Organize 365 Podcast

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. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! In this episode, I introduce you to Chelle D. Listen in as we discuss change, how to plan for it, and the shift in mindset Chelle has experienced since doing The Productive Home Solution®. So way way back in 2019 when times were different, Chelle found Organize 365® listening to a different podcast. She then realized she was already a fan when she saw she’d pinned some things in Pinterest. And of course, she had the ebook. What really caught Chelle’s attention was that I had a solution for paper.   Chelle and her husband were both previously nurses and now are real estate agents. She’s been married for 32 years and recently completed her 14th move - that’s what you do when you are in the military. Through all those moves, it’s the paper she has not been able to get under control. Chelle started with 4 boxes that reflected the binders. She shared a few stories where she was able to get whatever she needed without extra stress. She had the paperwork she needed and could readily provide answers. We really dug into the Medical and Financial Binders for her personal life and how they can help her potential home sellers. Having medical knowledge is power, she pointed out. It gives you the power to communicate without a power struggle, to collaborate with healthcare providers, and to get to answers sooner. Also for your own annual visits, you can show up prepared and get your burning questions answered.  “I could use a caddy like that” Chelle’s husband said to her. This is where functional organization comes into play. Functional organization can be complemented with Pinterest, but it’s the functionality that provides the routines and systems to keep you moving through your day. Chelle knows once she’s completed that caddy, she’s ready for the next part of her day and it all goes away neatly and ready for tomorrow. Chelle started The Productive Home Solution® before this last move. She has been able to transfer those skills she learned to the new house for functionality. Functionality is what provides the extra time. Now she’s got the extra time and knows how to plan chunks of time in advance. So when the camp put out the S.O.S. that they needed more ice cream sandwiches, Chelle had the peace of mind to be able to help! It’s not about being perfect, just being better. She has let go of her perfectionist mindset and now just plans as best as she can.  If you find yourself in the season of life of selling your home, Chelle offered advice on how to achieve a smoother sale by: Decluttering - We can help with that (we agree it’s safe to start before the selling process) De-personalizing - Your home becomes a commodity for others when selling Paint! - Help all the realtors out there and document the paint color in your Household Reference Binder. The #1 question realtors get: “What paint color is that?” Chelle’s advice is, “Take the time to plan.”  She’s been using Organize 365® in combination with “The One Thing” process to do this.  It doesn’t change the fact that change will come your way, it just changes how you show up for that change.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® The Productive Home Solution® Planning Day The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Our Organize 365® Dream Team has experienced way more than its fair share of unexpected events this year. Like...A LOT. Nearly every single one of them has dealt with or is dealing with really big life events. I asked a few of them who were willing to share about those unexpected events and how they navigated them. Today's podcast features Stefanie and her daughters Haleigh and Hannah. It was definitely a family affair on this episode! Stefanie lives in a multigenerational house - consisting of herself, her husband Adam, Betty (the dog), their daughter Haleigh and husband Kaleb - and their 6 children! Haleigh and Kaleb have been married 11 years and met at ministry school in South Carolina. They have 4 biological and 2 adopted children - their names are Manchan, Parris, Olivia (Liv), Frances (Fran), Charlotte (Lottie), Isaac (Ike). Kaleb is the Lead Pastor at their church (Christian Renewal - Hilton Head and Bluffton, SC) and Haleigh is the creator of the Foster Care Ministry, Free Homeschool Co-op and Kids Ministry at the church. They are also foster parents and Haleigh is on the Foster Parent Advisory Council for the state of South Carolina. Hannah and Sean have been married 7 years and also met at the same ministry school! They were missionaries for 5 years and served in China, Ecuador and Costa Rica. A few years ago, Hannah started experiencing some health and infertility issues, so they decided to move back to the states to focus on her health. She's the Children's Director at the Bluffton campus of Christian Renewal Church and her husband also works for the church as their Media Director. Late 2022, after receiving their fostering license, Hannah and Sean found out they were expecting. What a surprise and what a miracle. Back in March, Stefanie was gearing up to travel for a few Organize 365 events. She says it seems as if every time she travels, something happens - someone in the family gets sick, her daughter has a new foster placement, or someone needs her more than usual. Stefanie was enjoying a Wednesday off with her youngest grandchild (Ike) when she got a call from Hannah. She