Last week, I shared with you our first Jump Start initiative which is your personal organization, where I would counsel anyone to start getting themselves organized after they’ve implemented the Sunday Basket®. However, some of you are not going to want to start in your personal spaces for various reasons. One, maybe they are already organized. Two, it doesn’t matter how much it would help you if you were organizing yourself - you are drowning so much that you must start in family spaces. Or three, you need your organizing journey to be more visible and not invisible to get a spouse’s approval or buy in for you to continue. 

Our second Jump Start option, you could do in place of personal organizing or do after. You could do these in reverse order; it doesn’t matter. We’ve pulled the lessons from The Productive Home Solution® into a Jump Start Kitchen Organization Program and walk you through how to get your kitchen all the way organized in six weeks or less. Typically, you get surface level organized and then move on, because everything else seems so much more disorganized than the kitchen. These Jump Start programs encourage you to get all the way organized - either in your personal or in your kitchen spaces. And all the way organized is pretty detailed. 

When you get all the way organized in your kitchen, you’re going to start with figuring out what your zones should be, and what phase of life you are currently in. I want you to pretend that you are moving into this house for the first time. Think about if you were moving in right now, how you would organize this kitchen without looking at anything that’s in any cabinet. Your kitchen is really like a whole house. It does so many things, and every cabinet is like a tiny room that has a purpose for the phase and stage of life you are in. The size of your kitchen doesn’t matter as much as the functionality. Instead of wishing that you had something that you don’t, take what you have and make it as functional as possible. Then if you ever do move or you have the opportunity to make improvements to your house, you’ll know exactly what you want to put in there. 

Secondly, when you organize your kitchen, there are so many of the lessons that will carry over into other parts of your house. For example, when you learn how to organize a drawer step by step, you will know how to organize ANY drawer in your house. The next thing is establishing stations. Organizing stations are dependent on the phase of life you are in, as well. If you have kids, you can create a lunch packing station. Do you host a lot of dinners? Make a dinner station. Drink stations, snack stations, the list goes on! What can you add to this kitchen that will give you some extra space? What can you take away that you only need seasonally? Whoever is the primary cook should be the one to establish the organization in the kitchen. 

I want you to spend a full three to six weeks in your kitchen because you’re going to add 30% more organization to your life. So if you couple this with the Jump Start Personal Organization Program - you will be living an organized life 80% of the time! 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Jump Start Programs

• The Productive Home Solution®

• The Sunday Basket®

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® 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 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Lydia M. who has two daughters, ages 4 and 9 months, is married and living in Florida. She has the capacity to run her business, invest in her family, and partake in her hobbies or simply scroll through Instagram. But it wasn’t always like this. Lydia was getting ready to start her bookkeeping business, DAC Balance, so she searched for podcasts to motivate and educate her. She came across the Professional Organizer Think Tank Podcast in 2006 which still exists!! When Lydia heard me say that there was a regular podcast, Lydia found it and has been a loyal listener every Friday since 2017.

It was fascinating to learn about what Lydia does, the business sizes that she works with, and compared Organize 365®’s business as it pertained to her business. Simply put, she’s the middle man between the data entry person at a business and a CPA. Some businesses do not need a full time “controller” so they hire Lydia to fill that gap. 

Lydia and her husband were fortunate enough to move into her great aunt and uncle’s home after losing her aunt. Since her aunt’s passing was somewhat sudden, all their things were still in the home when they moved in. Lydia’s family was happy to not have to purchase something for this home that was new to them but it also meant estate sales, garage sales, and multiple trips to donation centers over the next 4 years to clear it all out. 

In 2019, Lydia found out she was pregnant. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit not too much later. The idea of becoming a mom and the pandemic gave Lydia time to get organized with the 100 Day Program she’d received as a gift for Christmas. Now that the house had been cleared out, it was time to declutter her stuff. This resulted in items being in the correct rooms…but also meant all the stuff needed to be gone through again. I shared a little tip we competitive puzzle solvers use, and it’s that we go through the pieces three times to complete the puzzle. We declutter to be able to organize to be able to get optimized and the result is productivity. This is why we go through The Productive Home Solution® three times. 

