All these advanced technologies are supposed to be saving us time right? I ask you "Is it saving you time?" Our devices, robots, and social media seem to be sucking up a lot of time and cognitive load. In my observation, it seems to me, I am spending more time on apps, updates, and managing robots and getting frustrated than saving time. I just wanted to have a conversation about what I am seeing and hear from you…you too?

Smart Homes

You all know the struggle I have had with our robot vacuum. I finally had waited out the lease on the last one that never seemed to connect to wifi or be charged. This new one I can get charged. I can get it to connect to the wifi. I was pumped on one of my days during the staycation when all the stars had aligned and I was ready to run her. I opened the app to start her up and got a notification that I needed to update the app…no problem. I had the day off. But now there was a wifi issue. At this point, I could have burned a few calories and had my floors vacuumed but no I was still messing around with the wifi connection. The kicker? I knew once I finally got her working, she can't even complete the first floor without recharging so I couldn't even get all the floors vacuumed. I'd have to pick 3 of the 4 zones to get cleaned. Like come on people, this is not saving me any time.

Recently we replaced our HVAC with a top of the line system. It's so good, it took 4 service calls to actually get it working correctly. The zones were set wrong so it wasn't performing correctly. This wasn't saving me any time. What good is the app at saving me time, if the system isn't set up right? And don't get me started about the washer/dryer combo unit I invested in. I'm getting notified of everything it's doing whether I care or not. It's taking my cognitive load and increasing it. Can I just get some base model machines with start and stop buttons and that's it? I don't need all this technology, frustration, and distraction.

Phones

Then I slowly started to notice my increased phone time. And my kids noticed it of themselves too. Joey in fact asked for a dumb phone. I dont' know what is it lately but I go to check email and all the sudden I'm scrolling on Instagram and forgot what I got on my phone to do in the first place. We are more entertained than ever but we are also more lonely than ever. When Greg and I went to those small towns, we didn't see people. Where were all the people? In their homes, on their phones. So I started to think, what did I used to do when I got bored? Now I scroll Instagram or play a game on my phone. BUT I used to like to scrapbook, do puzzles, listen to audio books, and organize. I want to challenge you to make a small list of things you can do off your phone when you have free time. What do you like to do? Ask yourself, Are you in control of your phone or is it in control of you? And is that how you want it to be? Turn off notifications, place your phone face down when not in use, and put your ringer on silent. Create the home environment you want.

Short Conversations

And it's great that we have so many sources for information but it's limiting our conversations. Since it would appear we all the know the same news, I am challenging myself to have deeper conversations with the people in my family and you may want to too. Here are a few questions to have more meaningful conversations.

How do you feel about that?

What do you think will happen next?

How did you find out about that?

Yeah, I did hear about that but tell me what did you hear about that?

I want to have rich relationships with the people in my house not monitoring my robots so I have more time to scroll. I want to be growing and learning in my free time. What do you want?

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!

This may have been a first, once we decided to not go to Italy, I decided to take my full planned vacation and Greg decided to go back to work. We had our 4 day staycation but the rest of the planned time off was all mine. How did I spend it?

Golden Window

I am definitely in a unique-to-me Golden Window. The PhD is winding down, we are making massive shifts at work, and I will soon be the grandma of two heartbeats. As I realized I was going to have a lot of time to do whatever I wanted I asked myself what that should be. I plugged Greg into my calendar with the things we wanted to do. Then I looked at Abby's calendar to see went the optimal time was to spend time with her and getting her ready for the baby. I did end up spending a 4 hour block of time in the office on Sat. morning but it gave me the opportunity to bring home some Workboxes I've been wanting to clean out and organize. I also took a little time to fill in my home and work 2 and ½ year planners.

Scrapbooking

On Sunday Afternoon I got the best treat, Grayson fell asleep on me for about 90 minutes. But you know me, I'm productive. So while I was trapped in grandma heaven I ordered pictures. Because one of my initiatives once the PhD is done, is to get back to scrapbooking. So I ordered pictures and loved on Grayson. During this time off I was able to get a lot of sorting of pictures done and now I feel ready to start #allthescrapbooks

Shopping Like it was the 80's

And then I had a friend who was going to kind of be on standby for Abby and Grayson while we were gone who said "Ya know, I still have that time free, do you want to do something?" I did! I wanted to go shopping. We took two whole days shopping. We thoroughly went through the women's department in each store and just took our time. This made going through my closet fun too. I did a little rearranging of what's in my closet with the newest modification of Hunter (our dog) sleeping in my closet now. I am ready for this next phase of life.

And we checked out Costco and Sam's Club. I wanted to compare products that they offered. And I knew Sam's Club had the diapers and wipes I wanted to stock up on for the baby. This grandma is ready for grandbaby number 2!

