitchen section, there’s a bedroom section, there’s a closet section, so just pick the area that you want to get started in and get started in the organized home. If you want to learn more about it. It is also linked to in the show notes. This post is inspired by a post on motivation. And I will link to that one in the show notes as well. If you like today’s episode, we’d love it if you would share, subscribe and review. We really appreciate it. We drop an episode every Monday and until then I hope you have a tangle free day.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai