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Lisa Woodruff is a home organization expert, productivity specialist, and author of multiple books including The Paper Solution. Lisa's research-based teaching shines a light on the invisible work being done at home and in the workplace. Lisa's sensible and doable organizing tasks appeal to multiple generations. Her candor and relatable style make you feel she is right there beside you, helping you get organized as you laugh and cry together. Lisa believes organization is not a skill you are born with. It is a skill that is developed over time and changes with each season of life. Lisa has helped thousands of women reclaim their homes and finally get organized with her practical tips, encouragement, and humor through her blog and podcast at Organize365.com.
- 1857 - 730 - Time Blocking Household Tasks - Level 3 - Household Manager
It is so important to know the kind of tasks you have, how much time they take you, and where you need to be to complete them! Then when you look at your calendar you know where you can plug them in. After a couple weeks of this repeated activity, your brain will start to anticipate these activities and you'll be in your Pro Era.
Blue Orange Purple
If you are anything like I was, you have very long lists with not enough time or money to complete them all. I started with the Sunday Basket®, identifying and categorizing with the slash pockets. Then I had to figure out where and when I could get them done. I have my blue work which is all my weekly invisible work like calendaring, budgeting, getting ready for the next week of school (when my kids were younger), mail, you get the idea. Then I have Orange work which is my house work like food, laundry, and cleaning. And then I have my purple work which is a larger project, in this case errands. In order to time block your tasks, start by identifying which tasks fit into those three categories; invisible work, housework, and errands.
How Much Time Do They Take & Where Do You Need To Be
As I budgeted my time, I got really good at knowing how long each task would take. This made it easier for me to know how many tasks I could fit into any open block of time. I was always in the car, at a doctor's appointment, or working so I had to make the most of any "free time," once I discovered blocks of time I would write in the tasks I would do. Keep in mind that not all tasks are created equally; they require different amounts of time and different kinds of energy from you. Calendaring these blocks of time became a visual representation of the invisible work I was doing and it gave boundaries for these tasks to get completed. Once you have claimed these time blocks, protect them so you can actually get your tasks done.
Obviously my orange work had to be done at my house. Pretty hard to vacuum from the soccer field. And there is a reason that there is a portable Sunday Basket® because then you can bring your blue work with you. You can go through slash pockets in your car, at the pool, or at a doctor's office. I know, because I did! And when it came to errand day (purple work) I knew where the farthest away stops were and I started there. That way, if my kids needed to go home the remaining stops were closer to my home when I did them later. Some of you really have no free time like me when my kids were younger. I found a way to make it work and I want to encourage you that you can too.
Going Pro
You need to be aware of your highest productivity energy during the day. I realized my energy is highest for physical tasks in the morning. My body knows on Saturday morning I'm going to get a cup of coffee and soon after I almost look forward to getting all of my machines going. Your body starts to expect these "work times." It's a cadence you have gotten your body used to, almost like muscle memory. And I know I have more cognitive energy later in the day so I used to do my Sunday Basket® in the afternoon but I have changed that to late morning now. You have to adjust your tasks and time blocking to your phase of life. And this task stacking acts as scaffolding to our brains. Our brains love structure. The Sunday Basket® creates a weekly cycle that can evolve into a yearly cycle when you add in Planning Day and the Productive Home CEO Sessions.
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Fri, 02 Oct 2026 - 37min - 1856 - 729 - Thinking Time Unlocks Your Uniqueness
Thought leaders have thinking time. There is a difference between remembering and thinking. Thinking is that time when you mull through all your thoughts and plans. Maybe you merge them to find a solution to a problem or see where one decision could benefit your family or home. A visionary, a thought leader takes time to think to better plan the trajectory of their organization even if it's just for their home.
Mission Vision Values
In 2012, after I'd been in business for 5 years, I took advantage of a 5 hour flight to CA and the returning flight to think. It was on those plane rides that I solidified Organize 365®'s mission statement which is: Organize 365® helps you get functionally organized in one calendar year so that you can do what you are uniquely gifted and created to do. Then I identified our values being positivity, abundance, proactivity, and that everything is easier in community.
The old theory was that it took 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. And if we use a 40 hour work week, it takes roughly 5 years to accomplish said 10,000 hours. And I've observed that, generally speaking, every 5 year cycle we use our experiences and lessons learned and apply them to our lives. When I wrote "Escaping Quicksand", I shared all of my lived experiences to help others escape their own quicksand with the lesson and mindset shifts I've made along the way.
Ain't Nobody Got Time to Think
In your 20's and 30's you are so busy doing that you never really take time to stop and think. Then you hit 40 and life has gotten away from you. You put your foot down and decide to simplify life and start saying no to stuff. No to projects you don't have time for, no to people that are energy vampires, no to requests on your time. And in my 40's is when I took my life back. I wrote all about it in "Organization is a Learnable Skill". I shared all of the emotions I was going through at the time. I needed thinking time. But first I had to get my house in order.
When All Is Accounted for I Can Think
I started with the Sunday Basket®. A safe place to store all my thoughts till Sunday or till life demanded I addressed them. I hate admin work just as much as the next. But it has to get done so I can keep my car and the lights on in my house, ya know? And the Sunday Basket® helps me to exhibit delayed neglect of requests. Often, the request will take care of itself or the circumstances have changed so the request has changed. And each minute before completion of whatever the task is, is more time to think about the answer and listen to my intuition. So why do we resist the Sunday Basket®?
You may say the Sunday Basket® is too regimented or like another thing you have to do. And I hear you BUT, I'd rather have time set aside to do those things once a week than those piddly tasks taking up any of my project time or thinking time. Because I don't like that even more! So the Sunday Basket® holds everything safely for me and gives my brain peace so I can think. I know everything is completed or accounted for due to the Sunday Basket® and now I can think expansively. I love my time with me. No input from family or my team, just me, myself, and I… thinking.
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Fri, 25 Sep 2026 - 32min - 1855 - 728 - Project Management: Deep work for Household Project Managers
I want you to be able to set your sights on a few projects and actually complete them each trimester. So here's the way I get my projects identified, scheduled, and completed. I love a good project, always have.
What Are The Projects?
First, let's define "project" in Organize 365® terms. It's a massive to do list that gets done in a short amount of time. So, for Labor Day, I shared all the things that had ended up on index cards that I wanted done on Labor Day weekend. I had garage tasks like clean off the garage counter, make room for a potential Christmas gift, drop off donations, fix the front door situation plus a few other things. Then Joey needed me to look at some stuff in his condo that I wanted to check off my list. Abby and I planned on redoing Grayson's room. And wanted to transition one of the storage areas to Abby. Those tasks were grouped into my four projects.
Be Prepared
Once all of the projects were identified, I needed to make sure I had all the supplies I needed to tackle each one. Leading up to Labor Day I mentioned this too, you need to be prepared before Project Day. So for redoing Grayson's room, I thought through all of the supplies I needed and how I would get them to the house. I needed to check current supplies at the house, coordinate Greg picking up items from the office, order some pictures for the walls and bedding, and schedule the electrician to change the light fixture. It can really rob time away from your project day if you plan that day to get what you need and depending on store hours, it can really delay the project start time. Also, a friendly reminder to start that housework early so you don't have to do that too on project day.
Make Room on the Calendar
It's time for calendaring!! It's important to identify chunks of time that you will have for your projects and it's equally important to consider your usual energy at the time of those chunks. There was one I was explaining and said "Actually I'll push that to Sunday so I can spend time with my family on Saturday." It's a good idea to mentally walk through project day and make sure it's right for you and your family. And don't double book yourself. Don't just think you'll do the project in that chunk of time, schedule it. Write in the project on that day so you don't accidentally commit to something else at that time. You gotta budget your time like you do your finances because you really can't spend your money in two ways. This is your way to be proactive with your time.
I say you basically get 8 hours extra, not three days, when it comes to these long weekends? Here's how I broke down of the 8 hours I anticipated from Labor Day:
Garage & Front Door 3.5 hrs
Joey 2 hrs
Grayson's Room 1.5 hrs
Storage Area 1.5 hrs
This is how you get deep work or projects done as a household project manager.
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Fri, 18 Sep 2026 - 26min - 1854 - 727 - Task Stacking: Get More Done in Less Time
So how do you get project time? You must write all "I need to remember to do that" tasks down and have a scheduled time, routinely, to do them. Your brain will trust you and you, my friend, will have project time.
Capture Everything
First you must capture everything you need to remember to do. I do this by a good brain dump putting one item per index card. Break up any to do lists, again writing one item on an index card. I go through my email and text messages. This is cognitive offloading, taking the thing you need to remember and placing it in your environment. You could do this digitally or email yourself or something but index cards work the best for me.
Plan of Attack
I was vulnerable and read all of the to do's I need to do in this episode. And then I shared how I plan to complete them. There were a few things I needed to put in my google calendar, a few things I needed to print, and a few financial tasks. All on the computer and I estimated roughly 40-60 minutes for those tasks during my Sunday Basket time. That is task stacking. Do like tasks at one time, to save time. There are somethings that need to be done before Sunday and they will live on my counter like talking to Abby, my daughter, about a class for my grandson. Joey, my son, has some stuff we need to look at, at his house. So I will do that the same day we go to Verizon to get him a new phone and talk to them about my bill. Because I have clumped like tasks together, some get addressed and some get placed in my Sunday Basket, I am unlocking small pocket of time that when added up are project time.
Gain the Trust of Your Brain
The reason you are always in panic of forgetting to do something is because you do not have a designated time set aside for all the tasks you are trying to remember. First write them all down to free up cognitive capacity for new things that come your way. And second, commit to your Sunday time so you can gain the trust of your brain and quiet the chaos of your braining panicking trying to remember everything. Because even if you write the tasks down but do not do them, the brain will continue to not trust you knowing you will not actually address all of the items you wrote down. Learn the habit of task stacking so you can enjoy project time.
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Fri, 11 Sep 2026 - 20min - 1853 - 726 - Time, Money, and the $300 Million Impact of Household Productivity
You understand the value of money but do you concretely understand the value of your time? I'm breaking down how much your time is worth and the value of the time you are saving managing your house with the Sunday Basket®.
The Value of Your Home in the American Economy
As consumers, home small businesses, we contribute roughly 19-21 trillion dollars to the American GDP. That's 68% of 32 trillion dollars!!! Bet you thought it was all the big companies on the stock market - wrong! Where we spend our money matters. Having a plan in place matters too. But do you prioritize making the plan of that spending?
The Value of You in Your Home
Let's say in your 20's you can get a job for roughly $20/hr. And in your 50's for roughly $50/hr. This is just for example sake. Ok and it's been said many times that an hour spent planning is five hours saved in execution. So then I say, ok, you take one hour to process your Sunday Basket® which equals 5 hours of time saved due to planning and batching all the small administrative and managerial tasks into one chunk of time. So, if you put yourself making $20/hr. You save $100 worth of time each week or if you like the $50/hr. better (or you give yourself a raise for improvement of implementation of the Sunday Basket over time), it's like $250 worth of time saved each week. $400-$1000/ mo.!! You are valuable!
Six Weeks after you purchase your Sunday Basket® we start a clock. We estimate five hours saved per week per Sunday Basket® owner which over time has accumulated to 15.5 MILLION hours of time saved since the Sunday Basket® has been available. I was like what is that in monetary value? It's $310,000,000 at $20/hr. Can you believe that? When you know how much your time is worth and the value of the Sunday Basket, you will make the time, 90 min on Sunday, to save time, 5 hours each week.
One more component to the effectiveness of the Sunday Basket® is making the way you are spending your time visible. You won't write down on your schedule to be in two places at once just like you can only spend money one time. It helps you to prioritize what goes in each time block and helps you to see if you need to reschedule in the event you verbally double book yourself.
Community Feedback
A community member wrote in with her "ah-ha" about the Organize 365® Systems. She noted that each system has periodic review maintenance. Like when we do prep for Planning Day. She pointed out how your brain gets little reminders of what you have and where it is during these maintenance activities. Your brain doesn't have to worry because there's a weekly review with the Sunday Basket® and a review each trimester for the long term archiving of paper work and projects. So your mind stays soothed. Next week we'll continue in this 4 week series about task stacking.
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Fri, 04 Sep 2026 - 24min - 1852 - 725 - How Planning Magically Multiplies Your Labor Day Weekend Project Time
Labor day is next weekend, what projects will you be tackling? I'm sharing 4 steps to complete projects during these long weekends. Get ready to start planning what you will be doing next weekend.
It's Really Only One Extra Day
You are really only getting one extra day, not a long weekend. Because you still have the normal tasks you do each weekend. Once you understand how much actual time you have then you can start to manipulate it. And a plan will help you to maximize your high energy times of the day. If I'm being generous, this long weekend will realistically result in 12 hours of time to complete projects.
4 Steps to Planning Your Long Weekend
So the first thing you need to do is make a list. Start at your front door, walk through your house, and write down all the things you would do around your house if you were going to put it on the market next week. I always encourage painting projects because historically paint is on sale for Labor Day. I'll be doing yard work and garage work as I shared in this episode to see how I am applying these 4 steps in my planning.
Then narrow down that list to what you will actually try to accomplish Labor Day weekend. Two stars next to the thing that you want to complete no matter what and one star next to the next thing you would like to accomplish. Simultaneously as you narrow down your list you will start making decisions. You may realize you need to clear out your car to transport something and you can decide where the things in your car, currently, will go so you can do this project. You will decide the colors you want to paint before you go to the store to buy it. Or maybe you need to ask someone else some questions to complete the project. Because I am looking at yard and garage work I am also considering the time of day and when it will be hot.
Now that you have narrowed down the list and mentally prepped for the projects, you need to get the supplies you will need. Don't wait till the long weekend hits to get the supplies. You will use your high energy times at the store and take away time from completing the project.
And lastly, eliminate normal weekend tasks. When I think about my yard work and garage work I want to get done Labor Day weekend, I think about my laundry and food related responsibilities. I will plan pizza for Friday night as I watch Grayson play in the kiddie pool while I pick up sticks and weeds from the yard. We will use paper plates this weekend, what planned neglect can you implore? I will start my laundry Thursday night so I am not trying to switch the laundry on Saturday with my dirty hands from yard work. I want you to even think about your Sunday Basket time. This weekend maybe you can do double work to reduce your Sunday Basket time Labor Day weekend.
These four steps help you to realize the time you actually have. Reduce responsibilities eating up this extra day that you want for a project. And reduce friction on project day. Plan your time and maximize your capacity.
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Fri, 28 Aug 2026 - 33min - 1849 - 724 - From Manager to Home CEO: How to Run Your Household Without a Team
The past 5 episodes have identified all the invisible and visible work, and all of the thinking and strategic planning that needs to happen in the home CEO role. How do you get it all done without a team? Listen up!
How Do We Balance Our Roles?
Now that we know all the roles and hats we are wearing, I'm explaining how to balance your manager role (Sunday Basket hat) and your CEO role of strategic thinking without a team. Your team is your Sunday Basket, Planning Day, and the Monthly CEO planning days. You make a ridiculous amount of decisions during Planning Day and then you run that plan. The balance comes from knowing your priorities and planning accordingly. AND knowing the energy of the year and your energy. If your energy is high in the mornings and you have free time for projects at night, that won't work. So knowing your project energy time can help you to move projects around and manipulate time to accomplish them. I caution you, you can't be everything to everyone all the time, so you need to decide your primary role and projects for each trimester and keep that focus.
Fun revelation I had recently. I have always said the pink slash pocket is for the Sunday Basket, keeper of projects and managerial work. Then purple is for Planning Day, long range goals and getting deadlines in place. When I was thinking about The Productive Home CEO, blue kept coming to mind. Why? Well, pink leads to purple and purple leads to blue. Pink and purple lay the foundation to create the productivity that allows us to reach level 5, The Productive Home CEO level. Blue is a people or team. This level you are employing your Sunday Basket, Planning Days, and CEO Planning Days to get to green, the productivity and completed projects
You Still Have To Do the Sunday Basket as a CEO?
Yes, as the CEO you still process your Sunday Basket weekly. As the CEO you are overseeing your entire ecosystem and monitoring if the projects are still the right ones, if you have room for more or if you need to put a project back in the Sunday Basket®, do you still have enough finances to cover all the current projects, confirm the project is still relevant, and how does all of that affect all the people in your home? Because you can't do 342 projects well, you just can't. The CEO identifies the projects then has to communicate, inspire,and monitor all the projects.
This is How Organize 365® and I Are Using AI
The long and short of it is we aren't. Or not in the way the rest of the world is. I was so excited to offer this Lisa AI "hotline" to the community. But after exploring what's out there now and coming back to what we created, I have realized it'll serve as a database for everyone. At first I was a little disappointed but then it dawned on me that I want to be a teaching company. I'm ok with our AI not being generative because I don't want it to tell you what to do. I want to teach and I want you to learn these skills.
Please listen to this episode if for no other reason than to listen to an AI reply from someone who is part of the Organize 365® community. I may not understand AI but it sure understands what this lady has been learning from Organize 365®. She inputted what she wanted to think through in preparation for Planning Day. AI told her she's trying to create a home manager manual, a dashboard. Yes, AI, Yes! I read the actual AI reply in this episode. You gotta hear it. It was spot on.
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Fri, 21 Aug 2026 - 45min - 1848 - 723 - Level 5 - The Strategic CEO - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework
It's time to start planning, strategizing, and thinking like a CEO. The CEO has the bird's eye view of all the moving pieces of the home. The Productive Home CEO leads the management and the work of her home through strategic planning and goal setting.
No Business Can Grow If The Leader Isn't Growing
Level 5 pulls you as the leader up to goals instead of pulling you down to tasks. As you get these systems in place you get lighter and have more capacity. That capacity allows for strategic thinking. This level allows you to self actualize instead of being stuck in Groundhog's Day just doing it more effectively and efficiently. The first way to grow in your leadership is in Planning Day. Strategically planning home maintenance, upcoming family events like birthdays, anniversaries, or any Golden Windows. You know your family's celebrations and upcoming events but now to look at them as a CEO. Have children grown out of a tradition? How are the household finances? What's going on in e-commerce? What is the overall landscape of society and how does it impact your family? Thinking about these questions helps you to adjust and plan to make sure you meet their expectations. I brought up the Holiday Blitz that you could apply to any annual celebration. Ask family members key questions to understand the expectations. You may be surprised with their answers and how much work you can take off your plate just by asking questions. The you fill in your calendar and identify small pockets of time to complete a Sunday Basket system, complete The Productive Home Solution, and with those systems in place use all that earned capacity to dream up possibilities for your home.
A Perfect business example I gave is AI. Everyone is using Chat GPT like their best friend, consulting it all day long. As the CEO, I pondered "How could I incorporate something like that for Organize 365®?" Solution? We will be launching the Lisa Hotline. There will be one for community members that have the products that support levels 1-4 and one for members who attend the live events that support The Home CEO, level 5. And I found solutions for keeping the hotlines proprietary to Organize 365® as to not let other AI large language models be able to use the information. Home CEO's need to do the same, consider how to stay relevant and move the home forward. They need to consider the best use of human resources, finances, and the best ways to protect what they own.
How Organize 365® Can Support You
The tricky thing about being the Home CEO is that you have to manage yourself to manage projects, have clear priorities, and know yourself enough to know what you have the capacity to complete. All the work done at this level is supported by Organize 365® in live events because you manage A LOT!! Organize 365® wants to support you in your visionary role for the good of all the people in your home. We offer Planning Day which actually takes me 10 days because I start with a deep dive into my Sunday Basket, get all prepped, instruct you in Planning Day Prep for 2 hours, and finish with instructing Planning Day for 4 hours in webinar format. Then you are planned for the next 120 days. After you attend your first one, you can set up a subscription so you never miss one in the future.
And if that wasn't enough, I decided to offer a Home CEO day. This is a day mostly to make sure you, your administrative work and finances are being taken care of! This is a Monday in the middle of the month, from 9-11am EST, where you will have accountability on the progress of projects you planned in Planning Day, make sure you have all the supplies for those project, make calls or complete other to-do's that you can't on Sunday, make sure finances are on track, and confirm you are in fact taking care of yourself. A home can't thrive if the leader isn't running on all cylinders. You take care of everyone else, you deserve to be taken care of too.
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Fri, 14 Aug 2026 - 1h 08min - 1847 - 722 - Level 4 - The Chief Information Officer - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework
Level 4 is going to free you from being your family google or siri. "Hey mom (or dad or you) what's the password for…?" This level frees you from being tethered to your house and instead empowers your family to know where to find the answers. We are breaking down all the invisible work we do with information management in this second and final level of invisible work you do as the Home CEO.
Paper Is Powerful, Universal, and Essential
We all have different ways of doing things. But I explained why paper is powerful. Yes, I know we are of the digital age but paper substantiates what you tell people. They see the print on the paper and all of the sudden believe you. OR it's that paper that helps you to more easily settle an estate. It's also paper in any of the binders (I'm getting to those) that you can drop off to a friend that may be caring for you or to a CPA or lawyer when you need to have them work on something for you. And it's the paper you bring with you when you suddenly need to evacuate your home. And that's where the binders come in, in 2017, people were asking what to do with their filing cabinets and I was having to say leave them. I didn't like that. This way you can take all your important information with you when a natural disaster forces you to evacuate.
Binders
All those papers with all the pertinent information can't all go in one binder right? Right! The whole idea is to take information out of your brain and combine it with all of the archival papers. The Paper Solution® is a series of binders that replaces your file cabinet and digital storage in many ways to get information to your family.
There are 4 binders you get in The Paper Solution.
Household Reference Binder - this is basically a manual for how your home is cared for. The routine maintenance you keep. If someone bought your house, you could hand this to them and they could pick up where you take off after the sale.
Household Operation Binder - This binder is a fun one full of all the holiday and vacation information. It's also the information for things like travel and big celebrations that happen annually. If you were sick or something, your loved ones could still successfully have that celebration.
Finance Binder - Peace of mind binder because all the information someone would need to care for your finances if you were sick or settle your estate is in this binder. All your investments, bank accounts, credit cards, subscriptions, passwords, all of it is in this binder. If you are a digital person, there are digital editable forms too. You still need to print off a copy and place it in the binder, just in case.
Medical Binder - This is the binder people have the most resistance towards. It can be exhausting explaining each visit what is going on and treatments that have failed. This binder helps the doctor get up to speed quickly so that you can use the office visit time to look at solutions instead of answering #allthequestions. If it is a long term condition I encourage you to write up an explanation. It's the cliff notes of what has been going on and what you are looking for as far as treatment or behaviors you have noticed. Don't be fooled thinking all of the digital systems share information. And much to my surprise, medical records only have to be kept for 7 years, so there's not much history either. This puts you in control of your medical care and information about YOU.
**Also available are the Warrior Mama Binder and the Launch Binder.
You will know you are fully organized when your family goes to ask you for information and you can direct them to the binder that has the information.
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Fri, 07 Aug 2026 - 56min - 1846 - 721 - Level 3 - The Household Manager- The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework
On to level 3, the household manager! We are building in guardrails to pause, reflect, and think, without interruptions, about all the invisible work and get it all planned. For years I have stressed the importance of the Sunday Basket® and often say it's the first thing you should do in your organization journey. EXCEPT when we are talking about building these levels. For this framework you must first identify the housework you need to do and establish a cadence. Then organize your home in order for the household management in the Sunday Basket® to stick!
The Sunday Basket®
There are two options for the Sunday Basket®. You may get the Classic or Complete Sunday Basket®. I explained what is included with each option and I will give you the cliff notes that if you are more digital go with the Classic. Each week you can expect to spend roughly 90 minutes - 2 hours weekly after you have it set up and have established the routine. I can't make more people to help you with your household management and you can't make the people in your household do their "fair share." This safe holding place for your actionable papers and projects will free up about 5 hours for you to get more done! When you delay decision making till Sunday a few things will happen. You will schedule your time better because you can think through your week and decide what you actually have time for. AND, the details may change or the task may just go away. While you are delaying someone else is still filling requests on demand and may say yes before you do on Sunday or "next week" AND they may start to realize you aren't the "go to" person anymore and there will be less pressure to always say yes. And don't tell me you can't. You have so much more say than you think you do. It may be overwhelming in the beginning but then it turns into a rewarding behavior.
Deconstruct Your To Do List
This is all the invisible work you do and don't really recognize will you hear these episodes or implement the Sunday Basket®. As the household manager you are constantly calendaring, weekly planning, coordinating, planning for learning, delegating, making returns then reordering, managing insurance, care for your cars, making sure you children have what the need for school, strategizing, buying, tracking, remembering, monitoring who's been to the dentist, doctor, had their annual eye exams, the invisible work list goes on and on. In your 20's it's like "This is easy!" because maybe you are only managing yourself and one car. But as your life grows in complexity so do your responsibilities. Now, as you remember you need to do all these mind numbing things, you should be writing them down on index cards. This is how you deconstruct your to do list. One thing on each card. You can move them around or delay each task based on importance. No need to keep rewriting your to-do list. This prevents your ship from sinking!
What Do You Want?
You need to keep asking yourself, what do you want? When you delay your decision making you care in control of what you will spend your time on. I remember someone saying "Everytime you say yes to someone else, you say no to your family." And the other thing to remember when you are planning, strategically set time aside to accomplish the projects that are important to you. It's almost back to school time and the Sunday Basket® will help you really think about what you want and then you can plan how to get there. The Sunday Basket helps you to have a much more realistic allocation of your time, your talent, and your treasure.
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Fri, 31 Jul 2026 - 1h 02min - 1845 - 720 - Level 2 - The Professional Organizer - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework
Level two is the second and final level of visible work that you do as The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework. At this level, you learn the skill of functional home organization. It is the organizing of your physical spaces to support the phase of life you are in.
Functional Organization
The world has taught us that a bunch of cute storage bins perfectly labeled is organized. No, I teach functional organization. I explained parts of The Productive Home Solution exercises in this episode. The lunch making station. Wouldn't it make more sense to have all the dishes to make the kids' lunches in one spot? When I looked around one morning, I realized how many cabinets I had to open just to make the lunches. I changed that to having everything in one cabinet. It takes less time to make the lunches and fewer steps.
Then I thought about the rest of the things I do in my kitchen. How is your kitchen set up? Does it support you in the phase of life the people in your life are in? I'd encourage you to catch the full episode to hear how I store cereal, the beverage cabinet and many more organizational solutions I explained. I will empower you, at the end of the day, this organization isn't pretty but it will save you time and free up cognitive space in your brain to reach level three. Organization is not an aesthetic rather it's a productivity marker and a feeling.
