17 Habits To Making Our Lives Easier
EPISODE 25
by Dianne Jimenez
This article takes 23 minutes to read
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17 Habits To Making Our Lives Easier
In this episode I’m pulling back the curtains and going through the 17 habits that both my husband, my kids and I live by. Often we don’t even realize, it’s also helping us save time, reduce overwhelm and avoid potential problems later on. But these habits do! So I want to share them with you in hopes to help make your life a little easier!
From reducing the amount of decisions you make in a day, to structuring the laundry schedule in a way that simplifies things; such as leaving overwhelming thoughts and feelings at the door. To how to keep things off the floor to building a united front with your partner and so much more. It’s all here in today’s episode.
There’s only 1 instruction here:
Try 1 and make it your own. When that becomes part of your daily habits, test out another. Then follow the same recipe as the first. Eventually, you’ll see your lifestyle change and mindset shift. Who knows where this new found momentum will take you?
Want to go from 'drowning' to peace of mind?
…going from a cluttered home and feeling overwhelmed to being organized where the house is easy to maintain by everyone – IS a journey
Hey there. Welcome back to ‘Parenting Guide Organizing Habits Made Easy’ podcast. If this is your first time tuning in, WELCOME! I’m so glad you found this podcast show. I hope it brings you tons of value along your home organizing and parenting journey!
And if you’re a regular listener – WELCOME back friend! As you probably figured out, it’s been a while since my last episode. Back in June, I knew that with school ending, and the kids home with me full-time, it was going to be a challenge to keep my podcast show up.
I thought I’d be able to shoot out a couple of episodes during the summer every couple of weeks or so. But boy was I wrong! Looking back at it now, I needed to step away completely and focus on my family and their needs.
Now here we are already in November and it feels like it’s my first time launching an episode. Funny enough, I want things done right. I’ve been working on a few (episodes) here and there since the kids have been back at school. But to be fully candid here, it’s challenging to balance family needs, business needs and my own mental health and well-being. If you’re playing many roles in your life, I know you totally get this.
So speaking of it feeling like my first episode, did you know that a year ago this time, I decided to rip the band-aid and finally take action about starting and launching my podcast? After months of saying ‘I should start a podcast, it’s so much easier than video’ (because it is…) I took action. Carefully studying and following a few tutorials I had from a mastermind group I was part of, I got my podcast launched in February 2022!
Anyway, it just occurred to me that it hasn’t even been a year yet since my VERY first episode was released. So I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. I’m still trying to find a groove that works for me, my business and family life so I gotta give myself grace here. It IS a journey….
Speaking of ‘journeys’, so is going from a cluttered home and feeling overwhelmed to being organized where the house is easy to maintain by everyone. That IS a journey, right?
Sharing is caring
OK! But first, could you do me a favor? Would you be so kind as to forward this podcast episode, or any episode I’ve released, to another parent – or a few? Maybe they could benefit from listening to the tips, tricks and even the stories I talk about. If you did this, I’d be forever grateful to you!
So to start things off as the “first” episode back after a few months off the podcast grid, I decided to list the 17 habits we’ve adapted to making our lives easier.
Now, I’m not expecting you to try all 17, unless you WANT to… that’s pretty intense. But after listening to this random-order list, and seeing that none of these things are what you do at home or in your life. However, you still need ideas, inspiration or just a direction on how to simplify your life. I encourage you to try ONE of the 17 out. Promise?
Ok, here we go and in NO particular order here is…
‘Habits’ Number 1
Ever hear about the late Steve Jobs’ idea or concept? It’s the one about reducing the amount of brain power and decisions we make each and every day. I don’t know the exact number but it’s WAY up there. Almost ridiculous to even understand. But it’s in the high thousands or even tens of thousands! And I totally believe that (reducing the amount of decisions we make each day).
So what does that have to do with us? Well, family and friends can attest to this if we compiled pictures of my husband over the last several years. Especially since the pandemic, the man wears the same style black top and cargo shorts whether it’s to work on the yard, going out for breakfast with family or a night out with friends. If it’s casual, you know he’s not spending any extra time trying to figure out what to wear! Cargo shorts and a black t-shirt. Save the thinking and focus on more important and meaningful decisions we need to make throughout the day.
find out how families with 3+ kids tackle the beast: laundry!
‘Habits’ Number 2:
If you’ve ever heard previous podcasts or seen some of my videos, before, I mention that we only have 2 hampers for the 5 of us. And for the longest time it was the kid-size IKEA hampers too. Each hamper was equivalent to a load of laundry. Now you might be thinking:
There must be piles of dirty clothes somewhere.
