Organize 365 Podcast

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

Before we get into the main topic of this week's podcast episode, I have two time-sensitive subjects I want to share with you. First, the Organize 365 National Convention will be held in Dallas from June 7th to June 9th. Ticket sales end at midnight on May 29th, so make sure you get yours while you still can! The tickets are selling FAST, so click here to get your ticket today!! The second thing I'd like to discuss is the 100 Day Home Organization Program. Although it can be completed within 100 days, some of you may not be able to complete the program within the recommended time slot, and that's okay. So, keeping this in mind, I've decided to reveal how you can do the 100 Day Home Organization Program in double time on next week's podcast episode! Now with that out of the way, let's get into the meat of this week's podcast episode! This one is a little different from my usual podcasts because I'll be focusing on the seasons of parenthood and how each one brings new changes to our organization routine. My Mini Epiphany The other day seemed ordinary enough, nothing that remarkable or exciting happened. I pulled into my driveway with my daughter, and at the same time, my husband Greg arrived home with the dog from daycare. Then, my son pulled up to the house. At that moment, we all arrived home together as a family – and I had an epiphany. Okay, so it wasn't like a mind-blowing ordeal where I discovered the true meaning of life or anything. But still, it made me realize something very important. I'm happy. It may seem like a throwaway thing to say but if you think about it, how often in our busy lives do we take a moment and appreciate what we have? How many times have you stopped to ask yourself, "Am I happy?" It's not as easy as it seems, right? And yet, that's how I felt. Happy. Seasons of Parenting I'm the type of person who enjoys every season of parenting. I live in the moment. My son Joey is leaving for college soon, and many people have told me that I'm going to be sad when he leaves. But I don't think I will be that sad. Don't get me wrong, I'll miss him when he goes. But at the same time, I love seeing him grow up and going off to college is just another step in his journey. If you're a new parent, you'll face many obstacles throughout your child's life, and with each stage that passes, another will take its place. When you overcome these obstacles, your organizational strength will grow, and you'll have the tools you need to prepare for the next challenge in life. So, let's take a look at each season from babyhood all the way through to your child graduating from high school (you may want to grab a tissue!) The Early Years of Parenting New parents face a great deal of change in the early years, especially in the baby, toddler, and pre-school stages. Babies are a handful, and they can quickly go from one diaper size to the next. You always need to change your stockpile of diapers and then you need to organize what your kids will eat and drink. As you continue to expand your family, you'll also develop your mental bandwidth to include not just yourself, but each additional little human that you're responsible for. Grade School: The Game Changer Year When you have younger kids, your house can suddenly become overloaded with toys, clothes, and apparatus such as strollers and car seats, etc. But as the kids grow up, you can start to move the toys into their bedrooms and put the strollers and things into storage or give them to another family member if you don't plan on using them yourself. And once the kids go to all-day school, your home and organizational routine will change drastically. This is a time that I like to call "The Game Changer Year." It's dramatic, I know. But seriously, when the kids are in school for most of the day, you'll not only have more time for yourself, but you'll also have more time to organize your home. Everything seems to flow a lot easier, and you can treat yourself to some quiet time now that the kids are off to school. Even those of you at work while your kids are at school will notice a distinct difference in function of your home and the organizational progress you make will STAY! FYI - I highly recommend taking a day or 2 off work while your children are at school to reclaim your home. :) Middle School: Gaining Independence Oh, middle school – how I've missed you! If you didn't know, I used to be a 7th and 8th-grade school math and science teacher, so forgive me if I get a little nostalgic thinking back to the good old days. What I love about this age group is their ability to form their own opinions, and being able to witness their brains process change and develop as they progress through the school year. Middle school is a time when kids are starting to become more independent in their actions. High School: Graduation & College Whether you love it or loathe it, high school is one of the most memorable times of a child's life. Their independence starts to take shape, and they begin to think about driving and colleges. I don't know about you, but I love helping my kids take their beliefs, ideas, and unique talents and figuring out what it is that they want to do with their lives. It's up to us as parents to launch our kids into adulthood with the tools and strategies they