1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,800 Some of you have been letting your bedroom just fall by the 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:06,080 wayside because you've been so busy. 3 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:08,920 When your house is a mess and you're feeling the stress, what 4 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:10,840 you need is a friend in your ear. 5 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:15,600 Start the job and you'll see it through with Ronnie talking to 6 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,680 you. Make the chaos disappear. 7 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:32,200 Clean with Me podcast is here. Thanks for joining me. 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,400 In today's episode, we're going to be cleaning your bedroom, 9 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:42,160 your bedroom closet, and we're also going to be dealing with 10 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:46,120 your laundry. Whether you keep your clean 11 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:51,600 laundry in your bedroom or not. Let's get right into the 12 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,000 episode. It's time to gear up for your 13 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,200 cleaning session. One of the first things you 14 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,960 might want to do is start a load of laundry. 15 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,000 Maybe you need to switch the laundry from the washing machine 16 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:08,840 into the dryer and start a new load. 17 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,440 Maybe you've got some dirty clothes to wash, or towels to 18 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,320 wash. Or maybe you want to strip your 19 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:22,120 bedding and get your sheets and pillowcases washing or your 20 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,160 comforter washing. By the way, something I've been 21 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:30,600 doing lately is when I wash my comforter I hang it over a room 22 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,600 divider and let it air dry. This might not be practical 23 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:40,520 everywhere but we live in a super dry climate so it it dries 24 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:47,400 overnight and keeps me from having to keep like readjusting 25 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,280 the comforter and restarting the dryer. 26 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:56,920 It saves money and yeah, that's what I have been doing with 27 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,520 that. Same with any heavy blanket. 28 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:03,440 And maybe you don't have a room divider, but you have something 29 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,760 else to hang it on. Just get your laundry started, 30 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,680 whatever that means for you today. 31 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,520 The other thing you're going to want to do before cleaning your 32 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:20,440 room is empty your bedroom wastebasket, if you have one. 33 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,040 We have two wastebaskets in our bedroom. 34 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:32,640 And I'll tell you, when we had this flu, I moved my wastebasket 35 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,680 right next to the bed in case I were to get sick in the middle 36 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,680 of the night. DMI, I know it's just another 37 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,560 reason to have a wastebasket in your bedroom. 38 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:45,960 I did not end up using it though. 39 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,920 But having a bedroom wastebasket and then putting it by the bed 40 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:58,560 when you're sick is a lot less gross then using a large bowl 41 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,200 that you serve popcorn in or something. 42 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,520 You know what I'm saying? But you're going to want to 43 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:08,920 empty any bedroom waste baskets. You're also going to want to 44 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:14,600 grab a trash bag because when I empty my bedroom waste baskets 45 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:19,120 and my room's only a little messy, I'll put any trash that I 46 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,080 find into that freshly emptied wastebasket. 47 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:27,960 However, if it's been a while since I've cleaned my room and 48 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:31,680 there are lots empty water bottles or whatever else, I like 49 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,200 to have a separate trash bag to put the trash into. 50 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,680 That way I'm not immediately refilling my wastebaskets, if 51 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,640 that makes sense. I'm going to give you about one 52 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:47,040 more minute to start your laundry or do that laundry 53 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:54,440 switch and empty your bedroom wastebasket and make sure that 54 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:59,480 you have a trash bag. I hope everyone's having a happy 55 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:04,600 New year so far. We had a great visit with my son 56 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,480 who's in the Marines. And what was nice is he didn't 57 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:15,640 end up using his leave to visit us over the holidays because he 58 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:20,640 signed up for something called RA Recruiter Assistance, meaning 59 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:26,600 he reported to work a few times at the Marine recruiter's 60 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,280 office. I mean, they had some days that 61 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,560 they were, you know, just officially off, like, you know, 62 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:35,200 Christmas, New Year's and whatnot. 63 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:41,760 But on many of the other days, he reported to work that way. 64 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,280 He didn't use up his leave. So he'll be able to visit us 65 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:49,560 again in a few months. Basically, they had him, you 66 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,160 know, making phone calls at the recruiter's office. 67 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:57,120 They also gave him a lot of days off that didn't count toward his 68 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,640 leave. So we got to spend a lot of 69 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:05,320 quality time with him despite the rest of us being sick some 70 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:07,440 of the time. I also got to spend a lot of 71 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:11,400 time with our local daughter and our local grandkids and since I 72 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:16,120 work a couple days a week at the school and school was out for 73 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:21,880 the holidays, I was off. All I had was the podcast and I 74 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,440 know I didn't do a lot of recording. 