Are you Mess Stressed? Tips For Taking Your Home From Chaos To Calm

home organisation

Dec 30

Written by Diana Spellman, Founder of Serenely Sorted.

It’s no accident that I’ve accepted Philippa’s kind invitation to write a guest blog on her page.

I love handbags. Yes, adore them. Pre-babies, I was a different-bag-every-day kinda girl. From my backpacking days when I happened upon the Best Handbag Shop In The World (Prune) in Argentina and bought five (try fitting them in a rucksack!), bags are absolutely part of my uniform and I love them.

So when I discovered that Neo & Nessa had actually thought of the detachable cross body on their baby bags, I knew this was a match made in heaven. When I had my babies, I dreamed of such a product, and only now have I found it – several years too late for me. But you – oh so lucky.

But I digress. I’m the founder of Serenely Sorted, the System that helps busy, mess stressed people eliminate mess and spend less time tidying.

This time last Summer I was mess stressed. I was working from home and resented the time I was spending tidying and found it a drudgery. With a corporate background in systems and process improvement, my work brain kicked in and I decided to look at the age-old challenge of tidying in a different way, and created the Serenely Sorted System. And no coincidence for this blog post…it all started with a handbag.

I realised that if, when I came into the house, if instead of putting my handbag and coat down on the chair, I put it into a basket I had put onto a shelf – now called an ‘End Home’ – that I was eliminating mess and the need to tidy it up later. Because of course it wasn’t just one handbag. By the end of the week it was two or three.

Fast Forward a year, and that’s 365 days since that moment that I have eliminated a minute or two of tidying time every day - and reduced my mess stress.

During lockdown, I launched my business based on the Serenely Sorted System and have online courses and a facebook community of like-minded Serene Sorters who just want to get tidy in less time. It’s a safe space for non-Pinterest-Perfection.

I have two children aged six and seven so I’ve been through what you are now. And I know that a few minutes serenity and a reduction in mess stress is definitely something that will help you!

Here’s my five simple tips to get you started on your journey to a more serene and sorted life.

1. Focus on the Daily Debris first - because I was wonder why you would worry about what’s under the bed when your surfaces are covered in mess?

2. Choose one surface to start with – really look at what’s on that surface – what are the top five Mess Makers that are causing the Daily Debris?

3. Clear that surface of the Daily Debris each day. In order to clear the surface, don’t just move it to the side - each of the mess makers on that surface needs a defined End Home

4. Create those End Homes: First find a cupboard or drawer and use ‘Serene Space Dividers’ to divide and conquer the space into effective (smaller) End Homes. E.g. a basket to hold all the hairbrushes and bobbles, a set of mini-drawers in a cupboard for pens, keys, sunglasses, etc.

5. Every day, spend a few minutes returning all the mess makers to their End Homes so that you can relax for the evening looking at clear surfaces. Once you’ve tackled one surface, you can start to go further around your home.

Serenely Sorted’s programme Destination: Sorted starts 11th January. This step-by-step, week-by-week programme ensures that you can get sorted without overwhelm. Find out more here. You can also join a group of like-minded people getting sorted in our community, see my stories on Insta and learn more about Serenely Sorted’s 121 services on my website.

I want to help mess stressed people everywhere rid themselves of the drudgery of tidying. I really want to help you guys for this reason and because when you have a small baby it’s really hard enough already. Plus of course our shared love of fabulous handbags!