Organize 365 Podcast

When we use our planner as our datebook, we may have an idea of the times of our appointments and commitments, but we don't align our weekly focus with the goals we actually want to accomplish in our lives. In this episode, Lisa explains her purposeful decision to not do laundry, and the deeper reason why she chooses intentionality over obligation. Lisa shares the problem with the readily available planners in today's market, and why the Home CEO Planner is different. If you are looking for permission to let go of the guilt and start intentionally focusing your time toward the things that matter to you, this episode will speak to you. Listen to Podcast 134 to get the full details on how Lisa divides the year into three planning seasons. If you want to get your hands on your own Home CEO Planner, join the 100 Day Home Organization Program. Be sure to check out organize365.com/planner-productivity/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode. Like the show? Leave a review! If you tried any of my suggestions, I'd love to see them! Follow me on Instagram and join the Facebook group for more great organizing tips, then share your photos with me by tagging me @organize365 or using #organize365! Want more information on launching your professional organization business? The Professional Organizer's Think Tank is for you. Want more information on adding the Sunday Basket Certification to your current business? We'd love for you to join us in the Certification Program!

Grab the tissues! This episode was recorded live at the Organize 365 RISE: You Are Enough National Convention, held in June 2018. Lisa interviewed Dawn Carlson, a wife, mother of four, business owner, and new Certified Sunday Basket Workshop Organizer. In this interview, Dawn shares her story of transformation from depressed, struggling, frazzled woman to a confident, productive CEO with Organize 365. Using the 100 Day Home Organization Program and virtual organizing, Dawn took back her home and freed herself to do what she is uniquely created to do. Dawn gives us a glimpse of the real-life ups and downs of home organization, and brings us the inspiring message that YOU can do it. Dawn is a member of our All Access, a program designed to help you transform your home in one year. Interested in a live event with Organize 365? Check out the upcoming events! Be sure to check out organize365.com/240 for notes, links, and photos from this episode. Like the show? Leave a review! If you tried any of my suggestions, I'd love to see them! Follow me on Instagram and join the Facebook Group for more great organizing tips, then share your photos with me by tagging me @organize365 or using #organize365! Want more information on launching your professional organization business? The Professional Organizer's Think Tank is for you. Want more information on adding the Sunday Basket Certification to your current business? We'd love for you to join us in the Certification Program!

In this episode, Lisa talks us through the story of Angela, a wannabe professional organizer who finds encouragement and motivation through Organize 365. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a profitable, confident, productive professional organizer, this episode is for you. Organize 365 has launched programs to help you START your business, MARKET your business, and GROW your business. With the Sunday Basket Certified Workshop Organizer program, Angela transforms her business from a small hobby business to a money-making profession she loves. Snag that free checklist here! Want more information on launching your professional organization business? The Professional Organizer's Think Tank is for you. Want more information on adding the Sunday Basket Certification to your current business? We'd love for you to join us in the Certification Program! Be sure to check out organize365.com/238 for notes, links, and photos from this episode. Like the show? Leave a review! If you tried any of my suggestions, I'd love to see them! Follow me on Instagram and join the Facebook group for more great organizing tips, then share your photos with me by tagging me @organize365 or using #organize365!

