Afleveringen

  • In this episode, I introduce you to Tami T. who is married with two children at home. A few years before the pre-pandemic, Tami was doing a lot of driving for her work teaching private (band) lessons in schools. It took Tami about a year to listen to all of the Organize 365Ā® episodes. Tami invested in the Whole Home program that we now know as The Productive Home Solution.

    Tami would watch the videos beforehand and listen to episodes, while driving, about the specific space that was next in the program. By the time she got home she knew exactly what she wanted to do in that space. It dawned on Tami that she kept doing the kitchen. By the third time she started the program, she focused on all the other spaces. Sheā€™s tackled all of her spaces and even gotten rid of her filing cabinets. Tami attended a paper retreat and organized all her paper but one bin. Sheā€™s since tackled that too with the help of a virtual organizer that she found in the Organize 365Ā® directory. She found with getting organized it freed up capacity to be able to mentally process that one last bin.

    When the pandemic hit, her organization was really challenged. She had to teach her band classes AND she had two young children at home trying to attend school too. What did she do? She got a Sunday BasketĀ® for each of them so Tami could keep everyone and all the assignments organized. Tami shared that now instead of just being a day or two ahead, sheā€™s now months ahead. Again with more capacity and being planned a few months out, it has given her the time and energy to do some small tasks sheā€™s always wanted to do. For example with all the planning completed she was able to make a program for the band concerts that she can repurpose in the future. And she could schedule refreshments and treats. Sheā€™s been able to make a little flyer to promote the performance to faculty. She can make the event better and be more present.

    Tami did the kids program with her kids too. They have been able to learn the life skill of going through their closets and organization. The first attempt was a garage sale that didnā€™t go so well. Now they donate. If they have an item(s) it gets donated on Tuesdays when Tami is driving by Goodwill. Tami, as most moms do, has always had so much on her plate. By the kids learning those skills it actually reduces tasks from her plate. And this she wished sheā€™d known sooner. Put those kids to work learning skills they will need in the future.

    They took a family trip to Egypt and then Switzerland this past summer. Tami was able to pre plan all their summer activities. They took their trip and when they came home Tami had time to follow up on documentaries about Egypt because the summer was planned. Sheā€™s even been able to complete two scrapbooks from their trip. She finds she has more capacity and down time due to her Sunday BasketĀ® and Education WorkboxĀ®.

    Tamiā€™s advice is, ā€œDo the Sunday BasketĀ® first, then the binders and sheet protectors.ā€

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Teacher Friday WorkboxĀ®

    Kids Program

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.


    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?

    Klik hier om de feed te vernieuwen.

  • Iā€™m excited to announce that there will be a webinar on Friday the 14th @noon EST for Swiss Cheese Organizing Business Edition. Love is in the airā€”and what better way to show your business some love than by getting it organized?

    Youā€™ve heard me talk about Swiss Cheese Organizing for home, and now itā€™s time to bring that same magic to your business. The order in which you get tasks accomplished is more important than the amount of time you spend on tasks. Iā€™m going to talk about your ideas and projects, your initiatives, your administrative role and responsibilities, end of quarter/year financials, and even your personal development initiatives. So, how do you bring it all together in a way that makes your heart (and your business) happy? Join me on Friday to find out! Attend live, and Iā€™ll answer your questions in real timeā€”but donā€™t worry, there will be a replay too.

    Letā€™s bring some harmony to your workflow and get your productivity train rolling smoothly down the tracks!!

    Swiss Cheese Webinar:

    Friday Feb 14th @ 12:00PM EST

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Swiss Cheese Webinar (Work Edition)

    [email protected]

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter


    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media.

  • Last year, two of our key leaders and I attended a Dave Ramsey Summit. This is how I have gotten some of my best CEO training. I really think about the topics the speaker is bringing up and think of Organize 365Ā® and have I implemented something similar? Have I done that thing? Or maybe is that idea an improvement we should consider? It was great for us to be hearing the same information at the same time and be able to discuss. We even changed our Monday morning meeting a little to catch our staff at a better time of day. And then I thought ā€œIs there anything I need to add to our values?ā€

    What is Busy Work?

    When I thought about staffing and when someone leaves Organize 354Ā®, is there a way to eliminate busy work. Do their job tasks still need to be done or were they busy work? Is there someone else on the team that can do those tasks? It got me thinking of all the busy work teachers do. Itā€™s cute to put the little bubbles at the ā€œendā€ of each stroke of the letters but is it necessary? Iā€™d do it once, then copy the paper the rest of the year, otherwise it would become busy work. Revisiting a closet youā€™ve done recently thinking youā€™ll get the same high will let you down because the transformation is not nearly as dramatic. Busy work is that unnecessary re-working of tasks. As long as your work is not done, even if itā€™s busy work, you wonā€™t have the excess time, capacity, and boredom to seek out what you are uniquely gifted and created to do.

    Operationalizing

    The flip side of busy work that can appear as busy work is operationalizing your tasks. I started out organizing my sister and Iā€™s rooms. Then I graduated to organizing the homes I babysat in. I have always loved gifting an act of service. I organized the ā€œcraft areaā€ by the fire place at my house and my mom loved it. So I did it annually around Christmas for her. But then my parents expanded the house and she got a larger space. My mom is an artists and that was definitely a challenge to understand what was valuable and not. I asked a lot of questions!! I would help other teachers to organize their classrooms. And eventually organized my clients. But in each of those instances I was growing my skill set. I was learning how the spaces were used and why the items were in there. I was operationalizing how I helped other get organized. You can do the same with repeated tasks. Thatā€™s why on Planning Day I tell you to stock up your storage for the trimester. Donā€™t order one of the same thing each month, operationalize it.

    The Sunday Basket Replaces Your Checklists

    First of all, there is a time and place for checklists. Checklists can be useful if you are trying to establish a new routine. Be careful not to let it become a crutch. Donā€™t be so stuck on the list that it supersedes your role in the company. And not everything needs to go on the list, just big things you canā€™t forget. And checklists are good for something you donā€™t do often. My best example I shared was our packing list for Florida each year. As we grow and change the list does too. We edit when necessary so we donā€™t forget for the next time we need to use the checklist.

