Organize 365 Podcast

When your family gathers together for the holidays this year, bring out your memory boxes! Organizing old family memories, treasures, photos, and memorabilia is time-consuming and hard emotional work. Why not involve the whole family this year and conquer a few boxes at the same time. Pull out all the photos. Grab a few boxes of photos and let you family enjoy them, unorganized and all. Enjoy sharing stories and reminiscing about old times. Use a photo-safe pen for family members to label who is in the picture on the back. Let your family pitch duplicates, blurry pictures, pictures of landscapes, and other unnecessary photos. Ask a teenager to scan the best photos and share them with the family. Let your family members take the photos home! Record the stories. You can make a video or audio recording of your family's memories, but I like good old fashioned oral tradition as well. Share stories, let the grandchildren overhear, and laugh until you cry. Hearing the stories of your family's history is powerful. Pull out childhood memories from the attic and storage room with your adult children. Bring up a few boxes of your adult child's childhood memories to reminisce and go through in the family room. Share the memories and either declutter the items or send them home with your child. J If you are the child, go grab a few of those boxes on your next visit home. Play old home movies on the TV. Fire up the old VHS or movie reel player and enjoy watching past holidays, babies take their first steps and ride their bikes. Memories are meant to be shared and enjoyed. Enjoy yours with your families this holiday! You can view the full post here: https://organize365.com/137 Thank you to Swap.com for sponsoring this podcast series.

For many of us, it is relatively easy to let go of inexpensive items of clutter that we no longer love and need. As you progress through your home decluttering/organization journey, you will naturally start to question why you are keeping items of greater value. For many of us, the act of collecting is fun. As children, we collected Beanie Babies, Happy Meal toys, and rocks. As we age, the desire to have complete collections can consume us beyond our actual desire for the items being collected. And once collected, collectibles have both a real and a perceived value. So what do we do when we look around our homes and see expensive clutter that we lovingly collected and purchased? Does the collection still bring you joy? Have you documented the memory? Look up the monetary value. Share your collections with family. You can view the full post here: https://organize365.com/135 Thank you to Swap.com for sponsoring this podcast series.

Discover a unique approach to year planning divided into three distinct 'New Years': Labor Day, January, and summer. The discussion reveals how this method resonates with many women, regardless of their family status. Learn strategic insights for organizing goals during transitions and how these structured periods can help streamline personal and family activities. It’s all about finding order in the chaos and making the most out of each season!

Match your holiday gift to the recipients "love language" and give clutter free gifts this holiday season. Have you heard of the 5 love languages? Understanding how we give and receive love helps us make more meaningful purchases and give gifts that will be used and appreciated. The five love languages are: Quality time Acts of service Touch Gifts Words of affirmation In this week's blog post, I have ideas for clutter free gifts for each of the 5 love languages. Read it here: https://organize365.com/clutter-free-christmas-gifts/

It is so easy for us to start organizing ourselves and start making progress. Then we look at our spouses and notice that they have not made the same progress we have made. We want them to be doing what we are doing. However, they need to see a few more things from us before they're ready to jump on board. Here are the steps: Husbands are looking for you to be consistent. Your husband is looking for results that last. Change is yucky. He has to want it for himself. Stop focusing on his passion projects. Click here to read the whole post: https://organize365.com/organize-husbands/

Just as there are 4 phases of life that I identified in the Mindset Of Organization Book, these 3 phases of parenting all need different organization as well. The more you understand where you are in life, the more successful you will be at finding and implementing the organization you need to make your life function better. Parenting Stage 1: 0-6 years old – You Do It All The first stage of parenting is sheer survival! Under the age of 6 almost all daily duties with your children fall on your shoulders. The days are long and I'm not sure who said the years are short – they weren't for me! Organizing yourself and your family in this stage is like shoveling snow in a snow storm. Organization is unique to you and your family and likely will completely change every 3 months. My solution was to chunk my year into 3 month groupings. I would make a few goals for each of my kids, purge their clothes and toys and keep plugging away. Parenting Stage 2: 7-12 years old – You Do It Together The grade school years of parenting were the easiest for me. I loved the structure, the fact that my kids were still under my control and the great friends I made during those years. These are very social years where the kids and parents connect and enjoy activities together. As your kids age through this stage their toys will go from being everywhere – to being only in their rooms. These are the years when your kids learn chores and establish their contributing roles to your family dynamics. Parenting Stage 3: 13+ years old – Guidance & Support This parenting stage is as time consuming as the first, except this time I am in my car all the time and not at home. Luckily for me I view that large quantity of driving time as the best quality time I get with my teens. Deep thoughts, but dreams and life lessons are often talked about in the hours and hours of time I spend with my teens in the car. I find myself going from managing one family calendar to providing and supporting my teens as they take on their own calendar scheduling, activities and start making their big lifetime goals come to life.

