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If you clicked on this article, you’ve probably got more clutter in your home than you would like. 

It can feel so overwhelming, aside from keeping up with the usual motherhood mental load, to also keep on top of all the housework. That’s why, a couple of years ago, I decided to massively declutter our home. And we got rid of probably about 50% of the stuff that we owned.

We also created these 10 little systems around our home that just make our days run so much smoother. 

Many of us think that the reason our homes feel so overwhelming is that we’re lazy, or unmotivated, or that we’re not doing enough. It’s not. You are likely doing so much more than you give yourself credit for. 

What you might need, though, is to just simplify your home and your life, to make everything just a bit easier to manage.

Keep reading below or watch the video:

1. The 10-Minute Rule 

This is where I do the little daily resets that actually make such a big difference in my day. 

I used to be so frustrated in the past, feeling like I couldn’t keep on top of everything. It felt like I was constantly cleaning, yet it was never clean. Or I was constantly tidying up the toys just to stumble on them all the time.

What I realised is that we have to accept that house maintenance is a cycle. All of these systems I’m about to share with you will help everything run so much smoothly. But it is a cycle. It is something we have to do consistently because we live in the house. 

Kids are going to get toys out, and that’s fine. We’re going to be cooking food, and we’ll have dishes we need to clean. There are going to be papers and documents because we need them in our lives. But the 10-minute rule is something that helps me keep on top of it a lot easier. 

What I do now is, throughout the day, when I notice I have a little bit of time and I’m not really doing anything else, I use that time.

Maybe I’m waiting to go on the school run, or in any other little pocket of time where I’m just waiting for the next thing I need to do. Those are the moments when I do little resets.

I will go around my house, and maybe I’ll tidy the dining room. Maybe I’ll just take all the plates to the kitchen. Or I might empty the dishwasher. Maybe I’ll tackle a little bit of paperwork that I’ve been putting off. Just those little tiny things that don’t feel like much. Yet when I do them consistently throughout my day, they really change the game. Things are so much easier because nothing piles up.

If you want to give this a go and do these little resets, you might be amazed at how much easier it is to keep on top of things.

2. The Brain Dump System

I read a quote that really stuck with me by David Allen: “The mind is for having ideas, not for storing them.” And I thought that was brilliant!

Oftentimes, I have ideas I want to do for either my work or in our life. And I noticed that if I don’t write them down straight away, they very often just slip my mind. I won’t remember them when I need to. 

Now I have a system where I can just “brain dump” everything that comes to my mind. Any idea that I have can get out of my mind and onto paper or into a notes app on my phone. 

For this, I like to use Notion, and I have different pages in there for all of the things. Some are personal, with appointments I want to make or lists for upcoming birthday parties. I also have business ones, where I put all the video ideas for my YouTube channel.

I just need to get all of the things out of my head and put them somewhere else, not inside my mind. And I feel like this makes me calmer as well. I’m no longer constantly stressing over remembering all of these things. They are all laid out in a safe place in my Notion or on my notes app on my phone. And I can go find them when I need to. 

3. The Drop Zone

This might not seem like much, but it can help so much with all of those piles that tend to build up next to our front door in the hallway. Having little drop zones for all of the things that we come in with can be a game-changer.

To implement this, I identified the things that used to get thrown around as we came in through the door from the school run, a walk or a day out. In our case, it was things like hats, shoes, wallets, keys, sunglasses, and other little items. 

My goal with creating systems around my home was to have places where all of those little things go. If they don’t have a place, that’s when they end up on the floor, on flat surfaces, on the dining table, and other random places. 

To do this, I used things like baskets, bins, and shelves. I put some Command hooks at the kids’ eye level, so they can put their coats on there. We also have a slim shoe rack in the hallway where we keep our daily shoes, so they’re not spread all over the place.

Under the stairs, we have little bins where we store hats, carrier bags, and any little items that we need on a daily basis. 

Having these drop zones in place has made daily routines smoother and the hallway much calmer.

4. The Digital Command Centre

For a long time, I had my own calendar with all of my work bits. And then we had two kids, and we started adding all the kids’ stuff to our calendars as well, to not forget about them. Soon, we realised we needed to sync up our calendars, my husband and I. 

I prefer to use a digital calendar. This way, I can check it wherever I am and see what’s coming up by simply having a quick look at my phone. Some prefer a physical calendar, but I just like having the calendar with me for easy access anywhere, any time. 

For this, we are using the Google Calendar. It’s a sync between my husband’s and mine, and we put everything in there. All the appointments, any school things I need to remember for my son, any nursery things, all the events go in there, and it helps us so, so much.

5. Create a Paper System

Paperwork is never-ending, so we need to create these little systems for it. When papers come into the house, they need specific spots to go.

