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Woman shares the 'ultimate hack' for busy people needing to declutter fast

A cleaner home in a matter of minutes.

@aesthetically_ally_/TikTok

Okay, this is brilliant.

When the Work From Home era began, many of us got excited at the possibility of being able to maybe, juuuust maybe, keep our home a little cleaner by doing some sprucing up in between productivity sprints. But alas, reality has set in.

Instead, there’s the constant distraction of messes that need to be cleaned up, items that aren’t where they should be, piles upon piles of stuff that seem to appear out of nowhere. All of this goes double for WFH folks with kids.

And being more aware of clutter is no doubt one of the main reasons why cleaning hacks are all the rage on social media. Besides the fact that there’s just something so primally satisfying about watching stain removal.

One super easy hack, created by a mom and therapist who goes by @aestetically_ally_ on TikTok, is being hailed as the “ultimate” decluttering method, particularly for moms. (But really, this could work for anyone).

“If you’re looking for a busy working mom hack to keep your sh*t together during the day, during the week and not feel totally overwhelmed and overstimulated when you walk into your house, keep listening,” Ally says at the top of her clip. “I can’t stand having a dirty house or a messy house. For me, that is my overstimulation nightmare.”

And this is where the “cleaning cart” comes in.

Ally then shows a simple, white rolling cart with three shelves—something you’ve definitely seen at a staples or Ikea. The idea is you can roll this cart around your home and pick up any debris that’s taking up unnecessary spaces. Toys, crafts, shoes, hoodies, etc. Then you place the cart up against a wall. And voila, a clutter free house in minutes.

Ally adds the caveat that “obviously we’re going to have to put those things away.”But still, she affirms that “t is so much nicer to just not have those things cluttering all of the flat surfaces in your house.”

“It helps so much with that overstimulated feeling that you get when you have to come in after a crazy busy day and have to start taking care of everybody and everything,” she says.

@aesthetically_ally_ Mom hack. Lmk if you try! #cleaninghacks #cleanhouse ♬ original sound - Aesthetically Ally

Down in the comments, people were totally on board with the idea. Many already did a form of it with laundry baskets, but really loved the ability to wheel the junk around. A few even wanted to go above and beyond by labeling each section with a family’s member’s name, so that it made reorganizing easier later.

Still, a few shared concerns that this could easily become “doom piles,” or "Didn't Organize, Only Moved” piles, commonly associated with people dealing with ADD/ADHD, which never actually get sorted and become more overwhelming in the long run.

However, an article from Real Simple has some expert backed tips to keep those piles from taking over, which can be helpful for those in the ADD/ ADHD community, or just folks trying to avoid bigger messes.

One trick is to keep a small, manageable sized basket, and to not let it overflow. This is where a small, compact cleaning cart could really shine.

Other suggestions include using a timer and emptying out the cart or basket in 15 minute increments, or implementing a reward system for emptying out said cart. Essentially, creating easy-to-accomplish, bite sized tasks, and finding a way to associate with something pleasing. A good basis for any goal, really.

Perhaps in an ideal world we wouldn’t need things like cleaning carts. But we live in reality. And reality is messy. We are all just doing our best to juggle multiple, simultaneous responsibilities while holding onto our sanity. If rolling a cart around and throwing junk in it helps that cause, even just a little, then it’s probably worth trying.

By the way, Ally has more tips where that came from, which you can find by following her on TikTok.

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life
Pop Culture

Chris Pratt wonders how long parents should keep their kids' trophies

It's a question all parents ask themselves.

Photo by Dick Thomas Johnson/Wikipedia, @prattprattpratt/Instagram

Pratt's question was prompted by wife Katherine going through her old childhood trophies.

Some parenting questions are simply universal, transcending the normal alienating barriers. And whether or not to hold onto certain mementos is one of them.

Whether it's more noble to let childhood awards, artwork, quizzes and certificates stack up in storage boxes for years, to be opened for a nostalgic romp down memory lane at a later time, or simply let them go in the name of decluttering? Or is the answer somewhere in between?

This is the conundrum nearly every parent faces. Even celebrity ones, apparently.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt recently found himself wondering this very thing as he watched his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger going through her personal treasure trove of trophies from her own childhood.

The collection, curated by her mother Maria Shriver, included notable achievements like "most improved 2-year-old" in swim class to "Problem-solving super star" in the fourth grade.

On his Instagram post, Pratt noted how “thoughtful” he thought the gesture was, writing, “to see my darling wife beaming with sentiment as she opens these crates of meticulously organized keepsakes, remembering her cherished youth, makes me grateful for the efforts her folks put into archiving.”

"I suppose that's the payoff for the work it took to store this stuff, the smile on her face as she relives moments of her youth. To pray one day that your children will look back on their childhood with glee is a blessing. It is the hope of parenthood,” he reflected.

But regardless of the warm-and-fuzzies felt by watching his wife reminisce, Pratt still wasn’t entirely sure what his stance was, so he posed a question to his fans.

“Real talk… once your kid goes through the stuff, is it okay to toss?" he wrote, adding, "I mean… do we need the 'I was on a sports team trophy?' Can they be donated? Repurposed?" Pratt also asked. "How many do we gotta keep? Not all of them right? Any of them? Is there a grading scale? Like, did you win? Were you a champion? Is there a specific sentimental connection? Help me out here. Do they go back in storage?"

