Take your phone.
Uh, hey,
This is Katie with New Vision and we have Andre George here again today and Andre is going to be getting us some more insight on how to simplify since this April, we are starting the month off strong with simplify at New Vision marriage counselor Edmond. So yeah,sure. Why don’t you take it away. Okay. Thank you so much. I’m so glad to be back and to talk with you guys today. And of course I was super excited when I heard new visions theme was simplified because that is one of my favorite things yet. So, um, that’s what I want to talk to you about today is just some tips and ideas of how to simplify your home and your life. So with that being said, let’s just jump right in. And my very first tip is to get rid of things that you no longer in use or want. Okay. The dreaded d word declutter. So most people, um, you know, dread this. I’m want to skip this step. But truly it’s so important in simplifying your life because if you have too much to manage, it just gets overwhelming and it’s hard to keep, um, organization and systems in place.
Yeah. Yeah. So, um, one of the, some tips that I like, um, with people, I’m kind of dreading it and not wanting to do, I wanted to give you guys three kind of easy starter points with any room. Okay. And I try to, uh, uh, with clients or with myself, uh, keep things as simple as possible. So I always recommend that we work on one room at a time instead of doing multiple things in multiple rooms and not getting any traction or any, um, any good start. Let me move over a little bit. Yeah. Um, and so three, a starter tips, um, quick and easy. Uh, the first one, uh, pick one room that you’re going to start in, grab a trash bag and make a quick sweet and get rid of anything that you know right off to be trash and throw away. So not much thought, not much.
Um, you know, painstaking decisions. Just throw away anything that’s trash. Wow. Yeah. Um, second step. Um, we want to repeat the same process with a different bag and sweet through, um, anything that is a quick and easy decision on something that you can get rid of and you no longer need. So a second step is just getting quick and easy donations. If it’s something you really have to put some thought into or you’re not sure set aside and we can deal with it later on. Yeah, good advice. Yeah. And then the third one more sweep through that same room and um, this is to gather anything in that room that belongs somewhere else. So if you have dishes in your bedroom or something like that would be an example. Take those, put those in the rooms that they go in and come back to the room. And these are just three quick and easy tips that sometimes starting the hardest part. Yeah. And then, um, get you some momentum and some confidence and just getting going and getting some things out of the room. Yeah,
I really liked that you broke those up into three steps because I think some place where I get lost is instead of breaking those up into like trash and then round two and then around three, I sometimes will be like, oh, but there’s close. So let me go put up the clothes first and then I get distracted because I start hanging up on my clothes. Then I started a load of laundry and then I’m like, wait, what was I even doing?
Absolutely. That’s great. Yes, this is so common with a marriage counselor Edmond. Um, and uh, many clients say I’ve worked all day and you can’t tell there’s, you can’t see anything that I’ve done. And that’s why I really like the one room at a time, one space at a time, keeping it really simple. If you have to take something somewhere else, great. But always leave that room for later. You’ll deal with that. Eventually come back to a room and see if you can really get some traction and some progress and some goals met and simplified in that room. Yeah, that’s really good. That’s really helpful. Okay, good. So hopefully you can apply those three small quick steps to any room that you want to. Those are kind of like three starter points that you can do with any room that you’d like to. Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, and just as I was saying with the decluttering lets, my second tip is actually to declutter your calendar.
And this isn’t something that people think about much, but in our society, um, clutter is on our calendars or schedules being so full is really a problem and really causes stress and overwhelm. If we’re so overwhelmed in my opinion of just completing our schedule, how are we going to enjoy anything or do anything with excellence because we’re just trying to get through the day. So really, um, I guess a tip would be to really look at your goals and your priorities with a marriage counselor Edmond and then see if your calendar and your schedule reflects that. So if not, you might need to make some changes. Um, so you’re really achieving, um, and going towards the things that are your priorities. Yeah.
That’s really good. That’s really good. I’ve heard have any, I don’t know if anyone’s heard the ping pong illustration. Have you heard it? Where there’s like a jar and you’ve got Ping pongs and you’ve got beans. And so the Ping pongs or like things that are a priority and the beans are things that are just kind of like, you know, the filler junk. And if we don’t put the Ping pongs into the little jar first, then it gets filled up with beans and you can’t fit all of it in. But if you put the Ping pongs in first, you can fill the beans around the Ping pongs that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So those priorities are important.