need to make decisions that will help them succeed and live a fulfilling, happy life. Eventually, my kids will be done with college, and maybe someday they'll get married, or they'll travel around the world with their friends – and I'm really excited for all of it. I have enjoyed each season of parenting and the organization that goes along with it and I hope you do, too! As I am typing this, I just received the final workbook for the Organize 365 National Convention in Dallas from June 7th to June 9th. Oh my goodness, is it chock full of productivity, goal setting, and personal development! It brings tears to my eyes as I envision those of us attending being transformed and connected in ways only a live event can. I know many of you have immovable plans, but if you are still thinking... maybe I should. You SHOULD! You will not regret it! Come see me! Register at www.organize365.com/Dallas. View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/229

Spring break isn't just for kids. Adults need a breath of fresh air every so often to recharge their batteries and diminish work-related stress and anxiety. Taking a spontaneous break isn't something I do very often, but the more I live a truly organized life, the clearer I can see the patterns of how to breed more productivity in organization and a large part of this is taking the time to relax, unwind, and de-stress. My impromptu adult spring break adventure began a few weeks ago without me even realizing it until I was mid-way through the week! I share my story on this week's podcast episode and it begins with replacing the windows in my home. I know what you're thinking, what does something as mundane as windows have to do with spring break? As it turns out, deciding to upgrade my windows kick-started a week of relaxation and organizing because it gave me the opportunity to take some time off work. Upgrading Our Windows Greg and I had been thinking about moving for some time, but we finally decided against it and focused on renovating and upgrading our current home instead. Our old wooden windows were once the envy of the neighborhood back in 1986. But that was over three decades ago and they are no longer functioning. The entire process took three days. Although this didn't bother us much, our dog Hunter wasn't pleased since he had to get shipped to doggy daycare until the workers were done. Even though all of this work would be going on in the house, I knew I couldn't take a break from my work schedule. However, I also knew that the workers would be replacing the windows in both of my kid's bedrooms and trying to walk through the room to reach those windows would be almost impossible! There was one clear solution – I had to take a break from work (if only for a few hours) and clean my kids' rooms so the workers could cross the threshold to reach the windows. Cleaning & Organizing The Kids' Rooms Since both of my kids are teenagers and their rooms are more like mini apartments than bedrooms, let's just say that I don't go in there very often! But on this occasion, I didn't have a choice. I took the morning off work and assigned myself an hour and a half to clean each room. I stuck to my schedule and finished both rooms on time, but when I finished cleaning, I didn't feel like working. If you know me, you'll know that I always feel like working. However, Monday passed, and then Tuesday came and went, and I still didn't feel like working. My Adult Spring Break By the time Wednesday arrived, it hit me. I had scheduled my own spring break! Granted, most of you probably would prefer to go on a sunny vacation for spring break, and the idea of cleaning your kid's rooms and organizing the inventory sounds like work. But for me, it's heaven! I spent a large part of my spring break creating and organizing my Household Reference, Household Operations, Financial and Medical Binders. I even revealed how I arranged them and I also recorded a podcast series that you can listen to on The Sunday Basket Podcast. When I wasn't organizing my binders, I was out shopping with my family and getting things done that I usually didn't have time to do. Finding The Time To Organize We all live such busy lives that it can be challenging to find the time to organize anything. The more I started to think about a week-long adult spring break, the more I was convinced that this is something I'm going to do every year. My Sunday Basket and 100 Day Home Organization Program with 100 Day Productive Home Planner saves me a minimum of five hours per week. It helps me to organize and plan by season – which is much more practical than planning for the entire year in advance because life always gets in the way of our plans. By planning your schedule every 100 days, you can carve out pockets of time for yourself so you can spend your time wisely and get more done. Find out how you can live a more organized and happy life by joining us at the Organize 365 National Convention. It's going to be an awesome experience and I would love to have you there. Grab your tickets here before they sell out! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/227

