This week, we're celebrating the podcast’s first year! In this special episode, we're tackling YOUR most burning questions about organization and productivity.
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In this episode we talk about:
- When your feeling overwhelmed by the mountain of “stuff”
- What storage solutions should you use
- Sustainable systems for long lasting order
- Digital Clutter vs. Physical Clutter
- Dealing with family resistance to organizing
Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode 001: 7 Steps to Organizing (almost) Anything
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/7-steps-to-organizing/
Episode 024: Step 5: Contain. What Types of Containers Should You Get?
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/24-step-5-contain-what-types-of-containers-should-you-get/
Episode 053: Getting Organized vs. Staying Organized Explained
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/53-getting-organized-vs-staying-organized-explained/
Episode 007 Digital Space vs. Physical Space Organizing
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/2-digital-space-vs-physical-space-organizing
Episode 016: Living with an Unorganized Partner: How to Avoid Frustration
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The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger! For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!
Review full show notes and resources at
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
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Review the Transcript:
Hey there, welcome to our one year anniversary episode. Okay, if you are counting and following along, you probably noticed that this episode is labeled episode 54. And there's 52 weeks in the year. So how is this the one year anniversary episode? Well, we are calling our air date or episode, anniversary date, and that was January 30, of 2023. And this one is airing on January 29 2024. So this is as close as we get to the official one year of the podcast being released. So that is why this one is the one year and I'm so excited, I cannot believe it's been a whole year really, truly just went by so fast. We have now recorded 54 episodes, all original, we have not had any reruns. So truly, this entire year has all been original material. And we have we had 14 Total guests, we did a showcase of all of our 2023 guests back in the episode that got aired earlier, actually later in 2023. So you can go back to that. And it gives you a glimpse of all of the guests that we had for 2023. And there are topics for the entire year. So if you want a quick rundown of what topics we touched with our, with our guests, then you can head on over there and listen to that episode. I'll also put it in the show notes. So for this episode, since we already did a showcase of all of our guests, we're actually doing the top six questions that I had been asked in the last year from our community, people that messaged us to from the podcast, all of you listeners, some of you will message us and ask us for either tips or follow ups from some of the conversations. And so I picked, I basically put them all in one worksheet and then grabbed the top six ones that were asked the most. So I'm going to read through the questions, real quick questions, and then give you my take on that. And that's how we're going to celebrate this one year anniversary episode. Thank you all so much for being here. And being part of our community. And being a listener. We are a top 100 episodes, podcast in our field and in our industry, which is so exciting. And every week, I see the downloads just growing and growing. So I am forever thankful for all of you who have been here from the get go, but also the ones that have shared our episodes with your family, friends community and have joined us along the way. So thank you so much. You can always find us at the organized Flamingo over on the social media webs interwebs and say hello there. And hope I get to meet some of you in person as well. All right, so let's get to our top six questions that have come from all of you. Here we go. Welcome to the organized and productive podcast with organized Flamingo. I'm your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert, ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you. Yeah,
well, then let's go. For our first question, we've got the one on one of organizing questions, the one that I get asked the most, not just from the last year, but probably throughout my entire career. And the reason most people you know, end up hiring us, but even if they don't hire us, this is the part that really where people get really gets stuck. And that is where do I even start? And my answer to this is that this is such a classic for overwhelmed clients and people that are new to the organizing process, that I would suggest to break down the big task, the one that's overwhelming you. And big really is whatever it biggest for you. For some of you. A big organizing task is physically large, like a large room, a large area, like maybe a garage or a whole basement, maybe you're decluttering for your family and you're downsizing, big can be also a drawer. So whatever big and overwhelming feels to you that is something you're going to break down in smaller manageable steps, and then prioritize those projects based on what your needs are. We have here at the organized swimming go, we have our seven steps of organizing almost anything. And it is our framework that helps you answer this very question like how do I even break this down? So I am putting the seven steps of organizing almost anything in the show notes. Please listen to that episode if you if this question was relevant to you. And then from there, each of the steps we have seven steps. Each one has its own podcast, a podcast episode devoted to it. So step one, assessing step two, step three, all of them will have its own entire breakdown. But if anything, at least listen to the overview one and that will help you figure out So how can you break down this really large task and make it into more manageable steps? So it doesn't feel so overwhelming, and then go from there? The second question that we get asked the most, and God asked the most last year was, what storage solutions should I use? Oh, my goodness, if I showed you my inbox, especially the social media inboxes, where people will, you know, kind of just message you on a whim. You would be not surprised, maybe surprised at how many people ask this very question like, Okay, what is your most favorite? If you had to choose one? Storage Solution, one container? Which one? Would it be? Oh, my goodness, I cannot answer that in just a simple answer. Because it really depends, as a whole. So in the seven steps of organizing almost anything, we devote an entire step to containers and storage solutions, because of this very top question that gets asked, the short answer is, of course, that it depends. But just know that your storage solutions can and will probably change throughout your your life. Okay, so don't get so stuck on having one thing. What one of my top tips that I have for this, though, is because knowing that most people do change, organizing sort of illusions and containers, sometimes because they just wither away, especially in those areas, maybe outside areas, I mean, we hope that you get a really good item, right that like lasts forever and ever. But because a lot of these products do wither away my top, my top tip is just get