Ten Common Clutter Traps and How to Avoid Them with Martha Carol Stewart | Ep 371

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Welcome to This Organized Life. If
you're a mom, wife, or coffee
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lover seeking advice on how to reduce
clutter and reclaim time, look no further
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than your host, Lori Palau,
Founder Simply Be Organized and author of Hot
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Mess, a practical guide to getting
organized. For a lot of people,
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clutter is their dirty little secret,
but it doesn't have to be. Each
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week, we will share practical tips, chat with experts, and provide strategies
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on how to keep you organized.
I hope that by sharing our stories you
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feel a little less alone and more
empowered to tackle the areas that are holding
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you back. So let's get started. Hi everybody, and welcome to today's
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episode of This Organized Life podcast.
I'm your host, Lori Palau, and
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you guys, this is gonna be
such a fun episode. I'm just gearing
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you up already. I'm like hyping
it up because it's a fun topic,
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it's a relevant topic, and we've
got a great guest for you. So
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joining me today is my friend and
fellow professional or organizer, Marth Carroll Stewart.
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If you guys are longtime listeners,
you've heard her on the show before,
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but I invited her to come back
to talk about the topic today,
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which is ten of the most common
clutter traps, try to say that ten
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times fast, and how to avoid
them. And I invited Martha Carroll on
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for a couple of reasons. First
of all, she's super fun and I
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just love having her on, and
you guys love her too, and she's
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full of great ideas. And then
the other reason is, guys, she
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has a new book out, and
so you have to get this. I
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know this episode is dropping after the
holidays. It would have been a great
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Christmas present, but not just Christmas. It's a great coffee table book,
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anniversary book, you name it.
It's called Southern Chaos. We're going to
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talk about it without further ado.
Let me welcome my friend Marth Carroll to
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the show or back to the show. Welcome, Hi, Hi, it's
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so good to see you. Hello
friend, how are you hey? I
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am weird, great, weird.
Just get gearing up for the holiday and
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getting ready. We are headed to
Nashville because my experienced Christmas gift for my
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children this year is a trip to
Nashville. No way, so fun.
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That is so much fun. Oh
my my kids are in their twenties.
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We always do a trip. Now, nobody buys anybody presents. That's my
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rule. I'm like, one child's
married, she doesn't need to be buying
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us presents. One child in college, just finish. That's my present,
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exactly, exactly. We have started
a couple of years ago. We started
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this tradition on taking them on a
trip the week after Christmas, between Christmas
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and New Year's and it has been
it's just been the best time because we
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get lots of family time and blah
blah blah. But anyway, look that's
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our Christmas. So we're gearing up
for that. How are you? I
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love it. I'm in the throws
people right now. Like again, we're
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recording this days before Christmas days and
I said, we got to get this
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in. We gotta get this episode
in for January. So let's do it.
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Going to be so much fun.
Congrats, congrats on your book.
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Before we get into the episode,
I jeeze this out a little bit,
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but just sell our listeners. Tell
us about the book. Oh my gosh,
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I'm so excited about the book.
First of all, it is the
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only organizing book out there for the
southern home. I'm from Louisiana. I
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know all about the Southern Home.
Lisa, my co author, is from
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Georgia Grow Up and Georgia's Between the
two of us, we had all the
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nicks and crannies covered and we were
just going to write an organizing book,
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and my sister in law said,
please make it about the Southern house because
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I've never seen so many wreath in
my whole life. Y'all celebrate everything,
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and it's so true. We really
are. The South loves to celebrate,
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and we have lots of entertainment spaces, and we have lots of reefs and
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other things. What we did is
we took all those spaces and we combined
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them in our book. But we
started in the fall. Christmas was a
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great present, But our book actually
starts in the fall and takes you through
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because fall for the South is the
new year. Football season starts, schools
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start, hunting season starts, all
those things are our beginning. So really,
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in the South, August is our
new year. Then we get to
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the end of the book and we're
like, it's summer. It's too hot
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in the South to do anything but
either go to the beach or go fishing.
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So that's how we in the book. We're like, go enjoy the
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summer because your house is now organized. Love it all. Right. Now,
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we're going to link to where people
can buy all the things, so
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we'll have that at the end.
But let's okay, now that we're done
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all of that, let's dive into
the topic at hand, which is clutter
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traps. We're here in January,
and as much as like we're all trying
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to just figure things out, like
clutter traps happen all year round, as
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yes, yes, and so I
thought it would be fun to just go
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through common areas that people tend to
struggle with a You guys are not alone
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because a lot of times we feel
like we're the only ones that are struggl
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with these in these areas, you're
not. And we're going to each kind
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of just share what our own tips
experiences are on how to keep those areas
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clutter free. Sound good, sounds
good, let's go. Okay, first
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topic, I'm going in with a
biggie laundry. Oh, laundry. It
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is every client's nightmare. Every client
I have hate laundry. We hate laundry.
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I hate laundry too. And what
we do is for me, it
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is a daily chore. You have
to do your laundry every day. Most
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people use it as throw pillows.
They do they throw it on their sofa,
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they throw it on their bed and
it sits there and then they have
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to move it to sit down.
