EP 003: How to Create Systems in Your Home
July 13, 2020 | By Ashley Brown
All the unnecessary day to day chaos can be completely eliminated by creating systems in your home. Systems are basically just a series of steps done in a particular order. The right systems will get you to where you want to be as efficiently as possible. But how do you know what systems will work for you? And how do you even make a system?
Discover the Always Elegant Living Method to creating systems in your home that put you back in control. This 4 step method is simple, straightforward and sure to get you taking the next right step in eliminating the daily chaos so you can start living a life of ease.
IN THIS EPISODE ASHLEY DISCUSSES:
Her 4 step method to creating systems in your home.
Visualizing the end result.
Evaluating your habits.
Designing the solution.
Establishing an easy rhythm.
LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Ashley’s Facebook group
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I get it some days it feels as if you're riding the "hot mess" express and there's no end in sight. Hello, I'm Ashley Brown, mom of three little kids who used to let life's chaos get the best of me. Then I discovered that you can elevate your life, raise kids and make what matters happen all while adding a little more elegance into your everyday lifestyle.
I'm on a mission to help busy women overcome the hot mess and create an elegant life they love by starting with the essentials. Everyday life doesn't have to be so chaotic. Join me in discussions about ways to help you embrace simplicity with practical solutions and easy to implement ideas. So you can design a home and life you love. This is a source of encouragement. This is the change you've been looking for. This is the always elegant living podcast.
Hello friends. Welcome to episode 003 of The Always Elegant Living Podcast. I'm your host, Ashley Brown. I help busy women eliminate the everyday chaos in their home so they can start living a life full of ease. In this episode, we're discussing how to create systems in your home. So I want you to picture this with me for a moment. You wake up late or a few minutes later than normal for work. And for whatever reason, maybe your alarm didn't go off, or maybe it did and you just didn't hear it. Or maybe you just wanted to hit the snooze button and sleep for a few more minutes. Whatever, the reason you're just running a little bit behind normal for work. So you jump out of bed and you hurry to get in the shower to rinse off real quick.
And while you're in the shower, you think to yourself today is definitely a day for that awesome dry shampoo I just bought and my go to outfit that always makes me feel pulled together without trying. I can't wait to put that on. So you hurry up in the shower and you quickly get out, but there's no towel right next to you. You quickly recall that you washed the towels last night and they haven't made it to the dryer yet. Oops. So you just throw your robe on. If you have one or you pat yourself dry with whatever's lying around. You quickly start to get ready and now it's time to do your hair. You're looking around your drawers for that awesome dry shampoo that you just bought and you can't find it anywhere.
Then you remember that, oh crap, it's in your car. So you run out there to go grab it and continue getting ready. Finally, it's time to get dressed in your go to outfit. But it's not in the closet where you normally hang it. You know it's clean, but you can't remember where you put it. So you start searching around the house. And then all of a sudden you have a thought, "Oh yeah, I put it on the back of the chair because I steamed it the other day. I didn't want to put it back in the closet, because I knew I was going to wear it this week. So that's where it is." You rush to get dressed and now you're finally ready.
I'm sure that many of you can relate to this. Maybe this happened to you today. Maybe this happened last week. Whatever the situation, this is a very relatable occurrence. Theses actions can be things that we habitually do throughout our day. Maybe we steam something and don't put it away, because in your mind you think, "Oh yeah, I'm going to wear that later this week. So I'm just going to drape it over the back of the chair." But then what happens is that when you have a day where you're running late or in a hurry, all of a sudden things that you thought ahead about don't resonate in your brain. Because all your brain can comprehend is that you're rushing. So when you run to your closet to pull out your clothes, because that's your normal habit and your outfit is not there you have to recall where you put it.
Another example is when you bought the dry shampoo but it was still in your car, because you just didn't feel like grabbing those bags. Or your hands were full with other stuff and you meant to go back out to the car to grab it and you just didn't knowing you'll get it next time. Well, now you needed that dry shampoo before next time actually came.
But what if I told you it didn't have to be this way? All of this unnecessary chaos can be completely eliminated. Your mornings can run smooth. And even if you do wake up a little late or you consciously decide to sleep in a little extra, it doesn't matter because you can create systems and routines in your life that actually work with your life not make it harder.
It's also worthy pointing out, that you're not bad at this. Everyone has those days and you're not bad at this. You just don't have the right systems in place. That's what today's episode is all about. How to put the right systems in place and how to create those systems to know that they're the right systems for you.
