Decluttering with The Calm, The Storm, and The Whimsy

Is your home feeling overwhelming, chaotic, or just too full? In this special crossover episode, Family Simple meets The Calm, The Storm, and The Whimsy for a funny, honest, and practical conversation about decluttering, simplifying, and creating a home that feels more restful.

This episode originally aired on The Calm, The Storm, and The Whimsy Podcast, and we are sharing it here on Family Simple because it fits so well with the heart of Family Simple — building simple rhythms that help bring peace back into your home.

In this conversation, we talk about the journey toward a more decluttered and restful home, including the realization that too much stuff can make everyday life feel heavier. From dishes and laundry to clutter and chaos, we share practical habits that can help make home feel more manageable again.

You’ll hear about the One Per Person Rule, the importance of choosing quality over quantity, and the five daily habits that help keep a home from feeling overwhelming.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• How the journey toward a simpler home began
• Why too much stuff can make everyday life feel chaotic
• The “One Per Person” rule and how it can transform your home
• Why quality over quantity matters
• Five simple habits for maintaining a clutter-free home
• Real-life stories and plenty of laughs along the way

Five Daily Habits for a Clutter-Free Home:

1. Make your bed — A quick win to set the tone for the day.
2. Clean up messes as they happen — Keep small messes from becoming big ones.
3. Clean as you cook — Make the kitchen feel less stressful.
4. Put things back where they belong — Give everything a home.
5. Do one load of laundry daily — Help prevent the laundry mountain.

Decluttering is not about having a perfect home or owning nothing. It is about making space for peace, rest, and the life you are building. Start small, choose one space, build one habit, and let your home become a place that helps ground you again.

This is a previously released episode from The Calm, The Storm, and The Whimsy Podcast, shared here as part of Family Simple.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Do you ever just open the Tupperware drawer and are instantly covered in lids and random Tupperware containers that don't have lids? I do on a daily basis. Do you ever open up your kids' closet?

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Hold on. I'm so sorry. What? We didn't tell stories. If we're gonna tell stories, we need to do it before. That was so good, though. It was very good.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

I'm confused on what is happening. I was all in like Tupperware mode, falling out on me. Let's get the cluttering out. I mean, we might use it still.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

But listen, we'll have to tell our stories. Okay, but you're asking me about my story?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

You're listening to the Calm, the Storm, the Whimsy podcast. Just just go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Oh, it's your week, Kelly. Why don't you answer? Could you just answer it? Well, it's been two weeks since we recorded. So how is everybody doing? How is everybody doing? Kelly, you have had a crazy week, haven't you? Tell us about it. Ask yourself, how has my week been? And then answer the question, please. This is not, I don't know why we're restarting this over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

I don't know. I'm gonna funk.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Okay. Kelly, you had a crazy week.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Tell us about it. I did. So we decided instead of going on a Disney trip, we would take excursion to Mercy Medical Center in North Canton instead. And we racked up about $6,500 worth of bills there for the dumbest experience of my life. Now let me tell you what happened. My husband, who does not go to the doctor ever, called me in the afternoon, which he typically doesn't call me when he's at work. He's like, hey, just wanted to let you know, feeling a little weird. So I called an ambulance. And I'm like, Wait, is it April 1st? Wait, what? An ambulance. And he's like, I just felt weird. I thought my blood pressure was really high. I thought I was gonna black out, and then I thought I was gonna have a stroke or something was just definitely not right. And I'm like, okay, okay. He's like, it's fine though. It's fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm like, okay. Uh keep me updated. Okay. So I get off the phone, 10 minutes go by, and I'm like, huh. Text him. Any update? I'm on my way to the emergency room in the ambulance. And I'm like, what is happening? The ambulance took him to the emergency room, gave him fluids on the way there, and they took him to the closest hospital, which was like three minutes from where he was at work. Anyway, so he goes in there and he sits, and I am like freaking out. So my in-laws go pick up my kids at school. I drive down there, and he's like, I'm in the emergency room waiting in the lobby area. And I'm like, Okay, well, that's weird. So I walk it, I'm waiting to get in. You have to go through security.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

And this guy's like, I gotta get out of here. I've pissed myself four times already.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