75 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,600 I did a regular episode one week I think and then a bonus episode 76 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:34,600 the next. But I wasn't feeling well and my 77 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,160 son was staying in the room where I usually record. 78 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,120 So I I did what I could under the circumstances. 79 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:47,120 OK, the next thing I want you to do is quickly make your bed. 80 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,280 Unless you're washing the bedding and planning on putting 81 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:55,720 that same stuff back on. Lately when I wash our bedding, 82 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,400 I put on a different set of bedding. 83 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,480 That way I'm able to quickly make my bed. 84 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,440 And this might not even be a day that you're washing your 85 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:09,320 bedding. Just making your bed is such a 86 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,200 springboard task. Trust the process. 87 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,040 Your room's going to look instantly better and it's going 88 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:20,520 to give you a staging area where you can put things that you find 89 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,280 on the floor and you can deal with laundry and whatnot. 90 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:30,480 So let's at least spread something over the bed if you 91 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,360 know your sheets are washing or something like that, because 92 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,720 you're going to need a nice clean area to place things. 93 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:42,360 And as far as dealing with clutter in your room, there are 94 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,520 a couple of ways to go about it. You can do kind of the 95 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:52,000 geographical method where you start in one corner and simply 96 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,120 work your way around the room just dealing with everything you 97 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,680 come across. Oh, this is trash. 98 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:05,120 Oh, this goes in The Dirty laundry hamper or this needs to 99 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,840 be hung up. So I'm going to lay it on the 100 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:11,320 bed for a while until I get a few things together that I need 101 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,880 to hang up and you can just work your way around. 102 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:20,400 The other method is cleaning in layers where you work by 103 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,160 category. You deal with all the trash, you 104 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:26,800 deal with all the clothes and shoes, and then you deal with 105 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,160 other miscellaneous items. But since you clicked on this 106 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:36,400 episode looking for some guidance, I'm going to pick the 107 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:40,480 geographical method for this episode because in most of the 108 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:44,880 bedroom cleaning Episode I episodes, I have you, you know, 109 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,800 cleaning layers by category. So in this episode, we're going 110 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:53,360 to do it geographically. One of the pros of the 111 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:57,920 geographic cleaning method is that it, it forces you to deal 112 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,480 with every single item. And then you, you kind of get 113 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:07,800 that instant satisfaction of having a certain corner done. 114 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,800 And I definitely like to start in a visible area. 115 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:19,440 The way our room is set up, you cannot see the floor on my 116 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:24,640 husband's side of the bed from the front door, so that's 117 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:26,800 usually the last area that I clean. 118 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,480 Not only that, but he usually cleans that area himself, 119 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,039 especially if he notices I've cleaned the rest of the room. 120 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,640 That's going to cause him to deal with his little corner. 121 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:43,880 OK, so I do want you to start with a visible corner of your 122 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:49,560 room first or perhaps the front entrance and then end with the 123 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:55,680 least visible area. OK, so things that you come 124 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:59,680 across are going to fall into different categories. 125 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:05,000 Trash which you have a wastebasket and or trash bag for 126 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,400 that. Clothing and shoes, you know 127 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,000 shoes can go to the closet. Clothing you need to decide 128 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:14,600 whether it's dirty or clean. If it's clean, you can lay it on 129 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,200 the bed because we're going to be dealing with some clean 130 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:23,040 laundry in this episode anyway. If it's dirty, you're going to 131 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,240 put it into the hamper. If you have a hamper in your 132 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,400 room or take it to the laundry room, whatever you do with your 133 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:34,080 dirty clothes, and then miscellaneous items that need to 134 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:39,000 be relocated to a different room, you need a pile for that 135 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,240 or a basket for that or box for that. 136 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,520 But just decide what you're going to do with items that are 137 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,760 actually leaving the room. That way you're not constantly 138 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,920 leaving the room. And then another category are 139 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,760 items that have a place in your room. 140 00:09:54,920 --> 00:10:00,400 For example, maybe a book goes on a bookshelf or in a 141 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:04,440 particular drawer. You'll just deal with that item. 142 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,800 The only things that are going to get piled up are items that 143 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:09,680 don't belong in your room at all. 144 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:15,440 You know, maybe kid toys, pet toys, tools from a recent 145 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:19,760 project, the scissors and tape from wrapping gifts. 