Could decluttering achieve more than just a tidy house? With over half a million followers across her platforms, Steph Pase knows a thing or two about organising our house and life. She and host Amelia Phillips discuss the top tips to decluttering and organising our home, as well as the hearing how it actually helped Steph’s journey through post natal depression. They also discuss what it’s like to run a wildly successful business with young children.
About the guest:
Steph Pase is an organisational expert whose passion is helping others lead a more organised, decluttered life. Steph shares her wisdom to over 500k followers on her highly successful blog, her youtube channel and insta platforms just another mummy blog and Steph Pase planners. Her platforms deliver simple decluttering and life hacks to help us become more organised at home and in life.
Below is an unedited transcript of the podcast episode:
I’ve discovered a fabulous stress management technique. Stress cleaning. Oh my gosh, how good is it? Recently, after a really busy week, my adrenaline was high. I stress cleaned my whole pantry. It took me pretty much the whole day, or maybe even the whole weekend, but gosh, it was so satisfy. I labeled color coordinated, sorted in height order, like it wasn’t exactly Pinterest worthy, but it was a drastic improvement on my old chaotic pantry.
But since then, slowly between my hubby, my children and space issues, the pantry has gone backwards. But for that fleeting time, when it was perfect, it sparked so much joy for me, and I would love to get some of that back.
Welcome to Healthy Her. I’m Amelia Phillips, and today we are attempting to calm the chaos by getting organized and decluttering, which is no easy feat with kids around. But could this decluttering achieve more than just a tidy house? Could this be just the antidote to our chaotic lives? Steph Pace. Our savior is an organizational expert whose passion is helping others lead a more organized, decluttered life.
Steph shares her wisdom to her over 500,000 Instagram followers on her highly successful blog, her YouTube channel and her Insta Platforms. Just another mum blog and Steph Pace Planner. I have been a fan of Steph and her methods for years and wanted to understand the background to these method. And how we too can declutter, get organized, and love the space we live in.
Steph, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you so much for the beautiful introduction as well, and thank you for having me here. . Yeah, your pantry and my pantry. Let’s not go there. They look very, very different. But let’s start with the background of how you got into declutter. Like, were you always this super organized, neat person or did this kick off after kids?
Yeah, definitely not. If you ask my mom, I was the messiest teenager alive. I was like every other teenager. Oh, I’m so glad. My mom actually, when I was little, I had so much like toys and junk that I used to just have everywhere she even, she like, um, put up a shower curtain to hide my shelves cuz they were so, so messy.
So there’s hope for everyone. If I can do it, anyone can do it. Where did this start from? When do you have a memory of like your first spark, joy, decluttering moment? I feel like for me, I’ve always wanted, like everyone, I always wanted to be that organized person, but I did feel that, you know, it just wasn’t something I felt like I had the time for.
You know, at that time I was, you know, going through uni and then I was with my, like obviously my husband now, but my fiance at the time, Having a million jobs and you just, a lot of us feel like we put it in the too hard basket, you know, we don’t even wanna go there. And then it wasn’t until I got pregnant and Ryan and I actually moved into a one bedroom unit, so we had no room.
And I knew that, you know, I was actually a lot better at like did cluttering by then, cuz I. Really felt like af. You know when once you do a declutter, it kind of feels like you’ve done a workout. Like you get the endorphins, you feel lighter, you feel like you can breathe, and it’s definitely a huge mental relief as well.
And a lot of people don’t realize that. But I’ll go into that a bit later. But, It was definitely when I got pregnant and then had, yeah, my first sort harpa and we didn’t have any space. I had, you know, a new baby. I was battling p and d really badly and my anxiety, I’ve always had that. Oh, really? Yes, Yes.
So I’ve always had anxiety and I had p and d with both of my daughters, but it was really, it kind of. I had to do it cause we didn’t have the space. But it also turned into a hobby. Was it almost like a therapy for postnatal depression? Because it’s almost like you feel your life is so out of control, you are clutching onto the things that you can control.
It definitely is, and I think it’s, And it is so therapeutic, and I know a lot of people can get really overwhelmed and they can hate it. But when you can see it from a different point of view of instead of. I have to declutter the room or I have to clean my house. It’s, I get to, I get to do this, I get to enjoy it.
