• 626 - Introducing Connections Podcast Episodes - The History of New Years Resolutions
    Jan 6 2025

    Happy Monday! Introducing the Connections Episodes from Organize 365®. Every other Monday I will be talking to people and the Organize 365® research staff about topics, books, studies, and other valuable materials that are connected to our goals at Organize 365®. Today I picked Anna, our education and research lead. When she first brought up this topic I wasn’t super jazzed, but after learning about the history of new year’s resolutions and why people started setting them…well it led to a great conversation.

    When and why did people start setting new year's resolutions?

    The Babylonians were the first we see making new year’s resolutions to their gods. They’d set the intention to return farm equipment or pay off their debts in hopes of a profitable crop that year. It was after harvest time that they’d do this as they prepared their field for new crops. And then we see the Romans setting intentions to their god, Janus, who had two faces. One face looked towards the past and encouraged reflection of the past year. And one face facing forward to plan ahead. They’d do this March 15th when, maybe due to their climate, they were preparing for a new crop. And then in 1582, Pope Gregory the 8th developed the Gregorian calendar we use today and he set the new year for January 1st.

    Yesteryear’s common new year’s resolutions versus today

    When I look at the top 10 goals from 1947, I like to think about life then. They were coming out of World War II, they had food being rationed, and manual housework. So it’s no surprise that last on the list was to lose weight. It was a stressful time and people wanted to break bad habits, such as smoking and drinking, which was first on the list.

    Nowadays life is easier. We have machines that do a lot for us, ability to live in the suburbs (off laborious farms), less generational living, cars, school buses, and catering to our children more so they are doing less, although we noted this is likely cultural. And we are addicted to our food. So it’s no surprise that top of the list now is to lose weight. Followed by organization because our children are involved in more activities, women now work, social media shows a standard that is not realistic but we are striving for it, and life is just faster paced. Need to be organized to stay on top of it all!

    One category, besides the ones I always notice like weight loss, money, and organization/productivity, is intrinsic/personal development. This is the introspective type of new year’s resolutions that was on the list. People want to help others and grow in their faith. I will start including this fourth category.

    Organize 365® is there for you for your new year’s resolutions

    Planning day sets you up for almost 3 mini years. The human brain doesn’t like to think past about 100 days. It’s easier to set one new, new year’s resolution each time. You can set up actionable steps to accomplish that goal, too. You can try out new tasks or routines that become habits, stacking small steps that in the end accomplish a big goal.

    Anna’s New Year’s Resolution: Drink more water

    Lisa’s New Year’s Resolution: Continue to implement more habits to support my health

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    • History of New Years Resolutions (Babalonians, Romans, 1582 Pope Gregory the 8th)

    • 1947 Gallop Poll for New Year’s Resolutions

    • Current Farmers Almanac for more recent New Year’s Resolutions

    • Outlived by Peter Attia MD

    • CustomerService@organize365.com

    • 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.

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    45 mins
  • 625 - Organize 365 Values #1 - The Power of Positivity
    Jan 3 2025

    I was on a plane in 2017 for a 5 hour flight from Los Angeles to Cincinnati when I committed to 5 values that I wanted to have within Organize 365®. This will be a 6-part series to share why I chose those 5 values plus one extra value that I felt needed to be added. I can trace my positivity back to 6th grade at church camp when I accepted Christ as my savior. But when my dad picked me up he said “No you didn’t, now get in the car.” I was always a positive child so I wasn’t mad or hurt, I knew it was just this special relationship I had with God.

    Sharing my dad’s belief in me

    “Dad, I’d like to run daycare centers in corporate buildings.” I explained as dad had asked me what I wanted to go to college for. My dad had so much belief in me at just 17. He proposed that I take the money they were going to spend on college, which was about $100,000, and invest it in me and this business idea. I ran into the kitchen to pitch the idea to my mom, but she stood her ground. My mother was hell bent on me being the 4th generation of female college graduates in our family.

