Life Organized Podcast

Ep. 45 - When The Paper Is Piling Up - Part 2

Ok, buckle up. This is the most technical episode I have ever recorded - and also the most helpful one if you struggle with your paper.
If you have piles and old files and are tired of fighting it all, you’ll be really glad you listened to today’s episode.
As we pick up the paper conversation again from episode 44, it’s time to figure out what to do with the paper once we pull any actions that need to be taken out of them. But knowing where to put it, how to find a document easily once it’s filed away, and when to toss it without having to spend hours decluttering the filing cabinet is a pretty tall order.
But when you have FreedomFiler, it does all the thinking for you. FreedomFiler is like having your own personal filing assistant helping you know what to do with your paper. The color-coded system is based on shelf-life, not category, so it makes it simple to find - and toss - any paper in our filing cabinet.
In this episode I give an overview of some of the FreedomFiler categories, and explain how it solves the typical dilemmas we face with reference paper. 
It’s just an introduction, but if you are as excited about it as I was the first time I heard about it, you’ll want to learn how to implement it in your own home.
Truly, FreedomFiler is the system that is most consistently celebrated by my clients. It has proven the test of time, and will keep your papers organized for years to come! 
Tools in this episode:
FreedomFiler
Links:
Episode 23 - When You want to Organize Your Paper
Organize Your Paper 
Order your FreedomFiler kit HERE and use code JENNY for 10% OFF
Jenny’s Freedom Filer Training
 

Ep. 44 - When The Paper Is Piling Up - Part 1

No matter the class, no matter the client, no matter the conversation, when the organizing conversation turns to paper, I see the same thing.
The inevitable eye roll. The overwhelm. The defeat.
Organizing paper creates a unique challenge because it requires us to organize both tangible and intangible clutter. Paper isn’t just an object - it is a container for a task. Which means we can’t stash it away and forget about it - and that’s where the problem comes in. 
In episode 44 we will talk about how to extract the intangible action out of a piece of paper so we have peace of mind filing it away. Until we do, we’ll keep letting the papers stack up, because “out of sight, out of mind” feels like a very real threat. So we leave paper out where we can see it…only to discover that this tactic quickly gets out of hand. A pile of papers or sticky notes can’t remind us to do anything when it gets covered up by yet more paper. Iin fact, all the “noise” just shuts us down. 
So in this episode I give you a place to start. The first step with paper is to pull the task out of it by adding it to your to do list, and manage the task from there. Then we can feel a lot more comfortable storing the paper in a filing cabinet somewhere.
And if you’re not quite comfortable or enchanted by the idea of a to do list, that’s where the Life Organized membership can help. Next month we are revolutionizing the way you manage a to do list, and you will find that with the right strategy, habits, and platform, your to do list can be like your own personal assistant, keeping you on track and helping you know what to do - and when to do it. 
Then once it’s in your to do list, we are ready to actually put the paper somewhere. But it isn’t as easy as it seems, because…Where do you put it? How can we find it if we need it? And when do we toss it so we don’t have so much paper building up over time? That’s all covered in part 2  in episode 45.
Tools taught in this episode:
The To-Do List
Links:
Life Organized Membership

Ep. 43 - When Your Personality Gets In The Way Of Getting Organized

Have you ever wondered why some people can be haunted by a sink full of dirty dishes - and others walk right past it without even noticing it? Is it simply a matter of habits? Or does personal play a bigger part than we give it credit for?
In this episode Laurie Palau from SimplyBOrganized.com shares how she uses the Enneagram personality test to help her clients find ways to get organized based on their unique personalities. With greater awareness of unconscious motivators and tendencies, we can know ahead of time how to set ourselves up for success - and give ourselves grace for the ways that organization might not exactly come naturally.
And because I know you’ll want this recap, I’m going to share the 9 Enneagram personality types here:
Type 1: The Reformer (perfectionistic and self-controlled)Type 2: The Helper (Caring, people-pleasing)Type 3: The Achiever (Success-oriented, driven)Type 4: The Individualist (Creative, sensitive)Type 5: The Investigator (Intense, cerebral)Type 6: The Loyalist (Committed, responsible)Type 7: The Enthusiast (Fun-loving, spontaneous)Type 8: The Challenger (Decisive, confrontational)Type 9: The Peacemaker (Easygoing, agreeable)
If you’re anything like me, you’re immediately starting to identify not only your own type, but the types you see in your family and other close relationships. But hold up - before you start trying to crack the code on everyone else, Laurie recommends we first learn more about how the enneagram personality test can help us understand ourselves. Consistent with our Life Organized membership strategy, we are in a much better position to help others when we have first organized our own clutter - including the unfair ways we might be judging ourselves. 
So what do we DO about all of this?
Get to know your personality type. Read through the different Enneagram types and see what feels like a fit. (Laurie finds that this can be more effective than taking a test.) Get even more clarity by asking yourself if you make decisions based on thought, feeling, or action. Now…head over to Simply B Organized and use code HAPPY20 for 20% off Laurie’s amazing program that can help you get organized in a way that works for you. 
Links: 
Enneagram personality test
Making The Best Of Your Core Type - use code HAPPY20 for 20% off 

