Organize 365 Podcast

The Holiday Blitz® is designed to help you, the Magic Maker, to enjoy the season and activities too. How? Why the family survey? I'm here to explain it all in this episode. Delegate Why is delegation a common theme with me and my systems? Delegation takes things off your plate. If it's something you want to do, keep doing it. But the things you don't enjoy or sincerely need help with, delegate. Think of your family member's strengths and ask them to help in those areas. If someone is a great cook, ask them to start helping with the cooking of the holiday meals. If you are having a lot of company, there's no reason they can't bring their own beverages. I know at my house I try to buy all the things to accommodate everyone's drink preference and when they all go home I have half of the beverage aisle from the grocery store. I say, "Just have the awkward conversations." It's not comfortable to ask guests to bring something when they haven't years past but this year is a new year and there's no reason they can't…

When one starts to plan for the holidays, why doesn't one check in with themself first and plan for the outcome in mind? I'm looking at the holidays through many lenses in this episode. In January, I don't want you exhausted and dreading next year. This year I want you to look back over the merry holiday magic that you made happen and feel excited to do it again next year. Energy The first thing you need to think about is your current overall energy. Has 2026 been a rough year so far or are you running on all cylinders? When I held the self care retreat that was a result of my book last year, Escaping Quicksand, I really needed it. As the PhD came to an end, I was really exhausted. How is your energy going into the holidays? Permission to plan accordingly. You are where the holiday comes from and you are in control of what you plan. Also, check in with yourself and identify when your energy is the highest throughout the day and week. I know that I am a morning afternoon person. I may tell others that we need…

This is the state of the American Home. I've been thinking "Where have all the leaders in the workforce gone?" Then I was like "Wait, where have all the Gen Xer's gone?" They haven't gone anywhere! There are just fewer of us than the previous generation. Now the question is, what changes will Gen X create to accommodate the increasing cognitive load? Generational Patterns So where the Gen Xer's are now, is in overload. I feel like I'm planning everything and there is more to focus on and I feel overwhelmed. I don't remember my mom having these struggles. Why do I feel overwhelmed? I found out it's because there are fewer people carrying the same load. Gen Xer's are caregiving for their children, maybe a parent, and possibly a grandparent. What I have learned about Gen X is there are considerably less of us than there are Baby Boomers and about the same amount as the Millenials. Other countries have been reporting a decrease in newer generations populations too. We are living longer which is resulting in…

I normally gloss over level one because there are so many resources for laundry, housework, and food preparation. I thought it would be helpful to offer how I deal with the work I love, feel "meh" about, and that work which I loathe. I know we all understand the concept of outsourcing but how do you power through when you are the laborer that needs to complete the tasks of level one of the Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework Pyramid. You have options! Love Let me start with my love of laundry. I love at the end you have a visible representation of what you have worked at all day. After documenting how much time it took me one day to do 8 loads of laundry, I had documented only 90 minutes of actual work. You may not like remembering to switch the laundry or putting it away. So here are a few ideas to maybe enjoy it more. One idea I saw was all the family's laundry was hung in the laundry room because their house had space for that. I'm a fan of helping your kids to help you. I knew looking at that…

It is so important to know the kind of tasks you have, how much time they take you, and where you need to be to complete them! Then when you look at your calendar you know where you can plug them in. After a couple weeks of this repeated activity, your brain will start to anticipate these activities and you'll be in your Pro Era. Blue Orange Purple If you are anything like I was, you have very long lists with not enough time or money to complete them all. I started with the Sunday Basket®, identifying and categorizing with the slash pockets. Then I had to figure out where and when I could get them done. I have my blue work which is all my weekly invisible work like calendaring, budgeting, getting ready for the next week of school (when my kids were younger), mail, you get the idea. Then I have Orange work which is my house work like food, laundry, and cleaning. And then I have my purple work which is a larger project, in this case errands. In order to time block your tasks, start by identifying which tasks…

Thought leaders have thinking time. There is a difference between remembering and thinking. Thinking is that time when you mull through all your thoughts and plans. Maybe you merge them to find a solution to a problem or see where one decision could benefit your family or home. A visionary, a thought leader takes time to think to better plan the trajectory of their organization even if it's just for their home. Mission Vision Values In 2012, after I'd been in business for 5 years, I took advantage of a 5 hour flight to CA and the returning flight to think. It was on those plane rides that I solidified Organize 365®'s mission statement which is: Organize 365® helps you get functionally organized in one calendar year so that you can do what you are uniquely gifted and created to do. Then I identified our values being positivity, abundance, proactivity, and that everything is easier in community. The old theory was that it took 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. And if we use a 40 hour work week, it…