was having serious back pains, but was only about 5 months along in her pregnancy. Hannah is a self-proclaimed “worrier” - so she called the doctor and went to get checked out. When she arrived at the hospital, she was 3cm dilated. They immediately called an ambulance and had her transported to Charleston to the closest hospital with a NICU. Gabe was born at 26 weeks 6 days, and weighed 2 pounds 11 ounces. The first 20 minutes of his life he was unresponsive and was getting no oxygen to his brain. The doctors told them they would have a very long road ahead of them, and at first weren't sure if he was going to survive. They only got to see him for a few seconds before they whisked him off to the NICU floor. Gabe was definitely a miracle, he blew everyone away just in his first week of life. He was moved off the ventilator within days and all respiratory support on Mother's Day. Hannah kept track of all of his progress and needs with the Warrior MAMA and Medical binders, plus a journal that Stefanie had given her. They left the hospital with him on June 26 - 4 days after his actual due date. Stefanie loves that all her family members consistently use The Sunday Basket®, Friday Workbox®, binders and even the Education Friday Workbox® for homeschool. Haleigh with her diagnosis of ADHD took the longest to implement the products because the implementation felt very overwhelming; but just recently one of the kids found their birth certificate for her within minutes because it was in his binder (where it was supposed to be!). Hannah has had a lot of relief with the mental load of all of Gabe's medical needs, insurance claims and appointments by using the Sunday Basket®. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® The Paper Solution® Binders Education Friday Workbox® Warrior MAMA Binder Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

The podcast discusses topics such as multi-generational living, maintaining connections in a growing company, the role of an integrator, planning and productivity routines, the importance of a great team, complementary skills, loyalty, career transitions, retirement, and finding work-life balance.

Our Organize 365® Dream Team has experienced way more than its fair share of unexpected events this year. Like...A LOT. Nearly every single one of them has dealt with or is dealing with really big life events. I asked a few of them who were willing to share about those unexpected events and how they navigated them. This is part 2 of Monique’s story. I have a feeling this part of her story will resonate with many of you, and my hope is that someone out there listening might be able to help Monique with this unique situation, or possibly give her answers. Please reach out if you have any similar experiences you could share, resources she may find useful, or anything that might point her in the right direction.  Monique’s 21 year old daughter fell and hit her head on a Friday evening back in March. She has a history of migraines, so by Sunday when she still wasn’t acting like herself they went to the ER to have her checked for a concussion. Monique has dealt with concussions before, when her son (who was 13 at the time) got hit with a baseball in the head and suffered a concussion along with cavernous hemangiomas that had to be surgically removed. If they hadn’t sought help right away, he could have died from the hemangiomas. That was a year-long battle, resulting in 2 surgeries for him. The last thing she wanted was for history to repeat itself with her daughter.  Alina was living her best life. She's 21 years old, had a full time job at Ulta, was a nanny, and was involved in the YA Group at church. Suddenly she couldn’t even take 10 steps to the bathroom without help. The doctors gave them 3 options - take her home and hire a home therapist, start taking her to physical therapy, or get her into a rehabilitation facility. Monique chose the rehab. She knew she couldn’t take care of her the way she needed to, she’s not a physical therapist or a nurse!  As part of Monique’s story, she wanted to give advice to anyone out there who ever finds themselves in a place to help someone else who is dealing with a traumatic life event. Here are some tips on things to do that are helpful.  Give them a place to stay, gas money, or food money if they have to travel. Help with meals/snacks for any other people at home. Mealtrain.com is great for this!  Hire or ask someone to come clean the house, do laundry, or grocery shop for them and their family. Ask the person in need “when would you like my help?” instead of “what do you need?” It takes the pressure off of the person who’s already dealing with a lot to have to ask for help or make more decisions.  Just send money if you don’t know what else to do. Cash, gift cards, Venmo, Paypal. Write a nice handwritten note or card to let them know you’re thinking of them. Sending a text to let them know you’re thinking of them, without expecting a response right away. Zenon finally came home from Ukraine, and Monique was able to travel for work and attend the Missouri Paper Organizing Retreat. She needed to laugh and have some fun, and let her brain and her body be “somewhere else” since she was so weighed down from the stress of the entire situation. She also went to host the Certification in South Carolina 2 weeks later. Other Organize 365® Dream Team members were asked to help fill in for Monique at the event, then one of them had their own unexpected event arise at the last minute.  Listen in next week to hear the reason why Stef, another Dream Team member, couldn’t attend the South Carolina event like she planned to.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