I took Gretchen Ruben's Four Tendencies quiz and discovered that I'm a Questioner. I say "discovered," but I guess it's not that much of a surprise at all. Did you take the Four Tendencies quiz and find out what you are? A couple of weeks ago here in Cincinnati, Ohio, I had the Sunday Basket® Workshop Certified Organizers in town for a boot camp. I told them that I had recorded the podcast with Gretchen Ruben and so they took the Four Tendencies quiz. We found out that the majority of them are Obligers. We also had a few Questioners in the mix, though I don't think we had any Rebels or Upholders. So I think the majority of people who listen to my podcast are probably Obligers or Questioners. And as a Questioner myself, I know that being a Questioner is not an easy road. Questioners are analytical. I'm going to tell you about my questioning tendencies and how it relates to the Organize 365 products I develop. Instead of using the term Questioner, I've always said that I'm very analytical. So I think people who are very analytical are probably a Questioner on Gretchen Ruben's scale. Also, I think your personality comes into play, because you can be a contrary Questioner or you can be a productive Questioner. I'm a productive Questioner. I question and I analyze so that I can get an end result or so that I can help others get an end result. That is my overarching questioning–ness. I question something to figure out how to solve a problem. My ultimate goal as a teacher, educator, coach, motivator, parent, and human being is to solve problems and help people achieve the end result that they have for themselves. So I am a Questioner, an analyzer, in order to get you to the end result that you desire. Obligers & Questioners I think the majority of you up to this point have been Obligers, but in March I think I had some Questioners on the 100 Day Home Organization Program wait list! I got a couple of emails that asked, "Why are you making me wait? This is ridiculous. Here is my money, let me in please. Can I have the program? I don't want to wait a month." I literally got three of those emails in one week! I do not promote the 100 Day Home Organization Program every day of the year. I promote it for ten days, three different times of the year, when I know you will have the best end result of jumping into it. Now, I analyzed this quite a bit. I do not need the external motivation that an Obliger needs. My goal for Organize 365 is to get you to your desired end result which is an organized home. And as an educator, and a teacher, and an analyzer, I know that your best chance for success is to start in September, in January, and in April. You'll get as far as you possibly can because you'll be going with the natural energy of the year. However, I know that doesn't work for everyone. And so in the future on the wait list page at the bottom, there'll be a button that says, "Can't wait, click here." If you just took that quiz and you're an Obliger, you wait until September and you start with everybody else. You will have so much more success with the 100 Day Home Organization Program if you're doing the weekly Facebook Lives and if you're in the Facebook Group because everybody is doing the same thing which will help you get to your end result of organizing your house. The next round of the 100 Day Home Organization Program starts on MONDAY! And... I have opened registration for those of you who keep emailing trying to get in. :) You can sign up through the new store here... https://organize-365.myshopify.com/ (Your planner will get there by FRIDAY.) An Update On The Sunday Basket® Club We started the Sunday Basket® Club because a bunch of you Obligers came to me and said that you needed to pay a monthly fee so you would do your Sunday Basket®. And you said you wanted a Sunday Basket® class. I want you to have excellent value when you put money into Organize 365. When you pay for something at Organize 365, I want you to say at the end, "Oh, my gosh, it was worth so much more than that!" So, I price accordingly. I price for the value that is in the product, but I also price so that when you're done, you realize you got even more than you expected. With the Sunday Basket® Club, I was going to do twice-a-month training sessions on how to organize your paper, which I started doing in January. But I quickly realized that people were joining in February and not getting January's "how to get started with organizing your paper." There's an order to it that was missing. So… introducing the new Sunday Basket® Club! It's $99 a year. You can do the Sunday Basket® on Sundays with Monique and Ryan, and then every other Monday night, is a Facebook Live Q & A, just like in the 100 Day Home Organization Program. It's an opportunity for you to tell me what you want to hear by telling me what questions you have about your paper. For Questioners, simplicity comes at the end when you've decided what the answers to your questions are. That's how we get simplicity. So go ahead, ask me all the questions you want in the Sunday Basket® Club! I Want To Get You Results We are constantly analyzing and tweaking. Part of why I say, "Progress, not perfection" is because as a Questioner, I know there's no perfect. If you give me something that's perfect, I'm going to question it. I want you to get the best end result and that is why I do everything that I do. I want to give you all of the options so you can get the end result of getting your house organized. And sometimes, you see too many choices so you can't make a decision in order to get to your end result. I am trying to tailor my products to what you need. So that's a sneak peek into how a Questioner thinks and why I make changes. Every change I make is to benefit you. The 100 Day Home Organization Program hasn't changed in years. I am going to make it available on demand in the future, but I'm still going to do the launch model because that's what works for the majority of my audience. Next week, we're going to dive into physical products and the highs and lows of creating them! And there's still time to join me in Dallas, Texas for the Organize 365 National Convention on June 7-9, 2018! I can't wait to meet you and give you a BIG hug! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/224