Lydia went on to describe how she is resetting her home every three months-ish due to her 9 month old growing and developing. With babies, there is a 3-4 monthly cycle in and out of clothes, toys, and safety in your home. Once our children are about 5 that turns into the first half of the school year, the second half, and then summer. This is why we do the home blitzes in that same pattern. Lydia wants to set an example of planning for her girls. I brought up that meme: Choose your hard…Planning is hard and not planning is hard. Lydia wants her girls to know it’s normal to plan for the upcoming week. She wishes someone had taught her that way earlier in life. We talked about the impact on our mental and cognitive load when we use the Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox®.

Speaking of planning and the benefits, you think I rabbit trailed on shipping in the past two episodes? No, we really trailed off getting into what the heck I am doing with my PhD and what my coach and I discussed. Turns out I have had a good chunk of research completed towards putting together a Household Organization/Productivity Theory! 

Lydia’s advice is, “Buy all the things. Do the blitzes to get a sense of how it feels to be organized in a season.” 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• The Productive Home Solution®

• The Productive Home Solution® Planning Day

• The Paper Solution®

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter 

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® 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 365® when you share on social media!

The number one reason cited as to why people do not feel like they are more organized or they do not start getting organized is they don't know HOW to start. They don't know WHERE to start. They don't know how long it's going to take...something else always gets in the way. Today's episode is going to help give you the tools to overcome this hurdle.

So when you're at home and you feel like you're disorganized and you have a little bit of time, how do you use it? How do you get started? That's what I've been wrestling with the last 6 months. Looking at customer service emails, listening to things on social media, watching how people are implementing the tools that Organize 365® has to get you more organized, which ultimately give you more time. But - if you don't have any time, how do you get organized?

Personal organization is a YOU game. You need to get your space organized first, then you will start to live an organized life 50% of the time. If you start February 15th, you will be personally organized by April 1st. How amazing would it feel to be personally organized in 6 weeks and living 50% of your life as an organized person?!

The first Jump Start cycle begins on February 15th, and runs every 6 weeks. You will have dashboard access to the course, and be invited into a private community group in the App. You will also get weekly recordings of The Productive Home Solution® Club. More details can be found at https://organize365.com/jump-start/.

Next week I'll give you all the details on the Kitchen + Meal Planning Jump Start Program!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Jump Start: Personal Organization

• Sunday Basket®

• The Productive Home Solution®

• Sign up for the 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 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Wendy T. She's married with a 13 year old son, a 10 year old daughter, one cat and one dog. She lives in Southern Australia and owns 2 Air BNB’s. Talking to Wendy gave me a lot of ideas about traveling to Australia, and how to fulfill my wish list. I hope Greg joins me in 2026!

It was interesting to learn that Wendy found Organize 365® through the ADHD Podcast which brought her to the Sunday Basket® Podcast and then to the main podcast. In learning about the Sunday Basket®, she thought this could be the way to gain calm in her home. In 2020, Wendy was in the process of moving. She purchased the old The Productive Home Solution® and found permission to let go of things.  Back then it was the IDLE “process” and we laughed at the placement of the phone book mentioned. She’d experimented with Marie Kondo, but what she found different with Organize 365® were the systems, processes, and schedules. It was more than just decluttering. 

Wendy used to have paper piles in each room and she’d throw papers in them thinking, “Oh yeah, I’ll deal with it later.” When those paper piles started to disappear, that’s when she knew Organize 365® was effective in her life. Our homes don’t have administration offices like work, but Wendy saw her Sunday Basket® as a mini administration space. She could hold things in there until they needed to be dealt with. She loves the ability to think less and follows the tried and true systems of Organize 365®.

We got on a shipping 2.0 conversation (1.0 was the Canadian shipping last episode), this time about Australia. This held Wendy back for a time. We feel selfish spending this money because it seems like it’s for us. The reality is that the family eats better, the Sunday Basket® user is more calm, and the house runs more smoothly. We pay a lot of money for summer camps and soccer, we should spend money to maintain our homes too! After Wendy splurged on the Organize 365® products and shipping them to Australia, she realized it’s like self care. She doesn’t spend money on shoes or handbags; so this is her splurge. Wendy pointed out that because shipping is so high, she appreciates the planning and implementation days to still be part of organizing life with Organize 365®. Planning Day is where she learned about permission for something else…naps!