It Takes Time
I wish with all my heart that I could give everyone magic wands and wa-la! Your house is organized. But don't be discouraged. I will show you how to eat this elephant one bite at a time. And that there is an order to get organized. The Productive Home Solution is the foundational system and cadence for which we organize and maintain our households throughout our lifetime. And it follows the energy of the year. Not sure what I mean? Listen to the part about organizing your storage areas. Your storage area actually becomes a prepaid store! There's a rhyme and reason as to why I designed the program to do certain spaces at certain times of the year.
And it's in this program that little by little, 15 minute chunk by 15 min chunk, your whole home will get organized. Treat it like your job. Intentionally look at your time and decide when you will do the work. When you have completed the program you will have organized your personal, family, storage spaces, and paper but that's part of level 4, so we'll talk about it later. It takes 1-3 years. But here's the beauty. You get to decide what done looks like for you. And once you've deemed it done…it's done. Listen to yourself say it's done otherwise you will fall into the trap of "oh just 5 more minutes in this area" And before you know it, the time you gave back to yourself will be gone. You have other levels to get to my friend. Let's go!
YOU Are A Professional Organizer
And just like that, you are a professional organizer! It's important to remember that. You cannot control anyone but yourself. However, most times I see the families follow the Household CEO's lead. Once you get organized you will really feel supported. You will be going to bed in an organized space and waking up in an organized space. The time you invest in your home's organization today will pay off 10 fold in the future! Some spaces you may never have to organize again, some you will touch up every trimester, and very few other spaces may require more regular maintenance. But now you have a system in place. Once you get systems in place from level 1 and your level of organization is done from level 2, you're done. This is the end of your visible organization foundation.
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Fri, 24 Jul 2026 - 1h 07min - 1844 - 719 - Level 1 - The Maid - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework
I asked what is the basic essential housework that is necessary for life? Level one is the foundation of The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework that starts with essential house work. I did my own study and I am sharing my findings. You might be as surprised as I was.
What is Essential Housework?
How is housework defined? Housework is something you do for yourself or you pay for someone to do it. And how much time are you spending on it? On average about 23 hours per week; 3 hours for laundry, 6 hours for cleaning, and 11 hours for food preparation. I know it's hard to believe.
I surveyed a panel of 1000 people, ages 16 - 65. I divided up the panel to closely reflect the US Census ethnicities to account for all different household types. I bet you would think that there would be a stark difference in what men and women determined was housework and taking it one step further, what was essential. Nope, 90% of the panel (men and women of all ethnicities) agreed on 19 of the 78 items as housework and that they were essential. Now, I say essential because I want to point out that not everyone owns a home or a car. And I wanted to ask people from all walks of life because essential housework needed to universally apply to everyone. All19 items fit into either laundry, cleaning, or food preparation.
The Goal
I'm sure this has you curious about how much time you spend on these essential housework. Do a time study. Then review, the calendar does not lie! And information is power. The amount of time each household dedicates to these tasks will vary depending on their caregiving responsibilities, whether looking after children, just themselves, or a loved one. I gave a lot of examples of how your time may be getting used and ways you can manipulate time and tasks to free up your time. And once again, I want to encourage you to outsource if you have the means to or you find yourself in a high demand season.
When we know what the work is, how much time it takes us, and we reduce our expectations, we can set the foundation to put systems in place so you can reach the higher levels of this pyramid. At some point, I want you to get to a done point. The goal is to reduce your expectations and time spent on housework so you can get done for the day or done for the week.
Then comes the fun part where you get to ask yourself what are you uniquely gifted and created to do? Exploring you, through Embrace. It's a 2 day self guided retreat where you think about where your expectations came from. How much housework are you doing? Why? And what do you want to be doing? You'll use critical thinking to dream about what you want to do next. What are you uniquely gifted and created to do? That's the goal!
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Fri, 17 Jul 2026 - 1h 01min - 1843 - 718 - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework - Overview
I'm very excited to start rolling out The Productive Home CEO Theoretical framework. Ewww does that feel weird to call yourself a CEO? Well you are! Our homes contribute to 68% of the GDP! You are running a little business right inside your home that greatly impacts the economy. So as the CEO, I want you to have a foundation in place that allows for planning, completing projects, and managing your household information (owned or not) for your business AKA your home..
Maid Work
What I refer to as maid work is visible work. It's also what I call working IN your business. You clean your house, wash the laundry, vacuum the house, dust, and all the other things. The people in your house can see you doing it. And it's this visible work that couples are asking who is doing what and when. This is like the organizing we do in the home. Our organization leads to productivity that leads to time.
CEO Work
Then there is CEO work which is that invisible strategic planning. It's also what I call working ON your business. The CEO is a focused leadership agent inside the house for the purpose of change. This person isn't always the one who makes the most money. They don't get to dictate every decision. And they aren't better than anyone else in the home.
Every good CEO has a pulse on what's happening in the world, is strategic, sets goals, and maximizes the resources like the people and capital. The Productive Home CEO is doing the same and asking how those factors impact their home, their budget, and what will the house need due to those things and for the future. And those considerations are for all of the people in the home, not just the kids. Our kids are living their best lives these days but I want everyone to be in a place that they are taking into account self care for all.
My Work
I am looking forward to testing my proposed interventions in an effort to reduce housework overall so we can all be asking ourselves what am I uniquely gifted and created to do? You cannot get to that place until your basic needs are met. You cannot start to get organized when you don't feel safe. When you are cognitively bogged down with cleaning your house, you never get to the organizing part. We know organizing (working on the business) leads to the next level which is planning (working on the business.)
Very few get to experience the last level of this pyramid of The Productive Home CEO and that is self actualization. This is where we have that leisure time to wrestle with what am I uniquely gifted and created to do? The first thing in place to help you get to this level are the Planning Days. Where you set aside time to think and plan. I've started to offer these monthly CEO Planning Days to really think about finances and self care. And lastly the Self Care Retreat. You guys life is exhausting. What are you doing to care for yourself? Self care are those basic things like clothing, bathing, food, and medical care. But we need to take that another step further thinking about your educational, recreational, spiritual, and relational needs. Remember our kids are living their best lives because we as the adults are thinking about those things and want our kids to explore all opportunities. And then we become adults and lose sight of our self care needs and this is if you have children or not. Embrace is always available so you can explore what are you uniquely gifted and created to do. And I'd love for you to take advantage of our time study. I'd love for you to participate for your own knowledge of where you are spending your time and any adjustments you may want to make. And I'll use that information for some of my research! In the upcoming episodes I'll be diving into each level in much more depth!
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Fri, 10 Jul 2026 - 51min - 1842 - 717 - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework - Backstory
I want to take a moment to provide the backstory to how I got to where I am today. And where we are with studying the American Home. You'll see why now is the time to start new research that will apply to all compositions of families, for the extent of their lives, to help household managers in their CEO roles.
Evolution of Study
As far back as the 30's and 40's, the psychologist Lillian Gilbreth studied the efficiencies of the home. We have her to thank for the kitchen triangle and so much more. Then came the book the Secret History of Home Economics. Home economics focused on the science of the home. And then my favorite which was manufactured entity of the stay at home mom. The war was over and marketing turned its aim to women at home; how they should look and what they should be doing. Finally, our most up to date research is from the 70's-80's! Shocked? I was too! This is the time the gender shift was identified. Basically women began to do less housework because some women were starting to work outside the home, the man started doing more work, and overall as a household unit less needed to be done. All of these studies were completed with couples with children under the age of 18. At that time, a good educated guess would say that was only 40% of the population. As of today that number has declined to only 17.9% of homes have a couple with children under the age of 18! So how is the other roughly 80% of Americans running their homes and what are their challenges?
"Current" Day
I acknowledge that due to my upbringing, I had some blind spots. As I started Organize 365® I assumed everyone's lives looked like mine. Over time, due to my babysitting years, years of raising kids and being in my friend's homes, doing home visits when I was a teacher, and organizing other's homes, I realized that there are a lot of different compositions of families, not everyone has kids, and not everyone owns their homes. But we all need an effective productivity system so the household CEO can run their homes smoothly.
My Reference Point
It's time to create household theories from a leadership stance. I love John C. Maxwell's quote "Leadership is influence. Nothing less. Nothing more." Remember, you can only change and control yourself. I want to be an agent of change. I'm going to be introducing the Productive Home CEO. I'll research efficiencies and look at planning to reduce the work for everyone in the house, to maximize the economic impact we have and to be productive. This system will challenge you to to think "How can I be the best version of me and support the people in my house?" I want this theoretical framework to be applicable to all. I want to encourage you to reach out to me if I appear to have a blind spot. Please continue to provide resources and research you may find that supports the work we are doing at Organize 365®.
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Fri, 03 Jul 2026 - 55min - 1841 - 716 - Lisa's Dissertation Presentation
I did it! We did it! Did you hear in the intro when I introduced myself as DOCTOR Lisa Woodruff? I have completed the dissertation for my PhD in Applied Psychology and feel compelled to share it with all of you. I cannot say Thank You enough for all the emails, suggestions, and encouragement.
The Dissertation
Here is the dissertation I delivered celebrating the work I have completed. I proposed the question "How do prospective memory and invisible family load interact with worry in women?" Prospective memory is remembering anything that you need to do in the future. I had three hypotheses to dissect this question further. There were 379 panelists. In this episode, I shared what my hypothesis was and the results.
The future
I just see everyone so overwhelmed with either poor systems or no systems to support the invisible load of the household manager. At work and school there are systems in place that keep those organizations running smoothly. I wanted to get this PhD to have a seat at the academic table and do more research to create systems for the household manager that will live long beyond my presence on Earth. This study was a great starting point. Just like other studies, it has brought up more questions. I plan to use those questions to create more studies. Again, than you for all of you support and I look forward to all the research to come!
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Fri, 26 Jun 2026 - 25min - 1840 - 715 - Perspectives. He Said. She Said. Happy Father's Day
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! I declare a table for all people to have conversations about what housework is, what needs to be done, who needs to do it, and consider all life factors into those definitions and roles. I have just found myself a little frustrated that men get a bad wrap when it comes to helping in the house. Before you show up with torches to take me down, hear me out.
Men
There is clearly a discrepancy between what men think house work is, how it should be done, and who should be doing it. I take Grayson to swim lessons every week. I have been watching the female and male life guards and observing how they teach differently. Neither is right or wrong, just different approaches. Nonetheless, there are discrepancies in how the skills are taught and the priority on which skills get focus.
My husband was always great at bathing the kids. Honestly his way was better. But if I had insisted on my way, I probably would have just done it myself in frustration. He enjoyed it and I didn't have to. When the grandkids came along he once again got excited to help with bath time. But to be clear, even if his way wasn't better, I would have kept having him do it just so I didn't. And that's just it. Who is willing to help even if it's not your way.
We Are All Doing the Best We Can
I took the time to read an excerpt from Sunshine Girl by Julianna Margulies (pp. 208-209). It's a delicate apology from her dad to her. It's a perspective she had not considered. Some men are going to a job they don't like everyday just to continue to provide. They love seeing their families happy and taken care of. That job they endure provides that lifestyle. And then on top of that their partner is saying they don't do enough around the house. They are constantly being put on the defensive about "doing enough." And I get it about the invisible load and anxiety over our homes ladies. But if he says "Just tell me what to do." Just tell him. He's in his own minutiae and may not see what needs to be done around the house.
I want to see spouses working together to take care of their home. I believe both parties need to give 100%. Based on your careers and life circumstances it will likely not be 50/50. I want to see us seeking and valuing their perspective, their methods, and trying to learn from them too. Only have this expectation for yourself. You are only in control of you. Cherish the men in your life while you have them and Happy Father's Day!!
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Fri, 19 Jun 2026 - 24min - 1839 - 714 - 10 Simple Ideas for Self-Care This Summer
Pedicures and massages aren't cutting the mustard anymore. Society is crying out for self care. How can we fill our cups to continue supporting our families? In May Planning Day, I thought about what I wanted to do for my own self care. Sometimes it's the smallest things but we don't realize doing that thing would fill your cup. So I am sharing my ideas in this episode.
10 Self Care Ideas
10. Get time outside doing what you enjoy - for me I will be enjoying our deck, our back yard, and sunsets
9. CEO Days - I will take time, once a month on a Monday, to plan how I will take care of myself, run my home, and have peace of mind because I had focused thinking and planned.
8. Identify and Protect project time - once I realized a 4 hour chunk of time on Saturdays for projects, I have protected it to keep it for myself.
7. Exercise - you get old due to lack of movement. I don't want that. I want a healthy body to support me into my 100's.
6. Have Strategic Time with Humans - those people you want to spend time with. Make calendar dates to keep your marriage strong, see friends, support your children in a way that is gratifying to you, and whoever else you want to catch up with.
5. Learn - I got a book series I loved in the past. I plan to devour it this summer. But think about what you like and get books reserved, podcasts downloaded, order books through amazon, put together your watch list on your preferred streaming service. Like what would you like to learn about?
4. Try New Foods - I have my chicken salad meal but I am thinking about exploring alternatives. But maybe you like to cook? Or maybe you are wanting to eat healthier, what does that look like for you? I will also be setting the habit to meal prep on Sundays.
3. Personal Reset - Go through your personal spaces like your closet, bathroom, or nightstand and decide if the things in there are supporting where you are going and who you are becoming. Discard or donate the rest.
2. Medical Deep Dive - I have a feeling most will skip this one but I am all about my medical binder this summer. I want to see where there are well test gaps and get the screening or baseline numbers from the tests I have avoided. We don't let our kids skip these things so why do we skip them for ourselves?
AND NUMBER ONE: Join Escaping Quicksand Self Care Retreat! You can join in person or virtually. You will get four hours on June 26th, 2026, to think about YOU! Get registered and get ready to escape that quicksand!
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Fri, 12 Jun 2026 - 19min - 1838 - 713 - How to Use and End Planned Neglect
Have you ever heard "planned neglect" anywhere else but Organize 365? Probably not because it's a term I coined to describe what I do to more effectively manage my responsibilities and time. One can't do everything so you must determine what is the highest value you provide to your work, community, or family and implement planned neglect for a certain amount of time to manage it all.
I Must Have Mentioned "Planned Neglect" Before
I was fairly shocked when I asked AI to give me some feedback based on a few episodes I shared. It explained the "framework" I have put in place. Ha! Much to my surprise because I hadn't realized I offered a framework. I must have talked about it a few times on the podcast. But it wasn't wrong. You need to identify the timeline when you will be using this planned neglect. Then you should tell your family so they know what's happening when you start to cut corners to free up time for you to better utilize your highest value in this phase of life. Then you need to extend a lot of grace to yourself. It's ok that you have lowered your standards. It doesn't have to be forever just while something else needs more of you. Then you need to implement these temporary habits. And understand that this particular shortcut you have used in the past may not help you the same as it has in the past. You may need to figure out a different way to make life easier for a certain amount of time.
So back in the day when the dinosaurs were still roaming around, I identified planned neglect. I needed a little more time to work on my direct sales business. I thought about what could I neglect to give my attention to focus on my business? So I started with a nanny for 10 hours one day a week. Once my business grew even more I hired an assistant to help just 5 hours a week. Then there was the time I realized I was driving 25 hours a week. It was time to outsource laundry. It was beautiful for a while when I would drop off my laundry and pick it up folded and hung. And I have shared a few phases of life when paper plates became the china of choice in the Woodruff household.
Coming Out of "Planned Neglect"
Now that the PhD is coming to an end I have really wrestled with what I want to do with that time. I acknowledge that I will go back to cleaning my house and maintaining my own window boxes. I have really been thinking about the planned neglect I have practiced and it's time to reverse some of those habits. It dawned on me that while I am back to using real plates for lunch and dinner, I will continue to use paper plates and bowls of different sizes for breakfast. Also, I hadn't realized pursuing the PhD meant my health and body would suffer. I hadn't put any thought into my nutrition and I certainly wasn't moving as much as a person should. So now that I am coming out of planned neglect I have started to use some of that time to go to the gym. And I have decided I no longer want to spend that money on the Tovala meals. It was worth the money when I didn't have time to grocery shop or meal prep. But now, I have time to focus on my nutrition so I am not ordering Tovala meals. Who knows, I may utilize them again in a season I need to.
As I come out of planned neglect I am going to take back my body and health. I will also be giving time back to working on Organize 365®. You have already seen a little bit of this as I have eliminated the work products. I am launching my new book "Escaping Quicksand" and will likely write more books. And I am getting ready to focus on The Productive Home CEO and new terminology to go with it being the Household CEO. I also want to explore how to use this new authority in academia to benefit household managers and their systems.
And at home I will be filling in all the blanks in my information management binders from The Paper Solution® and taking one day a month to focus on my CEO position in the Woodruff house. Planned neglect is simply looking at your tasks, deciding how you can lower your standards of that task and then implementing a new habit for a certain amount of time. Mine was the PhD recently, what is yours?
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Fri, 05 Jun 2026 - 39min - 1837 - 712 - Vacation Days, Sick Time, PTO and Trips, Let's Get Into It
Hope you are mentally hungry, because I'm unloading a lot of food for thought. Greg and I were in the car discussing the perception of a vacation vs. a trip. And that of course led to the time you take off for said vacation/trip. And that got me thinking overall about how transformational this summer is going to be for me. Good news! You have a front seat to all of it!
Vacation vs. a Trip
Ok, so we're in the car talking about vacations vs. trips. And Greg joked "You never take vacations." And he's kind of right because in my life I guess I couldn't really take a vacation. When I was a stay at home mom, we just went to FL. I didn't have to submit vacation time. As a teacher, I just always worked and thought of summer as my vacation time. If you are a teacher you know it's quite the contrary!! And when we do go to FL I do more work than at home. I turn into a 1950's wife so Greg can fully enjoy his vacation. And I love doing that for him and the kids. Greg thinks it's a vacation because he's with his family, gets to go fishing, and go to the beach. I will say London felt like a vacation to me. We had no expectations, I didn't do any laundry or cooking, and we had fun.
When my parents took us to Disney, we attended an art class. Yep, went to Disney to attend school. But we took a lot of trips in my childhood where we learned about thing and places and now that's what I enjoy too. My trips feel like vacation more to me but again Greg jokes they are trips. But I do think in reflection of this summer being so transformational with the PhD coming to an end and Greg thinking about retirement, I'd like to go on more vacations.
PTO, Sick Days, Retirement
This led us to talking about PTO, sick days and Greg wanting to retire. His mom fell a little while back and he was the closest primary care giver. It was funny to watch him go through it. When you take someone else to the Dr. you should just take a half day and use your sick time. Greg was like "But I wasn't sick." Right but it was a medical appointment. I always took the kids to the dr. so Greg never had to think about that. Then he asked what exactly was PTO. So we talked about how many hours he has accrued and how neither of us take sick time or PTO. We are hearty and we work. But what about when Greg doesn't work and I still want to? Will I take advantage of some PTO? I don't know but these are questions I want to start asking myself as the household CEO.
Welcome To My Transformational Summer
I took advantage of a lot of planned neglect and worked a lot of hours pursuing my PhD. Now that it's done, I want to decide what things I will let back in or not. There will be a lot of open time now and I want to think about how I will use that time. I decided on one thing and that was my Paper Solution™ Binders. I feel like I neglected them a little so I'd like to really spend time getting them up to par. I never did the workbooks so I am doing them now. Before the PhD Abby was pregnant, now she has two children. Greg wants to retire. All of this has financial implications on our budget. I feel like I need some CEO time. So I decided in the middle of the month I will set aside two hours to just think about our household financial goals and I came up with seven questions which will help me decide if I am taking care of me in a way that fills my cup so I can continue to take care of my house and family too. Yes, I am going to offer this "co-working" time once a month. You too deserve time to think without your family around. And you too deserve time to take care of things for your household manager responsibilities that need to be done Monday- Friday, 9am -5pm.
I want this household CEO time, to be a time for you to be able to really think through your household management, through a leadership lens, to make sure that you are stewarding all of the resources you have, well. And that you are taking care of yourself so you can be of service to all of those around you, for as long as possible, and in the best health as possible. I hope you'll join me June 15th from 9am - 11am.
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Fri, 29 May 2026 - 41min - 1836 - 711 - Emergencies Eliminate YOUR Goals, Not Others
Who is the first one to get cut from the priority list when a loved one has an unexpected event? You! We innately want to care for others in their times of need. And that means giving up gym time, your nutrition goals may go out the window for a time, and whatever else you enjoy and do for yourself.
See, What Had Happened Was…
Recently, I ran planning prep day and planning day and boy were my ducks in a row. By Sunday I had meal prepped, mapped out my week, and I was on fire to crush my goals. However Monday morning my sweet daughter called to say she was sick and asked if I could take Grayson to school. As moms do, I said yes. Which meant my time to go to the gym would now be spent with Grayson.
Then she called later in the day to say she was too sick to take care of Noah too. So once again rearranged my day and rushed off to pick up Grayson so I could get home to take care of Noah too. Thank God I remembered some food I had prepped to keep me on track and Grayson from getting hungry. Because Grayson had a Dr. appointment too and I had planned a snack ahead of time. Then I had this great idea to see if Greg, my husband, wanted to have lunch. Although I took the last bite of chicken salad as we hung up the phone. I was clearly off my game. And the next day, I skipped attending a talk by an economist so I could catch up on the work I hadn't been able to finish the day before.
But my planning did come into play. I had healthy food around me to support my nutrition focus of the week. But my self care was sacrificed in caring for my grandchildren to support Abby who was sick. And that's what we do for our family members. I wasn't about to say, "No Abby, I have to go to the gym this morning." No, I chose to serve and support my daughter.
Mindset Shift
We need to have a mindset shift to know something is going to get sacrificed that we wanted to do in place of caring for our loved one. How do we have good systems in place and ways to continually be upleveling our own care, knowledge, and who we are, so that we are able to care for others in times of crisis? That's the whole premise of my book "Escaping Quicksand". Unexpected events happen to everyone. But do you have a system in place to keep you on track in those moments? And are you equipped with the mindset to combat those situations?
Webinar Alert: On June 12th @ 11:30 EST, in the Paper Solution Group, I plan to go through the medical binder. I know I want to insert some labs and DNA results and a few other things. Plus, I want to update the kids' medical information with me as power of attorney. I'm sure you have papers like that too that you need to file away for safe keeping. I like to focus on information management (paper) in the Summer so each month I'm taking you through me updating my binders and this month is the medical binder. I'd love for you to join me!
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Fri, 22 May 2026 - 38min - 1835 - 710 - Maycember - What Is It and How Do We Survive It
Does everything feel a little chaotic kinda like it feels around the holidays? That's because it's Maycember! It's that time of year when there is a lot to do and no days off to do it! I've got some hacks to productively get through it!
Why does it happen?
Here we just thought we were heading into summer. Nope, first, you gotta get your lawn in order. And you probably notice you are back to mowing the lawn more frequently. Oh the joys of home ownership! Did you document all the things last year you did during Maycember? Like how much mulch you needed and other supplies to get your house summer ready?
Don't forget all of the graduations, weddings, and end of the school year events there are. As the school year wraps up and the weather changes to warm summer days there are more things than ever vying for your attention. The biggest difference is, no days off for the holidays but we're trying to get just as much stuff accomplished as we do during the holidays.
7 Hacks to Combat Maycember
Ok, so now you know we call this Maycember. What can you do about it?
Recognize the phenomenon and do not add anything to May.
Use all the pent up spring energy. Get out of the house, say hi to your neighbors, see people again! Also if you are feeling the nudge to organize, do it, use that spring energy
Be choosy on what you commit to and defer the rest. Just like planned neglect, some things will take care of themselves and others can be taken care of in July.
Plan what you are comfortable neglecting for a period of time. Use a new rule or change a habit like using paper plates, utilizing a laundry service, or deciding on the 5 meals you will rotate all month, so you can spend more time outside.
Plan, use the tools you already have from Organize 365®. Make a weekly plan with your weekly tear sheets that you do at the end of your Sunday Basket® time. Use those slash pockets in your Sunday Basket®. Maybe you have one for teacher gifts, fieldtrips, destinations for summer, and probably more! AND if you are having that organizing energy decide what lessons you'll attack and when on the weekly planner. You have the Binders? Document. Your future self will thank you next Maycember. Write down all the annual house related maintenance you do each year in your Home Reference Binder. That way next year, you'll know when to order the mulch and how much.
Pack your car closet. You know, where you have a few snacks, change of clothes because you never know where the spontaneous summer energy will take you, and a back up battery to charge your phone is a great idea too. Nothing is worse than rushing between events and realizing your phone is about to die and you have no way to charge it. We can control some stressors.
Block off time to organize. When our homes are a mess it creates mental stress. When you look ahead on your calendar, if you see a block of time, mark it off. This time is for you to reset the house. Get your laundry done, really go through your Sunday Basket® & plan (you need time to plan to think things through), clean a little, or organize a space. I tend to focus on paper during the summer.
And speaking of The Paper Solution and the binders, I have a webinar in the app coming up. It will be on May 29th @ 1:30 EST and I will show you how I go through and update my Home Reference Binder.
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Fri, 15 May 2026 - 28min - 1834 - 709 - Move From Reactive to Proactive with This Daily 15-Minute Hack
If anyone listened to episode 704 about the 10 filters I use to plan my week but you are currently in Quicksand, I'm sorry. I decided to dial it back to this 15 minute hack to help you win the day. Just one day at a time.
Print the Worksheet (Knives Not Included)
Download and print this worksheet. There are two worksheets per sheet of paper. I want you to have a daily action plan because a week at a time may be too much. I know when I was in the pits of despair, I would have thought "Yeah someday!" I'll learn how to time stack and take advantage of pockets of time, that mind you I didn't even know I had because I was in such a reactive state of mind.
Do the Planning
Each night take just 15 minutes to do these 10 things:
Transfer items from your planner and calendar to this worksheet. These are appointments or events you have committed to.
Proactively think about tomorrow in regards to weather, what you want to wear, and what you want to do with your hair based on weather and activities you'll attend.
Go pick out the clothes you will wear tomorrow.
Place items you will need for the activities for tomorrow or the people you will see, in your car. Maybe you need to hand in a form, return a shirt to someone, or have work out clothes.
Plan your meals and snacks. Replenish your "adult diaper bag" if need be and think through what you will be eating and when due to lunch dates or anything else.
Fill in drive time to all your events. And block off time for both driving and then the actual event.
Look for pockets of time and plan to check things off you to do list during that time. The reality is that for most of us Mon- Fri time is spoken for. If you have a couple of things that have to get done during the week THIS is your opportune time to do them.
Plug in your housework and routines on this worksheet.
Highlight your top 1 to three things you have to get done tomorrow. If your day falls apart what do you have to accomplish to feel like you won the day?