Yeah. So starting with your priorities and the goals and what you really believe in and want to focus on. And then all the other stuff, um, you can kind of add around that. Yeah. Yeah. And then with some blank space in your schedule, you know, um, as we know, things never go quite as planned, never. And so with like space, you can really, um, like I said before, not only enjoy, um, some of the aspects of your day a little bit, not that everything has to be, you know, rainbows or anything, but, um, enjoy some of the aspects of your day, but you also have some wiggle room. Um, if something doesn’t go as planned to move things around. Right? Yeah. That’s so good. That’s so true. So true. So, um, my third, um, little tiff is, um, back to the home if we can, um, kind of apply and make some organizational systems in your home.
Now this sounds big and scary, but it’s really not. It’s just some simple strategies and simple tips that, um, can, uh, really, um, decrease the stress in your day and really help things run smoother. So let me give you some examples from a marriage counselor Edmond. For example, a system can be a filing system. So when you have bills or important papers, they actually have a home. And when you need those, again, you can go right to them versus um, you know, going through a whole stack of papers to find that one, that one form or that one paper. So another, uh, example of a system might be a hook on the back of the door. So we can lay out clothes the night before with our kids and avoid the, the stressful morning of what are we going to wear and I don’t want to wear that. And so something like that would be a system.
Um, maybe, let me see here. A meal plan would be a system. If you have a little plan set in place for the week, I’m working on this myself, then you don’t have to go to the grocery store every single night of the week cause you have missing ingredients of what you’re going to make. So it’s really just helps you with time efficiency and less stress and less running around. So these are all systems and they don’t have to be big and scary – take it from a marriage counselor Edmond. They can just be, um, just anything that can fit into your day and make things easier. Yeah, that’s really great. So, um, you know, besides, um, I guess my tip here is just to think about your day and maybe some of the stressful parts of your day and then try to think through some simple strategies that you can implement ahead of time to kind of create less stress and things running smoother.
Yeah, that’s really good. That’s really good way to simplify. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I really like that. Anything we can make things run smoother. I feel like, um, our attitudes and our, how we feel it can really am kind of add them add up throughout the day half. That’s really good. That’s really good. So, uh, my next one is, um, sorry, just say I lost my train of thought. Um, okay, this is a good one. Um, pay attention to what you’re bringing into your home actually. So we’re simplifying what we already have and creating systems for what we already have, but um, are if we keep bringing things in that we don’t necessarily need or utilize that, um, that can add to the clutter and the chaos and the stressfulness of our home environment. So I kind of like picture a big stop sign on the door that you always use in your, or just in your mind’s eye or picturing this and for instance, uh, products you might purchase.
Maybe ask yourself some few simple questions. You can kind of recreate your mindset and your habits. You know, what do I want this for? Where is it going to be stored? Do I have a place to hang it? Do I have something else that has the same function? So really the same questions that you asked yourself of, of trying to decide. If you want to get rid of an item, you can really implement that and ask if, uh, you, uh, ask the same questions if you want to buy an item. Yeah, that’s good. So if the only reason they want to buy an item is because it’s a good deal, it may not be the right fit for a marriage counselor Edmond. And not only will this say to you kind of time and space in your home, it’ll also save you money if you really process through. That’s good.
I know personally if I take a step back and wait to purchase something, some about half the time I decide that maybe I want something different or you know, something else might work better in the space and I, and I kind of changed my mind anyway. So really just thinking through and taking some time versus buying everything immediately really helps. And on this same note of bringing things into your home, um, back to paper, paper clutter is huge and we’re bombarded with so much paper and it’s always a problem with, I’d say the majority of my clients, it’s a problem. Yeah. And they’re overwhelmed by paper. So a couple tips here is, uh, and things that I try to implement myself is really just when you bring your mail in, take 30 seconds to a minute, go through it and see what’s important, see what you need to discard.
Go ahead and get rid of it. So we don’t have piles of paper building that you have to go through as a marriage counselor Edmond. And then I’m back to the systems that we talked about. Have A, a place in mind of where your bills go, where you know, your bank statements go and where you can find them easily. Um, same thing with kids, backpacks, all their paper and artwork. Um, I may be a bad mom that I don’t keep everything. We, uh, I try to keep the very best things and have a little box that they love to go through from time to time that I store everything in, um, kind of their keepsakes. But really even when I take them out of their backpack, I’m sorting and deciding what’s best to keep what’s best to get rid of. And that really will eliminate about 50% of your paper clutter right there.
Then having systems in place can really help minimize the stress of paper and how it overwhelms us. Yeah. That’s really good. That’s really good. Okay. Yeah. I’ve heard of people who even have a shredder by their back door, like the door they enter in and just start shredding, you know, those great idea. Credit cards, you know, advertisements and things. Sure. Yeah. Or, and even a recycle bin. What you know, once you shred it or, um, things that don’t mean to be shredded, it’s right there and easy so you don’t have to think about it. And that’s, that’s a good idea of another system actually. Yeah. So, yeah. That’s good. That’s really good. Paper clutter is brutal even for a marriage counselor Edmond. It is. It’s very overwhelming to people, but just a few small steps and habits can really make a huge difference. Yeah. And then also it, you know, going forward, it saves you time because you’re not searching for things every time you need something.
Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, really modifying that and implementing those strategies, um, over time can create big results in simplifying your home. Yeah. So, and then, uh, my final, uh, tip, I guess for simplifying, I like to say, make, uh, keeping your home and I’m keeping it neat and tidy. A family affair. So, so many times, especially I’m guilty of it, especially as Moms, uh, US women, we try to do everything for everyone. And this seems to be a big problem and a really big stressor and overwhelm a one person. And a lot of times things build up because they can’t keep up. So I really like to, um, encourage people to have, have that a family do it together. So one way I do that personally, uh, after a long weekend, usually on Sunday evenings we turn off the TV, get rid of that screen time, set the timer, turn on some music and we spend about 30 minutes kind of resetting our home before the week starts.
This helps us sleep better, we relax better, we do it and then have like a family game night or something fun. And uh, this really starts our week off on the, on the right site. And the more you implement some of the strategies we’ve talked about, so decluttering and simplifying the items that you have in your home setting up system, the easier it is even for young kids to participate. And this really instills in them, um, not only like some confidence and some responsibility in the home, it also gives them tactics and skills that they can use into adulthood. So we’re really kind of empowering them and taking some stress off us if we just let them help. Yeah. So this, you know, our family thing that we do for 30 minutes, it really turns into a game versus a chore. It’s kind of fun.
We see how quick we can do it and if we can be our marriage counselor Edmond. And with systems in place, we can pretty much pick up our whole house in 30 minutes and reset it before the week starts. That’s great. Yeah. So yeah, that’s really, really helpful and removes the stress and anxiety off one person and really, um, you know, let’s everybody help and have a say. And that also helps eventually everybody knows where things are, so they’re not constantly asking one person, you know, where’s this? Where’s that? Everybody knows and has a say in, uh, uh, you know, um, the ability to help keep up, keep the home. Yeah. That’s really good. And I really like the idea that you’re trying to create some, um, some systems that are so simple that the kids could do it too. Absolutely. That’s really neat. Yeah. Um, even, um, pretty young toddlers can be taught, you know, all the blocks go in here, you know, and this has been or all that.
And I’m with a little guidance. Um, you know, at first they will learn pretty quickly and um, you know, my five and six year old, or my five now six year old, she’s been cleaning up her room for quite some time and doing a really good job. So just encouragement, a little help and a few systems in place so they know where things go and they can do it on their own. So things at their level, it makes a huge difference and take something off my plate that I don’t have to do, which is rewarding and it makes you feel better too. So that’s good. That’s good. Those are such good points. Yeah, you’re really helping us kick off. Simplify strong. So I like it. So yeah, those are my really my five tips to kind of get started. I try to keep things as simple as possible.
I encourage you if you know, one or two of those things resonated with you, something that you think you can implement. A, my motto is always kind of start small and small things really add up to big to big things over time. Really add up to big changes. So pick a few things, implement those. And ultimately, if you’re still overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, I’m here, like your marriage counselor Edmond. I’d love to help you and you can find out more information about me on my website at pretty neat. Okay. Dot Com and um, if there’s, do you have any other questions? If there’s nothing else that, yeah, yeah. And we also, in the notes, we have her Facebook page linked and I would encourage you guys to go on there and like her Facebook page. It’s, you know, it’s another way to get some encouragement and social media, which is literally sorely lacking. And so I think that would be an encouragement to anyone. Um, and also, you know, if we’ve talked, we talked some about the last time that Andrea came in here that, you know, if you’re having some like emotional or spiritual issues related to tidying up or you know, there’s some grief related to getting rid of mom’s stuff or whatever it is, that’s where New Vision can come in and we can help also. And so I think, um, I think it’s so neat to see how the work that we’re doing really works together. I unravel where can they use both in those things. Absolutely. Yeah.
So really neat. And um, and stay tuned, I’m sure you’re going to be seeing a lot of quotes and things on our social media from Audra and our marriage counselor Edmond. She, um, gave us some pretty cool things to help with our simplify thing this month. So, so excited to have you on today. I’m so excited to be back and yeah, please follow me on social media. I try to give a simple tips and tricks and ideas all the time, um, to keep you motivated and working on your home. And Yeah. Thank you so much. Awesome. So happy to have been here again, so. Okay. All right. We’ll see you guys next time. Bye.