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. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! In this episode, I introduce you to Norma C. who is welcoming the next chapter of her life as she gets ready to retire and start a new business with her hubby! Norma was fed up with her disorganization and wanted to get organized as she felt life slowing down. Norma found Organize 365® on YouTube which surprised me, but then it clicked when Norma said she had read the book, too! Now Norma also listens to the podcast for continued learning and motivation.  Listen in as we discuss the golden window Norma is about to experience and how she is taking advantage of it! She’s already conquered her closet and a portion of her storage space so it feels like Norma’s goal is realistic. We talked about a lot of internal conversations that take place when you go through your closet in regards to our weight, what fits, what used to fit, the monetary value of clothes you want to get rid of and how to donate or toss items without it haunting you. What is the right amount of clothes anyway? Remember too, styles change, our taste changes, and so do our bodies - so you don’t need to keep things even if they fit or you could fit in them soon. Norma and I have in common that we have lived in our homes for a long time. We discussed the closets and the reality of emptying a room to declutter and get organized. Lots of times people go through those phases when they move, but when you don’t move, this is another way to accomplish that. She shared that her handyman husband has been able to maximize the use of their closets and anything else necessary for organization. Norma and her husband did a lot of traveling this year so far and have been able to organize it all through the Sunday Basket®; she even took her slash pockets on the road! Norma has a countdown on her phone for the day she’s retiring in 2024, and it’s also the countdown to get organized! Now that she has the hang of the Sunday Basket® and can appreciate all the time she has because of it, she’s doing the whole house. She wants this area of her life settled so she can focus on the next chapter. I reminded Norma that in a slower phase of life you may not have to process your Sunday Basket® as often. But once they start their business, it can serve them and keep them on track. Norma’s advice is, “Definitely start with the Sunday Basket®. Make it part of your life and start with bite sized pieces. In the long run, you will start to see that it saves you time.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Organization is a Learnable Skill The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Our Organize 365® Dream Team has experienced way more than its fair share of unexpected events this year. Like...A LOT. Nearly every single one of them has dealt with or is dealing with really big life events. I asked a few of them who were willing to share about those unexpected events and how they are navigating them. Monique is the first to share, but this isn't her first time on the podcast! I love how open, honest, and willing to share her story for the benefit of others she is. Monique has 6 adult children - 3 are biological, and 3 are adopted from Ukraine. Her husband Zenon is a first generation Ukrainian. Within the last 18 months, Monique and her husband have moved to a different state, welcomed their first grandbaby, one of their daughter's got married, and dealt with Zenon losing his job. WHOA! They lived in the same home in Valparaiso, Indiana for 20 years. They also just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary! The move was the best change for their marriage and their family. Then the first wave of unfortunate events hit. Their son and daughter in law who lived in Wisconsin were expecting a baby and he lost his job. Shortly thereafter, her son lost his job. It was then they decided to follow Monique and Zenon to Tennessee and start a new chapter of their lives. Monique stepped in to help as much as possible like any good parent would - on top of dealing with all of life's normal challenges. She quickly learned it was a mistake to assume that adult children know how to do things that they've actually never done on their own! It's a whole different ballgame stepping back into a teaching role as a parent when they are adults. Monique & her husband also have a few children with special needs. Teaching adulting skills to those children who have a different processing ability can be a challenge. They know this will require a lifetime of mentoring, and they might not be moving out someday and will most likely have a different future than their other children. They really had to do a mindset shift and readjust their expectations once they realized they might not become “empty nesters” like they once thought they would. Lisa and Monique also shared about how much they love being grandparents. Monique's grandson Gabe was 4 months old at the time, and Grayson is about to turn 2! The impact you can have on your grandchildren's lives is so unique and different than what you had on your own children. They both hope they can make better choices this time around, and do things differently with them. Monique's