And I'm like, wait, what is happening right now? And I could smell it when he walked through. And I'm like, he what? Four times? There's like a bathroom in there. Why? Okay, here I go. So I go in. This is probably me a lot way too long of a story. So I go in, I find him. He's sitting there, he looks fine, and he's like, it's just really weird. And he does not, that stuff doesn't happen to him. So we're waiting and we're waiting. And they call him back and he does like they register him or whatever. And then, like maybe an hour and a half later, they call him back and they do like EKG labs. And then they're like, we're gonna send them in for a CT scan. And this guy asked him like three questions. It was like a five-minute. This girl was in there, she did his blood work, did an EKG, and then this guy came in for like maybe at the max five minutes, asked him like three questions, and then said, You need to get a CT scan, you can go back out in the lobby. So the lobby's full of everybody sick, like sick. I don't, I mean, it I some people look like they needed like urgent emergency, but some were just like chilling. I'm like, okay. So I go to the very back of the emergency room because I'm like, I'm gonna end up with the flu. This is so stupid. Like, I can't believe that this is what's happening. So we sit. He had a CT scan at 4:30. At nine o'clock, after I went and got him food, I'm like, I gotta get home and let, you know, I gotta get him. Oh, get home, get the get me and Pappy home and put the kids to bed, blah, blah, blah. So we didn't want to leave his truck there. So I met Chris with all the kids at like 10 o'clock at night, drove his truck to the emergency room so I didn't have to leave in the middle of the night. And I passed out after I was asleep. And he texted me at 12:30 and was like, I'm coming home. So here he never was seen. Nobody ever. They came out every now and then, took his blood pressure. He was out in the lobby, never got nothing. Nothing. No gown, no nothing. There was another lady that actually got a gown. I bet sitting in the lobby. Oh, yeah. I bet her $4,000 covered her gown. Where's my gown? You can ship it to me. Because for four grand of sitting there, $3,900 of sitting in the room.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

I would be so mad if I was in the waiting room in a gown.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

So it was funny because she was FaceTiming somebody, and he's like, She's like, I just want to let you know, like, I had that surgery a few weeks ago, and I'm still having issues with my stomach and having lots of pain. So they did some tests, and he's like, Where are you? She goes, Oh, I'm in the lobby. He goes, in a gown. That's weird. It was so weird.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

I would be so mad. Same. Like, I would have been mad even if I was hanging on those things too.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

She had a coat on.

unknown 6:16

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

But I was on the phone. Mom's like, tell them you have four kids and you need to get home. I'm like, Mom, they don't care if I have 12 kids, and they don't apparently don't care if my husband had a stroke because he's still sitting here eight hours later, and everybody was like cracking up. And when I went on my Swanson's run, I did offer to a few people that I would pick them up food because we had been hanging out all day. Like, did they do you up on it? No.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

But anyway. I can only imagine a waiting room full of people though, hearing her and her mom on FaceTime.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Like, I'm like, it was awful. This is what we done. Was that you and your mom? No. It was terrible. It was like the longest thing. Did you piss yourself four times in the bathroom? Well, I I then after sitting there for eight hours, I'm like, now I know why he pissed himself four times because I'm about to, because there ain't no way in heck. I'm walking into that bathroom after everybody's puking, moaning. Like, no, absolutely not. Wow. It's good times. Well, yeah. So the saga continues. He comes home and he's like, I have no idea. It's just, I, it's just bizarre. So then we get later that day, we get the finally the CT scan. Blood work comes back normal, elevated white blood cell count. CT scan comes back. Okay. They read that five minutes after he had it taken and let him sit there. That's crazy. Till 12:30 in the morning. They didn't even have to do anything. No. When he finally took himself home. So a week goes by and he keeps getting dizzy spells like really bad. Can't figure it out. So then he goes to urgent care. After I thought he was gonna have another stroke, he took himself to urgent care. They gave him an antibiotic. So I'm like, okay. Then the next day, same thing. And I'm like, just we've already met our deductible. Go to emergency and find out what the heck's going on. Like get a gown this time, darn it.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

And get a gown and a room.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Take home that chair. What's he do? Yeah. Like, what can I take this plant?

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Oh, wait, this is this is mine. I need some toilet paper.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

I get deals, people, and this ain't no deal. $64.70 for a bunch of crap. Like nobody helped us. And I called them. I said, I want an itemized bill. I want an itemized bill of the $3,900. And they're like, that's just when you walk in the emergency room. I didn't get no room. I didn't get nothing. So I don't understand what this is for. Like this is still. Your Disney chip costs less than that. We could have gone to Disney for a week for that. Oh my gosh. So anyway, so he goes back to the emergency room. And he went to green this time because they know what they're doing. And he was seen within a few minutes, and he was in an overflow room. An overflow room. So I faced him and I'm like, what? You got a gown on. You got a gown this time. He's in an overflow room. Yeah. A nice room. So he gets all the things. They do his IV and all the all that. And then the one lady messed it up because she was a student. So I wonder if we get a discount for that. I might call it. He's got a huge bruise. So anyway, he's like, I don't know what's going on. They said my CT scan looked fine. They did another EKG. They don't know what's going on. And the day before I said, Hey, did they ever test you for anything in urgent care before they gave you antibiotics? Like all the tests, flu, COVID, RSV, blah, blah, blah. He's like, no. So he's like, they did run a flu test, COVID test, all that stuff too. Like a few minutes later, he's like, Well, my Mar chart, I guess I got flu away. So dizziness. So the reason this scare went, his friend like ended up having a stroke. It was like a silent stroke, and it didn't show up on like the CT scan. So it was, we were all terrified. Like, this is crazy. But apparently the flu affects people in different ways. And he got dizzy, crazy.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Well, and then it probably made him notice everything because he didn't know what was going on. Yeah. So then every dizzy spell is like something's not right, something's not right. Where if they would have just told him a week ago, you have the flu, he would have known.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

He's so why wouldn't they have possibly had it a week ago? Right. I am almost positive that was one of his people have had it. Because that was his first initial like symptom.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah. But he never had a fever.

unknown 10:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

That whole time. But what's really crazy is mercy medical. Let me tell you what. Maybe when you have a whole slew of people in the waiting room that are hacking and throwing up and moaning because they have the flu, you should test people for the flu because you know what? He had the flu, he could have came home. $6,400 later in the flu. But I will fight that.

