You're listening to the decluttered mom podcast, a podcast built specifically for busy moms by a busy mom. I'm your host, diana Renee, and in 2017, i had my second daughter and it felt like I was literally drowning in my home Okay, not literally, but I felt like I couldn't breathe with all of the stuff surrounding me. Over the next 10 months, i got rid of approximately 70% of our household belongings and I have never looked back. I kind of feel like I hacked the mom system and I'm here to share all the tips, tricks and encouragement. Let's listen to today's show.

Welcome to another episode of the decluttered mom podcast. I feel like that is a tongue twister, and the amount of times I have had to start over my intro when I record these episodes. You guys, i it's. It is a struggle for me, but I wanted to talk to you today about something that is very helpful for ADHD brains, but I think it's just helpful for overwhelmed mom brains also, and so I really wanted to share it, and it is all about the idea of creating mini systems in our home to help us remember things that we need to do on a daily basis, that we may not want to do or may just have a hard time remembering and all of the above. But before we really jump into that, i want to just kind of check in on you and see how you are doing and see how the summer is going, because for me the summer is it, doesn't it? this is the first week that it actually feels like summer and it is mid June. Here in Colorado it has rained nonstop for literally months, like two months, maybe even longer than that, which is great because we have high fire risks in the summer. I don't know where you are listening to this, but in the mountains in Colorado, and even a couple years ago we had a fire that went into the out of the mountains, into the foothills, even past the foothills, and into like the suburbs of Boulder. Essentially, if you're from here, you know that that's location is not completely 100% accurate. It's not technically a suburb of Boulder, but if you are not from Colorado, then just to give you the general idea is like the suburbs around Boulder, there was a really awful fire that spread and the fire hit like I think it was don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure it was like over 1000 homes And it just was devastating for so many families and that whole community, and that happens too often in the mountains. It happens more in the mountains than down here, but it's just, it's a constant concern, and so having all of this rain has been really helpful as far as fires go, because the fire risk is just so low because everything is so damp. We went to Breckenridge last weekend, which is a little cute town in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. If you've never been there, i highly recommend it. We actually went there because we wanted to go into the mountains, but we had heard over and over and over that this specific town had a lot of really celiac friendly restaurants, and that was 100% true. We found so many restaurants that were really really great for Ms Nine and helping us navigate this new world. She also got gluten, though, for the first time, and so that was rough. Again, we are adjusting and we are figuring things out, but not only that. Just Breckenridge is just a beautiful place and it's a very cute little town, like the Main Street area is wonderful. We went fishing again with the Alpine Fishing Company. It's a guided fishing, basically, like you go out on a pontoon boat with a guide and he helps you fish, and it's really, really fun, but this time, if you saw my Instagram stories, you already know this. If you have not seen my Instagram stories, then let me tell you a story. We went fishing on Lake Dillon with a guide two years ago I think it was two years ago and it's with the same company. It's called Alpine Fishing Company. They are amazing. I always recommend them 100%. If you're going to be in like the Breckenridge, frisco, silverthorn area, then check them out because they are wonderful, wonderful people. Two summers ago we went out. Our guide's name was Austin and he was wonderful and we booked a three hour trip because that was the shortest trip we could book. But when we booked it, we were like, listen, our kids are young at the time This was two years ago, so they were four and seven. I had to think that through for a minute. But we were like there's zero chance that they're going to last for three hours out on this boat. We told them that when we booked and they're like, yeah, yeah, it's like we hear that often and we're pretty confident that we can keep them entertained and everything for the three hours and we were like, okay, yeah, i mean we got off the phone call and we're like I don't really think so anyway. But then when we went to the actual trip, we got on the boat and we told our guide we were like listen, we know we booked three hours. We're happy to pay for the three hours, but like, can we do like an hour? Our girls will be good after an hour. And he kind of laughed and he's like, yeah, i mean like we can, but I think we can do the full three. And he's like let's just play it by ear and see how it goes. And you guys, we were coming in after three hours and they could have lasted longer. That's how great these guides are. They just work really well with kids. It's so much fun. They help you actually catch fish, so that. So it's exciting for the kids. If you are not a fisherman like my husband and I are not fishermen by any means, and so if we just went out there with fishing poles it would be terribly boring and we would never catch anything. But with these guides they really help you, and so it was really really fun. So, all that to say, we had an amazing experience when we went two years ago and we've been planning to go back. It didn't work out last summer And so this summer, like we have to go, we're going. And so we booked this trip and we were so excited. But we were like, oh my gosh, it's raining every day Because it's I'm not kidding Like every day for two