Ep. 42 - When The Kids Are Bored

Links For This Episode:
Tools For When Your Kids Are Bored, free

Ep. 41 - When You Get Home From Vacation

Have you ever come home from vacation and faced such a mountain of catch-up, so much that the trip almost doesn’t seem worth it?
I remember hearing once that you should expect catching up from a vacation to take at least as many days as the trip itself.
Well, I disagree. 
There are two strategic times you can make big strides in vacation recovery, so you can be back up and running as soon as the next day. Join me in this episode for my tried and true tips, and or click HERE for a copy of my Vacation Recovery checklists.
Links from this episode:
Get Organized Fast – Your FREE guide to organize your home, time, and mindset
Vacation Recovery Checklist, free

Ep. 40 - When You Need A Little Self Care

At the time this episode is posted, we find ourselves in the heart of a family season… which might mean that your reservoir of self-care is running pretty dry. But the Chinese yin/yang symbol is a perfect metaphor for balance, teaching us that in the middle of one extreme we crave its opposite. That means that what might be missing from your summer right now is the kind of self-care that we give ourselves in a personal season.
So how do we do that in the summer, when there isn’t much time and everyone is competing for our attention? We implement one of my favorite tools, Power Hour, and create small, imperfect habits to nourish mind, body, and spirit.
In this episode I share the what, when, and how of implementing Power Hour, as well as a powerful new way to move forward in self-care habits.
For full show notes, click HERE. 
Links:
Episode 36 When You Need to Organize your Summer
Get Organized Fast – Your FREE guide to organize your home, time, and mindset 
The Life Organized Membership
Tools Taught In This Episode:
Power hour
Physiology before psychology
Keystone habits
It doesn’t have to look a certain way
Floors/ceilings
“Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree, and I’ll spend the first 4 sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln
“I’ve found that the more I expect of myself, the less I actually do.” – Stephen Guise, author of Mini Habits

Ep. 39 - When Things Don’t Go As Planned

Well, as John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.” There are plenty of ways we get to experience “life,” and the inspiration for this particular episode came to me as I was sitting on the front porch of our Airbnb home, looking out at the lake instead of boating on it, because our boat broke.
It was so tempting to sink into disappointment and negativity, because my brain wanted to keep telling me “We should be out on the water right now,” but that thought just led me to a vacation experience that I didn’t enjoy. So whether it is a vacation - or something different, like relationships, finances, health, or even as simple as your plan for your day - our brains have a tendency to generate a lot of clutter (in the form of negative thoughts) when things don’t go as planned.
Thoughts have power, and as I give you a glimpse into my vacation that didn’t go as planned, we really investigate the idea that “Your thoughts call the shots.” 
In this episode we talk about using one specific tool to shift the way you experience things not going as planned, and this is something you’ll want to keep in your back pocket so you can pull it out when you need it. Download this episode and have it at the ready, because, as John Lennon said, life is just a series of events that happen instead of what we were planning on. 
Tools Taught In This Episode:
When things don’t go as planned, identify the most troubling thought, and then sidestep it. Immediately look for ways to shift into gratitude for what IS happening.
Do you want to be right? Or do you want to be happy?