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Worst, worst hospital experience of our lives. Do not ever go to Mercy Medical Center. They do not have their stuff together. They didn't even know Lenny, like they were fighting over him when he they're like, Who is this guy? We don't have him on our chart. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, heck no.

unknown 11:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

I even called my friend. I'm like, can you take this IV out of his arm? We might bolt. I should have. Should have bolted. Did she say she would? Yeah, but she had the flu.

unknown 11:32

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

She's like, I can, but it's real easy. I can walk you through it. I'm like, I'm not gonna take that out of his arm. Oh my goodness. So yeah, that's been a good time. That's crazy. So he wrote a big funny Facebook post about it. Which was amazing. We should have gone to Disney World for a week. I loved it. We'll have to share it on our page. So everyone knows. It's pretty amazing. But the funny thing is, he said he was stuck in the emergency room with a bunch of people with the flu. Here he has the flu. The flu.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

I know. Maybe he didn't actually have the flu then. Well, his he has it now because he got it from being there. No. Oh, don't say that.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

He had to have, that's why he was dizzy. We have to know that's why he was dizzy. That's why he was white blood cell count was.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

His white blood cell count was higher than than it was this last time. So like the infection has gone down. Yeah. So there was an infection when he was in there. And we're just gonna say that's what it was from because it's what it was from. I was in a brain fog, I couldn't think. I thought my husband was gonna die multiple times over the past two weeks. So it's about a good time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Now I just want to go to Disney, but I can't. Can insurance cover it? Because you already met your deductible. Right. And mental health trip. Do you have any stories for us that are less stressful than that?

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Yes, mine are hilarious. Share with us. Okay, so I have two boys, as everyone knows. And so it has not been shy of funny things happening. Okay. So about a month ago, Schneider comes home from school and he says, Bomb, and there's this girl. And she likes me a lot. And I was like, Oh, okay. He goes, like a lot. And I was like, oh, okay. He goes, she offered me $250 and a pair of brand new Nike shoes. Whatever I wanted. She sent me a link. I could pick them out. And what if I was her boyfriend?

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Heck yeah, sign me up.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

I'll be your boyfriend. Okay, Pacy. And I was like, oh, honey, I'm so sorry. And he was like, Yeah, he's like, I had to tell her no. And I was like, okay. And you know, so this continues, okay? So it's continuing. She is infatuated. Strider. She's not just likes him. She's infatuated, okay? Strider everything. Strider this, strider that, my strider, this is my strider. Telling everyone this is this, okay? So he just kind of laughs about it now, or whatever, and like her feelings aren't hurt that he doesn't necessarily call her his either. But so this week is Ash Wednesday week, right? We we just finished that week. He comes home and he says, So you know what Ash Wednesday is, right? You know what Lent is? And I was like, Yeah, and he goes, That girl decided that for Lent she was giving me up. And I was like, What? Wow. Yep, yep. So she's giving him up for 40 days, made it very clear that Lent is a real thing, and that I mean it is a real thing, but like for her, for her, this is a thing, and Strider was what she's giving up. Wow. How does he feel about that? I think he's kind of relieved, but I don't know for sure because I'm not sure what it's gonna bring on the back end later. Yeah. Because I'm like, she'll come back stronger, maybe. I think it's harmless. I don't really know, but oh boy, but yeah, so if you have something to give up for Lent, think about it really hard.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I'm gonna give up emergency rooms. I was like, what the heck? She's giving my son up for Lent. Oh, it's amazing. Does she know that you're not giving her up for Lent?

unknown 15:35

Shh.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Anyways. So then today I have some permanent bracelets. I have four of them. I love them. I've had them for like over a year now. And I regularly have this battle back and forth with my oldest son, Pacey, that he just doesn't think that I am capable of taking him down or out. Okay. And so this morning he decided that he was going to pull my toes. Oh, that was a bad choice. Bad choice, bad decision. Aaron told him, probably shouldn't be doing that. So I straight up took him, put him in a headlock, took him to the ground and put my knee in his back, and he's like, Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. And I'm like, how does that feel? And I was like, not so good. And I was like, don't ever forget that your mom could take you down. And in the process of me taking him down, one of my bracelets broke. It got caught on the rug of the car, like the carpet. Oh. Ripped it right apart. So I only have three now. But I did make sure that my son knew that I could take him down. Heck yeah. Good. Right straight down. I wish this was on video. So his face was like, what in the world? I'm like, yeah, don't. Aaron's like, that was a bad decision.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Don't pull your mama's toes. Don't pull your mom's toes. Oh, there we are. So we had Aunt Mary and Grandpa Charlie babysit for us. Let me be clear why we call her Aunt Mary, though. Just so everybody knows. One of the kids in our family, the youngest cousin, just started calling her Aunt Mary, but she is Grandpa Charlie's woman. So anyway, it just stuck. So we all call her Aunt Mary. Anyway, they're babysitting for us one night. We come home, they're gone, and my son comes up to me and goes, Mom, I'm a little uncomfortable. I'm like, okay, why? And he goes, Well, we decided to play a game, but but we pulled out one of the games that says uncensored, and we didn't know. Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Oh my gosh. Wait. Hillary there. How do they have access to your games? Like she has a whole closet or hair. I mean, she kind of does.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