Now cut that sheet in half and carry it around with you all day tomorrow. Because on the back is where you can write down all those things your brain is reminding you to do. At the end of the day look at it. Things that cannot wait till Sunday get planned for in the week. The rest of the list, the whole list, just goes in the Sunday Basket. No need to transfer to individual cards. Make life easy on yourself and just toss it in your Sunday Basket®.
You must win the day, so you can win the week, in order to win the war!
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Fri, 08 May 2026 - 26min - 1833 - 708 - How to Get Completely Organized in 14 Months
Here's the truth coated in encouragement…Organization takes time but with intentionality you can cut the time to 14 months. No one goes from being in debt to out of debt in weeks. Stop it! Yes, it's going to take time. Things that are worthwhile take time. Getting out of your car and into a train is worth it for your mental health and productivity of your home so that you have more capacity and time to wrestle with what you are uniquely created to do.
Your Engine
The Sunday Basket® represents the engine to your train. Weekly you are chugging along and making sure your priorities are taken care of while still safely gathering information to address on Sunday. Once you get this system in place you will protect your plan - this is how productive people act. You have a system in place and your brain trusts that things will not fall through the cracks because of this system. It lightens your cognitive load so you can focus on your plan and priorities. Planning Day, you took the time to identify what you would focus on and the routines you want for the next 120 days. I gave an example of getting the mail and how you process it. If you process it daily, you take your eyes off the goal and distract yourself. If you process it on Sundays, you stay focused on your plan. Listen to this episode for the full explanation. The Sunday Basket® puts you in the drivers seat. Let the Sunday Basket® transform you to become where the flow comes from, you are the driver, the leader.
Train Cars
What is a train without cars on it? The four main cars are your green car that is your Paper Solution program, personal organization car, family/communal organization car, and your storage car. The Complete Home Organization Bundle supplies you with everything you will need for that first round of getting your cars organized. From there each time you round the tracks you are iterating and personalizing the system for you and your current phase of life. The train stops you from being reactive. A train can't make a u turn to go home to grab your purse. A train can't stop on a dime to answer an email quickly. You'll find when you don't stop to do all the little 5 or 10 minute tasks, it'll add up to about 5 extra hours a week to run your plan. Plus you won't be up against the time it takes to switch tasks back and forth. The train is your system to get planned, purposeful, and proactive.
Train Tracks
Every train needs tracks and The Productive Home Solution provides those tracks. It's a 365 day plan that helps you to maintain your train engine, cars, and calculate the speed you want to operate at. You pull into the train station three times a year for maintenance, called Planning Day. You take a pit stop at the retreat station to work on personal development known as Embrace or this year the Self Care Retreat. But you must invest the time to get the tracks in place and your train running smoothly. And when you understand how to do this for your household, you can plug and play for any family member you need to step in and help. Then if the situation arises, you can take their binders to the right people to more easily settle their estate. THIS, this well maintained train and well oiled track, is the biggest and best gift you can give your future self.
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570 - Creating a HOME Organizing Train
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Fri, 01 May 2026 - 50min - 1832 - 707 - Goals for Summer 2026 Planning Day
It's not normal to plan in your home the way we do in business. But if you are part of the Organize 365® community, we do! So as the natural energy of summer ushers in another planning time, I wanted to give you food for thought so you can decide a few things before planning day.
Summer Energy
There are certain energies for different times of the year. Three that specifically encourage planning and that's when Organize 365® offers Planning Days. In America, you know you all feel it after you open presents and take part in all the festivities you wanna organize and plan the next year. But that's where I'll stop you. At Organize 35® we plan in trimesters. A lot can happen in 120 days. So we plan 120 days at a time and reevaluate what worked and what we want to tweak. Right now we are all anticipating summer. So we plan from May to August. Then in August we anticipate the kids going back to school and we get the urge to plan for September through December. Regardless if you have kids or not, the sales we see, traffic, travel, a lot of the things around us end up following the school year.
We are facing uncertain times right now so you may be distracted about what you would like to focus on this summer. I have found that when the world seems uncertain I know I am for the most part in control of my house and my self care. If you feel like you are in quicksand, I want you to think about how you could best support yourself in the next 120 days. I offer two options because I find when I focus on one goal, I can set a bigger goal and I usually accomplish it. So the top two things I want to encourage you to consider for your focus this summer are your paper and self care.
Paper
Paper seems so easy to suggest this time of year. You can load up a couple of folders or a banker's box and sort it at the pool or during your child's sports practice like I used to do. I had a great friend that would meet me at the pool and we'd sort while the kids swam. And you will see in The Productive Home Solution this is the time of year we encourage you to focus on your information management, like taking important papers from the Sunday Basket® that are no longer actionable and placing them in your binders.
Self Care
This is not a bubble bath or getting your nails done. This is caring for your whole self. This time of year I tend to focus on professional development. Is there a class you have wanted to take, wanna become a worker outer, or something else to support your faith, mental health, education, physical health, personal organization or passions? Or have you stopped dreaming and you don't even know what your passions are anymore? There are two ways you can dig deeper into those aspects. One is Embrace which I like to revisit every year because it's a lifetime purchase. Discover what you were uniquely created to do. And two, you can attend our first Self Care Retreat in Nashville in person or online. In this episode I broke down what to expect from the retreat and I can't wait to see you on June 26th to focus on you this summer.
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Fri, 24 Apr 2026 - 48min - 1830 - 706 - Planning Housework in Seasons - Laundry
Recently, I found myself asking "How did I get here?" I have more laundry somehow. So I thought about it and wanted to share how when your family changes it has ripple effects on your housework cadence and functionality. So, how did I get here?
Don't Get Oversold
First of all, I wanted to share that I have yet again gotten a new wash machine and dryer. I shared the many reasons for the upgrade, if you call it that. I am now using two black Speed Queen machines that look like they are from the 1960's and I couldn't be happier. Now, I can add clothes mid wash, throw an item in just the dryer, shimmy them if I want, our clothes smell amazing, and get washed quickly, not delicately, but quickly! (If you know you know) I really wish I had not listened to the sales person each time and gotten these machines in the first place. Do not let yourself get oversold into bells and whistles you don't need. Take it from me. Learn from my costly mistakes. Ok so now I have the correct machines for my liking.
Household Changes
In the last 120 days, a few things have changed that have broken my clothes washing cadence. The first one being my mother in law broke a vertebra. We have been going to her house for Sunday dinner. If we leave when I am in the middle of the wash I forget all about it by the time we are back home. Next, I have a new grandson. I am helping my daughter a lot with Grayson so she can tend to herself and her new baby which indirectly has caused more laundry so I find I am not completing it over the weekend as I normally had been. And I am no longer doing the PhD so I want to find a new laundry cadence.
So Friday night I got ready to throw in my "littles" load and low and behold the wash machine was already half full, but how? Grayson has been coming up in his jammies so when he changes I have him throw his clothes right in the washer. Then when he takes a bath, again, he throws his clothes into the washer. And since the washer is on the same level the family hangs out on, burp clothes and stuff go into it. That's how I got here with 4-5 loads to do each week.
Now I could send all those clothes down to Abby but honestly laundry is not her friend and since the new baby she continues to stay behind. In fact she asked "How do you keep up on laundry and cleaning?" I shared the tips I shared with her in this episode for you too. I like doing laundry. It's not a problem, just a change in our family. I'm trying to find a new cadence and figure out this line drying thing. Like, do LuLu Lemon clothes really need to be line dried? Give it to me straight.
Trial Run -> Habit
I think the reason why it takes most people a year and a half to complete The Productive Home Solution is this trial run discovery time before we can really tackle the goal. They spend the first trimester trying out different times to organize until it starts to become a habit to organize at a specific time. Then the next planning day they focus on a new goal because the organization time is "set."
So the new plan is to trial run my idea of doing laundry on the mornings that I take Grayson to school. I will see if that works and continue to tweak for the month of May. This is what I will propose to myself on Planning Day. Hopefully by June, the kinks will be worked out and I will be off and running outside to play while still getting laundry done! This is the level I want you to think about the housework you do everyday and how it affects your family. What has changed in the last 120 days for your family and what systems are broken as a result? Join me for Planning Day and get a plan in place.
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Fri, 17 Apr 2026 - 50min - 1829 - 705 - New Personal Goals Create Ripple Effects in My Household
So how did I become a worker outer person? I explained in great detail how I think about my time, plan how I will spend that time, and then iterate based on how each trial of use of time goes.
Trial Run
I have always been a planner. I loved getting new planners about every six months in school. I love to reverse engineer my goals and writing my plan in planners helps me do that. For every action there is a reaction. If you want to say work out more than understand that means something else will be affected. For me it was my budget, time at work, and time with my family. When I am working something new into my schedule I try to do it with the least amount of friction to my family. I call it the household management dance. I really wanted to become a worker outer person, I had already tricked myself into doing a little bit, and I shared in the last episode how I prioritize that now but how did I get to that point?
The first thing I did was look at what I wanted to offer as a grandmother and mother. I joined a gym thinking this way I could work out more, entertain my grandson, and give my daughter time with her new baby or an opportunity to do something like sleep in or care for herself. I like to stack as many benefits as I can into my tasks. Then I looked at when classes were offered for both myself and my grandson. I also decided to drop my private class to offset the new expense of the gym membership. And like I mentioned last week, I claim chunks of time for my goal first. So the plan was set, time to try it out.
Iterate
Well, let's just say I wasn't planning on getting in the pool to wrestle my grandson to get out of the pool. I was questioning everything after I got Grayson into his class and I was on the pilates reformer with wet pants. This wasn't going to work, time to adjust expectations and the plan. The first time around planning for working out was a challenge because I had not done it before. But, there was no way for me to anticipate that it was not going to be possible to have Grayson attend swim lessons and I attend a class. And who knew the instructors I liked only offered classes a few times a day? Which actually opened my eyes to attending a Wednesday night class when my husband Greg will be golfing anyway!
I'm a Worker Outer Now
Now, it's becoming one of my rocks, almost like a habit. It's becoming routine where it fits into my week. When I plan for this time in the next Planning Day I will also be looking at Abby taking Grayson to school more, I will have graduated with my PhD, and Noah, the baby will be getting older. All of these factors will give me back time so I can continue to plug working out into the routine of my week. Now I can confidently say "I'm a worker outer!"
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Fri, 10 Apr 2026 - 38min - 1828 - 704 - The 10 Filters I Use to Plan My Week
After conducting the webinars in January, it became clear that people are not seeing the full value of the Sunday Basket® because they aren't getting to the planning step. My dear listeners, I am here to stress the importance of the planning step and the 10 filters that I use to plan my week.
You Tricked Me
I cannot stress the importance of the planning step. You hear me say processing the Sunday Basket® will take about 90 min. However, it may take longer. You may be thinking "You tricked me!" No. If you are in the setting up process and getting in the routine of processing the Sunday Basket® on Sundays then it will take longer. When you start something new it takes time to get into a rhythm. So do not set a timer for 90 minutes and when the alarm goes off you quit. No keep going till you have your week planned! It's a game changer! I promise!
10 Filters
SO, I'm sharing the 10 filters I use to fill in my weekly planning sheet. This is the last step in processing your Sunday Basket. I start with looking at what my overall life priority is - my big personal goal in life. I plug that into the week first. Right now, that is getting to the gym. Then I look for self care pockets of time. Like, when will I get my nails done or what days do I need to wash my hair? Then I move on to extras I want to do for work. For instance if I will be traveling or need to record some podcasts. Then I see what caregiving needs to be planned for with my mother in law and then supporting Abby with Garyson. So up to this point it's been "out of the ordinary tasks" because they aren't routine things. And as I have plugged things into the paper weekly planner I too have been adding events to my google calendar. I have to ask, up to this point is this how you thought I planned my weeks?
Now we get into the routine filters that I consider when planning my week. NOW, I am finally fully consulting my 2 google calendars. I am taking items from the google calendar and putting those events on the weekly paper planner. I use that weekly planner sheet a little differently so I explained that in this episode. It's flexible like functional organizing. Make that weekly planner work for you and the phase of life you are in. Next, food. I don't take a ton of time on this because I pretty much eat the same thing all the time. But I need to place the Travola order and make sure my foods are stocked at home and the office. Then I fill in 1 or 2 things usually in the "Top Three" space. This signals to me that if the whole day melts down - this is the one (or up to three) thing that will get done. And lastly I fill in the Organize 365 slot. This is for The Productive Home tasks or I use it for ideas that I want to post on social media. Pro Tip: Plan for drive time, unless you have a teleporter that gets you to the next location in your day.
The Order Matters
I feel strongly that the order in which you fill in your week matters. If I didn't start in this specific order do you think I would end up on the calendar? No. My goals and self care would get slim picking because all the time would be accounted for! This will take time in the beginning as you set it up and adjust to your planning needs. The planning portion of the Sunday Basket® is what reduces decision fatigue throughout the week giving you more and more capacity.
Next week we diving into how I found HOURS to go to the gym using these filters during my Sunday Basket® planning time.
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Fri, 03 Apr 2026 - 38min - 1827 - 703 - Divide and Conquer: From Sunday Basket Piles to Actionable Slash Pockets
I am focused on explaining, in detail, the set up of the Sunday Basket®. Just wait till you complete this step - all the paper organized and no more trying to remember everything by cognitive power alone.
The Course
When you purchase the Sunday Basket®, you get access to the in app community and the online course. Once you make your purchase you start getting a string of emails to read then go complete. Now if you've had your Sunday Basket® for a minute, you may or may not remember getting those emails. Not sure you understand the "assignment"? You also get corresponding videos to show what to do. There's good news, last year I revamped all the videos and emails. New to or familiar with the Sunday Basket®, you can go into the course and click on Lisa's emails if you need a refresher and then watch the videos. And just so you know, this podcast series is going faster than the course. You can of course always do the course slower too.
The Paper Piles
Remember there were piles that got recycled, shredded, and archived. Now you are sorting your actionable papers and all those index cards. This is why I say one item per index card, that interrupts you whatever you were doing when that idea came to you, so you can touch it, manipulate it, and move it. Dump all those papers on the floor and begin to sort around yourself. I find that I run out of room if I try to use the kitchen counter. It is important that you sort based on activity like phone calls you need to make, or plans you have for traveling, or items you need to add to your calendar, and piles for individual people.
The Slash Pockets
Each of those piles will go into it's own slash pocket. You will see the slash pockets have two sides. If you need to use both sides temporarily, that fine till you can order more. I will be sharing the reason why I do one idea per slash pocket later. And if you run out feel free to use a paper clip.
It's because of the slash pocket we can play the delayed decision making game. Get in the practice for 4-6 solid weeks of writing everything down on index cards and pop them in your Sunday Basket®. Each Sunday you will review, take action, or place in a slash pocket for safe keeping until it demands to be taken care of or you have time. Back in the day there was more paper which was easier to keep track of all the things. Digital subscriptions, bill pay, and newsletter were physical. I encourage you to print those things out and review during your Sunday Basket® time. Right now sorting and placing in the Slash Pockets is the name of the game.
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Fri, 27 Mar 2026 - 22min - 1826 - 702 - The Sunday Basket BIG Sort
Step number one of setting up the Sunday Basket® is always the Big Sort. For the first time, I'm going into a detailed explanation of how to complete your big sort. After the big sort and decision making, you will feel empowered. It's time to dust off your Sunday Basket® if you have one because the next few episodes are all about setting up your Sunday Basket® and managing your cognitive load to be productive! If you are getting ready to purchase your Sunday Basket® please note there is a Classic Sunday Basket® and the Complete Sunday Basket®, when ordering. I explained the difference in this episode.
The Big Sort
Ok, so to start, you need a couple laundry baskets. You need to gather all the paper in your house. Yes, even your hiding places. Remember when company was on their way over and you shoved the paper pile somewhere? I've seen it all and I know all about the laundry room, your garage, backpacks, and lots of other places because I saw it in all my organizing client's homes. I'm guilty too! Here's the caveat: If you have newspapers, magazines, or catalogs, place them where you've been collecting paper, otherwise those laundry baskets are going to get really heavy. However, we are not collecting filing cabinet paper or paper nex to the filing cabinet that is waiting to be filed. We'll address them in May.
First, we're going to address newspapers, magazines, and catalogs. If they are a passion of yours, keep them. If you can come up with a plan to read them if that is important to you then set up an area maybe next to your chair, so you will actually look at them but then recycle them once you have read them. And last I grant you an amnesty day. Recycle all of them. If it's the news, it's old anyway. And you likely have a subscription so the new ones are on their way. Also, create a rule on when you will read them and how soon after you will recycle them. I have a routine where I read a newsletter and look through a catalog when I process my Sunday Basket®.
Laundry Baskets
It's time to sort the, what 2 or 3 laundry baskets you filled? I like to sort in the kitchen because I like the height of the counter. You need to set up 4 laundry baskets or banker's boxes with labels: Recycle, Shred, Archive, Active. They are pretty self explanatory except "Active". The active papers are going to end up in the Sunday Basket®. These steps can take weeks. It may be to overwhelming to do all of this in one pass. Remember I say, unapologetically, it's going to take time to get organized. And there's still one more thing you need to do to conclude the big sort.
You Are Already Managing It All
You need to empty your brain. Get a couple packs of index cards. You are going to sit down and just write down all the things your brain is thinking of. You will end up with a pile of thoughts. I know it looks overwhelming but the truth is, this is everything you are trying to manage without help. It can be things you need to remember for that day, something you need to renew or pay, something that you want to do for the next holiday, birthdays, whatever comes to mind! BUT, one thought per card. There is a method to my madness. Now you have active and archive papers and allllllll these index cards. Fear not! In the next episode, we are going to talk about the slash pockets that came with your Sunday Basket®. We are going to organize all that paper and you index cards and remove the overwhelm. In the meantime, If you see any task or item that cannot wait till the next episode, you must complete them. Put them on the list for a day this week and get them done!
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Fri, 20 Mar 2026 - 29min - 1825 - 701 - The Golden Ticket to Relieve Household Overwhelm - The Sunday Basket Train Engine
Happy 8th Birthday to the physical Sunday Basket®! The Sunday Basket® is your Golden Ticket to relieve household manager overwhelm. Life is changing rapidly, thank you very much AI, and increasing your capacity is paramount for your new way of living. Now is your chance to get your train car all set up so you can start adding other train cars (Sunday Baskets®) and be efficient like Rockafeller.
Change
Why like Rockafeller? This man from PA, refined oil. After refining the oil he had to transport the oil. He placed the oil in barrels. In order to be more efficient, he asked his workers to see how little material they could used to "seal" the metal bands around the barrels. Once he was efficient in that he questioned how could be be more efficient in transportation. Initially the barrels were transported on train cars but they were heavy and lost some oil along the way. So he came up with an oil tanker. The tanker carried a lot more oil without leaking.
Curiosity
How can you too be curious about everything you do in your homes to increase efficiency? What are your current systems and expectations and are they set for efficiency? I think about my robot vacuum. Grayson's new school has them play outside daily which means dirty shoes so I run it a little more often. But once the baby starts crawling, I plan to run it nightly. I adjust my cleaning standards based on my comfort level of cleanliness and the current phase of my family. I want you to always be asking yourself "Why am I doing this?" "Can someone else do it?" Or "Can I do this less frequently?" How little can you do each week?
Time to Get Your Golden Ticket
A great way to see how little you can do each week is, yes be curious, and get really good at your Sunday Basket®. The Sunday Basket helps you to proactively procrastinate. Your Sunday Basket is your train car. If you are lost as to what I am talking about please revisit ep. 570 (linked below.) Our train cars are each Sunday Basket we have for each project we are executing like a side hustle, someone else's home, work, or planning a big event. It's a safe place for actionable paperwork so that you can take ownership of our household manager role and create systems to be proactive planned.
As a present to you on this special birthday, the Sunday Basket will be on sale and you can get it all set up before Maycember!! What is Maycember? It's a chaotic time of year, like Christmas, but it doesn't affect the majority of the general public so you feel a little crazy. There are 4 main things that can derail your system and Maycember is part of the annual seasonality of life; the energy and load each season has. THern there's if something happens to you personally like you get sick or decide to get your PhD, life stages, and caregiving. When you have your Sunday Basket® routine down it's ike you are on autopilot and have capacity to make decisions in reaction to what the latest unexpected event life has thrown your way!
Not only is it on sale but I'll be diving into the Sunday Basket® more detailed in the next few episodes. Plus there will be two seminars coming up. Live in the Sunday Basket Club, in the app, on March 20th at 1:30pm ET I'm going to explain all about the taxes basket. And on Friday March 27th I'm going to explain how to set up a calendar box. This Calendar box will play a role in Planning Day too. So now from the Holiday Blitz Bundle, I'll be explaining how the Sapphire Sunday Basket will be transformed into an Anything That Can Wait basket. Get your Sunday Basket® to get efficient so that you can have a productive train!
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Sunday Basket Birthday FlyerEp. 570 - Creating a HOME Organizing Train
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Fri, 13 Mar 2026 - 53min - 1824 - 700 - My Depression Story
I have been feeling the tug to share my personal experience with depression for quite a while.
It may surprise you to hear that I have struggled with depression. I'm a pretty upbeat gal! Well, it surprised me too.
In today's podcast, I share my personal story with depression and how it affects every area of your life.
Here are 5 tips I gave myself and share with clients about how depression affects organization.
1. Give yourself grace.
I cannot even put into words how depression zapped me of every shred of energy to do ANYTHING. And the thought of tackling an organization project was SO overwhelming. My "will power" got up and went - AWAY!
2. Get a friend to help you.
Another friend's perspective, energy and motivation are contagious and can help you push through when you just want to watch TV. Used strategically, friends can help you get organized and stay functioning when your own initiative is low.
Over 50% of the Organize 365 clients call us in to help because they just can't do the organizing themselves in their depressed state.
3. Pick ONE area and COMPLETE it before moving on no matter how long it takes.
Slow and steady wins the race! Your home did not become a "mess" overnight, and it won't get organized overnight either. One step at a time.
Pick an area where you can get a quick win and start there:
Your night stand Your dresser The car The Master ClosetThe key is to MAINTAIN that area when you tackle area #2. The Productive Home Solution™ is ordered in a way so the areas you organize will stay organized as you move on to the next area of your home.
4. Acknowledge your limitations.
I know how frustrated you are! Knowing what I USED to be able to do made me even MORE depressed when I couldn't seem to tackle even the basics when I was depressed.
If it's a bad day... it's OK! You have time to get organized and take care of yourself.
And when your desire is beyond your physical ability - hire help.
5. Surround yourself with positive people.
I know it's easier to say than do, but I always felt better when I made myself go OUT and BE with people, even though I didn't want to.
I can't even tell you how many times we will be laughing with clients and then they say,
"I can't believe how fun you make organizing!" "I haven't been able to laugh like that in a long time." "If I knew how quickly you could get this organized I wouldn't have waited so long to call." and our favorite. "I can't believe there are people who actually LIKE to organize!"EPISODE RESOURCES:
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Fri, 06 Mar 2026 - 51min - 1823 - 699 - Escaping Quicksand: Chapter 1 My Quicksand Story
Here it is, the first chapter of my latest book Escaping Quicksand. I thought it was necessary for the reader to understand that I too have found myself in quicksand and realized there was no rock bottom to hit. Through escaping "the quicksand", I learned the lesson of the unpopular truth that you have to make yourself a priority.
How Did I Get In the Pit of Despair?
I've always been a planner and organized. But the systems I brought into adulthood slowly started to break as the complexity of life increased by adding a spouse, a house, and children. I suppose it was around the time of the 2008 recession that life gave the final push into the pit of despair. My father had fallen which led to a decline in his health and ultimately his passing. My sister and I shared roles to care for him and then settle his estate but it was a lot financially, logistically, and emotionally. On top of that I had become a very negative person that no one really wanted to be around. The more I fought to not sink lower in the quicksand of the pit of despair, the deeper I fell.
Grandma's Car
As I was getting ready to turn 40 I realized that no one was coming to save me. If it was to be it was up to me! I remembered all the inspirational and motivational speakers I'd heard in the back seat of my grandma's car and when I'd been in tow with my mother at events. Some of their one liners started popping into my head. It was at that point that I realized I needed to support myself in the same way I support my family members in their daily lives, with their diet, physical fitness, and education! It was up to me to fix my broken life. We are so busy taking care of everyone else that we get lost in the mix and never get put on the list. The first thing I did was organize my physical spaces and that's when I wrote Organization is a Learnable Skill.
Pampering Is Not Self Care
Yes, a pedicure is nice, but we need to do so much more to take care of ourselves. There's child care and elder care — but when do we get to self-care? It's not selfish. When I realized no one was coming to save me, I was not ready to assume care for myself. My life was a mess, and I remember thinking, "How was this my life?" I had taken care of my family, of course, but something clicked and I knew, "If it was to be, it was up to me." That felt overwhelming because at that point I could only go day by day. I freed up time by quitting my job, and it became my mission to get out of the quicksand.
This book explains how I took care of myself so that I could better take care of everyone else. We all know the cliché truth that on an airplane you have to put on your own air mask before helping a child. It's uncomfortable to focus on yourself — but you must.
If you loved hearing this chapter, then you'll want to preorder your hard copy of Escaping Quicksand because you'll immediately join the book club. I'll be releasing the audio version one week at a time to allow you to process and implement the chapter. There will also be discussion questions for the community to chat about. I look forward to seeing you in the book club!
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Fri, 27 Feb 2026 - 29min - 1822 - 698 - PREORDER Escaping Quicksand - 10 Steps to Overcome the Overwhelm of Modern Homelife
I've been talking about a book I've been writing and I'm here to tell you all the juicy details and that you can preorder it now! In the end, I realized the world didn't need a book on how to organize your home because you have no resources to complete the tasks. Escaping Quicksand will arm you with the tools to get your home organized and move to productivity!
Thought Process and Creation
This is my sixth book. I don't tell you that to brag. I tell you that to share that I have published each book in different ways. Not sure if you have written a book but I always like to share my journey and thought process in case it's something you have been thinking about doing too.
I really struggled with feeling "set" on the book theme. I wrote two other versions of "the book" I thought I was going to publish. But one morning about 5am, it came to me. The first chapter was written in about an hour and it felt right. I finally nailed down what people needed. I wrote a book on shifting your mindset to accomplish your home organization goals! I shared the first paragraph with my team and they unanimously agreed, yes this is the book people need. I wrote it in two weeks. It was effortless and I felt passionate about what I was sharing.
And when do people need it? In June of course. I insisted on having it released on June 23rd. Why? Because that's when our year is "wrapping up." The end of June is when I have our team week. It's when school is wrapping up, we're resetting, and dreaming. And July is a great month to read a new book. This is a thinking book. Secret: When you preorder, chapters will be released early!
