7 Simple Ideas to Help You Get Organized

Life can feel overwhelming when our spaces—and our schedules—are cluttered. And sometimes the issue isn’t that we don’t have enough time, but that we don’t have enough margin.

In this episode of Imagine Yourself, we’re sharing seven simple, realistic ideas to help you get more organized, pulled from a past conversation with clutter-free living expert Deanna Yates. These aren’t extreme or all-or-nothing approaches. Instead, they’re practical shifts: organizing routines and the things that support them, creating systems that fit your current season, and learning how small habits can make everyday life feel lighter.

Our hope is that these ideas don’t just help tidy up your home, but also give you back time, mental energy, and space to be more present—with the people you love, and with God. 

 Contact Deanna Yates:  WannaBeClutterFree.com 

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"Imagine Yourself" is hosted by Lanée Blaise and Sandy Kovach—two dynamic voices with a passion for inspiring and uplifting others. Lanée, a TV writer, producer, motivational speaker, and podcaster, brings powerful storytelling and insight. Sandy, a radio personality, voiceover artist, and podcaster, delivers warmth and wisdom with every conversation. Broadcasting from the Detroit Metro area, they welcome guests from around the world to share valuable perspectives on health, career growth, faith, and personal transformation. Tune in and imagine the possibilities for your life!

Transcript

Sandy Kovach  [00:00:00]:
In a perfect world, we'd clear all the clutter out of our lives, out of our homes, right? But there's just so much coming at us. Do we have time? Well, sometimes getting organized is about creating that kind of margin. When our spaces feel calmer, we can find more time. We can have more focus, more room to be present, more time with our families. More time to spend with God. So today we are pulling together some simple, doable organizing ideas from a past conversation we had with clutter-free living expert Deanna Yates. We're going to do 7 tips. The first tip she gave us: organize your routines and your stuff together.

Sandy Kovach  [00:00:47]:
Let's meet Deanna.

Deanna Yates [00:00:49]:
Thank you so much for having me. I am thrilled to be here.

Sandy Kovach  [00:00:52]:
So we know you're going to be a wealth of information and we're going to be diving into a lot of your hacks. And we're going to start, I think, with the importance of routine. What do you say to somebody who says, my life is way too unpredictable to have a routine?

Deanna Yates [00:01:06]:
I get it. There are definitely seasons in life where things change a lot. When someone says, but my schedule changes all the time, I never know what I'm going to do. Well, then you have to have anchor options. Maybe you have a different work schedule, but you're always doing that same thing of getting up and getting ready. Getting ready is a routine and it's just simply looking at the different things you want to do in life and then creating an anchor where that routine would take place. For instance, let's say when you get home at the end of the day, you could get home at noon, you could get home at 2, you could get home at 8 at night if you ended up having a really busy day.. But if you have a routine in place for what you do when you get home, then that's the kind of routine that is going to make your life better.

Deanna Yates [00:01:55]:
So maybe you have a drop zone in your entryway. You have a hook where you put your key every single time you walk in the door so you're not panicked the next morning not knowing where it is. You have a basket where your kids put their backpacks or you put your purse or, you know, an inbox for your mail that you just picked up and you don't really have time to deal with it. You got to deal with like, let's see, you're rushing and you've got to deal with dinner and you got to do all this stuff. You need to have a place where stuff lives still so that you can come back to it later and not have the chaos of having to touch things 10 times because you put it here and you put it there and you're running all over your house. You know where it is. So I think a routine doesn't necessarily have to be the same thing, same time every day. Exactly 9 o'clock I'm eating my breakfast and 10 o'clock I'm out the door.

Deanna Yates [00:02:41]:
And it's not that kind of a routine that I talk about. It's more of what is happening in your life and how can you structure what's going on, what you need to do, the things you need in place around your life. This stuff then becomes kind of routine. Like, we don't think about brushing our teeth, right? That's a routine we've been doing since we were children. And so as you continue to do these things, they become a habit, it becomes a routine, and it just makes all of those little nagging things a little bit easier as you go through your day.