They're all together. They are. What? I didn't know either. Who picked it? Grandpa Charlie? No, I think that's read the box. No. So Aunt Mary is sitting there with my kids and they're looking through the cards. Oh my gosh. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no. And it's called like the five-second rule game, and you have to like spit out all these things. And it was like, you might not want to let your kids listen to this episode. They're like sex toys, and I don't remember people you'd want to murder. And there's like this whole list of stuff that's like reading them out loud. Hudson said, I was reading it and I looked at Aunt Mary and said, Aunt Mary, I'm a little uncomfortable right now. And Aunt Mary goes, You know what, buddy? Me too. Let's put this away. So they put it away, but I was like, Was it just those two? No, it was them and like the girls. They were all playing it together. They didn't make it through the game, but I'm like, oh my gosh. So I forgot to apologize to Aunt Mary for that. Oh my goodness. I think we've played that game before as a family, but you probably censored the cards. Yes, you can go through them and pick out the ones that aren't uncensored.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

And your girls have friends who are like, we play this one all the time.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Let's play it. Sex toys, five seconds. Go.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Oh, how awkward.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Okay, so one other story. My son was in speech meet this past week. And he we were getting ready to do the ribbon awards. And Grant was with me, and he's like been on Prednisone all week, so he's like super hungry and cranky if he doesn't get food. The only thing I could grab was powdered donuts. So we're waiting for the ribbon award, and Grant is like slamming powdered donuts, and then he just rubs his hands all over Hudson's black dress pants before he got called up to do the ribbon award. And then there's another kid there, and Grant goes to get him, and I grabbed his hands the last second. I'm like, I'm so sorry, I will protect your pants. They were cracking up. But I had to like wipe spit on a napkin and scrub out Hudson's pants the best I could. But he went up there like that. Because that's what we do, because that's life. That's what we do a day in the life.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

I have to share one more thing now that you talk about games.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Share one more thing. Come on, you took up the whole time. It's okay. It's fine.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

So I bought we Crystal and I bought Hillary. Hold on, you're sagging again. What? Okay, sagging? The microphone. Okay. So Crystal and I bought Hillary this bananas game, but Chris was feeling under the weather. So I'm like, hey, do you care if I take that home and play it with my kids? And she's like, I don't care. So last night we, it's called bananas, and you blow up these monkey tails, and it looks really bad. But my legs hurt so bad today. Like, because you have to like walk up and like get the tail to pick up these cardboard things, and then you have to run through your legs. It's very amazing to watch, ridiculous, and feels super inappropriate.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

My legs hurt really bad after I played it tail.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

But it was just funny.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Super inappropriate.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

It's good time. So I took videos of the banana game.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

And you sent them to me, and I was like, Yes, you feel like I shouldn't be watching this right now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Some of them were a little, what is this game? Why is this? And Lenny goes, What did you expect? You can't get upset. What did you expect with this game?

SPEAKER_02 21:49

I'm like, I don't know. But the video when we bought it was kids, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:56

What did you expect?

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Well, Tara was like I was talking to her the day we were leaving it and she's like, Oh, we have that game. We played it last night. I'm like, Can you bring the extra tails? And she goes, We pop the tails. Wow. So the problem is they pop really easy. So like Ike had one on and he was running to do get the cardboard thing. Step on it. No.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

You already popped my tail. I'll bit it.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

And it deflated and everybody's all upset. And I'm like, there's a repair kit. It's all good, kids. Put the repair kit on and blew it back up. It was fine. Oh my gosh. So have you ever just opened the Tupperware cabinet and like lids and random-sized containers that do not have lids fall on top of you? I do. Have you ever like open your kid's closet and all these dirty clothes fall on top of you and nothing's in drawers? Yeah, that's me. Have you ever had too many cups to fit in the cabinets? Yeah, that's me too. So finally, I've decided this year is I'm done. I gotta get rid of junk and I'm making some lifestyle changes. So decluttering, here we come. And Crystal started me off with some helpful tips. She said she was coming over, and I'm like, oh crap, I better start. Start decluttering. Well, it got me in the mood. She started without me.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Crystal, you got it. Oh, I didn't know I had that effect on you.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