But no. There wasn’t and still isn’t to this day. We keep it simple. Once the hamper gets full, we wash whatever’s inside right away then it gets dried. Finally sometime in the afternoon, if not within the next couple of days, it gets folded.
Now the habit here isn’t about the folding part. Essentially it’s about doing a manageable amount of laundry from beginning to end. The idea is not having an overflowing amount of dirty clothes. Delaying the inevitable is just adding more time spent on doing this annoying chore. In addition, the pile’s just going to get bigger and bigger as the days pass. So before it gets to an unbearable sight, and a bigger chore, empty the hamper BEFORE it fills up.
One day, we saw a washing machine repair guy on TikTok. And he said
…the biggest problem people have with their machines is that they overstuff them!
The machine needs space to work and let the water flow around it. It’s just like our brains: Too much stuff in there won’t make us work better, smarter, faster… It’s like a constantly overstuffed washing machine that will break down sooner than later. As a result, we’ll eventually burnout from an overloaded mental state!
Ok! I promise the rest of the list won’t be as heavy on the head. But, it’s important to look at different perspectives, right?
‘Habits’ Number 3:
With the amount of movement happening in the house, dirt coming in from the outside and hair that falls our bodies, yes even guys! And let’s not even forget dead skin but let’s not get too graphic here…it’s enough to pass the vacuum every day. But who has time for that?
At our house, we’ve had a central vacuum system for as long as I can remember. Years ago, especially when the kids were babies, I remember the vacuum hose was always out on the floor somewhere. When I look back at old pictures and videos, there it was. Both available for immediate use AND served as an obstacle course for my crawling babies. Good for their motor function. Just not so great on the visual clutter. This just adds to the mental load on an already heavy head of a new mom!
So after we renovated our home, we also invested in a robot vacuum or a Roomba. This baby took over the vacuuming. Currently, we use it 3x a week on our main floor. This is a total game changer for people who like to keep the floor dust free. We’ll never go back to vacuuming multiple times a week to keep our house looking clean again! I’ll link the Roomba on today’s show notes in case you want to look into one. I’m not affiliated with Roomba at all. I just want to share what we use and what has made our lives so much easier!
‘Habits’ Number 4:
If you have a Google home – do you use it to its full potential? My husband and I share things like the shopping list – digitally of course. We simply set it up so that we just have to ask Google to add grocery items to the list (or any item we need to purchase that week). Examples of this are kids shoes, or if we need cue cards for the kids’ presentations. Since the pandemic, my husband’s been doing the weekly Costco runs. It made sense back then and we’ve kept the same routine since. It works for us.
So now, the kids have gotten in the habit to also add things they see we’re running low on. As a result, it’s not always on us to remember or take note of. However, whatever’s NOT on the list, will be picked up the following week. If there’s something we REALLY needed and missed completely, a quick trip to the nearest grocery store isn’t a problem either.
Having a shared shopping list allows both my husband and I, and the kids to be on the same page. Consequently, everyone contributes to our home’s upkeep.
My Secret Sauce for setting the kids up for success (2 part series)
‘Habits’ Number 5:
Speaking of being on the same page… When people ask what makes our marriage work, we always say this :
Be on the same page for everything.
When you’re on the same page it’s SO MUCH easier to show a united front. And this is crucial when raising our kids.
When you show a united front, there’s no room for interpretation or second guessing. It’s the same message whether our kids ask their dad one day or ask me the following week. As long as we’re showing a united front, we’re good.
Now, this isn’t to say we AGREE on every single thing, every direction or process. No. If we don’t know something, however, we both say ‘we’re still talking it over. But if we’re both there and say, I don’t know something: I’ll say I don’t know. And if it’s something my husband will take the lead in explaining, so be it.
But sometimes, and it happens, what the other person says MAY NOT be totally in line with what you thought; Especially if it’s something we never talked about before. Or we’ve never even HAD a reason to discuss until it was brought up. I’ll gently make eye contact with him, or give each other a look of confusion. Then we’ll pause the instructions and discuss.
I think it’s important that the kids see this sometimes. Because they see an example of 2 people working together and trying to figure it out, live. The important thing here is , and it’s not like it’s in us to do this, is we don’t put the other person down ever. It’s just unnecessary and ultimately doesn’t elevate our relationship.
But if it’s something that we can’t discuss in front of the kids, usually the parent will keep going. But then we make sure to follow-up and hash things out when it’s just the 2 of us. The next day, we’ll have a talk with our kids, or the 1 kid, and go over what was said the day before with the corrections.