months it's been raining. And so we get up there. And we were there a couple. We were in Breckenridge for a couple days before our fishing trip And that Monday we had our fishing trip. And so we go out and we're like, oh my gosh, the forecast does not look good. It does not look good. Our trip started at, i think, 930 in the morning, so it should have been like 930 to 1230 and about maybe like 35 minutes into it, we hear thunder way off in the distance And we see some dark clouds way off in the distance. And so our guide was like you know, i'm tracking the weather on this like handy dandy thing he had on the boat And I'm like watching it like a hawk, because I'm like I do not want to get stuck in the middle of this lake on a boat with two kids in a thunderstorm, like that does not sound A safe be fun. And so we're watching it. You know he is, he's trying to find fish with his like radar thingy and we finally like stop and get set up and my husband actually catches the fish. So at least there's that. Like the girls were really excited. They got to see the fish we caught and released, we put it back into the lake And then we were continuing our little fishing for another maybe like seven minutes, not long at all And it just gets closer and it's getting closer And he's like you know what, like I think we just need to call it. And he's like I feel awful, but this I don't, i don't know, let's just get back to the marina. And then we can like, see, go from there, right. So he's like I don't have another trip after you guys, so I can take you back out after the storm passes, like you can go back into town, like whatever. So we're like, okay, that's fine, i'd rather be safe. So we get, you know, the poles brought back in, we, he gets going. And then you can kind of see, like I was watching him and I'm like he kind of looks a little stressed out right now And he starts going a lot faster And he's like okay, we're gonna get, we're gonna get back to the marina. We need to get back there quickly because this storm is like moving in And next thing, you know, we have hail. So it's not even just rain, it's literally hail like pelting us, as he's driving this boat as fast as he can back to the marina, more like halfway there, and he's like you know what he's like. We just we have to take shelter. We can't, we, we're not going to make it back to the marina. Luckily, there was like this little I don't know what to call it. I should know what to call it, but I don't know what to call it. It's like a little area with like picnic benches and it had coverings, like it didn't have any sides but it had a roof. So he was like let's just go there for now. So he like docked it on the beach. It's hailing on us. We have to like go, take this little hike through part of the woods to get to this place. So the girls are freaked out by the thunder, like the actual like storm I think is still a little bit out, but they're freaking out, which makes me freak out a little bit And I also just don't want, you know, like lightning. It's scary. You don't want to be out and lightning. So we get to that and we are safe under there And we're there for maybe like a half hour and then it like light, the storm passes, but you can see it like it's just a break in the storm. There's more coming. So he's like, let's make a break for it and get back to the marina. He's like because I don't know if it's going to stop after this next like round of storming. So we have go back through the little hike, get back on the boat, book it to the marina. It starts hailing on us again as we're getting to the marina And luckily they had like a little office boat at the dock so we were able to like hop into that and so it had a cover. So we were in there for a while and then we were like, okay, at least the lightning and thunder is gone. So we're going to make a break for our car. We ran into the car and we did not get to go fishing again because it stormed all day long. But it was really bummed because I knew how much of a fun experience we had two years ago fishing, but at the same time it was like such a just funny thing, it was like a little adventure for our little family to go through, and our guide was just awesome and amazing and making sure that we were safe, and so it was just it's a memory right, like. These are the things that we will remember one day, like I think the girls will always remember this time that they had to, like they were fishing on the lake and this crazy storm came in. So that is what has been going on with my life. All that to say is that it's rained for two months and now this is the first week that it feels like summer. Like it was like 98 degrees yesterday and sunny, and today I think it's like almost 90. And so it's just been. It's just nice to be in summer mode and have my girls home and to just be doing fun summer things, and I hope that you are having a great summer too, or at least it's off to a good start. So the quick thing I wanted to talk today about is just little tiny systems or even I don't know if systems is the right word but just how to kind of like hack your day so that you are remembering the things you need to remember, especially if you have ADHD or any, or if you just have a hard time remembering. This is not like medical or mental health advice, it's just I have ADHD. These are things that have helped me And I think that anyone who is an overwhelmed person or mom can relate And can benefit from these things. And the main idea, which can be basically catered to any area of your life, is to look at where your normal human behavior will most allow you to remember something. What I mean by that is, if you have to take medicine every day, if you put it in your medicine cabinet in your bathroom but there's nothing else in there that you need to do on a daily basis, then you are much less likely to actually remember to take that medicine every day. If, instead, you put your medicine in the drawer right next to your toothbrush, you are more likely to take your medicine. Or for me, like even putting