    The decline

    As a little kid I was so positive, there was so much natural optimism. Even at 17 I had so much faith in myself, plus my dad’s belief in me. But then life…I was so excited for the MRS (Mrs. Woodruff) degree and was ready to start our life. But children didn’t come despite our desperate desire and so we adopted. But then more life was handed to me when my parents decided to get divorced, then my dad passed away, and I had to settle his estate.

    I did inherit a little bit of money where we were able to remodel the kitchen and afford some more medical testing. I was always fighting a battle with people. They thought I was crazy because of everything I was doing for my kids and their health. Which got me thinking, “Am I the problem here?” (Funny how today’s society supports all the measures I took so many years ago.) I went from positive Lisa to cynical! Another blow was when my supervisor informed me that I wasn’t a good teacher. I made up my mind that I was going to quit. I wasn’t doing good at anything. I had become so negative and not fun to be around. Greg supported me quitting even though we had the most debt we have ever had. I turned in my resignation the next day.

    It’s not happening to you it’s happening for you

    The final straw was that first Monday while the kids were at school. I looked around and thought, whose house is this? I was so disconnected from my life. I realized that I, and my attitude, was the problem. Then and there I decided to take my life back and to be positive. I changed all the inputs, like the friends I kept, the shows I watched, the things I read. I knew I wanted to stay Greg’s wife and the mother to my children. I ended up writing my book “Organization Is A Learnable Skill" to document how I took my life back. I now know that life is not happening to me, it’s happening for me. I sat down and wrote down 40 areas I was going to address. I remembered that belief my dad had in me to start a business and I was now going to do just that. And from that list one of my first programs was born, the 40 Weeks One Whole House Challenge (now incorporated into The Productive Home Solution®).

    Being positive is a core value for Organize 365®. It’s funny how fast a negative person can infiltrate the staff in a matter of days. I can’t have that and I don’t want to turn that ship around. My experience has been that positivity leads to success. So we are positive at Organize 365®.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    • The Sunday Basket®

    • The Productive Home Solution

    • 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!

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    45 mins
  • Transformation with Allison G.
    Jan 1 2025

    In this episode, I introduce you to Allison G. who lives with her husband, daughter, son, and a furry kid. Allison found the Organize 365® Podcast after hearing my name a few times in two other organization/productivity podcasts. Allison felt organized at work but didn’t realize she wasn’t at home. She kept her calendar full and leaned on being busy if she forgot anything.

    In January 2022, Allison fell while skiing. That really slowed her down and plopped her on her couch for some time. She noticed all of the physical chaos in her home. Allison has been a teacher for 21 years. Listening to the other two podcasts, she understood the big picture of organization and productivity. But by listening to Organize 365®, she’s been able to figure out how to apply those principles specifically to her life. Allison also turned 40 in 2022, which is one of those pivotal times in a woman’s life when I tend to see them want to declutter, get organized, and be productive.

    Allison got the Sunday Basket®, quickly followed by the entire system. In March of 2022, Allison was very diligent and kept up on homework and training. She started with the 1.0 slash pockets for the first 6-8 months. Then she added in the 2.0 slash pockets. Allison says she passively went through The Productive Home Solution® the first time and has started her second round. She feels the reason for her organizational success is she gave herself time and took it slow. We make all these plans and framework for work, but not usually for home. Why? The Sunday Basket® and The Productive Home Solution® gives you a framework to get systems in place at home.

    After seeing results at home, of course she had to get the Teacher Friday Workbox®. She loves using the rainbow tear pad and planner for her classes. As a teacher, you could see all the paper work and books for all classes as overwhelming. You could look at your lesson plan and just see a lot of text. But when you color code them, now it’s 7 categories or 7 classes. Allison raved over the layout of the products and the quality of the paper. And she can match the slash pockets to the colors on the tear pad.

    Allison is no longer faking being organized, she IS organized! She has systems in place at home to find important paperwork, like the insurance policy for earrings she lost. She’s been able to free up time to dream which led to her learning mahjong this past fall. Her family knows all about the Sunday Basket® even though they always call them buckets. She only wishes she’d known sooner it didn’t have to be the way it was before. And she’s gained so much confidence by knowing she’ll finish what she starts and not using her cognitive “power” to hopefully remember things that need to get done!