I want you to be able to set your sights on a few projects and actually complete them each trimester. So here's the way I get my projects identified, scheduled, and completed. I love a good project, always have. What Are The Projects? First, let's define "project" in Organize 365® terms. It's a massive to do list that gets done in a short amount of time. So, for Labor Day, I shared all the things that had ended up on index cards that I wanted done on Labor Day weekend. I had garage tasks like clean off the garage counter, make room for a potential Christmas gift, drop off donations, fix the front door situation plus a few other things. Then Joey needed me to look at some stuff in his condo that I wanted to check off my list. Abby and I planned on redoing Grayson's room. And wanted to transition one of the storage areas to Abby. Those tasks were grouped into my four projects. Be Prepared Once all of the projects were identified, I needed to make sure I had all the supplies I needed to tackle each one. Leading…

So how do you get project time? You must write all "I need to remember to do that" tasks down and have a scheduled time, routinely, to do them. Your brain will trust you and you, my friend, will have project time. Capture Everything First you must capture everything you need to remember to do. I do this by a good brain dump putting one item per index card. Break up any to do lists, again writing one item on an index card. I go through my email and text messages. This is cognitive offloading, taking the thing you need to remember and placing it in your environment. You could do this digitally or email yourself or something but index cards work the best for me. Plan of Attack I was vulnerable and read all of the to do's I need to do in this episode. And then I shared how I plan to complete them. There were a few things I needed to put in my google calendar, a few things I needed to print, and a few financial tasks. All on the computer and I estimated roughly 40-60 minutes for those tasks during my Sunday…

You understand the value of money but do you concretely understand the value of your time? I'm breaking down how much your time is worth and the value of the time you are saving managing your house with the Sunday Basket®. The Value of Your Home in the American Economy As consumers, home small businesses, we contribute roughly 19-21 trillion dollars to the American GDP. That's 68% of 32 trillion dollars!!! Bet you thought it was all the big companies on the stock market - wrong! Where we spend our money matters. Having a plan in place matters too. But do you prioritize making the plan of that spending? The Value of You in Your Home Let's say in your 20's you can get a job for roughly $20/hr. And in your 50's for roughly $50/hr. This is just for example sake. Ok and it's been said many times that an hour spent planning is five hours saved in execution. So then I say, ok, you take one hour to process your Sunday Basket® which equals 5 hours of time saved due to planning and batching all the small…

Labor day is next weekend, what projects will you be tackling? I'm sharing 4 steps to complete projects during these long weekends. Get ready to start planning what you will be doing next weekend. It's Really Only One Extra Day You are really only getting one extra day, not a long weekend. Because you still have the normal tasks you do each weekend. Once you understand how much actual time you have then you can start to manipulate it. And a plan will help you to maximize your high energy times of the day. If I'm being generous, this long weekend will realistically result in 12 hours of time to complete projects. 4 Steps to Planning Your Long Weekend So the first thing you need to do is make a list. Start at your front door, walk through your house, and write down all the things you would do around your house if you were going to put it on the market next week. I always encourage painting projects because historically paint is on sale for Labor Day. I'll be doing yard work and garage work as I shared in this…

The past 5 episodes have identified all the invisible and visible work, and all of the thinking and strategic planning that needs to happen in the home CEO role. How do you get it all done without a team? Listen up! How Do We Balance Our Roles? Now that we know all the roles and hats we are wearing, I'm explaining how to balance your manager role (Sunday Basket hat) and your CEO role of strategic thinking without a team. Your team is your Sunday Basket, Planning Day, and the Monthly CEO planning days. You make a ridiculous amount of decisions during Planning Day and then you run that plan. The balance comes from knowing your priorities and planning accordingly. AND knowing the energy of the year and your energy. If your energy is high in the mornings and you have free time for projects at night, that won't work. So knowing your project energy time can help you to move projects around and manipulate time to accomplish them. I caution you, you can't be everything to everyone all the time, so you need to decide…

It's time to start planning, strategizing, and thinking like a CEO. The CEO has the bird's eye view of all the moving pieces of the home. The Productive Home CEO leads the management and the work of her home through strategic planning and goal setting. No Business Can Grow If The Leader Isn't Growing Level 5 pulls you as the leader up to goals instead of pulling you down to tasks. As you get these systems in place you get lighter and have more capacity. That capacity allows for strategic thinking. This level allows you to self actualize instead of being stuck in Groundhog's Day just doing it more effectively and efficiently. The first way to grow in your leadership is in Planning Day. Strategically planning home maintenance, upcoming family events like birthdays, anniversaries, or any Golden Windows. You know your family's celebrations and upcoming events but now to look at them as a CEO. Have children grown out of a tradition? How are the household finances? What's going on in e-commerce? What is the…