We've reached the final episode of the Kid's Organization Series. I hope you've all enjoyed this mini-series so far and found the advice useful when it comes to organizing your bedroom – or mini apartment as I like to call them! In previous episodes, I've talked about organizing your clothes, closets, and rearranging the furniture in your bedroom. But now I want to talk about organizing your toys, collections, and how to save space if you're sharing a bedroom with someone else. Eliminate Your Nightstand If you share a bedroom with a sibling or a friend at college, every space counts. With two beds in the room, it's unlikely you'll have a lot of space to work with unless you're lucky and have a massive room for you both. If you've been keeping up with the podcast, you'll know that my son is preparing for college and we've been shopping for his new apartment. During one of my many Walmart visits, I came across storage headboards. Well actually, there were more like mini bookcases with shelving suitable for things like an alarm clock, picture frames, ornaments, books, and other small items. A storage headboard eliminates your need for a nightstand, giving you more floor space to work with. If you want to have a lamp near your bed, you can use a clip-on dorm lamp that can clamp onto your headboard. They are adjustable and you can angle it so that you can read at night without shining a stream of light in your roommate's face – phew! Cube Units For Bunk Beds If you have bunk beds in your room, a storage headboard is probably out of the question. But don't worry, I've got the perfect solution! IKEA are the masters of storage units! Their KALLAX shelving units are my favorite. They are available in a range of different sizes, but if you're looking for the perfect bookshelf for bunk beds, I suggest going for the 1 x 5 unit. It takes up very little space and you can easily attach it to the wall with a standard L bracket. You'll need to think about functionality over appearance. Most people will immediately assume that the unit should be facing outwards, but this isn't how I do it. I recommend connecting the unit to the wall sideways so that the kids can reach into the shelves from their beds. Reducing The Bedroom Clutter If you share a room, you MUST reduce the number of collections and toys that you keep because there just isn't enough room to spare. If your family has additional storage space or a family bookshelf, etc., then you might be able to keep some of your possessions there if you don't want to donate or throw them out. Cube units are easier to work with for organizing your bedroom because they're functional, long-lasting, and you can easily separate them if you like. A 2 x 8 unit, for example, can be stacked on top of each other with your TV on top. My daughter took a slightly different approach to her shelving units and, instead of putting a TV on top of her 2 x 8 unit, she put her hamster cage on top of it. It's not a regular hamster cage either – it's a hamster mansion! Organizing Books Is it just me or is every home overflowing with books? I was a preschool teacher and when my kids were young, we literally had EVERY picture book ever published. The house was covered in them until I finally decided to do something about it. My kids were never big readers. They preferred to play with toys rather than sit and read for hours. So, I took all the picture books and stored them in the loft. I then put their toys in their bedrooms and they were so much happier. If you've got a lot of books, you should think about donating some of them or moving them to where everyone else in the family keeps their books. I suggest assigning one of your cubes in your shelving unit for books – and that's it! Organizing Your Toys & Collections Everyone has a passion project. Your passion project is the type of toys that you're currently into. Whether it's PS4 games, Monster High Dolls or Lego, your passion project will probably take up at least four of the cubes in your unit. Toys are different from collections because toys are the things that you play with while collections are more personal and private. Your collection is special because it has a memory connected to it and, even though the rest of the family sees it as junk, you don't see it that way. There's just one thing to remember – your entire collection HAS to fit into one cube. You can store them in a bin, but once that container fills up – it's time to go through it! You should spread everything out on the floor and go through it piece by piece. Prioritize your collections and only keep the items that you still love. Everything else should be donated or thrown out because they're just taking up space that you don't have. Find A Display Area For Your Collections Once you've gone through the bin, you need to find a flat surface in your room where you can display your favorite pieces from your collections. I suggest putting them on a ledge or "floating shelf" that you can hang up on the wall with a nail or L bracket. This type of shelf comes in a range of sizes and is relatively inexpensive. You can find them anywhere, including IKEA, Target, and even Walmart. You can attach it to your wall and use it as a collection shelf. If you share a room with a sibling, get two shelves for your collections and stack them on top of each other. I hope you enjoyed this special Kid's Organization Series as much as I enjoyed making it! I've organized plenty of kid's rooms in the past. It's one of my favorite things to do because each child is different and their bedrooms reflect their personalities – I think that's fantastic! If you tried any of my suggestions, I'd love to see them! Follow me on Instagram for more great organizing tips, then share your photos with me by tagging me @organize365! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/237