What's It About
You will start reading the first three pre chapters. I started by sharing my quicksand story. I realized when you have hit "rock bottom", it turns out that you just keep going, like no end to the pit. You just keep sinking until the quicksand swallows you! I want to help you before you get too deep in the quicksand. Inevitably, it seems as though we hit 40 and reevaluate life; that come to Jesus conversation we have with ourselves. We've had enough and know there has to be a solution out there somewhere.
And what about us? When do we put ourselves on the to do list? So, the next chapter is about self care. How do we care for our whole person? Our education, spiritual care, health, and all the other aspects of a whole person. The third prechapter is the fact that our household is an economic powerhouse.
And then we get into the meat of the book explaining Swiss cheese organizing, being a woman of excellence, morning and afternoon routines, letting go of housework expectations, taking "center stage" when doing housework, weekly planning, and from to do lists to productivity!
Get the Book and Join the Book Club
Who loves a book club? There are already over 1,000 people who have preordered the book and have the opportunity to join the book club. You can preorder the book through the Organize 365® website or through your favorite book retailer. Then just upload your receipt and you too can join the book club. I am planning on releasing the chapters early each week for 13 weeks. I will release videos and will be posing questions out there for all of us to discuss about the chapters and how it applies to you as a household manager. This will allow you to change your mindset in real time. It's too easy to just keep reading and not take action. This slow release will give you a week to ruminate about what you read and what the community has said.
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Fri, 20 Feb 2026 - 42min - 1821 - 697 - Planning Is the Ultimate Self-Care
Ok, the line leader for executive functions is working memory. Remember? At the end of the line is the higher level executive function of planning. Planning is the ultimate self care because it ensures high priority tasks will get completed and gives you peace. I'm explaining how getting your working memory and prospective memory to play nice, will allow Planning to have a chance to play a role in your life and finally free up your full cognitive bandwidth!
TMP
Time management planning; plan for the day, prioritize, and set deadlines. You wrote your brian down on paper and you decided if it could wait. The items that could not wait need to be plugged into a time block in your week. This is Time management planning. The key to this is leaving a little white space for when life's inevitable interruptions pop up.
Contingency Planning
You uplevel your planning when you have a contingent plan. Choose which items, if need be, for tomorrow's plan can be pushed to the next day or put back in the Sunday Basket®. We all know we will be interrupted but have you made a contingency plan, a back up plan, for the day you are planning? Studies show that people who have contingency plans get more done than those who do not. Those same studies show, mind you this is in the workplace, that even with support staff and a cleaning crew, they still only complete their to-do list, 80% of the time. At least one day a week they are not completing their tasks. Now I ask you, do you think we are interrupted more at home or at work? At home we are definitely interrupted more and we are the support staff and the cleaning crew. I hope this is giving you insight as to why you are not completing your to do list. There is a lot demanding our time.
The Sunday Basket® shines at contingent planning. On Sunday when you are making the week's plan, you can think through your meals, what if there is a snow day, what if a college doesn't meet their deadline. But you must plan at the end. We realized, in looking over the 80 questions submitted for the Sunday Basket® webinar in late December, that most of you aren't getting to the planning step. You should start with sorting index cards and going through slash pockets, then you do random tasks and managerial tasks, for me it's CFO stuff.
Lastly, PLAN! I say it takes me 90 min to 3 hours because it depends on how much I do between sorting and planning. Pro tip: I plan Friday "in pencil." I take all the tasks I need to complete and fill them into time blocks based on importance of completion. I know though, that by Friday, some tasks will have overflowed to Friday. Life happened all week. Some items will have to go back to the Sunday Basket® and some items will be pushed to Friday. There has to be white space for flexibility. That's why we have to honestly answer, "Can it wait till Sunday?" This question may free up time that was already given to something you wanted to do not had to do. There just isn't enough time to get it all done but there is enough time, if you plan, to get all the important stuff done through planning.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is the long term planning, like what we do on Planning Day, in the Productive Home Solution™. When planning, it is best to have uninterrupted time because it requires our working memory. We cannot change people so we modify the environment. We cannot eliminate distractions so we must have daily/weekly plans. Planning will never become a habit. But you can use things like the beginning of the school week to plan your weeks and the school year as a reminder to get some long term planning done. Strategic planning is how we get a grounding system in place to tackle the three types of planning; TMP, contingency, and strategic. Planning is the ultimate self care.
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Fri, 13 Feb 2026 - 31min - 1820 - 696 - Change Your Environment for Effortless Goal Attainment!
Can goal attainment really be effortless? Yes! How? I'm sharing a science backed and real life proven strategy to, yes, attain your goals effortlessly with environment modification. Last week I told you to write everything down. Now what?
Your Brain On Paper
If you were a good lil student, you have started to write down all of your interruptive thoughts. Stop trying to remember everything, just write it down! Now you have all of these thoughts on paper, your brain on paper and you may be overwhelmed. The next step, is to decide can it wait till Sunday? If so, pop that baby into the Sunday Basket® for safe keeping until it can't wait. If not, add it to your to do list for the day. If you find you are always saying yes it can wait, but you don't have a lot of motivation to get it accomplished, it's ok to toss it. Our goals, energy, money, where we live, stage of family life, our house, and other factors change projects we want to do. You aren't going to get it all done because you aren't getting it all done now. Let yourself off the hook for projects you are not longer interested in finishing.
Evolution of Systems
Our families are ever changing and I was reminded of this during my grand-turnity. Abby had her baby and I am home more helping to take care of her and my grandsons. I don't cook. But I do make Thanksgiving dinner. I thought it would be nice to make until Greg pointed out that had I just asked Greg to do it, he would have. I abdicated cooking many years ago. Greg is used to cooking and didn't appreciate me taking up space in the fridge while the turkey defrosted. You see, back in the day saving money was the goal. My cooking and grocery shopping "reality" is from those days but our family has changed. I picked up a couple of turkeys while they were cheap around Thanksgiving knowing I'd be home after Abby had the baby. But I don't grocery shop or cook anymore. I could have saved a lot of my time and money had I just let Greg do it if I had just thought about today's reality of my family dynamics and roles.
Ok the next thing to consider is your environment. First, do you still need the blender on the counter? You know it's not about the actual blender, it's just an appliance or thing you may have on the counter that you are no longer using. Smoothies may have been an everyday thing that is no longer. I moved ours to the basement, sometimes I forget, I should just pop a lil note inside the cupboard to remind me. I mean, no one is looking in my cupboards. Is your environment supporting your current goals? Could you modify your environment to better support your goals?
Decluttering and Organizing Surfaces Thoughts
I realized when I wanted to start adding collagen to my coffee that my environment was not set up to support my goals. I had about 9 steps to make my coffee, I'd get to my car and realize I had forgotten the collagen. If you are trying to lose weight, remove the cookies and put fruit in that same place. You can't eat what is not in your house. And you can't rely solely on willpower. AND it signals cues to your brain about your new goals. Science shows that when your environment is modified you can attain your goals effortlessly. As you realize what you want to modify you will need to declutter and organize that space.
The Productive Home Solution may bring light to spaces you want to modify and it will walk you through the decluttering and functionality of that space. There is a caveat here. You will have more success if you have the foundation of the Sunday Basket® established because you will already be in the habit of writing down interruptive thoughts. I went through the thought process of setting up a coffee station. In moving things around, it brought to light the cup/bottle situation for my grandsons. I wrote things down and will take action on a Sunday. The time you spend modifying your spaces to match your goals will give back time to your future self. Then the systems you put in place will simply need to be maintained. The synergy between The Sunday Basket and The Productive Home Solution will have you saving time, cognitively offloading, gaining support for your goals and making better choices too!
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Fri, 06 Feb 2026 - 40min - 1819 - 695- Mental Ozempic - How to Quiet the Female Household Manager's Mind
Ozempic is to food chatter as Index cards are to the invisible work of being a household manager. We write any thought down, cognitive offloading, and free up capacity to THINK. As household managers we aren't struggling so much with the housework, it's all of the invisible thoughts that interrupt what we were doing and now can't remember what we need to do. We are constantly volleying between working memory and prospective memory! Your working memory is your primary executive function. I want your working memory to serve its actual purpose, not just remembering to put the clothes in the dryer. What does that mean? Catch the full episode!!
New Rules
Imagine you head back to school after break and the school says that's it, no more backpacks, lockers, or computers. You must carry everything with you throughout the day. That's a lot to carry right? But we practice this everyday when we try to remember everything with no support staff, no help. And as soon as we think of something we need to do there's a "ding", a notification, a text, an interruption. So just like they gave new rules, I have a new rule for you…write everything down. It's hard to keep trying to remember everything -that's what working memory is - your brain constantly reminding you of what needs to get done.
There is science backing the idea that writing things down helps with recall. One study I shared confirmed yes it's better for recall and another study backed that hypothesis up with an MRI showing different blood flow when we hold a pen and write on paper than even a stylist to a screen. May I point out that when you are pen to paper there is no notification or anything else interrupting your thought process other than other thoughts. Which if you write each one down they won't interrupt your mindfulness. You can stay focused on your current task. I explained all of this when I gave the example of something as simple as trying to input a passcode. The amount of things that can interrupt you when you are simply "sending yourself a passcode" to then enter on an app, site, or browser that you need, is comical.
I accidentally started using this system, which has proven effective, a long time ago of just writing everything down. And in this fast paced world with notifications distracting you continuously, it's a system to record what you want to remember (Prospective Memory)…what have you got to lose? Go grab a 5 pack of index cards and let your brain's flood gates open, then start writing them down.
Got a Full Classroom?
Now imagine that you are the professor. Your working memory (the ability to hold information in your mind and manipulate it to complete work) is the classroom. It's orientation day for over 100 freshman college students. Can you hear all that chatter of the students? Can you even think? All those students are your thoughts. Now, you can clear out that classroom by writing down each thought. You write down the thought, the student leaves the classroom, and you gain back some of your working memory. That's why we write every thought down. You need to quiet your brain so you can think, not remember simple tasks like housework. Just because you are born a girl does not mean you innate know this skill.
Do the System
A system works best when you do the system. If you've heard me say it once, then you've heard me say it a thousand times, write down every thought! Pen to index card. Once you start to cognitively offload your thoughts (to move from your brain to your environment) you free up capacity allowing you to tackle much bigger tasks. Now that you have everything written down, there is no magic that all the sudden everything gets completed. Tune in next week because I am going to tell you the next step and explain why it works.
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Fri, 30 Jan 2026 - 45min - 1818 - 694 - My Word of the Year: Discipline
I left you hangin' in the last episode as to what the mindset shift is that you must have so that you can be a productive person. It's Discipline. And discipline is my word for this year. "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment" - Jim Rohn
What is the definition?
-Some of you may have a negative knee jerk reaction to the word discipline. Ready for me to reframe discipline in you mind? It is…
-The act of gaining control with obedience and order (like holding yourself accountable to picking up after yourself.)
-Having behavior in accordance with rules (like the Sunday Basket®)
-Self Control - you can struggle or you can remove items from your environment that have you have effortless self control can't eat a cookie you didn't buy and bring home.
-An activity you engage in regularly to train or inspire ones self.
-A subject taught or field of study (like the study of home management.)
-An institution
If you are listening to the podcast, odds are that you are learning discipline in the area of home management. But you do not get the results from the work you do not do. You must do the work.
What Does Discipline Look Like?
Setting and achieving goals is changing your own actions and disciplining yourself to being the person who has already achieved what you want to achieve. So I gave the example of me working out. I used to want our whole family to get healthy and work out together. Not gonna happen. So I have decided to do it for myself to achieve the goals I have for myself. And along with working out, I have changed the way I eat. My husband would prefer a meal that "makes sense and 'matches.'" A lady at work introduced us all to ingredient eating. Basically you cook the protein, pull out all kinds of things from the fridge like fruits and veggies to compliment the protein and eat what you like. This would be my preference! So I workout and eat like the person who has already accomplished my goal and support my family in other areas rather than meal preparation and working out with them.
And the more you do those things, the easier that discipline is. If you ask a productive person how they became that way, they may not be able to tell you. Because they disciplined themselves in one area till it got easier and then moved on to another area. And know, once you get a system in place, it will change. It will change with your family and phase of life you are in.
Time Blocks = Confidence
So you see why you need to be disciplined in the time blocks if you want to be a productive person. Time blocks are just these guard rails to keep you on track and systematize your time and responsibilities. Discipline yourself to do the work and it will become easier. I shared some stats to help you see this is not a "you thing." This is a field of study, a discipline, to learn how to train ourselves, bring control to, and impose order in our housework and home management. Discipline yourself to process your Sunday Basket® so that you gain confidence in this area. Discipline yourself to start watching the videos to the programs you have purchased. Do you know people who are organized are perceived as more confident? And you know what else? People feel more confident when they are organized! Dave Ramsey said "You can wander into debt but you can't wander out of it." And the same is for disorganization you can wander into but you can't wander out of it…you must discipline yourself. You must have a mindset shift.
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Fri, 23 Jan 2026 - 43min - 1817 - 693 - Turning Time Confetti into Time Blocks
Who remembers defragging your computer to make it run more efficiently? I'm talking about defragging time confetti into time blocks today. "What is time confetti?" Yes, thank you for asking…it's all those little 2 or 5 minutes that are free and sprinkled throughout your day. How can you most effectively use your confetti time to conquer the never ending, always evolving list of essential time blocks that you must complete as the mom, wife, and/or household manager?
4 Essential Time Blocks
Let's start with what demands our time. We have some mandatory tasks (time blocks) that our homes and lives demand from us. After surveying 1000 people, it became very clear that Americans define housework as laundry, food, and cleaning. I explained how I like to defrag or consolidate my cleaning and laundry to the same day and time. Saturdays are great for this for me. I get my machines going and clean till about Noon. I auditioned being available for Abby and the grand kids on Saturdays. But, I have realized I like my Lisa time on Saturdays, so I'm keeping it that way to stay sane. And food, good Lord does it take a lot of time to tackle the food part of life. You gotta plan it, buy it, process it, and then prepare it! It takes time. How can you most efficiently schedule those housework tasks into time blocks? Consolidate like tasks in one time block to efficiently and productively conquer housework. And then there's a 4th essential time block that life requires out of us.
Block 4: Household Management
The 4th essential time block to this human experience is…household management. Thank God for the Sunday Basket® that's all I can say! On Sunday's I process all the administrative and actionable paperwork for the house including the mail. I look at all the communication for the kids, texts or DM and emails that are family related. Then, I decide where our money is going for the week. Instead of paying one bill here and one there and them each taking 3 minutes. I decide in one setting which ones need to be paid and when I'll do that. In the past, this has been a game changer. When we didn't have a lot of money, it really helped me to best manage our money. And then plan my week; my time blocks. I look at all the similar tasks and put them in one time block. Like an errand time block(s). The Sunday Basket® helps you to systematize your house management. The Sunday Basket™ allows delayed procrastination till Sunday and that allows you to productively cluster or consolidate like tasks into one time block. All those invisible tasks we do - we get to visualize them and then schedule them at the optimal time.
Time for Defragging All the Confetti
THIS is a skill set that is learned over time WITH a mindset shift. You must first make the mindset shift to start to practice time blocking. I hope after hearing all of this it makes sense why you would want to defrag your time to cluster like tasks into one time block. But you need time to learn how to do it right? Where will that time come from? Planned neglect and lowering your expectations of what clean and done means my friends. You are going to choose a suggestion or two that I offered to free up some precious time. Like how Saturdays used to be a free day and we ate fast food. You may want to consider outsourcing your cleaning or laundry. I know it costs money to do what you can technically do for free, but in really overwhelming seasons of life, it'll save your well being and sanity. It can also free up time for you to learn and begin to practice how to consolidate all the things and place them into time blocks. Productive people habitually think in time blocks. They have made a mindset shift and appreciate the time block "rigidity" over the chaos of time confetti and inefficiency.
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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 - 45min - 1815 - 692 - Decluttering & Adding Habits in the New Year
Ok, it's another peek into my brain. I'm sharing the things I want to follow me into the new year and things that I'm leaving in 2025. I thought it would be beneficial for you to hear my thoughts behind these decisions and get you thinking about how you want 2026 to look for you. Planning provides a lens of calm. Somehow when a plan is in place, even if it changes, it is not as jarring as when you have to react to change with "emergency energy."
What will be joining me
As I think about 2026 approaching, there are some significant changes happening in my life. Abby will have baby number two soon and the PhD is not consuming as much of my time. So, I am looking at the extra time. I want to be intentional with showing up for Abby, taking care of my body, and due to circumstances not yet resolved, looks like I will be doing a lot more housework.
This next 120 days I'm viewing as my "grand(ma)turnity leave." I am excited for Planning Day, where I take the time to really look at my time and plug in my priorities of being a grandma and think about how I want to use all this time I am getting back. When it comes to my housework I plan to run the vacuum robot more frequently after getting some listener feedback and tips. And I will run the dishwasher daily which is more frequent than we currently do. I am looking at the time I used to give to the PhD and filling it with my new goals. I am keeping the Tovola that is in alignment with eating healthy. But will likely add in a little meal prepping to accommodate how I want to eat and Grayson's egg allergy eating regimen. So, on Thursdays, I'll be doing mid week laundry and some housekeeping. And on Saturdays you will find me at the gym with Grayson. You will find me with Grayson a lot in the next 120 days "sucking up all my time." And I wouldn't have it any other way.
What will get left behind
Sit down. I'm leaving Culver's in 2025!! Never did I think this day would come but I want to build a healthy body, I still have 46 years to live and I'm really looking at my food right now. Doggy Daycare is closing and the house keeper won't clean with Hunter home, so no housekeeper. I will be home longer in the mornings so no more coffee and breakfast at the office. And I'm ditching ithe Oura ring. That thing was frustrating me. I disagreed with it too much. And I want to wear my nice jewlery! I'm ditching my gardening shorts and Organize 365® v-necks for clothes for workout clothes that better match how I identify; as a person who works out. Late night bedtimes are going away too because I want to have plenty of energy for the Abby, Grayson, and working out.
My Golden Window is Ending
I have been spoiled getting to take two luxurious hours each Sunday morning to process my Sunday Basket® upstairs and with little Grayson in tow pretty soon, I will not be able to. I have my Sunday Basket® upstairs and another in my kitchen which is basically Abby's Sunday Basket®. I plan to break my normal processing time into two different 1 hour chunks. I think I'll read all the things while Grayson is bathing which will account for about 1 hour or a little less. And I'm auditioning other time blocks for the remaining hour I will need for thinking, planning, and billpay. I will solidify this likely in Planning Day. Now is the time to go into your 2026 Sunday Basket® and grab all those ideas you wrote down and bring them to Planning Day. Those are the ideas and intentions you wanted to consider for the new year. Yes, this community is planning 2026 already. This community does not think you are weird. When you plan now, you get to execute on Jan 1. But if you want till the dust settles in the new year, it'll be the 5th - the 9th before you start planning let alone executing.
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Fri, 09 Jan 2026 - 53min - 1814 - 691 - The Sunday Basket is SPANX For Your Kitchen Counter Clutter
Happy New Year! Which resolution did you choose; to lose weight, get outta debt, or get organized? Those are the three most common resolutions. But with any good goal you must have a way to execute an action plan otherwise you will have the same environment just different desires.
Tame the Toddler
Sometimes it feels like there is a toddler running around in our brain, right? It is constantly reminding us of future things you need to do. You are just trying to do a task like write an email but your brain is constantly bombarded with things you want to do as you look around your office or wherever you are. I got so tired of that, that I started to write everything down. Your Sunday Basket® comes with index cards for this purpose. I quiet my brain so I can be productive. As long as I follow through on Sundays, my brain will trust me that it's written down and it will get addressed. If not, it throws a tantrum and says "Since you lied, and didn't do it when you said you would, I'm going to bug you more often so you don't forget." Don't let that toddler control the narrative in your brain as you try to work through and complete tasks - just write it down.
Write It Down
I was talking to someone about mindfulness. To be clear I asked him how he defined mindfulness. It's basically being present with a person or activity. I thought, well I'm like 100% mindful. I know it sounds unrealistic but the theory goes that a person has a task thought and then makes a decision about it. But I have a thought, write it down, and carry on with what I was doing. When I get free time throughout the day, I decide if it can wait till Sunday. If it can wait it goes in the Basket for review on Sunday. And if not I place it in front of the Sunday Basket to address when I have time that day. This is where time and capacity come from! I offload my thoughts into my environment. Study after study confirms this is the most effective strategy to remember what you want to remember to do in the future - prospective memory.
If your goal is to change up the spaces in your home, you need a Sunday Basket® to hold all of the ideas you have for that project. How you intend to use the drawers, cabinets, or spaces. It's 10x's harder to try to complete that task on memory alone because your brain is trying to remember all the normal stuff and all the ideas you have for that space. I don't know about you but my brain is the worst note taker! The Sunday Basket® is a great keeper of the notes about the things I want to do, have, and be!
The Sunday Basket® is Spanx for Your Kitchen Counter Clutter
Let's talk about all the boxes or catch all containers you have in your house. At some point you got a call that company was coming to your house. In one swoop, you gathered everything from your kitchen counter, but did you go through it after your company left? This is why the Sunday Basket® is the solution for normal people trying to do #allthethings. If your goal this year is to get organized, get out of debt, or lose weight, the system, the essential "office supply" you need is the Sunday Basket®. You shove all your kitchen counter clutter in it, you feel more organized already(get your environment to match your intention), and it looks good on your kitchen counter just like Spanx for our bodies. The Sunday Basket® is an organized way and holding all of your ideas on how you want to accomplish getting organized, getting out of debt, losing weight, or any other resolution you set for yourself this year.
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Fri, 02 Jan 2026 - 31min - 1813 - Coffee Chat: New Year, New You Enrollment Event + Webinar
You made it! All the holiday stuff is done. It's the day after Christmas and you are finally coming up for air. You finally have a minute to think about what you need on this bonus day as your family is entertained with their new stuff. Well I have a couple of treats for you.
I know on Black Friday, you were shopping for others. But now, now that you can think about what you'd like…You'd like to upgrade your DIY Sunday Basket®. You are in luck because when you get the Sunday Basket®, now till the end of the year, you will also get a portable Sunday Basket®! That's a $75 value just for getting a system that will keep your actionable papers safe. We are in this never ending rat race and now that we made it through the holidays, it's almost the new year and another thing after that. You need a system to keep everything straight and in a place you can find them.
And if you already have the Sunday Basket® and value the system, you may be ready to commit to implementing a system in your house to optimize the people in it and the phase of life you are in. And right now, you'll get Planning Day added on for free. You won't get the workbook in time but good news…the replay is available for 6 weeks. You may be on the fence about joining because of the price or the time commitment. But think about if your spouse wanted to get in shape. Would you find room in your budget to pay for a gym membership or improve their work out clothes? If they wanted to further their education would you find funds to pay for it and allow them time for their studies? You would do it fo them, now it's time to do it for you! I know sometimes we feel like we should inherently know how to organize a home but we just don't. The course will support you in learning this system and you will be even more supported by the community inside the app. I know, you just want your home to run effortlessly. You just want to know where the stuff is when you need it. Join the Productive Home Solution and set your intention for 2026.
And then I want to invite you to join me on Monday December 29th for a webinar where I will be sharing the science behind why the Sunday Basket® and The Productive Home Solution works. What is going on in our brains as we get organized? Tune in as I explain the science!
Option 1:
Free Portable Sunday Basket® when you purchase the Complete Sunday Basket®
Option 2:
Free Planning Day when you join The Productive Home Solution
Option 3:
Treat yourself to both foundational systems!
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Fri, 26 Dec 2025 - 12min - 1812 - 690 - Purposeful Transitions: How to Prepare and Plan For a New Season
Happy Boxing Day! Let's talk about transitions and what you need to declutter or add to resemble where you are going. We are all transitioning into the new year. I'm sharing the smallest shift you can make to be more intentional with what you want to get out of 2026. How are you planning with that anticipatory energy of things to come when the ball drops at midnight on New Years Eve?
Transition
So yes, we are all transitioning into a new year. We have this anticipatory energy as to what could happen for us in 2026. For me personally I'm thinking about a "new me" too. I know this is common for this time of year but if you have been listening to the podcast you know this has been on my radar in 2025. I have adjusted and transitioned into a person who works out. I shared some habits I've made with my workout schedule, water consumption, increasing my movement, and changes in my eating habits this past year. Increasing my workout frequency, it dawned on me that I may need to buy more clothes for pilates. I've transitioned into a person that works out. But my workout clothes did not reflect that. I started in gardening shorts and Organize 365® v-necks. Time to make my clothes reflect my intentions. You see, I find it beneficial to set my environment to match the intention of the transformation I'm working towards. It's a small shift that has had a big impact. So I will be getting a few new items for working out. Because I am now a person who works out.
When you consider transitions you have made this year it may require changes in wardrobe, equipment, and maybe your office, to do, be, and have what you want in 2026. You kids too will transition. Maybe they need new age appropriate toys, better fitting clothes, or even a uniform for a new club they joined.
Transformation
How can you signify to yourself that you have changed? The smallest yet effective thing I have done in my transformation processes is to make my environment match how I identify with myself. I needed new clothes that a person who works out wears. I needed a new water bottle once I realized the office has reverse osmosis and the waste I was creating with my bottled water; because I'm a person who drinks water. I want you to carefully consider what did you learn in 2025 and what new habits will be going into 2026 with you as a result of who you transformed into.
Transition – > Transformation
Put it all together? Planning Day is the perfect time to really reflect on all these ideas. How do you use your time now? What habits did you change? Are you choosing a word of the year? It's the time to decide what habits are going with you into the new year, set some intentions, and make your environment match those intentions. We'll take six combined hours between Prep Planning Day(2 hours on 12/29) and Planning Day (6 hours on 12/31) to look at your time to see where you can pop in new things to try out that will support your intentions. And if a large project like sprucing up a room or getting a PhD is part of the transformation you can get to planning what that will look like with your real life, your real family, and your real goals.
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Fri, 26 Dec 2025 - 28min - 1811 - 689 - Christmas Sanity Savers
We are in it! There's no time left to plan anything so how can you still be proactive and ahead of things? I'm sharing my sanity saving tips to meet you and your family's needs and still show up as your best self in these last couple of weeks in December. We are in those flexible strange last weeks of the year so what can you do to save your sanity?
Event Go Bags
If you only have time to implement one thing - this is it! Event go bags are like the go back you should have packed to grab at a moment's notice so you have the things you need while you are away from home for an unknown amount of time. In this instance, you will look at the calendar and place a bag, in an out of the way area, for each event. Then you're going to put some kind of clip on it to attach any notes you make to yourself about the event like grab the appetizer from the refrigerator or return the book to Aunt Betty that you want to remember as you go out the door for the event. As the date approaches, you can add items to the bag too that you want to remember to bring…maybe Aunt Betty's book.