    I can remember the last time I used a master to do list. In 2014, I wrote 10 legal pad pages of all my to doā€™s. I organized them by family member or entity and then prioritized them. I transferred each item to an index card. And I filed them away to deal with on Sunday. It is nice to look at all tasks individually and decide on importance, my time, and my money. I may write down the same task multiple times and thatā€™s ok because I got it out of my head and who cares if I wrote it multiple times. I place them in the appropriate slash pock. I take action on the actionable items. Then once I complete the task I get to toss it in the recycling. Lists never go away, with index cards you can complete them and toss them. The Sunday Basket is safe keeping till you can take action.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Friday WorkboxĀ®

    The Productive Home Solution

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter


    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • As many of you know, following one organizer will bring you to another. In fact, thatā€™s how some of you ended up in my community. So many of you reached out suggesting Kendra Adachi with The Lazy Genius podcast for an interview for the Monday Connections episodes. Thank you so much for the recommendation and we had an insightful conversation.

    Lazy Genius

    Kendra Adachi was a perfectionist to the extreme. She was teacherā€™s pet, valedictorian, and voted most dependable by her peers. In 2015, she started a lifestyle blog. The podcast, The Lazy Genius, followed not even a full year later. She teaches women to ā€œBe a genius about the things that matter, and and lazy about the things that donā€™t.ā€ Once she became a parent she learned that rule. She was so used to doing everything perfectly but once her second child came along she realized you canā€™t be perfect at everything. And thatā€™s how she got to pointing out to women how to find a happy medium between Boss Babe and Hot Mess.

    We agreed how nice it is to come on an episode with an idea and through the recording think out loud. Inevitably we end up with feedback from the community that results in solutions or next steps. When I asked her if she worries about running out of episode topics. She replied with the fact that the perspective on laundry changes with your lifestyle. For example, she may be talking about endless stained laundry from toddlers and grow to sharing about how she is teaching her teenagers how to do laundry. We commented on the value our listeners get from hearing how a female is doing things. Kendra shared that 93% of time management books are from male authors. Itā€™s time for women to learn from each other.

    And Kendra shared about ā€œBig Black Trash Bag Energyā€. You know when youā€™re just over it and so you get out the big trash bag with the internet to toss everything and just start over? No need. Just start small. Work on one thing.

    Women Have Always Ran the World

    Kendra shared the point of view that maybe thereā€™s a stigma to the importance of the female role and how much men value what women do. And I agreed through the lens that women have always ran the world but now that women are in the workforce, itā€™s coming to light how much women are really doing. And sorry guys, itā€™s more than you. Men get to watch a football game but women feel like they need to be productive making the meal plan or planning car pool while watching that same football game. We have been the CEOā€™s of the households but now all that invisible work is being identified. We have these never ending tasks that replenish themselves and leads to weary spirits. Planning is essential for women to manage the household and take care of everyone. Kendra pointed out you are inherently a preparer, an adjuster, or a notice-er. And then we talked about the mindsets and lifestyles of being 30, 40, and in your 50ā€™s. And the two scenarios determine how you got about what you gotta get done.

    You Only Know What You Know

    I find it so difficult to find other women CEOā€™s to learn from. We joked those women are too busy to sit down to write a book or record a podcast. My hope is for all women in the 20ā€™s and 30ā€™s to find a community to show them systems on how to be a household manager. You get a new job, you get training. You buy your first house and youā€™re responsible for the payments but no guidelines on how to care for it. Up to you to hopefully stumble across the Household Operations Binder. Donā€™t get intimidated by the CEO role. Itā€™s not meant to be this manly corporate role. You only know what you have been taught. Women need to be in community with each other, doing life together. We are the experts in this role!

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Sunday BasketĀ®

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  • Itā€™s 2017, Iā€™m on the plane home from California. I just attended a conference, a mastermind with a virtual friend of mine, Chris Ducker, and Iā€™m writing down the 5th value that I want for Organize 365Ā®. The Power of Community: In community, everyone can learn to be organized, action is easier, and happens exponentially. Organize 365Ā® believes organization is a learnable skill.

    Iā€™m a CEO

    After the investment I had made in that 6 days in California, it sunk in, Iā€™m a real CEO. I was making money and needed to structure my company to be able to purchase inventory. After considering our current phase of life and how I envisioned Organize 365Ā® would grow, I was advised to structure it as a C-Corp. All the details and thought process I shared in this episode. I also decided on the way home that I was going to need to hire 7 contractors for areas that were not my strength. In community with these contractors I grew Organize 365Ā®

    Virtual Friends

    I had a really hard time in the friends category really my whole life. I shared a really vulnerable time in my life in Catholic school where the girls werenā€™t so nice to me. Maybe it was me? I was used to talking to adults. The place in my family where I was born had me surrounded by adults all the time. I had my successful female lineage, my father who owned his own business, and then the smart men on my dadā€™s side of the family. I was so mature in conversation but naive in interacting with kids my same age. I finally had a pretty solid friend once I was married. Around 2012, my pit of despair, I was back to no community. My parents divorced and it kind of blew up the whole family, I ditched my friends so I would not be around negativity, we were in a tough parenting season so church had become less, and I wasnā€™t teaching anymore. I didnā€™t even have my Creative Memory parties anymore, the women I had scrapbook with once a month for years.

    So I turned to authors. I listened to their audio books. I gleaned all they were talking about and trying to apply it to my business. And then I found podcasts. Like, what? It was an endless supply of basically audiobooks. They were my virtual friends, Pat Flynn with Smart Passive Income, John Lee Dumas with Entrepreneur on Fire, Chris Ducker with Youpreneur, to name a few. I would mull over the questions Chris Ducker would ask his guests and then I would practice answering them. But then I got to thinking how the female lived experience is so much different than a maleā€™s. So I searched out women to follow and listen to. Life is so flat when you donā€™t have friends. I couldnā€™t seem to make any friends so this was what I had. I was always talking with them, they just couldnā€™t hear my side of the conversation.