Pop on a podcast, put on some music. It doesn’t have to be a crappy time. Yeah. That’s really interesting. Yeah, and it definitely was when the, like I became a mom and we, I literally had to share my pantry with the linen closet. I had no room, so I was forced to learn how to declutter. Ron and I had moved house like six or seven.
So I got really good at knowing, you know, cuz you know, every time you move it’s like you finally open all these boxes and parts of the house where you’re like, I don’t even use this stuff. So you get so cutthroat cuz you know you have to take it. Yes. And so, but then when you moved into, I’m assuming you are no longer in a one bedroom apartment, so why did you continue on this organizational path?
What were you finding? It must have brought you something and then why did you turn it into a business? Well, definitely I feel like I. I have a lot of background stories with me, but I’m gonna try not to go into it too much cuz like we’ll be here talking all day. But give me one background story. We like background stories here.
We wanna get to know the woman. So before my children I was very, you know, I was, had anxie, I was going through depression. I put on 25 kilos in a year purely from, I wasn’t healthy, I was just eating my feelings, which is fine, but, and it wasn’t about the weight, but I was in a very, like, I had sleep apnea chronic.
All the things anyway. And I decided one day I’m, I’m done feeling like crap. I wanna like shift this weight, get, feel healthy again, and get fit. And I knew if I created a routine that wasn’t sustainable and that didn’t have that balance, I wouldn’t stick to it. And it’s the same when it came to organizing.
I really wanted to find myself a routine that could be so ingrained in my everyday life. It would just be like brushing your teeth. It’s like, you know, taking five minutes a day. You see a bit of clutter. It’s a lot of people, they like to focus on the whole house. Like they think, Oh, I’ll have to declutter the whole house.
But honestly, it’s about, you know, that bench, that draw. It’s never about trying to tackle the whole house cause it’s not gonna work. So the way I was able to bring that across to the rest of the few years that I’ve been living is I just made it into a routine. It wasn’t something that I hated, it was something sustainable.
But it’s also realizing that yes, your house is gonna get messy. You’ve got kids. That’s okay. It’s just like less stuff, less mess. It makes life a lot easier when everything has a home. Mm. I imagine that, you know, with some of these mental health challenges you’re talking about, there would’ve been a risk for you to actually become O C D and you know, I’m, I’m conscious of all the mums listening today.
There’s gonna be some mums like, Me who, you know, just wish we had a bit more OCD in us. And I’m sure my husband wishes I did too. But then other moms who are like, Well, actually it can turn into an almost dangerous addiction almost, or management technique. Did you ever feel yourself earing on the OCD path and having to find that balance?
I feel like we all get hard on ourselves, whether it’s our house. Our fitness or being a mom, but I feel like it’s just as I’ve gotten older as well, I feel like I’ve definitely met myself with compassion, and that in turn is definitely learning that, you know, these routines and this organizing, it’s not here to put the extra stress on top of us.
It’s supposed to alleviate the stress. It’s supposed to make you not feel like a slave to your like, but yes, you do need to find that balance that is achievable for you and your family. Your house isn’t gonna look like a Pinterest worthy house, maybe even from the beginning of the day. But at the end of the, like the whole point of it is having these little routines throughout the day.
Like for me, in the morning, I get up early before the kids to have my own time empty the dishwasher. Just make sure, you know, the benches haven’t got clutter on them, stuff like that. But it becomes part of your life. But it’s definitely important, especially for moms. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Meet yourself with compassion and take your time at, you know, getting your house in order.
And remember, kids are messy. That’s the part of being a kid. Being a kid. I wish I was a kid. Still like you. My kids make a mess every single day. But the beauty of it is everything has a place. Yes. Oh my gosh. My husband used to sing this song to the kids. I’m sure his mom must sung it to him. He still does.
A place for everything and everything in its place. And he’d see a place for everything and everything in its place. And the kids would bring something home and he’d be like, Where’s its place gonna be? Where’s its place? And like, if it’s a special, you know, artwork, it will be, it’s going in the display spot.
This is the display spot that, you know, gets curated. On a very regular basis and things just disappear from the display spot. I love that. So I guess your main message here, and this is something that I wanted to kind of touch on, is how can we find that balance between feeling super organized and, you know, I get to be organized and that joy it brings versus feeling pressured that like it’s just never good enough.