You asked and I listened. This week on the podcast, I'm thrilled to welcome author Gretchen Rubin. Gretchen is one of the most influential writers in the world on human nature. She hosts an award-winning podcast and her best-selling books have been published in 30 countries and sold over 3 million copies! On the podcast, we talked about Gretchen's most recent book, The Four Tendencies, and how your personality type relates to getting your home organized. Which Personality Type Are You? Gretchen explained that the The Four Tendencies are four different personality types: Upholder Questioner Obliger Rebel You can probably tell which one you are just from the name! But if you want to take the survey for free, visit gretchenrubin.com. Gretchen explained that these personality types vary depending on what motivates you. We're all motivated by two main kinds of expectations: Outer Expectations: such as a work deadline or request from a friend Inner Expectations: our own desire to do things Upholders readily meet both types of expectations. Questioners question all expectations, so they'll only do something if they're convinced it makes sense. They make everything an inner expectation and object to anything they see as inefficient or irrational. Then there are Obligers, those who readily meet outer expectations (things other people want), but struggle to meet inner ones (the things they want). I think there are a lot of you out there! Finally, there are Rebels, those who resist all expectations, both outer and inner. Obliger is the most common type of tendency, with Rebel and Upholder being least common. Listen to the podcast to find out which tendency I have. Hint: No one guessed it correctly on Facebook! Making The Sunday Basket® Work For Your Personality Type I enjoyed telling Gretchen about the Sunday Basket® and it was interesting to unravel that it's my Obliger audience who were saying, "We need you to go through the Sunday Basket® with us on Sunday." I'm so pleased that I created the Sunday Basket® Club to give people the outer accountability that they need. How Does Personality Type Affect Home Organization? I think we have all of the tendencies in our family of 4! So how does this help us to get our homes organized, especially when dealing with the variety of tendencies in our family? I listened with great interest to Gretchen's advice on how to get the home organized when taking personality types into account. Gretchen explained that a big problem for Obligers is that they often struggle to delegate tasks. Do you recognize this tendency in yourself? This is where it helps to have people hold you accountable. Another great tip that Gretchen gave is one that I've heard myself say before… if you want to clean out the spare room, invite guests. That may well be the only thing that you need to do! Your Habits = Your Identity Like Dr Phil always used to say – You have an identity from being cluttered, but then you get organized and you have a new identity. So you have to really focus on that. Once you become organized, you ARE living a different kind of life. We don't realize how much of our life is habitual. This is why both mine and Gretchen's podcasts ask so many questions. It's to help people think about making choices and changing habits. I LOVED talking to Gretchen. She concluded on the show that if we have habits that work for us, we're much more likely to be healthier, happier, and more creative. Hey, have you signed up to join me in Dallas, Texas for the Organize 365 National Convention? I can't wait to meet you and give you a BIG hug! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/223

I want to share with you three reasons that I am an ultra-productive person. Productivity is definitely a mindset and a way that I was just inherently hard-wired for, but it is something you can learn. #1 Productive People Don't Waste Any Time You might be thinking, "Well, duh. I don't waste time either." But it's more than just not wasting time. I see time as my friend and I am in complete control of my time. This mindset shift alone will take a while for you to cultivate, especially if you're thinking it can't work for your circumstances. It is a mindset. Along with not wasting time, I reorganize my time - all the time. I see my day as blocks of time, but because I'm in control of all of my time, I move things around. #2 Productive People Are Results Oriented I didn't realize until recently how I do a to-do list and how an unproductive person does a to-do list. If you watched both of us doing our to-do lists, we would both look equally busy and look like we were getting the same amount done. But at