    Organize 365Ā® Community

    Being such a fan of community and understanding community helps others to learn, I knew it had to be a core value of my company. I also knew that the growth I was expecting and the experience I wanted for my customers, I would not be able to hold the community together alone. Iā€™m still very much involved with the Planning Days, Embrace, and other webinars n such. But you see team members running some of the clubs and other things. Life is better in community, connecting with other humans.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In this episode, I introduce you to Sharon T. who is married and at the time of this interview was caring for her special needs sister, full time. Sharon has always been organized but was looking to ā€œup her game.ā€ Fun fact; Sharon lives in Singapore, joined me at night for this episode, and there they spell organization with an ā€œs.ā€ She was looking for help with both spellings. She found the Organize 365Ā® podcast and felt like language was being given to what she was going through.

    She and I talked about how women in general try to straddle home and work life balance. But to what degree is it talked about? There are subcultures with in races, right? I talked about being White Irish, wonder where my sarcasm comes from, and White English, who tend to be more reserved. We felt it important not to generalize cultures. But it did bring up the fact that some cultures talk about the struggle of doing it all as a women and others ā€œsuffer in quiet.ā€ This is the language that was speaking to Sharon so much.

    Sharon watched her cousin take his last breath in 2019. The doctor said his diet was in part due to his passing. That really forced Sharon to take a look at her life and listen to what she felt she was being called to do and that was to help the special needs community. Diet can affect people positively that have special needs. And diet can support those care givers to take care of themselves. To combat the ā€œWoe is meā€ mentality. Sharon thought about this as she considered her momā€™s caregiving life to her sister. She and her sister started their business, Possible Nutrition.

    In 2022, Sharon looked at the pile of papers and decided to finally systematize them with the Friday WorkboxĀ® she had treated herself to for her birthday the year before. Sharon loves to write things down and reflect on them. Is it possible? Is it needed? Does it make sense? Then she can share it with her sister or whoever. She finds it very cathartic to seasonally review the business and plan for what is coming up. And itā€™s so important to document care. As we change so too will our care. If I was going to babysit, Iā€™d have the parents fill out a little form such as nap time, foods, pacifier or not? If it had been 6 months or more, a lot could have changed!

    It was a dentist's findings that really got Sharon thinking about how our diet really affects our bodies. We need to eat for nutrition and in a manner that facilitates absorption. With the right diet sheā€™s seen symptoms subside quite easily. Well this opened a big can of worms and I started picking her brain about macros and what she considers a nutrient rich diet. Then I asked a burning question about protein. We talked about the order in which to consume your meal. And itā€™s pretty cool how the order alone can affect your glucose, if it spikes or not and how quickly you resume your baseline glucose level.

    There is no universal diet or organizational system because we are not all the same. And life changes which means the way we eat and organize will too! We shouldnā€™t view our health as our idol rather to be good stewards of our bodies so we can do what we were uniquely created to do.

    Sharonā€™s advice is, ā€œā€ŠI think that if you're just starting out maybe say establishing a home or, just getting a first job, start with Sunday BasketĀ®. We need to get our own personal lives in order before we can look at managing a home, before we can go out there and do anything else.ā€

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Friday WorkboxĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • There are two ways you can proactively anticipate. You can act like itā€™s Y2K again. When the 1000ā€™s place in computers was switching to 2 at the end of 1999, Greg and I proactively anticipated from the stance of lack. We stocked up on water and toilet paper in the event the world ran out. OR you can proactively anticipate with a positive mindset and life in abundance. You know where you are going and what you want and plan how to get there.

    Get What You Want

    I love holding babies! So when I was younger I thought how can I get to be the one to hold the babies because others in my family too like to hold the babies. I anticipated no one wanted to change the stinky diaper, so I did. Then after I took them to the bedroom or somewhere away from everyone, Iā€™d change the diaper and then steal my cuddles. ā€œLisa, are you bringing back the baby?ā€ theyā€™d ask. I also anticipated that people like to sleep. So when my aunts started having babies, Iā€™d offer to stay over to take care of the baby during the night. I knew they baby would be up in the middle of the night and my aunts wanted to sleep. What do you want and how can you be helpful? Maybe by giving an act of service that fills your cup too. If you remember last weekā€™s episode, I did this with babysitting too. I wanted to be the babysitter of their choice each summer. I made sure I lined it up in plenty of time for the parents to be able to line up summer camps or whatever on the days I would be watching their children so they could rely on me for transportation and care of their children.

    What Can You Do In 20 Minutes?

    Thank God Abby was a sleeper but my lil Joey only took 20 minute naps. I had so many plates in the air and without a sufficient nap time to address anything, lots of things were falling through the cracks. I had, literally, a foot of paper piled at the end of my kitchen counter. One night I decided to tackle it by sorting it in to 40 categories. By the time I was done, it was late, I needed to pick up my mess but also have it accessible. I threw the sorted and paper clipped papers into a Lonaberger basket till the next day at nap time. I knew I was going to have a small window to accomplish something. I was proactively anticipating this nap and I was ready. Slowly over the next six weeks I was able to get caught up one paper packet per nap time. Having my paper organized I was able to get systems in place so I could keep growing Organize 365Ā® because I realized that is what I was uniquely created to do.

    Proactive Anticipation Go Hand in Hand with Planning

    I have always had the ability to look into the future and anticipate what is coming for the female American Household Manager. I have been in many homes, of all types. I know things like the energy during different times of the year, how supply chain works, and kids! The Sunday Basket helps you to proactively anticipate the next week. Planning days help you to proactively plan for the next 120 days. I found these systems to be effective for my house and then created ways to teach them to others in the Organize 365Ā® Community. Once you find what you are uniquely created to do you need the systems more than ever. At first they give you time to find out what you are created to do. You could dive into the fulfillment of what you discover but then you may have your train go off the rails. The systems continue to provide time to keep doing what you are uniquely created to do, in combination with everything else a Household Manager must do.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter


    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Anna, our lead researcher is back and we are talking about the American Household and looking at the data from the Census of the past. We came across this info graphic that is interactive. You can slide the dial to see stats based on where you have placed the pointer. We were entertained with the results we were seeing and we wanted to talk about what we found on the podcast. How much has the American household changed over time?