If you just have to set a timer
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and get it done, and if
you do it, if you do it
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that way, if you set a
timer, get it done, give yourself
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fifteen minutes, fold the laundry,
put it away. Then you're doing fifteen
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to thirty minutes of laundry every night, and it just makes it so much
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simpler instead of a Saturday of five
baskets. I agree, And I know
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that there's not a one size fits
all, but the most people, and
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I know there are the exceptions to
the rule, but most people that say
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I'm going to dedicate Saturdays or whatever
day of the week to laundry day.
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If something goes sideways, then you
are completely backed up. But keeping it
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on that ongoing learn like a little
bit each day or whatever it is,
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makes it flow so much easier.
Also, Laurie, if your kids are
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over twelve, they should be doing
their own laundry. Stop doing your children's
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laundry for them, because they need
to be adult and grow up and learn
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how to do laundry and if they
if when we had our children were teenagers,
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everybody had a day, one day
a week, everybody had a day's
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word and it just worked so much
better that way because everybody's not fighting on
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the machine for Thursday before the weekend, or on Saturday or on we had
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everybody had a day. That's when
you got your laundry done. And if
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you have little ones, you could
also have a day for them, a
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day for you. Schedule that put
it on your calendar as this is the
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day that I'm doing laundry for this, for this person or whatever. But
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scheduling it's very important. Yeah.
I also think another laundry tip that we
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use, and again it plays in
with what you just said, is we
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had suffered hampers for everybody like Josh's
and my stuff is together, but the
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girls each other own hampers because it
took the decision fatigue, especially having two
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girls, like you get a boy
and girl, so it made it easier.
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But I had two girls that were
similar in sizes, and so you're
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like, whose underwear is this,
Who's underware's at and that all that mental
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decision slows down the process, and
so by knowing that, oh, this
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is a whole basket of Logan's laundry, I can just do it mindlessly,
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get in her room and let her
put it away. She was younger and
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I was doing it for her,
so me it helped me streamline it by
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keeping it separate, as opposed to
be like, let's just have one common
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hamper, because then it's okay,
wait, who's this, who's that?
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And then something inevitably gets put in
the wrong person's store, and it just
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again from the ease of I was
come back as ease of retrieval. Look,
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here's the thing. If it's not
easy, and I say easy loosely.
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If it's not easy, people aren't
going to do it. If it
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takes there's not a whole lot of
our clients who are like, oh I
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love to file fold my t shirts. No, nobody is doing that for
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fun seriously, so they are like
killers. Maybe, Hey, I don't
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even fold my underwear. I throw
them in the bin. I don't.
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I don't fold my underwear. I'm
like, you're putting it on, who
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sees wrinkles? Whatever, it can, just go in the bin. Keep
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it simple. People heard it here
first people. Okay, what's next,
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Great, we're going again, another
biggie mail. The mail don't even walk
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in your house with it. I
go straight to my recycle bin. I
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get all the trash out. I
take the bills and whatever else you need
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or any correspondence, and I go
inside. Mike has a pile. I
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have a pile. It goes in
that pile. And then when I do
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bill d A, you take the
bills and you get them done. But
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yeah, junk mail. Most people
have junk mail. Most bills are paperless
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these days. So stand at your
recycle bin and get rid of it.
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Yeah, and my mail tips are
very similar. Again, I try to
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as I'm walking in from the mailbox, just going okay, this is trash,
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this is going right in the recycling
bind. But then anything that I
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do bring in, First of all, I open the envelope. I don't
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leave the envelopes closed, even if
I'm not going to take actionin on it,
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even if I'm not going to eat
the bill. If I know it's
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a bill or whatever it is,
I will open it up and I have
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action file and action FI. Yeah
right, yeah, that's where my bills
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are in my pay You could call
whatever you want, but those are so
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that way, I see exactly what
it is when you have just stacks if
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you're if we're talking to somebody,
that's the stacks of unopened mass of open
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mouth. That is stressful because you
don't know what is behind door number one,
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door number two. Just open it
up and and like see what it
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is. Because I tell my clients, I tell my clients. Hear my
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voice, do not sit that stuff
on your kitchen counter it is you might
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as well just like you're done.
Once it hits that counter, it never
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gets touched again. Handle it immediately. Yep, I agree. I agree.
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And we're not going to dive into
filing because that's separate. But filing
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is a whole other issue. More
people waste time filing stuff that they don't
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need to, so one thousand percent
and most stuff is paperless these days.
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You can get your statements online.
You can get all that online. Yeah.
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Yeah, we're talking with you.
Things that you file are going to
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be like, do you own a
filing cabinet. I have only a portable
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filing yeah too. Yeah, I
got rid of it now I don't have
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it. Yeah, we don't need
them anymore. Yeah, even your medical
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records where I have a health file, like everything's electronic. No crazy,
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Okay, dishes okay, that's another
thing. Like the kitchens dirty, the
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dishes go in the sink. Oh, don't put them in the sink.
