Transformation with Summer K.
Organize 365 Podcast
Mastering Document Organization with Binders
This chapter explores the systematic organization of personal documents using binders, highlighting the benefits of decluttering and improved accessibility. The speakers share their experiences and frustrations with binder quality and emphasize the importance of investing in high-quality organizational tools.
In this episode, I introduce you to Summer K who lives with her son, husband, and dog. Summer originally found Organize 365® in the summer of 2020 through an ad on Instagram. She made the “mistake” of clicking on it and then it “followed” her. Eventually she visited the website and put a Sunday Basket® in the cart for her mom…annnnd one for herself! She knows the systems now and doesn’t fret if a system “breaks” because she can easily get it back up and running.
Summer now lives in Minnesota, but there were a few moves before now and when she found Organize 365®. Instead of decluttering and organizing along the way, she chose to put items in storage units. With the Sunday Basket®, Summer had moved away from filing cabinets. The transformation in her thinking, through implementing the Organize 365® systems, also helped her trim down to one storage unit that she left behind when she moved to Minnesota. After about a year, her brother loaded it up and delivered it to her. Summer had the whole basement set up ready to process that unit in hopes of getting rid of 50% of it…and she did! The systems help you to keep the stuff you want and use versus a filing cabinet or storage unit that allows you to store it and forget it long after it is still relevant.
Summer is a self proclaimed binder snot. She appreciates a durable functioning binder as much as me! We laughed about how the manufacturers can’t figure out how to use quality products and allow all the products inside to function simultaneously. These are the school supplies we need for our life’s work. She pointed out that they are a fraction of the price of a filing cabinet and do not allow you to keep outdated papers. And as I shared, I even created a binder for Grayson because while he doesn’t have an IEP, he does have OT and other paperwork that is no longer relevant in Abby’s binder or the household binder. So where do you put it? You make that person their own binder. We also discussed different binders for different properties. The binders are there, make them work for you so you don’t have to think of all the filters you need to go through to get to important paperwork you need. Reduce your cognitive load.
The Productive Home Solution® (then the 100 Day Home Organization Program) was so helpful for Summer because in the midst of her busy life, when she knew she’d have a 15 minute chunk of time, she’d just look at what she needed to complete next. She’d do it and go back to her busy life. The Productive Home Solution® has evolved over the years to be universal so any person gets the benefits of functional organization. One of the many improvements we have made is a 120 day checklist so you can check off tasks in any order for the amount of time you have. Summer loves this aspect as well as videos that show real life applications. How are real people actually completing the checklists?
Summer finds so much value in the Sunday Basket® that she gets her assistant’s a Sunday Basket® and even has them complete a Friday Workbox® Planning Day. It is important to her that they are talking the same language. In planning, she wants them to know she’s talking pink or connections have been made and it’s now turning into purple work. Summer also realized she used to keep a very long to-do list until she started putting ideas only on one side and project tasks on the other side. Then she learned she’d separated her pink and purple work. Summer has been in the business of pink work so it was an “aha” moment when she learned about the color coding of the slash pockets. She shared at first she kept thinking her cobbled systems were better. Then she tried the suggested way and liked it better! She has found all of the systems to be very effective in work and home.
Summer’s advice is, “Do 6 weeks in a row to build the muscle to see the real value.”
EPISODE RESOURCES:
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.
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