husband can't wait until Gabe is 2 so he can take him to Home Depot, and Greg can't wait until Grayson is 5 so he can take him fishing! Next up in Monique's life was her daughter's wedding in May. She still lives in Indiana, and Monique was trying to be supportive in helping her plan the wedding long distance. She would make weekend trips from Tennessee to Indiana to do all the wedding preparations she could along with her daughter. Monique spent the entire week leading up to the wedding with her as well, and was intentional about carving out special time with her before she became a married woman. How does she do it all? As if a move, a grandbaby, and a wedding wasn't enough to make her head spin - she was also working full time at Organize 365®. Along with her full time job, she was taking out of town organizing jobs and coaching sessions in the evenings and on the weekends to earn extra money. She says she and Zenon had to "get scrappy" in their old age to deal with all the extra expenses in order to invest in their children's lives as much as possible. Monique wastes no time feeling sorry for herself or worrying about how she will get it all done. She simply gets up and gets dressed. She figures out what the next step is and problem solves along the way. She uses her Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox® - and focuses on only 7 days at a time. It feels like a game of Tetris to her; fitting all the pieces in, figuring out what the most critical things to get done are for the next 7 days, and flexing that time when something out of the ordinary does come along. Then she experienced another blow - Zenon lost his job. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise - because he was able to go on a trip to Ukraine in March shortly after the war began. He focused his energy on this experience and giving back to his home country. He drove 25 hours in a caravan and made multiple stops along the way, delivering supplies from the western side to the eastern side where people were stuck in war zones. He experienced a once in a lifetime chance to be involved with organizations that help children, bringing people from east to west, taking things that people need from west to east because they couldn't get it, and meeting a relative for the first time. Listen in next week to hear Part 2 of Monique's incredible story - it's unbelievable to think even more unexpected events were right around the corner. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

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. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! In this episode, I introduce you to Natasha B., the daughter of immigrant parents. Oh how covid changed so many things for so many of us. Natasha had her own business and lived with her mom. Natasha was ecstatic to learn she’d have two weeks off to tackle some projects she always wished she had time for. But soon their income was affected and ironically, they moved in with her father, step mom, and their 7 month old baby in Florida. She likes to refer to them as “the original modern family!” Natasha took her skills she’d learned after finding Organize 365® and started to organize her dad’s kitchen and house, too. It was a struggle at first, but now they appreciate the method to her madness. Her parents saw how much she loved organizing, so her mom invested in the Sunday Basket® for her. She did at least set it up, but didn’t use it for 2 years. Now she’s in almost all of Lisa’s programs!  Natasha found out she had developed Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2019. Listen in as we discuss the necessity of planning and creating habits to feel in control of a disease that makes you feel like you have no control. At any moment, Natasha can be at the mercy of her energy. When she’s having a flare up, she’s in a lot of pain and it causes low energy. But what she finds is that with help from the Sunday Basket and the ‘spoon theory’, she can prioritize tasks per day according to her energy. Organization is now part of Natasha’s health management - it gives her more time, more energy, and more peace. Up until her diagnosis, Natasha was a competitive ballet dancer. Now she’s almost in her 30’s and already in her second career of running a dance studio. She’s now sharing her love of dance in a different way. And her doctors encourage her to keep dancing!  She has created a podcast that she plans to air someday. It will be titled “We Dance Too” and would love it to be a layer of her business to help her reach out and partner with other businesses focused on Rheumatoid Arthritis. She wants to share what she has learned about organization that others with her disease could utilize, too. Natasha dreams a lot, so who knows what that third career may look like! She now has the confidence to say no to some things and not feel guilty about it. We discussed not permanently closing the door on opportunities that present themselves now. Just look at them as “not right now” and file away in a pink slash pocket.  Natasha wishes that she would’ve known sooner that organization is a learnable skill. But her advice to others is, “Everyone who starts The Productive Home Solution® should just listen to the steps and do one at a time. And follow the energy.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution® Planning Day The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter Bachata Fuego Sarasota - Natasha’s business I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