Sandy Kovach  [00:03:12]:
I love the brushing your teeth analogy because it doesn't matter if you get up at 6 o'clock or 3:00 AM or noon or whatever, you're going to brush your teeth when you get up. So I like that, the anchors, whatever that might be.

Lanée Blaise [00:03:24]:
I like that too, because my Grandma Susie used to have this little saying when I was younger, she said, Pumpkin, if you don't mess up, you don't have to clean up. The aspect of having a place for everything to be put so things don't get chaotic and they don't get to be a mess. Decluttering your life, decluttering your home, it does involve the principles of not letting it get out of control in the first place.

Sandy Kovach  [00:03:54]:
Tip number 2, using clear language and cues help you to make your routines stick.

Deanna Yates [00:04:02]:
Well, I want to talk about language. So thank you, Grandma Susie, because she's, she's wise. She's very wise. And with language too, I think that can even play into part with your house. I like to call my junk drawer, quote unquote, my utility drawer, because I don't want to keep junk in my house. If it's junk, it doesn't belong in my house. But there's all the stuff that we need and we want easy access to it and we want to have a place for these miscellaneous items to live. And it's my utility drawer.

Deanna Yates [00:04:33]:
That's where I put the things that I'm going to need when I need them. And so I think we can use language in a way around our house as well. You know, when we teach our kids things, we need to be very explicit. We can't just say, clean up your plate from the table, right? We have to say, can you please bring your plate over and can you rinse it or scrape the food off and put it in the dishwasher, please? You have to be really explicit with this. And especially when you're starting routines and it feels really silly sometimes to say every step out, but that could be something that really helps you in the process as well, because you say, okay, well, first I do this, then I do this, then I do this, then I do this. Whatever. You know, the steps are that you've laid out, and after a while, you won't have to say it. And if you are musically inclined, I highly recommend putting it to a jingle or a tune so you don't drive yourself crazy doing it or think of something.

Deanna Yates [00:05:24]:
Like, when my daughter was real little, we would sing the Batman theme for bath time because, you know, she didn't really love taking a bath, but it would be like, na na na na na na na na na na na na na na. Bath time. And she would just get excited, so she'd start singing it. So that's kind of a little side tip. If you guys are musically inclined, I highly recommend it.

Sandy Kovach  [00:05:43]:
For sure. No, I love it. I love where you're going with this. Yeah.

Lanée Blaise [00:05:45]:
No, we had one for going to bed. How do you like that?

Deanna Yates [00:05:49]:
Love it.

Lanée Blaise [00:05:49]:
All my siblings did, and then my kids. It was this, guess who's going to bed? Guess who's going to bed? And it was like so exciting that we're going to bed. But it was when that song started popping up, everybody started getting up out of the, you know, whatever they were playing and started heading on up towards the stairs.

Deanna Yates [00:06:08]:
I love it. So tweak it. Guess who's cleaning up? We are. Guess who's cleaning up?

Sandy Kovach  [00:06:14]:
Which leads us to tip number 3, the power tidy.

Deanna Yates [00:06:18]:
One of my favorite routines actually is the power tidy. In our house, it now only takes about 5 minutes because we've been doing it for ages. But I would say give yourself 15, maybe 10 minutes you could get away with. Pick a time, one time throughout the day, and usually toward the end of the day because We're living life. We're going to make messes. My house is not a shrine. You know, it is where life happens and we play games and things get busy. So if stuff gets left out and, you know, I'm not going to sweat it, I'm not going to just lose my head over it.

Deanna Yates [00:06:49]:
It's like, okay, we'll deal with it later when we do the power tidy up. So we do ours after dinner and before we do anything fun, like watch a show or play a game or have dessert. So we have this 5 to 10 minute time period where we set the timer and we race each other. To clean up around the house. Generally, I cook most of the meals in the house, so my husband will actually do the dishes while my daughter and I race around the house. And so that works out really well for us because by the time it's done, we've made huge progress. And now we can sit and relax and actually enjoy that time together when we're doing the fun thing.