His question received countless answers. But most parents seemed to lean towards the time honored tradition of holding on to as much as possible, then hocking it over their children to sort when they’re adults.

As one person hilariously advised, “ “Do as it's always been done. Pack them back up and let your children deal with it when you move to an assisted living facility.”

However, some did offer alternative options, like donating old trophies to organizations, or even taking photos of the items to digitally reminisce. One person suggested “I feel that once we’re old enough to share them with our own children and tell the stories behind them, perhaps that’s the time to digitally archive the items and the tales behind them.” Another added that “looking at an object in a photo still brings back the memory without having to hold onto the actual object.”

While these are all valid opinions, there isn’t exactly a real rule to follow. And this is a concept that Lisa Woodruff, professional organizer and author of “The Mindset of Organization: Take Back Your House One Phase at a Time,” communicates in her work.

“You are allowed to keep everything you want to keep. That’s right. There’s no reason why you have to get rid of — or keep — anything belonging to your children,” she writes, and suggests that parents find creative ways to showcase those memories rather than putting them in storage, such as filling scrapbooks and decorating hallways.

What seems to be the moral of the story is that it’s completely up to individual preference. And that there are many ways to hold onto precious keepsakes. Oh, and that if you’re a parent dealing with this particular quandary, you are certainly not alone.

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parenting
Heroes

The second half of decluttering that a lot of people might not know about.

Tidying up can be life-changing. Reusing can be world-changing.

True
Savers

In 2014, Marie Kondo’s best-selling book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" sparked a worldwide decluttering movement.

Her overall message is simple and elegant: When items in our homes have lost their utility or their ability to "spark joy," we thank them for their service and cast them away.

Beautiful, right? Well, kinda.

For many people in a fit of Kondo-inspired decluttering, casting away the things we no longer need means throwing them in the garbage. Instead of our homes, they're resigned to the landfill, where they live out their days decomposing along with old Smash Mouth cassette tapes, tie-dye parachute pants, and Someone With Tiny Hands University diplomas.

Somewhere in that pile is a Sugar Ray cassette single. We guarantee it. Image via iStock.

But if we’re really committed to thanking the items we once treasured for their service, can we, in good conscience, simply throw them away?

If we’re being real here, the answer is no.

A new report from Savers is all about this challenge. The thrift retailer polled 3,000 Americans and Canadians about their habits around waste, reuse, and recycling.

What they found isn't completely discouraging, but there's lots of room for improvement in how we collectively deal with the things we don't want or need anymore.

First up, the not-so-great stuff. It turns out that Americans are not great with recognizing just how much stuff they're sending to landfills each year.

Respondents to Savers' online survey estimated they're throwing out about 4.7 bags worth of waste a year. The actual amount is 8.1 bags — nearly double.

Life pro-tip: Having enough garbage to make angels might mean you have too much. GIF by "The Simpsons"/20th Century Fox.

That's a problem because North American landfills are already pretty jam-packed. Last year, researchers from Yale University added up the actual weight of trash sent to landfills in 2012. Their total — 262 million tons — is more than double what the Environmental Protection Agency estimated we threw out. All of that trash piles up, making our landfills and our carbon emissions bigger every year at a time when we've promised the world we'll try to cut back.

When it comes to clothes and textiles, we can really do better.

Savers' study found that the #1 reason people donate their unwanted clothing is because of "overflowing closets." To make space, we're throwing away a shocking amount of clothing and textiles every year — about 26 billion pounds in total, or 81 pounds per person per year. That's almost an entire Ariana Grande! Or a large labrador retriever! Both of whom are still very good and useful.

See? Perfectly delightful. GIF via "Bang Bang."

That's where the Kondo method comes back into play. While we may be done with jeans that don’t fit anymore, outdated tops, or sneakers with scuffs in the wrong places, it's wrong to assume that they don't still have further work to do. They might spark joy for someone else who finds them in a thrift store. Or, if certain clothes have been loved too much to pass on to another person, their fabrics can be recycled into other things, like carpet padding, playground mats, or even simple cleaning cloths.

Fortunately, we're open to changing our ways.

Of the people who responded to the survey, more than half said they'd reuse clothing once they learned how much textile manufacturing affects our environment. 94% of respondents also thought that children should be taught about reuse along with recycling in schools so they build lifelong habits around sustainability.

These adorable little recyclers are learning what's good. Image via iStock.

We're also eager to be charitable! According to the survey, half of us are willing to donate even more if it helps a nonprofit organization we support.

In a landfill, things disintegrate. In thrift stores, they have a chance to thrive.

If we think about the things we buy and the things we love, they should really overlap as often as possible. We should buy only what we need. We should find noncommercial ways to spark joy and find purpose in our lives. We should reuse, repurpose, and recycle everything we can.

Realistically, our landfills can't grow forever — and Elon Musk hasn't built that Mars rocket yet. The sooner we start thinking about the future life of the stuff we don't want — and how we can give it the best chance to spark joy for other people — the better off we'll all be.

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