I mean, I knew I had it on Hillary, but I wasn't sure if I had it on you. So I started in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Well, first of all, everybody knows to come to you if we have to do something like this. That is so funny. So you need to first tell us have you always been this way? No. Okay, so how did you get here? Because I want to get there.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

I so I grew up in a home that was decluttered. So my mom always had like there was always a spot for everything, and it needed to go back into that spot. I was kind of rogue in that, and I didn't put anything in a spot. And I had a room, a bedroom in the basement that was like full of junk. And then on top of it, when that bedroom got too dirty, I would go upstairs to the spare bedroom and sleep up there and make that bedroom a mess. And then I would have to clean the so then that's when it got to the point where I had to clean. So I was never a very tidy person, like ever. Until oh I'm trying to think, 2013, I think it was. Aaron and I had been married for like six years at that point. And we had two kids, and I was just overwhelmed by all of the stuff. And so we had just stuff everywhere. Like our house was clean because I always kept like a clean house, but we had so much stuff that I had to like shove it into drawers and I had to shove it into the closets, and my bedroom was a disaster. And so now I'm taking two kids and I'm adding more laundry. So like all of that just kept going on, and I'm working full time. So I'm like, this is something has to happen. So we just decided that we were like, okay, we gotta do something, we gotta live a little bit differently than this because it's a lot. Yeah. So we first started with like major areas, closets, clothes, then like bathrooms, linens, towels. So literally basically going through every single thing that there was possible in our home and using one of the rules that we talk about a lot is like the six-month rule. So if we haven't used it, so we started literally at this moment of like, if we haven't used it in six months, it has to go. And we were like, oh my gosh, that's a lot of stuff because we had a basement. We had a big house at the time, you know, a bigger house or whatever. So we were like, okay. So we start going through everything and we're like, okay, we haven't used it in six months. Are we going to use it? Is it like a Christmas item that we need to keep for a holiday, or is it just something that just has been stored because why? We don't know. So we started cleaning that out, and then we started doing so. That was like our one thing, and then we just started like, okay, I cannot possibly do dishes every single night. For a while we didn't have a dishwasher, and so I was like washing bottles, and I was washing plates, and I was washing cups and all of this stuff, and I'm like, this is ridiculous. So we went to the one per person type of thing, and that is really across the board for us. Is like one plate, one bowl, a cup, knife, fork, spoon, coffee mug, like really that kind of went into that mode. And then we did the one like one towel per person, and then we did the one sheet per bed. And then we did have spares because we had kids, so we knew that there was gonna be like accidents and things. And then I just made sure I did the laundry like every week, so the sheets got washed like every week, and then I started doing yeah, so that was like where we really started with that because I was just tired of being chaotic, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

So was it harder for one of you more than the other to like purge that way or no? Absolutely. Which one?

SPEAKER_02 27:48

Me Aaron didn't come with a whole lot, anyways, so most of it was mine. So we've been storing all this stuff in the basement for like the past six years, and it's like my stuff from my parents' house. And I'm like, we don't do it, like I need this. Yeah, this is this is I don't know, my picture frame from some one that I got so long ago or whatever. Yeah, and so it was just it was really difficult for me. And I struggled with I didn't struggle with the towels and the sheets and all of those things. I struggled with the clothes. Yeah. Because we went super extreme when we originally did this like decluttering of our home, we went with one outlet, like seven days of clothes, and then they had to be washed. And so you might have a sweater that would go like for two days with uh a different pair of pants or different things like that. And so if it couldn't be hung in my closet, I didn't keep it and I didn't buy extra hangers to hang them all, so it was really like yeah, hard. Same with cloth or shoes was the same way. So we really tried to do like quality over quantity, yeah. So like boots for me, it was like boots, tenor, like tennis shoes, and like heels or like a dress shoe. And I tried to be like, these were the best shoes that I wore all the time I loved, and then the rest of them went.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Should see Kelly's face right now.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

She's like, Okay, but you've done some of this.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

I just want to know what you would do in this instance, okay, Crystal. Imagine you have a collection of Doc Martens that you have collected over the years. Well, I will tell you them.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

I will tell you what I would do. I will use a different scenario. I had what is your how many is in your collection? No, I it's fine. I probably have like 12 pairs of Doc Martens, but I can't fit in them anymore. However, but your friend Crystal published And Eliza can fit into a lot of it. So listen, I had probably 12 coach purses. Okay. Okay. That I bought over time, got get as gifts. Aaron bought me a couple. Like it was a really big thing for me. I loved having like coach, a coach bag. It got to the point for me where I would give, I would open up my purse tubs and I would ask my friends, like, hey, come on over and get a purse or something. You still got them.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Just kill me. So we came in too late.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