the end of the day, my to-do list is done and you feel like you never got started on your to-do list. Here's the difference. I measure my success each day in finished products, not actionable work. Busyness gets me nowhere. Productive people are not busy, they are producing. That is the big distinguisher. You have to stop some of your busyness in order to get an end result, which means you have to know where you're going. When you look at the whole day at the end of the day, what did you actually get finished? What did you get done? What have you produced? Productive people are measuring what we are finishing and producing, not how we are spending our time. #3 Productive People Follow Tried And True Action Plans The biggest secret about productivity is that it is all about experimenting and creating habits. That is what productive people do. They try, they analyze, they look at their results and then they tweak and tweak. Productive people follow tried and true action plans. Whenever I have something new in business that I have never done before, I try to find somebody who has done that and I ask them what people they use, what system do they use, what is their process? I may tweak that for my own business, or I may tweak that for my own productivity or where it fits best in my schedule, but I don't start everything from scratch. The 100 Day Home Organization Program was developed by a professional organizer (me!) who took all of the spaces in your house, divided them into an organized chart, and then created the order in which you organize them according to the areas where you spend the most time and the areas of the house you have the most control. The 100 Day Home Organization Program WORKS! If you are looking to PRODUCE an ORGANIZE home, follow this system. ;) Being A Productive Person The things that I do that make me a very productive person are I don't waste any time and I feel that my time is in my control. I am results oriented, not busyness focused, and I follow tried and true action plans to get the results I want. If you are looking for a way to end up feeling 100 days from now that your house is more organized, I really do think that the 100 Day Home Organization Program is the solution for you. We would love to have you join us. View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/222

This week's podcast episode is about the 100 Day Home Organization Program which is now open for registration! Many of you listen to my podcast for a solid six months or more before you believe that you can become organized. Eventually you try the Sunday Basket® and attend a Sunday Basket® Workshop. After 6-8 weeks of using the Sunday Basket®, you wonder why you waited so long. Then, the intrigue sets in – would the 100 Day Home Organization Program work for me? Yes, IF you aknowledge these two things... First, it will take you a full calendar year, three times through the 100 Day Home Organization Program, to become fully organized… you can do it… and it works! Second, you have to be willing to make an investment. An investment of your time, money and motivation. A big part of the transformation starts with the transaction. What you pay for, you value and you take it more seriously. I Liken The Program To Montessori Learning On the podcast, I share an email that I received from Marcy who likened my methods to the classical model for education (the grammar, dialectic and rhetoric stage). Marcy made so many great points and this intrigued me as it's not something I was aware I was doing. This got me thinking about Montessori teaching methods, something that I'm very familiar with having worked as a Montessori teacher. In a Montessori classroom, students are grouped by three year age groupings and not by grade. Over the course of three years in the same classroom, children interact with students 3 years older and 3 years younger than themselves. All teachers in the classroom teach all age groups. You get a real depth of education because you are with different age groups throughout your education. You learn how to be mentored and how to be a mentor. Another key aspect of Montessori is it repeats the curriculum over and over at a different level. The same presentations are delivered to children, but expectations are different based on their age. Kids move at their own pace, as long as the work gets done. They can deep dive into the topics they love the most and there is no limit – peers do not hold individuals back. When I worked as a middle school Montessori teacher, I always made sure that I incorporated what was going on in the real world into the classroom. This is very similar to how I teach in the podcast. I am very thoughtful about what I teach and when. I want to meet you where you are. I teach three steps to getting organized. Declutter Organize Increase productivity Click on the links above to listen to my popular podcast episodes on each. By repeating the 100 Day Home Organization Program over and over agian, the amount of time you spend on each stage will change. The first time you do the program, you'll spend most of your time decluttering. Give yourself grace. You must take pressure off yourself. The expectation is that you're going to start taking some action. You may not get through the full 100 days your first time (not many people do!). If you start the program now, your