Being on the same page with your partner or those helping to raise your kids is crucial for keeping the communication clear,. It leaves little room for second guessing or misinterpretation.
‘Habits’ Number 6:
When it comes to doing laundry, we do a load of something every day. And some days, like this week – for some reason, we had a couple of “rest days” where there was nothing to wash or fold for 2 days! It might have been the blitz folding session the kids and my husband did over the weekend. But boy! It sure feels good not to take care of laundry for at least a day or 2!
Since we’re here, are you struggling with staying on top of your laundry? Ever forget to wash something so you just pull it out of the hamper? How many times have the kids run out of clean underwear? And forget trying to remember the last time the sheets and blankets were washed.
Leave the guesswork and uncertainty behind and download my PDF guide right now.
In this new guide I created, I walk you through step-by-step on how to plan and schedule your laundry items so you’ll have peace of mind knowing there’s a plan to follow. When there’s a plan, there’s no extra thinking involved on your part.
I also provide you with tips and tricks on how to get kids started and involved. I also give you an example of what our laundry schedule looks like right now so you have an idea of how it works.
Don’t let laundry overload you anymore. Take control and let this guide do the thinking for you. Head to diannejimenez.com/laundryschedule
So you know about my husband’s minimalistic approach when it comes to his regular outfit of choice, right? And because I mainly work from home, my clothes get reused a few times more. This doesn’t include my under garments and socks. These get changed every day. Anyhow, the rules we follow are:
- if it doesn’t stink,
- you didn’t sweat in it all that much sweat or
- haven’t been in very dirty spaces (i.e. the kids haven’t rolled around in them,) then some items can be reused another day, or more!
For example: sweaters and jeans.
Someone told me once that it wasn’t good to wash jeans often. You can go with the same pair without washing them for months! I may not be able to stretch it for months. But I believe you can really stretch out the days between washes for jeans and sweaters. Especially for us adults.
So these types of clothes are hung on hooks in our bedrooms. As a result, there aren’t any clothes on the floors, chairs or dressers.
‘Habits’ Number 7:
I’ve mentioned this before in previous episodes and it’s minimizing the number of bed sheets per bed. Right now, we have 2 sets per bed. How it works is only 1 gets used, washed then used right away.
It cuts folding time to nothing!
That alone is motivation to just keep 1 bed sheet set on the same rotation!
The extra set is just in case. If you’ve got kids, somewhere down the line accidents happen. So, 1 set for each bed is what we have. I’m even considering bringing it down to just have 1 extra set only for all 3. But I’m not there yet… Maybe just 2 sets for all 3. That might be an easier transition for me.
So this tip comes in 2 parts:
- Part A: keeping 1 or 2 bed sheets per bed. For example, say we had 3 double beds (which we don’t) and one of them was a guest bed. I’d have 3 sets on the actual beds and 2 extra sets just in case. No need to have another set for the guest bed because guests don’t come over often enough. If you do have people coming over every week, then you might see the benefit in having an extra set for that bed. In my example, if 2 beds are constantly being used and the other not, then I’d have 5 bedsheets total on hand. That’s 2 in the linen closet and 3 on the beds. themselves.
- Part B: When you wash the sheets, put the same set back on after they’ve dried. No more wasting time folding here! If you want to cut corners with laundry, this is where to do it!
Ok, moving right along…
3 things to establish now before losing your s#!t later on (during the school year)
‘Habits’ Number 8:
Let’s continue with the bed sheet theme and back to laundry. Because we have 4 beds here, 2 sets get washed every week. As a result, this helps because I ONLY have to take care of making 2 beds vs 4. Like who has time for that ? I know I don’t. Our day for washing the sheets are on Thursdays. So that day for us is also a very busy day of the week. But making 2 beds that night is a lot more manageable than 4.
‘Habits’ Number 9:
If you’ve got kids, you definitely will get messes. And one of the areas you can’t afford to have stains on are the fabric on your dining room chairs. Now, if you have vinyl or some wipeable fabric, it’s great. No stains can linger and cause a big eyesore (or slight embarrassment when guests come over).
I’ve felt this on MANY occasions and yes – I DID try to keep the plastic on the seats of our fabric covered chairs for several years. But you know when you get 1 rip in the plastic then add those tiny hands getting a KICK out of running their sharp nails down that plastic… so satisfying!
Eventually our chairs looked worse with some of them being stained from the exposed fabric while others had the plastic slightly intact but looked way too clean from the rest. The whole set looked unbalanced. So off the remaining plastic covers went! And all our chairs were about to get exposed to the hands of 3 very active toddlers!