Level 4 is going to free you from being your family google or siri. "Hey mom (or dad or you) what's the password for…?" This level frees you from being tethered to your house and instead empowers your family to know where to find the answers. We are breaking down all the invisible work we do with information management in this second and final level of invisible work you do as the Home CEO. Paper Is Powerful, Universal, and Essential We all have different ways of doing things. But I explained why paper is powerful. Yes, I know we are of the digital age but paper substantiates what you tell people. They see the print on the paper and all of the sudden believe you. OR it's that paper that helps you to more easily settle an estate. It's also paper in any of the binders (I'm getting to those) that you can drop off to a friend that may be caring for you or to a CPA or lawyer when you need to have them work on something for you. And it's the paper you bring with you when you suddenly need to evacuate your home.…

On to level 3, the household manager! We are building in guardrails to pause, reflect, and think, without interruptions, about all the invisible work and get it all planned. For years I have stressed the importance of the Sunday Basket® and often say it's the first thing you should do in your organization journey. EXCEPT when we are talking about building these levels. For this framework you must first identify the housework you need to do and establish a cadence. Then organize your home in order for the household management in the Sunday Basket® to stick! The Sunday Basket® There are two options for the Sunday Basket®. You may get the Classic or Complete Sunday Basket®. I explained what is included with each option and I will give you the cliff notes that if you are more digital go with the Classic. Each week you can expect to spend roughly 90 minutes - 2 hours weekly after you have it set up and have established the routine. I can't make more people to help you with your household management and you can't…

Level two is the second and final level of visible work that you do as The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework. At this level, you learn the skill of functional home organization. It is the organizing of your physical spaces to support the phase of life you are in. Functional Organization The world has taught us that a bunch of cute storage bins perfectly labeled is organized. No, I teach functional organization. I explained parts of The Productive Home Solution exercises in this episode. The lunch making station. Wouldn't it make more sense to have all the dishes to make the kids' lunches in one spot? When I looked around one morning, I realized how many cabinets I had to open just to make the lunches. I changed that to having everything in one cabinet. It takes less time to make the lunches and fewer steps. Then I thought about the rest of the things I do in my kitchen. How is your kitchen set up? Does it support you in the phase of life the people in your life are in? I'd encourage you to catch the…

I asked what is the basic essential housework that is necessary for life? Level one is the foundation of The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework that starts with essential house work. I did my own study and I am sharing my findings. You might be as surprised as I was. What is Essential Housework? How is housework defined? Housework is something you do for yourself or you pay for someone to do it. And how much time are you spending on it? On average about 23 hours per week; 3 hours for laundry, 6 hours for cleaning, and 11 hours for food preparation. I know it's hard to believe. I surveyed a panel of 1000 people, ages 16 - 65. I divided up the panel to closely reflect the US Census ethnicities to account for all different household types. I bet you would think that there would be a stark difference in what men and women determined was housework and taking it one step further, what was essential. Nope, 90% of the panel (men and women of all ethnicities) agreed on 19 of the 78 items as housework and that…

I'm very excited to start rolling out The Productive Home CEO Theoretical framework. Ewww does that feel weird to call yourself a CEO? Well you are! Our homes contribute to 68% of the GDP! You are running a little business right inside your home that greatly impacts the economy. So as the CEO, I want you to have a foundation in place that allows for planning, completing projects, and managing your household information (owned or not) for your business AKA your home.. Maid Work What I refer to as maid work is visible work. It's also what I call working IN your business. You clean your house, wash the laundry, vacuum the house, dust, and all the other things. The people in your house can see you doing it. And it's this visible work that couples are asking who is doing what and when. This is like the organizing we do in the home. Our organization leads to productivity that leads to time. CEO Work Then there is CEO work which is that invisible strategic planning. It's also what I call working ON your business.…

I want to take a moment to provide the backstory to how I got to where I am today. And where we are with studying the American Home. You'll see why now is the time to start new research that will apply to all compositions of families, for the extent of their lives, to help household managers in their CEO roles. Evolution of Study As far back as the 30's and 40's, the psychologist Lillian Gilbreth studied the efficiencies of the home. We have her to thank for the kitchen triangle and so much more. Then came the book the Secret History of Home Economics. Home economics focused on the science of the home. And then my favorite which was manufactured entity of the stay at home mom. The war was over and marketing turned its aim to women at home; how they should look and what they should be doing. Finally, our most up to date research is from the 70's-80's! Shocked? I was too! This is the time the gender shift was identified. Basically women began to do less housework because some women were starting to work…

I did it! We did it! Did you hear in the intro when I introduced myself as DOCTOR Lisa Woodruff? I have completed the dissertation for my PhD in Applied Psychology and feel compelled to share it with all of you. I cannot say Thank You enough for all the emails, suggestions, and encouragement. The Dissertation Here is the dissertation I delivered celebrating the work I have completed. I proposed the question "How do prospective memory and invisible family load interact with worry in women?" Prospective memory is remembering anything that you need to do in the future. I had three hypotheses to dissect this question further. There were 379 panelists. In this episode, I shared what my hypothesis was and the results. The future I just see everyone so overwhelmed with either poor systems or no systems to support the invisible load of the household manager. At work and school there are systems in place that keep those organizations running smoothly. I wanted to get this PhD to have a seat at the academic table and…