We have a letter holder in the hallway where we keep all of the letters that I need to address, bills that need to be paid (though we have the majority digitally), any birthday invites I need to reply to, and all of those things will go in there until I’m ready to tackle them. 

As for any junk mail, that goes straight into the bin. 

If you want to implement this, you can use a tray, a basket, or something like that. It all depends on your home layout and where you might have space to put the papers. 

There are also two things I do that are really helpful for papers. One, I shred anything that’s not necessary but has personal information on it. And two, I digitise as much as I can. For example, most of the paperwork that I keep for my business is digital. Obviously, some things need to be kept as physical copies, and those go in a special folder. Everything else I either shred or digitise—I just don’t want piles and piles of papers in my home. 

6. The Sunday Ritual

The Sunday ritual is something I’ve been doing for years now. And because I do it regularly, it’s actually become a bit of a habit. I sometimes do it without even thinking much about it. 

On Sundays, I like to do our meal plan. I plan five dinners for the coming week. Then, in the food shop app I use, which is Tesco, I add all the items that I need for those dinners and any other random bits that we need for breakfast and lunch. When I’m done, I place the order and everything gets delivered on Monday. This really sets us up for the week ahead. 

Then I’ll have a quick check in my Google calendar to see what’s coming up in the week ahead, any school events for my kids, anything that I need to be aware of, and any work deadlines. 

And Sunday is also usually the day when I wash my hair and do my nails really quickly, as I have such a simple nail routine.

I really like a reset on a Sunday. I feel like it makes me feel more productive for the week ahead. 

7. Decluttering Routine 

A decluttering routine is something I’ve also added as part of our little home systems and it helps so much. Decluttering is something we need to do consistently, even if we do a big declutter once in a while to give us a reset.

I find that it’s really helpful to do these small declutters consistently, every week or so. It just means going through our house and putting things in an outbox. Or whenever we notice things that need to be decluttered, like clothes we no longer love or kids’ clothes that they’ve outgrown or books they no longer read. We put all of those in the outbox. 

This outbox is actually a little bin that’s in the cupboard under the stairs. We use it to temporarily store things that need to be decluttered, either sold or taken to the charity shop. Putting them in there signifies that they need to leave the house.

Having this system in our routine helps so much. 

8. Seasonal Wardrobe

Another thing I do regularly is the seasonal wardrobe “walk-through”.

Every time the season changes, which is four times here in the UK where we live, I will go through my clothes and my kids’ clothes. I do this to check for anything that we haven’t worn, which means we can declutter. I take this opportunity to also check for anything that maybe we’re missing and we need to buy for the new season. 

At the same time, I take all the seasonal items we won’t be using for the next season and put them away. For example, if we’re going into autumn, I might put summer items away because we’re probably not going to need them until next year.

This makes things so much more manageable and it means that when I open the wardrobe in the morning, I see only things that are an option for that day. I don’t have to rummage through all the offseason items, and getting dressed in the morning is so much easier, both for me and my kids. 

9. Toy Rotation

The toy rotation system is something we love to do. I find that having too many toys out at one time is overwhelming, not just for me, but for my kids as well. They’d be looking for a toy, unable to find it among the piles and piles of toys. And that is frustrating.

Also, having too many toys around can be distracting—they’re not as focused in their play, and studies confirm this. Having fewer toys available to them at one time actually helps them have more focused play, more independent play, and sometimes for longer stretches of time. 

Implementing this toy rotation system is simple. I just take a bunch of toys that I notice they’re not playing with right now and store them away in a bin in the loft or in the shed. Later on, we rotate them, meaning we take the stored ones out, and store away others. 

This helps with keeping the house clutter-free and toys are easier to manage. Plus the kids get a feeling of having fresh new toys. This toy rotation system makes things more enjoyable for all of us. 

10. Morning routine checklist for kids

When kids are younger, we tend to do everything for them, from getting them dressed and changing their nappies to getting their bottle ready and preparing snacks and everything in between. 

As they get older, though, things can shift, and I like to try to give my kids a little bit more responsibilities. Obviously, everything needs to be age-appropriate. But any habit that we’re trying to build, if we make it a routine for them, they are more likely to do it consistently.

So I made a little checklist for my son, as he’s older, with things that I hope become habits. And so far, it has been working really well. His morning checklist includes things like having breakfast, brushing teeth, getting dressed, making his bed, and tidying his room.

This saves me time in the morning because I don’t have to do all of these chores. Plus, it gives him the responsibility of his room, and we work together to keep it looking nice and make sure he can find the things he wants when he needs them.

I hope this article has been inspiring, and I’d love to hear about the systems that make life a bit easier in your home—what’s working for you?