At 40 I knew it was “time to start my company.” But what company should I start? I started simple and have grown with demand. Everyone is working all the time and no one has time to plan. You also don’t have the time NOT TO. You still have to put in the hours - so you can spend the time working on current projects, or reflecting on what you were doing. It’s still work.  The thing is, no company or no one employee will do this perfectly, and no one actually has the time - you have to just do it. My hunch is that this quarterly planning is going to become the norm due to the internet and business changing so rapidly. Gone are the days of having a 10 year plan, because the change in life alone will make predictability difficult. Not bad to have a 5 or ten year plan, just know there will be lots of course corrections. The Singularity theory says that there will be a time where all knowledge will be known from everywhere instantly. This is where we are headed, people.  Cue the Rabbit Trail I took a detour down a rabbit trail in this episode! This rabbit trail began with my recent studies of the Industrial Revolution. It dawned on me that railroads offered transportation, thus lending itself to more communication. Much in the same way when cars were invented. Farmers could get their products much further and visit their families and other farmers because the car could travel further than the standard horse. See, transportation and communication. And now, due largely in part to the pandemic, the internet is the new railroad. The communication and transportation highway. It’s all online, everything.  The Workbox Planning Day is a continual progression of regular reflection, opportunity selection, and course correction: Continued regular reflection; Ask yourself  How has the world changed in the last three years?  Where is my/the business now?  Where is it going? Are we going in the same direction?  How are people buying? Are we still relevant?  Opportunity selection What projects do you want to get to the finish line in this quarter? No more than 5; but ideally 3.  Course correction I gave the example of our new website. We hadn’t planned on it but it was necessary to keep the business going.  Once the issue was identified, we course corrected  Takeaway… Your biggest benefit and your biggest expense in business is the people.  EPISODE RESOURCES: Friday Workbox® Workbox Planning Day Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

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. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! In this episode, I introduce you to September G. who is an ambitious entrepreneur. We talked about her routines pre and post pandemic, and the moment she just couldn’t take it any longer. The pandemic was the opposite of a Golden Window for September! She couldn’t take that they had settled into old habits during the pandemic. When her husband asked if they were on the verge of a divorce due to September’s unsettled behavior and the meltdown she had, she said that is when they banded together and invested in the Sunday Basket® and their marriage. She has been able to make the invisible work visible, so others can accomplish the same tasks in her absence since she travels often. It gave them a chance to renegotiate and reorder responsibilities. Listen in as we discuss the vital role the Sunday Basket® and The Friday Workbox® plays in both her businesses and her home life. She and her husband actually go through their Sunday Basket® on Fridays, and then he knows what his checklist is for the week. She runs a coffee shop with her children, and the Friday Workbox® helps them get things done more efficiently. It systematizes what’s happening and when, they get more done, work faster, and management is much more proactive. It works so effectively that she has peace of mind that things will not fall through the cracks. I hypothesized that maybe the boys are ok with doing the Friday Workbox® on their own because they saw their dad model this behavior. Even when we don’t realize it, our children are watching us. We need to get ready to cheer September on because in March and April of 2024, she embarks on the Southern Tier Bike Ride from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine, FL. September explained the ride and that it is a 2-month commitment. She is confident that Gerety Education Team, the coffee shop, and her household will be taken care of due to the systems and organization that September, her family, and her remote team have put into place thanks to Organize 365®. She has freedom from stress knowing that things won’t fall through the cracks.  September’s advice is, “Just buy all the stuff.” Let Lisa do all the thinking for you and you just fill in the blanks or do the things. Forget struggling to DIY it! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Dive into the art of planning and organization as a powerful tool for juggling household responsibilities. Discover how the concept of 'Planning Day' empowers individuals to structure their personal lives with clarity. Learn about the significance of mindset in enhancing productivity and the transformative potential of the Sunday Basket system. Explore practical strategies for maintaining organization through the 52-week Productive Home Solution, tackling both personal and financial responsibilities with ease. Join the flow of proactive planning!