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! I declare a table for all people to have conversations about what housework is, what needs to be done, who needs to do it, and consider all life factors into those definitions and roles. I have just found myself a little frustrated that men get a bad wrap when it comes to helping in the house. Before you show up with torches to take me down, hear me out. Men There is clearly a discrepancy between what men think house work is, how it should be done, and who should be doing it. I take Grayson to swim lessons every week. I have been watching the female and male life guards and observing how they teach differently. Neither is right or wrong, just different approaches. Nonetheless, there are discrepancies in how the skills are taught and the priority on which skills get focus. My husband was always great at bathing the kids. Honestly his way was better. But if I had insisted on my way, I probably would have just done it myself in frustration. He enjoyed it and I didn't have to. When the…

Pedicures and massages aren't cutting the mustard anymore. Society is crying out for self care. How can we fill our cups to continue supporting our families? In May Planning Day, I thought about what I wanted to do for my own self care. Sometimes it's the smallest things but we don't realize doing that thing would fill your cup. So I am sharing my ideas in this episode. 10 Self Care Ideas 10. Get time outside doing what you enjoy - for me I will be enjoying our deck, our back yard, and sunsets 9. CEO Days - I will take time, once a month on a Monday, to plan how I will take care of myself, run my home, and have peace of mind because I had focused thinking and planned. 8. Identify and Protect project time - once I realized a 4 hour chunk of time on Saturdays for projects, I have protected it to keep it for myself. 7. Exercise - you get old due to lack of movement. I don't want that. I want a healthy body to support me into my 100's. 6. Have Strategic Time with Humans - those people you want to spend time…

Have you ever heard "planned neglect" anywhere else but Organize 365? Probably not because it's a term I coined to describe what I do to more effectively manage my responsibilities and time. One can't do everything so you must determine what is the highest value you provide to your work, community, or family and implement planned neglect for a certain amount of time to manage it all. I Must Have Mentioned "Planned Neglect" Before I was fairly shocked when I asked AI to give me some feedback based on a few episodes I shared. It explained the "framework" I have put in place. Ha! Much to my surprise because I hadn't realized I offered a framework. I must have talked about it a few times on the podcast. But it wasn't wrong. You need to identify the timeline when you will be using this planned neglect. Then you should tell your family so they know what's happening when you start to cut corners to free up time for you to better utilize your highest value in this phase of life. Then you need to extend a lot of…

Hope you are mentally hungry, because I'm unloading a lot of food for thought. Greg and I were in the car discussing the perception of a vacation vs. a trip. And that of course led to the time you take off for said vacation/trip. And that got me thinking overall about how transformational this summer is going to be for me. Good news! You have a front seat to all of it! Vacation vs. a Trip Ok, so we're in the car talking about vacations vs. trips. And Greg joked "You never take vacations." And he's kind of right because in my life I guess I couldn't really take a vacation. When I was a stay at home mom, we just went to FL. I didn't have to submit vacation time. As a teacher, I just always worked and thought of summer as my vacation time. If you are a teacher you know it's quite the contrary!! And when we do go to FL I do more work than at home. I turn into a 1950's wife so Greg can fully enjoy his vacation. And I love doing that for him and the kids. Greg thinks it's a vacation because he's with his family,…

Who is the first one to get cut from the priority list when a loved one has an unexpected event? You! We innately want to care for others in their times of need. And that means giving up gym time, your nutrition goals may go out the window for a time, and whatever else you enjoy and do for yourself. See, What Had Happened Was… Recently, I ran planning prep day and planning day and boy were my ducks in a row. By Sunday I had meal prepped, mapped out my week, and I was on fire to crush my goals. However Monday morning my sweet daughter called to say she was sick and asked if I could take Grayson to school. As moms do, I said yes. Which meant my time to go to the gym would now be spent with Grayson. Then she called later in the day to say she was too sick to take care of Noah too. So once again rearranged my day and rushed off to pick up Grayson so I could get home to take care of Noah too. Thank God I remembered some food I had prepped to keep me on track and Grayson from getting hungry. Because Grayson had a…

Does everything feel a little chaotic kinda like it feels around the holidays? That's because it's Maycember! It's that time of year when there is a lot to do and no days off to do it! I've got some hacks to productively get through it! Why does it happen? Here we just thought we were heading into summer. Nope, first, you gotta get your lawn in order. And you probably notice you are back to mowing the lawn more frequently. Oh the joys of home ownership! Did you document all the things last year you did during Maycember? Like how much mulch you needed and other supplies to get your house summer ready? Don't forget all of the graduations, weddings, and end of the school year events there are. As the school year wraps up and the weather changes to warm summer days there are more things than ever vying for your attention. The biggest difference is, no days off for the holidays but we're trying to get just as much stuff accomplished as we do during the holidays. 7 Hacks to Combat Maycember Ok, so now you know we…