    Allison’s advice is, “If you are motivated and excited, get going! But if you think you need time, give yourself time. ”

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    • The Sunday Basket®

    • The Productive Home Solution®

    • Teacher Friday Workbox®

    • Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    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!

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    48 mins
  • 624 - My 2025 Household Manager Predictions
    Dec 27 2024

    I look into my crystal ball and let me tell you what I see. Ok, no crystal ball but I have always kind of had my finger on the pulse of the future. I have a knack for seeing what is happening and how the economy will be impacted. And of course when the economy is impacted, so is the household manager. So what do I predict?

    AI is not coming for your home in 2025

    Changes happen in houses last! There’s a reason all of the literature I find about housework is so old. No one is studying the home and how to improve it. AI is not going to be sorting your paper or organizing your storage rooms in 2025.

    Analog is the answer for information

    Do you remember when the elderly had to register to get some of the first vaccines? The problem was most of them didn’t know how to access the technology to set up the appointments to get the vaccine. Technology is not always best. And in an emergency situation, it’s critical to have paper to back up what you know to be true so the medical community can trust what you say is true. Paper is here to stay, analog is paper and it’s still the answer.

    Home is where you are the safest

    Disclaimer, I know this is not true for everyone. But for the most part, your home is where you decide what you want to do. Just because we can know everything instantly all the time does not mean you have to “subscribe” to it all.

    You get to create your own reality

    You don’t have to be inundated with the news or negative messages. You can choose what feeds into your family in your home. You can switch up the algorithms on YouTube or completely get off of social media. You can choose what you eat and your routines, what you feel is right and safe for your family. It’s what we can control because we can’t control other people and their actions. You also get to choose where you interact with people. Maybe you attend a virtual meeting, go to yoga, date online, or you are a part of the Organize 365® community. But that’s just it, we all need connection and to belong to a community of like minded people.

    Changes are going to keep coming faster and faster

    We can set our own pace at home, but the speed of information at our fingertips is just going to keep coming faster and faster. Originally I was going to say this means we need to make decisions faster, but do you know where decisions come from? They come from knowing what you want. When you know what you want, you can make a decision about something that is in line with making that thing you want to happen! Slow down and understand what you want.

    Bonus: All homes will have a side hustle

    What do you think? It will be interesting to see if I was right on any of these at the end of 2025.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    • The Sunday Basket®

    • The Paper Solution®

    • The Productive Home Solution

    • 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!

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    55 mins
  • Lisa Math 475 (Re-Air)
    Dec 26 2024

    I’m so excited. It’s my birthday! I am 50 years old today!!!

    The women in my family have lived to be old—into their 90s and 100s. I have always been in awe of all they have done in their lives. Organize 365® just turned 10 years old. I think I am going to live to 100, so I am just getting started.

    I have an innate understanding of time and money that I call “Lisa math.” It doesn’t follow the traditional rules about these things, but I am able to use it to show how I understand the world.

    We all have constraints in life. We are naturally limited by our time, money, and energy. Getting organized helps you to develop more capacity by investing your current time for a future return of more time.

    Improving your capacity allows you to do more things in life, handle unexpected events, and live out your unique purpose.

    The mission of Organize 365® is to help busy people get their home and paper organized so that they can do what they are uniquely created to do.

    Over the last 20 years, my Sunday Basket® has given me an extra 5,200 hours. I have poured that extra time into creating Organize 365®. I have been able to help many of you save more time by using your Sunday Baskets®. And, boy, have those hours added up!

    By end of 2020, the Organize 365® customers saved over 1 million hours!!! At the end of 2021, we have saved over 2.5 million hours.

    Your time and capacity have been unlocked. So many of you have been gracious enough to share how you are living your unique purpose using the hashtag #myextra5. That is the best birthday gift ever.