As the week came to and end, I had the choice to go back into the office on Thursday or take one more day to myself. I talked myself into staying home. I got to get to some binders, workboxes, and slash pockets I'd been wanting to. I got to grab high tea with my cousin and after we went for a nice long walk. With the baby coming and the hurry up and wait game with the dissertation, I knew to maximize on this time. Self care is more than a massage. I wanted to share how I spent my time, to give you ideas of different ways of self care.

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!

I know, I'm full of shocking news lately. Yes, we cancelled Italy again! I started to feel like we were really pushing this trip through and it was causing a lot of anxiety. Plan B became a staycation. I can't wait to tell you what we did!

Cancellation Reasons

Everyone encouraged me to not cancel the trip. Four days before we were supposed to leave I turned to Greg and said "We can't go to Italy." And he completely agreed. I didn't buy the insurance this time but we are able to recoup most of that money as long as we book within a year so third times a charm hopefully!

When Abby told us this spring that she was pregnant we were excited for this new little heartbeat but also realized that meant she'd be 25 weeks when we were away. Now the time had come and we just didn't feel right leaving her. I had set up all these people to come help her and then there was the dog to worry about and it was leading to a lot of anxiety. Once we decided to cancel, that all went away and the environment in our house was immediately better. It's funny once you cancel something and then the issues that were prohibiting you all of the sudden are gone. But nonetheless, we decided on a staycation and I got to planning!!

4 Days with Greg

Day 1: We decided to visit a few small towns nearby to do a little boutique shopping. You could still feel the effects of Covid because the store hours were limited and some were only open on the weekends. Then we went to a cooking class and learned how to make pasta. We had fun but might not be "our thing." And then toured Home-O-Rama. It was different than what we were used to.

Day 2: We had a great day in Lebanon, OH. We went to lunch at the Golden Lamb and tried to shop again. I quickly realized all the shops were for women. We found an art gallery though and really enjoyed our time there. We found out we both really like the same artwork and found a few artists that we will keep our eye on. Funny enough some of the artwork was that we had seen in the homes of Home-O-Rama. And then we drove to another little town and we checked into our hotel. There was nothing to do so we waited till the restaurant opened at 4pm. We had a two and a half hour dinner and I was really intentional with the conversations I started. This is "our thing" and I'd like to have more leisurely dinners with Greg.

Day 3: Family needed us so I am glad we didn't stray too far.

Day 4: Last day we were off together and we headed to the Keenland horse track in Lexington, KY. We had a great time. The people watching was fantastic. I discovered I might need to pick up a sundress because this too was something we really enjoyed that I would like to do more of and I like to look the part. When in Rome… It was fun to discover new things we like to do together and it was great to connect with Greg!

Baby Ready

And I got to spend some time with Abby. We spent some special time together really getting her ready for the baby. It was nice to have some undivided time to support Abby.

I can't wait to tell you what I did with the remaining days of my time off. And I want to share with you something I realized about technology and how conversations are more difficult these days because we have all the information coming at us all at the same time. It's not like we are sharing new information with each other. That was why I got so intentional with my conversation with Greg the night of our long dinner.

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!

Sometimes I get wary of sharing how much I plan. But because I plan I get to be more purposeful and present in my life which gives me peace. I'm sharing the 3 phases I go through to plan. I dream. I contemplate allllllllll the possibilities. Then I choose what I want to do from all dreams I came up with. And then I plan it and confidently run that plan knowing I thought of everything.

Holiday Blitz so you can leave the Witches in Oct.

Halloween has passed, you are in the thick of the holidays but you still feel like a witch. Why? Because you are trying to meet everyone's expectations but no one is aware of all you are doing nor do they care. We are putting all this pressure and these expectations on ourselves!! I'm here to share how to shed those witchy feelings with the Holiday Blitz. In the holiday blitz there are 5 videos and printables. After the videos, you will "interview your family" about what makes the holidays special for them BEFORE the holidays. You will dream about what you want the holidays to look like this year. And after talking to your family it'll be easy to choose what you want to execute.

Holiday Mini Planning Day

The Holiday Blitz Mini Planning Day is a taste of what home planning day is like. This is when we take the one Sunday Basket® and divide it into three Sunday Baskets®. You will have a Holiday Sunday Basket® for the meaty experience you want to plan, recipes, gift ideas, and all the holiday cheer you want to provide this year. There will be a "next year" Sunday Basket® where you can safely place paper that doesn't need your attention until next year. You place this Sunday Basket® in another room. And of course, your regular weekly Sunday Basket® for your "new part time job" of being the memory maker; with the additional shopping, decorating, traveling, and so forth. We'll take a look at the week of Thanksgiving and the last two weeks of December and plan in time blocks. And I share tips on how to strategically shop Black Friday to save money all year.

I know not everyone has the capacity or time to plan luxuriously like this. So…I am offering a 30 mini workshop where you can take just a few minutes to plan. I know everyone is really busy but I really want you to enjoy the holidays this year! Stay tuned for more details so you stay sane and present for the holidays.