She's already purses didn't ever go. Those were ones that were never allowed to be like picked from, okay? Yeah. So like I would have like bins overflowing with purses that are just like, you know, the random, like cheap ones that you just have or whatever. So the people would come and take them because that's when I was like, okay, we got to get rid of these. So I'm just gonna give them to my friends, see who wants them, and the rest of them will just go to Goodwill or whatever. But the coach bags always stayed in the closet, okay. Now, granted, I carried them. So I carried them different seasons, different times, because they were like all different things. But when I decided that I had to release them, because it was for me, it was it was a me thing. I had to release them, I donated them to a women's shelter. Okay, because I felt like it was really important, and so I donated them all. That's awesome, and that was a really hard thing for me to do, and it took me a really long time. But let's not focus on what you haven't been able to do yet. I don't think that that's something I mean that's a scenario. That's a heart, that's a that's a process. Like yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

That's a process.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

I sent Hillary a picture of Naomi's room, which was uh, which I'll mind you, I just cleaned it not that long ago.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Like I literally cannot even go in that room because I feel so overwhelmed and I get so upset, and I just can't. Like every time I put her to bed, I get angry because I'm like, this is ridiculous, like it shouldn't be this way. So I spent hours and hours and hours, and I cleaned everything, but there's still stuff that it's still not done, and there's way too many clothes. So you may have to come help me get through part of that because it went from this to what is all that? Uh it's mainly clothes to much better, but there's still a lot that needs done.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

But she sent me that first picture, and I'm like, what happened to my room?

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Right? That I cleaned that room.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

It's a messy little thing.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

It's okay. Letty's room is I'm gonna tell you, I live in a decluttered house, okay? But Letty's room is not decluttered. Yeah, because she goes rogue like her mama did, right? We just shut the door.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Okay, so Kelly, you've implemented Crystals one per person rule when it comes to plates, bowls, cups. Is that still working for you?

SPEAKER_00 33:06

And what's really cool is the one day it was after we had gotten all the plates. So we got all the plates. A different color, right, for each person. Different color for each plates.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Yeah. Okay. Did I don't do that anymore because now we're out of like that. Like when they were little or make a change. Oh, okay. Because something has to happen. Now I just have five plates. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

So I found like really cool plates on Amazon, bowls of match, and some really cute cups. So everybody has their own color, except for Lenny and I are super close together, and he keeps taking my plate. But we'll deal with that later. Lenny Dewey. It's really hard though, because sometimes I'm like, You showed them to me, and they do look very close. So, but the kids know. But the one day, Leo, I ran the dishes and he's like, Where's my plate? I'm like, Oh, you must not have put it away last night. It was sitting out on the sofa table with food on it. Like, if you want to eat breakfast, you're gonna have to clean it.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

So that is that is actually the mindset that is so important in all of this process. You have one plate. Yeah, if you don't wash it and you don't put it in that dishwasher, you don't have anything to eat on. Yeah. And so that's the thought process behind everyone in your home. So that's why they have a color. That's also why they have the color for the towels, too. So the towels, like you have an individual color for them so that when it's laying on the floor, you can be like, Hey, Pacey, that's your green towel. Is that working well?

SPEAKER_00 34:38

So I'll tell you about that. So, anyway, the plates are doing awesome. I love Naomi like scrubs her plate so well. I usually just rinse mine off. I'll stick it in the dishwasher because I can. I was gonna get a drying rack, and I'm like, that's one more thing on the counter. Top of the dishwasher, same thing. You can pull it out of there. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Definitely like a dish rack right there.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

So I ordered, I ordered towels and I got two towels for each person because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Should I got one?

SPEAKER_02 35:03

I think two is fine. So, like, I think I did tell you two. Yeah, I told you two because there are so many of you. And so, like, in order to for the next process will be laundry every day, and we'll get there. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

So we bought towels, but I will not let them use them yet because that's a reward for decluttering the bathroom in the hall closet. Okay. And until I get there, which is probably on my radar next, then we'll get those out. Actually, the office is real bad. I gotta get on that.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

I'm coming for that, right? We're we're we're gonna work on that after spring break.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Then I told Lenny yesterday, I'm like, now I know why I never get to my closet and my things, because by the time I do all this, I'm like, duh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

So it is like a shift in responsibility across the board. So like I see, like you said, Leo, where's your plate? And it was sitting in the living room on the table. And so, like, that's a it's a mind shift for everyone in your family, and so that it's not only your responsibility. And so that's one of the biggest things is like as a parent, you want to be able to have quality time and intentional time, and not worrying about the chaos and clutter that's around you, and be able to like embrace that like intentionality. And it's hard when you have like, oh my gosh, I have like everything all around me all the time to do things, and so it's just a process and it's like giving them responsibility.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Okay, my cabinets look so nice. I love that. I bought this little thing that you push. The plates are like ceramic, yeah, because I didn't want plastic because I didn't want to eat the microplastics.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

I originally told her to buy a plastic one, yeah. So you know 50 cents at Target. I'm like, just buy them and just get it over with.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

I I spent some money and I bought plates, but it's like a pain. Like if a Naomi's is on the bottom and there's a stack of six plates, it's kind of annoying. And they are she's short. So I bought something, and I don't know where it is, but it like you put them in, like you slide them in. Sideways? Yep. So everybody can just grab their plate out. Nice. And Liz is gonna put little labels under each plot.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

Very good. Very good. Yay! Okay, I have two questions. Yes, ma'am. Number one, what do you do when guests come over?