Almost all sports involve special clothing, equipment and leaving the house. Even walking my dog! Here are 8 steps to get your sporting equipment organized and have everything you need – when you need it! Get a bag for EACH sport and each person. Create a custom checklist for each bag. Buy MORE of anything you can! Keep the sports bags and uniforms in the car, garage or laundry room. Stocked "Mom Bag". Stocked "Spectator Bag". Buy Garage Organizers. Clean Out the Car! For more ideas and further explanation view the whole post here: https://organize365.com/how-to-organize-sporting-equipment/

You only have 24 hours a day. The only way to get more time is to eliminate tasks or get help doing them. I know this is a hard concept for some to embrace. The idea of paying someone to do something you CAN do is a big mental mindset shift. By PAYING for a task to be done by someone else you are saying. I can't do it ALL. This is important enough to me at this time to make sure it is done and done regularly. I am going to use that time that is freed up to do..... What is it that you REALLY what to be spending your time doing? This blog post is a meaty one. https://organize365.com/care/ I share the 10 steps I go through when hiring help. How to hire help Make a job description. In your dream world what are ALL the things this person would do? When I hired babysitters for my daughter, I specifically looked for people who liked to cook and liked pets - 2 of my weaknesses and my daughter's strengths. Invite 10-20 people to look at your job description. Many people will not respond, so reach out to between 10 -20 potential good matches. When you get a yes... The LESS hours you need, the more candidates you will go through. Schedule an in person interview at your house on the day you want regular service. If you want a babysitter every Friday night, interview people on Friday night. If they can't make the interview at that time... they won't be able to accept the job. Be flexible. The best employee/ employer relationship is a win -win. You win by getting the task done. Know what you want done - no matter what - and what would be a great addition, but not a deal breaker if it can't be done. Hire for a long time relationship not a one off task. Working in your home with your family is an intimate relationship. Trust your "gut feel" when interviewing and go for the candidate you feel most comfortable with. Remember this is a job. Don't get too chummy too fast. Maintain your role as employer and have safe boundaries. Negotiate. Be fair with what you are willing to pay. If you are wanting just a few hours or a specific day and time, be willing to pay a little for then to work around your schedule. Start with a trial. When you have picked your winner - start with a 30 day trial. Having a trial period of time allows you both to get to know each other and the expectations of the job. At the end of 30 days you will be able to clarify any tasks that need to be changed, modify hours, and solidify the agreement going forward. Be a good employer. I LOVE being an employer. Appreciate your hired help. Treat them like a valued member of your team. Remember important events in their lives. Pay them fairly and ethically. Pay the taxes you know you should. Enjoy your new found time! I use and recommended Care.com for household employment needs. By using this link I will earn an affiliate commission at no additional expense to you. Thanks! Save 20% on a Care.com membership here.

Boys have fewer categories of "toys" but more pieces and parts than girls. The key to having an organized boy's room is to buy organizers specifically designed for each of their precious collections. Understanding how boys go from toys to collections will also shed some light on the husbands and fathers in your life.

Our natural inclination is to want to organize someone else or dive deep into organizing our "passions." The easiest way to actually GET ORGANIZED is to go through your home in a logical progression starting with one room and slowly working your way through the whole house. But we get stopped by wanting to organize family members or jumping into the deep end with Passion Projects. Everyone has 1-3 current Passion Projects. Passion Projects are hobbies, memory items or pursuits that we identify with and make us come alive. We over buy and over collect in these areas because our desire to know and do more is unquenchable. Passion Projects are not necessarily a monetary investment. But they are always a huge emotional and time investment. Because we are so passionate and invested in our hobbies, we naturally want to get those organized first. Which is always a bad idea. Passion Projects are hard to explain to others. We do not have a rational reason why we are saving what we are saving, but we knew we "need" to. I am totally cool with that, but overtime I want you to get down to 1-3 Passion Projects. You can't be passionate about everything... In 2017 I am going to dive deep into organizing Passion Projects. For now, focus on decluttering and organizing any nonPassion Project space in your home. Come join the discussion over on Facebook and tell me what your (and your family member's) Passion Projects are. View the full post