it by my toothbrush wouldn't work for me, because I'm more in a rush while I'm brushing my teeth and getting anything I need to upstairs, but when I come downstairs and when I make breakfast and when I'm putting away the dishes from the dishwasher in the morning, like that's the time where I feel most likely to remember the thing that I need to do, and so what I do is I put it in the kitchen cabinet in a bin, and so every morning it's just part of my routine I come down, i start breakfast, i grab the bin, i grab my water and that is my reminder. So I think we've talked about habit stacking a bit before on the podcast and I'm going to do, actually in a future episode, way more on this. But the idea of habit stacking is something I got from the book Atomic Habits, which I highly highly recommend, and so an example of habit stacking for this specific situation is that I get my water every morning and that's something I will automatically do because I'm thirsty, right? So I want my water, and so I get my water bottle out, i fill my water bottle up, and that is the trigger to remind myself to take the medicine, and then there is some type of reward after that, and so for the longest time, what I did is water, medicine, coffee, and so that was like a reward for remembering to take my medicine, and now I don't really need that coffee reward. I tend to drink coffee more in the afternoon now, but I did that for so long that it has now become a habit of mine to grab my water, take my medicine and then go about my day. So think about the ways that you can make your life easier in this regard. There is a guy. His name is Alex Hermosi. He is someone who I follow for business and marketing advice, and I was listening to a podcast from him recently where he was going over a very basically the same concept where he put his supplements that he takes every day on the breakfast table, because that is where he sits and eats breakfast and has coffee with his wife before he starts working from home. And so that just was a normal, natural thing for him to sit down and eat and drink his coffee. And while he's doing that, his supplements are staring him in the face And so he remembers to take them. And now he calls them watering holes I think is what he called them. And so he has spots in his home. He has his desk, he has the breakfast table and he has a specific chair. He always sits into work, and so he at these watering holes he has the different things that he needs to remember throughout the day. Another example he used was his sunscreen, so he has like a sunscreen stick that he puts on his face and he wants to remember it every morning, so it goes in the watering hole so that he sees it and he remembers and he does it. So I think that I honestly feel like just reminding ourselves is the number one way that we can remember a lot of things that we need to do and just putting it in front of our face, which can be hard sometimes when we are trying to avoid clutter It can also be hard when we just have so many people that we need to personally remember things for. So it's not just us, it's also our kids, and so another way that I think this is really helpful is just having the on my bedside table. I have a basket and I put everything in that basket that I need at that time of day. So this is not necessarily something where I'm reminding myself to do something, but it's providing a environment that makes things easier for me, which that is the goal. I wanna always make things easier for me, and so for me like you should see me while I'm sleeping. I am a sight because I have this like night bite splint thing I have to keep in my mouth because I have TMJ. I've had it since I was a teenager. I clench my teeth at night And so I wear this it looks like a mouth guard every night to protect my teeth from the clenching. Then I wear mouth tape, which that's the whole other story. For a whole other time I wear, i put gel in my eyes every night, for I just have really, really dry eyes, and so it's something my eye doctor gave me. And then I do a face mask. I just like My husband is sometimes like you look ridiculous because I just I had turned into a different person at bedtime. But all of those things. Like I used to get frustrated because I would put them in my drawer, my bedside table drawer, and like I put other things in there. So I would like be tired, it'd be late, i'd be trying to find my mouth Tape, i can't find it. I'm frustrated, i have to turn the light on and that's just annoying. And so I have a basket that goes on my bedside table and all of those things that I need for bedtime. It's just goes that they go in there, so it's only the things that I need when I'm going to bed. Nothing else goes in that basket. But everything that I need when I'm going to sleep is in that basket, so I always know where it is. So Think through your own life. Think through the different Times during the day that you get frustrated that you can't find something or that you keep forgetting to do something, and Think through how I walked through this with you and how can you implement that in your own life And how can you make that just help you be able to number one, create new habits, but number two, just make your life easier. I hope this was helpful for you. I know this episode was a little all over the place, especially with my 10 minute story about fishing, but I had fun telling it to you and hopefully you found it at least a little bit entertaining And I hope that the the concepts I talked about also were helpful for you today. Thanks for hanging out and listening to the decluttered mom podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world if you could write a review or share this episode with a friend or your Instagram stories. And if you're on Instagram, be sure to follow me at the decluttered mom and send me a DM to say hi. I'd love to hear what you thought about today's episode. I hope you'll come back next week and hang out with us again. I hope you'll come back next week and hang out with us again.