If anyone listened to episode 704 about the 10 filters I use to plan my week but you are currently in Quicksand, I'm sorry. I decided to dial it back to this 15 minute hack to help you win the day. Just one day at a time. Print the Worksheet (Knives Not Included) Download and print this worksheet. There are two worksheets per sheet of paper. I want you to have a daily action plan because a week at a time may be too much. I know when I was in the pits of despair, I would have thought "Yeah someday!" I'll learn how to time stack and take advantage of pockets of time, that mind you I didn't even know I had because I was in such a reactive state of mind. Do the Planning Each night take just 15 minutes to do these 10 things: Transfer items from your planner and calendar to this worksheet. These are appointments or events you have committed to. Proactively think about tomorrow in regards to weather, what you want to wear, and what you want to do with your hair based on weather and activities you'll attend. Go pick…

Here's the truth coated in encouragement…Organization takes time but with intentionality you can cut the time to 14 months. No one goes from being in debt to out of debt in weeks. Stop it! Yes, it's going to take time. Things that are worthwhile take time. Getting out of your car and into a train is worth it for your mental health and productivity of your home so that you have more capacity and time to wrestle with what you are uniquely created to do. Your Engine The Sunday Basket® represents the engine to your train. Weekly you are chugging along and making sure your priorities are taken care of while still safely gathering information to address on Sunday. Once you get this system in place you will protect your plan - this is how productive people act. You have a system in place and your brain trusts that things will not fall through the cracks because of this system. It lightens your cognitive load so you can focus on your plan and priorities. Planning Day, you took the time to identify what you would…

It's not normal to plan in your home the way we do in business. But if you are part of the Organize 365® community, we do! So as the natural energy of summer ushers in another planning time, I wanted to give you food for thought so you can decide a few things before planning day. Summer Energy There are certain energies for different times of the year. Three that specifically encourage planning and that's when Organize 365® offers Planning Days. In America, you know you all feel it after you open presents and take part in all the festivities you wanna organize and plan the next year. But that's where I'll stop you. At Organize 35® we plan in trimesters. A lot can happen in 120 days. So we plan 120 days at a time and reevaluate what worked and what we want to tweak. Right now we are all anticipating summer. So we plan from May to August. Then in August we anticipate the kids going back to school and we get the urge to plan for September through December. Regardless if you have kids or not, the sales we see,…

Recently, I found myself asking "How did I get here?" I have more laundry somehow. So I thought about it and wanted to share how when your family changes it has ripple effects on your housework cadence and functionality. So, how did I get here? Don't Get Oversold First of all, I wanted to share that I have yet again gotten a new wash machine and dryer. I shared the many reasons for the upgrade, if you call it that. I am now using two black Speed Queen machines that look like they are from the 1960's and I couldn't be happier. Now, I can add clothes mid wash, throw an item in just the dryer, shimmy them if I want, our clothes smell amazing, and get washed quickly, not delicately, but quickly! (If you know you know) I really wish I had not listened to the sales person each time and gotten these machines in the first place. Do not let yourself get oversold into bells and whistles you don't need. Take it from me. Learn from my costly mistakes. Ok so now I have the correct machines for my liking. Household…

So how did I become a worker outer person? I explained in great detail how I think about my time, plan how I will spend that time, and then iterate based on how each trial of use of time goes. Trial Run I have always been a planner. I loved getting new planners about every six months in school. I love to reverse engineer my goals and writing my plan in planners helps me do that. For every action there is a reaction. If you want to say work out more than understand that means something else will be affected. For me it was my budget, time at work, and time with my family. When I am working something new into my schedule I try to do it with the least amount of friction to my family. I call it the household management dance. I really wanted to become a worker outer person, I had already tricked myself into doing a little bit, and I shared in the last episode how I prioritize that now but how did I get to that point? The first thing I did was look at what I wanted to offer as a grandmother and mother. I joined a…

After conducting the webinars in January, it became clear that people are not seeing the full value of the Sunday Basket® because they aren't getting to the planning step. My dear listeners, I am here to stress the importance of the planning step and the 10 filters that I use to plan my week. You Tricked Me I cannot stress the importance of the planning step. You hear me say processing the Sunday Basket® will take about 90 min. However, it may take longer. You may be thinking "You tricked me!" No. If you are in the setting up process and getting in the routine of processing the Sunday Basket® on Sundays then it will take longer. When you start something new it takes time to get into a rhythm. So do not set a timer for 90 minutes and when the alarm goes off you quit. No keep going till you have your week planned! It's a game changer! I promise! 10 Filters SO, I'm sharing the 10 filters I use to fill in my weekly planning sheet. This is the last step in processing your Sunday Basket. I start with looking at…

