091. Why a Decluttered Kitchen Changes Everything for Working Moms (Feel Calmer, Faster, and More in Control)

A decluttered kitchen helps working moms feel calmer, faster, and more in control. Learn why kitchen organization reduces mental load and supports smoother mornings and evenings.

A decluttered kitchen isn’t about matching containers or perfect counters - it’s about making daily life feel lighter. In this episode, I explain why the kitchen carries more mental load than any other room and how a calmer, decluttered kitchen helps working moms feel more in control, faster, and less stressed every single day.

You’ll hear why a messy kitchen makes mornings harder before they even start, how visual clutter quietly drains your energy, and why this one space is foundational to calm routines, better moods, and smoother evenings, even during the busiest seasons of life.

☀️ Your kitchen isn’t just another room - it’s the command center for your day

😓 Visual clutter increases stress and decision fatigue (yes, science backs this up)

😌 A calmer kitchen creates more patience, energy, and emotional capacity

🔪 You’re not failing - your kitchen is simply holding too much

🧐 Noticing how your kitchen feels is the first step toward real change

Your kitchen doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to support the life you’re living right now. Follow the podcast so you don’t miss weekly organizing tips for Beautiful Living.

#DeclutteredKitchen #WorkingMoms #HomeOrganization #MentalLoad #BeautifulLiving

👉👉 I'm giving a FREE class, 3 Simple Steps to Declutter Your Kitchen In Just A Weekend! There are 3 class times available on January 19th or 20th. Sign up at https://fireflybridge.com/class.

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Call or text me: 305-563-2292