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That's like a dead zone. Goes
straight, rinsome, dishwasher. Get it
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done immediately after breakfast, lunch,
dinner. The minute that dishes hit the
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sink. You're compiling the problem is
what happened that once you know you put
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breakfast in there, and then lunch
goes in there, and then dinner goes
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in there, and then it's such
a big task too long, So you've
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just compiled your problem instead of doing
We were a family of four dishes took
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us ten minutes, and we had
a We had shifts, like Mike and
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Riley were cooking reed and I would
clean. And while I'm loading the dishwasher
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and rinsing things off in scrubbing pots, he's wiping down counters, he's wiping
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the table. And again you're teaching
them responsibility to have your children help you
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do those things. Riley was made
and if this was not a gender thing,
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this was a Riley to cook.
So she and Mike loved to cook
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together. Reid did not like to
cook, so he helped me clean.
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But had it been the other way
and read to cook, he could cook
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too. So it just it just
makes it so much easier to teach your
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children these responsibilities. Because now I'm
regretting not sending Reed in the cooking zone
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because he makes mac and cheese and
ramen noodles, but he was never interested.
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So but yes, there's always dishes, dishes, but view them immediately.
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Yeah, and for me, it's
also the two minute Just subscribe to
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the two minute role. If you
can do something in under two minutes,
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just do it. Because something inevitably
that you could do an under two minutes
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that you let pile up is now
going to take you ten times as long.
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So if you let all the dishes
pile up until the sink is bubbling
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over, now this has become a
project. Now this is going to take
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a little bit of time. But
if you can just like you said,
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rinse it, stick it in and
don't even washer, you could still wash
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your dish really quickly. Let's be
real. If it's not attractive to you
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in that moment, it's not going
to be attractive to you. Three hours
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later, when everything's hard and crusty, so seriously, so fair. And
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if you are, if you are
cooking and you are clean, I clean
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as I go also, which makes
the whole clean up with dishes like pans,
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a whole lot easier, a whole
lot easier because I'm just cleaning as
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I go. Okay, moving into
a zone that you and I have not
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touched personally in a while. But
it's toys. Oh my gosh, I
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was a kindergarten teacher. No,
so I do believe that less is more
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when it comes to toys. And
I will tell every parent out there,
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sit on the floor of your child's
room or play room and look around.
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Is that enticing for you to play
with? If there's piles of toys in
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every corner, that's the reason they're
bored with so many toys. It might
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be fun for you and exciting for
you to have to bring home this nice,
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exciting toy that flashes and beeps and
does whatever. Most children need cardboard
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boxes and a box of markers.
There is, there's staples. I believe
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every child needs blocks, blocks,
Every child needs a pretend play item like
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a kitchen or a baby doll or
some type of pretend play, and that
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might be a big Amazon box that
could be pretend play. But I do
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believe that they're staples that every and
then you'd need embellishments or what I call
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them. That's like a little small
container of dinosaurs, a little small container
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of farm animals, and those things, because they build with the blocks and
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they do all the imaginary play.
The part of being a kid is problem
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solving, and if you're giving them
all these toys that they push a button
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and have results, they're not learning
to solve problems. Okay, okay,
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go on this for an entire podcast, So I will stop there. I
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know I feel like I triggered you. I think, just yes again to
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all the things. One of the
things I've advocated for and I know you
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do as well, is really making
the cleanup the cycling in and out,
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because toys, especially when your kids
are young, they're going through different stages
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very quickly, and if you're a
parent with multiple kids, you've got kids
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that you know it could be from
a newborn to a ten year old,
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and really running a gamut, and
so staying on top of it is really
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important and it's exhausting. It like
I get it. It's exhausted. It
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is, but it's for a season, people, It is for a season.
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And the more that you can again
just get in that ritual of saying,
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Okay, we know we have a
birthday coming up, we know we
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have Christmas coming up, we know
we have some other thing that there's going
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to be another influx of things.
Take does have to be a lot of
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time. Take time and include your
child in the process. Ask them what
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they're playing with, ask them what
they're not playing with. If you're going
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to pull it away for the other
child and the child's not ready for it.
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If you have the luxury of having
a space like I have the to
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grow into just like I have to
grow into clothes, you have to grow
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into toys. So for parents that
are like one kid outgrew it and but
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the other one is take it out
of there. All you have that current
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real estate, just like we do
with clothes, just if you're not using
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it, get it out of the
primary real estate. Absolutely, and contend
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things like stuffed animals are always such
a huge problem. I always say,
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get a laundry hamper, and that
gives you a boundary. And when the
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laundry hamper is full. Sorry,
we got to get rid of some before
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we can add new. Yep,
yep, exactly. And again, invite
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your kids into the conversation. I
know sometimes it seems harder, but if
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you are teaching then that it then
becomes second nature for them as they get
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older and they learn how to make
those decisions. It gives them a sense
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of control for sure. For sure, I mentioned toy, I mentioned toys.
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I mentioned clothes. That's going to
be our next clutter truck. So
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clothes are a big thing for people, and we're just coming off the keels
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of Christmas Monica, all the things
where I'm sure a lot of new things
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showed up in people's closets. So
I find and tell me if this is
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what you find as well. I
find clothes become a problem because people don't
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hang their clothes back up. They
throw them on the chair or in my
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case, sometimes it's the bench,
but they get the row there because they're
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not quite ready for the dirty clothes. But you don't want to take the
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time to hang them back up because
I've worn them once. My thing is,
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if they're clean enough to wear again, why are you not putting them
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back in your closet. Yeah,
I could see that. It's yes,
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I could totally see that. I
see it with my girls. I'm trying
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to throw them shade, but I
do. My oldest doesn't live with us
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anymore, but I see that when
they come home, that's they still in
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their tennis. Yes. And I
do it too. And the busier I
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am, the more clothes land on
the bench because I'm trying on different outfits.