Just a couple of years ago, we finally decided to change the chair seats to vinyl. My husband, Onnig and I (well mostly him) – DIY’d this project. We changed our dining chairs from fabric to vinyl! No more stains and always easy to clean!
‘Habits’ Number 10:
Now speaking of dining room chairs… We also cover the backs of our chairs! This helps reduce any time spent wiping all the kids’ finger prints off of them after every meal. The reason we did this is because we have wooden chairs with a high gloss on them. We got this set way before kids and didn’t think about the amount of maintenance it would demand of us. So once the kids were of an age to climb on and off the chairs, it wasn’t long before our these were covered with their sticky finger prints and whatever else was stuck on them..
Inspired by Halloween chair covers I got at the dollar store one year, I asked my crafty husband to make us a set that we could use all year-round. When the holidays came, I convinced him to make us custom ones with fun Holiday characters on them. They’re really cute and the kids love them. All this to say, this saved us so much time having to wipe down the table PLUS 5-6 chairs after every meal. I’ll link a picture of my year-round chair covers that I posted on Instagram as well as the Holiday chair covers in today’s show notes.
‘Habits’ Number 11:
Use the dishwasher to wash and dry the dishes. I say this because, growing up, when we moved from an apartment to a house that had a dishwasher, we ended up always hand washing everything. We’d then use the dishwasher as a drying vehicle. I mean, not even turning it on.
At the time, and what my parents knew, the dishwasher used up a lot of water. I’m sure they had their reasons but it isn’t practical for us today. Even if there are some habits I’ve learned growing up with my parents; There are other habits I’ve picked up along the way that make sense to our family dynamic today.
In regards to who empties the dishwasher, the kids have this responsibility. They are on a schedule where each has their own week to empty it in the mornings. Next,
‘Habits’ Number 12:
Sharing our digital calendar. Oh this has been a game changer, since we’ve adopted this a few years ago. I know I’ve mentioned this before on social media, my videos and even on past episodes. But keeping your partner in the loop just makes things easier. Letting Onnig know of all things happening with me and the kids from appointments, work, meetings, nights out, activities, pick up schedule, groceries, etc. Is a time and life saver. If it’s on the calendar, it’s real. I’m going to repeat that again:
If it’s on the calendar, it’s real.
And when you share it, it keeps the other person, or people in your life, in-the-know. Often this avoids guessing games and wondering why you’re running late or not home on time. If there’s one thing you want to test out in this list of making your life easier, this is the one to try. Put the event on the calendar and share it!
Free training: "How to find time in a busy schedule"
‘Habits’ Number 13:
For the plant lovers out there this may or may not be for you. In our house, for the longest time, we only had 1 plant. It was the plant that my family got as a gift back when my dad passed away in 2006. Eventually, I brought it with me when I moved into my new home, as a married woman.
This was something from my past and memory of my dad to take along in my new chapter. So all through our married life up until daughter finished Kindergarten that another plant entered our home. Surprisingly enough, it’s surviving! I won’t count the random plants and orchids we’ve received as gifts over the years because they didn’t make the year.
Today, we have a few more plants that are on the very low maintenance side. The only one that I’m very SURPRISED I haven’t managed to kill (yet) is my basil plant. We only got it for 1 recipe . And expected it to only last a little bit given my history of serial plant killer. But for some reason, I KNOW what it needs. Also, I read the instructions on the bag it came in once. Not because I was looking for information hahaha! It was all by fluke!
All this to say is, if you’d like to have plants in your space but not great at taking care of them, start with 1. Also make sure it’s super low maintenance. Succulents and snake plants are great! The plant that was given to us at my dad’s passing is a Peace Lily. They’re strong and resilient…hmm just like how my dad was.
Ok, moving right along, is
‘Habits’ Number 14:
We use command hooks from 3M everywhere. 1) They’re inexpensive. 2) They come in a variety of sizes and functions. For instance, you can hang stuff that’s pretty light to really heavy things. They can also be stuff you put on a regular wall or in your shower stall! 3) You can get them anywhere from the dollar store to even the big box stores. And 4) and this is why they’re so awesome: if you don’t like the spot you initially put them in, you can always remove it without damaging your wall behind. Then put it someplace else.
Command hooks are easy to remove regardless of how long that hooks have been up: 5 minutes or over 5 years. It won’t damage your wall so long as you follow the instructions on how to remove them!
We’ve got command hooks all over the place. For instance, when you walk in our bedroom you’ll see the side of my husband’s tall dresser right away. And my long dresser is along the door on your right. You won’t see this when you walk in but at the far end of these 2 pieces of furniture, are command hooks placed either on the wall or on the dresser itself.