I think it’s, as I said, a compassion that you need to. Like it, it needs to grow with you. So for example, if you do your pantry like you have, usually there’s a reason why, you know, we can’t sustain certain systems. So is it because you know, the rest of the family’s not on board, They dunno where things go.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think with most of us it’s that I had the spot for the cereal up here, but the kid. Pull it down and they put it in the spot over there and of course they’re not gonna remember or care about where it goes. Yeah, no, definitely. And at the end that, you know, they’re kids and my kids, as much as I try to teach them certain things that they’re only four and five, they’re they’re children.
So they’re actually probably not accessing the pantry independently yet. They do, They find us. They shouldn’t , they, they get in there, they shouldn’t. I don’t want my family to ever feel like I’m running a boot camp and they definitely don’t feel like that. What I love is, I think for me, my childhood was quite different.
You know, I grew up in a household where, you know, my brother had severe disabilities. It was quite chaotic and I think that’s another underlying reason as to why I love that my kids get to come home to a tidy. But they do have access to all their toys and the things they love. But by the time it is nighttime, everything’s been packed away.
And it’s like that routine that the kids get to see me and we get them part of it too. And it doesn’t always happen. There’s days where the kids are like, No, I’m not gonna put the toys away with your mom. But they know that that’s part of our routine. We all do it together as a family. And there is gonna be days that you’re gonna be burnt out and you’re gonna be like, I don’t wanna do this.
I don’t wanna unpack the dishwasher, I wanna leave it like this. And that’s. And that is just part of being human. We need to remember what we see on Instagram as well, and that’s why I feel like it’s really important is my stories. I regularly try to share that people get burnt out. I’ve been in, only just come out of burnout for the last few months and it’s just been crazy.
But you need to meet yourself with compassion and slowly build up these routines like you would fitness. You’re not gonna just go straight in, like say you’ve never ran before. You’re not gonna go sprint a marathon. You’re gonna go and warm up gradual. Do you know, do a job each day. So it’s the same with organization.
You’re gonna slowly tackle a draw, tackle this, and then start playing around with routines that work for you and your family, so you’re not gonna burn out by trying to keep your house perfect. Yep. So what would your kind of biggest bang for Buck hack speed that you’ve learned along the way in this very fascinating career path for, you know, parents listening today that do wanna step up their organization?
What are some areas that you recommend they hit first for best bang for buck? Definitely. I think we always wanna start with the kitchen. It’s the heart of the home. So my process with organizing everything, cause I know it can be very overwhelming, is colors. So you wanna pull out everything you. You wanna go through anything?
We all have like 20 curry powders that are probably expired and I, No, what is it with curry powders, Chinese spices. I, I found three of them yesterday. Why do I need three Chinese spices? Exactly. I do a slow cooked port three times a year. I don’t know why I needed so many Chinese spices. Cause you can’t find them.
So then you buy it again and then you’re wasting money. Like it literally is a big circle. So yeah, do cull and then it’s categorized. So you’re gonna do things like we’ve got like, Snacks. We’ve got meal bases, we’ve got baking, cooking, all that type of thing. You put your vinegars, your spices all in like a section.
And then what you wanna look at is contained. So this doesn’t mean you need to go out and buy like all these expensive containers. You could literally see what you have at home. But the containers around, you could get ’em for like $2 now. And one massive thing I love for the pantry is a lazy Susan. You pop all your oils and spices on them, all your sauces, and instead of having to like reach at the back and try and get them and you’re knocking everything over, you just spin it and they’re perfect.
Spin for, Yeah, they’re perfect for the corner. So if you have like an awkward corner pantry every corner, pop a lazy Susan on there. Oh, I love that. Yeah. You’re not gonna have to try and reach at the back. And that is like the biggest tip. Also, like things like your junk drawer. We have a junk drawer. It’s not a bad thing to have.
Everyone needs one. We use, um, a big like cutlery, Cady and it kind of just so you can see where things are. And it does get cluttered and I just go through it, but it kind of helps, Has like organized chaos. Is the junk drawer drink bottles? I can never get the drink bottles, right? Yes. How do you deal with those?