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There's there's the other trick. Get
out your outfit the night before,
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and you're not trying on so many
things in the morning that you don't have
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time to put away. So at
night. If you do that at night
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and you get your clothes out the
night before, you're trying on things,
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but you have the time at that
point to hang them back up and put
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them away. What you're not wearing, those things that you didn't choose.
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Yeah. One of my one of
my big things is I always try to
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tell our clients and practice it in
our home as well, is don't fill
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your drawers or your closet, your
rods, whatever to the next. You
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want to have margin because you need
to be able to shop your stuff.
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And if you have a drawer and
this is one to me with T shirts,
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like I sleep in T shirts and
I work out in T shirts,
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like I have a lot of just
beat around shirts. And my T shirt
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drawer was getting a little crazy,
and even Josh said it, and I
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had to go through it and say, Okay, I'm not really wearing this
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one anymore. I don't need this
one anymore. And again, not unlike
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the toy bin, this is the
defined space, and I know I can
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comfortably fit whatever that magic number is, ten shirts, fifteen shirts, twenty
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shirts, whatever it looks like,
and say those that's the boundary that I'm
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working. And once I go beyond
that, then I can't find what I'm
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looking for, and say, what's
the point? And then it's so crampy,
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And then that makes putting away clothes
more tedious. And it's also an
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adherence to your laundry because you don't
want to go put your things away because
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it's difficult because you're having to move
things around. And again, the more
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steps you put in the process,
you're most likely not to do it.
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I agree, Okay, let's move
through the house and we're circling back to
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the kitchen. I'm doing kitchen gadgets
Okay, so what do you mean by
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gadgets? Because you know, I
am married to a cook, and I
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gave birth to a cook. Okay, I do not cook myself. So
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when you talk gadgets, are we
talking in stapot? Are we talking like
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a feeling? I'm talking about all
the little things that go in a drawer.
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So not like you have for yours, your disasters, your heelers,
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your for differentests of ways that you
can crush a garb, all of those
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things. Okay, where do you
keep yours? Oh? Yes, the
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zootles. So I have a we
have a decent sized kitchen, so I
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have the I'm fortunate that I have
drawer space, so I have a dedicated
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kitchen gadget drawer. So the first
thing I think is, regardless of the
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size of your kitchen, get some
sort of organizer to section off the different
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gadgets so that you can find them. A lot I can't tell you,
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And I know that you feel this
way as well, or I'm sure you
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feel this way as well. You
go into people's houses and you open up
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the gadget drawer and it's just one
big vomit of spoons and spatulis. Yes,
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yes. And one of the things
we do when we organize, we
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teach people prep, cook serve.
Most of those gadgets are in the prep
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zone, so we get a drawer
in the prep zone. Most people have
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enough space to have a prep zone
drawer. Now, if you have a
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lot of bulky tools, it won't
fit in a drawer. Then I would
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suggest getting a bin and putting the
bin in a cabinet so that you can
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pull the bin out on the cabinet
to find what you need. That was
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my solution for smaller kitchens when you
don't have a lot of drawer space.
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Put all of those bulky gadgets in
a bin and put the bin in the
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cabinet and then you're pulling the bin
out by a tandle. See my bind
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and you pull it out by the
handle, and then you can find what
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you need in that. Yeah.
So I'm sorry, that's just been our
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solution. I'm like you. I
redid my kitchen so I have a nice,
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pretty drawer and they're all laid out
pretty. But yeah, that's so.
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Bends are drawers. So I am
a cook. I love to cook,
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but I also don't think you need
a gadget for every little thing I
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am, you know, and I've
gone through like buying the zoodle thing and
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then I'm like, you know what, I don't really like this. So
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a lot of times I'll buy something
because it's a novelty and I'll use it
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and then I'm like, this isn't
really all's cracked up to be or I'm
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not using his money, right.
What's your favorite gadget? What's your favorite
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one that you eat all the time. I know what I'm borring. I
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use like a knife appealer, you
know what we use all the time that
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I never thought when I bought it, I thought it was fun and it's
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bulky, so I have to like
navigate where it goes. The Apple core
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slicer thing that you put the apple
on and you spin the yeah handles used
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to because I didn't want to have
to store it. It's it's a pain
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to store. But we use that
one all the time. That's good.
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That's good to use it. Yeah, And so for me that's the other
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thing is like, you know what, I used to have a special apple
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thing to and then I'm like,
you know what, I'm just gonna I'm
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just gonna peel it with the knife
right. It was my space was more
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important to me than that gadget,
little gadget to match every Well, if
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you get too many gadgets, do
you even remember that you have all those
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gadgets. I think I'm with you. I think that. Now Riley Stewart
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might not agree with this, but
I think all the gadgets, a lot
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of them overlap each other, and
you get a lot done with one gadget
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or just to kitchen knife. You
don't need so many gadgets. No,
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absolutely, And if you're using it
once a year for Christmas, then it
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is it really worth storing in your
kitchen space. That's making it once a
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year. That's the other thing.