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Transformation with Carrie T.
    Dec 25 2024

    In this episode, I introduce you to Carrie T. who is married with two children. She has a daughter away at college and her son is still at home. Carrie travels a lot to see her daughter compete and listens to the podcast during those long drives. Carrie actually found the podcast many years ago when she was looking for organization podcasts. She loved the advice that “Your brain is working while you are listening and the solution will come to you.” She valued other organizational programs, but gravitated towards Organize 365® because of The Paper Solution®.

    Carrie started with a DIY Sunday Basket®. It was fine, but she couldn’t find the right colored folders so she had to create labels in the color instead. She realized she was doing a lot of work for something that she could just purchase. She asked for the official Sunday Basket® one year for Christmas and dove into setting it up on Christmas day. She valued that everything was in one place. She wasn’t looking for papers. She could almost always find whatever she was looking for in her Sunday Basket®. She admitted she may have over slash pocketed, but she’s definitely got the hang of it now. She’s looking forward to the tax write off of getting a Friday Workbox® next.

    Another reason Carrie asked for the official Sunday Basket® was for the community that she desired. She loves attending the Sunday Basket® Club. She likes to attend live, but also uses the replay to pause the recording and finish each task in her time. Then she hits play and continues on. We talked a little bit about how each week you go through all of the rainbow slash pockets, but the 2.0 slash pockets don’t need weekly attention. We agreed on average it takes about 90 minutes to process each Sunday. And I know about every 4-6 weeks I thoroughly go through my Sunday Basket® and that can take me about 3 hours. She also values the division of workboxes in quarter 4 for the holidays, the next year, and taxes. It’s like 3 external brains for the different hats you wear as a household manager.

    Carrie wishes she’d just gotten the official Sunday Basket® sooner. She has so much more peace of mind now because she knows “It’s in the Sunday Basket®.” With her extra pockets of time and her children getting older, she’s playing with the idea of getting her pilots license. She wants to be able to fly to see her children and attend their sporting events.

    Carrie’s advice is, “Keep listening, and if you feel like the Sunday Basket® is the right thing to do, just do it! Do it now.”

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    • The Sunday Basket®

    • The Paper Solution®

    • Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    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!

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    46 mins
  • 623 - Lisa's 2024 Organize 365 Year in Review
    Dec 20 2024

    In business, this was the year in neutral! Try as I might to move forward with initiative, the universe wouldn’t allow it. But I had great success in other areas!

    “Lovie, Are You?”

    You may be wondering how the PhD is going. Let me tell ya. I was warned that the second year is tough and it really was because the time I was giving to the PhD had to come from somewhere, right? I shared how I was dividing my time in previous episodes. But also, I traveled. Because I traveled, I didn’t do my normal home reset during my break from school and it was so bothersome, I did a whole episode about it. Baby Grayson got smarter this year, too. He now knows if my car is home, I, Lovie is home. He’s no longer fooled by “outta sight, outta mind.” So I moved all my stuff to the office for school, too. You may have thought in the past, “How does Lisa do it all?” I humbly explained how this year, I didn’t.

    Purple Work That Didn’t Work

    All of Organize 365® worked on two purple projects for a whole 10 months, that took lots of time and money, only to have neither get fully completed. So for years I’ve been told I need to go to an ERP system. This was the year. We worked with an accounting firm to get things and policies in place only to have the ERP team tell us that our bank and the system don’t play well together. So, I started thinking and came up with an idea. Once proposed, they said yes, I think we can use that solution to make Quickbooks work for you since we know Quickbooks plays nice with your bank. And we got to keep our super secure website. All was not lost because the company is better having gone through all of that.

    And then there was our lease that was expiring. It got me looking at other spaces. I practiced driving to them like it was our new location. Kind of tried it on for size. I started dreaming of additional live events I’d like to host. They were ok, but then the cost of moving was setting in. Would our landlord extend the lease, just increase the price? They said yes, but to different terms of course. So here we are in the same building for the next four years, not moving. Again, all was not lost because we upgraded our current space and made it more functional for us for the season we are in. And stay tuned to attend some of the live events I dreamed up, like the Small Business Planning Mastermind on March 5th & 6th.