We're continuing our Kids Organization Series and following up last week's topic of redesigning your bedroom with an episode all about cleaning out your closets and organizing your clothes – it's exciting stuff, I know. But don't worry, a closet clean out doesn't take as long as you might think. As you continue to improve your organizing skills and return to a space you've previously organized, the process becomes much easier and quicker. If you haven't listened to my previous podcasts offering clothing organization tips, you can go back through podcast episodes 103 to 107 to listen. Have you caught up? Great! Let's get stuck into organizing your closet! Donating Unwanted Clothes Donations should happen on a regular basis. In fact, I would go as far as saying it should be a part of your everyday life. I go through my closet and reorganize the clothes quite often. So when I began going through everything recently, I didn't have much to do. There weren't many clothes that I needed to donate, but that wasn't the case when it came to organizing my kid's closets. I've always taught my kids the value of donating to those in need. When they were really young, like around six or seven years old, we would reorganize their room together and they would give me the things that they wanted to donate. Now that they're much older, they take the things they want to donate and put it in the donation area. So when it came to organizing their closets, a lot of the clothes were set aside to donate. This is not only a great way to get rid of all the clothes you don't want anymore, but it also frees up closet space and gives those clothes to someone in need. Organizing Hangers When I told my kids I was going to help them clean their closets, they were pretty excited about it. I started in my son's room first, and if there's one thing you need to know about his closet set-up, it's the fact that everything he owns (except for socks and underwear, etc.) is hung up in the closet. However, a large part of his closet consisted of empty hangers that took up way too much space. So, the very first thing I did was take all of the empty hangers and put them in a laundry basket. I made sure that all of the hangers faced the same direction because as you know, hangers love to get tangled together. Putting your empty hangers in a laundry basket is great because it gives you more free space on the rod and you can just grab a hanger whenever you need one. Keep Vs. Donate To keep or not to keep? – that is the question! One of the biggest decisions you'll make when you clean out your closet is deciding which clothes you want to keep and which you wish to donate. When I help my kids go through their closets, I hold each item of clothing up high for them to evaluate. They look at it and decide its fate with a simple "yes" or "no" response. It's a quick process of elimination and I go through the clothes super-fast for two reasons: I don't want this to take forever I know kids can get bored All of the clothes that they want to keep are hung up in the closet and all of the clothes they want to get rid of are put into trash bags for donation. Instead of carrying all the bags downstairs and into the car, I tie a tight knot at the top and take them to the top of the stairs and I roll them down! It saves a lot of time and energy because I don't have to keep running up and down the stairs – plus, it's just fun to roll things down the stairs! Sorting The Clean Laundry The next step is to go through all of the clean laundry items and sort out the pieces of clothing in the same way as we did before. This is where you'll look at each piece of clothing and decide if you want to keep it or donate it to Goodwill. While you organize your closet, you should keep in mind whether or not you plan on buying any new clothes soon. For example, my son needs new white long sleeve t-shirts for college, so we ended up donating his old ones because we knew that we were going to add a bunch of new t-shirts to his closet very soon. As we organized the clean laundry, I held up each piece and again, my kids answered either "yes" or "no." Anything that they wanted to keep went back into the closet. And anything they wanted to donate went into the donation bags – and yes, we rolled them down the stairs again! Organizing Closet Shelves My daughter's closet has multiple shelves that I built for her when she was much younger. Back then, she would use them to store her toys, but now she uses them to store her clothes. So when we were in the process of organizing her closet, we used the shelves to store other pieces of clothing that she didn't want to hang up including her leggings, workout clothes, soft shorts, etc. We hung everything else up in the closet and put the winter clothes on one rod and the spring/summer clothes on the other rod. We then took small bins or storage boxes and used them to store things like socks, underwear, swimwear, and things that she can grab whenever she needs them. And there you have it, the easy (and speedy) way of organizing your closet! I hope you have fun going through your clothes. And if you have a dresser drawer in your room, you can arrange it in the same way. But instead of hanging the clothes you want to keep in the closet, you fold them up and put them into your dresser – simple! Next week, I will be talking about collections, toys, and sharing your bedroom. :) Remember to sign up for the Back To School Blitz! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/236