second time through will begin in September. The organizing energy in September is really strong! You will spend more time on organizing from September to December the second time you go through the 100 Day Home Organization Program. Newsflash, you will not believe what you didn't get rid of the first time! You can never get rid of as much as you need to because your mind won't let you. But when you get to the point where you have empty space, this will rock your world! Empty spaces can feel strange. In round two, you will learn to start living with a few empty spaces. January 1, 2019, you'll start your third time through the program – this is when you'll be doing 50% organizing and 50% productivity. People LOVE productivity. But in order to get productive, you have to declutter and organize first. Join The 100 Day Home Organization Program! Registration for the 100 Day Home Organization Program is open now until April 3rd. I can't wait to help you GET organized! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/221

Hold on tight folks – it's about to get emotional! This week on the podcast, I talk about how to manage items related to your hopes, dreams, and memories that are still in storage. The Hot Mess Room Challenge As my podcast episodes related to the Hot Mess Room Challenge series draws to a conclusion, I'm still in the middle of organizing all of my crafts! Organize 365 is my passion now so I no longer need to keep all of my crafts. It is time for them to go. If you're in the Hot Mess Room Challenge, you've already been watching a lot of videos in my storage room. If you're not and you would like to be, click here. It's a free 28-day program with printables, an ebook, and all of the videos. In an ideal world, I would love for my storage room to look like it should at the end of the Hot Mess Room Challenge. Guess what, though? It doesn't look great yet and it probably won't look like that ...ever. The reason? It's often because it takes us up to 3 times or more to go through a space to get it to a point where you'd want to share the finished result with anyone, let alone announce it on Pinterest! Tackling Difficult Memories Our storage room is full of memories. There are many items in my storage room that remind me of the future that I thought I'd be living. They represent an unusual kind of loss because the items aren't attached to the loss of people or money. Instead, they represent a future that I thought I would have, but haven't yet, or that I know will never happen. We all have hopes, dreams, ambitions, and pictures of our future that don't materialize in the ways we thought they would. It doesn't make it bad. It doesn't make it good. It is just the reality of our current situation. Are there items in your storage that remind you of… The mom or woman you thought you'd be? The person you thought you'd marry? The lifestyle you thought you'd have? The career you thought you'd have? The free time you thought you'd have? These are difficult, but important questions. Often, we're not holding onto things for financial reasons. Instead, we feel that if we keep them, then one day that dream or ambition may come true. Flip Your Mindset Instead of focusing on what may have been, focus on what you have. For me, I never thought I'd have a dog, but here I am with Hunter and I couldn't imagine a world without him. What do you have that you didn't think you would? I never imagined that I could talk to people from my bedroom and inspire others to change their life based on their goals, hopes, and dreams to get organized. I'm teaching and using my gifts in ways that I never imagined I would. However, it was extremely hard to get rid of all my teaching supplies. Giving up on my dream of owning a day-care center was a process. It took me years to let my teaching license lapse and let my supplies go. A Yard Sale, Charity Event & Party All In One! It's wonderful to receive your emails and see the successes that you're achieving when you're getting your homes in order. On the podcast this week, I had to share Lynn's story because I LOVE it! She was debating over what to do with all of the things that she no longer needed and she finally settled on a yard sale in her basement. Everything was free, but people were asked to make donations to charity. She was partying with her friends in the kitchen while people were taking things away and at the same time donating to help others. After 2 hours, most of the items were gone and she'd made over $800 to donate to a local charity. She told me how good it felt on all levels. Supply & Demand Steph emailed me to share that smaller families may be the reason why people don't want to inherit so much stuff anymore. With parents tending to have fewer children these days, we often don't battle with siblings for nostalgic mementos like we may have done in the past. Mind blown! She's absolutely right. It's certainly true for when my sister and I were going through the family home as there was so many things and only the two of us to sort and acquire them. Take A Deep Breath & Start I really want you to look at the things you are storing and ask yourself whether you really need it... BUT at the same time, give yourself more grace if required. Maybe it's time to get rid of things, but equally, maybe it's not. It could be that you just needed to hear the words this