I really love Lillian Gilbreth’s focus on efficiency for the American home. I’d like to think I’m picking up where she left off. After the war, “men took back their jobs.” But did it ever occur to you that women worked at these factories and there were dual income homes before the war? It had not occurred to me. I wanted to be home but some women wanted to be at work, working in their uniqueness making a paycheck. Now that the soldiers had returned to work, more women were home, the big packaged food companies marketed to her about how to make her life easier.

Past Mistakes

In the past science has just determined the definition of housework and completed their studies based on it. And human nature is to do the household tasks of your gender, as you saw displayed growing up. But there’s a new sheriff in town and I asked the public how they defined housework and I am so excited to publish my findings. In conducting studies in the past they also used a convenience sample group for their studies; like all college students. This gave skewed results.

In one study, they used married couples with children. This also resulted in what I call “He said, She said” about who is doing what housework. And who is doing more. That convenience sample was ok in the 80’s because that was roughly 60% of the population; married with children. But now? Married with children only represents roughly 25% of the population. My sample groups will be large and mimic the US Census to accurately reflect the general public. I want to be able to focus on teaching efficiency for all genders, all ethnicities, and all family compositions. Because I want a single mom, a multigenerational home, or a nuclear family to learn how to get organized, leading to productivity, that reduces household work.

1 Problem 1 Product

It’s easy to want to solve one product for one problem but there’s an underlying problem. This is how people try to start to organize often. I used a child getting ear infections as an example. The first infection, one product for one problem. But then too many infections and now we need to look at the underlying problem. When you look for one product for problem, you get in this cycle of decluttering to organization and back to decluttering but you never get to move on to productivity because the skill of organization has not yet been learned.

But just like getting a celiac diagnosis, you must modify your environment to achieve your desired goal. The Productive Home Solution teaches you to declutter, organize, and modify your home. The Paper Solution® teaches best information management practices. The Sunday Baskset® provides a system to optimize all your household manager responsibilities. The first time around decluttering and organizing can take some time but then it’s just maintenance. New milestone, then you modify your environment again but you don’t have to learn the skill all over. You just apply it to the new phase of life you are in like a new baby, home, job, or milestone birthday.

The Mission

By now you may have heard Organize 365® is decluttering all work related products and services as of December 31, 2025. This will allow more time to focus on universal application of the systems Organize 365® offers. I want to answer what is essential housework? How can housework be most efficiently optimized and operationalized? How can we all do less housework? And I plan to focus on testing and disseminating results from studies about systems and methods in the marketplace and in academia. Here’s to the next chapter of Organize 365®.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• The Paper Solution®

• The Productive Home Solution

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

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Are you sitting down? I have some very exciting news and I have some shocking news but I am here to explain myself. What do you want first? The exciting news or shocking news? I’m dying to let the cat out of the bag so be prepared to be shocked!

Organize 365® will no longer be supporting work. This decision was not made lightly and I’m still nervous announcing it. As the visionary of Organize 365®, I have to make tough decisions. I started Organize 365® focused on the home. I branched out into all of these other areas of life to support the community and have recently found myself spread too thin. I am narrowing my focus on the household manager again. I am getting the PhD to do research and it is research on the home.

I know three things. I want to focus on the home not to be distracted by work which is so individualized and I want to provide the most benefits possible. The second, work, is never done. And it’s difficult to universally strategize work for each individual’s work. With the house you take 18 months to three years and you have completed your home. I want to get people to the point where they have to struggle with themselves to decide what to do with their extra time and no more house holding them back.

And gosh darnit, I’m good at helping household managers to systematize and optimize their homes. That’s the third thing! This is the light in me that I want to shine for others. This is what I was uniquely created to do!

Now, get excited because there are some deals to be had in this transition! Products are 50% off while supplies last until December 31st.

-The Friday Workbox is going away

-That includes the teacher/education workbox because it’s work related. I explained all the deals, courses, and clubs that will be discontinued or put into legacy status.

-The Ashland University course will no longer be available.

-The Meeting Agenda Course will be discontinued.

-Workbox Planning Day and subscriptions will be discontinued.

-Certified Organizers for Business and Education will no longer be listed on the Organize 365® Website. However we will be sending emails to the community who has those products with a list of organizers. Please print this out and put it in your Friday Workbox® for future reference.