On this week's podcast, I kick start the 3-week Kid's Organization Series. It's for kids between the ages of 7 and 21 – so whether you're still in school or preparing to graduate from college – this series is for you! I tried something a little different this week and recorded my podcast on video, too. If you would prefer to watch this episode, you can do that here... https://youtu.be/2Q9JWKBOFVc Organizing Your School Art & Memories But before we get started, I want to reach out to all the kids out there who are bored out of their minds this summer. If you can relate, I've got your back! One of the things you could do is go through all of your old artwork and school papers and sort out the things that you love and want to save to look back on in years to come. Sort everything into two piles – a keep pile and a recycle pile. Once you have gathered all of the papers and artwork you want to keep, you can store it all in a plastic tub and keep it in your closet, or you can put everything inside a binder using sheet protectors. You can create your own binder OR you can ask your parents (as nicely as possible) to let you order the Organize 365 School Art & Memory Binder where you can safely store and protect all of your papers and artwork so that they will last a lifetime. Organizing your artwork is something you could do while you're in the process of redesigning your bedroom, which is something that I did A LOT when I was a kid because I loved switching things around and making my room feel "brand new" again. So, if you want to redesign your bedroom this summer and change things up for yourself, follow these easy redesign tips! Planning On Graph Paper I don't know about you, but I find it easier to envision a redesign when I've drawn up a quick plan on paper first. Measure your bedroom and notice where the windows, doors and outlets are. In my case, I'm redesigning my son's bedroom which measures 10' x 10'. So, I've drawn out my plan on the graph paper to fit 30 squares across and 30 squares from top to bottom. [So, three squares of the paper is equal to one foot and one square of the paper is equal to four inches.] Marking Doors, Windows & Outlets Before we can get to the fun part of moving furniture around and getting creative with your bedroom, there are a few things you will want to mark on your plans such as doors, windows, electrical outlets, and vents. Leave enough space for any door openings in your room, whether it's the main door to your bedroom, a closet door, or the door to a bathroom, etc. Figure out how much space you need to leave free and mark this on your graph paper as a semi-circle. You can watch how I do this in this week's video... https://youtu.be/2Q9JWKBOFVc Also mark the placement of all of the windows in your bedroom. I also like to label each of the electrical outlets and the vent to allow heat and air conditioning to enter the room without any obstruction. Using Post-It Notes As Furniture Now that you have all the boring stuff marked on your plan, you can start redesigning your bedroom with Post-It Notes. Create a Post-It Note for each piece of movable furniture in your room. Many of you will have a desk, a dresser, or a bedside table. Measure it and cut a Post-It Note in the same shape and size that corresponds with your plan. Remember, three squares on the graph paper is equal to one foot. So if your bed measures 6' x 3', you'll need to convert that measurement to fit the dimensions of the squares of your plan. You can liven things up by using multi-colored Post-Its and labeling each one as you go. When I was a kid, I would do this ALL THE TIME. I would plan my new bedroom design over and over again. And when I was done with that, I made a plan for future homes – I just loved it. What can I say? Some kids played sports and some kids planned their future homes in excruciating detail and precision! Moving Big Pieces Of Furniture When it comes to redesigning your room and moving big pieces of furniture around, you need to think of the process as a huge jigsaw puzzle. Make sure you leave enough space in your room to move things around in the most efficient way possible and try not to limit your own walking space. You've got to be able to walk around your room without climbing over furniture to get to the other side! In this week's video, I show you (using my Post-It Note furniture) how to move your bed and desk and not get stuck in the room!... https://youtu.be/2Q9JWKBOFVc If you have too many things that can't fit in your bedroom or your college dorm room, I suggest renting an outside storage unit. This is especially useful if you've recently moved back home with your parents and there's not enough space to keep all of the things you accumulated throughout college. Just put it all in a storage facility – out of sight, out of mind! The Kids Organization Series I hope you enjoyed this first episode of the Kids Organization Series and found some useful tips and ideas for organizing and redesigning your own bedroom or apartment. In this series, I'm going to be focusing on all the things that you don't have time for during the school year that you could finally do in the summer. If you'd like to catch up with the podcast's I recorded last year for organizing your bedroom and collections, go to organize365.com/kids. Don't forget to take photos of your newly organized bedroom and tag me @organize365 on Instagram – I'd love to see how you're organizing your rooms and share it with my followers! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/235