Home Prep & Planning Day

And we end the year with more planning. Yes I really do all of this planning. But you will see as the year comes to an end you will be already dreaming of what this 2026 year can bring. It's still full of so much potential. Prep day is Monday. You will reset your Sunday Baskets® and update slash pocket labels and contents. Some paper may need to go in your operations binder. And you will have a Taxes Sunday Basket® for a landing place when all the documents start coming in the mail. You'll have one extra Sunday Basket® which will be for your first project in the new year. And then you choose what projects and ideas you will be actually planning for on Wed.

And On Wednesday we'll start getting a plan on paper in the workbook. What will the first 120 days/ 4 months of 2026 look like? In each of these planning phases I dream. How could it look? And then I choose. I make an actionable plan to execute the choices I made. And lastly, run that plan with confidence. Because you take the time to plan, you can peacefully be present.

Once you have experienced the peace of planning, you will find the time to plan. I promise! And the more you plan, you'll want to plan even more!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• Holiday Blitz 2025 (Oct. 27th)

• Holiday Blitz Bundle

• Holiday Mini Planning Day (Nov. 14th)

• 30 Min. Holiday Sanity Saver Workshop (Dec. 5th)

• Home Prep and Planning Day (Dec. 29 - Dec. 31)

• 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!

This is your friendly reminder to get registered for the Holiday Blitz…it's FREE! A great gift to yourself for the holidays would be some sanity. This blitz is designed to help you be present and enjoy the holidays too.

We are where the holidays come from. But did you ever stop to ask your family if everything you are doing is meeting their holiday expectations. Often times we have so much fun with one idea that it almost turns into an obligation in the following years. If you stop and just ask your family what makes the holidays special, you may find you can eliminate a lot of things you are doing. Turns out my kids didn't care about decorating all the cookies I made from scratch. Now i just buy the chocolate chip cookie ingredients and my daughter makes them. I don't have to do any of it!!

Take advantage of this free Blitz to see how you can simplify your holidays. Dream about what is possible for the upcoming holidays while you have time to plan. I know if i don't plan, my expectations for the holidays don't even get considered. This way I plan how to execute how I want the holidays to look and feel while confidently meeting my families expectations too.

Registration is open now, Videos drop Oct. 27th!! You get to enjoy the holidays this year too!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Holiday Blitz 2025

• 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.

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

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!

Last Friday I announced the Friday Workbox® and all related work products will only be available for purchase till December 31st or while supplies last. But I don't think I explained it very well so I wanted to record this episode to address concerns and reiterate what is going on at Organize 365®.

No One is Going Anywhere…

Please do not worry, no one is getting laid off. No one who works at Organize 365® is going anywhere. Steph who runs the Friday Workbox will still be here. Stephanie, my Chief of Staff and Anna are also still here. They are doing more behind the scenes things. But no one is going anywhere, we're just all going in a new direction.

Got Distracted

For about a year and a half I have been trying to support both home and work organization. You see, as an organizer, I get people going in the right direction and then I want to follow them into that thing that they discovered they are good at. But in doing that I now see that I am leaving people behind. They're ready to get off the declutter cycle only to find me miles ahead helping people in work areas. I started Organize 365® because I feel like I am called to help women organize their homes and then they are forced to struggle with what they are uniquely created to do. I want that evolution back. Someone gets decluttered. I help them to get organized and productive. Then they are ready to fly the nest to a coach, start a business, get into a hobby, whatever their next chapter is. I'm just refocusing more narrowly on the home. And this way too there is one clear message for you to share to others who need to get organized.

Silver Lining

The silver lining in all of this is great pricing now till December 31st or while supplies last. 50% off all work related products excluding the Income and Expense Planner. You will still get the full course, the community, and workbooks. In 2026, the courses will simply move to legacy status. You will still have the community to support you, but there will no longer be someone from Organize 365® leading the community or holding co-working time.

And if you are in need of a certified organizer or still want to get certification, it's not too late. The certified organizers for business and the Teacher workbox will be available till December. If you want to get certification or add certification, you can still purchase those. I really tried to explain, in this episode, what the pre-requisites are for adding certifications and how long each one takes. If you want to get inventory, it's deeply discounted for our certified organizers.

It's been tough to make the decision to discontinue products that are lucrative to the business and that the community loves so much. But it is time for me to go back to center and focus on that initial transformation I used to get so much feedback about. Thank you so much for all your encouraging words in this transition. After reading so many reactions/responses I feel confident in this decision.

I encourage you to listen to episode 680 (re-airing right after this one) again for an extended explanation of all of this and what the future looks like for the current work related products, services, and communities in 2026. There are also links to all the products in episode 680. And if you are still left with questions feel free to email customer service at Customerservice@organize365.com.

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!

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

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!