146 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,120 You know, maybe your bedroom was a wrapping station before 147 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:27,520 Christmas and now the scissors and tape go in your kitchen junk 148 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:32,240 drawer, for example. OK, those could go into a 149 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,800 relocation pile. And when I'm cleaning the 150 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:41,840 clutter in my room, I tend to sit down if it's a real messy 151 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,760 corner. Like usually the corner around 152 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:49,760 my night stand accumulates and things, so I might sit down for 153 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:55,160 that part, but then when I'm moving on to less cluttered 154 00:10:55,160 --> 00:11:00,360 areas of the room, I'm on my feet just bending over picking 155 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:02,760 up items. No judgment here. 156 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,400 If you have a super messy corner where you have to sit down on 157 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,480 the floor and grab all those items. 158 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:13,800 Now, I talked about putting clean clothes on the bed, like 159 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:15,960 things that you're going to hang up or put away. 160 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:20,320 And I also talked about starting some laundry. 161 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:28,240 Do you have a residual clean laundry pile or a plastic bin 162 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:33,400 where you keep clean laundry? Let's put that on the bed and 163 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:39,560 dump it onto the bed. Even if it's a big pile, even if 164 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,120 you've got a pack and play full of laundry. 165 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:45,920 I mentioned that we've been sick. 166 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:51,920 We've had, you know, company as far as you know, family and 167 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:59,600 recently I had set up the pack and play for my little 2 year 168 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,240 old granddaughter and it had just stayed open. 169 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,280 I didn't fold it back up after she used it. 170 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:13,960 And much to my dismay, my husband started doing laundry 171 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,640 one day and just piling all the clean laundry into the pack and 172 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:21,240 plate. Like, he reverted back to a 173 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:27,360 season of life where we were putting laundry in an unused 174 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,680 playpen, basically. And I appreciated that. 175 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:32,080 You know, he was washing clothes. 176 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,640 We were all kind of pitching in, like whoever felt the best on 177 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:39,080 any given day would cook or do laundry. 178 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:43,960 And I appreciated the help, but I got a little bit triggered 179 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,720 when before I knew it, that pack and play was just full. 180 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:51,240 And I was like digging through it trying to find an article of 181 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,840 clothing. And I was like, I do not want to 182 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:58,640 keep laundry in here. I, I started folding and putting 183 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:03,920 it away a couple days ago. And after I got it thinned way 184 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:10,080 down, I transferred the stuff into just a small plastic tub, 185 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,160 you know, which was mainly because there were a lot of 186 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,000 random socks from different family members. 187 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,200 That was another thing that was a little triggering. 188 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,160 Like a lot of people's laundry got mixed together. 189 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,800 I'm talking people who don't even live here full time from, 190 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,200 you know, when they spent the night and whatnot. 191 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,680 So I started putting their clothes in a different basket, 192 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:36,680 putting a lot of our stuff away. And I got everything out of the 193 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:39,160 pack and play and then asked him to fold it up. 194 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,360 I'm like, we need to fold this up because I don't want this to 195 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:49,240 happen again. And yes, you know, years ago we 196 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:53,600 did have a, a clean laundry pile that big, but I don't want to 197 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:59,800 ever go back to that with the pack and play is folded up and 198 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,040 it's going to go into my closet for a long term storage. 199 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,760 And, you know, until we need it, I do need to clean my bedroom 200 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:11,400 closet out first, which is another topic I'm going to be 201 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,800 discussing in this episode. So if you do have a home for 202 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:20,960 residual clean laundry, you don't want that container to be 203 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,400 too big because otherwise it's going to be very difficult to 204 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:28,240 find things and it's it's going to feel overwhelming. 205 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,480 And I mean, a possible alternative, it's kind of like 206 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:33,520 with toy boxes. You don't want to have one giant 207 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:35,760 toy box that your kids are emptying out. 208 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:38,080 You want to have a few smaller containers. 209 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:42,520 Same principle. If you are kind of living out of 210 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,800 laundry baskets, consider having a different colored laundry 211 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:51,840 basket for each family member. That way you don't have some 212 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:57,120 overwhelming container. OK, no, I'm not necessarily 213 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:03,400 giving you permission to have a residual laundry basket, but if 214 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,400 you do, let's keep it to one basket, or at least one basket 215 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:11,840 per person, and not have that giant pile of Mount Foldmore. 