Living through renovations, natural disasters, and moving can be a very stressful and disorganized time. Your house is turned upside down in the blink of an eye and before you know it, you're stepping over stacks of books on your way to the bathroom and the dog is snoozing on top of a box labeled, "The GOOD China" – just thinking about it gives me a headache! Instead of gritting your teeth and living through the chaos, you can follow these three easy steps that will help to not only organize your home during transitional times (such as moving or renovating the kitchen), but they'll also help to keep you sane. 1. The Hot Mess Room Challenge The first step is to do the Hot Mess Room Challenge well in advance. The challenge is different for everyone because no two "hot mess rooms" are the same. Your hot mess room could be your basement, the guest bedroom, or your garage. It's the room in the house that has collected a mass of random items that don't have a place anywhere else in the home. If you're thinking of a room like that in your house, it's your hot mess room! So, what is the Hot Mess Room Challenge? The Hot Mess Room Challenge takes 28 days to complete and it takes you through the progress of getting your hot mess room organized. You can think of the hot mess room like a jigsaw puzzle. The challenge will help you to separate each piece, organize each one and, in the end, put them together into an organized storage unit. The Hot Mess Room Challenge can be download it right here. It's delivered directly to your inbox, ready to download! At the end of the 28-day challenge, instead of a hot mess room, you'll have an organized storage room with shelving, bins with color-coded labels, and a complete inventory of everything you have stored in that room. When disaster strikes and you need to find something such as a flashlight or a photograph of a family member, you can't waste time looking through boxes upon boxes. Having an inventory gives you peace of mind knowing that if you ever needed something in a rush, you'll know exactly where to find it. 2. The Sunday Basket® Once you have completed the Hot Mess Room Challenge, you're ready to move onto stage two – organizing your Sunday Basket® System! You need to make sure that your Sunday Basket® is ALWAYS accessible to you 100% of the time. In fact, you should think of your Sunday Basket® as your lifeline during these stressful transitional times. Your Sunday Basket® is where you will keep your color-coded lists of everything that is in your storage room and an inventory of the things you have packed into boxes. If you are renovating your kitchen, for example, you would label boxes with things such as "Utensils," "Dishes," "Pots and Pans," etc. So when you need to find something inside one of the kitchen renovation boxes, you can check the Sunday Basket® checklist and it will tell you exactly where you can find that item. Another reason why you need your Sunday Basket® up and running when you're moving or renovating your home is that, in both of these cases, you'll have paperwork coming in such as household bills, invoices, etc. and you can keep all of these papers organized in your SundayBasket®. 3. The Organize 365 Binders Before you move or renovate your home, you need to make each of the four Organize 365 Binders to eliminate your filing cabinet and organize all of your paperwork. Once you have all of your binders arranged, you can move to your new house without trailing a bunch of unsightly and disorganized filing cabinets with you – how awesome does that sound? It takes time to organize each binder, so I would suggest tackling one at a time. If you'd like to find out how I organized my binders, you can head over to the Sunday Basket® Podcast to hear more about that and each of the four binders I mention below: Medical Binder: You should think of the Medical Organizing Binder as a caregiver binder and store information regarding your family's medical and health history, doctor information, diagnosis tracker, immunization record, hospitalization and surgery history, and so on. Financial Binder: The Financial Organizing Binder is for all of your finances, which includes everything you need to keep your finances in order during a home renovation, a move, or when a natural disaster strikes. Inside, you should keep your insurance policy information, financial prep sheet, credit card inventory, bill payment records, debts and loans, and any other finances that you need to keep track of. Household Reference Binder: Every homeowner needs a Household Reference Binder. It's where you should store everything that you want the new homeowner to know (if you're selling your house), including home exterior and interior information, home appliances, and details of things such as when you last checked the hot water heater, etc. Household Operations Binder: The Household Operations Binder is the key to maintaining your home and running the household. Inside this binder, you should keep all of the basic household information, important dates, trackers, meal planning, and your plan in the event of an emergency. Whenever you're moving to a new house, renovating, or in the aftermath of a natural disaster, you'll need to know where you keep your four binders. I suggest keeping them in the same place where you store your SundayBasket® so you can just grab it all and go! I hope you found these three steps useful when it comes to living through renovations, moving to a new home, or recovering from a natural disaster. Purchase your Sunday Basket® and Binders in my shop today! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/234

