I'm Angie Martinez and on my podcast I like to talk to everyone from Hall of Fame athletes to iconic musicians about getting real on some of the complications and challenges of real life.
I had the best dad and I have the best memories and the greatest experience and that's all I want for my kids as long as they can have that.
Listen to Angie Martinez IRL on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Good morning, this is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is don't decorate with cereal boxes.
Anything that is visible in your home is part of your home's decor.
So it's best to be intentional about what you display.
Today's tip comes from McKellen Smith who blogs at The Nestor and whose latest book is House Rules, How to Decorate for Every Home, Style, and Budget.
In a podcast interview I heard recently she said, everything that sits out in my home is a decoration.
She explained that this means that if you have cereal boxes sitting on your kitchen counter, you are decorating with them.
Now it may make you giggle to think about decorating with cereal boxes, they tend not to be all that attractive, but if you are like me, when you look around your home, you may realize that you are doing just that.
Do you have bags of coffee beans sitting next to your coffee maker, dental floss by your bathroom sink, laundry detergent at the foot of the stairs that you intend to take up to the laundry room at some point, a big box of diapers on the floor in the nursery?
Turns out, you are decorating with all those things.
None of these items are intended to be part of the decor, but if they are out, they function as part of the decor anyways.
People's eyes don't have some special filter that pumps up the intentional decor and hides the stuff that's stored in plain sight.
Everything is visible, all the same.
That beautiful framed artwork you chose because you love the colors, and the cereal boxes that you probably did not select for their aesthetics.
Now to be fair, I am a practical person, and I totally understand that people leave a lot of stuff sitting out so it is convenient to use, or because it reminds them of something they need to do.
Sometimes that is fine, but at least think about it.
At some point in my fifteen years of changing diapers, I realized that storing the diapers in the top drawer of a baby's changing table was probably just as convenient as storing them in a box next to the table.
Possibly even more convenient, and definitely more attractive.
Storing the cereal boxes in the pantry is no less convenient than taking up counter space.
There's no need to decant them into pretty jars or anything ridiculous like that.
Once they are in the pantry, they are fine.
But at least they are no longer part of the general kitchen decorating scheme.
As for stuff that truly does need to be convenient, it can at least be corralled and put in something attractive.
For instance, shoes can go in individual baskets by the back door.
Makeup you use daily can go in a nice little container on your bathroom counter, so it is not spread all over the place.
The cute little container becomes the decor, not your bottles of whatever it is you use.
If you need reminders of things you have to do, you might still be able to find another solution.
For instance, commit to quitting the habit of leaving things on the stairs or outside doors.
Just put the object in its final home.
It takes just a few seconds longer, and then you don't have to deal with it a second time.
If you need to remember to bring your library books to the library, rather than put them on the kitchen counter, go put them on the driver's seat of your car.
Pretty hard to forget to bring them back then.
I would also suggest walking through your house and looking for spots where things have wound up out in the open instead of put away.
Again, there might be a good reason.
We leave olive oil and salt on the counter by the stove since we cook with these things multiple times per day.
But then I saw that these two items were attracting other things, like champagne vinegar, which we use maybe twice a year.
That could get put away.
No need to decorate with that.
If you survey your home for items stored in plain sight, I'd love to hear what you discover.
Are you decorating with cereal boxes?
You can reach me at Laura at LauraVanderKam .com.
In the meantime, this is Laura, thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at LauraVanderKam .com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
I'm Angie Martinez, and on my podcast, I like to talk to everyone from Hall of Fame athletes to iconic musicians about getting real on some of the complications and challenges of real life.
I had the best dad, and I had the best memories and the greatest experience.
And that's all I want for my kids as long as they can have that.
Listen to Angie Martinez, IRL, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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