216 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,920 Far as miscellaneous socks, sometimes you need to put all 217 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:20,400 the unidentified socks in a pile and then call in your kids. 218 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,120 Like pull out your socks out of this pile. 219 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:25,600 Whatever's left must be so and so's. 220 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:31,440 Who doesn't live here? OK, hopefully you have some 221 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:36,360 clean clothes on your bed right now, whether they are items that 222 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,880 you found while cleaning your room or something you pulled out 223 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,520 of the dryer, or something you pulled out of a pack and play or 224 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:48,760 a laundry basket. Let's finish geographically 225 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,000 cleaning your room, working your way around the perimeter of your 226 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,280 room. Obviously you're picking up 227 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,720 items in the center as well, but sometimes it gets cluttered 228 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:01,240 around the edges. Let's get your room quickly 229 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:06,800 picked up so that we can fold and put away the laundry. 230 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:13,520 Another benefit of sometimes cleaning your room, you know, 231 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:18,040 corner by corner and just working your way around is that 232 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:23,040 it doesn't allow you to leave any clutter. 233 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:28,160 It it forces you to deal with everything because you're you're 234 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:31,800 doing it systematically. I also want you to do it with 235 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,280 the mentality that you're getting the bedroom vacuum ready 236 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,160 or sweep ready if you sweep your bedroom. 237 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,920 OK, Of course, if you don't have a lot of clutter and you get 238 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:48,040 your room picked up quickly, by all means vacuum it during this 239 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,960 segment. And then you might want to 240 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:53,160 consider cleaning your baseboards. 241 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:58,560 You know, some people use first a dust mop and then a spin mop 242 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:00,920 to clean their baseboards without bending. 243 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,599 Or if you're like me, you might have already given your 244 00:17:04,599 --> 00:17:08,680 baseboards a lot of attention right before having holiday 245 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,599 guests, and you're not really due for that yet. 246 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,400 Maybe you need to just get your bedroom picked up and vacuum 247 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,599 ready. And if you're ahead of the game, 248 00:17:18,599 --> 00:17:21,040 just start vacuuming. But I know a lot of you are 249 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:26,520 dealing with clutter. Once you have finished removing 250 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,960 clutter from the perimeter of your room, the middle of your 251 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:36,240 room, you know, even if you have a lot of clean laundry still on 252 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:41,000 the bed that needs to be dealt with, I want you to turn your 253 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:45,080 attention to your closet. OK? 254 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,840 This is not necessarily a deep clean of your closet. 255 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,160 I do have episodes that are more about the closet. 256 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:58,640 But at the same time, no bedroom cleaning session is really 257 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:03,720 complete without clearing your closet floor because you're 258 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:05,520 going to need a place to put things. 259 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:10,560 And when you're folding those clean clothes, some of them need 260 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:12,600 to need to be hung up in your closet. 261 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:19,160 So let's deal with any glaring problems in the closet floor. 262 00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:23,880 You know, maybe you have gift wrapping materials. 263 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:27,680 Maybe you have empty boxes that need to go out to the garage or 264 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:32,200 out to your outdoor trash bin. Maybe you just need to kind of 265 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:36,720 move things around, move things to the edges. 266 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,880 Especially if it's a walk in closet, you want to be able to 267 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,280 walk into it. You're going to be a lot more 268 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:46,840 likely to hang up your clothes as you move about your day if 269 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:52,960 you're able to get to the the bar where you hang your clothes 270 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,120 without stumbling over clutter on the floor. 271 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,680 Maybe you have a shoe rack in your closet, but you've been 272 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:02,360 just tossing shoes in the closet. 273 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,320 Put those into the rack. Remove any clutter from the 274 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,200 closet floor. Again, this is not a just a 275 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:15,400 complete overhaul, but I know in my closet, sometimes things get 276 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:21,680 tossed in there that should be off to the side or inside of a 277 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:27,040 box. So, you know, I mentioned that 278 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,600 we folded up that pack and play. The way we're going to be able 279 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:36,840 to put that away is by clearing that closet floor of clutter and 280 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,320 kind of reorganizing things around the edges. 281 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:46,560 OK, I like to keep a few boxes in the back of the closet. 282 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:49,480 One of them is what I call a donation station. 283 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:54,600 Another one is for items that are going to my daughter's house 284 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:59,760 in Texas next time we visit her. The key is having those under 285 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,240 where I hang my clothes so that I can walk right up and hang up 286 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:07,920 my clothes without stumbling over these boxes and containers. 287 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,920 And don't get me wrong, my husband has a tendency to want 288 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,440 to keep everything in the garage, but I'm really big on 289 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:16,400 keeping certain things in the house. 