Just because you live in a small home doesn't mean your storage space has to be limited. Over the years, I've received A LOT of emails on the subject of maximizing storage space in small living spaces such as studio apartments, condos, and tiny houses. In fact, I received this email from an Organize 365 fan named Amy just the other day and wanted to share it with you: "Since having a baby, it's been so hard to keep on top of things at home, but listening to your podcasts in the afternoons usually gives me a little push. Do you have experience with organizing small homes and apartments? Our apartment constantly feels cluttered, but in reality, there are very few things we can get rid of, it's just a small space. Any advice for those of us who don't have basements, garages, spare rooms or even a hall closet and also don't have a lot of money for complex storage systems that fancy tiny homes all seem to utilize?" Amy is in a situation that I know many of you can relate to. Living in a small space with a baby usually means that there is going to be a lot of "stuff" – it's just the way it is. The issue lies with the fact that you genuinely NEED all of that extra baby stuff because you never know when you'll need it again, especially if you're planning on expanding your family in the future. The Baby Issue I'm not saying that having a baby in a small space is an "issue," but it's important to realize that children come with a lot of clutter. Expecting to add more kids to your family without expanding the amount of space taken up in the home is an unrealistic expectation. Now that I've given you that little reality check, we can dive into the good stuff! If you're fortunate enough to have a nursery in your home, it's a good idea to try and keep most of the baby related items in there as much as possible. And if you want to maximize your space WITHOUT decluttering, I have four space-saving suggestions for you! 1. Create More Space Before you say anything – Yes, I understand that you can't just click your fingers together and magically increase the size of your home to create more space. That's not what I'm saying, but it is essential to start looking at your house with "new eyes." Try and see your home's potential. It may be difficult at first, but trust me – there's always a way to create more space! A great tip I have for you is to use shoe holders over every door in your house. You can avoid using hooks (which can damage the door frame) by using 3M Command Hooks instead. With Command Hooks, you can just pop the shoe holder over the top and it'll hold the rack in place without causing any damage to the door – phew! So, what can you store inside these fantastic shoe organizers? I'm glad you asked! You can literally store all of the little things in your house inside the shoe holders. For example, on the back of the bathroom door, you can put your shampoo, soaps, and items that you would typically put in your medicine cabinet, etc. On the back of the nursery door, you can store cute little baby things like hair accessories, tiny socks, diaper rash cream. and baby wipes, etc. 2. Increase Storage Space With Bed Risers & Space Saver Bags A bed riser is cheap. You can pick one up from somewhere like Walmart for just $10. Bed risers can lift your bed a few inches or even a few feet above the floor, giving you additional storage space. I'm a huge fan of bed risers. Our master bed has not one, but TWO bed risers underneath it because… well, I couldn't see the TV screen over the bed frame! We also ended up putting our dog's bed underneath our bed. So, every night our dog Hunter sleeps underneath our bed. If you have a dog and he's a part of the family like ours is, then this news probably won't surprise you in the slightest. It's definitely a unique storage solution to store your dog's bed (and your dog!). You can use one bed riser or double it up for even more storage space. Another great way to maximize space in the home is to use a Space Saver Bag. You can put your big fluffy blankets in there over the summer and other out-of-season clothes to help save yourself more space. Use a vacuum to suck all the air out of the bag and watch in awe as the fluffy blanket that kept you warm all winter gets flattened into a very thin pancake. Store the bag underneath your bed and don't think about it until next winter! 3. Go 'Vertical' If you really want to make the most out of the small space that you DO have, you've got to start thinking vertically. Take a trip to Ikea and get yourself one of those cube storage units and stack them on top of each other against the wall. Build it all the way up to the ceiling if you can and store different items in each cube so you can have less clutter around the house – sorted! 4. Use An Outside Storage Facility I understand that not everyone can afford to invest in an outdoor storage facility, but if you can save up just a little bit of money each month, you can have enough to rent a small storage unit to help declutter your home. Choose a size that's right for you and use it to store all the extra things in your house that you won't need for a while such as holiday decorations, memorabilia, and baby equipment that your child no longer needs but you may come back to in the future for the next little one. There's ALWAYS storage solutions if you're willing to think outside the box. Don't let yourself be limited by the physical amount of space that you do have and try to look at it from a new perspective and, who knows, you might even come up with a few of your own creative storage ideas along the way! My entire company is run from my small home office in my bedroom. A small space forces you to constantly prioritize your space and your to-do's. Check out the NEW Friday Workboxes and get your homeschool, teaching, direct sales and entrepreneur businesses organized in a box. :) View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/233