The solution to the everyday chaos is systems. Systems are basically just a series of steps done in a particular order. The right systems will get you to where you want to be as efficiently as possible. And by setting up the right systems throughout your home, your day is going to run as efficiently as possible. Even if things unexpectedly come up and interrupt the system such as waking up late, or hitting your snooze button for a few extra minutes, whatever the scenario may be.
We use systems every day throughout our lives. Whether you realize it or not, how you get dressed is a system. What leg you put into your pants first is a step in your system. The order in which you do your morning routine is a system. Those natural routines in our days are systems. And you know what else is a system? Chaos.
Chaos is a system. It's a system where the right steps are not in the right order or they're missing completely. So let that sink in for a moment. Chaos is a system where the right steps are not in the right order or they're not there at all. So why do we want to create systems? Creating systems is so important. In an article by Northwestern Medicine, they stated that people who don't have any type of routine or system suffer from stress, poor sleeping, poor eating, poor physical condition. And of course an ineffective use of time.
I would even say that people who don't have any type of routine are just really people who, in my opinion, have a routine of chaos throughout their life. So chaos is their system, which is where the right steps are not in the right order or the steps are just missing completely. So we want to get past that chaos. We want to eliminate the chaos and we're going to do that by creating systems in our lives and in our home more specifically.
So how exactly do we create systems in our home? Well, now that you kind of understand what systems are, now you need to start figuring out how to create that series of steps in a way that's going to really be life giving to you. In a way that's purposeful for your home, for your life, and for what you need.
Over the past five years, I've studied how to create systems. I've studied what makes up good systems. I have studied why does one system work for one person and not necessarily for another? Which is a very common problem and I see it all the time. If you go to Pinterest and you look at someone's morning routine, and try it. You may find yourself feeling like, "Oh my gosh, this does not work for my life. This is not for me. How can this even be something that someone can follow."
But really the problem is because that system was created for them. So for them, that system works. Just like my systems, and my routines, and my rhythms work for me, my family and our life. They've been fine tuned around my house habits and what is natural to me. And you need to do the same thing too.
So how exactly do you do that? What systems do you really need? And when it comes to systems, I have to admit that I am a total geek. Systems are the backbone of Always Elegant Living. And they truly are the backbone of living a life of ease. Systems are everything. And with all of my research, trial and error and half a decade of creating systems for other people, I've discovered the method that works the best when it comes to creating systems for yourself.
I call it the Always Elegant Living Method. It's a four step method to creating systems based around your life and your needs. The Always Elegant Living Method works with your natural habits and tendencies. It produces systems that are easy to maintain every single time you go to set up a new system and that's super powerful because we all need an easy process to creating systems.
So how exactly does that work? What are the steps and how can you implement this in your home?
Here are the four steps to creating systems in your home and in your life. After, I share my method with you, I'm going to break down each step so you can fully understand how it works. The first step is, visualize the end result. The second step is you evaluate your habits. The third step is you design the solution. The fourth step is you establish an easy rhythm.
Now let's go back to step number one. Visualize the end result. This sounds kind of out there, but before I start anything, I always take a step back and pause. I want to know what the end result is. I want to know what I'm working towards.
What do I need the system for? What do I want to accomplish with this system? How do I want the system to help me? What's the overall outcome or the reason that we're setting up this system? What's the desired result?
So maybe you want an easy morning routine and then you create a system around that. But what does that routine look like? What would you want to accomplish in the morning? Maybe it's creating a lifestyle that you desire. When you get dressed in the morning, you always want to feel beautiful and put together. So what's the system around that. And trust me, there's a system around that. Maybe it's an easy laundry routine. You just want to be able to throw some clothes in the washer, start it real quick, do your day, come back, put them in the dryer and then hang everything up or have your family pull out of the dryer, whatever that routine looks like. That's the system.
Maybe you want to create an elegant bedroom that you can actually relax in at the end of the day. Or even enjoy some reading time in the morning when you first wake up. You'll want to think about that end result during this "dreaming stage" and really visualize what you're trying to achieve. And this is where Pinterest comes in. I use Pinterest all the time to dream up my desired results. Whether it's how I want to decorate a bedroom, different things I want to incorporate into a morning routine or how to pack for vacation. Whatever it may be, visualizing the end result is the dreaming stage. So use Pinterest to dream up that desired result and really visualize the end result. Visualize how it'll feel and how you want it to function.
Step number two is you want to evaluate your habits. This step is so important. So don't skip it because this is how you actually create systems around your life. And you create these systems that stick and are really life giving and they're built on you because they're based on your habits. So this is where you're going to want to journal. And you're going to want to understand exactly what it is you're doing on a daily basis or doing as part of that process. So evaluate your habits.