    What continues to blow my mind is 2 things. These studies keep being conducted proving what we already know while no studies are being done to support a solution. There is only about Ā¼ of the population that is even being addressed because the focus for solutions and the conversation is for houses with married couples and children. Children are usually identified as being under the age of 18 and living at home. Our best guess says that this data is based on people 18-55 years old. I guess thatā€™s one more thing that blows my mind, ā€œadulthoodā€ ends at 55. And ā€œold ageā€ starts at 65. So from 55-65 there is a dearth (using my big PhD words), as in not very much, of information for people 55-65. But as you will hear in the episode people are getting married and having babies later, so some 65 year olds could still have children under 18 at home.

    So many numbers

    So when we look at this information, the breakdown was in 1960 30% of the population was married without children and today about the same at 29.4% of the population. We talked about a lot of demographics, ā€œother householdā€ types. We looked at the 50 ā€˜s and 60ā€™s vs. 2023. The biggest change we noticed was in the age men and women are getting married. Women in the 50ā€™s were getting married at age 20 but today they are waiting till around age 28. And itā€™s the same for men. In the 50ā€™s, men used to get married around age 24 but are now waiting till around 30. People are waiting longer to get married which means they are having children at a later age, if they are having children at all - DINKs. Anna reminded me of that acronym DINK, that stands for dual income-no kids. And we discussed possible reasons for this. Who is going to take care of these people as they age?

    Iā€™m going to be a doctor!

    It recently dawned on me that people will call me doctor after I get this PhD. I didnā€™t realize how science-y it was going to be, but I will know the brain when all is said and done. I lost sight of that because my goal in all of this was to have a seat at the table and do research to come up with solutions. My studies will include people 18 - 85 year olds so that I can get the full picture of how our houses are operating and who is in them. I want to change the conversation to include all household types. Our housework will never be done but I do want to be able to offer solutions how to plan for success that anyone can apply. Iā€™m turning academia on itā€™s head with everything from funding, maybe finding where planning is in the brain, to coming up with solutions to problems that have redundantly been proven.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    559 - What Do You Mean I May Settle 7 Estates?! - Organize 365 Team Unexpected Events - Virginia https://usafacts.org/articles/how-has-the-structure-of-american-households-changed-over-time/ https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/emerging-trends-and-enduring-patterns-in-american-family-life/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/09/14/the-modern-american-family/ https://www.parents.com/parenting/dynamics/the-changing-face-of-the-american-family/ https://www.nbcnews.com/health/parenting/how-modern-us-family-size-changing-charts-map-rcna65421 Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media.

  • ā€œWe have a hard time just wanting what we want.ā€ Transformational Freedom is my driving force through personal development and unapologetic gumption to pursue the things I want. Our houses are holding us back. When we feel like we are taking care of our primary role of household manager, spouse, and parent, then we feel free to pursue what we want.

    4 Generations of Ambitious Women

    When you have a great grandmother who gets her teaching degree because itā€™s the only degree a woman can get, you learn to succeed despite limitations. She went on to run a floral shop, a restaurant, and a gift shop which is definitely not what other women were doing those days. AND she divorced her husband! And then you have a grandmother who gets her Home Economics degree because again, limitations. And see her and her husband start a student loan - ish business, you see an example of a woman not waiting for permission. But then goes on to set an even greater example when she remarries and starts up a home economic kit mail order business of sorts out of her home. Like how did people order? She figured it out because itā€™s what she wanted to do. And a mother like mine. She was so focused on business. She started The Fine Line out of our basement and created cases of clothes she bought one weekend in NYC. She did that for 6 years and then sold it for a profit.

    Didnā€™t Get Permission, I Went After What I Wanted

    Which gave me the gumption to start my own babysitting business. The examples of women in my life I saw growing up didnā€™t wait for permission to pursue what they were uniquely created to do. I didnā€™t wait for permission or see someone else doing it. No, I paved my own path to filling up my summer calendar with baby sitting positions. I saw a need and solved a problem for moms who needed to get tasks done and take care of themselves per my suggestion. I used my unique skills of loving children to make money on my terms.

    Transformational Freedom

    At Organize 365Ā® we say ā€œAs you let go of one thing, you are open to receiving the next. We strive to unlock your lifeā€™s purpose through the process of decluttering, organizing, and increasing productivity.ā€ You also donā€™t know what you haven't experienced. I acknowledge that if you havenā€™t seen, for example, a healthy marriage then you donā€™t believe they exist and donā€™t know what they look like. I love the Organize 365Ā® community for this reason. Hopefully you are hearing healthy examples on the podcast and then being exposed to more in the community. Community opens our eyes to possibilities. And because we donā€™t believe in those possibilities, we cling to what we currently have. Thatā€™s why itā€™s so important to acknowledge letting go of one thing, only to experience something even better. Remember this life is not happening to us, itā€™s happening for us.

    Permission Granted

    Greg didnā€™t flinch when I told him I was going to quit because he knew I would make money still. I had replaced my teaching salary with Creative Memories and planned to grow my organizing business to contribute to the family finances. In my organizing experiences, one client broke down when the last area was done, saying she could finally go back to work. What? The emotional weight of our homes on us women is great. Ladies, our houses hold us back because whether or not you work, you view your household manager role as primary. Organize 365Ā® is here to get you decluttered and organized so you can be productive. Here is your permission to explore what you want and to pursue it. Fly out of your golden cage. Return as much as you want but you are free. Permission granted.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter


    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In this episode, I introduce you to Nita M. who is married and employed as a stay at home mom by her two young daughters. Nita first found Organize 365Ā® through the podcast. Nita had just turned 40 in February of 2024, after having a baby in November 2020. There was just an energy that she wanted to get back on track. Postpartum had derailed her normally organized life. Sheā€™d been watching another organization show when she saw me being interviewed. Nita has her MBA and she connected with the language we use at work being applied to the home. It also clicked that our kitchens are like restaurants and our storage is like a prepaid store. The analogy of the work and home train resonated with Nita, too.