Summer is meant to be a relaxing time of the year filled with fun activities, holidays, and warm afternoons spent soaking up the sun on the beach. However, summer is my least productive season (and I'm a productivity NUT, so that's saying a lot!). Things just don't get done and, before you know it, the summer has ended and all you have to show for it is a great tan but not much else. When we go head first into summer without a second thought about routines or schedules, we often end up feeling bored because we don't know what to do with our time. I'm not saying you should have a structured plan and organize every little detail of your summer, but it wouldn't hurt to have a few routine days that you can use sparingly throughout the summer. I have five different routine days for the summer that I'd like to share with you: 1. Help & Support Day If you have kids, you need a day off. It's as simple as that. Yes, we love our children, and we'd do anything for them, but sometimes we need some time for ourselves – a bit of ME time is good for you! I'm a full-time working mom with two teenagers and just last summer, I hired a nanny. I know what you're thinking, "Why on earth did you hire a nanny for two teenagers?" Well, here's why: Reason 1: There was a lot of random driving that needed doing last summer and I didn't have the time to drive my kids around. So, the person I hired to help me out would drive my kids to wherever they wanted to go and I was able to concentrate on work without any interruptions – success! Reason 2: I had a lot of household chores and projects I wanted to be done, but had no time to get to. She was able to scan all of my scrapbooks, do the dishes, clean the kitchen, and do the laundry – and it was fantastic! If you're not a mom, this probably sounds ridiculous. But if you ARE a mom, you might be thinking… "brilliant – I NEED THIS!" When I was a teenager, I worked as a babysitter. Before the summer kicked off, I would approach the parents I worked for and ask them if they wanted a day to themselves. I would be happy to look after their kids while they got their hair done (because it was the 80's and hair was literally everythingback then) and when the mom's heard this, they thought it was a genius idea. I created a desire in them that they didn't even know existed! Not to boast, but I was basically an entrepreneur from birth. So, when I became a mom, I was looking for someone who would sell the same services as I did – and I found them! 2. Pool Day Who doesn't love a pool day? Whether you're practicing your backstroke or soaking up the sunshine, everyone loves a good pool day in the summer. Most pools open between 10 am and noon, so you have most of the morning to do whatever you like, and the kids can have their own independent time, too. When it's time to go to the pool, pack your swimwear, towels, and whatever else you need to bring with you and go out and enjoy the day as a family! Remember, the pool tends to zap up all of your energy and brain power, so you probably won't have the energy to get much done when you get home. Take it easy and order some pizza to finish the day off in style! 3. Errand Day You can eliminate a lot of time from an errand day by just buying things online like I do. You can shop for groceries online as well, so this might be a good option for you if you don't feel like pushing a cart through a store. You'll probably need at least one or two errand days over the summer. Some of you may need an errand day each week, while others will need just one errand day per month. The best way to prepare for errand day is to create a list of what needs to be done and check off each task as you go. 4. Home Day This is my favorite kind of day where you can stay home and do whatever you like with your time – it's paradise! I usually like to focus on one of my larger projects on a home day because I've got plenty of time to get it done. However, there's nothing worse than enjoying your home day and having someone tell you that you need to get up and leave the house. That's the worst, isn't it? Avoid this scenario by telling everybody it's a home day. Make sure they know that you have no intention of driving them around the country or to McDonald's for some fast food (unless you change your mind, in which case, that's perfectly fine!). One of the best ways to make a home day super successful is to introduce your kids to a new activity. This can be anything from a new subscription box to a science kit or homemade play dough. I love play dough, and I often make homemade play dough that kids of all ages (including me) like to play with. It's a creative pastime and it doesn't cost a lot of money, which makes it perfect for a low-key day at home! Visit the blog post to get my homemade play dough recipe to try for yourself! 5. Big Event Day A big event day is basically a day spent outside of the house doing something BIG. This can be anything from the amusement park to the zoo. It's always a good idea to plan for the big event day the night before it actually happens. If you're going to be traveling, make sure to fill your car with gas in advance. You should also pack and plan everything you'll need for the big event day, such as snacks, food, etc. Each of these summer routine days is designed to give you some inspiration and guidance if you're struggling to be productive over the summer months. I hope you found it helpful and you can use some (if not all) of these routine days this summer! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/231