Sandy Kovach  [00:07:25]:
It's fun and it's a routine. So I love that. I love— and then you have the dessert coming up or the show coming up or something. That's important for kids, but that's also important for grownups too, right?

Deanna Yates [00:07:36]:
Yeah, we all need to be rewarded and take it up a notch and you say, well, whoever wins, you can quote unquote say who wins, you get to pick the show we watch, pick the game we play, get extra sprinkles on your dessert, whatever, you know, give yourself a little carrot to be racing for.

Sandy Kovach  [00:07:51]:
Tip number 4 helps to stay flexible, adjust systems for the season that you're in. We do great for a while, but then something crazy happens in our life. We just got a new kitten, for instance, and I have not been this crazed since my son was really little and unpredictable. I don't know when I'm going to be interrupted. I don't know what's going to get knocked over. So when things like this happen, from good little interruptions like kittens to big interruptions, like maybe a traumatic thing, how do we stay with our routines?

Deanna Yates [00:08:22]:
Well, I think we have to take a step back and give yourself permission to say, okay, something is different. And I maybe am not going to be able to. Continue at the pace that I have been going at, especially if something traumatic happens. I think we need to take that step back and say, okay, I need to pause. And maybe some of these routines are not going to serve me right now in this time in my life. You know, maybe I need to do a different routine now. Maybe self-care is more important. Making sure you set your alarm so that you can go to bed.

Deanna Yates [00:08:55]:
I like to set an alarm not just to wake up, but so that I know when it's time to get ready for bed. Because I'm terrible. If I don't do that, I will get sucked into, you know, Reddit. I'll get sucked into a book. I'll get sucked into tidying up the house, like doing something. And then I'm like, oh my gosh, it's already 10:30. What's happening? So, and then it makes my next day not great because I'm already tired. Those are just little triggers that you can do in your life.

Deanna Yates [00:09:17]:
And so just, I think, taking a moment and really looking at what is it that is important right now in this season of my life. You have a new kitten. Is it really important that your house is super tidy or that you have all the stuff in the place it needs to be or you want it visually to be? Maybe not. Maybe right now we need to take some of the things that we have out that are beautiful and we love to see, but we need to put them in a cupboard right now so that I'm not stressing about the cat maybe running into that vase and breaking it, right? So maybe it's just taking a moment and saying, okay, I'd really like to have that, that way, but it's not going to happen. Like when we have kids, when we have new babies at home, we don't get to keep our glass on a bottom shelf and expect them not to touch it. We buy the covers and put them over the electrical outlets. We do the things that are necessary for that season of life. So I think that's really important is just getting really clear on, okay, what season of life am I in? What is going to support me right now? And unfortunately, I have news for everybody.

Deanna Yates [00:10:19]:
It's constantly changing. What you need in the house, the routines you have, the systems you have, the supports you have change. I think we need to just take a step back and give ourselves that moment to say, what is working for me? What isn't working for me? Is there something that's kind of a sticking point? And then go ahead and change it.

Sandy Kovach  [00:10:41]:
Tip number 5, consider practical minimalism. But wait, minimalism may not be what you think.

Lanée Blaise [00:10:49]:
On your website, you mentioned that you personally had a time where you were an overwhelmed mom who was worn out with all the stuff. You didn't have any flexibility. Dinner was just an afterthought. Free time was out the window. And you said you felt stuck until I focused on what mattered. And practical minimalism is something that you began to embrace. And I want to know if you can tell a little bit about that journey, how they can embrace it for themselves, even what that means.

Sandy Kovach  [00:11:30]:
You say being a minimalist doesn't mean getting rid of everything.

Deanna Yates [00:11:33]:
Yeah, I don't think it has to. I think it means getting rid of the things that don't matter to you, that don't add value to your life. So I think we've all had those things, and I think it's really easy to accumulate those things, going to Target and getting the cute stuff, getting the cute pillow. And I'm a sucker for that. I mean, you can see I've got this fun— I made that pillow, you know, but behind me I've got stuff that matters. This was my daughter's first outfit. We bought it on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, and that's what we brought her home from the airport in— or from the airport, from the hospital in. This was a painting my father-in-law painted.