time and then the next time we talk about it, that'll be the time to take action. We know that intellectually we need to get rid of things, but it's the physical and emotional ties that hold us back from getting rid of things until the third or fourth time. Previous Podcast Episodes The main podcast episodes that I recommend you listen to, where I talk about my own childhood memories and how to deal with items when someone passes away, are: 3 Things To Consider When You Are Saving Childhood Memories What to Save When A Loved One Passes 10 Things I Am Decluttering After 30 Years! Next week, I am sharing how the 100 Day Home Organization Program is like Montessori Education. Which is appropriate as I am here in Texas this weekend at the Home School Convention. Education is on my mind. :) I will also be stopping by the Hotel for the Organize 365 National Convention on June 7-9, 2018. All the party plans are humming along. AND... I'm visiting the 1000+ Sunday Baskets that just arrived this week. I have to go see all my basket babies! Thanks so much for following along on my journey and supporting the new Organize 365 Store! You may have noticed that I'm not on Facebook as much these days. It's become so complicated! While I still have a business page and a personal account, please know that everything that I record goes into the Organize 365 Facebook Group - it's a great free resource. If you're not in this group, why not?! Head on over and sign up. What I really enjoy about the Facebook Group is the shared conversations you all have with each other. It's great when you post questions and success stories as the whole Organize 365 team LOVE's to see what you're doing and share it with our wonderful community. I really like Instagram and, in particular, I love Instastories! Click here to follow me on Instagram. You'll often see me posting quick snippets of my life and they're only available for 24 hours. If Instagram isn't your thing, you can also see my Instastories on Facebook Stories, as well. Speaking of Sunday Basket®s, if you love the system and are looking for a way to make a little money on the side, or to drive clients to your existing professional organizing business, please consider coming alongside the already 50 strong team of Sunday Basket® Workshop Organizers! Why now? You can join between now and April 1, 2018 for a $500 one time fee and a yearly renewal of $250. Starting April 1, the one time fee goes up to $745, so get in now and save! 50% of the professional organizers on the Organize 365 Sunday Basket® Workshop Organizer Team say they have received a new professional organizing client at their FIRST WORKSHOP. You can learn more about becoming a Sunday Basket® Workshop Organizer and/or sign up here: https://organize365.com/become-licensed-sunday-basket-workshop-provider/ View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/220

Does your home ever feel like a craft store?! This week on the podcast, I talk all about how to get your crafts in order so you can create space and have more time to enjoy doing the things you love. One of the reasons I've not tackled the hot mess room on the podcast so far is precisely because it's a hot mess room and it's overwhelming! When there's so much in there, it's easy to get overwhelmed and not really know where to begin, especially when you're listening to my podcast episodes but then can't physically see the things you should be sorting. Because of this, I'm here to try and teleport myself into your space and give us the chance to tackle this together in the most logical way possible. Start With The End In Mind Imagine for a moment that we could stop time and you could have seven full days to dedicate solely to working on your craft. Obviously, it's not practical in the real world, but it's a great starting point to look at all of your crafts and work out exactly what you could and would want to use in that time. This will form the basis for everything we do to organize your crafts. It's most likely that you'll have enough crafts to keep you going for seven years rather than seven days. Therefore, it's going to take you more than seven days just to organize it, let alone start enjoying it! You need to have this reality check. Otherwise, you're setting up for unrealistic expectations – and we all know I'm the queen of those! My Scrapbook Downsizing I have always loved scrapbooking and making photo albums. As a result, I've accumulated LOTS of supplies over many years. I came the realize that I didn't need all of those supplies anymore. I simply don't scrapbook as much as I used to. It this week's podcast episode, I explain how I managed to reduce my craft supplies from taking up two very large closets in the basement to one armoire in the loft. Why am I telling you this? It's so you can clearly see how I went from having supplies for a full-time business to supplies that will support me making one or two albums a year. Letting Go Of The Stamping & Counted Cross Stitch Similar to my scrapbooking supplies, I used to have A LOT of stamping supplies which I have now condensed to hardly any at all (just a small shoe box versus the whole bookcase that I used to have). My mother is an artist and makes wonderful rubber stamp cards. Because mom did it, I bought hundreds of rubber stamps and ALL the associated supplies. I was decluttering last