So often you won’t see clothes on our bed, the chair or dressers. The reason for this is because they’re hanging in a hidden spot strategically placed. The hooks are at the height of the dresser so you don’t see them when you walk into our room. It cuts the visual clutter that can often happen when your clothes are all over the place.
We also use these hooks for the kids towels and clothes in their rooms. We hang the hooks either behind the door or on the far end of their dresser, just like in our room. Therefore, the clothes and towels aren’t the first things you see when you walk in.
You’re probably wondering: Why not just hang the towels in the bathroom?
The reason why we don’t is because we don’t have enough space to put everyone’s towels there. Plus our bathroom’s not too big so keeping less things in there makes it look and feel less cluttered.
‘Habits’ Number 15:
Using 1 drinking cup all day. Now this was especially helpful when we were all stuck at home during the pandemic. In order to keep some control in the house, I set the rule of “you get 1 cup to use all day.” It was great because there was NO way the dishwasher was going to be taken up with just cups, no. So instead, since my kids drink mainly water throughout the day, they were assigned 1 cup to use all day. These were left on the counter by the sink.
I’m happy to say, they’ve continued this habit since then. And not only during the week but on weekends, ped days and even over the summer. Mind you, right now I’m trying to encourage MORE water intake so I switch the cup for a water bottle.
Seeing as they already prepare a water bottle 5 x per week during the school year, why not continue the same habit the rest of the time?
There are so many benefits to this, such as 1) When we go out, they just fill their bottles up and carry it along. There are different places now where you can refill your water bottles so 2) it saves money. This is healthier than buying pop or juice because it’s convenient. In addition, we’re not buying another plastic bottle or waxed cup from a fast food place. Essentially it’s kind of like doing our small part for the environment!
Stay on track with laundry & tips to getting the kids involved
‘Habits’ Number 16:
If you have toddlers or small kids, keep their dishes simple. Now I’m talking about the actual plates and bowls, not their food. When it came to feeding the kids, (especially when they just started eating solids) all to the way up to being able to using regular plates; We kept it simple and only used the same types of plastic bowls and plates for all 3 kids throughout. These plastic dishware were from IKEA and stacked nicely one on top of the other.
Years ago, when we had our first kid, we bought 1 set of 4 reusable plastic dishes, bowls and cups. As we had more kids, we never added to the pile. All these years it’s been the same 4 for just the 3 kids.
So because we only had 1 style of dish and a small quantity of it, storage was super simple. It also didn’t take much space. To this day, the kids are still in the habit of using these cups and bowls at times, even though they’ve outgrown them. Unfortunately we’re only down to 4 cups and 2 bowls. As for the plates? I think we gave them away to my sister.
It just goes to show, even at the baby and toddler stages, you don’t need all sorts of different things to feed the kids. Simple is always better. There’s less to wash and put away. Having 1 style saves us the headache of trying to figure out the best way to store so many kids’ things. It also keep everything tightly organized with 1 style. And finally, only get what you really need. I’m so happy we learned this early on. Finally,
‘Habits’ Number 17:
This is a big one that is saving me right now with a pre-teen, a tween and an 8 year old. Teaching them a morning routine from when they were toddlers. At its simplest form, the morning routine consists of: wake-up, bathroom stuff, back to bedroom to change and make their beds. To this day, it’s still a hit and miss on whether or not they wash their face and brush their teeth in the mornings. I know when I was their age, I wasn’t doing that at all. So for now, I think they’ll be OK.
So all this to say, is that when you establish a morning routine early on, it just benefits you (and them) down the road. Now if you’re thinking,
‘man – this is a long list!’
It is.
But if I had to start all over and I listened to this list, and had to start with one thing, it would be this: Establish a morning routine for the kids. Now, if your kids are on a routine, take a look and see if they’re doing the things they’re supposed to do, properly. And if your kids are like mine, you know there’s some cutting corners somewhere. So FINE TUNE it wherever you can. Evidently, it’s one of the things they’ll be doing each and every day forever. So, might as well make sure they’re developing good habits that will help them save time, later on!
So there you have it! 17 habits we’ve established to make our lives easier! I hope you got something valuable from this. Try one out for yourself and/or your family. Then see how it goes. I’m excited to see which one you’ll weave into your everyday life. Let me know on Instagram which one it is. You can find me @1TidyPlace . SO send me a DM there!
As I mentioned earlier, please forward this list to a fellow parent (or 10) who could really benefit from developing one of these habits. OR maybe even get them inspired to build some really good ones of their own.
Alright my friend, thank you so very much for spending some time with me today. I’ll see you back here next week. Bye for now!
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