Why an organized home makes life easier (even when you're sick). How I took a week off and my home didn’t fall apart #145

What if you had to step away from running your home for an entire week? Would everything fall apart—or keep running smoothly?

I just spent a full week in bed with the flu, completely unable to do anything. No tidying, no cooking, no keeping up with daily life. And yet, my home didn’t descend into chaos. Laundry got done, meals were made, and everything just worked.

👉 Why? Because of the systems and organization already in place. Medications were easy to find, the meal plan kept dinner stress-free, and the kids knew exactly where things were. This experience was a powerful reminder that home organization isn’t about perfection—it’s about creating a home that supports you when you’re not at 100%.

💡 A well-organized home works for you during life’s curveballs—illness, work stress, or unexpected challenges.
💡 It dramatically reduces mental load, stress, and the overwhelming feeling of “catching up” when life gets hectic.
💡 Even small steps toward decluttering and tidying make a difference—you don’t need an Instagram-perfect home, just one that feels like a hug when you walk in.

Want to know how I set up my home so it functions without me? Tune in now to learn practical, realistic declutter strategies that help you build a home that supports your future self.

🎧 Listen now and take one small step toward a clutter-free, stress-free home today!

Thanks for listening! For more organizational motivation, support and free resources:
Join my online membership Clutter Free Collective
Join my podcast Facebook group Living Clutter Free Forever Podcast: KonMari® Inspired Organizing | Facebook
Visit my website www.caroline-thor.com
Come and say 'hi' on Instagram @caro.thor
Follow me on Facebook @carolineorganizer

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Living Clutter Free
• 0:57 Unexpected Illness and Household Resilience
• 2:42 When Everything Keeps Running Smoothly
• 4:30 Creating a Home That Supports You
• 7:34 Small Steps Toward a Supportive Home
• 8:21 Upcoming Episode and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi there, I'm Caroline Thor, professional organiser, konmari consultant, teacher and mum of three. I started off my life as a mum feeling overwhelmed, disorganised and desperately trying to carve out some time for me amongst the nappies, chaos and clutter. One day, one small book called the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying changed everything and I began to learn strategies for making everyday life easier. Today I have the systems in place that means life can throw almost anything at me, and I want to share them with you. If you're an overwhelmed mum struggling to keep it together, then this is the podcast for you. Grab a coffee and settle in for a quick chat with someone who gets your reality. Hello and welcome back to this latest episode of the living clutter free forever podcast. This is not an episode I had intended to share this week. I have got a few episodes that I had pre-recorded, but I really wanted to share this message with you because for the last two weeks, I have been really unwell with flu, including a full week in bed, no energy to keep up with anything. You might notice, my voice is sounding a little bit difficult to usual, and this experience reinforced something really important for me about home organization and I decided I just had to record this quickie episode to go out this week so that I could share with you my experience while it was all still fresh. So I had this huge realisation that, despite being out of action, the household did not fall apart and I was really lucky that my kids were actually on school holiday so I wasn't having to do the usual school run and all that sort of stuff so I could literally just stay in bed. But the systems were in place so that everything kept running the laundry, the meals, the daily routines, and the kids and my husband knew where to find stuff.

Speaker 1: 2:24

So I remember the first night I was feeling so, so ill. I had a really high temperature. I was lying there in bed feeling really sorry for myself, and Ralph, my husband, came into the bedroom to see if I needed anything and I said to him could you get me the paracetamol please? And he knew exactly where to go and get them. They're in a cupboard on the landing, in a basket top right. That's where the medication for adults is kept. And he went straight there and got it and brought it back for me. And I was so glad that we didn't have to set to and try and find the paracetamol because I really wasn't feeling up to it. There was no scrambling to find things, no chaos, me lying in bed thinking, oh my goodness, everything's falling apart. Everything just continued to function.

Speaker 1: 3:22

And the reason that this matters is that we haven't created a home that is perfect. It is far from perfect, but what we have done is create a home that supports us even when we're not functioning at 100% as we usually are. And let's face it, life throws curveballs. It could be illness, as in this situation, or you can suddenly have like a busy season where work is suddenly really demanding and you're expected to do overtime, or there might be unexpected challenges. We have had times in our family life where we have really been struggling with one of our kids who is neurodivergent and I literally have not been able to sometimes move from the sofa for hours at a time where I have just been needing to sit there very still and quiet and be a safe nervous system for them so that they can try and calm themselves down. So when you have got an organized home, the reduction in stress in those moments is huge. I'm not having to think, oh, do they know what they're going to cook for dinner tonight, or have we even got the stuff in. So I haven't been to the shops for two weeks now, but my husband was able to make a shopping list, have a look at the meal plan, come home from work, or one of my kids would go down and look at the meal plan and know what they were cooking for dinner that evening. So the mental load of catching up isn't overwhelming when your home is already working for you. And I have just been lying in bed feeling so, so grateful that I can lie there and not feel guilty that I should actually be trying to get up and do stuff because people aren't managing. I have really felt I can just let them get on with it. Now I am in a fortunate position that my kids are of an age now where they can take over the cooking or the washing or the cleaning. They are old enough to be able to do that. Of course, if you have got little ones it is a whole different ball game, but in our instance I was able to really just switch off and focus on getting better rather than having to try and do things in the home and actually probably would then prolong the illness.

Speaker 1: 6:09

So if you are feeling overwhelmed by clutter. Please know that organizing isn't just about aesthetics. I actually think it's got more to do about making life easier for your future self, and this is something in my online membership, plutter Free Collective, that we are working on all the time. We're not trying to have Pinterest, instagram worthy homes. We want a home that, when we get in from work, it almost gives us a hug. We feel calm, we feel in control, we feel like our home is supporting us, and it's small steps that lead to big change. So the goal isn't this perfect home, as I said, but one that supports you, and if you start with one small step today whether that's setting up a system or decluttering one drawer or making sure that your everyday essentials are easy to find If you can take that one small step and then, the next time you have a few minutes, take another small step, you will get to the point as well where you have a home that supports you.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Now I would like to say a huge thank you for listening to me, especially when my voice isn't at its best, so I'm going to keep it short today, but I'm going to be back next week with a new episode, which is going to be all about photo organizing.

Speaker 1: 7:53

I have got a special guest who is an expert in photo organizing and I know you are absolutely going to love it. If you follow me on Instagram, then I would love for you to come over there at carothor and send me a message and let me know what your experience is. Do you have a home that saves you stress and yeah, I'm hoping my voice is going to be better, really, really soon. Okay, until next time. If you've enjoyed this episode, please send the link to a friend you know would appreciate it, subscribe and leave a review. I look forward to bringing you more organizing tips next time, but if you can't wait until then, you can go to my website or find me on Instagram, at carothor, or on Facebook at Caroline Organizer. Thanks for listening and I look forward to guiding you on your journey to find your clutter-free ever after.