    The way you think of your home changes the way you operate. Profitable businesses are always planning, iterating, and looking at the target market they serve; our homes are no different. With these two schools of thought in mind, Nita adopted what her supply chain looks like and is now more prepared. She realized she had to buy toilet paper no matter what so what was the difference of doing it over 120 days or just purchasing it all up front, or set up a subscription through Amazon? When supplies came in, she used to just have them throughout the house, until she realized her guest bedroom closet was being underutilized. Now itā€™s storage (AKA Nitaā€™s prepaid store) for each 120 days.

    I brought up the study by Wayne et al that speaks to the ā€œInvisible Family Load.ā€ Household managers seem to have a positive disposition to the cognitive and management of the invisible load, but a negative disposition to the emotional cost of the invisible load. Nita shared the story of going to an amusement park with her daughters and getting rained out. Her oldest daughter complimented her when she realized how organized Nita was with her car closet. She was prepared with towels and snacks. With systems in place, Nita feels positive towards the emotional cost of ā€œgettingā€ to do all the invisible tasks for her family.

    In an effort to learn it all and understand my brain, Nita has invested in all the products. She agrees that for a stay at home mom, The Productive Home SolutionĀ® would be a natural place to start. Nita liked that she was able to get her foundation settled, then move on to the Sunday BasketĀ®. Some nights as she and her daughter drift off to sleep, they listen to the podcast, per her daughterā€™s request. Nita cleans on Saturdays, plans on Sundays, and processes her basket on Mondays. She has two portable Sunday BasketĀ®s that travel with her in her second home, her car. She loves knowing how to create the flow, the manipulation of time that makes her life more smooth. She even gave me an idea to check out the delay start feature on my washing machine. Get those machines working before you even wake up!

    Nitaā€™s advice is, ā€œTrust the process. Lisa knows!ā€ Sheā€™s constantly quoting Lisa and this is what she says to her friends.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Organize 365Ā® Podcast Resources

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In Organize 365Ā® we say ā€œResources are not limited, they are limitless. Through collaboration, Organize 365Ā® connects the right people and resources for maximum benefit and sustainability.ā€ We know there is enough for everyone and growing up that is what I saw. I guess itā€™s true when it comes to our kids, more is caught than what is taught.

    Abundance through the eyes of a child

    Knowing what I know now I could have probably figured out that our family was not rich. But I never felt it as a child. We had what we needed and we got to participate in extra-curricular activities. I watched my mother work her business. I watched my dad ā€get recruitedā€ by his friends to be a sales person for them. And when they sold the company to their sons, the sons added my dad as one of their partners because they knew he was valuable and consistently brought in a lot of new sales. It was then we had extra money. But my dad was good at managing the money so that our family and the company had enough money even in times of lack. As a kid I always felt that we had enough resiliency and ability to overcome lack.

    Abundant Energy

    Our desires and plans donā€™t always play out the way we want or think, but with an Abundance Mindset, they will come to be. I wanted to be a mother so bad. I had an abundant mindset and had to embrace the opportunity that adoption would provide, which was me becoming a mother. We had situations come our way through the adoption process. I could have clung to each one and thought this is my one opportunity I have to take it! But, I knew that I would be a mother, I just didnā€™t know how. I was open minded. What is going to be will be and I knew at the end of all of it, I would be a mother! An abundance frequency attracts abundance. Everything is just energy. I gave multiple examples of it in this episode because I see so much abundance in my life. Iā€™m not trying to brag, I want you to see itā€™s there for you too.

    The Pie Factory

    You are only in competition with yourself. There is only one you with your unique skill set. Imagine a pie factory and they are just spitting out pies regularly. You donā€™t get just one slice. You donā€™t have to share a pie with anyone. You can have as much pie as you want.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Happy Monday! Introducing the Connections Episodes from Organize 365Ā®. Every other Monday I will be talking to people and the Organize 365Ā® research staff about topics, books, studies, and other valuable materials that are connected to our goals at Organize 365Ā®. Today I picked Anna, our education and research lead. When she first brought up this topic I wasnā€™t super jazzed, but after learning about the history of new yearā€™s resolutions and why people started setting themā€¦well it led to a great conversation.

    When and why did people start setting new year's resolutions?

    The Babylonians were the first we see making new yearā€™s resolutions to their gods. Theyā€™d set the intention to return farm equipment or pay off their debts in hopes of a profitable crop that year. It was after harvest time that theyā€™d do this as they prepared their field for new crops. And then we see the Romans setting intentions to their god, Janus, who had two faces. One face looked towards the past and encouraged reflection of the past year. And one face facing forward to plan ahead. Theyā€™d do this March 15th when, maybe due to their climate, they were preparing for a new crop. And then in 1582, Pope Gregory the 8th developed the Gregorian calendar we use today and he set the new year for January 1st.

    Yesteryearā€™s common new yearā€™s resolutions versus today

    When I look at the top 10 goals from 1947, I like to think about life then. They were coming out of World War II, they had food being rationed, and manual housework. So itā€™s no surprise that last on the list was to lose weight. It was a stressful time and people wanted to break bad habits, such as smoking and drinking, which was first on the list.

    Nowadays life is easier. We have machines that do a lot for us, ability to live in the suburbs (off laborious farms), less generational living, cars, school buses, and catering to our children more so they are doing less, although we noted this is likely cultural. And we are addicted to our food. So itā€™s no surprise that top of the list now is to lose weight. Followed by organization because our children are involved in more activities, women now work, social media shows a standard that is not realistic but we are striving for it, and life is just faster paced. Need to be organized to stay on top of it all!