I am focused on explaining, in detail, the set up of the Sunday Basket®. Just wait till you complete this step - all the paper organized and no more trying to remember everything by cognitive power alone. The Course When you purchase the Sunday Basket®, you get access to the in app community and the online course. Once you make your purchase you start getting a string of emails to read then go complete. Now if you've had your Sunday Basket® for a minute, you may or may not remember getting those emails. Not sure you understand the "assignment"? You also get corresponding videos to show what to do. There's good news, last year I revamped all the videos and emails. New to or familiar with the Sunday Basket®, you can go into the course and click on Lisa's emails if you need a refresher and then watch the videos. And just so you know, this podcast series is going faster than the course. You can of course always do the course slower too. The Paper Piles Remember there were piles that got recycled, shredded, and…

Step number one of setting up the Sunday Basket® is always the Big Sort. For the first time, I'm going into a detailed explanation of how to complete your big sort. After the big sort and decision making, you will feel empowered. It's time to dust off your Sunday Basket® if you have one because the next few episodes are all about setting up your Sunday Basket® and managing your cognitive load to be productive! If you are getting ready to purchase your Sunday Basket® please note there is a Classic Sunday Basket® and the Complete Sunday Basket®, when ordering. I explained the difference in this episode. The Big Sort Ok, so to start, you need a couple laundry baskets. You need to gather all the paper in your house. Yes, even your hiding places. Remember when company was on their way over and you shoved the paper pile somewhere? I've seen it all and I know all about the laundry room, your garage, backpacks, and lots of other places because I saw it in all my organizing client's homes. I'm guilty too! Here's the…

Happy 8th Birthday to the physical Sunday Basket®! The Sunday Basket® is your Golden Ticket to relieve household manager overwhelm. Life is changing rapidly, thank you very much AI, and increasing your capacity is paramount for your new way of living. Now is your chance to get your train car all set up so you can start adding other train cars (Sunday Baskets®) and be efficient like Rockafeller. Change Why like Rockafeller? This man from PA, refined oil. After refining the oil he had to transport the oil. He placed the oil in barrels. In order to be more efficient, he asked his workers to see how little material they could used to "seal" the metal bands around the barrels. Once he was efficient in that he questioned how could be be more efficient in transportation. Initially the barrels were transported on train cars but they were heavy and lost some oil along the way. So he came up with an oil tanker. The tanker carried a lot more oil without leaking. Curiosity How can you too be curious about everything you…

I have been feeling the tug to share my personal experience with depression for quite a while. It may surprise you to hear that I have struggled with depression. I'm a pretty upbeat gal! Well, it surprised me too. In today's podcast, I share my personal story with depression and how it affects every area of your life. Here are 5 tips I gave myself and share with clients about how depression affects organization. 1. Give yourself grace. I cannot even put into words how depression zapped me of every shred of energy to do ANYTHING. And the thought of tackling an organization project was SO overwhelming. My "will power" got up and went - AWAY! 2. Get a friend to help you. Another friend's perspective, energy and motivation are contagious and can help you push through when you just want to watch TV. Used strategically, friends can help you get organized and stay functioning when your own initiative is low. Over 50% of the Organize 365 clients call us in to help because they just can't do the organizing themselves…

Here it is, the first chapter of my latest book Escaping Quicksand. I thought it was necessary for the reader to understand that I too have found myself in quicksand and realized there was no rock bottom to hit. Through escaping "the quicksand", I learned the lesson of the unpopular truth that you have to make yourself a priority. How Did I Get In the Pit of Despair? I've always been a planner and organized. But the systems I brought into adulthood slowly started to break as the complexity of life increased by adding a spouse, a house, and children. I suppose it was around the time of the 2008 recession that life gave the final push into the pit of despair. My father had fallen which led to a decline in his health and ultimately his passing. My sister and I shared roles to care for him and then settle his estate but it was a lot financially, logistically, and emotionally. On top of that I had become a very negative person that no one really wanted to be around. The more I fought to not sink lower in the…

I've been talking about a book I've been writing and I'm here to tell you all the juicy details and that you can preorder it now! In the end, I realized the world didn't need a book on how to organize your home because you have no resources to complete the tasks. Escaping Quicksand will arm you with the tools to get your home organized and move to productivity! Thought Process and Creation This is my sixth book. I don't tell you that to brag. I tell you that to share that I have published each book in different ways. Not sure if you have written a book but I always like to share my journey and thought process in case it's something you have been thinking about doing too. I really struggled with feeling "set" on the book theme. I wrote two other versions of "the book" I thought I was going to publish. But one morning about 5am, it came to me. The first chapter was written in about an hour and it felt right. I finally nailed down what people needed. I wrote a book on shifting your mindset to accomplish your…