And I strongly recommend a donation area. I know I talked about it recently that you may be getting the bug to declutter. We have January energy creeping up on us and we want things to be clean before company comes. A great free activity is decluttering with your kids. Because they are home and they are bored! But you definitely don't have time to pack everything up and head to a donation center. No problem. Create a designated area for items you may want to donate. And while decluttering you may find Aunt Betty's book which then you can place in that bag which is likely near the donation area. See how that just works out? This is the beauty of the Sunday Basket® that we all appreciate. It's one designated place for safe keeping actionable items until the time we intend to address them. I know these two spaces may create a little clutter but let's be honest most of our homes look like it's the day before laundry day right now anyway! Let's stay sane.
Two Week Big Haul
I realize this next suggestion you may have to play with your paycheck schedule now but utilize it this year and plan for it next year in your operations binder. I want you to make a grocery haul for the next two weeks. We talked about a version of this before Thanksgiving. You need snacks, meals, and more snacks. The kids are off school and people are snacking like it's their job. Think about all the appetizers or items you need to bring to any parties. Consider paper plates this year in between the meals or even for the meals too depending on your phase of life. Just decide what is right for your family. Then do it. Consider your finances and then decide what all you can do and get it done to save your sanity! You don't have time for multiple trips to the store in addition to everything else.
Final Suggestions
Gas up the car so you can get to where you need to go without having to make yourself late stopping to get gas. Make sure you have enough stamps for thank you letters or Christmas cards. And if you are stuck in the stone age with me using cash, get some cash. You never know when you'll need to pay someone back for your half of the meal or something they picked up for you. Or you could just send it on Zelle or Venmo like the cool kids. Take advantage of these tips because these last few weeks are going to be amazing!
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Fri, 19 Dec 2025 - 27min - 1810 - 688 - Best Laid Plans With Sarah Hart Unger
Are you ready to hear all about Sarah Hart Unger's new book, "Best Laid Plans"? I learned new things from reading it and in this podcast I hope you too learn new ways to make yourself more efficient. Then grab your copy of her book. There are few people who love to plan as much as me and Sarah is one of them. Sarah shared all about planning with school aged children, how she's overcoming distractions and how to still dream.
Closed Systems Input
She had me by page 14! She was talking about all the input from closed systems that we are all overwhelmed with between an organization's app, Whatsapp, school apps, etc. It'd be nice if they all talked to each other…or would it be? I was so excited Grayson's school was able to populate my google calendar till I realized it was all events for the school. I guess I liked it better with manual entry but then we discussed there has to be a cadence to checking all the closed systems and knowing where to put it in your trusted system so you will see it when you need to. We also talked about the cognitive load and admin time it takes to collect all of the information that needs to be on the calendar. And for the love, people, plan your planning time; don't just try to work it into the nooks and cranny of your day.
Long Range Planning
Sarah offered such a powerful way to think of long range planning. Start with thinking of how old your children will be, you will be, and how you want life to look by that time. It's effective to zoom out to a bird's eye view to get a different perspective of time passing. I really loved that way of planning for the future and planning the next 5 years. She suggested thinking of milestones or big birthdays and how do you want to celebrate them? She envisioned a celebration which included travel for her 20th anniversary and now they are headed to HI next year to do just that. What you think about you bring about. Sarah did hers for travel but you could do it for your career, a PhD, your family, living location, type of house, or anything else.
Time Blocking
We learned something interesting here, I retroactively fill in how I spent my time if there's a blank space as a reminder to myself and my family that I did act as the wife, mother, and grandmother while I pursue my career and passions. And Sarah retroactively fills in her media use to hold herself accountable even podcasts she may have listened to. She got a gold star for having documented listening to the Organize 365® Podcast.
Time Sucks
Sarah shared that she doesn't have social media because she cannot trust herself on it. Some people can't have a little bit of chocolate and she cannot have a little bit of social media. Although we both laughed how we somehow got sucked into Reddit! I shared how I will be filling my old PhD time slot with the gym. Sarah said yes, to replace a time suck with something that you want to start to do or something more productive like audio books. We all have to fill our cups and you could be filling your cup instead of wasting time.
Planner Privilege
So imagine (these are general observations) the wife says "Let's plan next weekend." Husband replies he doesn't want to and "It always works out!" Sarah and I laughed because for the most part everything fun you have ever done was planned. It always "works out" for the other spouse because it was planned by the opposite spouse. We talked pros and cons of the white board and digital solutions. Then we talked about how you get your family involved with the system you've chosen and how to communicate the schedule. It was all so good! Listen then grab her book, "Best Laid Plans"
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Fri, 12 Dec 2025 - 55min - 1809 - 687 - Taking Advantage of the End of the Year, Decluttering & Planning Energy
I feel it and I know you do too. That decluttering and planning energy is starting to bubble up but who has time to deal with that? No one. We're all stuck in this purgatory of sorts where Thanksgiving is done but there's a lul until the December holiday that you celebrate. So I'm sharing best practices to harness that energy, use it for good, but all delay doing anything about it, for just a little bit.
Decluttering
You are waiting for all your purchases to arrive. You know what people are getting or even yourself and you want to purge the old. But wait! If you purge toys now, what will they play with until Christmas (this will be my example because that's the holiday I celebrate)? I recommend starting a slash pocket for decluttering alone. This way in the future you will remember what you brain told you to declutter. You have too much going on right now and there will be time for decluttering in the last week of the year. However around the 22nd or 23rd you may wanna get a little head start. It would be fun to reward your kids for their efforts too. If you are in the Productive Home Solution, you can find certificates for the kids and it's just a fun spin on the tasks. They want to make room for the things they asked for too.
Planning
You already are experiencing that dreaming energy of what could be for 2026. Your brain is begging for a new planner and expressing dreams for 2026. In episode 681, I shared the 4 ways I will plan from now to the end of the year, and that first step is dreaming. So go ahead, make a slash pocket just for goals, then write down what comes to mind on index cards, place in your Sunday Basket for safe keeping till you have the time and energy. The time will be Planning Day because they match up to when planning energy is high for most people.
Power of the Sunday Basket@
The Sunday Basket in general is for capturing ideas when your brain has them so when you have time and energy you can do what your brain wanted you to do. In the Holiday Blitz Planning Day we divided the Sunday Basket into three Sunday Baskets®. We we delaying some ideas into the New Year Basket®, we had holiday ideas, and then one remained our weekly use Sunday Basket®. You always get a workbook that has some planner components and gets you in the planning mindset.
Finally, you get to do the planning that was brewing in early December. On December 29th at noon (CST), you will once again reorganize your Sunday Baskets® for new purposes. Planning Day Prep is first and you will clean out your weekly Sunday Basket® for a fresh start for the new year. This is when you take notes and "guides" about your family holidays and file that slash pocket back into the Household Operations Binder. This day is for filling in the workbook with the "ground work" information that will support you completing the workbook during Planning Day, go through that planning slash pocket you created, relabeling your slash pockets, and labeling your tear pads.
Now you are prepped and ready for Planning Day on December 31st at 10 am (CST). You will spend 4 hours planning the next 4 months. It's time, you have the time and the energy has been bubbling this whole time, go nuts, plan away. Remember that planning slash pocket? Now you get to decide what you take action on that your brain wanted you to remember. You will plug in your goals, play with routines you want to establish to support your goals, as well as plan around your family and work responsibilities. My childhood ritual was to get a new planner in December, May and August. I just loved leaving old objectives in the past, dreaming of what I could be, I could do, and what did I want? And now I get to teach you how to do the same for you and your house.
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Fri, 05 Dec 2025 - 23min - 1808 - 686 - December Planning Energy is Here! Decorating, Shopping, and Planning for December
Let's revisit some characteristics of December energy because last week you were deep in Thanksgiving energy and you may have missed a few things I suggested planning. Do we all agree the energy has shifted? Even though the calendar still says November, we're all in December!
After the Big Meal
The dishes have been cleaned and the company has gone home. Now what? You have a couple of days before you return to your normal weekly routines. Now is the time to plan so you can be a proactive holiday person instead of reactive. This is the time to prevent stress and over spending. It's never about all the things we need to do. It's the order in which we do them, when we do them, and the energy we have when we do them. I want to start to focus on what needs to be done to set up this audience for success on Saturday and Sunday or these situations when we have unique pockets of time. Here's the plan to set you up for success as we go into December!
Before You Unpack the Holiday Decor
Let's plan decorating your home for December. What does it look like, smell like, and taste like in your home during December? Remember how we asked our family what they'd like for Thanksgiving? Do the same for December. My family told me it was all about lights for them. So a few years ago I just put up what I wanted and lots of lights. I thought for sure they'd remember a certain item so I kept everything. But no. And the next year the same. But the dread I felt knowing I had tubs of decor I didn't want to use put a damper on wanting to decorate. After Christmas that second year of not putting out as much I convinced myself to donate all the extras…even childhood items. I felt an epic amount of guilt. But that next year when I went to get out the decorations all I felt was relief!! I went from trying to fulfill non-existent family expectations to minimally decorating to donating extras and decorating in record time. But now is the time or you'll blink and it'll be the Monday before Christmas!
And now is the time to shop! I shop now because the lists are ever changing. This prevents me from spending in September and December thus going over budget. Lots of time the prices go down or you get better deals like bundles. It's less time that I have to hide what I bought although this year Organize 365® is the delivery address of choice so I (and all employees) don't have to hide anything. And this is the shopping energy season. Everyone else is shopping and I love to shop so naturally I want to be shopping too! This is also the time to stock up on cards and gift cards for global gifts for people like your babysitter, teachers, amazon delivery people, your house keeper, trash collectors, and etc.
Winter Break
This is the time of year I normally plan one big outing and a couple of smaller outings. You'll all be home and the kids will be looking for something to do and you probably don't want to spend a bazillion dollars. You can still sleep in, I am just encouraging you to plan something each day. Usually the most fun times come from someone planning it. You can plan an activity or goal each day. I shared how I planned my extra time in episode 683. I want you to revisit it and think about how you could best provide some self care? When the break is over you will feel like you made memories, accomplished a few goals, and ready for January.
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Fri, 28 Nov 2025 - 25min - 1807 - 685 - The 3 Organization Essential F's of Thanksgiving: Food, Family & Fun
Are you ready for the 6 busiest weeks of the year? Let's zoom out and look at our family, our houses, and events to orchestrate a place of planning, purpose, and memory making. I wanted to share the energy I feel this time of year and how I manage my expectations of myself and others during this busy season.
Fed People are Happy People
When I think ahead and plan the food component of Thanksgiving I have much lower stress. Once you get the day before the holiday off of work/school, the day of Thanksgiving, and the next day, plus the weekend; you now need to plan food for 5-7 days. Think about your own weekend habits. You eat differently, you spend differently, and you have a different energy. In my experience when people are fed they are much happier people and then I get to enjoy the holiday too. Think ahead and plan a fun breakfast, have on hand some snacky/appetizer type treats, and what meals you'll have.
Ok now, on the big day…this is a food holiday! This is NOT the holiday to try a new recipe or a spin on a favorite dish! Talk to your family and find out what foods are important to them. Do you need a whole dessert table maybe? Make sure that "certain" dish is there for the ones you love. Now that could get pricey so here's a tip to cut the budget: Ask that guests to bring their special dish. I've noticed as my eating habits have changed so too must my plate at Thanksgiving. Now I just take a few bites of everything I like and leave it at that. No need to overstuff myself and feel miserable the rest of the day.
Family
Once all the food is in place you get to catch up with all of your family. Please people manage your expectations. Lean into gratitude for the family you do have. I have lost loved ones, so I choose to be grateful for the family in the room on Thanksgiving. You may need to change a conversation or hop in a game that people are playing to avoid certain conversations.
And permission to not kill yourself cleaning. Your family is not doing a white glove inspection and they aren't going past the common spaces and a bathroom. Speaking of the bathroom, make sure you have plenty of toilet paper! You'll need lots of that and dish cloths to ensure others can help with all the dishes and cleaning up!
Fun to include everyone
I love a game being played to infuse fun into the room and include others or people who are joining your family for the first time. You may hear of someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving because loved ones have passed, or travel isn't possible, or other reasons - invite them to join you and your family! It's that much easier to make memories when fun is in the air! Break out some fun board games and put the Thanksgiving Day Parade on followed by some football.
And then it's like you have a 3 day weekend after the big day so here's what I do. I shop the Black Friday deals on my phone. Side note: I do want to thank everyone who will be working the Holidays like our first responders and retail personnel. Heads up Organize 365® will be starting our Black Friday sale on Wednesday so no one has to break from the festivities. I'm also planning to do some holiday baking and normally this is when I decorate for my holiday of choice - Christmas. I hope this helps to reduce your stress this holiday season and let's you be more present in making holiday memories.
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Fri, 21 Nov 2025 - 26min - 1805 - 684 - Technology is Making Me and My House Dumb
All these advanced technologies are supposed to be saving us time right? I ask you "Is it saving you time?" Our devices, robots, and social media seem to be sucking up a lot of time and cognitive load. In my observation, it seems to me, I am spending more time on apps, updates, and managing robots and getting frustrated than saving time. I just wanted to have a conversation about what I am seeing and hear from you…you too?
Smart Homes
You all know the struggle I have had with our robot vacuum. I finally had waited out the lease on the last one that never seemed to connect to wifi or be charged. This new one I can get charged. I can get it to connect to the wifi. I was pumped on one of my days during the staycation when all the stars had aligned and I was ready to run her. I opened the app to start her up and got a notification that I needed to update the app…no problem. I had the day off. But now there was a wifi issue. At this point, I could have burned a few calories and had my floors vacuumed but no I was still messing around with the wifi connection. The kicker? I knew once I finally got her working, she can't even complete the first floor without recharging so I couldn't even get all the floors vacuumed. I'd have to pick 3 of the 4 zones to get cleaned. Like come on people, this is not saving me any time.
Recently we replaced our HVAC with a top of the line system. It's so good, it took 4 service calls to actually get it working correctly. The zones were set wrong so it wasn't performing correctly. This wasn't saving me any time. What good is the app at saving me time, if the system isn't set up right? And don't get me started about the washer/dryer combo unit I invested in. I'm getting notified of everything it's doing whether I care or not. It's taking my cognitive load and increasing it. Can I just get some base model machines with start and stop buttons and that's it? I don't need all this technology, frustration, and distraction.
Phones
Then I slowly started to notice my increased phone time. And my kids noticed it of themselves too. Joey in fact asked for a dumb phone. I dont' know what is it lately but I go to check email and all the sudden I'm scrolling on Instagram and forgot what I got on my phone to do in the first place. We are more entertained than ever but we are also more lonely than ever. When Greg and I went to those small towns, we didn't see people. Where were all the people? In their homes, on their phones. So I started to think, what did I used to do when I got bored? Now I scroll Instagram or play a game on my phone. BUT I used to like to scrapbook, do puzzles, listen to audio books, and organize. I want to challenge you to make a small list of things you can do off your phone when you have free time. What do you like to do? Ask yourself, Are you in control of your phone or is it in control of you? And is that how you want it to be? Turn off notifications, place your phone face down when not in use, and put your ringer on silent. Create the home environment you want.
Short Conversations
And it's great that we have so many sources for information but it's limiting our conversations. Since it would appear we all the know the same news, I am challenging myself to have deeper conversations with the people in my family and you may want to too. Here are a few questions to have more meaningful conversations.
How do you feel about that?
What do you think will happen next?
How did you find out about that?
Yeah, I did hear about that but tell me what did you hear about that?
I want to have rich relationships with the people in my house not monitoring my robots so I have more time to scroll. I want to be growing and learning in my free time. What do you want?
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Fri, 14 Nov 2025 - 41min - 1804 - 683 - PTO Time Just for ME! Modern Self Care
This may have been a first, once we decided to not go to Italy, I decided to take my full planned vacation and Greg decided to go back to work. We had our 4 day staycation but the rest of the planned time off was all mine. How did I spend it?
Golden Window
I am definitely in a unique-to-me Golden Window. The PhD is winding down, we are making massive shifts at work, and I will soon be the grandma of two heartbeats. As I realized I was going to have a lot of time to do whatever I wanted I asked myself what that should be. I plugged Greg into my calendar with the things we wanted to do. Then I looked at Abby's calendar to see went the optimal time was to spend time with her and getting her ready for the baby. I did end up spending a 4 hour block of time in the office on Sat. morning but it gave me the opportunity to bring home some Workboxes I've been wanting to clean out and organize. I also took a little time to fill in my home and work 2 and ½ year planners.
Scrapbooking
On Sunday Afternoon I got the best treat, Grayson fell asleep on me for about 90 minutes. But you know me, I'm productive. So while I was trapped in grandma heaven I ordered pictures. Because one of my initiatives once the PhD is done, is to get back to scrapbooking. So I ordered pictures and loved on Grayson. During this time off I was able to get a lot of sorting of pictures done and now I feel ready to start #allthescrapbooks
Shopping Like it was the 80's
And then I had a friend who was going to kind of be on standby for Abby and Grayson while we were gone who said "Ya know, I still have that time free, do you want to do something?" I did! I wanted to go shopping. We took two whole days shopping. We thoroughly went through the women's department in each store and just took our time. This made going through my closet fun too. I did a little rearranging of what's in my closet with the newest modification of Hunter (our dog) sleeping in my closet now. I am ready for this next phase of life.
And we checked out Costco and Sam's Club. I wanted to compare products that they offered. And I knew Sam's Club had the diapers and wipes I wanted to stock up on for the baby. This grandma is ready for grandbaby number 2!
As the week came to and end, I had the choice to go back into the office on Thursday or take one more day to myself. I talked myself into staying home. I got to get to some binders, workboxes, and slash pockets I'd been wanting to. I got to grab high tea with my cousin and after we went for a nice long walk. With the baby coming and the hurry up and wait game with the dissertation, I knew to maximize on this time. Self care is more than a massage. I wanted to share how I spent my time, to give you ideas of different ways of self care.
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Fri, 07 Nov 2025 - 19min - 1803 - 682 - Italy Was Cancelled. My Staycation With My Husband
I know, I'm full of shocking news lately. Yes, we cancelled Italy again! I started to feel like we were really pushing this trip through and it was causing a lot of anxiety. Plan B became a staycation. I can't wait to tell you what we did!
Cancellation Reasons
Everyone encouraged me to not cancel the trip. Four days before we were supposed to leave I turned to Greg and said "We can't go to Italy." And he completely agreed. I didn't buy the insurance this time but we are able to recoup most of that money as long as we book within a year so third times a charm hopefully!
When Abby told us this spring that she was pregnant we were excited for this new little heartbeat but also realized that meant she'd be 25 weeks when we were away. Now the time had come and we just didn't feel right leaving her. I had set up all these people to come help her and then there was the dog to worry about and it was leading to a lot of anxiety. Once we decided to cancel, that all went away and the environment in our house was immediately better. It's funny once you cancel something and then the issues that were prohibiting you all of the sudden are gone. But nonetheless, we decided on a staycation and I got to planning!!
4 Days with Greg
Day 1: We decided to visit a few small towns nearby to do a little boutique shopping. You could still feel the effects of Covid because the store hours were limited and some were only open on the weekends. Then we went to a cooking class and learned how to make pasta. We had fun but might not be "our thing." And then toured Home-O-Rama. It was different than what we were used to.
Day 2: We had a great day in Lebanon, OH. We went to lunch at the Golden Lamb and tried to shop again. I quickly realized all the shops were for women. We found an art gallery though and really enjoyed our time there. We found out we both really like the same artwork and found a few artists that we will keep our eye on. Funny enough some of the artwork was that we had seen in the homes of Home-O-Rama. And then we drove to another little town and we checked into our hotel. There was nothing to do so we waited till the restaurant opened at 4pm. We had a two and a half hour dinner and I was really intentional with the conversations I started. This is "our thing" and I'd like to have more leisurely dinners with Greg.
Day 3: Family needed us so I am glad we didn't stray too far.
Day 4: Last day we were off together and we headed to the Keenland horse track in Lexington, KY. We had a great time. The people watching was fantastic. I discovered I might need to pick up a sundress because this too was something we really enjoyed that I would like to do more of and I like to look the part. When in Rome… It was fun to discover new things we like to do together and it was great to connect with Greg!
Baby Ready
And I got to spend some time with Abby. We spent some special time together really getting her ready for the baby. It was nice to have some undivided time to support Abby.
I can't wait to tell you what I did with the remaining days of my time off. And I want to share with you something I realized about technology and how conversations are more difficult these days because we have all the information coming at us all at the same time. It's not like we are sharing new information with each other. That was why I got so intentional with my conversation with Greg the night of our long dinner.
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Fri, 31 Oct 2025 - 20min - 1802 - 681 - 4 Ways I Will Plan From Now to the End of the Year. Holiday Blitz, Holiday Blitz Mini Planning Day, Seasonal Sanity Savers and New Year Planning Days
Sometimes I get wary of sharing how much I plan. But because I plan I get to be more purposeful and present in my life which gives me peace. I'm sharing the 3 phases I go through to plan. I dream. I contemplate allllllllll the possibilities. Then I choose what I want to do from all dreams I came up with. And then I plan it and confidently run that plan knowing I thought of everything.
Holiday Blitz so you can leave the Witches in Oct.
Halloween has passed, you are in the thick of the holidays but you still feel like a witch. Why? Because you are trying to meet everyone's expectations but no one is aware of all you are doing nor do they care. We are putting all this pressure and these expectations on ourselves!! I'm here to share how to shed those witchy feelings with the Holiday Blitz. In the holiday blitz there are 5 videos and printables. After the videos, you will "interview your family" about what makes the holidays special for them BEFORE the holidays. You will dream about what you want the holidays to look like this year. And after talking to your family it'll be easy to choose what you want to execute.
Holiday Mini Planning Day
The Holiday Blitz Mini Planning Day is a taste of what home planning day is like. This is when we take the one Sunday Basket® and divide it into three Sunday Baskets®. You will have a Holiday Sunday Basket® for the meaty experience you want to plan, recipes, gift ideas, and all the holiday cheer you want to provide this year. There will be a "next year" Sunday Basket® where you can safely place paper that doesn't need your attention until next year. You place this Sunday Basket® in another room. And of course, your regular weekly Sunday Basket® for your "new part time job" of being the memory maker; with the additional shopping, decorating, traveling, and so forth. We'll take a look at the week of Thanksgiving and the last two weeks of December and plan in time blocks. And I share tips on how to strategically shop Black Friday to save money all year.
I know not everyone has the capacity or time to plan luxuriously like this. So…I am offering a 30 mini workshop where you can take just a few minutes to plan. I know everyone is really busy but I really want you to enjoy the holidays this year! Stay tuned for more details so you stay sane and present for the holidays.
Home Prep & Planning Day
And we end the year with more planning. Yes I really do all of this planning. But you will see as the year comes to an end you will be already dreaming of what this 2026 year can bring. It's still full of so much potential. Prep day is Monday. You will reset your Sunday Baskets® and update slash pocket labels and contents. Some paper may need to go in your operations binder. And you will have a Taxes Sunday Basket® for a landing place when all the documents start coming in the mail. You'll have one extra Sunday Basket® which will be for your first project in the new year. And then you choose what projects and ideas you will be actually planning for on Wed.
And On Wednesday we'll start getting a plan on paper in the workbook. What will the first 120 days/ 4 months of 2026 look like? In each of these planning phases I dream. How could it look? And then I choose. I make an actionable plan to execute the choices I made. And lastly, run that plan with confidence. Because you take the time to plan, you can peacefully be present.
Once you have experienced the peace of planning, you will find the time to plan. I promise! And the more you plan, you'll want to plan even more!
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Holiday Blitz 2025 (Oct. 27th)
Holiday Mini Planning Day (Nov. 14th)
30 Min. Holiday Sanity Saver Workshop (Dec. 19th)
Home Prep and Planning Day (Dec. 29 - Dec. 31)
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Fri, 24 Oct 2025 - 41min - 1800 - 680 - (Re-Air) The Future of Housework Research. Where Organize 365 is Going.
I really love Lillian Gilbreth's focus on efficiency for the American home. I'd like to think I'm picking up where she left off. After the war, "men took back their jobs." But did it ever occur to you that women worked at these factories and there were dual income homes before the war? It had not occurred to me. I wanted to be home but some women wanted to be at work, working in their uniqueness making a paycheck. Now that the soldiers had returned to work, more women were home, the big packaged food companies marketed to her about how to make her life easier.
Past Mistakes
In the past science has just determined the definition of housework and completed their studies based on it. And human nature is to do the household tasks of your gender, as you saw displayed growing up. But there's a new sheriff in town and I asked the public how they defined housework and I am so excited to publish my findings. In conducting studies in the past they also used a convenience sample group for their studies; like all college students. This gave skewed results.
In one study, they used married couples with children. This also resulted in what I call "He said, She said" about who is doing what housework. And who is doing more. That convenience sample was ok in the 80's because that was roughly 60% of the population; married with children. But now? Married with children only represents roughly 25% of the population. My sample groups will be large and mimic the US Census to accurately reflect the general public. I want to be able to focus on teaching efficiency for all genders, all ethnicities, and all family compositions. Because I want a single mom, a multigenerational home, or a nuclear family to learn how to get organized, leading to productivity, that reduces household work.
1 Problem 1 Product
It's easy to want to solve one product for one problem but there's an underlying problem. This is how people try to start to organize often. I used a child getting ear infections as an example. The first infection, one product for one problem. But then too many infections and now we need to look at the underlying problem. When you look for one product for problem, you get in this cycle of decluttering to organization and back to decluttering but you never get to move on to productivity because the skill of organization has not yet been learned.
But just like getting a celiac diagnosis, you must modify your environment to achieve your desired goal. The Productive Home Solution teaches you to declutter, organize, and modify your home. The Paper Solution® teaches best information management practices. The Sunday Baskset® provides a system to optimize all your household manager responsibilities. The first time around decluttering and organizing can take some time but then it's just maintenance. New milestone, then you modify your environment again but you don't have to learn the skill all over. You just apply it to the new phase of life you are in like a new baby, home, job, or milestone birthday.