    One category, besides the ones I always notice like weight loss, money, and organization/productivity, is intrinsic/personal development. This is the introspective type of new yearā€™s resolutions that was on the list. People want to help others and grow in their faith. I will start including this fourth category.

    Organize 365Ā® is there for you for your new yearā€™s resolutions

    Planning day sets you up for almost 3 mini years. The human brain doesnā€™t like to think past about 100 days. Itā€™s easier to set one new, new yearā€™s resolution each time. You can set up actionable steps to accomplish that goal, too. You can try out new tasks or routines that become habits, stacking small steps that in the end accomplish a big goal.

    Annaā€™s New Yearā€™s Resolution: Drink more water

    Lisaā€™s New Yearā€™s Resolution: Continue to implement more habits to support my health

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Outlived by Peter Attia MD

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media.

  • I was on a plane in 2017 for a 5 hour flight from Los Angeles to Cincinnati when I committed to 5 values that I wanted to have within Organize 365Ā®. This will be a 6-part series to share why I chose those 5 values plus one extra value that I felt needed to be added. I can trace my positivity back to 6th grade at church camp when I accepted Christ as my savior. But when my dad picked me up he said ā€œNo you didnā€™t, now get in the car.ā€ I was always a positive child so I wasnā€™t mad or hurt, I knew it was just this special relationship I had with God.

    Sharing my dadā€™s belief in me

    ā€œDad, Iā€™d like to run daycare centers in corporate buildings.ā€ I explained as dad had asked me what I wanted to go to college for. My dad had so much belief in me at just 17. He proposed that I take the money they were going to spend on college, which was about $100,000, and invest it in me and this business idea. I ran into the kitchen to pitch the idea to my mom, but she stood her ground. My mother was hell bent on me being the 4th generation of female college graduates in our family.

    The decline

    As a little kid I was so positive, there was so much natural optimism. Even at 17 I had so much faith in myself, plus my dadā€™s belief in me. But then lifeā€¦I was so excited for the MRS (Mrs. Woodruff) degree and was ready to start our life. But children didnā€™t come despite our desperate desire and so we adopted. But then more life was handed to me when my parents decided to get divorced, then my dad passed away, and I had to settle his estate.

    I did inherit a little bit of money where we were able to remodel the kitchen and afford some more medical testing. I was always fighting a battle with people. They thought I was crazy because of everything I was doing for my kids and their health. Which got me thinking, ā€œAm I the problem here?ā€ (Funny how todayā€™s society supports all the measures I took so many years ago.) I went from positive Lisa to cynical! Another blow was when my supervisor informed me that I wasnā€™t a good teacher. I made up my mind that I was going to quit. I wasnā€™t doing good at anything. I had become so negative and not fun to be around. Greg supported me quitting even though we had the most debt we have ever had. I turned in my resignation the next day.

    Itā€™s not happening to you itā€™s happening for you

    The final straw was that first Monday while the kids were at school. I looked around and thought, whose house is this? I was so disconnected from my life. I realized that I, and my attitude, was the problem. Then and there I decided to take my life back and to be positive. I changed all the inputs, like the friends I kept, the shows I watched, the things I read. I knew I wanted to stay Gregā€™s wife and the mother to my children. I ended up writing my book ā€œOrganization Is A Learnable Skill" to document how I took my life back. I now know that life is not happening to me, itā€™s happening for me. I sat down and wrote down 40 areas I was going to address. I remembered that belief my dad had in me to start a business and I was now going to do just that. And from that list one of my first programs was born, the 40 Weeks One Whole House Challenge (now incorporated into The Productive Home SolutionĀ®).

    Being positive is a core value for Organize 365Ā®. Itā€™s funny how fast a negative person can infiltrate the staff in a matter of days. I canā€™t have that and I donā€™t want to turn that ship around. My experience has been that positivity leads to success. So we are positive at Organize 365Ā®.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Productive Home Solution

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In this episode, I introduce you to Allison G. who lives with her husband, daughter, son, and a furry kid. Allison found the Organize 365Ā® Podcast after hearing my name a few times in two other organization/productivity podcasts. Allison felt organized at work but didnā€™t realize she wasnā€™t at home. She kept her calendar full and leaned on being busy if she forgot anything.

    In January 2022, Allison fell while skiing. That really slowed her down and plopped her on her couch for some time. She noticed all of the physical chaos in her home. Allison has been a teacher for 21 years. Listening to the other two podcasts, she understood the big picture of organization and productivity. But by listening to Organize 365Ā®, sheā€™s been able to figure out how to apply those principles specifically to her life. Allison also turned 40 in 2022, which is one of those pivotal times in a womanā€™s life when I tend to see them want to declutter, get organized, and be productive.

    Allison got the Sunday BasketĀ®, quickly followed by the entire system. In March of 2022, Allison was very diligent and kept up on homework and training. She started with the 1.0 slash pockets for the first 6-8 months. Then she added in the 2.0 slash pockets. Allison says she passively went through The Productive Home SolutionĀ® the first time and has started her second round. She feels the reason for her organizational success is she gave herself time and took it slow. We make all these plans and framework for work, but not usually for home. Why? The Sunday BasketĀ® and The Productive Home SolutionĀ® gives you a framework to get systems in place at home.

    After seeing results at home, of course she had to get the Teacher Friday WorkboxĀ®. She loves using the rainbow tear pad and planner for her classes. As a teacher, you could see all the paper work and books for all classes as overwhelming. You could look at your lesson plan and just see a lot of text. But when you color code them, now itā€™s 7 categories or 7 classes. Allison raved over the layout of the products and the quality of the paper. And she can match the slash pockets to the colors on the tear pad.

    Allison is no longer faking being organized, she IS organized! She has systems in place at home to find important paperwork, like the insurance policy for earrings she lost. Sheā€™s been able to free up time to dream which led to her learning mahjong this past fall. Her family knows all about the Sunday BasketĀ® even though they always call them buckets. She only wishes sheā€™d known sooner it didnā€™t have to be the way it was before. And sheā€™s gained so much confidence by knowing sheā€™ll finish what she starts and not using her cognitive ā€œpowerā€ to hopefully remember things that need to get done!