If you do have a gadget, let's
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say you bake a lot of apple
pies and you want that apple core slicer,
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and it is big, but you
only use it seasonally. It doesn't
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have to get the kitchen people.
It can live in the holiday bin.
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Yes, it can or not overflow. I have a bookstock pantry in my
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basement with other O don't have basements. See we don't have basements. That's
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so nice. No, mine,
I actually have a whole thing of kitchen
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things like the Christmas cookie cutters and
things like that. They go in the
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holiday ben in the attic. I
love it. I love it. Okay,
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this is a trigger for a lot
of people, and because it's very
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emotional, and that's books. I
think books for a lot of people.
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Now, I feel like you go
in one kip or another. You have
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people that are like, I don't
really read, this is a non issue,
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or doing everything on my kindle or
my audio books of their book.
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I'm mad. Mister Josh Blau is
like that. I say, you're gonna
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have to save your money somewhere else
and another piece of your house, and
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you're probably going to have to build
a library. Here's the funny thing.
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Books for those true book levers are
that's a non negotiable. Yeah. And
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I think that one of the things
is I think it's really important to again
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put them back because when you have
them all over the place, it's really
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hard to then find where it is, especially if you want to go look
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for it. The second thing is
real true kind of book aficionados will jam
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a book in any nook in creany
on a bookshelf. They'll turn it sideways,
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they'll cover another book, they'll do
whatever and then you're not seeing it
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anymore. Yes, And but here's
a quick funny story. So we do
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have a library in our We did
these built it in. It's like a
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built in library in our front room
in our house. And I made it
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like very pretty, so there's a
lot of space in between. It's not
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like the book. Josh Blow thought
that when we just built that, all
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of his books, because we already
have thought they were all going to it
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was all and I was like,
oh no, this is going to be
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like pretty, and so we are
going to have books. I do make
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him periodically go through the books,
and he does like and he likes a
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hardback. He likes the whole thing. Is he a rereader, Like he'll
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read the same book a couple of
times sally, but not usual. And
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he likes to support local so he'll
buy like from our local bookstores. And
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it's a whole thing. But again, I think books aren't for me.
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I always say, if there's stuff
that you know that's dated. Let's say
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you bought a book that is about
computers and it's five years old. That
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book is irrelevant. Get rid of
it, almost like an expired food.
385
00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:07.000
Write the things that you know don't
of like a value anymore, right,
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kids books? Give them if your
kids are grown. I kept my kid's
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most favorite ones and put them in
their role. And there's the kids books
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that your kid that you read over
and over again and your kids like recite
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the words because they loved it so
much. Those are the ones I kept.
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I did not keep all of them. And you donate. That's the
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books that can go to the Better
Women's Program and the homeless shelters because they're
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coming in there and they need they
need the books. We also used to
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donate to a used book sale where
all the money would go towards a nonprofit
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in town. And so there might
be something like that in other people's towns
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where you can get a book and
or donate your books and then the money
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goes towards a nonprofit. Okay,
moving right along. How about electrons.
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Oh that's I'm not a tech girl. Oh okay, I'll take the lead
398
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on this one. Yeah, so
I just you can take the whole thing
399
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:12.759
on this one. Okay. So
here's my thought. And again we're talking
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big broadshow pictures, right, so
electronics we're talking in my mind, I'm
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thinking computers, phones, chargers,
video game consoles, like all of that's
402
00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:26.880
in my mind. What I'm defining
is electrocs just so we can all have
403
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a picture in our mind. And
I like to curse out Steve Jobs from
404
00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:37.200
the grave because every time they do
some sort of ball update, you have
405
00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:41.039
to know right now and then your
battery does in five minutes and then you
406
00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:45.240
have to but you have to buy
a whole new cords. We have old
407
00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:49.480
cords, new cords. Every computer
takes a different charger. It's first of
408
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:53.279
all, no, it's not fun
to want to organize that. So it
409
00:28:53.400 --> 00:28:56.359
definitely winds up because it's not and
it's not aways, and you're so afraid
410
00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:00.559
to get rid of them because you
might need it. You might need that
411
00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:06.599
chord. Yeah, so I think
it's it's worth the time if you are
412
00:29:06.799 --> 00:29:08.759
a family that has a lot of
stuff, like I have a client who's
413
00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:12.720
got multiple kids. They all have
a lot of different things, And so
414
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:18.160
okay, I spent the time in
granted they had the luxury of having me
415
00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:21.720
and my team. Not everybody has
a team of professional organizers that can come
416
00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:25.440
and do this. We went through
and I literally and you could do this
417
00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:26.920
in a bin. I did it
in ziplock bags, people like it was
418
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:30.680
not expensive and fancy, and I
put in ziplock bags and I had those
419
00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:34.920
like little chord wraps that you can
buy like on Amazon, and I said,
420
00:29:36.839 --> 00:29:41.559
this is for this type of phone, Like these are these chords right
421
00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:44.759
these right words? I know I've
done that, so yes, And I
422
00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:47.400
don't even know the name of the
chords. The client I was working with
423
00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:49.759
knew the name of all the chords, so we were like, this is
424
00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:55.359
the USB port box, this is
the this is the thing. I don't
425
00:29:55.400 --> 00:29:56.799
know the name of them all,
but yes, yes, but you could
426
00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:00.720
do them in a clear shoe box. Also, here's what I did.