There is no need to panic. If there was anything you wanted to add to your supplies or certifications for work, you still can until the end of the year. Take advantage of these amazing deals because I want to see you continue to thrive in work.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• CustomerService@organize365.com

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

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In the last episode we talked about Maria Montessori, her becoming the first female doctor in Italy and her impact on alternative learning methods. Today I’m talking about Lillian Gilbreth who was the first female to get her psychological doctorate in industrial organizational psychology. Lillian is the original “Cheaper By the Dozen” mom who exemplified what it meant to be a successful working mother.

Lillian Gilbreth

Lillian married Frank, in Rhode Island, in 1904. While growing their family, Lillian and Frank started a company together called Gilbreth Incorporated. She studied how to make the workplace support their workers. She was able to publish many papers about her findings but they were all under Frank’s name due to “the times” and women’s rights. And I’m sure we don’t have some of her work. She was the first person to link scientific management with psychology after earning her PhD in Applied Psychology. There is a large gap of information and I hope to change that with the research I want to do. Unfortunately Frank passes away when she’s 46.

Lillian’s Ideas

After studying how we use our homes, Lillian came up with a kitchen design. Remember this was back when food wasn’t so “grab and go” and a lot of people made things from scratch. There was an assigned space for your ingredients like flour and sugar. Lillian came up with the triangle between your refrigerator, stove, and kitchen sink. Lillian discovered the proper counter height, the pedal trash can, and shelves & egg/butter storage in the door of the refrigerator. There is a whole kitchen that Lillian designed and most of it didn’t get implemented into homes. Why? It baffles me! Maybe that’s my next move? I think it’s so critical for me to get my PhD so that I can publish information that will live well beyond my life span, for future generations.

Greg often wants to bring up our resale value on our home when I come to him with one of my ideas of how we could modify our home to meet our current phase of life. In all reality I don’t see us ever moving but also I want to enjoy my house not just preserve it for resale. I think kids rooms should be larger, there should be command central for household managers like I saw in Greenfield Village, and much bigger laundry rooms. We buy these homes before we have accumulated all the things including kids and all of their things. We need to make homes more functional for less modification and more productivity!

If money were no object right now, what would you change about your house?

40’s? Just Getting Started

Lillian was just 46 when her husband passed away. And she was just getting started. Time and time again, I learn about people being 45 plus when they made their contribution to society. And throughout history I have also seen these people live longer lives. Women’s spouses pass, they continue to raise children and run the household AND live in their passion. There is no science to back it up…yet. But I believe because these people were doing what they were uniquely created to do, they lived longer.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• See Lillian Gilbreth's Step Saving Kitchen, 1949

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

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Maria Montessori has made a huge impression on me and influenced who I am and how I run Organize 365®. Maria was born in 1870, in Italy. She was a very curious person and wanted to pursue a medical degree despite her parents guiding her towards a teaching degree. She is a great example of someone who worked hard and followed her passions - I love those characteristics. After becoming the first female physician, she worked in a psychiatric clinic and observed the children. Not too long after that she did pursue a degree in education, not because she needed it but because she wanted to have the academic conversations so her work would live on.

How Do Children Learn?

Maria was curious, “How do children learn?” She was in a population that was deemed uneducatable. She watched as their food fell to the dirt floors, they’d play with it, and then they’d eat it. She saw the children gravitate towards the manipulatives instead of toys or even candy. They thrived in the structured environment where children were learning independently and the role of the teacher is to observe,support, and guide. Each student is treated as an individual. I saw this displayed, for the first time, in China. There was a quiet hum of productivity.

How it applies to schools

Montessori schools operate in a 3 year cycle. For example grades 1-3 are together for three years; a multigenerational classroom. They will all have, let’s say, a dinosaur lesson appropriate for their grade. Because of this structure the younger kids are looking up to the older kids. The older kids are learning leadership. And some children will find their niche and become the “dinosaur”expert, thriving in their purpose or their uniqueness. See any similarities to Organize 365®?

As children we experience these Sensory Periods; think Golden Windows. It’s a period of time when children are drawn to learn a certain skill. I gave the example of the Monkey Bars. For about two weeks that child will practice and practice. Once they get it, they move on to the next thing they want to learn. We all love to learn until about 3rd grade, what would happen if learning didn’t become work? If we didn’t have to fit within “the perimeters?” I will say to thrive in Montessori school you need to be an independent learner, self paced, and hold yourself accountable without much guidance. There are still standards you need to meet, you just get to go about it the way that works the best for you. I know I would have really loved being in Montessori school.