    Allisonā€™s advice is, ā€œIf you are motivated and excited, get going! But if you think you need time, give yourself time. ā€

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Teacher Friday WorkboxĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • I look into my crystal ball and let me tell you what I see. Ok, no crystal ball but I have always kind of had my finger on the pulse of the future. I have a knack for seeing what is happening and how the economy will be impacted. And of course when the economy is impacted, so is the household manager. So what do I predict?

    AI is not coming for your home in 2025

    Changes happen in houses last! Thereā€™s a reason all of the literature I find about housework is so old. No one is studying the home and how to improve it. AI is not going to be sorting your paper or organizing your storage rooms in 2025.

    Analog is the answer for information

    Do you remember when the elderly had to register to get some of the first vaccines? The problem was most of them didnā€™t know how to access the technology to set up the appointments to get the vaccine. Technology is not always best. And in an emergency situation, itā€™s critical to have paper to back up what you know to be true so the medical community can trust what you say is true. Paper is here to stay, analog is paper and itā€™s still the answer.

    Home is where you are the safest

    Disclaimer, I know this is not true for everyone. But for the most part, your home is where you decide what you want to do. Just because we can know everything instantly all the time does not mean you have to ā€œsubscribeā€ to it all.

    You get to create your own reality

    You donā€™t have to be inundated with the news or negative messages. You can choose what feeds into your family in your home. You can switch up the algorithms on YouTube or completely get off of social media. You can choose what you eat and your routines, what you feel is right and safe for your family. Itā€™s what we can control because we canā€™t control other people and their actions. You also get to choose where you interact with people. Maybe you attend a virtual meeting, go to yoga, date online, or you are a part of the Organize 365Ā® community. But thatā€™s just it, we all need connection and to belong to a community of like minded people.

    Changes are going to keep coming faster and faster

    We can set our own pace at home, but the speed of information at our fingertips is just going to keep coming faster and faster. Originally I was going to say this means we need to make decisions faster, but do you know where decisions come from? They come from knowing what you want. When you know what you want, you can make a decision about something that is in line with making that thing you want to happen! Slow down and understand what you want.

    Bonus: All homes will have a side hustle

    What do you think? It will be interesting to see if I was right on any of these at the end of 2025.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    The Productive Home Solution

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Iā€™m so excited. Itā€™s my birthday! I am 50 years old today!!!

    The women in my family have lived to be oldā€”into their 90s and 100s. I have always been in awe of all they have done in their lives. Organize 365Ā® just turned 10 years old. I think I am going to live to 100, so I am just getting started.

    I have an innate understanding of time and money that I call ā€œLisa math.ā€ It doesnā€™t follow the traditional rules about these things, but I am able to use it to show how I understand the world.

    We all have constraints in life. We are naturally limited by our time, money, and energy. Getting organized helps you to develop more capacity by investing your current time for a future return of more time.

    Improving your capacity allows you to do more things in life, handle unexpected events, and live out your unique purpose.

    The mission of Organize 365Ā® is to help busy people get their home and paper organized so that they can do what they are uniquely created to do.

    Over the last 20 years, my Sunday BasketĀ® has given me an extra 5,200 hours. I have poured that extra time into creating Organize 365Ā®. I have been able to help many of you save more time by using your Sunday BasketsĀ®. And, boy, have those hours added up!

    By end of 2020, the Organize 365Ā® customers saved over 1 million hours!!! At the end of 2021, we have saved over 2.5 million hours.

    Your time and capacity have been unlocked. So many of you have been gracious enough to share how you are living your unique purpose using the hashtag #myextra5. That is the best birthday gift ever.

  • In this episode, I introduce you to Carrie T. who is married with two children. She has a daughter away at college and her son is still at home. Carrie travels a lot to see her daughter compete and listens to the podcast during those long drives. Carrie actually found the podcast many years ago when she was looking for organization podcasts. She loved the advice that ā€œYour brain is working while you are listening and the solution will come to you.ā€ She valued other organizational programs, but gravitated towards Organize 365Ā® because of The Paper SolutionĀ®.

    Carrie started with a DIY Sunday BasketĀ®. It was fine, but she couldnā€™t find the right colored folders so she had to create labels in the color instead. She realized she was doing a lot of work for something that she could just purchase. She asked for the official Sunday BasketĀ® one year for Christmas and dove into setting it up on Christmas day. She valued that everything was in one place. She wasnā€™t looking for papers. She could almost always find whatever she was looking for in her Sunday BasketĀ®. She admitted she may have over slash pocketed, but sheā€™s definitely got the hang of it now. Sheā€™s looking forward to the tax write off of getting a Friday WorkboxĀ® next.

    Another reason Carrie asked for the official Sunday BasketĀ® was for the community that she desired. She loves attending the Sunday BasketĀ® Club. She likes to attend live, but also uses the replay to pause the recording and finish each task in her time. Then she hits play and continues on. We talked a little bit about how each week you go through all of the rainbow slash pockets, but the 2.0 slash pockets donā€™t need weekly attention. We agreed on average it takes about 90 minutes to process each Sunday. And I know about every 4-6 weeks I thoroughly go through my Sunday BasketĀ® and that can take me about 3 hours. She also values the division of workboxes in quarter 4 for the holidays, the next year, and taxes. Itā€™s like 3 external brains for the different hats you wear as a household manager.

    Carrie wishes sheā€™d just gotten the official Sunday BasketĀ® sooner. She has so much more peace of mind now because she knows ā€œItā€™s in the Sunday BasketĀ®.ā€ With her extra pockets of time and her children getting older, sheā€™s playing with the idea of getting her pilots license. She wants to be able to fly to see her children and attend their sporting events.

    Carrieā€™s advice is, ā€œKeep listening, and if you feel like the Sunday BasketĀ® is the right thing to do, just do it! Do it now.ā€

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In business, this was the year in neutral! Try as I might to move forward with initiative, the universe wouldnā€™t allow it. But I had great success in other areas!