427
00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:04.119
What I knew the chords that we
used. I got rid of the rest.
428
00:30:04.680 --> 00:30:07.960
Well, well that if we get
a computer that we can't find the
429
00:30:08.039 --> 00:30:11.279
cord for, I'm not going to
through that box anyway. I'm probably just
430
00:30:11.319 --> 00:30:15.960
gonna get online and order the cord. That is so true, because we
431
00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:19.599
have we had a bin in our
basement called chords and cables, and I
432
00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:22.720
told Josh, I was like,
you need to go down and see if
433
00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:26.039
there's anything in here that's that you
want to keep, because I'm going to
434
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:30.039
get rid of this bend because I
will never go down here and look for
435
00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.319
somethin. You know what, here's
my suggestion. With the cord bin,
436
00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:38.039
get some duck tape it closed right
the here that you taped it closed,
437
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:45.720
and see if you open it,
find capsule with the time capsule of cords.
438
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:49.720
I love it, but seriously,
we don't use those cords. You
439
00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:53.039
never go into that cord drawer.
I know I did threw them all away.
440
00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:56.920
I kept the chargers that I knew
that people everybody had, and then
441
00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:00.920
I asked my head. I'm an
Apple girl. Mike's a Dell guy,
442
00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:03.400
so I had to check with him
about a few things. But but yeah,
443
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:07.759
through my land, it's a little
tiny thing. Yeah, it's so
444
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:11.880
nice. Exactly. Okay, we're
in the home stretch people. We've got
445
00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:18.240
two more all right beauty products.
So you need to know the expiration dates.
446
00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:22.599
So get a sharp eat. When
you get your products in, put
447
00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:26.359
a date on the back, and
then it's gonna expire. I like,
448
00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:30.400
I have a fun story, go
ahead. I love stories. My mother
449
00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:34.599
had I think it was eyeshadow or
something, and she was so proud that
450
00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:40.799
she had that eye shadow since she
got married. I'm like, mom,
451
00:31:41.319 --> 00:31:47.680
that's just gross. I have a
story that's sad similar. So my bestie
452
00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:51.039
Michelle, her parents lived in Florida
and this was like years and years ago
453
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:55.559
when they first moved to Florida and
my niece nephew were they were little,
454
00:31:55.680 --> 00:32:00.799
and they went down to visit her
and they flew an so they didn't bring
455
00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:02.279
sunscreen because you can't bring big thing. But she was like, I'm going
456
00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:07.960
to sit with my mom and whatever. So she gave hold out sunscreen and
457
00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:13.880
for any of my like local Philadelphia
people, you'll understand what Thrift Drugs is.
458
00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:16.039
It's a drug store that is no
more. But that's what he called
459
00:32:16.200 --> 00:32:21.839
in the eighty drugs people. Okay, it's since been bought by Rite Aid
460
00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:27.000
and whatever. But so she went
down longer and she was like, Michelle's,
461
00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:30.319
oh, do you have the sunscreen? And she whipped out a thing
462
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:34.880
of like copper tone and the from
the sticker and it said from Thrift Drugs.
463
00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:38.240
And Mom she's like, Michelle,
it's it's fine, it's fine,
464
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:42.359
it's fine. That's a drink.
Even my mom was like, you're gonna
465
00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:44.559
get an eye infection. She goes
mar the Carroll, I've been using this
466
00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:47.720
for so many years, nothing's ever
happened yet. Oh my gosh. So
467
00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:52.559
yes, expiration date on beauty progress. Do not. Even if you're a
468
00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:54.480
beauty product junkie and you're like,
oh I love new makeup and I know
469
00:32:54.680 --> 00:32:59.759
love new cleansing products, definitely cycle, then okay, yes you have to.
470
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:05.920
And here's another thing. Unpack your
makeup bags when you travel. Because
471
00:33:06.119 --> 00:33:09.079
you're ordering new makeup or skincare or
whatever, could you can't find it and
472
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:14.279
it's in your travel bag. And
if you're not traveling every three months or
473
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:19.720
every week, that is expiring and
you're wasting all that money. So empty
474
00:33:19.799 --> 00:33:22.200
your travel bags. Oh I like
it. There you go, all right,
475
00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:27.960
last one, we're taking it out
of the house and into the car.
476
00:33:28.119 --> 00:33:31.799
People oh, palm and clutter trump
And I can't tell you how many
477
00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:36.519
people in my hot mess minute when
I say where are you the most organized?
478
00:33:36.519 --> 00:33:39.240
And were are you the hot mess? And how many people say their
479
00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:45.319
car the yoh. And for me, it's always right around with donations in
480
00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:49.279
my car, Like every day I'm
getting a client's donations and so I'm bringing
481
00:33:49.319 --> 00:33:52.240
them. I constantly feel like my
car is full and a mess. But
482
00:33:52.599 --> 00:33:59.319
here's the weird thing. I went
from an SUV type car to a cheap
483
00:34:00.039 --> 00:34:05.160
and the Jeep center console is tiny. You can't put anything in it.