The Mission
By now you may have heard Organize 365® is decluttering all work related products and services as of December 31, 2025. This will allow more time to focus on universal application of the systems Organize 365® offers. I want to answer what is essential housework? How can housework be most efficiently optimized and operationalized? How can we all do less housework? And I plan to focus on testing and disseminating results from studies about systems and methods in the marketplace and in academia. Here's to the next chapter of Organize 365®.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
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Mon, 20 Oct 2025 - 41min - 1798 - 680 - The future of Housework Research. Where Organize 365® is going
I really love Lillian Gilbreth's focus on efficiency for the American home. I'd like to think I'm picking up where she left off. After the war, "men took back their jobs." But did it ever occur to you that women worked at these factories and there were dual income homes before the war? It had not occurred to me. I wanted to be home but some women wanted to be at work, working in their uniqueness making a paycheck. Now that the soldiers had returned to work, more women were home, the big packaged food companies marketed to her about how to make her life easier.
Past Mistakes
In the past science has just determined the definition of housework and completed their studies based on it. And human nature is to do the household tasks of your gender, as you saw displayed growing up. But there's a new sheriff in town and I asked the public how they defined housework and I am so excited to publish my findings. In conducting studies in the past they also used a convenience sample group for their studies; like all college students. This gave skewed results.
In one study, they used married couples with children. This also resulted in what I call "He said, She said" about who is doing what housework. And who is doing more. That convenience sample was ok in the 80's because that was roughly 60% of the population; married with children. But now? Married with children only represents roughly 25% of the population. My sample groups will be large and mimic the US Census to accurately reflect the general public. I want to be able to focus on teaching efficiency for all genders, all ethnicities, and all family compositions. Because I want a single mom, a multigenerational home, or a nuclear family to learn how to get organized, leading to productivity, that reduces household work.
1 Problem 1 Product
It's easy to want to solve one product for one problem but there's an underlying problem. This is how people try to start to organize often. I used a child getting ear infections as an example. The first infection, one product for one problem. But then too many infections and now we need to look at the underlying problem. When you look for one product for problem, you get in this cycle of decluttering to organization and back to decluttering but you never get to move on to productivity because the skill of organization has not yet been learned.
But just like getting a celiac diagnosis, you must modify your environment to achieve your desired goal. The Productive Home Solution teaches you to declutter, organize, and modify your home. The Paper Solution® teaches best information management practices. The Sunday Baskset® provides a system to optimize all your household manager responsibilities. The first time around decluttering and organizing can take some time but then it's just maintenance. New milestone, then you modify your environment again but you don't have to learn the skill all over. You just apply it to the new phase of life you are in like a new baby, home, job, or milestone birthday.
The Mission
By now you may have heard Organize 365® is decluttering all work related products and services as of December 31, 2025. This will allow more time to focus on universal application of the systems Organize 365® offers. I want to answer what is essential housework? How can housework be most efficiently optimized and operationalized? How can we all do less housework? And I plan to focus on testing and disseminating results from studies about systems and methods in the marketplace and in academia. Here's to the next chapter of Organize 365®.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
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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!
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 - 41min - 1796 - 679 - Lillian Gilbreth, First Female Applied Psychology Phd, Cheaper By The Dozen
In the last episode we talked about Maria Montessori, her becoming the first female doctor in Italy and her impact on alternative learning methods. Today I'm talking about Lillian Gilbreth who was the first female to get her psychological doctorate in industrial organizational psychology. Lillian is the original "Cheaper By the Dozen" mom who exemplified what it meant to be a successful working mother.
Lillian Gilbreth
Lillian married Frank, in Rhode Island, in 1904. While growing their family, Lillian and Frank started a company together called Gilbreth Incorporated. She studied how to make the workplace support their workers. She was able to publish many papers about her findings but they were all under Frank's name due to "the times" and women's rights. And I'm sure we don't have some of her work. She was the first person to link scientific management with psychology after earning her PhD in Applied Psychology. There is a large gap of information and I hope to change that with the research I want to do. Unfortunately Frank passes away when she's 46.
Lillian's Ideas
After studying how we use our homes, Lillian came up with a kitchen design. Remember this was back when food wasn't so "grab and go" and a lot of people made things from scratch. There was an assigned space for your ingredients like flour and sugar. Lillian came up with the triangle between your refrigerator, stove, and kitchen sink. Lillian discovered the proper counter height, the pedal trash can, and shelves & egg/butter storage in the door of the refrigerator. There is a whole kitchen that Lillian designed and most of it didn't get implemented into homes. Why? It baffles me! Maybe that's my next move? I think it's so critical for me to get my PhD so that I can publish information that will live well beyond my life span, for future generations.
Greg often wants to bring up our resale value on our home when I come to him with one of my ideas of how we could modify our home to meet our current phase of life. In all reality I don't see us ever moving but also I want to enjoy my house not just preserve it for resale. I think kids rooms should be larger, there should be command central for household managers like I saw in Greenfield Village, and much bigger laundry rooms. We buy these homes before we have accumulated all the things including kids and all of their things. We need to make homes more functional for less modification and more productivity!
If money were no object right now, what would you change about your house?
40's? Just Getting Started
Lillian was just 46 when her husband passed away. And she was just getting started. Time and time again, I learn about people being 45 plus when they made their contribution to society. And throughout history I have also seen these people live longer lives. Women's spouses pass, they continue to raise children and run the household AND live in their passion. There is no science to back it up…yet. But I believe because these people were doing what they were uniquely created to do, they lived longer.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
See Lillian Gilbreth's Step Saving Kitchen, 1949Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter
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Fri, 10 Oct 2025 - 35min - 1795 - 468 - The Lisa Glossary Part 11: Organize 365® Research
For 2022, we are adding to the Lisa glossary. This week, we are talking about the Organize 365® Research projects. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the ideas and beliefs that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing.
Several years ago, as I was writing the Organize 365® vision, I knew that I wanted to conduct research to bring to light the organizational needs of Americans. I want to be the go-to resource for knowledge about home and paper organization.
I legitimately had no idea how to do research surveys and data analysis. Recently, I have been learning about the difference between market research and academic research. Organize 365® is now sponsoring academic-level study and third-party data collection backed by Harrisburg University.
Research always starts with a hypothesis — what you think the result will be. I wanted research results that showed that women are doing the majority of the work at home. But, that's now what we found. We have started to share our initial research findings.
As I learn more about research, we really end up with more questions. One of the steps in research is to define every term used in study surveys. For example, you cannot ask a participant about "mental health" because that term is too broad and open to interpretation. However, you can ask about anxiety or depression.
When we developed the first survey, I needed to figure out how to define "housework." The research questions ended up focusing on four different types of housework.
Cleaning - Cleaning is related to the dwelling and covers any task a cleaning company would do. Learn more back in Podcast 422.
Tasks of Daily Living - These are tasks related to the person regardless of where they live. These are the tasks defined by Social Security Disability and include things like preparing food, consuming food, running errands, planning meals, and washing laundry. Learn more back in Podcast 424.
Maintenance - is an optional housework activity where the property owner makes an additional infusion of money into their investment (property) to maintain and improve their property. In the long run, maintenance expenses increase the value of the initial investment. Learn more back in Podcast 428.
Organizing - is an optional housework activity where a person makes an investment of current time for a future return of time. This is completely optional and customizable. Time spent today organizing results in an exponential time in the future. Often this involves setting up systems of organization and can be applied to renters and owners. Learn more back in Podcast 426.
Literature Review
As part of academic research, researchers look at other studies done on similar topics. The Organize 365® review looked at the role of women in the 21st century home. As I mentioned above, I thought women were doing all of the housework. It turns out that everyone thinks they are doing the majority of the work at home. There is so much work to be done.
Defining housework and recognizing these four areas makes housework feel overwhelming and never-ending. As women become more effective at articulating their role in housework, families will be able to better understand how much work is being done and proactively decide if the work should continue to be done at all.
Our next study survey has been completed and we are busy analyzing the results. Learn more back in Podcast 430.
#myextra5
The Sunday Basket® consistently saves people at least five hours a week by getting organized and being proactive. Through organization, you get extra time, and we all need more time. Follow or tag Organize365® on Instagram and share how you are spending your extra time once you get organized! — #myextra5
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Wed, 11 Jan 2023 - 42min - 1794 - 467 - The Lisa Glossary Part 10: Organize 365® Binders
For 2022, we are adding to the Lisa glossary. This week, we are talking about ditching the file cabinet and establishing essential household binders. I also want to be your teacher to help you get your home and work paper organized and functional.
No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the ideas and beliefs that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing.
As a professional organizer, I used to teach people how to build (and hopefully maintain) a color-coded file cabinet at home. But, in 2017, I had a sickening revelation that what I was teaching was not working. In a short time, I heard from two audience members who needed to emergently evacuate. No matter how organized their files were, their paper was not portable.
I am a functional organizer, and I learned that our paper needs to be portable and limited to a reasonable amount of space. It was time to ditch the file cabinets and organize reference papers into essential household binders.
File cabinets are typically not well-maintained and they are certainly not portable. America needs a better solution for reference paperwork.
After some ongoing analysis, I realized that household paper generally fits into four categories. I look at my own life experience caring for my ill father and settling his estate. I look at my life as a homeowner. I thought about all of the information it took to keep my household organized and my family functioning.
There were no ready-made systems for being a caregiver and executor when my father passed away. I have worked with the members of the team who have gone through similar life challenges to try and make our binders as broad and effective as possible. But, because they are binders, they can also be adapted to handle any life situation you encounter.
I created a reference binder for each of the four areas of essential household paperwork. Tax forms and kid's memories live outside of this system, but everything else that needs to be saved can typically be fit into one of the four essential binders.
The Four Essential Household BindersOrganize 365® sells physical binders to help with your household paper organization. The contents for each binder are also detailed in The Paper Solution book. However, our physical binders have multiple pages of worksheets that help get the information from the many places it lives organized into one location.
Setting up the binders will make your life more organized and easier. But, it is also a gift for your family. If anyone else ever needs to take over any portion of your #adulting, they will have what they need at their fingertips.
Financial Organizing BinderThis binder details your current and future financial information. It includes retirement accounts, vehicles, insurance, home inventory, estate planning, and funeral plans.
This binder was originally designed for someone to be able to take over your financial life and close your estate. It can help with tracking bills, setting a house, or cancelling a lease.
I estimate that in order to have a comprehensive financial binder, you will get 30% from your file cabinet, 30-40% digital information, and 30-40% in your memory or on random papers in your home.
Medical Reference BinderThis binder is designed to be used mainly by a caregiver. You can set one up if you are caring for someone else, or you can set one up to make it easier for a friend or family member to care for you.
Although medical records are electronic, they are siloed in each medical practice. Many of the software systems do not effectively share information. Pharmacy, doctors, dentists, specialists, and insurance companies all have their own record systems in America.
I estimate that 5-10% of this information lives in your file cabinet right now. 40-50% is online in some kind of medical record system. The other 40-55% is not recorded anywhere (yet!).
Your medical binder is also a perfect place to keep a list of questions for your next appointment, write down observations, record behavior changes, and communicate with other caregivers.
This binder has a comprehensive workbook that includes a health history, childhood milestone tracker, symptom recorder, and place to record what you have already attempted.
Life is short and the unexpected happens. We will either need caregivers or be caregivers. Having a portable, concise medical reference binder will help you to get the best care.
Household Reference BinderThis binder is the one I use most frequently. It is designed for people who are homeowners but can be used if you rent too.
This binder is designed to have all the reference information you would keep organized if your house was a person. If you were selling your house tomorrow, you could hand over the binder to the new owners. The binder contains home improvement information, paint colors, appliance information, and landscaping details.
Typically, 80% of the contents of this binder are already in your file cabinet. Manuals, make and model numbers, serial numbers, and similar information can be stored in the binder. I also recommend keeping receipts for purchases here too so you know when it was purchased and how much it cost.
Household OperationsThe Household Operations binder is all of the paperwork and information you need to run your household. No matter what kind of dwelling you have, you need a place to track meal planning, cleaning schedules, events, holidays, vacations, and pet information.
As a teacher, I think of this binder as my lesson plan book for my family.
Why binders?Papers that live in your file cabinet are not enough for someone to come in and manage your life. Some of the information on the pages in the binder lives in your computer, in your head, and in physical places like your wallet.
File cabinets are not portable. Most of our emergencies involve leaving the house. We evacuate or lose our homes to a fire or flood. Someone gets hospitalized and we need the paperwork available for the healthcare team.
In true emergency situations, it is rare to need reference papers at home. Usually, you need them where you need to go. Papers need to be taken to the family member, a doctor, a lawyer, or a school meeting.
File cabinets hold far more information and physical paper than most of us can effectively manage. When I helped professional organization clients clean out their paperwork, most can declutter at least 80%.
What about tax paperwork?Keep it in a file cabinet or file box. These items are bulky and rarely referenced. In a true emergency, you could replace them.
What about kid-related papers?Kids enjoy their own memories most when they are young and can see their own growth and progress. When your kids are in the midst of their accumulation phase or survival phase of life, they probably will not have time to sit down and look through their old math tests and spelling lists.
But, when your kids are young, you might be amazed at how much joy they get from looking at their artwork, stories, and projects. They will sit down with their binders and tell stories about school that you might not otherwise get to hear.
Have your kids help to make their own memory binder and then use them. Sit down together and see what they have to say about certificates, awards, and their own creations.
For kids who have an IEP or 504, we have the Warrior Mama binder. This is a combination of medical and educational information that will help you to keep your child's paperwork organized and help you to advocate for his or her best education.
Walk Softly and Carry a Big BinderMy children are adopted and both needed additional support in their educational journey. I found that when I was going to advocate for my kids, I needed the medical and educational papers together for both doctor's appointments and school meetings. I needed medical tests, health records, and learning assessments all in one place.
Your binder will hold essential details and can cut down on the time you need to spend to get your support professionals up to speed. This gives you more effective time during appointments. In my own experience, having paper documentation raises your expertise level with professionals and gives you immediate credibility.
Why Not Digital?In all the times I have advocated for the people I love, paper has worked best. No one has ever asked me for a digital file. Often, systems are incompatible with one another. Records from the doctor are not easily accessible by the school record-keeping system.
Paper is immediate. Sending a digital file after a meeting has not gotten the same results as passing around a physical paper during a meeting when all of the decision-makers are gathered together.
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Tue, 10 Jan 2023 - 38min - 1793 - 466 - The Lisa Glossary Part 9: The Paper Solution
For 2022, we are adding to the Lisa glossary. This week, we are talking about The Paper Solution. In 2020, I published a book called The Paper Solution. I also want to be your teacher to help you get your home and work paper organized and functional.
No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the ideas and beliefs that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing.
Paper is my thing. I love writing on paper, I love organizing paper, I love everything about paper.
But, as a professional organizer, I realized there is very little information available about how to organize paper, the categories of paper we deal with in our lives, and how to actually use paper in everyday life.
Less Paper, not Paperless.
Although we have been promised a "paperless" society, the reality is that the US is a paper-based society. We are able to handle more things digitally than ever before, but we still need physical paper for many things in life.
In America, our vaccine cards, birth certificates, vehicle titles, and medical records are all physical paper. Other parts of the world have digital systems for these things, but because of the uniqueness of our government and our focus on freedoms, we do not have universal, digital records for these things.
In my own life, physical paper has saved me over and over. Paper means that I can avoid expensive professional fees, and it gives me authority with lawyers, doctors, and school principles. In America, paper is the way I (and you) can substantiate claims and provide proof of what you know. Paper is useful in settling estates, advocating for children during IEP meetings, and for communicating vital health information during a medical emergency.
The Paper Solution
The Sunday Basket® is the foundation of an organized home. The Sunday Basket® starts as a physical basket that holds actionable papers. But, really, it is so much more. It is a weekly habit of processing and looking proactively at the upcoming week that keeps the household running more smoothly.
In 2020, I published The Paper Solution as a physical book. It is written to change your mindset about papers, and to give you the practical tools to get your household papers organized.
The Big Purge
As a professional organizer working in people's homes, I saw over and over that file cabinets allow us to save much more paper than we ever in. Surprisingly, most Americans can get rid of 80% of their filed papers and will never need them again.
You can declutter your papers in as little as 15 minutes a day. Take a few file folders out and review them. Make piles for papers to recycle, shred, and save. Put the "save" papers back in the file cabinet.
If you have ever taken care of a loved one's papers, you know how vital it is to have important papers organized and easy to find. Take care of the people you love by clearing out all the old papers that no longer need to be stored or saved.
Types of Paper - Actionable and Reference
Of the papers that should be kept, there are two main categories.
Actionable papers are papers that require you to take some action — bills to pay, grocery lists to buy, or a note to book that vacation hotel.
Reference papers are all of the other papers we save — bank account numbers, retirement statements, wedding cards, and love letters. These we may look at again sometime in the future, but they mostly need to be kept safe.
Ditch the File Cabinet
After years of helping people get their files color-coded and organized in a file cabinet, I had several clients who were facing emergency evacuations. The reality was that they did not have time to pull out important documents during their emergency.
That is when I realized that our reference papers need to be portable and there must be a constraint on how much paper we keep. It's not realistic to load up an entire file cabinet when trying to get away from a forest fire or a hurricane.
For several years, I have been teaching people to ditch the file cabinet and replace it with several essential reference binders. (More on this in the next podcast).
Certified Organizers
America is going to need a team of trained professionals who understand the skill of organizing to teach it to others. The Organize 365® system offers different levels of assistance for learners depending on their personal needs.
Certified Organizers are trained by Organize 365® to provide 1:1 or small group coaching, assistance, and support. I want you to have what you need to get organized and to be successful.
We all need to have our paperwork organized. You can do it now, or you can do it after an emergency. It is a blessing to do it now — it is a gift to yourself and those who love you.
Organize 365® offers The Paper Solution for any type of paper you have. Actionable, household, reference, or work. Learn more at organize365.com!
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Mon, 09 Jan 2023 - 36min - 1792 - 340 - The Lisa Glossary Part 8: Special Circumstances that Impact Your Organization
See the full blog post at organize365.com/special-circumstances-organize-365-story-part8
This is part eight of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. I want to talk with you about some special circumstances that impact your organizational journey. As always, I start with helping you to get the right mindset about home organization. I want to give you the ability to look at your life circumstances and understand the ways in which they are impacting your organization. Getting your thoughts and mindset ordered is vital to ordering your physical spaces. I want to share with you some life circumstances and talk about how they affect your thinking and your organizing work. This week, I want to share some special circumstances you may face in order to help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language.
No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I special circumstances and their impact on organization. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization in order to progress along your transformational journey.
See all eight parts of this series at organize365.com/glossary
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Sun, 08 Jan 2023 - 35min - 1791 - 339 - The Lisa Glossary Part 7: Redefining the Meaning of "Work"
See the show notes at organize365.com/redefining-work-organize-365-story-part7
This is part seven of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. I want to talk with you about how you define "work." As always, I want to share my mindset and thinking with you. I also want to share how owning a home or running a household can also be your work. In this podcast, I also share many of the words I use surrounding the concept of work that help me to be more efficient, productive, and effective.
This week, I want to share my perspectives on work to help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I think about work. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization.
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Sat, 07 Jan 2023 - 51min - 1790 - 338 - The Lisa Glossary Part 6: Redefining How We Look at Time
See the blog post at organize365.com/redefining-time-organize-365-story-part6
This is part six of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. I want to talk with you about how you look at time affects your organization and productivity. As always, I focus on helping you get the right mindset about how you spend your time. Time is the most abstract concept that will have the longest impact on how you spend the rest of your life. I want to share with you some of the ways you can change your mindset and how I think about time has changed over time and has helped me to grow in productivity. This week, I want to share my perspectives on time to help the Organize 365 community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language.
No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I think about time. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization.
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Fri, 06 Jan 2023 - 46min - 1789 - 337 - The Lisa Glossary Part 5: Home Organization Perspective
See the full blog post at: organize365.com/home-organization-perspective-organize-365-story-part5 This is part five of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. I want to talk with you about getting your home organized. As always, I start with helping you to get the right mindset about home organization. I want to give you the ability to figure out how to organize your home for yourself. Getting your thoughts and mindset ordered is much more effective than ordering your physical spaces. I want to share with you some of the ways you can change your mindset and the way you name the spaces in your home. This week, I want to share my home organization perspectives to help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I think about how we get our homes organized. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization.
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Thu, 05 Jan 2023 - 33min - 1788 - 336 - The Lisa Glossary Part 4: Renaming Everyday Home Spaces for Modern Life
See the full blog post at: organize365.com/renaming-home-spaces-organize-365-story-part4 This is part four of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. This week, I want to share how you rename the spaces in your home to make them more functional as part of your transformational journey to an organized life. I define and explain things like a hot mess room and a drink station. I share how the names you give different spaces in your home can dramatically affect how you think about them. This podcast and our new glossary will help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about different ways I organize homes to make them functional. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Wed, 04 Jan 2023 - 36min - 1787 - 335 - The Lisa Glossary Part 3: From Overwhelm to a Plan
See the full blog post at: overwhelm-to-plan-organize-365-story-part3 This is part three of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. This week, I want to talk with you about what happens as we move from one phase to the next. Typically, we get overwhelmed, feel like we are living in chaos, and struggle to have a plan. We struggle to keep pace with the new change while we are trying to learn a new level of organization, and the transition takes longer than we expect. As things get moving faster and you begin to feel overwhelmed, the way to regain clarity and be able to adjust from being reactive to productivity is the Sunday Basket®. This week, I want to share the details of the Sunday Basket® to help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I think about how we get our homes organized. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization.
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Tue, 03 Jan 2023 - 48min - 1786 - 334 - The Lisa Glossary Part 2: Discovering Cycles & Seasons of Organizing
Check out the blog post at organize365.com/cycles-seasons-organize-365-story-part2
This is part two of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. This week, I want to share the cycles and seasons you will experience along your transformational journey to an organized life. This podcast and our new glossary will help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language.
No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the cycles and seasons that influence your organizing journey and that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing.
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Mon, 02 Jan 2023 - 38min - 1785 - 333 - The Lisa Glossary Part 1: Organizing Foundation
Check out the blog post and more details here: organize365.com/organizing-foundation-organize-365-story-part1
This week on the blog, I am starting a series sharing the foundation of Organize 365®. I share the five foundational principles that are the bedrock of everything I teach inside of Organize 365®. I want to ensure that we have a common vocabulary and you know what the foundational principles are. No matter when you being your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you.
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Sun, 01 Jan 2023 - 36min - 1784 - Bonus - Organization is for Me in 2023
Has your New Year's energy kicked in yet? It's time to capitalize on that energy! We know you have goals and we have the tools you need to get you there!
One of the things that I have learned over the last decade is that life is work. There's unpaid work at home and paid work at work and sometimes there's unpaid work at work and sometimes there's paid work at home. It's all work. In order for me to be the best me I can be I need to plan for both the unpaid and the paid work that is my privilege and responsibility as a contributing member of society.
We have heard from many of you that you are trying to decide or pick what your focus will be in 2023 and I say we should just have it all.
An organized person unlocks their time, allowing them to pursue what they are uniquely created to do! The start of the new year feels like the turning of a page, a clean slate to make lasting organizational change in our lives - at home and at work. Organization is a learnable skill. One that will take you wherever you want to go.
Follow your renewed energy that the new year brings and use it to maximize your progress! Half the battle in learning the skill of organization is deciding what to do next. The "Organization Is For ME 2023" Bundle can make those decisions for you. This bundle will assist you with getting organized and making consistent progress towards your goals at HOME and at WORK.
Why can't we have it all? Why can't you be organized with your paid work and your unpaid (but oh so fulfilling) unpaid work?
That's why we've put together the Organization is for Me in 2023 Bundle - to help you do just that. You don't have to choose between work and home. This bundle is going to give you the courses and tools you need to excel at both.
In this bundle you'll get The Productive Home Solution™ with Planning Day. As well as The Friday Workbox® system with the Goal Planner and Planning Day for your work.
Imagine how amazing it will feel to unlock your time in 2023?! How it would feel to come home to an organized house and create a system and routine for managing your work, passion projects or business?
This is your YEAR! Be all you can be with the Organization is for Me 2023 Bundle!
Episode Resources:
Watch the video Organization is for Me 2023 Bundle The Productive Home Solution™Sat, 31 Dec 2022 - 1h 27min - 1783 - 517 - Go!
Last week I shared with you that one of my weaknesses has been overcoming the fact that I usually "ready, fire, aim" as opposed to "ready, set, go."
Learning to do the SET step in Ready, Set, Go has been my weakness. What I have found from nearly 11 years of working with the Organize 365® community is that GO is the area that tends to trip you up.
Being able to GO - actually getting started or keep moving on your goals and overcome your self-limiting doubt - can paralyze us.
I used to be where you are. I used to worry about what others would think of me. Will Greg (my husband) judge me? Can I meet or exceed my own goals? What if I can't do what I want to do? What if I can't live up to my own expectations? What if I invest time or money and fail?
The what ifs would paralyze me and keep me from starting. It allowed me to stay stuck. Stuck in my reactive and negative life. I would start a cycle of getting ready and set but never going.
Ready, Set, repeat. There was no risk with ready and set. I didn't have to step too far out on a limb or too far out of my comfort zone.
Then one day I asked myself - what if everything happened for me? What if everything was easy? What if I did achieve these goals? What if I was able to achieve a bigger impact on my family, community and ultimately the world?
And I ask you - What if I had never started Organize 365®? What if I stopped podcasting tomorrow because I worry about looking silly or foolish? What if all of the Organize 365® products went away and were no longer resources to you?
How did that make you feel?
I don't know what it is that you have to offer the world. I don't know what a more organized life with less stress and more time will do for your family, your community and your work - but I bet it is more than you even realize now. And ultimately the only way we will know is if you GO. If you actually get started. Stop holding onto that branch of self-limiting beliefs and negative what-ifs. It's time to take the next step in your organizing journey - it's time for you to go.
What great timing! We are headed into a new year - clear out your house, clear out the cobwebs in your mind. Get ready, set, and let's GOOOOO. I believe in you. You can do this, you have what it takes, and the time is now. Please join me. We are going to do this together.
If your goal is to reclaim your home and your time - I have the solution for you. The Productive Home Solution™ is a new way of thinking about your space and time! Half of the battle with anything we are ready and set to do is deciding what the next step is (and then the next step after that). Avoid decision fatigue and use The Productive Home Solution™ as your roadmap to guide you through the journey of getting organized. Organization will carry you through so many of your goals; and was the first step for me getting to where I am today.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
The Productive Home Solution™ Organize 365® Year End Bundle The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day - December 31, 2022Did 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!
Fri, 30 Dec 2022 - 28min - 1782 - The Process of Organizing your Storage Space with Michelle Paradice
Meet Michelle. She's the voice behind the mailbag introductions on the podcast and the Customer Service Team lead here at Organize 365®. Michelle is SO loved by the Organize 365® team and customers!
She got quite the surprise when I asked if I could come and organize her storage area and video it for The Productive Home Solution™! You guys…my home is already SO organized, including my storage area. I've already shown everyone in The Productive Home Solution™ my storage area too many times. It was time for me to tackle someone else's storage room.