Ok, the line leader for executive functions is working memory. Remember? At the end of the line is the higher level executive function of planning. Planning is the ultimate self care because it ensures high priority tasks will get completed and gives you peace. I'm explaining how getting your working memory and prospective memory to play nice, will allow Planning to have a chance to play a role in your life and finally free up your full cognitive bandwidth! TMP Time management planning; plan for the day, prioritize, and set deadlines. You wrote your brian down on paper and you decided if it could wait. The items that could not wait need to be plugged into a time block in your week. This is Time management planning. The key to this is leaving a little white space for when life's inevitable interruptions pop up. Contingency Planning You uplevel your planning when you have a contingent plan. Choose which items, if need be, for tomorrow's plan can be pushed to the next day or put back in the Sunday Basket®. We…

Can goal attainment really be effortless? Yes! How? I'm sharing a science backed and real life proven strategy to, yes, attain your goals effortlessly with environment modification. Last week I told you to write everything down. Now what? Your Brain On Paper If you were a good lil student, you have started to write down all of your interruptive thoughts. Stop trying to remember everything, just write it down! Now you have all of these thoughts on paper, your brain on paper and you may be overwhelmed. The next step, is to decide can it wait till Sunday? If so, pop that baby into the Sunday Basket® for safe keeping until it can't wait. If not, add it to your to do list for the day. If you find you are always saying yes it can wait, but you don't have a lot of motivation to get it accomplished, it's ok to toss it. Our goals, energy, money, where we live, stage of family life, our house, and other factors change projects we want to do. You aren't going to get it all done because you aren't getting it all done…

Ozempic is to food chatter as Index cards are to the invisible work of being a household manager. We write any thought down, cognitive offloading, and free up capacity to THINK. As household managers we aren't struggling so much with the housework, it's all of the invisible thoughts that interrupt what we were doing and now can't remember what we need to do. We are constantly volleying between working memory and prospective memory! Your working memory is your primary executive function. I want your working memory to serve its actual purpose, not just remembering to put the clothes in the dryer. What does that mean? Catch the full episode!! New Rules Imagine you head back to school after break and the school says that's it, no more backpacks, lockers, or computers. You must carry everything with you throughout the day. That's a lot to carry right? But we practice this everyday when we try to remember everything with no support staff, no help. And as soon as we think of something we need to do there's a…

I left you hangin' in the last episode as to what the mindset shift is that you must have so that you can be a productive person. It's Discipline. And discipline is my word for this year. "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment" - Jim Rohn What is the definition? -Some of you may have a negative knee jerk reaction to the word discipline. Ready for me to reframe discipline in you mind? It is… -The act of gaining control with obedience and order (like holding yourself accountable to picking up after yourself.) -Having behavior in accordance with rules (like the Sunday Basket®) -Self Control - you can struggle or you can remove items from your environment that have you have effortless self control can't eat a cookie you didn't buy and bring home. -An activity you engage in regularly to train or inspire ones self. -A subject taught or field of study (like the study of home management.) -An institution If you are listening to the podcast, odds are that you are learning discipline in the area of…

Who remembers defragging your computer to make it run more efficiently? I'm talking about defragging time confetti into time blocks today. "What is time confetti?" Yes, thank you for asking…it's all those little 2 or 5 minutes that are free and sprinkled throughout your day. How can you most effectively use your confetti time to conquer the never ending, always evolving list of essential time blocks that you must complete as the mom, wife, and/or household manager? 4 Essential Time Blocks Let's start with what demands our time. We have some mandatory tasks (time blocks) that our homes and lives demand from us. After surveying 1000 people, it became very clear that Americans define housework as laundry, food, and cleaning. I explained how I like to defrag or consolidate my cleaning and laundry to the same day and time. Saturdays are great for this for me. I get my machines going and clean till about Noon. I auditioned being available for Abby and the grand kids on Saturdays. But, I have realized I like my…

Ok, it's another peek into my brain. I'm sharing the things I want to follow me into the new year and things that I'm leaving in 2025. I thought it would be beneficial for you to hear my thoughts behind these decisions and get you thinking about how you want 2026 to look for you. Planning provides a lens of calm. Somehow when a plan is in place, even if it changes, it is not as jarring as when you have to react to change with "emergency energy." What will be joining me As I think about 2026 approaching, there are some significant changes happening in my life. Abby will have baby number two soon and the PhD is not consuming as much of my time. So, I am looking at the extra time. I want to be intentional with showing up for Abby, taking care of my body, and due to circumstances not yet resolved, looks like I will be doing a lot more housework. This next 120 days I'm viewing as my "grand(ma)turnity leave." I am excited for Planning Day, where I take the time to really look at my time and plug in my priorities…

Happy New Year! Which resolution did you choose; to lose weight, get outta debt, or get organized? Those are the three most common resolutions. But with any good goal you must have a way to execute an action plan otherwise you will have the same environment just different desires. Tame the Toddler Sometimes it feels like there is a toddler running around in our brain, right? It is constantly reminding us of future things you need to do. You are just trying to do a task like write an email but your brain is constantly bombarded with things you want to do as you look around your office or wherever you are. I got so tired of that, that I started to write everything down. Your Sunday Basket® comes with index cards for this purpose. I quiet my brain so I can be productive. As long as I follow through on Sundays, my brain will trust me that it's written down and it will get addressed. If not, it throws a tantrum and says "Since you lied, and didn't do it when you said you would, I'm going to bug you more often so…