Deanna Yates [00:12:07]:
This was a print from my parents' house and something I remembered growing up, and they've moved and now I have it. All of that stuff on that wall means something to me. It's not an arrow I picked up or a painting I picked up at Target. You know, it's not this mass-produced stuff. So when I look at it, it gives me good feelings.

Sandy Kovach  [00:12:25]:
Not to say that if you like something cute at Target, if it meant something to you, by all means, we're not putting them down or put any mass-produced stuff down. But for you, that's not meaningful. So it's kind of customized then.

Deanna Yates [00:12:40]:
100% customized. Some people might say I have too much. I mean, there's a lot of people out there that would say, oh, she calls herself a minimalist, but she still has stuff. Some people are like, you should have only one plate per person and you should, you know, only have one couch and you should, whatever, you should be sleeping on the floor and not have a bed frame. To each their own. Everybody has their levels. And I think we're on this entire spectrum of stuff. And so you get to choose where you fall and where that feels comfortable for you.

Deanna Yates [00:13:10]:
The problem I see is that by the time people come to me, something feels wrong to them. They feel like they're suffocating under their stuff. There is a reason that they are seeking out organization or decluttering. That is what I try to help people do. If you don't have a problem with clutter, by all means, Go live your life. I love it. Go live your fine self. Like, that's fantastic.

Deanna Yates [00:13:32]:
I never will tell people that you can only have 100 personal items or you can only have one plate. You like to entertain, you need to have those dishes because they have a purpose for you. It's just being able to let go of the stuff that makes you feel yucky, that makes you feel guilty, that doesn't serve you on your journey to the life you really want to be living. And stuff is just It doesn't have feelings. I'm the one that puts the feeling onto it. I'm the one that ascribes whatever it is to it. I'm the one that has the thoughts about those things when I see them. The stuff just sits on the wall.

Lanée Blaise [00:14:07]:
Very good point.

Sandy Kovach  [00:14:08]:
Tip number 6, if we are ready to get down to a declutter, Deanna's got a whole thing she calls her quick and dirty declutter. And you'll hear the importance of not just how to do it, but why it's good to start small.

Deanna Yates [00:14:25]:
Well, I will give you the quick and dirty declutter. Here's the best way to have success on your first time out, because you will get better every time you do it. Your first time is going to feel really weird. Just think about the first time you did anything. First time you kissed someone, it felt really weird too, right? So the first time you do anything, it's weird. Give yourself some grace for that. But you need 4 things: a phone, because I want you to take a before and after picture, and I want you to set a timer. You need a box so that you can put your donation things in it.

Deanna Yates [00:14:55]:
That way you can, when you're done, fold it up and put it in the car. A bag for trash. Anything that's unusable, worn out, isn't going to be useful, like a donation center is not going to be able to resell it. That's going to go in the garbage and you're not going to feel guilty about it. And if you do, you're going to say, okay, I'm going to use this guilt to not buy so much stuff in the future. And then the last is a laundry basket. You are going to put anything that doesn't belong in that space that goes somewhere else in your house, you're going to put it in that laundry basket because this is going to make you be able to get through it real fast. So you're going to take your before picture and you're gonna pick one spot.

Deanna Yates [00:15:30]:
When I say one spot, I mean one shelf, your entertainment center, one drawer, your nightstand. I'm not talking about like one room. I'm talking like one little area. And if you finish faster, great. You can use the rest of your time to go to a different shelf or something. But I want you to start small so that you can actually make progress. Take your before picture, set your timer, sort through all the stuff. If it belongs in that space, put it back.

Deanna Yates [00:15:57]:
If you want extra credit, wipe down the shelf before you put stuff back, but it's so not necessary if you don't have time. And then you take your laundry basket and you walk around your house and you put all the stuff away into the place where it should go.

Sandy Kovach  [00:16:12]:
I love that.

Lanée Blaise [00:16:13]:
If you decide to do your drawer in your bedroom, if there's measuring spoons in there, put it in the laundry basket and then head over to the kitchen and drop those off there.