Email me: zeenat@fireflybridge.com

Transcript

Last week was a whirlwind of cooking, wrapping presents, video calls with family members all over the world, and it’s been great! 
I did have some last-minute shopping to do. We actually picked up a Christmas present that my mom ordered for one of my kids that arrived at the store on the 24th! That was a treat! Going to Dadeland mall on Christmas Eve!
It was just as chaotic, and packed as you can imagine, but it was also fun! Everyone seemed happy to be there, even if it was a mall, and the stores were full. The fact that the checkouts seemed well-staffed, and it was a bright, sunny, warm day had a lot to do with the good moods of everyone there, I think. Blue skies and not-sweaty or freezing weather always makes me feel happy for sure!
The one thing I didn’t have to plan for or worry about last week was what to cook, how to serve it, and putting the leftovers away.
During a busy week, that’s a huge weight that was lifted from my shoulders. I had already planned the meals a week before, so I loosely knew what we were going to be eating each day, and yes, we had to adjust because 2 kids got the flu, back to back, and they needed a slightly lighter menu than the rest of us.
But the week still didn’t feel hard. At the end of each day, the kitchen was neat, even if some things stayed out drying next to the sink because we were finishing up meals late each night. The leftovers were in the fridge. The next day’s ingredients were on one side of the fridge too. Things felt in place, ready for the next day’s events. 
Have you noticed that when your kitchen is messy, everything feels harder?
And not just cooking and not just cleaning. But mornings feel more frustrating, and evenings feel heavier.
And somehow, you feel behind before the day has even started.
What’s interesting about this is that it’s not because you’re inherently disorganized. Not at all. It’s because the kitchen carries more weight than we give it credit for.
Today we’re talking about why a decluttered kitchen isn’t just a nice to have for working moms. It’s foundational. And why when this one space works, your whole life starts to feel lighter.
Welcome to Organizing for Beautiful Living with me, Zee Siman, The Choosy Organizer.
This podcast is for women who are done organizing everything and ready to be choosy—about what matters, what’s enough, and what can wait.
Because Beautiful Living starts with a little less stress and a lot more intention.
Ready to get beautifully organized?
Let’s make it happen.
This is episode 91. Why a Decluttered Kitchen Changes Everything for Working Moms (Feel Calmer, Faster, and More in Control).
That’s definitely a loaded title, isn’t it? But I totally stand by it. A decluttered kitchen does change everything for working moms.
Let’s start here with this declaration: The kitchen is not just another room.
It’s the command center.
It’s where mornings begin, it’s where evenings end up, it’s where food, routines, schedules, emotions, and decisions all collide, and often at the same time.
And if you’re a working mom, your kitchen isn’t just supporting your family’s meals. It’s supporting your mental load.
Have you noticed how much thinking happens in your kitchen?
What’s for breakfast, where are the water bottles, do we have snacks, did I sign that permission slip, what’s for dinner, why is this drawer jammed again?
That constant low-level decision-making? That’s exhausting.
And research backs this up. Visual clutter competes for your attention and increases your stress. So when your kitchen is visually noisy, your nervous system never quite gets to rest.
That’s why a cluttered kitchen doesn’t just look messy. It feels heavy.
This is where Thrive Daily comes in.
Your environment should help you function, not make you work harder.
So think about it. If a decluttered kitchen removes friction from your day, as I argue that it does, then it lets you move through your routines with less resistance, fewer micro-decisions, and more ease.
And if that’s the case, then a calm kitchen isn’t about aesthetics.
It’s about capacity.
Your capacity for patience, for connection with other people, and for energy at the end of the day.
So when there’s less visual noise in your kitchen, you have more capacity for each of those things. Patience, connection and energy, all of which you need to thrive in your home and in your life on a daily basis, right?
Now, over the past 8 years, I’ve seen this again and again with clients.
The same woman who runs meetings, manages high-level teams, and handles complex work feels scattered in her own kitchen.
And the shame creeps in.
“I should be better at this.” “Why can’t I keep up?” “Other moms seem to manage.”
But the truth is that you’re not failing. Your kitchen is overburdened.
It’s holding too much stuff and too much responsibility.
When we Live Light, when we intentionally reduce what a space has to hold, something really powerful happens.
You stop bracing yourself when you’re about to walk into the room. And that’s when you start to Love Your Home again.
I want you to pause for a second right now and ask yourself:
How do I feel when I walk into my kitchen in the morning? Does this space support the pace of my real life, or does it fight it? What would it give me if this room felt calmer?
Just notice for a minute. I’ve been saying this more often recently, but yeah, I find that in our Choosy Organizer community that you’re a part of because you listen to this podcast, well I find that you’re all very action-driven. You get stuff done. You solve problems, even when you’re knocked off balance by something, you may feel crushed for a minute, but you’re always thinking about how to solve the problem.
So taking the time to notice is not something you easily do around here because it doesn’t feel like an action. You’re not solving anything by just noticing. But boy, noticing is the first step of solving the problem, isn’t it? 
You need to notice what you feel like when you walk into your kitchen in the morning because what you get caught up in in there as you’re starting your day does carry into the rest of the day and into the evening. 
So what helps you feel clearer and allows you to take action in your kitchen? Is it a well-defined coffee area? 
And what’s fighting against a seamless morning? Is it making lunches? Finding the individual pieces that need to go into those lunchboxes? 
And in the evenings, what’s supporting your dinnertime routines? Is it that all the items you need for cleanup are easy to access under the kitchen sink? 
And what’s causing you to become frustrated in the evening? Is it a cramped pots and pans drawer? Or a messy, jam-packed undersink cabinet where you don’t remember really what’s in the back of that cabinet anymore?
And then yes, take a minute to notice what would change if the kitchen felt calmer. What would change with your mood? Your outlook? Your confidence? Those are real questions, real observations that we don’t normally make time for, and really, it only takes a minute to do it.
I’ll warn you about that because putting actual coherent words to this is not a normal thing for us to do usually. Like I said, in this community, you’re all problem-solvers and action-takers, so it might be a bit weird to put words to this. 
But the benefits are real when your kitchen is calmer. So finish the sentence either out loud to yourself, or write it down.
“If my kitchen was calmer, it would….”
What would it mean? Would it make you feel a certain way? Would it make your day run a certain way? Would it make your mood or your outlook change in a certain way? Would your confidence change particularly? Would you be calmer, faster and more in control? Finish the sentence for yourself.
And that’s all you need to do today.
Yeah, I know it’s hard for you not to immediately take action when you identify a problem, I know!
But in the coming weeks, we’re going to explore how working moms actually create that calm without dragging projects out for months.
So make sure you’re following the podcast so you don’t miss what’s next, ok?
Your kitchen doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to support how you want to live right now.
So before next week’s episode, do your homework, finish the sentence, “If my kitchen was calmer, it would….”
And have a real answer, a coherent sentence that really feels good and empowering to you. Remember that you don’t have to know how to achieve that yet. We’ll get to that soon enough. But simply having that sentence in your mind is going to leapfrog you towards getting there, I promise. Ok?
Have a beautifully organized week. I’m Zee and I’ll see you on the next episode!