Yes. You can either use a wine rack, like a shelf rack or like a wine. Oh, like a lay them down? Yes, lay them down. So we lay ’em down. Yeah. So we have them in like lay and lay down and then you’re not having to like reach to the back where you can’t fit them in the shelf. They just lay down next to each.
So much as, as well. Yeah. Okay, cool.
All right, so that’s the pantry. What’s another bang for buck area that would be next? Yeah, so I really love in the kids like craft and you know, where all their puzzles are. I get like the Kmart, the magazine holders, and I put in puzzles, activity books, drawing books. And the thing is too, I obviously have everything label.
But if you’re trying to save money, you just grab like a black chalk pen and you can just write on it. And then if you ever wanna change it up, you just can wipe it and then rewrite it so it’s not like it’s gonna come off super easy. You can just use that. So yeah, using that. And then you can also get these A four document holders.
You can get them from anywhere they’re just supposed to be for paper and like documents, but I put the kids like puzzles in there so you’re not losing all the pieces out of them. They stay in the container and they’re like, perfect. Yeah, things like that are really great. And we even have, like now Harper’s just started kindie.
We even have like a, just a shelf that’s literally labeled school stuff, and then we’ll have like a swimming bag dancing and everything’s pre-packed. So the night before everything’s in there and you just grab it and run. So everything’s in it’s designated spot and it makes life so much easier. . Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing.
And look, I know you’ve like on your Instagram page, which I’m obsessed with and I follow regularly. You’ve got every day and every week you’re putting up all these amazing hacks. You know, some of them are so super easy and they make such a big difference. I also love in your undies draw doing a similar thing that you were talking about with the caddy wear.
Like, I got this really. IKEA basket essentially that has like about 15 different compartments. So I’ve like black undies and black G bangers in one and yes, skin color in another and folded bras in another one. And it’s just, And you just become rope learn. You go back to the same spots every time, time.
That’s it. And that’s what it comes down to. All these. And I, one thing I love too, little hack fee wardrobe is one of those tubs uses like the missing sock tub. So anytime you guys just chuck it in there and then give it like a couple weeks and they usually find each. Again, they find each other. They get reunited.
Yeah. , talk us through how you’ve managed your online success. You know, you’ve got a blog, you’re massively popular on YouTube, you know, multiple Insta handles as well. You’ve got this planner business, which I want you to talk about in a sec, and plus you’re the mom of two young girls. What are their ages?
Four and five to five? Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. There. Sounds like a whole lot of work life chaos to me. How are you managing this crazy online growth that you’ve had? Honestly, and I would like to say I have the secret formula, but I’m human like everybody else. As I said, I just came out of complete burnout and for me, Yeah.
What happened with your burnout? Can you give us a bit of background there? It’s just, I think with you. I always underestimate myself, like so many of us do. We always put ourselves down, and I’ve gotten so much better over the years, but in turn of like, you know, starting my business and even my blog, I started when Harper was a baby.
I had absolutely no idea. I started it just because I had no mom friends. I was like, I don’t have anyone to talk to. That’s why I started it. I didn’t have anyone in my friendship circled with with a baby. Lots of moms can relate to that. Yeah. Over the years, I think because I’m just literally sharing my life and sharing the vulnerabilities and my mental health and the ups and downs and the hacks and all of it.
I didn’t expect the growth I’ve got, and I’m so, so grateful for it. But my problem is I don’t ask for help. . Yeah. Which I’ve learnt to do now. So that’s one of my big tips is ask for help. And it is so hard to do, especially as a mom, like we hate asking the grandparents, like, could you just, you know, watch little one for a couple hours just so you can literally just sit on the couch and do nothing and eat a bag of Doritos if you need.
But I promise you guys, it’s not all sunshine, Shshsh, China daisies over here. It’s all about for me. Especially cause as you said, I’ve got so many components going on all the time. You know, having my morning routine down part is huge for me. Having that extra time for myself in the morning and then also time blocking.
So I have certain days for certain tasks and it’s so easy to get distracted by our phones, but you know, like popping the phone away and actually haven’t written it out in my planner from this time to this time. I’m gonna literally do you. Invoices and then payroll, and then it could be, don’t forget Harper’s kindy forms and stuff like that.