Deanna Yates [00:16:23]:
Exactly, exactly. And a lot of people ask me that, how do I know where things belong? And it's like, well, I like to assign a purpose to every room. My family room, that is where we gather, so it's going to have blankets and pillows and It's got the TV, some books for us to read, but it doesn't have, like you said, my kitchen spoons. It doesn't have all of my daughter's toys because that's not what I want to see when we're in that room. That doesn't help us be together. Now, it's not to say that she doesn't bring toys in there and sometimes they get left there. We're not going for 100% perfection, but on a whole, that is not their home and where they live. Does that make sense?

Lanée Blaise [00:17:04]:
Absolutely.

Sandy Kovach  [00:17:05]:
And finally, tip number 7. This feels very proactive. Pay attention to what's coming into your home.

Deanna Yates [00:17:13]:
Watch the inflow. Watch what you bring in. Once something comes into your house, it is so much harder to get it out. It's much easier to say no when you're in the store than it is when you're trying to go through that declutter session and say, Oh, but I spent money on it. It's cute, but maybe it doesn't go with all the stuff you have.

Sandy Kovach  [00:17:36]:
Ask yourself, do you really need it? And why? And all those questions.

Lanée Blaise [00:17:41]:
I think that's applicable again across the board. When you make your schedule for your life, when you take on a new position or a new club or organization or whatever, watch the inflow.

Deanna Yates [00:17:54]:
Anytime someone asks you to put something on your calendar, you say, oh, okay, let me check and I'll get back to you. I try not to have an immediate yes, even if I really want to do it. I'm an extrovert, I'm a people pleaser, I'm a nurturer. I want to just give, give, give. And I found that I was doing that too much. And so that's my new default. Oh, that sounds really amazing. Let me check my calendar and see if I you can, know, see if I have time for it or see if it works.

Deanna Yates [00:18:19]:
Or let me just check.

Sandy Kovach  [00:18:20]:
Could we do that with a purchase too? Like wait 24 hours and see if I really want it?

Deanna Yates [00:18:26]:
Yeah. And one of the fun things is if you're on Amazon, you can put stuff in your cart, but don't buy it until the next day. Then you go back and you say, okay, do I really need that? Or look around your house. Where are you going to put it when it comes in? Does it have a place to live or is it just going to kind of shuffle around because you don't really have a place for it? You just wanted it because it looked fun.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:49]:
And it was an impulse buy that you might forget about. All together. You might put it in the little wishlist or in the save for later, forget all about it, and realize you never needed it in the first place.

Deanna Yates [00:19:01]:
It happens all the time.

Sandy Kovach  [00:19:03]:
So to wrap up, let's quickly recap the 7 ideas we talked about today. 1, organize your routines and the things that support them. When everyday habits have a home, life runs with less friction. 2, Be intentional with language and cues. Clear words, simple steps, even a little fun can help routines actually stick. Tip 3: Keep daily tidying realistic. Short, consistent resets matter more than marathon cleanups. Tip 4: Adjust your system for the season that you're in.

Sandy Kovach  [00:19:40]:
What worked before might need to shift, and that's okay. Tip number 5 was about practical minimalism. Think in terms of what truly supports your life right now, not— having more or less. The goal is keeping what serves you. Tip 6: Start small. Start with one drawer, one shelf, one space. Progress builds faster when it feels doable. And Tip 7: Watch the inflow.

Sandy Kovach  [00:20:06]:
Be mindful about what's coming into your home. That saves you time, energy, and stress later on. Finally, none of this is about perfection. It's about creating margin and And while yes, we certainly can use margin to be more productive, however, it's more about creating that space— time for others, time for ourselves, time to be with God. If this episode was helpful, we'd love for you to subscribe to Imagine Yourself and share it with someone who could use a little more calm in their day. You can also find us at imagineyourselfpodcast.com, and we're on socials as well. All the links are in the show notes, and we'll include links for Deanna Yates. She has a ton of great tips and a lot more about clutter-free living.

Sandy Kovach  [00:20:56]:
So thanks for listening. God bless you. And until next time, keep imagining what life could look like with a little more space to breathe.