The planning days brought us to discovering each other's calendars. Australians celebrate different holidays. Their seasons are different from ours. And their school year is different. This got me thinking about America’s natural energy/cadence to organizing and how it matches up, or didn’t in most cases, to Australia’s. Her Golden Window is NOW! We determined Wendy’s weather must be like that of Arizona’s. It’s summer now and can get up to 40 degrees C or 104 degrees F. It’s also one of the busiest times for the Air BNB’s with the gardens. She values her Friday Workbox® even more now with managing people. She’s not doing so much physical work, but she is managing! 

Wendy’s advice is, “Go back to ‘Lisa Basics’. Give yourself grace. Done is better than perfect. Keep at it - chip away. Just start! It’s just a habit. If you build the habit, it  just gets so much easier!” 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• The Productive Home Solution®

• The Productive Home Solution® Planning Day

• The Paper Solution®

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter 

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® 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 365® when you share on social media!

Alright, it's time for the last organizational domino - Don't Quit! When you have mastered something, when you have persevered and you have learned something at a new level, you can easily forget what it was like to learn that skill. For many adults, we don't often have to push through any resistance in order to learn something new. When things get rough, we can choose to be comfortable instead of doing something hard or pushing through the resistance. 

Quitting is fine. You're allowed to quit. The reason why I didn't quit in 2012 in getting my home organized was because I didn't have any options left. I was turning 40, I started Organize 365®, I was getting our house organized and I had become a Professional Organizer. If I couldn't get my own house organized, how was I going to keep being a Professional Organizer? It was part of my identity of who I was becoming. 

The next time I wanted to quit was with growing Organize 365®. There have been a lot of things that have happened in 12 years in business that I didn't know how to do. I don't have a business degree, so I am learning how to be a business owner by being in masterminds, hiring coaches, taking courses, going to seminars and conferences. Being an entrepreneur is a never ending professional development course. 

As an adult you want to quit...or you just figure out how to do it. It's not about being afraid of the effort or the work; it's about not knowing how to do it, or what to do next. Go back to your WHY - why do you want to get organized to begin with? When you know your why, then you know your limits, strengths and weaknesses...and realize that you will need resources, help, expertise, advice and so forth in order to get further and grow more. 

Organization can be the solution to having a plan and getting your time back. I know you're probably thinking: "it's ridiculous to pay money to Organize 365® to learn how to organize, when I should just know how to do this myself."  Why should you know how to do something just because you've always lived in a household?

Everything is taught to us, or modeled for us. If you weren't TAUGHT how to be organized, you have to go to class. When you get stuck - join the community, get in the app, go to the coworking time. Get with people who are like minded. Sign up for a 1:1 session with a Certified Organizer. 

Everyone is going to get stuck. I'm not going to let you quit. Keep pushing through, because on the other side is the organized life and unlocked time freedom that you're looking for. 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Sunday Basket®

• The Productive Home Solution®

• Sign up for the 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 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Francie G. Francie found herself googling for basement organization podcasts when her mother-in-law decided to downsize from her home of 46 years in November of 2022. She came across the “arranging your hot mess rooms” episode and was hooked. For her mother-in-law's move, which turned into her move too…she invested in The Productive Home Solution®. She grasped the idea of “same with same” and ease of access based on frequency of use. She then chose her own organizational adventure.

At the same time, Francie, her husband, and two children, Thomas and Joanne, were living in a condo. Francie and her husband started their lives there 18 years ago, but knew it was not their forever home. Her mother-in-law downsizing meant they would be acquiring some furniture, memorabilia, and other items from this transition. They knew it was more than their condo could hold. They temporarily rented a storage space, but knew that money could instead go towards a mortgage for a house that was plenty big to have all their stuff in their home. This was the perfect time to start the search for their new home. 

We got to talking about our children getting older and that means their bodies get bigger too! It’s like 4 adults were living in their home. They were at a point in life where a little more space would be nice. And I don’t think we talk enough about buying your first nice piece of furniture or your first home in your 40’s. We don’t move into our first home and everything is perfect and brand new! Cue the The Paper Solution® Financial Binder. They needed to be more diligent with their money and she wanted peace of mind to know things would be ok.  

Francie and her husband have always been intentional with their spending despite esteemed professions. They have never owned a car, stayed in their condo till they felt they needed to move, and hired a nanny that had capabilities to drive. Francie’s first investment actually was the ADHD Bundle, and we might have gone down a rabbit hole about shipping internationally and how things have changed. She also explained that because of the public transportation and the nanny, she was able to work from home with both children attending different schools, uninterrupted. When the children were in school, the nanny would run errands or help with housework. If Francie needed to go anywhere, she could hop on the public transportation.