Before I get into this week's topic, I have TWO very exciting announcements for you! First, this is your LAST chance to register for the Organize 365 National Convention! That's right, tickets are almost sold out, and registration for the event closes at midnight on May 29th – so make sure to click here to learn more and sign up! The second announcement is for all the teachers out there and anyone who feels like once the school year starts, their head starts spinning! If this sounds like you, the 100 Day Home Organization Double Time is EXACTLY what you've been looking for. It cuts the time of the 100 Day Program in half, which means you can get it done TWICE as fast! Don't miss out on this one time offer! There are just 120 slots available! So, if you miss out this time, you'll have to wait until August to sign up. If you manage to get your hands on one of these treasures, you'll receive the current planner AND the brand-new planner that we're launching in August – now that's what I call a real VIP experience! Registration for the 100 Day Home Organization Double Time opens Friday May 25th and ends on May 29th at midnight or until the 120 slots have been claimed. Once they are gone, they are gone! If you want to be one of the first people to try the 100 Day Home Organization Double Time Program, click here to sign up! Now, onto setting your summer goals! Summer Is Coming! Summer is just around the corner and most of you are probably busy packing your suitcases and planning your summer vacation. It's an exciting time of the year. I know I'm really looking forward to planning my summer and spending more time with my family. Is it just me or does anyone else feel like summer is the dreamiest season of the year? Do you know what I mean? Things just seem to merge together and before you know it, you're right back at the start of the school year again and you've no idea where the time went. Weird, right? Well, I think I've gotten to the bottom of it. Let me share how you can reach your summer goals without fail – I promise. Try Not To Have Too Many Goals This Summer When you think ahead to the summer, it's tempting to overestimate just how much you can get done. I've always thought of July as the "Bermuda Triangle" of months. Nothing happens in July. It's almost impossible to get any work done and I can't explain why. Instead of giving yourself a hard time because you "failed" to reach all of your summer goals, take a step back and realize that it's okay! It's okay that you didn't get the kitchen painted this summer or that you didn't have time to declutter your closet – give yourself a break, it's summer after all! I think one of the main issues we all run into over the summer is the mistake of setting too many goals for ourselves in such a short space of time. Summer is very short, and it's very spontaneous. One minute you could be focused on organizing your kitchen and the next thing you know, you're running down the street in your flip-flops trying to sniff out where that delicious smell of BBQ'd ribs is coming from – unplanned things just happen. Give yourself the grace from the beginning and know that you're not going to get a ton of goals accomplished in the summer – and learn to be okay with it. Set Yourself One Or Two Goals MAX I always try and focus on one specific area of my life over the summer. Sometimes, I might go as far as assigning myself two goals for the entire summer, but it's okay to have just the one. Here is a glimpse into a few of my previous summer goals throughout the years: In 2015, I decided to focus my summer on improving my personal health and working on my marriage. I walked 10,000 steps per day and invested in having more one-on-one time with my husband. We spent summer nights talking outside on the patio, and that was the same summer we discovered (and binge-watched) the TV show "24." It was an easy-going summer and one that I really enjoyed. In 2016, I redesigned my websites because we had just launched the 100 Day Home Organization Program. A lot of my free time was spent in front of my computer screen. I decluttered my desktop, posts, and Pinterest boards, which helped me to have a real work-focused year with limited distractions and clutter. In 2017, I focused on decluttering the house and began to work on redoing different spaces, such as the kid's bedrooms and our landscaping. This summer project grew more momentum and ran into the beginning of 2018 – we recently had our windows and doors replaced! So now that you've heard all about my previous summer goals, I bet you're thinking, "Great Lisa, but what are you focusing on this summer?" Well, this summer, I'm going to focus on my kids. My son is preparing to leave for college and will be moving into his own apartment, so we have to help him get ready and prepare his living quarters before he begins his studies. My daughter also got her temporary license, so I'll spend a lot of time driving with her and taking a few road trips to help her gain more confidence as a new driver. What Is Your 'BIG Summer Win?' You've heard all about my summer goals, but now it's time to start thinking about what YOU want to accomplish this summer. What "BIG WIN" do you want to achieve over the next few months? The key here is to get as specific as possible with your big summer win. The more you can narrow it down to just one specific goal, the more likely you are to succeed. I would love to hear your big goal for the summer so please share it with us in the Organize 365 Facebook Group or go over to Instagram and tag me on what your big summer priority is going to be – I can't wait to see what you guys will be up to this summer! Oh and don't forget... if you are ready to jumpstart your home organization journey, I would LOVE for you to join me in 100 Day Home Organization DOUBLE TIME. Registration is only open until Tuesday IF the planner supply lasts that long! Join Here. Happy Memorial Day Weekend! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/230