290 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:21,240 I don't want certain things to get messed up or to get overly 291 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,240 dusty. Certain things need to be stored 292 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,840 indoors in in the closet. But I want to be able to walk 293 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,160 into my walk in closet. And maybe your closet is not a 294 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:35,680 walk in closet, but you still need to organize the floor of it 295 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,520 so that you're able to shut the doors properly. 296 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:43,120 Let's not put too much thought into it, but let's get your 297 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:47,600 closet floor picked up and, you know, remove anything that 298 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,800 doesn't belong. Get it organized. 299 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,960 And Speaking of things that don't belong, once you've 300 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,560 straightened up your closet floor, it might be time to turn 301 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,480 your attention to that pile of items that don't belong in your 302 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,360 room at all. Time to make a trip where you're 303 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,000 redistributing those items around the house. 304 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,880 Maybe some kids toys need to go to the toy box. 305 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,680 Maybe some tools need to go out to the garage. 306 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:21,600 Maybe you need to put those wrapping supplies away. 307 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,840 I usually put the tape and the scissors into the junk drawer in 308 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:32,400 my kitchen, but any remaining rolls of wrapping paper I put up 309 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,240 on the shelf of the closet to use next year. 310 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,640 And I realize you might need to put away your Christmas decor at 311 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,000 this point. For those of you who celebrate 312 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,720 Christmas, the way I do that is right after New Year's. 313 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,440 I'll put away all the small decorations. 314 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:54,120 I will admit, I'm recording this on January 5th. 315 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,920 The tree is still up, but I've put away all the other 316 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,960 decorations. So someone just needs to take 317 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:01,680 down the tree. It's a fake tree. 318 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,080 Disassemble it, put it in the box with the ornaments. 319 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:06,920 Done. But I've put away the small 320 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,280 stuff already. I have a shelf for seasonal 321 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:14,880 decor in my linen closet. But since this is a bedroom 322 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,440 episode, I'm going to assume that you did not heavily 323 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,360 decorate your bedroom for Christmas. 324 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:21,920 If you did, let's put those items away. 325 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:24,680 Once you've distributed things around the house that don't 326 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:30,280 belong, it's time to turn your attention to the laundry. 327 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,840 OK, for those of you who had a lot of clutter to deal with, 328 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:38,760 obviously after this episode, you can put on some music and 329 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,640 vacuum the room. And I definitely encourage you 330 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,520 to complete that finishing touch because just knowing that you're 331 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,120 going to vacuum causes you to be more thorough. 332 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:53,720 And also a room that's dusted and vacuum just looks nice. 333 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,400 OK, so after this episode, take a minute to dust your night 334 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:04,040 stand, dresser, desk, whatever, and vacuum the room. 335 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,800 And maybe there's a bonus task like cleaning a baseboard, a 336 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,320 window sill. But this this episode is more 337 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,680 about the clutter, OK? Because some of you have been 338 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:18,640 letting your bedroom just fall by the wayside because you've 339 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:23,480 been so busy and or sick this time of year. 340 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:29,560 Even without those bonus tasks of wiping down surfaces, just 341 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,960 getting a pick vac done, getting your room picked up and vacuumed 342 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:39,120 with the bed made and you know the closet floor visible is 343 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:43,120 going to be great. And having your laundry folded 344 00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:45,200 and putting put away is going to be great. 345 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,960 So hopefully your floor is clear, your closet floor is 346 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,160 clear. You've dealt with items that 347 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,480 belong to elsewhere in the house at this point. 348 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:57,320 And of course, you dealt with trash. 349 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,400 You know, at this point, I want you to start folding and putting 350 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,840 away clean clothes. And I want you to be honest with 351 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:12,680 yourself when you come across items that are damaged or that 352 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,400 don't fit you anymore because maybe you tried something on and 353 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:21,240 rejected it, that might need to go into that donation station in 354 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,240 the back of your closet, that donation bag or that donation 355 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,640 box, OK? Especially if you got new 356 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:30,920 clothes. Some of you might have received 357 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:37,600 gift cards or clothing as gifts or you know, you, you return 358 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,640 things and bought things. Some of you have new clothes. 359 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:45,800 OK, sometimes it's got to be out with the old and with the new. 360 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:48,080 Remember the one in one out rule. 361 00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:52,040 If you've got a new sweatshirt, you might want to get rid of 362 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:55,360 that sweatshirt that doesn't really fit right or has a stain 363 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:57,480 on it. And I'm not talking about 364 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,960 donating stained items. Obviously some of the stuff 365 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,040 needs to go in the trash, but as you're putting away clothes, 366 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:07,520 decide if anything needs to be trashed or donated. 