With all this change for her mother-in-law and their family, Francie started thinking she too may have ADHD. Re-establishing the systems she’s learned, she realized she just has a lot of complexities in her life and no ADHD. Those complexities can suppress executive function. She laughed thinking “Well, I had gestational diabetes while I was pregnant. So maybe I’ll have ADHD while the kids live at home!” She’s realized that Organize 365® is the cure for that! She’s regaining her work/life balance and knows she can do hard things.

Francie’s advice is, “the systems, routines, and schedules at home that Organize 365® teaches are the external scaffolding that keeps life organized. ” 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• The Productive Home Solution®

• The Paper Solution®

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter 

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® 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 365® when you share on social media!

I just want all my podcast listeners to be in the know. Now in the Shop are the two new Portable Sunday Basket® color options. I really don’t understand the obsession with all black…so I had to throw in a new fun one too!!  The School Memory Binder is back, redesigned, and you can choose a color for that too!  Food for thought: each one of your children could have different colors.

A gentle reminder that the first Paper Organizing Retreat of 2024 will be here in Cincinnati on March 2nd. You have time…but do you??  Finalize plans and I look forward to seeing you in March!

New Portable Sunday Basket Colors 

• Basic Black

• Black & Pink Stripes

School Memory Binder is Back

• Lattice color choice of white, pink, purple, green, or blue

• Now can save school memorabilia through 12th grade

Don’t Forget the next Paper Organizing Retreat is March 2nd

• Seems like a long time from now, but not really! If you need to plan who you are going with, where you will stay, and gathering all the paper you will want to organize - do that soon!.

• This is part of the Certified Organizer certification. So if it has been on your list of things you want to accomplish, then get registered and plan!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Portable Sunday Basket®

• School Memory Binder

• Paper Organizing Retreat

• https://organize365.com/newsletteroptin/

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 365® when you share on social media!

Are you ready for organizational dominos Step 2? Step 1 was getting started - in decluttering and organizing; and understanding that organization is different than housework. It is putting systems in place that will support you and will last for more than a day or a week and give you foundation.

Step 2 is how long will this take? I need you to give me more time. If we could do it in a weekend, I would let you know. If we could do it in a month, I would let you know. Even if it was your full time job, we couldn't do it in that short amount of time...there's just too much to do. It's going to take one to three years. I know you don't like that answer but this is not new information, and this is not a marketing scheme. If anything, it's an anti-marketing scheme.

It takes a MINIMUM of one year to get organized. Part of why it takes a minimum of one year is because you just finished December. If you're starting brand new now in January, do you remember what all you did in the beginning of December? Thanksgiving? Halloween? There are things that you did seasonally that you don't remember right now as you're organizing in January. There is a seasonality to organizing your physical spaces. 

Year One

During your first year of organizing, your only job is to do 15 minute tasks every single day. Keep doing those 15 minute tasks every single day in every space until it's completely organized. A completely organized space has only 2 requirements.

1. When you walk into that space, it isn't "talking back" to you. The space isn't demanding your attention.

2. There are no more decisions to be made. There's no more thinking about what you're doing (or need to do) in that space.

Year Two

By the end of your first year, you've been through all the seasons and your house will be pretty much organized. So in year two - you're going to go through your house AGAIN because now you can declutter more, add some organizational systems, make it prettier, etc. You're going to get into the cadence of reflecting on the last 4 months and then planning for the next 4 months. You're going to create better systems, better cadences, start using the Sunday Basket® and The Paper Solution® Binders (if you haven't already).

Year Three

You are living an organized life in your home and in your work, and you identify as an organized person. Unexpected events happen in your life, but they don't become all consuming. You're better able to handle the complexity. You're going to be able to flex with the unexpected events because your house is under control, your work is under control, and you really do have work-life balance. You know the visible and invisible work that needs to be done in both, and you've set up systems in both that are supporting you so that when the unexpected happens - you're the one that can bounce right back and still maintain your goals.

You know where all your time goes, where all your money goes, where all your intention goes, where your energy goes. You know you have capacity to do MORE. Why?

Because YOU. ARE. ORGANIZED. 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Sunday Basket®

Friday Workbox®

The Productive Home Solution®

The Paper Solution®

Organize 365® Kids Program

Sign up for the 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 365® when you share on social media!

Organizational math.