summer when I realized that I hadn't stamped in 15 years. I was only keeping them because: I'd spent a lot of money on them The looked super cute They sat on the gorgeous piece of furniture that my late grandfather had made I did two things. First, I chose 20 stamps to keep for future projects and I sent the rest to my mom to use and give to others. Second, I took the stamp holder off the wall and offered it to my sister. She was delighted to accept it as she now got something that grandpa had made and she had a use for it. I did the same with counted cross stitch. I used to LOVE counted cross stitch, but I came to realize that I haven't done a project in 17 years. I can't imagine a time when I'm going to do one again any time soon, but I CAN see a time in the distant future when I will pick this hobby back up. So I've kept a couple of hoops and all my flosses are in order for when this time comes, but it's in a small box that's easy to store. Allow Yourself To Let Go Scrapbooking , stamping, and counted cross stitch are examples of crafts that I used to be really into, but am less so now. Similar to what I did, ask yourself if you're still really into something and if not, adjust the amount of supplies that you hold onto. As you're looking at your craft and reliving the memories of the interest in that craft, ask yourself: What is your current need, desire, and excitement for this craft? What is your future need, excitement, and desire for this craft? Only keep the things you really need and give 90% away! It may not be exactly 90%, but I guarantee you it will be around that amount. You do not need to keep a lot. Sometimes an advancement in technology makes your craft redundant. My stamps are a great example of this. They're wooden, but modern ones are clear and much easier to use. If you want to revisit a hobby later, invest a bit of money in new things. Don't be held back by the old things that you're storing. Just because you've held onto them doesn't mean you have to use them forever. Speaking of projects... OH MY GOODNESS! We have so many new products and opportunities coming out THIS WEEKEND I can't even stand it!! If you are following me on Instagram or Facebook be ready for LOTS of videos. :) I can't even decide what I am the most excited about!! First, I am so happy to announce that the BINDERS ARE IN! That's right! They are finally ready! There are five binders currently available - Financial, Medical, Household Reference, Household Operations, and Kids School Memories. You are going to LOVE THEM! and... the Official Sunday Baskets® are IN! I can't even believe my dream is coming true! If you have already participated in the Sunday Basket® Workshop, you will want to get your Official Organize 365 Sunday Basket® to accompany your slash pockets! If you haven't yet, we are now offering a special Sunday Basket® Kit for only $97 which includes the virtual Sunday Basket® Bundle 1.0 & 2.0 AND your very own Sunday Basket®! SHOP HERE As always, thank you for all you do as the heartbeat of Organize 365. I love hearing from all of you and am always cheering you on from the sidelines as you take control of your life - one room, one pile of paper at a time. Happy Organizing! ... Still reading?! Then you are a SUPER fan! Have you signed up to join me in Dallas, Texas for the Organize 365 National Convention? I can't wait to meet you and give you a BIG hug! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/219

Welcome to the Hot Mess Room Series - Week 2! It's time to sort through all of those items that you've been hanging onto without ever knowing where they're likely to eventually end up. Storage is essential, but it can quickly get out of control. It's time to ask yourself two simple questions… Will I use this item 1-4 times a year? Is this item saved for a specific person, for a specific date in the future? If you can answer yes, the item can stay. If it's a no, it's time for it to go. Storing things that you need is fine, and the more organized you get, the more you'll appreciate a well-functioning storage room. My free 28-day organizational program on this topic goes into much more detail. Listen to my previous podcast for more information and you can sign up for it here. The number one goal for storage is to ask yourself if an item is something that you're ever going to use. This applies to your items and the items that you are storing for others. I covered so many different things in this podcast including gifts, wrapping, furniture, home repair items, sports & entertainment equipment, cleaning supplies, kitchen supplies, toys, home decor, children's storage, making money, and clothing. You can read all about it in the blog post here. The Series I know that organizing a hot mess room doesn't happen overnight so I'm creating this 4-episode podcast series to tackle things. This is Part Two. Last week, we laid the foundation and over the next two weeks we will cover: Craft organization Sorting memories and dreams for the future If you're not already doing the 28-day challenge, then WHY NOT?! It's a completely free program and you can start at any time. Sign up to start your journey here. Join me in Dallas, Texas for the Organize 365 National Convention on June 7-9, 2018! I can't wait to meet you and give you a BIG hug! View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/218