But if I have everything written down, because a lot of our anxiety and stress stems from us worrying that we’re gonna forget something. So if you get rid of that, you can really focus on achieving your goals or really looking after yourself. And it really does help, you know, reduce that mental clutter.
I mean, when you’re your own business, and particularly a business, an online business that has to generate a lot of content that requires, you know, videoing, especially inside your own house, you’ve gotta put your makeup on, you’ve gotta prep for the shoots. People don’t realize how much goes into those shoots.
I’m curious to know. Because I know how many notifications I get on my teeny tiny following. How do you segment out that week? I’d love to know, like can you just fly me through in a nutshell what those segments are? I’m sure my listeners for sure love to understand. How does a successful online person like yourself, Manage it.
Yeah, so for me, like breakdown on my week would be Monday, which is today is usually a lot of meeting. So I’m at the warehouse where my step pace planner’s business is. So I meet with the staff, I go through any meetings, any like new product development that we’re catching up on. Then I tend to, either you be doing podcasts or I could be having other meetings most of, most of Monday’s about planning.
For me, that’s huge. So that’s why Sunday nights I make sure I sit down after the kids go to bed and I look at my planner and plan out the whole week. So I’m not waking up. Monday is. Uh, Tuesday for me is more so, um, we we’re building a new house, so I focus a bit on that. Oh wow. That old chestnut. Yeah,
That’s gonna be a new series. So I try to focus a couple hours towards that. More like admin tasks that I don’t love. So like invoices, payroll, all that stuff. And usually now by the time I’ve done that, I have to go get Harpa. So it’s been a blessing though, having the warehouse, cuz for me, I used to work from home.
Been really good for me. Like I know when I’m clocking off, I’m like, no, that can wait till tomorrow. Um, and it’s the same with my, um, socials. I know being on social media, a lot of people think I’m on my phone a lot, but I’m actually pretty good. Is that right? Yeah. I post, you know, and I, I do actually take.
I’ll make sure I take 15 minutes a day to go in and, you know, go to comments. But yeah, I try to keep off my phone. Oh, that’s good. You’re not constantly getting bombarded with, you know, messages that you feel you have to respond to. Cause that would Yeah, that would blow most people’s minds. It’s, it’s hard And I do feel guilty cuz I don’t get back, like, I don’t get to see maybe 80% of them, but, you know, you do your weekly question boxes and I, I feel like my community do generally know that I care about them and I love them cause I try to give them so much free content.
I’m trying. That mean my stories and stuff, but it’s definitely something like a guilt that I’ve had to let go of because I just couldn’t do it and then say Wednesday. So if it’s like a content shoot, I will, um, usually work from home. I do some work in the morning, and then I will, yeah, try and do a bunch of reels, or we might have a shoot for something and that’s literally dedicated to that day.
And after that I’m act absolutely knackered. . Yeah. And then, yeah, Thursdays is another day where I’m probably, you know, could be meetings or product development or whatever. And then Fridays is my day with the, with, well, it was the Girls, Now it’s my day with Willow and I really try to, Minimize my time on my emails and I’ll just do it in the morning.
And then once the kids are in bed. Yeah. See, I hear you explaining that. And I think to myself, that’s a woman that has got her shit together. You know, that’s a woman that has thought long and hard about how she’s going to schedule her life during the week, and I think that that’s a really important factor for us to think about, particularly if we’re feeling out of control and I.
You know, that talks to that kind of planning and scheduling, which I do on a piece of paper that I stick on the wall. That’s very uninspiring. I’ll have to do you like my segue into step pace planners, , Talk me through your amazing planners. Cuz I’m yet to get one. I need to, Yes. I’ll send you a little parcel.
Please do. Just like I said, um, I underestimated myself with that too. So I remember, I remember the, the moment. I always loved planners and I just felt like they were missing so many components and I hated how you always had to like buy the extra add-ons and I just was like, Oh, this, nothing just added up to what I wanted.
So I said to Ryan, I remember I said, I turned to him. I said, What if I made planners? And my goal was just to be able to pack them in the garage on the weekends, just cuz I just really wanted to help people because I know how overwhelmed we all are. Like, I feel like being a mom, or even if you’re not a mom at this day and age, like we’re always switched on.