484
00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:10.320
So I'm still on the struggle bus
with the car organization because I can't do
485
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:15.599
a trunk organizer because the back is
always loaded with donations every day and I
486
00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:21.320
can't hardly fit anything in my center
console. So I'm still looking for solutions
487
00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:27.199
for my car organization. Right now. It's under the seat well and pipper
488
00:34:27.239 --> 00:34:31.000
bags, And I depends on kind
of the season of your life that you're
489
00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:35.239
in and how you're using your car, like that's also true, and I
490
00:34:35.960 --> 00:34:39.000
who use our cars a lot for
work, like it is really like an
491
00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:43.880
extension of our business because, like
you said, we need to have space
492
00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:49.360
to bring product to haul donation.
Right that we're looking at it through a
493
00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:52.519
different lens than a mom who is, Okay, I need to keep a
494
00:34:52.559 --> 00:34:57.719
bag of closure for my kids,
and I need to have I need to
495
00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:00.800
have snacks, yes, snacks.
I need to have maybe like a little
496
00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:05.960
portable garbage so I could put stuff
in easily, yes, furs or whatnot.
497
00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:07.840
I used to keep what I called
the bag of tricks, where I
498
00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:12.639
have, yes, the wipes and
wipes and all that in there. Yes,
499
00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:15.639
so I think it's very different.
There is a chapter on that in
500
00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:21.760
my book, by the way,
is yeah so funny of how you're using
501
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:24.480
your car and what it is that
I'm calling me to function for you?
502
00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:30.920
And your car's a toddler mom versus
an elementary school mom versus a middle school
503
00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:34.559
mom versus a high schooler mom.
All different things need to be in your
504
00:35:34.599 --> 00:35:37.880
car. But so what, okay, let's think about this. What are
505
00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:43.719
the staples that are always in car
organization? Wipes, wipes, umbrella,
506
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.679
yeah, paper towels or some sort
of something to wipe up. I used
507
00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:52.559
to keep rag towels. There's little
workout towels people give out. I kept
508
00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:57.320
those little workout towels because they were
small. But it when bills happened,
509
00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:01.320
it was easy. Ziploc bags.
There's always something that is gross that you
510
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:04.920
don't want to sit down in the
car. It might be wet clothes,
511
00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:09.039
it might be whatever makes They make
great vomit bags too for those that get
512
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:15.400
for a sick But yes, so
ziplockleg so you could do. And I
513
00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:17.559
did have this when my kids were
small. I had a little I had
514
00:36:17.800 --> 00:36:22.519
those latch boxes and I would keep
these things in there, and I kept
515
00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:24.519
them in a bin in the back
of my car, and it just made
516
00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:28.679
At one point when my kids were
little, it was an extra change of
517
00:36:28.719 --> 00:36:35.280
clothes because in the South we get
money. We're in the South with children
518
00:36:35.559 --> 00:36:39.159
and it rains all the time.
And it never failed. Somebody was going
519
00:36:39.239 --> 00:36:44.960
to fall in a muddle, butud
a puddle of budd that's yes. Yeah,
520
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:49.920
So again, the bottom line is
it's spending a few minutes to clean
521
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:52.079
it out. So like, how
to avoid the clutter truck to me is
522
00:36:53.480 --> 00:36:58.239
if you're unpacking the car, and
I know sometimes it's crazy because you're unpacking
523
00:36:58.239 --> 00:37:01.079
it with the kids in the groceries
and there's a lot going on, find
524
00:37:01.159 --> 00:37:05.880
time to if you can't do it
in that exact moment, go back in,
525
00:37:06.440 --> 00:37:10.119
gather the trash. Yes, gather
in the trash, dirty tissues,
526
00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:15.159
so whateffort is that's there, and
just make a point of it because when
527
00:37:15.159 --> 00:37:20.480
you get back in it, you're
not gonna You're ready onto the next right,
528
00:37:20.599 --> 00:37:23.199
Yeah to place. The next thing
on your to do list is plastic
529
00:37:23.320 --> 00:37:28.320
grocery bags are excellent to keep in
your car because you can write as you
530
00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:30.599
get out, just pull a grocery
bag out and say, everybody put their
531
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:34.920
trash in the grocery bag, and
that's what we would use to tie up.
532
00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:37.440
They get the trash out. I
love it. So yeah, so
533
00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:42.360
we should have the people. There's
ten of our most common clutter traps and
534
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:46.800
things ways that you can avoid them. So thank you very much. Tell
535
00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:51.360
us a little bit about your book. So again, go back in and
536
00:37:52.440 --> 00:37:54.599
time. I'm gonna see. In
case the other one doesn't come through,
537
00:37:54.679 --> 00:37:58.280
I want you to okay, hate
that. Okay, we're going to just
538
00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:01.519
keep it into this wanting case.
Okay, I'm at her pieces together.
539
00:38:01.639 --> 00:38:07.280
So anyway, okay, so you
have this new book out, give us
540
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:13.000
the overview. What's it all about. I'm okay like for everyone to know.