SPEAKER_02 37:26

So I have all of my plates still, they're just stored away in the basement. Okay, and so I do have right now. I have so, guys, you have to remember I didn't live in a house for a while. So I lived in like 695 square feet. And so this was like ideal for all of this. So we have as we moved into our new house, which now it's been like six years, but like when we moved in there, I had different kinds of cupboard space. Yeah, so I and then when Aaron redid our kitchen, I have all of that large large cupboard space. So I just store them in there, they're just not used, so we don't use them. We have like five polka dot black plates that we use, and like that's it.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Yeah, I still have my set that I got when we got married, and I just store them in the basement.

SPEAKER_02 38:24

Yeah, and I told her to store them, so it's important because you will have people over. Right. And you might have a time where one of them breaks, and so you need some like so it's not necessarily like get rid of them, it's the process like of like this is how we're gonna do.

unknown 38:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

There's not 12 cups and there's not correct every day that need to be washed.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

So that's what's so I mean, like 40 cups by the end of it, not 40, but I felt like I think that that was one of the things that I when I was here with you, like not like examining, but like in general, like cups were all over the place. Yeah, and I would see them like your kids get another cup out, but there was already a cup on the counter. And so I'm like, this is why I said like originally the cup process is because it gets daunting when you have an entire dishwasher full of cups, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:19

It's so it's that's where I'm at overwhelming. I hate unloading the dishwasher.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

Same. I don't mind loading it though. I don't either. Weird. So what about have you ever run out like so? The plate thing is fine because people have to be responsible. But what about a towel or sheets? Are you like crap? Like they don't have what they need because I haven't done the laundry, or is there like what do you do in those situations?

SPEAKER_00 39:46

So air dry, you're hilarious. Get it out of the dirty clothes if you didn't wash it, dry yourself with a dirty towel.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

I'm trying to think. So I do I do a load of laundry every day, and in that load of laundry is usual, so like the kids they now do their own laundry, but their towel is part of their laundry. Okay, and so they just use it until they do their laundry. Okay, and that's just their fault. So if it's dirty, then they use a dirty towel because they didn't do their laundry. We have way more towels now, also, because I feel like we've accumulated them over time. Yeah. We got a couple from Great Wolf Lodge, or you know, all these. I have like pool towels now that I didn't have before. But I really keep my closet very bare minimum. Sheets, I have always kept an extra set. So Aaron and I have two pair, like two sheets for our bed, and then the kids have two sheets for each of their bed.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Just I still have the snowman sheets from when we got married.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

The flannel ones.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Do you use them not anymore? So why do I have them? Why do you have them? I don't know. Because I haven't done that. They're 19 years old. I know. And they're snowmen.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

Are they so like so? That's an interesting thing. So when we cleaned out our house, yeah, I think we so we had an entire truck bed full of sheets and towels alone. We have so much we could get rid of. The sheets, I think we had 10 or 12 sheets just for our bed. I didn't even like the kids were in a crib. I mean, so like it was a crib sheet or whatever. I had myself, Aaron and I, for our bed alone, like 12 sets of sheets. So funny.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

So there was something I was gonna say, and I just went away. Oh yeah. So when I cleaned out the kitchen and I cleaned, so our basement, my parents lived here for a while, so there's like another kitchen in the basement. So I cleaned, and we had a lot of props and stuff, and there's still more drawers that need to go through. But I cleaned the kitchen, and then down here in the kitchen, and I took out 13 bags of stuff that I did not need anymore. 13 bags. It's crazy. That is crazy. Naomi, four bags of clothes, four bags.

SPEAKER_02 42:19

Because you'll get them from other people too. So we have uh another rule. We're now Aaron and I are at the point where we get something, we have to get rid of something, but in the beginning, we would get something and have to get rid of two things. So if I got a new sweater and I have to get rid of two things to fill that place. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Oh boy. I I have the confession to make, okay. I have two huge suitcases full of clothes that don't fit me. Because what if they do?

SPEAKER_02 42:55

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 42:56

They gotta go right now. That's the first thing. Tomorrow morning.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

All the t-shirts that have meaning that I'm never gonna wear. But I'm never gonna wear them because I was tiny then. Why what am I gonna do with them? They just sit there. Take pictures of them. Right? I have been wearing I have pictures of me wearing them. But here's another question I have, and then you can maybe tell us how you put some of this into play on a regular basis because we're running short on time. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

But we might have to do multiple episodes. I was just thinking like different rooms.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

I mean, I am going to create a newsletter. I have decided that I think I'm gonna create a newsletter and I'm going to put a different tip or trick each week in the world. Oh, like it's it's a lot. And you guys, I didn't just do this overnight. Like this is not something that happened overnight, and it was something that I wasn't used to.