The progress we made in ONE DAY may seem unbelievable; but it is all very doable when you know the order of the tasks you need to complete to get organized!
Michelle picked me up at the airport and we got to work. Thank goodness we had a dumpster. We started by focusing on what could go in that dumpster. We were able to tackle a tucked away storage area with old shelving and her garage.
Michelle, who described the experience as "humbling", almost had us pass on that tucked away storage area. But looking back, that was the most rewarding space to get organized. We really forced Michelle to focus on what we could get rid of first by repeatedly saying "You have the dumpster, we are here, what can go?". Then we focused on cleaning and reloading the storage area by zones.
Michelle said it felt like a 40 year old weight had been lifted off her shoulders at the end of the day. Her mom (who also lives in the home) was so pleased at what we accomplished in one day.
When you listen to this episode, I want you to be inspired and know that you too can learn how to get an organized storage area and then go do it. Once you have it organized properly, it should stay organized for a very long time…if not forever.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Limited Time - watch the video of Lisa Organizing Michelle's Storage Room (only available through 12/31/22). Shelving Units Bins The Productive Home Solution™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!
Wed, 28 Dec 2022 - 57min - 1781 - 516- Set...
In part two of this three part Ready, Set, Go series, we are going to discuss the middle child of the Ready, Set, Go family - SET. What does it mean to get SET and to be SET?
The running joke for visionary entrepreneurs like myself is the quote, "Ready, Fire, Aim!"
And boy have I lived that quote in the past! At first, in my 20s, it was because I didn't know what I was doing - at home, at work, or as a parent. I learned the hard way - every time!
But later in my 30s, it wasn't really my fault anymore. There wasn't enough time to prepare or aim. Life was moving so fast that I was missing important things while running at Mach 1 speed!
It wasn't my fault. And it's not yours either.
The last time we had "preparation time" in our calendars was in grade school where our teachers carefully planned our assignments and workload so we had time to complete things.
By the time high school arrived: extra-curricular activities, part-time jobs and sleep filled in all the cracks and then some.
No one has enough time. And no one is going to give us more time. #truth
Work colleagues, parents, children, partners, neighbors and friends all want our time. Some demand, some plead, some expect it without question. And we give it…gladly, lovingly, freely.
We get up earlier, stay up later, eliminate hobbies and rearrange our days.
Eve Rodsky compares our time this way, "Men's time is worth diamonds, and women's time is like sand."
Ouch. You can't unhear that. But, it's true for me.
Greg has a golf night. He goes on fishing and golf trips. I haven't had a hobby night or gone on a trip with friends since having children (22 years ago)!
After work, Greg makes dinner and then watches TV. Now, I do the dishes (sometimes), take a bath and do a puzzle. But I feel weird about it.
Until a few years ago, my after-work activities involved driving kids, cleaning the kitchen, laundry, straightening up, etc. until I felt it was an acceptable time for me to stop "working" and take my bath.
When are we going to give ourselves the permission to take back a little of our time?
Last week we talked about being ready. The truth is you and I are OVER ready. We have been for decades. But we don't make the plan and run the race to a different end. Why is this?
SET is all about saying your time is not more important, but AS important as everyone else's.
For me, in this season, it means I am going to start my Ph.D program and travel - A LOT. For work, for pleasure, and for me.
Let me be clear. My family is not happy about it. They intellectually support it, but in words and actions, they are not pleased with the change.
Am I being selfish? Maybe.
Would I want it for every single one of them? Absolutely! When one of my family members wants to…further their education, move out, have a baby, take a trip, find a new doctor, pursue a new passion…I facilitate the how, when, where, and payments.
I am happy for the sacrifices of time and self-focus I have devoted to my family over the last 25 years, and for the ability to grow Organize 365® around my family.
But now I want to pour more of my time and talent into my unique gifting.
So, how do we get SET to do the things we want and need to do in life?
We know how to help others in our lives get set. We set our kids up for school, set-up their school supplies, bookbags, dorm rooms, etc. We set our partners up for their endeavors and trips. We know how to get set-up; we just don't often look at doing it for ourselves the way we do for others.
How do we SET ourselves up for success?
Getting SET comes after getting ready because when you are getting SET you are already ready. You are doing the final steps before you GO (more on that next week).
What do you need to GO? Get that together now.
How can you get SET for a productive and proactive new year?
If your goal is to reclaim your home and your time - I have the solution for you. The Productive Home Solution™ is a new way of thinking about your space and time! Half of the battle with anything we are ready and set to do is deciding what the next step is (and then the next step after that). Avoid decision fatigue and use The Productive Home Solution™ as your roadmap to guide you through the journey of getting organized. Organization will carry you through so many of your goals and was the first step for me getting to where I am today.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
The Productive Home Solution™ Organize 365® Year End Bundle The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day - December 31, 2022Did 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!
Fri, 23 Dec 2022 - 44min - 1780 - Transformation with Amber N.
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. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!
Amber N. shared her transformation with me! She's the mom of two children who are a senior in high school and 14 years old, and she has a Greg of her own! Amber had always been inspired to be organized; but at some point life just got in her way. She was no longer organized but desperately wanted to be. Amber had tried other organization systems, including hiring a professional organizer. The funny part is, once she got through some of the Organize 365® resources, she no longer needed that professional organizer to come back in for a "refresh". She had learned the skill of organization and now she can do it on her own! I keep telling you, organization is a learnable skill people!
Amber had to come to terms with what "being organized" actually means. Did it mean mimicking the pictures from Pinterest; or was it more important for it to be done? Picture vs. Reality. Cute vs. Organized. We put so much pressure on ourselves to give our children these picture perfect parties or bedrooms. Honestly, our kids aren't on social media and do not see the pictures we see. They are not on Pinterest. They are not looking for these tiny details. They are just happy to spend time with us, and to celebrate their birthday. Give yourself some grace.
Amber had to start with baby steps…but ultimately she ended in a sprint. She started with her mail and the Sunday Basket® despite all the paper in her house. She was so excited with the results that she wanted more and wanted it more quickly. Now she's The Paper Solution Certified and can help people on their own organizational journeys!
I encourage everyone to evaluate what your energy level is during each season, and what area you want to focus on - such as the house, school & work, or maybe it's being a more intentional mom. Then set the expectation at the beginning that 'something is better than nothing' when it comes to getting organized.
Amber has learned so much from Organize 365®. Her major takeaway is to extend herself grace. Her other biggest takeaways are:
If you put a process in place, you can move through it Good is good enough and focus on macro not micro Don't get bogged downNow that she is organized, she has time to spend with her family and on her business too. She also has more money because she isn't paying late fees and more grace that she gives to herself!
EPISODE RESOURCES:
The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® CertificationI am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. 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!
Wed, 21 Dec 2022 - 42min - 1779 - 515 - Ready...
Are you READY to think differently? Are you READY to evaluate your past new years goals and productivity? Are you READY to put in the work and reap the rewards of your focus & labor? Are you physically READY? Mentally READY? Emotionally READY?
Today's episode is about readiness. And I'm so excited to share my ideas for what it means to be READY.
My favorite activity is to think about my thinking. It is a habit that I have cultivated into an art form and can no longer do without. It's my habit.
And that is the thing about habits. Bad ones are easy to fall into and hard to break. Good ones take thought, planning, discipline and determination to establish.
Yet, habits are the ONE thing that separates the life you have today and the future you envision for yourself.
You cannot fall into productivity (it doesn't just happen) Your house will not magically clean and organize itselfAs I get ready for the new year, I want to share with you how I think about this coming season. As the December days quickly pass by, I look forward to the new year. This is the official day I start running my race for a productive 2023 - when new opportunities like starting college for my Ph.D program begin.
I am getting ahead of myself. Today. Today is about being READY.
Readiness is a state of being.
You will never be 100% ready. And that's 100% okay! You don't have to be 100% ready in order to start!
Readiness is an understanding of the strengths and limitations you are experiencing in THIS phase of your life.
What unique seasons are you experiencing right now that you can leverage to move forward in your home organization goals?
Are you in a season where you are home more? Do you have more energy at a certain time of day, or day of the week? Is there a big event coming up that will motivate you to work faster? Do you have a companion who is motivated to pace with you? Is this a season where you have money in the budget to add to your efforts? Would selling unused past purchases help you fund your new years goals?You may not be in a season where you are READY to devote more time and energy to your personal home. And that is OK.
However, what I have found to be true more often is that there is always a seed of readiness in each season, but we miss it.
I mentioned that I think about my thinking - constantly. I love sharing my unique thinking with you - to motivate you to do the same! Think about where you are right now and what you are ready for!
Change is normal. Most people spend their whole life trying to avoid change.
But change is where transformation comes from. Change unlocks the future. And it starts with READINESS.
READINESS is fragile READINESS is fleeting READINESS holds all the potential for the futureNext week I will share with you my thoughts on SET, but this week focus on your READINESS. READINESS is the first step in your new year. Don't miss it!
EPISODE RESOURCES:
The Productive Home Solution™ Organize 365® Year End Bundle The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day - December 31, 2022Did 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!
Fri, 16 Dec 2022 - 29min - 1778 - Organize 365® Reality KIDS TV Show with Maura
Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
Today I am so excited for you to meet Maura. Over the summer I put out a social media post requesting a family that would allow me to get their kid's rooms organized and FILM IT ALL for a movie about Kids Organization. Maura was jumping up and down saying "pick me"!
Maura is a mom of four - Bode (12), Lucy Belle (10), Finley (7) and Blaise (4). She runs a bakery out of her house (oh my goodness - she makes the BEST cookies) and her husband also works from home.
As Maura put it, "the spigot never stops." Which leads us to talking about OVERWHELM as a parent. The overwhelm is beautiful and messy all at the same time. And I'm so glad I was welcomed into Maura's house to put into action the principles of Organize 365®'s Kids Program.
I LOVE ORGANIZING CHILDREN. I LOVE IT.
I was able to come one day early, meet these kiddos, and look at the task ahead of me. I spent a total of 2-3 hours with each child individually and we focused on the oldest three.
We are all looking for ways to connect with and spend quality time with our children. Did you know that time spent teaching kids the skills of organization while organizing their room with them can be the BEST quality time?
Get the kids involved! Working with your kid to organize their room is quality time you can spend with them. They love the one on one time. They love talking about their stuff. They love getting to make decisions. They love the result and the process. You are teaching them the valuable skill of organizing while spending time with them.
Make it an enjoyable process for both of you! Listen to their stories. Everything in their room has a story for them. These are their little treasures!
Now when Maura tucks her kids in at night, she can actually go into their rooms and not get filled with so much frustration over the mess. Listen for the update since my visit.
I can't come to everyone's house but trust me - you can do this! The Organize 365® Kids Program is like I am there with you and we go through all the areas. Harness your kids excitement to your benefit
NOW is just as good a time as any. Since the kids are out of school and there's anticipation building for the holidays…declutter and organize. Make room for all the new stuff that will be coming into your home. I also shared some tips you may want to use for other ideal times that you want to declutter and organize.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Watch the Kids Organization Movie featuring Maura's lovely family LIVE this Friday with me at 7 pm ET. Want to get organized as a family? The Limited Time Year Bundle is the perfect resource to get yourself and kids organized in 2023. Sign-up for the Kids Program Orientation on December 27 at 11 am ET The Kids Program The Launch Program Maura's CookiesDid 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 look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
Wed, 14 Dec 2022 - 45min - 1777 - 514 - The Productive Home Solution™ with Tanya BlackburnFri, 09 Dec 2022 - 56min
- 1776 - Transformation with Ashley C.
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. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!
This week, I am sharing my interview with Ashley C. She lives with husband, three children and some fun pets! She shares her struggle with living up to the Pinterest perfect bar she set for herself when she had her first baby.
Ashley has been a dedicated podcast listener for years. The Organize 365® podcast gave her the permission to forgo the Pinterest perfect nursery rooms and scrapbooks and get things done a little less than perfect.
We discuss how we have all these long to-do lists and so much pressure on ourselves but the funny thing is, no one is checking that list. No one is disappointed that we didn't accomplish something or accomplish it in the way we planned.
Ashley is somewhat of a reformed perfectionist now. In her business, she uses the phrase "experiments in imperfection." She joined The Productive Home Solution™ and got her new home organized. Only recently did she purchase the Sunday Basket®. Why now? Lisa helped her to unveil feelings of fear of failure. Ashley knew about all the resources Organize 365® has to offer but she subconsciously felt that maybe she wouldn't do them justice.
I encourage everyone to not sit on the sidelines due to fear of failure. Is it time for you to get off the sidelines and make the commitment with the Sunday Basket® system? I am happy to say Ashley is organized and on her way to the next chapter of life. Her transformation story is ongoing as she is now working her way into business and just got started with the Friday Workbox®.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® The Productive Home Solution™I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. 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!
Wed, 07 Dec 2022 - 48min - 1775 - 513 - Keith Boswell with ADHD Online
In today's episode as we wrap up our series on my ADHD journey and exploration of executive functions, I am excited to introduce you to Keith Boswell, Vice President of Marketing at ADHD Online.
ADHD Online is transforming the diagnosis and treatment of people dealing with neurodiversity. Organize 365® and ADHD Online have partnered several times over the past year to present organizational solutions that I have found to work for others struggling with ADHD.
Keith brings a new level to this conversation we've been having - he is open about his diagnosis of ADHD and his own organization challenges and triumphs. We talk about his familys' problem areas, the progression of aging children, and roles that will come with the organization of their house.
Find out how we met and how our partnership is evolving. Keith and ADHD Online are doing some important work for awareness and helping people function with ADHD. They are helping people to get a faster diagnosis and move on to finding solutions. ADHD Online has medical professionals providing the diagnosis and from there you can choose to work with them or your primary doctors and pharmacies. And, they are proud to say that the solution is not always medicine! They really work with their clients to help them succeed. Organize 365® is excited to work with them to provide solutions that work for helping their clients live a more organized and proactive life.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
ADHD Online ADHD Awareness ResourcesDid 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!
Fri, 02 Dec 2022 - 1h 01min - 1774 - 512 - What is the Executive Function of Initiating & Task Monitoring
In today's episode we wrap up our four part series on exploring the executive functions and the role they play in our ability to be organized. I've always believed that you won't just "be organized." Organization is a learnable skill. This means that it's not something you have to be born with. If you're currently not organized, that's okay too! You can absolutely learn how to be organized.
I have always had a strong belief that organization is a learnable skill. So, I wasn't surprised to learn that 87% of Americans also believe that organization is a learnable skill. However, I was surprised to find that of those same Americans - only 18% believed that they are organized. Organize 365® courses and programs teach you how to be organized. If you struggle with initiating and task monitoring, then you need community. That's why adding the Organize 365® Community App was important to me.
Initiation is simply the "start" factor. Task Monitoring is the ability to look at how far you have come and understand how much still needs to be accomplished.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Organize 365® Blitz (Free) Organize 365® Community The Gap and the Gain by Dan SullivanListen to today's episode to learn how community and grace play a huge role in helping you learn a new skill (like organizing).
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!
Fri, 25 Nov 2022 - 35min - 1773 - 511 - What is the Executive Function of Planning
As we continue our series exploring executive functions today we get to talk about planning.
Can you hear it in my voice? Planning is my FAVORITE-IST thing!
Planning is so much more than filling in a planner or checking boxes. Planning is purposefully setting aside time and deciding how you want to show up in the next season. Decide what rules you want to make for your next season so you can be as proactive as you want to be. It's time to dream about what is possible, about what you want to change, and about what you don't want to change.
At Organize 365®, I offer LIVE Planning Days for home and work where I teach you how to proactively plan. They are conveniently scheduled around natural Golden Windows.
Golden windows is a phrase I created to help articulate different times that are optimal for getting started on your transformational journey to organizing. Learn more about golden windows in podcast 242 - Golden Windows of Organizing Opportunity.
You do realize, without knowing it, there are about three times a year we shift in life? These are what I like to call Golden Windows. This is a time to organize and plan. Effective planning going into these golden windows can have a profound impact on your organizational transformation because your organizing energy is naturally higher than normal. And with a plan in hand you can really capitalize on that energy.
Planning is everything! Planning will help you make the invisible work visible. See how I've applied this to so many seemingly "invisible" tasks in life such as putting up and taking down my Christmas tree.
There are a lot of layers to this conversation - listen to the full episode and join me for the next part of this executive function series where we will be talking about initiation & task monitoring.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Organize 365® Blitz Business Friday Workbox® Starter Bundle with Planning Day Friday Workbox® Planning Day Bundle The Productive Home Solution® with first Planning Day included Home Planning Day Bundle - Essentials Home Planning Day Bundle - Deluxe ALL IN Work & Home Planning Day BundleDid 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!
Fri, 18 Nov 2022 - 49min - 1772 - Planning the Holidays with Jessica the CEO of Ultimate Bundles
Today's coffee chat is a special Holiday Blitz Edition. Every year I host my annual FREE Holiday Blitz. The goal of the Holiday Blitz is to help you strategically plan for your holiday season by making the invisible work of the holidays visible. The Holiday Blitz includes 13 free downloadable planning pages and 5 course videos where I walk you through planning the holiday season. We talk about how you can simplify your holidays, embrace your uniqueness and be present, proactive and productive throughout the season.
Listen in as I interview busy CEO and mom Jessica Evans of Ultimate Bundles. Jessica shares with us how she used the Holiday Blitz to plan out her holiday traditions. Find out what traditions she loves, which ones she doesn't enjoy as much and how she is setting herself up for success this holiday season. Jessica also shares some really fun holiday ideas!
Do you want to plan your holiday season with The Holiday Blitz? There's still time! Join the Holiday Blitz On Demand now.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
The Holiday Blitz On Demand The Holiday Blitz BundleDid 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!
Tue, 15 Nov 2022 - 34min - 1771 - 510 - What is the Executive Function of Organization of Materials
Does it ever feel like you have a two year old in your brain talking to you all day reminding you of things you need to do and demanding what to do next? Do you feel like you are playing an adult version of Memory or Go Fish when it comes to your paperwork?
Now that I've learned that I have ADHD, I'm ready to dive deeper into this topic of executive function and organization with formal research. Lots of times ADHD can be diagnosed when the person's executive functions are analyzed. In this episode I explain the Executive Function of the Organization of Materials.
Did you know most people organize their closets and kitchens first? Why do you think that is? Listen to the full episode to understand.
At Organize 365®, I have designed systems with enough structure to get the job done and with a little wiggle room for customization, because we're all unique. Here are the rules to keep you on track…
- Everything should have a place. True - but you (not Pinterest, not society - you) get to pick that place. We tend to reorganize about every twenty years due to stages of life and unexpected life events. This is totally NORMAL! Maintain what is working for you. You only need to implement systems for what is unorganized. Organization of Materials has an order (think stages of life) Organization of Materials is about personal rules you create to maintain sustainable organization.
Through learning the skill of functional organization; you will literally unlock your time and be able to spend it doing what you are uniquely created to do.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Lisa School Binder Organize 365® Lattice Binders Organize 365® 1.0 Slash Pockets Learn more about "zones" and functional organizing in The Productive Home Solution™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!
Fri, 11 Nov 2022 - 47min - 1770 - 509 - What is the Executive Function of Working Memory?
What's next for research at Organize 365®? Now that I've learned that I have ADHD, I'm ready to dive deeper into this topic of executive function and organization with formal research.
Lots of times ADHD can be diagnosed when the person's executive functions are analyzed.
In this episode, I shared three examples of me relying on my working memory. I analyze if my working memory helped or hindered the situation and explore explanations as to why I responded, the way I did, in each situation.
The executive function of working memory holds information in your head for a short amount of time so you can manipulate that information and do something. Example: A math problem. You take in the information of the numbers and functions that are being requested. When you do the problem in your head you are using your working memory to solve the problem.
All hope is not lost - yes we can improve our executive functions according to Psychology today. They suggest to identify which executive function you want to improve and then pick a strategy to help you improve.
Strategies to improve your executive functions include:
- Chunk things into smaller tasks Externalize information using notepads, to do lists, or reminders
(had you completed the math problem, mentioned earlier, on paper, you would be helping your working memory by reducing demand upon your working memory so it is available for other items you need to remember)
- Buddy up with a peer to foster accountability Blocking access to distractions such as your phone in a drawer while focusing on a task Use rewards to motivate periods of consistent effort
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Psychology Today Strategies for improving executive function The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® The Holiday Blitz Planning Day for Home Planning Day for Work Notepads and Notecards Find me on Instagram @Organize365Did 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!
Fri, 04 Nov 2022 - 49min - 1769 - 508 - The Future of Executive Function Research As It Relates to ADHD
What's next for research at Organize 365®? Now that I've learned that I have ADHD, I'm ready to dive deeper into this topic of executive function and organization with formal research.
There are five areas of executive function that involve organization:
- Initiating - getting started Working Memory - holding information Planning - planning ahead Monitoring - knowing what needs to be done next Organizing Materials - organizing your home
I believe that you can impact and change your executive functioning by learning the skill of organization so you can have more time to do what you're uniquely created to do. At Organize 365® we have programs, systems, and products to help you in each of these areas.
In this episode, I explain where I am going next and the massive decision that I have made in order to take the next step. I've talked about doing it for years, but finally, in January of 2023, I will begin a one-year program that will lead me into a Ph.D. program.
No one else will do this research for me. If we are going to take on this project as a company, I want to be the one not just leading the team, but leading the research. To do that, I have to have a Ph.D.
I've already been rearranging my schedule and preparing myself, my family, and my team for what this will look like. I'm dividing my week into three parts so my family, my company, and my studies all get the attention they need.
Come along with me on the journey!
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!
Fri, 28 Oct 2022 - 30min - 1768 - 507 - A Psychologist Gives Lisa The Final Answer on Her ADHD Diagnosis
Do I have ADHD or not? This has become so confusing!
According to ADHD Online, I have a medical diagnosis of ADHD. According to Barbara Hunter's analysis of my BRIEF-A assessment, my executive functioning indicates that I do NOT have ADHD. Who is right?
I took my questions to a psychologist in Cincinnati for a final answer.
Why? Well, first, I want to give good recommendations to the Organize 365® community. If ADHD Online is not a good resource, I don't want to refer you to them. Second, I want to continue to do executive function research related to ADHD and organization, so I want to know if I actually have ADHD or not as I go into that project.
Organization is a learnable skill. If we learn the skill of organizing, can we mitigate or eliminate the effects of ADHD?
In this episode, I share with you my story of gathering supporting information from my childhood, taking additional assessments, and speaking with the psychologist to get the final answer. I explain the criteria for an ADHD diagnosis. I also share how in the process, we determined first that I do NOT have dyslexia as I have always been told.
Two interesting things were the clinchers for my final answer. One was speeding tickets, and the other was how I handle money and debt.
Listen to this episode to hear how in the beginning, the psychologist believed there was no way that I could have ADHD and how this all came together to finally find out if I do have ADHD.
More Resources Book: How ADHD Affects Home Organization Organize 365® ADHD PlaylistDid 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!
Fri, 21 Oct 2022 - 30min - 1767 - Transformation with Carrie F.
Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365 community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
This week, I am sharing my interview with Carrie F. She lives with her husband and they have two teens at home and one away at college. She's a retired veterinarian. Paper was her greatest organizational struggle at home, especially after closing her practice. We talk about how she overcame her piles of paper by pressing through, starting with the current paper, and then working her way back through the rest of the paper.
Is paper your nemesis? The Sunday Basket® System is the first step to getting your paper organized!
I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365 community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.
For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links:
Organize 365® The Sunday Basket® System The Productive Home Solution™I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
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!
Wed, 19 Oct 2022 - 32min - 1766 - 506 - Lisa's Executive Function Profile
This month I've been exploring the topic of ADHD and more specifically, discovering if I have ADHD.
Last week, I shared my journey to reach the point of deciding to be tested for ADHD. First I took the assessment from ADHD Online and was told that I DO have a medical ADHD diagnosis.
In this episode, I'm talking with my friend Barbara Hunter about whether she thinks I have ADHD... or not. She gave me The BRIEF-A to make her determination. This is the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function® Adult Version.
The BRIEF-A is given in three parts: I took the assessment. Then both my husband, Greg, and my chief of staff, Stephanie, took the assessment to give their perspective on me.
Barbara walked through the sections of the test with me to explain what the various sections mean and my results compared to Greg and Stephanie's opinions of me, as well as ways to improve my executive functioning in some areas.
The final result? According to The BRIEF-A, Barbara says that this current assessment of my executive function says that I do NOT have ADHD.
So, where do I go from here? I contacted a doctor in the Cincinnati area to do more testing so I can definitively find out if I have ADHD or not. More to come!
Looking for more information on ADHD and Organization? Start with my book, How ADHD Affects Home Organization. It's available for free as an audiobook on the ADHD Playlist!
Resources Mentioned in This Episode Book: How ADHD Affects Home Organization ADHD Online Springer School and Center Barbara Hunter and Integrated Learning Designs The BRIEF-ADid 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!
Fri, 14 Oct 2022 - 43min - 1765 - Transformation with Kat S.
Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365 community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
This week, I am sharing my interview with Kat S. She lives with her husband and together they run her music studio out of their home. Kat feels like she learned to be organized at a young age because her mom had hoarding tendencies, but she has learned so much more since implementing Organize 365® systems. She and her husband trend to the minimalist side and have great systems in place for living and working together.
Kat was able to bring her husband home to work in her business in part because she was able to show him using her Business Friday Workbox® and her stack of pink slash pockets all of the ideas that she had for her business that she needed help to bring to life.
What's in your pink slash pockets?
Visit Kat's website at KatStarrMusic.com.
I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365 community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.
For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links:
Organize 365® The Sunday Basket® System The Productive Home Solution™ Friday Workbox®I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
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!
Wed, 12 Oct 2022 - 48min - 1764 - 505 - Does Lisa Have ADHD?
Do I have ADHD? My mom doesn't think I have ADHD. I didn't think I had ADHD. At one point, I adamantly opposed people who suggested I had ADHD.
But, in more recent years, I have thought: Maybe I do have ADHD?
When I would organize women in the Cincinnati area, many would start their appointments by telling me that they had or thought they had ADHD. My kids received their ADHD diagnoses when they were children and attended Springer School and Center for many years. I was a teacher and I saw many kids receive their ADHD diagnosis and the support put in place for them.
My book How ADHD Affects Home Organization came out of this time of discovery and research about ADHD and research about organization. (By the way, you can now get the audiobook for free on our new Organize 365® ADHD Playlist!)
People who have ADHD need more structure and support. It's not an issue of intellect. It's an issue of executive functioning. Everyone learns at a different pace and organization is a learnable skill. It's just that people who have ADHD tend to need a person to help put structure in place for them to learn the skill of organizing.