As a math teacher, I knew that if there were any holes in my student’s learning, they would struggle with future math concepts. Math skills build upon each other… just like organizing skills.

1. There is a reason that most organizational programs start with decluttering (subtraction): you must reduce your pile before you can move on to step 2… organizing.

2. Organization adds minutes to your days (addition) and speeds up your pace as you get through the tedium of everyday household tasks.

3. But, increased productivity is the holy grail we all seek. Once you know how to multiply time, there is no turning back.

The skill of being a productive person starts with decluttering spaces, calendars, commitments, and sometimes people. Adding the weekly cadence of organizing your time, your priorities, and your actionable to-dos leaves you with a manageable action plan.

I used to think productivity = being busy. Now I know that everyone is busy. Ironically, the people who look least busy are usually the most productive.

Podcast episode 463: Learning the Skill of Organizing: Step 3 Increase Productivity

Next year at this time, do you want to be more productive? More purposeful? More peaceful?

The organizational level you are at today is a reflection of the cumulative minutes you invested in the full organizational cycle this year. Decluttering + organization = increased productivity.

It would be my honor to walk with you through your organizational journey.

Productivity is a fickle friend. It will not spontaneously happen. Productivity must be planned.

It's time to make a plan!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Productive Home Solution®

• The Paper Solution®

• The Household Operations Binder

• The Sunday Basket®

• Friday Workbox®

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® 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 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Christa G. Christa is from a little town not too far from me; but about six years ago moved to Michigan from Georgia. Christa is married and has two children that are almost 12 and 16. Christa ended up hearing one of my interviews on the Boss Mom podcast around 2015/2016. She knew when they got to Michigan that she wanted to start a wedding planning business. She got the Friday Workbox® to keep her on track and organized before they moved. She now runs her wedding planning business full time! She’s known for planning unconventional weddings that reflect the character of the bride and groom. 

When Christa first found me, my kids were about her kids' ages. We laughed about having these humans that look like adults in our homes and how they take up more space, have opinions, and different food preferences. Christa has been such a proactive mom that these little adults do their own laundry and can prepare meals for themselves…even if it’s just frosted flakes! We rabbit trailed to what I call “selfish” laundry. Christa mentioned that she’d like to see her son wash more than just a uniform he needs for his sports team. When Greg says he’s going to do the laundry and I see only his jeans got washed; I give him a hard time saying “Oh, we’re doing selfish laundry today?” Christa and I agree to just put a full load in the wash instead. 

She plans her meals for the week when she processes her Sunday Basket® and then the family sees what she’ll be making and what nights they’ll have to fend for themselves. We kind of have this going on at my house except we all have cars and we all have money. So we are all shopping and not all of the food is getting eaten. I remember my mom doing the “refrigerator review” which meant she’d heat up all the leftovers the night before garbage day. Whatever didn’t get eaten, she’d toss. This was one more attempt at that food getting eaten instead of wasted. The Woodruff’s are a work in progress in this area! 

Christa managed to get her home life running pretty smooth and then she focused on her business. She has learned to become a person of excellence in one area and then build on her skill set. Weddings look so different for each couple. I shared that Greg and I were married 6 months after Greg finally proposed, it took him three years. Christa shared that she eloped. She normally hears “you made this process so much more calm than I expected it to be.” Wedding planners are there to have your back. They will read through all the contracts, search for options for flowers or other items you need, and pivot when needed. This way the bride doesn’t get lost in the weeds of the details. She offered some wedding planning advice:

• Get help planning your wedding. Ideally a wedding planner, but if not rely on your wedding party to help. 

• Your budget will depend on the number of guests you have attending. So to stay within your budget you may consider a smaller invite list. 

• Find a venue that fits your vision to prevent additional spending in order to transform the space. 

Hot button alert!!  You wanna hear a good story about a good venue and contracts? I shared what happened to Organize 365® with the Savannah Center. You will not see me doing business with them! Christa shared how she had to fight for a couple when at the last minute a venue decided to have their ballroom renovated leaving them to deal with a less than ideal wedding. You bet Christa got that money back!! That’s the blessing of a wedding planner. 

Christa’s advice is, “learn to be flexible, readjust when needed and not be so rigid in what you want to happen. But feel out what is supposed to happen and what feels right.” 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• Friday Workbox®

• The Productive Home Solution®

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter 

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® 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 365® when you share on social media!