Say you're trying to create a system for a morning routine. What are you doing now? What's working? What does your process currently look like? What is the easiest way for you to accomplish what you want to accomplish?
Is it waking up earlier? Is it doing a little bit the night before, so you don't have as much to do in the morning. What is it? What's the easiest way for you to accomplish your end result? When do you like to do these things? If you're talking about creating a morning routine and maybe you want to exercise. But perhaps you don't like exercising in the morning, so that shouldn't be a part of your morning routine. Maybe making coffee is part of your nighttime routine, so that way you don't even have to worry about it in the morning and it frees up your time to do other things. Ask yourself, "What's working for you? What's not working for you. Really evaluate what you're doing now and how it could be better. And keep asking yourself these questions until you truly understand what your current habits are, what's working and what doesn't.
I like to journal through all of these, so that way I have it written down and I can understand what I'm currently doing. Then I circle what's working and cross out what's not. So that's up to you. I like to journal and that's how I do it. But really evaluate your habits. At the beginning of the show, one of the habits I mentioned is you went you went to Ulta or Sephora or somewhere, and got this really awesome dry shampoo. But you didn't bring it in the house because maybe your hands were full. That's a habit. So if your hands are full, you're probably not going to make another trip to the car. And that's fine. I wouldn't want do that either.
But maybe as part of a new habit is you decide to just clear out your car every time. In order to make this new habit stick, maybe you just don't keep as much stuff your car. Or maybe you have less to carry in at the end of the day, or maybe you send out one of your kids to grab the rest of the stuff. Whatever it may be, just evaluate the habit of, you don't want to go back out a second time, which is fine. Brainstorm different ways around that.
The next step, is designing the solution. This can be one of the hardest steps but it can also be very rewarding. This is where you actually have to work and you have to take action. This is where you get to make your vision a reality. So for me, this is one of the most rewarding steps because this is where things begin to transform.
You're going to need to really know what your habits are and you're going to need to know where you want to go before you start designing the solution. When you're designing the solution, decluttering plays a huge role.
For example, if you're trying to create a new morning routine, you have to declutter or get rid of anything that's not working in that routine for you currently. (If you need help decluttering, make sure to check out this episode HERE). Exercising may not be working for you in the morning. So declutter that. Get rid of it, take it off your list, take it out of the system that you're trying to create because that doesn't go with your habits. Instead, move it around to a different time of day or get rid of it completely. Part of designing the solution is we have to declutter the excess.
We're going to get rid of what doesn't work. And then we're going to start implementing what does work or implementing new ways that are going to give you that desired result. What do I mean by this? Implementing new ways that would give you the desired result is going back to your habits, getting rid of anything that doesn't work. And then writing out or creating what would work. What do you want to do in the morning? Maybe you want to have some journaling time. Maybe you want to have a few minutes to read. Maybe you just want to sit for 10 minutes outside on your porch and drink a hot cup of coffee, whatever it may look like, list it all out and create that as part of your solution.
That's the solution. That's what you want in your morning routine. You'll have to reverse engineer it and allow yourself enough time to accomplish all of that as part of your morning routine. Then implement your new system and fine tune it a little bit and get rid of what doesn't work. So that way you're constantly getting that desired result. This is all part of designing the solution.
Designing the solution is kind of a multistep process in itself because you want to declutter and then you have to figure out what the solution is and then set it up. You'll also have to organize the steps within the solution. So that's what you're going to do. You're going to organize the process. So that way the right steps are in the right order. Unlike the system of chaos, you want to make sure that you have the right steps, you have all the steps and that they're in the right order.
This is the key component of designing the solution. It's based around your habits and it's based on the end result that you want to accomplish. In the designing the solution part, you're going to declutter what's not working. You're going to start implementing or setting up what is, and then you're going to organize the steps in the right order. And then you're going to start taking action on these steps.
You're setting up the solution to the problem that you initially had. And really what you're doing in designing the solution is you're creating the desired result that you want. So you visualize that you wanted this morning routine where you get to drink your coffee on the porch for 10 minutes and have some quiet time. You also wanted to also have 20 minutes of reading time or finishing a chapter of reading, whatever it may be. And you're designing the solution to accomplish that.
Part of the solution may mean, you have your book on your table ready to grab. You have the coffee ready to go the night before, and it's already automatically programmed. So you could just grab your cup and go. You're not wasting that 10 minutes sitting there making coffee and waiting for it to brew because it's already done. That's designing the solution.