541
00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:17.639
It is the only organizing book on
the market for the Southern home.
542
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:22.480
And the reason for that is because
we in the South do things a little
543
00:38:22.519 --> 00:38:27.000
bit different now that you've been to
visit me, Laurie, but we like
544
00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:30.239
to entertain and we like to decorate, and so there's a wreath for every
545
00:38:30.280 --> 00:38:35.840
occasion. Forget the big holidays,
we celebrate the little ones too, and
546
00:38:36.719 --> 00:38:39.320
we have a Mardi Grass. Everybody
has a closet full of Marti graul gowns,
547
00:38:39.360 --> 00:38:43.039
what do you do with them?
So we address all of those things.
548
00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:45.880
But the fun thing I love about
our book is that it's good for
549
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:50.039
everybody because not everybody has those southern
spaces, So we do have the normal
550
00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:54.760
staples in there as well. And
it starts in the fall because that's when
551
00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:59.840
flipball season starts, school starts,
you need to get the kids organized.
552
00:39:00.599 --> 00:39:05.760
Just everything seems to start in that
August September time frame. So we started
553
00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:10.119
our organizing so that you could take
this in small bites and go from fall
554
00:39:10.280 --> 00:39:16.559
to spring and get your house organized
in each space. I think most chapters
555
00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:22.000
are no more than three pages in
their pictures, and there's categories for each
556
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:25.159
thing of how to categorize. The
Chaos Method is at the beginning. It
557
00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:30.880
talks about the five steps of organizing, and so it takes it so that
558
00:39:30.159 --> 00:39:35.239
anybody can get organized with that process. We end the book in the summer
559
00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:38.519
where it's hot down here, too
hot, and we tell you either go
560
00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:42.400
fishing or go to the beach.
It's time to take off and enjoy the
561
00:39:42.480 --> 00:39:45.599
summer. But you really could get
your whole house organized from fall to spring,
562
00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:50.199
and we have fun things. Some
of the things that we address are
563
00:39:50.280 --> 00:39:55.000
tailgating, We address the Southern hunter
and the hunting closet. There's some unique
564
00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:59.880
things in there that you wouldn't you're
not going to find in other organizing books.
565
00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:02.119
I love it. I love it, and we'll link up to where
566
00:40:02.199 --> 00:40:06.440
people can get it because right now, at least at the time it's recording,
567
00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:09.679
it's not available on Amazon, is
available in certain local bookstores, but
568
00:40:09.840 --> 00:40:13.840
we are online. But you can
get it on our website, which is
569
00:40:13.960 --> 00:40:17.920
for organizing Southern Chaos dot com perfect
and of course we will link up to
570
00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:25.119
that for all of your organizing Southern
book needs, or if you just need
571
00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:28.639
to get your house organized and you're
not Southern, you can see how we
572
00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:31.559
live down here and also still get
your spaceas organized. There you go.
573
00:40:31.840 --> 00:40:35.679
Thank you so much. This is
so much fun. I always love having
574
00:40:35.719 --> 00:40:37.840
you on our show. If you're
always fun. If you're new to our
575
00:40:37.880 --> 00:40:43.280
show, welcome. Make sure to
click the follow subscribe button wherever you're listening
576
00:40:43.519 --> 00:40:50.119
or watching. We drop two episodes
every week to just help keep you inspired
577
00:40:50.159 --> 00:40:53.719
and motivated and cheer you on for
wherever you are in your organizing journey,
578
00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:58.320
and so again, if you're brand
new to our show and there's a specific
579
00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:00.519
topic that you want to know about, well just let us know. If
580
00:41:00.559 --> 00:41:02.320
you don't want to go through our
archives, just be like, hey,
581
00:41:02.360 --> 00:41:07.320
do you have something about this?
We're pretty responsive, so our team is
582
00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:10.519
great. You can shoose us a
DM, email us whatnot. And again,
583
00:41:12.119 --> 00:41:17.440
we are here to make twenty twenty
four your most organized year yet.
584
00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:24.159
So until next week, I am
Lori Palau. He's out. Thanks for
585
00:41:24.239 --> 00:41:28.519
tuning in. If you'd like this
episode, please spread the love and share
586
00:41:28.519 --> 00:41:30.400
it with your friends. And if
this is your first time joining us,
587
00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:35.039
make sure to click the subscribe button
wherever you are listening so you never miss
588
00:41:35.159 --> 00:41:37.320
an episode. And while you're there, please leave us a review so other
589
00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:40.639
people know that our show is worth
to listen. You can also find us
590
00:41:40.679 --> 00:41:45.599
on YouTube and Instagram at this Organized
Life podcast, and if you'd like to
591
00:41:45.639 --> 00:41:47.880
connect with us, you can head
on over to our website at simply the
592
00:41:47.960 --> 00:41:52.639
letter, b like boyorganized dot com, which is filled with tons of resources,
593
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:58.239
including free downloads, checklists, links
to our amazing organizing partners, and
594
00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:01.440
all of our digital offerings, I'll
see you next week for another episode of
595
00:42:01.639 --> 00:42:02.960
This Organized Life.