    ā€œLovie, Are You?ā€

    You may be wondering how the PhD is going. Let me tell ya. I was warned that the second year is tough and it really was because the time I was giving to the PhD had to come from somewhere, right? I shared how I was dividing my time in previous episodes. But also, I traveled. Because I traveled, I didnā€™t do my normal home reset during my break from school and it was so bothersome, I did a whole episode about it. Baby Grayson got smarter this year, too. He now knows if my car is home, I, Lovie is home. Heā€™s no longer fooled by ā€œoutta sight, outta mind.ā€ So I moved all my stuff to the office for school, too. You may have thought in the past, ā€œHow does Lisa do it all?ā€ I humbly explained how this year, I didnā€™t.

    Purple Work That Didnā€™t Work

    All of Organize 365Ā® worked on two purple projects for a whole 10 months, that took lots of time and money, only to have neither get fully completed. So for years Iā€™ve been told I need to go to an ERP system. This was the year. We worked with an accounting firm to get things and policies in place only to have the ERP team tell us that our bank and the system donā€™t play well together. So, I started thinking and came up with an idea. Once proposed, they said yes, I think we can use that solution to make Quickbooks work for you since we know Quickbooks plays nice with your bank. And we got to keep our super secure website. All was not lost because the company is better having gone through all of that.

    And then there was our lease that was expiring. It got me looking at other spaces. I practiced driving to them like it was our new location. Kind of tried it on for size. I started dreaming of additional live events Iā€™d like to host. They were ok, but then the cost of moving was setting in. Would our landlord extend the lease, just increase the price? They said yes, but to different terms of course. So here we are in the same building for the next four years, not moving. Again, all was not lost because we upgraded our current space and made it more functional for us for the season we are in. And stay tuned to attend some of the live events I dreamed up, like the Small Business Planning Mastermind on March 5th & 6th.

    Milestones Hit in This Neutral Year

    I am so excited with the milestones the company hit this year in quarter four, despite the purple projects failing. Such HUGE things!!! The podcast turned 10! The podcast is often about the Sunday BasketĀ® in one way or another. And we say the Sunday BasketĀ® saves people 260 hours annually. We also know that we have sold 12,000 Complete Sunday BasketĀ®s, equating to saving ā€œofficially documented purchasersā€ 10 MILLION HOURS!! That is so amazing!! Thatā€™s what I want, to give women back their time by delaying decision making so they donā€™t derail themselves. And since we were going to have a party to celebrate the podcast, we decided to celebrate my award, too!

    I saw Miami University was awarding Cincinnati Female Entrepreneur of the Year. With a short deadline to submit an application and three references, I didnā€™t know if Iā€™d have everything in time. But my instagram followers are amazing and I actually received SIX overnight! I was so surprised to be in the top 3 being considered for the award, and even more shocked to be awarded the first ever Cincinnati Female Entrepreneur of the Year! I had all female entrepreneurs stand and I accepted the award on behalf of all of us. It wasnā€™t about who won, it was about all the women in that room being acknowledged for what they are doing and how they are growing Cincinnati.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Small Business Planning Mastermind

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In this episode, I introduce you to April R. She is a single mom of 5 children with a cat and dog to love on, too. April was watching someone on social media talking about the habits of people with ADHD and April identified with many. Then she came across the episodes about ADHD and naturally listened to the ones that followed. She used to think organization meant cleaning. She now knows organization means productivity.

    Aprilā€™s proudest accomplishment as a result of learning from Organize 365Ā® is her beloved drink station! She has a tiny kitchen and there are lots of people in the house. But April took it a step further by placing it in another room. I pointed out that also takes it away from the triangle of cooking. April repurposed a hutch she got off Facebook Marketplace. She was able to accommodate all of her children and their drink preferences. She has gotten a lot of compliments from friends, but now with her sister (who had handyman skills) she wants to take it up a notch with cabinets instead, floating shelves, and a mini fridge.

    April shared a lot of lessons sheā€™s learned. Or is it one lesson applied in multiple locations? Sheā€™s improved her flexible thinking executive function. Sheā€™s applied the drink station organization to her work and other spaces in her home. After her success with the drink station, she invested in the Sunday BasketĀ®. And even though she didnā€™t use it effectively in the beginning, she was collecting in it the way she was supposed to. Then she would go through it every so often. Would you believe she found thousands of dollars just waiting in there for her? You've got to hear the episode to understand or maybe you have too!

    It dawned on her how her oldest daughter had a bigger bedroom than the two that shared. So she swapped them. That also gave the older daughter, who goes to school online, a better connection to their wi-fi and more privacy. April and the girls got the benefit of sharing a bathroom space instead of just April using it, as well as the connections sheā€™s building with her two youngest as they get ready for their day together.

    April also shared about how she touches base with all her kids on Sunday to plan ahead. And how she developed an A/B meal plan (with a little help from Chat GPT) for when her kids are with her and when they are at their dads. But she knew what to ask for due to what she has learned through Organize 365Ā®.

    Sheā€™s been prepared for the unexpected. When hurricane Beryl was coming their way, she was able to plan ahead and be prepared to ride it out. I told her about the snow day box I developed when my kids were younger to make it exciting to have the kids home. Sheā€™s realized that just because sheā€™s organized it doesnā€™t mean itā€™ll keep things from happening.

    She has so much more joy and awareness now. She feels confident when one of the kids needs something from her and she can go get it from her Sunday BasketĀ®. She has so much joy with the intentionality of how sheā€™s spending her time with her kids and sheā€™s so excited about the future.

    Aprilā€™s advice is, ā€œIf you donā€™t know if you should get the Sunday BasketĀ®, do the drink station or just try one thing.ā€ Itā€™s true in the midst of your overwhelm of thinking you need all the systems. Just start with one thing or it seems too overwhelming to even start. All the systems are independent of each other. And as April added, then it just gets easier to add another system.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Home Planning Day

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    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

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