367 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:12,480 Sometimes the best time to declutter your wardrobe is when 368 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,880 it's all out. Because you're behind on putting 369 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:20,080 away a laundry, so you're handling all these items anyway. 370 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:22,760 It might be time to make a decision about some of them. 371 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:28,160 Inevitably, you might find that you don't have enough hangers. 372 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:33,520 If you've had this mount fold more for a while, or mount hang 373 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,800 more or whatever. You might not even have enough 374 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,520 hangers in your house. So maybe you need to add 375 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:42,880 something to the notepad of your phone, or however you keep track 376 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,320 of what you need to buy and get some hangers. 377 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,000 Or maybe you can rob some hangers from another closet. 378 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:57,320 OK, sometimes I check my office closet or the hall closet when 379 00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:59,840 I'm low on hangers, but sometimes I just need to buy 380 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,480 more or better yet, get rid of some of my clothes. 381 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:09,760 Something to be said for eliminating decision fatigue by 382 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,400 having fewer articles of clothing. 383 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,120 That's not going to resonate with all of you, but some of you 384 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:18,440 might like the idea. I'm going to give you about four 385 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,720 more minutes to get the clean clothes put away. 386 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,600 If you did a laundry switch at the beginning of this episode, 387 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,960 you might want to take a look at your washing machine and see how 388 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:35,000 many minutes are left, and then set a timer on your phone so 389 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,160 that you'll be reminded to go back and follow through with 390 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:42,600 that. By the way, you might be saying, 391 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,280 yeah, this is great and everything, but my kitchen's a 392 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,560 disaster. I've got you. 393 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:52,920 After this, I'm going to be recording a bonus episode for 394 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,040 deep cleaning your kitchen. It's going to be geared toward a 395 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,840 messy kitchen, so no worries. That's coming next. 396 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,280 But if we always start with the kitchen, sometimes our bedroom 397 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,440 gets neglected. So that's one of the reasons I 398 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:11,240 wanted to talk about this. The other reason is that one of 399 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:17,400 my financial supporters made a comment on Spotify and she asked 400 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:22,160 me to do another episode involving the bedroom, the 401 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:27,240 laundry, the clutter on the floor, and the closet. 402 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:30,520 So that's what I've done in this episode. 403 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:37,080 If you're a financial supporter, feel free to request any topic 404 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,000 you want. Obviously some things are a 405 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,760 little bit beyond the scope of the show, or I don't feel 406 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,920 comfortable talking about it, or I've covered the topic in the 407 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,360 past and it wasn't very popular, so I'm just going to refer you 408 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:57,440 to an older episode. But in general, I try to make an 409 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,480 episode when I get a request from a financial supporter. 410 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:05,840 If you don't know what it means to be a financial supporter, 411 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:11,960 visit cleanwithmepodcast.com. It explains how you can unlock 412 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:20,080 paid bonus episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Patreon, and 413 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:24,720 there is even a fourth option that you could message me 414 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,320 directly about for those who want to make large lump sum 415 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,720 donations. I realize not everyone is able 416 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,920 to support the show financially. Even just listening to these 417 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:41,000 free episodes helps me. But if you're going the extra 418 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:46,240 mile and supporting the show financially, just know that it 419 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:50,960 is deeply appreciated to get that bed cleared off and get 420 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:56,120 those clothes put away. It's going to feel so good to 421 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,960 have things hanging in your closet so that you can get 422 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,120 dressed and get out the door quickly. 423 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,120 And then maybe you have some follow up chores to do after 424 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:06,600 this. Maybe you need to switch some 425 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,760 laundry into the dryer, put put those clean sheets on your bed 426 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:17,440 or vacuum. Don't beat yourself up if you 427 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:21,120 still have a laundry basket full of socks to sort. 428 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:26,440 Maybe you can do that another day, but I'm glad I was able to 429 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,520 help you get your bedroom decluttered and get you back on 430 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,520 track with the laundry again. There's going to be a bonus 431 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:38,080 episode coming out later today about cleaning a messy kitchen, 432 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:42,200 so don't miss that. Even if you don't support the 433 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,880 show financially, you can help me out without spending a dime 434 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:51,000 by clicking on that fifth star and giving me a positive review 435 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:56,080 on whichever app you listen on. I appreciate each and everyone 436 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,760 of you. And as always, happy cleaning. 437 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:00,520 I'll talk to you in the next episode.