And I feel like people truly don’t understand how important it is to, you know, write things down, journal, actually get it out of our minds. So yeah, I did that and now. Um, we have the planners, we have fridge magnet planners, We’ve got, um, mindfulness journal and it’s just gonna keep expanding and yeah, it’s amazing.
And we’re in our second warehouse now cause we outgrew them. Wow. Yeah. Is that right? God, You know, you’ve obviously, you are obviously doing something right. Thank you know. Thank you. It’s, Thank you. Very hard to grow an online business in the. World, it’s really challenging. So the people that are succeeding are because their products and services are adding value.
So the fact that you have expanded and been expanding for, you know, a couple, a good couple of years now, what do you think it is about your business as opposed to other people’s that has. Struck a chord with people. It’s hard because it’s like, cause it’s, to me, I’m just step, you know, like I don’t really see, You’re so down to work.
I love that. Very different to Marie Condo. I’d love to, I’d love to do a like similar episode with Marie and just see the , the difference. I honestly, yeah, like it still blows my mind every day. Like I meet our community. All the time and they’re just beautiful. But it still blows my mind and cuz it’s, to me, it’s just me.
But I don’t know if it’s just because I have literally shared with them from the beginning, like I’ve taken them on this journey with me. It’s not just like I. Whipped this planner out overnight, magically. And I put it on there like, I feel like people wanna know the people behind the brands. Like that’s why I personally, if I knew, you know, a mom who you know is making say like bibs or something from home because.
Like she’s going through things and she’s sharing it along the way and we get to help her choose the colors. And I’m like, I would much rather buy something from her than go to Kmr because it’s a journey. It’s a story she’s telling and she’s letting it in on like everything behind the scenes as well.
So I think maybe that’s why, and I don’t know, I’m a little bit weird sometimes , so maybe they, they think it’s funny to watch Ryan and I. The fact you’re so open and honest, people can really relate to you. I think that the products that you’ve created really work and your systems really work, and I think the combination of those together and then obviously just you, your personal organization, your sheer dedication to be able to, you know, get everything done in a week is also a testament to the work that you’ve done.
Thank you. Wrapping up finally, for a mom who feels overwhelmed about beginning to declutter her. What is the first step do you think that she should take? I think the first step, and I always refer back to my freed clutter challenge, the 30 day clutter challenge is to, it’s really good as, again, I said, I always say write things down head.
Why sell planners? But if you have certain spots in your house, and I want, when I say write an area down, I don’t want you to write like a whole kitchen. I want you to. The pantry and then maybe under the sink and then you can list it out and then literally spend five to 10 minutes per day or every second or third day and tick away at it.
And I really don’t want people putting the pressure on themselves. The whole reason we are, you know, I’m so big on organization and routines. Is it cause it makes us not feel like a slave to our own lives? It’s not to add to the stress of life. So, You know, decluttering space by space. And don’t, please don’t go out and buy a million containers before you know what you’re gonna do with them.
Yeah. They don’t fit. They won’t fit in the spot. Guilty. We’ve all done. I’ve, I’ve done it. Don’t worry. We’ve all done it. But yeah, don’t spend money on things until you know what you need and just go easy on yourself. You know, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It takes time. You can look at some, I mean, your in grid is really gorgeous and beautiful, but just, you know, from personal experience, none of my things matched in the pantry, but I did label everything and I still got a lot of joy from it.
I feel like maybe that’s my level up. Maybe, you know, next year when I redo the pantry, maybe then I’ll get all fancy, but you don’t, certainly don’t have to. You still get that great sense of. Hundred percent. And if you have used jars that like at empty, now, you can use that. Get a Dimo label maker from Kmart for $30 and just print off the little labels and stick them on it.
You don’t have to go out and spend heaps of money. And as you said, you can as a treat to yourself. Or you know, say if you wanna go on daily walks or something, your treat can be, you know, I’m gonna buy myself some containers. Yeah. There you go. Oh my gosh. Has our life really come to that? Oh, no. Containers of plants are me.
That’s my life. I, But you know, the irony is I bet it brings us way more joy than if we went to a, you know, Gucci or a some fancy dress shop and bought a bag. That shit sailed a long time ago. . Yes. Yes. Steph, thank you so much for. Thank you so much for having me. It’s been so fun.
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