    Milestones Hit in This Neutral Year

    I am so excited with the milestones the company hit this year in quarter four, despite the purple projects failing. Such HUGE things!!! The podcast turned 10! The podcast is often about the Sunday Basket® in one way or another. And we say the Sunday Basket® saves people 260 hours annually. We also know that we have sold 12,000 Complete Sunday Basket®s, equating to saving “officially documented purchasers” 10 MILLION HOURS!! That is so amazing!! That’s what I want, to give women back their time by delaying decision making so they don’t derail themselves. And since we were going to have a party to celebrate the podcast, we decided to celebrate my award, too!

    I saw Miami University was awarding Cincinnati Female Entrepreneur of the Year. With a short deadline to submit an application and three references, I didn’t know if I’d have everything in time. But my instagram followers are amazing and I actually received SIX overnight! I was so surprised to be in the top 3 being considered for the award, and even more shocked to be awarded the first ever Cincinnati Female Entrepreneur of the Year! I had all female entrepreneurs stand and I accepted the award on behalf of all of us. It wasn’t about who won, it was about all the women in that room being acknowledged for what they are doing and how they are growing Cincinnati.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    • The Sunday Basket®

    • Small Business Planning Mastermind

    • 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!

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    43 mins
  • Transformation with April R.
    Dec 18 2024

    In this episode, I introduce you to April R. She is a single mom of 5 children with a cat and dog to love on, too. April was watching someone on social media talking about the habits of people with ADHD and April identified with many. Then she came across the episodes about ADHD and naturally listened to the ones that followed. She used to think organization meant cleaning. She now knows organization means productivity.

    April’s proudest accomplishment as a result of learning from Organize 365® is her beloved drink station! She has a tiny kitchen and there are lots of people in the house. But April took it a step further by placing it in another room. I pointed out that also takes it away from the triangle of cooking. April repurposed a hutch she got off Facebook Marketplace. She was able to accommodate all of her children and their drink preferences. She has gotten a lot of compliments from friends, but now with her sister (who had handyman skills) she wants to take it up a notch with cabinets instead, floating shelves, and a mini fridge.

    April shared a lot of lessons she’s learned. Or is it one lesson applied in multiple locations? She’s improved her flexible thinking executive function. She’s applied the drink station organization to her work and other spaces in her home. After her success with the drink station, she invested in the Sunday Basket®. And even though she didn’t use it effectively in the beginning, she was collecting in it the way she was supposed to. Then she would go through it every so often. Would you believe she found thousands of dollars just waiting in there for her? You've got to hear the episode to understand or maybe you have too!

    It dawned on her how her oldest daughter had a bigger bedroom than the two that shared. So she swapped them. That also gave the older daughter, who goes to school online, a better connection to their wi-fi and more privacy. April and the girls got the benefit of sharing a bathroom space instead of just April using it, as well as the connections she’s building with her two youngest as they get ready for their day together.

    April also shared about how she touches base with all her kids on Sunday to plan ahead. And how she developed an A/B meal plan (with a little help from Chat GPT) for when her kids are with her and when they are at their dads. But she knew what to ask for due to what she has learned through Organize 365®.

    She’s been prepared for the unexpected. When hurricane Beryl was coming their way, she was able to plan ahead and be prepared to ride it out. I told her about the snow day box I developed when my kids were younger to make it exciting to have the kids home. She’s realized that just because she’s organized it doesn’t mean it’ll keep things from happening.

    She has so much more joy and awareness now. She feels confident when one of the kids needs something from her and she can go get it from her Sunday Basket®. She has so much joy with the intentionality of how she’s spending her time with her kids and she’s so excited about the future.

    April’s advice is, “If you don’t know if you should get the Sunday Basket®, do the drink station or just try one thing.” It’s true in the midst of your overwhelm of thinking you need all the systems. Just start with one thing or it seems too overwhelming to even start. All the systems are independent of each other. And as April added, then it just gets easier to add another system.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    • The Sunday Basket®

    • The Paper Solution®

    • The Productive Home Solution®

    • Home Planning Day

    • Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    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!

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    52 mins