How it applies to Organize 365®

And so in Organize 365® I love to provide great school supplies and manipulatives. You can learn at your own pace. I try to support your sensory periods, AKA Golden Windows the best I can. There is a community to connect with others, find those you want to emulate, and provide help to others just starting out. It takes about 18 months to get your home organized but by the time you are refining, you continue to hang around because you have found “your people” that encourage you to thrive in your uniqueness. And by then you understand how I operate as a teacher. And through it all, you gain time, confidence, and get to realize what you are uniquely created to do - you find your purpose.

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!

October is awareness month for Breast Cancer and ADHD. Ok yes the blush pink Sunday Basket® color is back in stock (while supplies last). BUT, I want to suggest that you use this Sunday Basket® as a way to remind you of people in your community that have lost someone to breast cancer, are facing a breast cancer diagnosis, are supporting someone in their breast cancer journey, or who have survived breast cancer! It is so important that we continue to take care of ourselves too. Let this Sunday Basket® remind you of your health goals and routine doctor visits to prevent or get early detection of disease. I also want to inspire community and support for the breast cancer awareness community. Be aware of someone who could use your support.

And speaking of support, the Sunday Basket® supports those who have ADHD. ADHD is so cool because of the ability to think differently but it really becomes a struggle in organization. We have all these modifications for kids in school but where is it in the real world once they’ve graduated? As someone with ADHD, you learn “work arounds” so survive school due to compromised executive functioning skills. And so then in the real world, let the Sunday Basket® be your work around to actually succeeding in organization. In my book, written in 2016, “How ADHD affects Home Organization”, I explain exactly how to do this. And that is why from 10/1-10/5 this book is completely free on Kindle. And if you have enjoyed and learned from this book before will you do me a small favor? Would you re-download it and leave a review? Pretty please? I love helping and supporting my community!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Sunday Basket®

• How ADHD affects Home Organization

• Kindle: How ADHD affects Home Organization

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

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Bonus Stop: Edzel Ford’s home, son of Henry Ford! After touring Greenfield Village I decided I wanted to go to a bonus stop instead of another day at Greenfield Village. I was stunned by the outward aesthetic similarities of the Stan Hywet mansion. My wheels were spinning and memories flooded my mind from all the visits I had going to Stan Hywet from going with my mom to even working there.

Railroads

The Stan Hywet mansion is located in Akron, OH, my hometown, the “Rubber Capitol of the WORLD”! I shared a lot about the history of Firestone and Goodyear, who used a lot of rubber making tires, in this episode. But on this day of my fieldtrip, I thought about what made Ford so successful? It was making the gasoline engine car affordable for more people, specifically farmers. I gave a little background on Rockefeller and Vanderbilt too to prove my point of “access equals success”. And remember in the other homes the extensive libraries? Access to education and knowledge, right? And you know what made those two successful? The railroads because it provided transportation and access to more products and places. They were able to get their products to more people. And what do you think gave the North the upper hand in the Civil War? The railroads because they could transport supplies. And the other thing that made Ford so successful was his ability to pay his employees a higher pay than other companies. He was making more profit therefore able to pay his employees a higher rate.

I couldn’t help but to think about Eleanor Ford’s role (Edzel’s wife) in their home. She lived for 35 years still after Edzel passed. She had a sitting room off of her bedroom upstairs, that she turned into her study. She ran her household manager responsibilities from that study. And although she wasn’t fond of the entertainment wing, she knew it was expected of her to entertain. She was very philanthropic and sat on many boards. But she was the queen of productivity. You see she would have multiple board meetings going at one time and then she could just pop in and out as they were being conducted. Genius!

Internet

Just like railroads were the gateway to transporting goods and people, now Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft transport information. And just like the Goodyears and Rockefellers could get their products to more people, it is the same way I can impact more lives. They have been able to be really successful in a shorter amount of time than before the internet and able to provide better benefits for their employees due to their success.

Organize 365® could not be what it is today without the internet. It gets more products to more people. It provides a more level playing field because it is accessible to all. And it has allowed me to learn about business and manufacturing. And because of the internet … we have podcasts! Yet another avenue to learn and/or get your message out. I always like to think of how women made their mark on change in society through their uniqueness.

Artificial Intellagance

I don’t even know what to do with AI! (sigh) As technology advances so too does our ability for everyone to be successful due to a more level playing field for small businesses. Technology, transportation, and information provides access to more education. I wanted to take this series to think about where we have been as women, how it is now as women, and where we are going for women. What change could you have on society by doing what you are uniquely created to do?

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• 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!