You made it! All the holiday stuff is done. It's the day after Christmas and you are finally coming up for air. You finally have a minute to think about what you need on this bonus day as your family is entertained with their new stuff. Well I have a couple of treats for you. I know on Black Friday, you were shopping for others. But now, now that you can think about what you'd like…You'd like to upgrade your DIY Sunday Basket®. You are in luck because when you get the Sunday Basket®, now till the end of the year, you will also get a portable Sunday Basket®! That's a $75 value just for getting a system that will keep your actionable papers safe. We are in this never ending rat race and now that we made it through the holidays, it's almost the new year and another thing after that. You need a system to keep everything straight and in a place you can find them. And if you already have the Sunday Basket® and value the system, you may be ready to commit to implementing a system in your house to optimize the…

Happy Boxing Day! Let's talk about transitions and what you need to declutter or add to resemble where you are going. We are all transitioning into the new year. I'm sharing the smallest shift you can make to be more intentional with what you want to get out of 2026. How are you planning with that anticipatory energy of things to come when the ball drops at midnight on New Years Eve? Transition So yes, we are all transitioning into a new year. We have this anticipatory energy as to what could happen for us in 2026. For me personally I'm thinking about a "new me" too. I know this is common for this time of year but if you have been listening to the podcast you know this has been on my radar in 2025. I have adjusted and transitioned into a person who works out. I shared some habits I've made with my workout schedule, water consumption, increasing my movement, and changes in my eating habits this past year. Increasing my workout frequency, it dawned on me that I may need to buy more clothes for pilates. I've…

We are in it! There's no time left to plan anything so how can you still be proactive and ahead of things? I'm sharing my sanity saving tips to meet you and your family's needs and still show up as your best self in these last couple of weeks in December. We are in those flexible strange last weeks of the year so what can you do to save your sanity? Event Go Bags If you only have time to implement one thing - this is it! Event go bags are like the go back you should have packed to grab at a moment's notice so you have the things you need while you are away from home for an unknown amount of time. In this instance, you will look at the calendar and place a bag, in an out of the way area, for each event. Then you're going to put some kind of clip on it to attach any notes you make to yourself about the event like grab the appetizer from the refrigerator or return the book to Aunt Betty that you want to remember as you go out the door for the event. As the date approaches, you can add items to the bag too that…

Are you ready to hear all about Sarah Hart Unger's new book, "Best Laid Plans"? I learned new things from reading it and in this podcast I hope you too learn new ways to make yourself more efficient. Then grab your copy of her book. There are few people who love to plan as much as me and Sarah is one of them. Sarah shared all about planning with school aged children, how she's overcoming distractions and how to still dream. Closed Systems Input She had me by page 14! She was talking about all the input from closed systems that we are all overwhelmed with between an organization's app, Whatsapp, school apps, etc. It'd be nice if they all talked to each other…or would it be? I was so excited Grayson's school was able to populate my google calendar till I realized it was all events for the school. I guess I liked it better with manual entry but then we discussed there has to be a cadence to checking all the closed systems and knowing where to put it in your trusted system so you will see it when you need to. We…

I feel it and I know you do too. That decluttering and planning energy is starting to bubble up but who has time to deal with that? No one. We're all stuck in this purgatory of sorts where Thanksgiving is done but there's a lul until the December holiday that you celebrate. So I'm sharing best practices to harness that energy, use it for good, but all delay doing anything about it, for just a little bit. Decluttering You are waiting for all your purchases to arrive. You know what people are getting or even yourself and you want to purge the old. But wait! If you purge toys now, what will they play with until Christmas (this will be my example because that's the holiday I celebrate)? I recommend starting a slash pocket for decluttering alone. This way in the future you will remember what you brain told you to declutter. You have too much going on right now and there will be time for decluttering in the last week of the year. However around the 22nd or 23rd you may wanna get a little head start. It would be…

Let's revisit some characteristics of December energy because last week you were deep in Thanksgiving energy and you may have missed a few things I suggested planning. Do we all agree the energy has shifted? Even though the calendar still says November, we're all in December! After the Big Meal The dishes have been cleaned and the company has gone home. Now what? You have a couple of days before you return to your normal weekly routines. Now is the time to plan so you can be a proactive holiday person instead of reactive. This is the time to prevent stress and over spending. It's never about all the things we need to do. It's the order in which we do them, when we do them, and the energy we have when we do them. I want to start to focus on what needs to be done to set up this audience for success on Saturday and Sunday or these situations when we have unique pockets of time. Here's the plan to set you up for success as we go into December! Before You Unpack the Holiday Decor Let's plan decorating your home…