In this episode, I fill you in on my journey of learning about ADHD and then coming to the point of deciding to find out if I actually have ADHD... or not.
Many things came together recently for me to reach this point personally. I have done some biohacking with my Oura Ring and Apple Watch. I began a partnership and series of webinars with ADHD Online and learned more about their services.
But, it was my recent meeting with Barbara Hunter that pushed me over the edge. She was at Springer School and Center for over 20 years. I took any class they offered as my kids were students there. They often bring in top-notch experts in conjunction with Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Barbara is now doing executive function coaching through her company Integrated Learning Designs. In this meeting, we were discussing how there are many resources for students and employees with ADHD, but no one is really addressing how ADHD affects your home life.
So, then, I pondered out loud whether I actually have ADHD or not. Do I really want to know? What would it change if I knew? I wouldn't medicate for ADHD at this point in my life if I have a diagnosis because I have skills and systems already in place to make my life run smoothly. What would knowing that I have or do not have ADHD do for me? What I really want to know is my level of executive functioning and how to optimize that, whether I have ADHD or not!
Barbara tells me there's a test for that! It's called The BRIEF-A. I was in! Just in our casual conversation, Barbara saw signs in me that pointed towards an ADHD diagnosis. And I saw more signs. I always had a floating "C" in school, I'm a talker, I interrupt people, I'm a busybody who doesn't vacation well, and I can't sit to watch TV without a puzzle to work on or laundry to fold. So, I made arrangements to take the test with Barbara.
Before that, still unsure of if I really wanted to know the answer, I decided with some trepidation and some encouragement from Joey to first take the test from ADHD Online to see what they had to say.
The results? According to ADHD Online and their assessment, I have ADHD.
Next week, I talk about my results from The BRIEF-A and my meeting with Barbara Hunter. What does Barbara have to say about my executive functioning based on The BRIEF-A?
Resources Mentioned in This Episode Book: How ADHD Affects Home Organization ADHD Online Springer School and Center Barbara Hunter and Integrated Learning Designs The BRIEF-ADid 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!
Fri, 07 Oct 2022 - 25min - 1763 - Transformation with Jennifer S.
Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365 community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
This week, I am sharing my interview with Jennifer S. She lives with her husband and three kids, two of whom are off to college. Jennifer is an attorney and has always worked full-time outside of the home. We have a great discussion about wills, trusts, power of attorney for your adult children, inventories, caring for aging parents, and so much more. Jennifer shares how the Sunday Basket® kept her life running in a hard season while caring for her grandmother at the end of her life and her own aging parents.
Jennifer loves Planning Days for both home and business but needed a little extra help. She gives a thank you to Stefanie at Island Organizing for her services related to the Business Friday Workbox® organization and the community she's found there.
Jennifer, like many of us, tends to be a perfectionist. She's learning to say, "I am a person of excellence!" How are you pursuing excellence?
I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365 community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.
For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links:
Organize 365® The Sunday Basket® System The Productive Home Solution™ Friday Workbox® Home Planning Day Business Planning Day Stefanie at Island OrganizingI look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
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!
Wed, 05 Oct 2022 - 56min - 1762 - 504 - Six-Figure Time
In over a decade of studying female heads of households in their homes and researching what it takes to get them organized, I've thought a lot about time and the invisible work we are doing.
The big thing when I started my business was hitting six figures. Everyone wanted to hit $100,000 in yearly income. Back then, I had just quit my teaching job in a private school making $24,000 a year in take-home pay. I couldn't even wrap my mind around ever being a six-figure income earner!
Over the years, as I've looked at how women use their time, I've come to this conclusion: You can have six-figure time without the six-figure income. It's all about mindset and how you choose to spend your time. In this episode, I share my observations of six-figure income earners and my suggestions for developing a six-figure time mindset.
How Six-Figure Income Earners Spend Their TimeAs a professional organizer, I went into the homes of many six-figure earners with million-dollar homes. These were often doctors, lawyers, business owners, and C-Suite executives. I had the opportunity to see how they run their lives and the type of help they hired. Having a six-figure income gave these women and their families a choice in how they spend their time.
Can you have this six-figure time mindset without the six-figure income? I think you can! Many millionaires are time-poor while many who have no income at all are time rich. What's the difference between time poverty and being rich in time?
Time Passing vs Making a DifferenceMost people see time in terms of how much time is passing and what they can get done. Truly productive people see a third dimension: If I spend my time doing this today, will it make a difference in the future? Will it make a difference a month, a year, 5 years, or 10 years from now? People who are time multipliers always make their time decisions based on the significance factor.
If you could get the to-do list done, what would you do with your free time? Too many of us just add more to-do items to the list.
I think we most want time freedom. To reach that goal, you must be proactive and not reactive. I talk about this all the time at Organize 365®. This is not a new concept. But, this is more than just planning out the big projects. You have to develop the habit muscle of proactivity in every area of your life.
It means not doing every little thing when you have the thought. You write the thought on the index card, drop it into the Sunday Basket®, and do those little things all batched together to save time.
Six-figure time takes being proactive a step further. Instead of waiting to have the thought about the dog's medicine or the bills that need to be paid, you put it on a schedule with a plan for how to get it done or create other automations for the task like using bill pay. You purposely plan ahead for how the task will be done. What in your life can be systematized, scheduled, and automated to save you time and mental space?
Forward Thinking and Planning DaysEveryone is a forward thinker according to Ben Hardy. The difference is how far ahead into the future you think. It's great to have 15 minutes of free time and do something that your future self will appreciate like emptying the dishwasher or starting the laundry, but this is reactive productivity. How do you move to the next step and think farther into the future?
The answer is planning days.
Planning days for your home and your work give you the focused time to get more done and have more impact. The goal isn't a longer to-do list. The goal is more time to do what you're uniquely created to do so you can have more impact.
I'll be honest: It's more comfortable to add to the to-do list and check off the low-level tasks because it makes me feel productive. It takes time to wrestle with the question of what you're uniquely created to do and to try things out to see if that's the right thing for you. It takes time to develop skills and practice those skills. Six-figure income earners spend a lot of time growing their skills.
Six-figure income earners also spend a lot of time networking and making connections with like-minded people. Surround yourself with people who are investing their time and resources into being more productive so they can have an impact on the world.
They also change their role as they grow. Six-figure income earners do the things that are the highest use of their time. You have to focus on working your way out of jobs. This might mean delegating jobs to other people or services that can do the work for you. This might be other family members. Consider meal planning services or hire a house cleaner. It might also mean changing the standard at which you do a task in your home. Can you lengthen the time between dusting or changing your sheets?
Building RelationshipsI think that the true freedom of six-figure time comes when you can start to think about not just the work that needs to be done at home or in the office, but how you can impact relationships in your family, friends, and work. This is harder to prioritize because no one is holding us accountable.
Using the Sunday Basket® for Six-Figure TimeThe Sunday Basket® System is the first step in developing a six-figure time mindset. It helps you think about and systematize your personal life, household, family, and finances. I teach you how to move from being reactive to proactive.
Now, based on this podcast you can take your thinking to the next level. When you focus on your Sunday Basket® color of the week, consider the chess level next steps. What can you do for yourself, your household, your family, or your finances that would save you time and give you time freedom for the future?
I encourage you to pay special attention to how you invest your time with your family because these are the types of things that never make the to-do list and we fail to think about them until it's too late. I've shared many times about how I spent purposeful time with my kids in their teens to develop the close relationships that I have with them now.
Here's a simple way to be productive in your home instead of reactive and make time for family and relationship-building this holiday season: Join our holiday blitz! Get on the wait list for the 2022 Holiday Blitz now!
Being a six-figure time person means seeing how valuable your time is and how valuable you are. Invest your time wisely!
Resources Mentioned in This Episode Book: I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam Book: 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think Book: Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny Book: Procrastinate on Purpose by Rory Vaden Book: Who Not How by Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan Join the waitlist for the 2022 Holiday Blitz The Sunday Basket® SystemDid 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!
Fri, 30 Sep 2022 - 1h 02min - 1761 - Embrace Breakthroughs - Part 3
On Wednesdays, I normally get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action.
For the rest of this month, I have a treat for you on the Wednesday Transformation episodes I want to share with you some of the extraordinary breakthroughs from women just like you who attended Embrace 2022. Listen in for Part 3 of the transformations!
Embrace is now available on demand! You can learn more about the Embrace Self-Guided Retreat here.
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!
Wed, 28 Sep 2022 - 25min - 1760 - 503 - The 4 Kinds of Work: Housework, Invisible, Hobby & Unique Purpose
There are four types of work that we all do at home. In this episode, I go through these four types of work in detail and discuss how to reduce the amount of time spent on the first three so you can do more unique purpose work.
HouseworkWe've talked a lot over the last couple of years about housework. As a part of our Organize 365® Research, I have honed in on and defined this type of work. There are three main types of housework: cleaning, tasks of daily living, and organization. You must clean your home to some standard you set, do all the tasks that make you a human, like showering and brushing your teeth, plus the things in your house must have a home. Housework is like a part-time job of 18-25 hours each week for the average household without children!
Listen to these episodes for more about how I define housework:
#422 - Defining Housework Part 1 - Cleaning #424 - Defining Housework Part 2 - Tasks of Daily Living #426 - Defining Housework Part 3 - Organization #428 - Defining Housework Part 4 - Maintenance #495 - The Process of Equitably Dividing Housework #497 - Housework: The Hot Mess Theory Part 1 with Jacqui Ioli #498 - Housework: The Hot Mess Theory Part 2 with Jacqui Ioli #499 - Effort: The 80/20 of Housework - Not All Housework is Equal Invisible WorkThis is the work that happens in your Sunday Basket®. I talked about this with Eve Rodsky. Invisible work is the mental load and related tasks to running a household. These are things like paying the bills and planning for holidays. This type of work doesn't fit into the housework category and we have a hard time labeling and quantifying it.
The Sunday Basket® System helps with invisible work. The first six weeks of setup and habit-building can take a lot of time because you're setting up systems and processes. You have a set time to handle all these little one-off or recurring tasks. It might take you 90 minutes to 3 hours in the beginning, but then something magical happens. The time savings (and lightened mental load) that you experience during the week is exponential. The average Sunday Basket® user saves 5 hours each week!
There is a second type of invisible work: emergency invisible work. Illnesses, scheduled changes, and childcare/adult care fall into this category. When you or someone else gets sick in your family, the world around you doesn't stop and wait for you. The regular work doesn't go away and the emergency itself often creates more work. There are also schedule changes that are really just a part of life and we have to just roll with them. Not everyone has the final category, but childcare and caregiving for adults is a full-time 24/7 job all on its own.
Hobby WorkAngela Watson and I talked a lot about hobby work earlier this summer in relation to teachers. We naturally fill our time with work, but it's not all essential work. Sometimes, we do extra work to make ourselves feel better or make something look the way we want. That's hobby work. This often involves trying to be perfect or redoing work. When I talked to Jacqui, she called this overwork. Whatever you call it, it is robbing you of your free time! This is refolding the clothes in the drawer, matching the socks, folding the underwear, micro-organizing the toys, and over-cleaning.
Unique Purpose WorkThe female head of household struggles the most to prioritize unique purpose work over all other work. Unique purpose work is the work that you're uniquely created to do. No one else can do this work except you. But, too many of us feel that we must have an "A" in the first three areas before we can move into unique purpose work. Your family will push back. Your internal thoughts will push back. It's easier to search the internet for a fun printable about cleaning and press into hobby work. The reality is this: The pain of not doing what you're uniquely created to do must become greater than the pain of continuing to prioritize housework, invisible work, and hobby work for you to choose to prioritize your unique purpose work.
How Do I Find What I'm Uniquely Created to Do?I'm asked all of the time: How do I find what I'm uniquely created to do?
First, I suggest that you go through the Embrace Self-Guided Retreat. We've set it up as an on-demand experience that you can do alone or make a weekend of it with friends. The sessions will help you focus on yourself and show you how to begin to dream again.
Second, you need to understand that finding your unique purpose takes time. I told you when we talked about passive organizing that it takes 12-18 months of research before you get started on organizing. It's natural then that it will take just as much time and research to find what you're uniquely created to do. You need focused thinking time.
At Organize 365®, our mission is to help you get organized so you have the free time to do what you're uniquely created to do. Take your time back through organization! Find what you're uniquely created to do and press into it!
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!
Fri, 23 Sep 2022 - 44min - 1759 - Embrace Breakthroughs - Part 2
On Wednesdays, I normally get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action.
For the rest of this month, I have a treat for you on the Wednesday Transformation episodes I want to share with you some of the extraordinary breakthroughs from women just like you who attended Embrace 2022. Listen in for Part 2 of the transformations!
Embrace is now available on demand! You can learn more about the Embrace Self-Guided Retreat here.
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!
Wed, 21 Sep 2022 - 24min - 1758 - 502 - How Marie Kondo is the Atkins Diet of Organizing
Marie Kondo is like the Atkins Diet of organizing. Yes, it's true. Let me explain.
Please understand that this is NOT an anti-Marie Kondo episode! I think Marie Kondo is awesome in so many ways. She's done so much to raise awareness for organizing and decluttering in the media and the general public. There are benefits to her method, but I do feel that the Marie Kondo method is not the best long-term solution for the average American woman or home.
Last week I kicked off this podcast series by talking about passive organizing. When you're in this information-gathering stage, your interest and initial motivation can be sparked by things like Marie Kondo's book or TV show.
In this episode, I explain why Marie Kondo's organizational method is like the Atkins Diet of organizing.
First, ultra-low-carb diets like the Atkins Diet can give you quick results. You can get really, really quick results using the Marie Kondo method. That quick win can give you the motivation that is needed to keep going in the beginning. The problem is that you have to get rid of nearly everything to get those results!
Americans (and Australians) in particular tend to have larger homes and more stuff in those homes. Japanese homes are usually much smaller and rooms are more often multifunctional. When an American woman uses the Marie Kondo method of organizing, there's a lot of pain and chaos that goes along with pulling everything out of a particular space. It's like the headache you get when you go through carb withdrawal.
Second, the Atkins Diet is very one-size-fits-all, as is the Marie Kondo Method. There are strict rules to follow without deviation to get those results. Marie Kondo's Method is very prescriptive, telling you exactly how you should have each area of your home.
Do you have paper? She says get rid of it all except a tiny folder. This doesn't work for the typical American because so many important documents must be kept and presented in paper format. My grandson, Grayson, is a toddler and he already has two pieces of paper that must be kept track of for the rest of his life: his birth certificate and his social security card. We are not and cannot be paperless in the United States at this point in time. There are too many variables in the American household, especially in terms of paper, making a one-size-fits-all approach difficult to follow.
Don't even get me started on books. Marie Kondo says to get rid of all of your books. I did it. I got rid of all of my books. And I regret it! I love books and bookshelves. I have a couple of custom bookshelves in my home and I want more. I have hundreds of books on Audible and I'm in the process of buying many of those again in paper format so I can highlight them and write in them.
(Side note: I'm so used to thinking in terms of pink, purple, blue, and green work that I'm starting to highlight information in my books this way using our Organize 365® highlighters.)
Third, the Atkins Diet is very restrictive and not as filling. The Marie Kondo Method is very restrictive and not as fun. There is one way to follow her program. If you don't follow the program to the detail, you don't get an A. But, I want an A in organizing.
The problem is, I like stuff. I'm organized, but I like stuff. I don't have a ridiculous amount of stuff, like clothes, but my closet is far from being a capsule wardrobe.
These types of prescriptive systems tell you exactly what the end should look like to be considered organized. Minimal. Rainbow ordered. What if you have 35 pieces in your wardrobe instead of 33? What if you kept your books instead of getting rid of them all? Then you didn't follow the method and you don't get an A. You're not organized.
Lastly, most people cannot maintain the Atkins Diet for the rest of their lives. In a similar way, it is difficult to maintain organization like Marie Kondo. As soon as you stop following the prescriptive directions, the organization falls apart. It doesn't last. The Marie Kondo method of organizing gets you started, but it's not a sustainable way for most Americans to live.
Organization is a skill that must be learned.
You must know how and why you want to get organized. Your phase of life and the type of order that you want play a part. You need to practice making decisions that become rules and then habits for your life and home so that in the long term, you deal with less decision fatigue.
Marie Kondo's method of tidying is a wonderful place to start your journey. You can make some great visible progress with her system, but if you are not naturally a minimalist, it is not a sustainable lifestyle.
If you're like me and you like stuff (and are a bit of a rebel), it's time instead to focus on learning the skill of organization. Use the momentum of these quick-start methods to propel yourself into lifelong organization rather than endless cycles of decluttering and feelings of lack.
Here at Organize 365®, we're not about Pinterest-perfect organizing. Our focus is functional organizing. Learning the skill of organizing is a lifestyle change, not a quick-fix project. It requires a mental shift. It's about having what you need, those things having a home, and regularly putting everything back where it belongs.
The Productive Home Solution™ teaches you the skill of organization, guides you in developing systems, and learning to make decisions that become habits. I help you do the mental and the physical work. I show you how to make the invisible work visible.
Are you ready to move from passive organizing and short-term solutions to actively learning the skill of organization?
Resources Mentioned in This Episode Organize 365® Highlighters The Productive Home Solution™ The Sunday Basket® System The Friday Workbox® Related Episodes #501 - Passive Organizing#138 - Why The Magic Art of Tidying Up Doesn't Work For American Women
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!
Fri, 16 Sep 2022 - 23min - 1757 - Embrace Breakthroughs - Part 1
On Wednesdays, I normally get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action.
For the rest of this month, I have a treat for you on the Wednesday Transformation episodes I want to share with you some of the extraordinary breakthroughs from women just like you who attended Embrace 2022. Listen in for Part 1 of the transformations!
Embrace is now available on demand! You can learn more about the Embrace Self-Guided Retreat here.
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!
Wed, 14 Sep 2022 - 22min - 1756 - 501 - Passive Organizing
It's time to add a new term to our organizing glossary: passive organizing. I've said for years that it really takes three years to get organized, but the first 12-18 months are not easily recognized in that process. The reason is that this first chunk of time is spent in passive organizing.
What is passive organizing? Passive organizing is the time period during which you're becoming aware that maybe organization could help you become more productive. Maybe organization could help you get back your time. You're thinking, you're researching, and you're listening. This is passive organization. The change is happening in your mind, in your emotions, in your heart, and in your beliefs.
Passive organizing is the "pink" work of organizing. This is the time frame when you're working on yourself. You haven't committed to organizing, but you're gathering information and working on your mindset. You're thinking about the when, the how, and the order. You're deciding who you want your teacher to be.
In passive organizing, you're consuming exorbitant amounts of information. Sometimes, this can cause information overload and paralysis. You might struggle to take action because you see the best in all the options.
Let's take a little rabbit trail. The Kolbe Assessment is a quantitative test that helps you determine how you think. Among other things, it tells you how you leverage these three areas of thinking and processing in order to complete a project:
How much do you need to research something before you can do it? How much structure do you need before you can take action? How much do you need to talk before taking action?I am a "quick start." I spend the majority of my time talking about a project and then the active work portion of the project comes out really quickly at the end. I verbally process everything and I change my mind a lot. My team on the other hand tends to be much higher in research and/or structure.
An example of this is how I wrote the book How ADHD Affects Home Organization. I completed the writing of the book in a weekend, but I spent two years preparing to write the book and talking about it first!
How much research, structure, and talking do YOU need before you can take action on getting organized?
The other obstacle to deciding to get started with organing is having a tipping point. You have to reach a point when the pain of continuing to live in the current state of life is greater than the pain of change and learning a new skill to get the result you want. You have to realize that organization is a learnable skill.
Another tipping point is a golden window. These are big life events: a milestone birthday, a new baby, a new house, a new job, a loss, a health diagnosis, etc. Many times, multiple big events happen at the same time. These are seasons of opportunity. Disorganization leads to more disorganization, but when you seize the opportunity, these are major turning points.
I want to remind you that I was once where you are. Back in 2012, I quit my teaching job, I was overweight, I was depressed, and everything was falling apart around me. You can read my story in Organization is a Learnable Skill and listen to my depression story in episode #69. I was negative and pessimistic. You would not have wanted to be my friend back then. What you see of me now is the after picture!
You must also believe that you can get organized. You must make a decision that you are now going to live proactively instead of reactively. This is where you draw a line in the sand and step over it.
And one day, you will find yourself listening to an Organize 365® Podcast episode and you just get up and start organizing while you listen instead of just gathering information!
Are you ready to draw your line and get started on your organizing journey?
Resources Mentioned in This Episode The Kolbe Assessment Book: How ADHD Affects Home Organization Book: Organization is a Learnable Skill Get Started: The Sunday Basket® System Get Started: The Productive Home Solution™ Related Episodes #69 - My Depression Story #242 - Golden Windows of Organizing OpportunityDid 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!
Fri, 09 Sep 2022 - 39min - 1755 - Transformation with Loren S.
Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365 community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
This week, I am sharing my interview with Loren S. She lives with her boyfriend and her 10 houseplants. Loren describes herself as a natural "piler" but implementing the Sunday Basket® System means that she now has fewer piles around her home. She and her boyfriend participated in the Adult Spring Break Blitz by cleaning out and reorganizing their linen closet together. Loren also introduced me to The Conqueror Challenge, which is an app that gamifies exercise.
I do some teaching in my conversation with Loren about how to manage her Sunday Basket®. We talk about having only 5 slash pockets in each color and how to manage an ideas slash pocket for each color.
Loren shares how she tried to DIY a Sunday Basket® for herself before committing and purchasing the Sunday Basket® System. She found the extra teaching you get with the Sunday Basket® System precisely what she needed to mentally grasp the system and be successful. Is it time for you to make the commitment and purchase the Sunday Basket® System?
I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365 community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.
For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links:
Organize 365® The Sunday Basket® System The Productive Home Solution™ Related Episodes Swiss Cheese Organizing - Organize 365® Research Findings - #481I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
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!
Wed, 07 Sep 2022 - 33min - 1754 - 500 - The Slight Edge - Consistency is THE Key
One of the most impactful books I've ever read is The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. This book taught me so much about consistency, well before Organize 365® was even an idea.
We've reached a major milestone with this episode here at Organize 365®. This episode is our 500th Friday podcast episode. This doesn't count the extra episodes we've done over the years with Wednesday Transformations, Coffee Chats, and more. Counting those would bring us to well over 700 episodes in total and you've downloaded these episodes over 16 million times as of July 2022.
Those numbers and that amount of content creation only come with consistency. In all these years, I've NEVER missed publishing a Friday episode!
I was in my late 20s or early 30s when first read The Slight Edge and it stuck with me. I didn't fully understand back then the impact of a habit over time. You don't see that until you look back later. I knew I had to find ways to unlock more time in my life. I dived deep into how organization could unlock more time for me. Now, with the creation and implementation of the Sunday Basket® System, YOU have collectively unlocked 3 million hours and counting in YOUR lives! Wow!
In this episode, I'm sharing quotes from The Slight Edge and things I learned from the book.
Here are some of my takeaways:
I had to see things in life not as being "to" me, but rather "for" me. Consistency beats talent. Most businesses take 10 years to really get started. Things will take longer than you want, but you need to look at time differently. Stop looking for permission! Podcasts that take breaks don't last. I have higher self-standards now, but there are no "shoulds" and much more "grace" in my life. Focus on what you can change. Visionaries make people uncomfortable. I'm odd. You probably are too. There are fewer people to talk to as you move up. You have to live more in your mind than in reality to see the next big thing happen.It's time to stop filling your days with to-do lists and household tasks. Quit doing things that don't matter in the long term. Focus instead on being consistent in what WILL make a difference over time. Consistency beats talent, money, and pedigree every time.
I'd love to hear how you're using your extra time to do what you're uniquely created to do! Join me on a Wednesday Transformation episode, tag me on Instagram (@Organize365), or share your story in our community app.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode Book: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson The Sunday Basket System® The Productive Home Solution™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!
Fri, 02 Sep 2022 - 49min - 1753 - Transformation with Laurie R.
Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365 community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps, and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
This week, I am sharing my interview with Laurie R. She lives with her husband and three kids, including one with special needs. When Laurie lost her job in 2015, she looked for organizing podcasts to listen to and found Organize 365®. At the time she was frustrated because her 1800s-era home had no closets and everything felt cluttered. You might be surprised to learn that she actually tackled her paper management first! We talk about Swiss cheese organizing, how hiring a house cleaner is a form of accountability, and permission to let go of things.
Laurie also gave a great tip for creating a "jobs binder" to hold copies of professional licensure paperwork, performance reviews, and portfolio samples.
I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365 community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.
For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links:
Organize 365® The Sunday Basket® System The Productive Home Solution™ Friday Workbox® The Paper Solution® Warrior MAMA Binder Related Episodes Swiss Cheese Organizing - Organize 365® Research Findings - #481I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!
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!
Wed, 31 Aug 2022 - 30min - 1752 - Friday Workbox® Planning Day OrientationTue, 30 Aug 2022 - 44min
- 1751 - Friday Workbox® OrientationTue, 30 Aug 2022 - 1h 01min
- 1750 - 499 - Effort: The 80/20 of Housework - Not All Housework is Equal
The Pareto Principle says that 80% of the fruit comes from 20% of the labor. I first learned about this principle when reading 80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More by Perry Marshall. This is not just a sales thing. It can be seen in nature, road traffic, and math. So, I started thinking about how this 80/20 principle applies to our homes and housework.
I know that perfection is not attainable. Instead, I've resolved to strive for excellence. What does it look like to be an excellent homemaker?
We tend to equate cleanliness with organization. We are looking for order but "cleaning" your house doesn't bring that order.
In this episode, I share with you how I have employed the 80/20 principle in my house to bring it to excellence but not perfection while also giving me time to do what I'm uniquely created to do. (Spoiler alert: We're going to talk more next week about using that extra time!)
What do 80% and excellence look like for my floors, counters/flat surfaces, laundry, and straightening/tidying in my home?
What does it mean to get to 80% in your Sunday Basket® routine and The Productive Home Solution™?
Read the full show notes here: https://organize365.com/podcast/effort-the-80-20-of-housework-not-all-housework-is-equal
Resources Mentioned in This Episode Book: 80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More by Perry Marshall The Sunday Basket® System The Productive Home Solution™ Organize 365® Research Paper Organizing Retreats Related Episodes Swiss Cheese Organizing - Organize 365® Research Findings - #481 Organizing Personal Spaces - #482 Organizing Family & Communal Spaces - #483 Organizing Storage Spaces - #484 Organizing Paper Management - #485Did 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!
Fri, 26 Aug 2022 - 57min
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