SPEAKER_01 43:53

So Well, that's actually what I was gonna ask you is once you decided this is what you needed to do. How long do you think it took you? Because I think one of my biggest struggles, and I bet it's a struggle for you too, Kelly, is I feel like if I can't get it all done, I I don't even want to start or I don't know where to start. Yeah. Because if I can't like declutter my whole house in one day, it then I'm like overwhelmed because I only got to this or I only got to that. At least that's that's what I struggle with. It feels like it's never ending. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

And you want it to be done. Like you're in a mindset that you want it to be done, but it's like it's a long time. I need to take like a month-long sabbatical and work on this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Yeah. I think certainly not enough. I remember telling Kelly specifically, like, your house is going to look worse before it gets better. Because that is a process. Like, you're going to have things out. You're going to have things all over. So, like, that's a process. I think it probably took us like I'm going to give a long like six months. Six months of like intentional, like, we're doing this. And then going forward, every year we reevaluate. So we're always looking at it as six months. If it hasn't been used, it's gotta go. And that's including clothes. It's not an overnight thing. I think there's certain things that you can start quickly that make you feel less stress because those things can happen quick. And then everyone else on board kind of has no choice. Like this is the plate that you get, or this is the cup that you get. And so if you don't have a cup, then you don't get a drink today because you didn't wash it, or you didn't, it's upstairs in your bedroom or wherever it would be. I collect cups, so I used to have like six or seven cups on my dresser at night, and I just couldn't do it anymore. Like it was ridiculous. So I would say, like, I give yourself grace for sure. Because this is not something that happens overnight. It's a mindset as much as it is a change of living. You know, it's it's a process.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

Does that answer your question? Yeah, yeah. Okay. I can't expect it to be done as fast as I want it to be done if I'm gonna do it right.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

I did I did read when I started this before that even spend like 15 minutes a day, set the timer, go in your bathroom, get rid of stuff for 15 minutes, or go in your closet, 15 minutes, like baby steps. Yeah. But see, the problem is I want to do it and I want to get it done.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Once you do get it done though, how do you keep up with it in the day-to-day?

SPEAKER_02 46:43

So there's uh day to day. So there's five things that I do on a regular basis every day. Number one, and I know you guys are gonna cringe because she does it. I make my bed every day. I'm not doing it. I do. And I make my bed because it sets the tone for an orderly day. Do you make your kids make the bed? So no. Okay. I don't. I should. My boys have bunk beds, so I don't feel like they need to, and it's weird. And then Letty, I tell her to make her bed, but I don't make her make her bed. So I feel like for me, that sets my day. If I don't make my bed, then the rest of my house and me feel disheveled. If I make my bed, maybe that's my problem.

SPEAKER_00 47:35

Try making it for like a week.

SPEAKER_02 47:36

Just make it make it for a day. Yeah. Make it make it for a week. Two blankets. There's too many blankets. Well, that's the other thing. Put one blanket on, one blanket on, and then put a blanket over both of those. All right, whatever. Continue. Okay. Clean up messes as they happen. So that is like you spill something on the counter in the bathroom, you spill something in the counter in the kitchen, or you on the floor. Clean it up right as it happens. Because then it's gonna be less grimy, sticky. So that's like makeup on the counter, that's soup on the floor, that's anything. Just clean, clean as you go. Clean as you cook. So as I'm cooking, as things are in the oven, I am back over at the sink washing the dishes, putting them in the dishwasher of what I used, so then I don't have to go back and do that. And I have a really hard time. And this is just me, and it's always been this way. Even when I was not a declutterer, I cannot go to bed with dishes in my sink. And so, like, it gives me anxiety. I also can. So it literally builds up like in my chest. Yeah. And so I started doing that a long time ago as well. Because even before I was decluttering, I just did that because it made me feel better. Yeah. So yeah, so just clean up as you're going, as you're cooking, just put things away and then put things back where they belong. Because everything has to have a home. And this is across the board. So this would be your children. This would be put them back where they belong. Put them back where they belong. Ouch. Put their stuff away. Not you, but them. So that's key. And so I have Letty whose stuff is everywhere. And it has a spot, but the spot has been cluttered with other things. Yeah. So I literally will put everything in the living room floor. Yeah. And then I just make them come down and pick it up because it can't be in my space.

SPEAKER_04 49:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

And so it has to go back to the home. And then to do one load of laundry a day. Every day. And that would be to wash, dry, fold, put away, not laying around, not sitting in the dryer, which I used to do. So and then you don't have mountains of laundry. Yeah. So they're not piling up on you. And then these are just habits that I routines I've created that I just kind of live by to create and set the tone for a calm home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

I need that.

SPEAKER_02 50:25

Minimalism isn't just about fewer things. It's about creating space for peace, rest, and intentional living. By simplifying, we gain more than just an organized home. We gain freedom from the stress of managing too much. What small step could you take today to create more calm in your home? Thank you for listening to the Calm the Storm the Whimsy podcast. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Facebook, and Instagram. Stay tuned for our next episode. Wow, I almost got it.

SPEAKER_00 51:58

Oh my gosh. Make more calm home.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

But I can't read, guys.