Figure out the problem, visualize the end result, evaluate the habits that you're currently doing. Figure out what's working. What's not. And begin to problem solve.
The last step or the fourth step in the Always Elegant Living Method is establishing an easy rhythm. This comes after you design the solution because now you have a solution that works and you have to get in the rhythm of doing it.
Say that you are waking up at 6:45 and you decided that because you wanted to have this little bit of quiet time in the morning, you're going to wake up at 6:30. That gives you 15 extra minutes. So you start waking up at 6:30 and you realize, hey I'm short, five more minutes. I need a little bit more time. When you're establishing the rhythm, then you realize, "Okay, I'm going to set my alarm for 6:25 and get up at 6:25." Or set your alarm for 6:15 and actually get up at 6:25, whatever it looks like, but you've designed the solution. And now you're getting into the rhythm of doing the solution. This is where you practice the new routine over and over again.
You're adjusting it a little bit each time, every day until it works great for you. Try it on Tuesday. And then you reevaluate it Tuesday night, or after the routine, while you're driving to work or wherever you want to reevaluate it. You reevaluate the new routine that you tried and then you adjust it a little bit. And usually the adjustments that most people make is in timing.
I know for me, one routine that I wanted to set up was always having an empty dishwasher. So I ran the dishwasher at night and then I've practiced unloading the dishwasher first thing in the morning, which really didn't make me happy. I did not want to wake up and have to think about unloading the dishwasher. So I pushed it back a little bit to now when I get up, I have my coffee, I do my morning routine. I get ready and then I unload the dishwasher.
By then I feel as if it's a good time. Some of the dishes have already started to get dirty from people having breakfast, but it's fine because I'm unloading the dishwasher and then I'll put those dirty dishes in right away. So I've had to fine tune that for myself and that's what step four is about. It's establishing that easy rhythm that works with your life and your habits and makes it easy for you to do.
Like I said, most of the adjustments that you're going to have to make when you're establishing that rhythm is usually based around when each step gets done. Fo example, unloading the dishwasher. I choose to do that after I get ready, instead of first thing in the morning. Even though in my mind, I want it done first thing in the morning, but in reality, I just didn't like doing it then.
That could be the same thing for your morning routine. Like your coffee time. Setting it up the night before, getting it brewed, making sure everything is ready to go before the day starts. That way you're not wasting those 10 minutes in the morning brewing the coffee and now you have the time to sit and enjoy it. That's an easy adjustment of timing.
That's my four step method to creating systems in your home that actually work around your life and habits. Systems that are easy to do and they create that freedom from the everyday chaos. If you need help setting up systems in your home, or you want my four step process as a pretty pdf, I have my free guide available HERE. This starter guide will help you create essential home systems that work for you and it also includes more ideas around other systems your home may need.
I know this episode can be a lot to consume in how to create these systems in your home. And sometimes it feels as if this is a very daunting task, but really this is a very life changing task. It's very freeing and it really sets you up for a day of ease and a life of ease. Because systems should be designed around your life. And actually they should save you time and energy and you will be able to do anything else other than maintaining the mundane or worrying about where your dry shampoo is, or if you have a dry towel.
When you set up these systems, these things happen habitually and automatically in the background of life. You won't have to worry that on a day when you're running late, that you don't have a dry towel. Or that your dry shampoo is out in the car. You know where your fabulous outfit is because you have these systems in your life that were created around the desired results you want and your habits. That is what creates that life of ease.
Creating systems can really be easy if you follow the Always Elegant Living Method and they're so worth the time investment. I know it is a time investment and it does take some brain power in the beginning because you do have to sit and think through what your habits are, what works and what doesn't, but it is worth the time investment.
Good systems create a home of ease and it really eliminates the chaos. You can take back control of your mornings, of your home, and of your life. Start small and little by little, the progress begins to add up. I hope this helped. I hope this empowered you to go and create systems in your home. Hopefully, understanding how to create systems in your home will help you to take action on this.
Until next time I'm Ashley Brown and I'm always cheering for you.
The episode is over and now it's time for you to take action.
What can you do today that will help you create who you want to be? Little by little progress adds up and in turn makes a big impact.
If you'd like to continue the discussion head on over to facebook.com/groups/alwayselegantliving.
If you loved listening to this episode, as much as I love sharing it, then please leave a review on iTunes. And if you're ready to take action and dive deeper into the topics that I discussed on the podcast, visit the courses.
You have the power to create who you were made to be. You can move past the chaos and start living a life you love with ease. And remember, I'll be there cheering you on.
Until next time. I'm Ashley Brown.