Ep. 38 - When You Need A Little Boost

Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up every morning in a good mood? Or just have an extra boost of optimism or energy in your day? Subconsciously we are always looking for pick-me-ups that can do just that – and we often turn to spending money or snacking on junk food for that quick boost. But there is something we can do to experience a happier state more regularly – and that is to organize our home. 
“A rising tide raises all boats,” and the state of our homes can be much like a rising or falling tide – we go up or down as our home vacillates between organized and unorganized. There is so much power in making this connection, because we can consciously design our lives to include more organization, so we can regularly experience that little boost.
In this episode, I share 3 easy ways we can organize more often, so we can give ourselves that little boost.
Create a routine, or regular time, to do organizing projects.
Turn to organizing in moments when you feel imbalanced our out of control
Bust some clutter every day with my Clutter Busters technique
Links:
Ep. 5 - When the Clutter is Driving you Crazy
Ep. 33 - When You Wonder What Clutter Does to You
Clutter Busters, free

Ep. 37 - When Your Kids Want Screens During The Summer

As we head into summer, kids and screen time might be on your mind. And that’s exactly why I interviewed Andrea Davis from betterscreentime.com. Andrea's mission is to teach parents how to worry less about technology and connect more with their kids. And what better time to focus on this than during the long days of summer that are around the corner?
Because kids’ brains are still developing, this is a particularly vulnerable time to place tech in their hands. That’s why it’s important to take an honest look at what is open and available in the cyberworld when you hand your children a device. Andrea suggests that you take the time to discuss with your kids what they love and don’t love about tech; when and where devices will be allowed; and installing passwords, protections, and limits to keep kids from accessing harmful material.
She also recommends designing your summer with intention as an alternative to screen time. This includes setting goals, teaching your kids important life skills, and keeping them busy with productive and engaging activities, which is exactly what my Organize Your Summer mini-course helps you to do. Healthy screen habits + Organize Your Summer make the perfect match!
Also in this episode, we talked about how technology can be viewed through the lens of the 3 C’s: Create, Connect, and Consume. Not all time spent on technology is to be avoided, as it assists you to be creative and also connect with family and friends. The 3rd C – Consume – is the aspect of technology that needs to be managed with time limits and boundaries.
And don’t you worry – there are plenty of tips for how to help teens with healthy screen use, especially when social media apps like snap chat appear to be a vital way they connect with their friends. Tactics such as installing an app on mom’s phone where it can be closely monitored, and choosing an app like Marco Polo that allows teens to connect with fewer true friends in a safe way rather than connecting with endless friends where dangers exist can help you navigate the tech journey with teens.
Andrea’s parting advice: Foster connection with your kids. Connecting one-on-one promotes strong relationships and good mental health, and also gives your kids a safe place to come when they do access something online that makes them uncomfortable.
What to do next:
Download Andrea’s FREE Quick Guide to Family Tech plan.
Check out Andrea’s Creating a Tech Healthy Family* (for families w/kids ages 5-13)
Or check out Untangling Teens and Tech* (for families w/teens ages 12-17)
*Use code HAPPY20 for a 20% discount, expires June 17, 2023.
Links: 
FREE: Your Quick Guide to Creating a Family Technology Plan 
FREE: Am I Ready for a Personal Device?
Untangling Teens & Tech  
Organize Your Summer mini-course

Ep. 36 - When You Need To Organize Your Summer

Well, the last day of school is around the corner, and if you’re anything like my clients, you are feeling a little nervous about how this is all going to work once the kids are home for the summer…
…because it’s a big job. Entertaining the little ones, keeping a close eye on the big ones, staying on top of the never-ending stream of dirty dishes, and finding time to work, take care of yourself, or pretty much accomplish anything else.
If there is one magic bullet to help you organize your summer, it is the paradigm shift I am sharing in this episode. 
The way you look at something really does make a difference – and this summer we need that difference!
So put in your air pods and walk your dog, fold the laundry, drive the carpool, or take a walk with me. Let’s spend a few minutes talking about how we can organize your summer.
“You will never have this summer with your children again. This summer is a gift. Breathe and notice. Study their little faces and feet. Relish the charms of the present. Enjoy this summer, Mama, it will be gone before you know it.” - Jen Hatmaker (edited)
Tools In This Episode:
Personal and Family Seasons
Links:
Ep. 11 - When It’s A Family Season
Organize Your Summer Mini Course