something that is of good quality. Because even if they wither away, it's going to last you a long time. So that's a plus. But even if you are ready for change, and you don't necessarily need it to live a long life, that way you can resell it, either resell it or give it away and it just won't end up in the in the trash or landfill so easily. When you have a good quality product when it comes to storage solutions, you can at least get it get some value back in some way, shape or form, whether it's because you resold it, or you gifted it or gave it to somebody else that could use it again and again. So that would be one of my top answers for this. Get something of good quality that is within your budget that is within your needs. But that will last you as long as possible. The third question is how can I stay organized in the long run. So this actually came in very timely because we are doing our get versus stay organized series. As as I'm recording this, there is a concept called getting getting organized versus staying organized, which is two very different distinct actions when you're getting organized. Where getting organized is more project based. It's it's a short. It's a short project, I mean doesn't, it could be a long time project. But it's it has a middle, beginning, a middle and an end, right. It's a project where versus staying organized is all about habits and staying organized in the long run. So it's less project and more habits and more light, like the way that you live your life, the everyday actions that you make to stay organized versus just like a quick fix. So listen in on that it should be we are airing this in the one year anniversary and the get and stay organized series is within these episodes. So you should be easily able to find it. I'll also put it in the show notes. But to answer this question in this short episode, it basically has everything to do with developing sustainable systems that fit within your lifestyle, which is also known as habits, things that are very organic to the way that you move the way that you live. So what that means is don't necessarily force a system or a it's like something that you're trying to be if it doesn't feel natural, and if you don't think it's sustainable for you to keep up the habits. An example of this is we just talked about containers, right? Sometimes for trend, you know, for trend purposes, there's going to be a container or a style that's very, very popular. And let's say clear bins right for a long time, and those have been around for a long time. But they became they really got popularized in the last couple of years and so everybody loved them. But if you are someone that gets overwhelmed easily with visual clutter, then for you that might not work because that's just a lot a lot for you to to look at all the time and it overwhelms you instead of helping you get organized. Another example is for those of you who like having a labeling system that's very, that tells you where things go where things are supposed to go back to but for some People that is overwhelming, especially if you didn't create the system, then a label doesn't mean much for you, you have to actually embrace the label, understand what it means and then use it right or else that just won't mean anything. So that is my biggest tip for how to stay organized in the long run, develop something that is sustainable, that really works with your natural habits, and then build off of that over BJ Fogg in his book, and also atomic habits by James clear, BJ Fogg has the tiny habits. And both of those books are great books to pick up the top all about habit stacking, and really just doing little by little, which is something that we have tried and we understand, really is helpful when you build upon the habit like little by little by little, and then it just becomes part of who you are. Our first question is all about digital clutter. And someone like the someone specifically asked, How do I handle digital clutter. And then the other questions were a, like a branch off of that. So we'll just talk about digital clutter as a whole, right? digital clutter is very, very similar to physical clutter. And it means that you have so much stuff that you can't find what you need easily when you need it. And if you are at that place, then you have clutter, and it could be physical or digital clutter. And when it comes to digital clutter, it's such a, it's a hard one to see the, the red flags of you becoming clutter cluttered, because you can't see it, because digital files digital stuff doesn't really accumulate the same way visually, the way that physical stuff does. And there's actually an entire episode where we talk about physical clutter versus digital clutter. So I'll put that in the show notes as well. But because of that, you can really, really, that could like really start to accumulate in you don't even know it, there are no Telling Signs, until your program or your computer or your phone or your device says to you, hey, you ran out of storage, or something breaks because you just it's been running so hard. So how do you handle digital clutter, I would this is one of those places where I would really encourage you to have a maintenance calendar, and check in on your memory, and your hardware. So do this every quarter and commit to deleting say, you know, certain amount of files or getting to a certain amount of storage every single quarter. So let's say you know, your storage is one gig. So just make sure that every quarter, you are like no more than 75% of that, right. So that or whatever that magic number is depending it works a little different if you're using your phone versus your computer and stuff, but come up with something that that works for you and do a maintenance every so often and make sure you're under that threshold. So it doesn't all of a sudden surprise you and then you feel like you have to throw stuff away that you weren't even prepared to do so. And then also so it doesn't creep up so fast. And you can actually see where all your files are, you can do some quick decluttering by going to what your biggest files are, and then delete from there. That's obviously a really quick way you can also look for duplicates, of files of words, and then you know, declutter from there. So that would be my biggest step, have a maintenance schedule for your digital files, because those are the things that you don't see until they become a problem. Okay, the next question number five, was, and is one of our top questions. But I'm not fully equipped to answer it. But I'm including it in the podcast because we have a podcast episode from last year with Dr. Dar that talks about this, and we will address it again later this year with another guest. But the question is how can I deal with family resistance to change and the reason so we are equipped to work with the family unit. But once people hire us, it's because the family unit has agreed to get help. And to declutter and to clear out. We worked with a lot of families in that sandwich generation where there's a multigenerational decluttering going on, you know, they either inherited stuff from their family members are starting to inherit stuff, downsize, and they have their own stuff as well. That's the sandwich generation, you're kind of in the middle between raising your own family, yourself and then also your loved ones that may be like your older parents or elders. And so you're just kind of stuck in the middle and there's just a lot a lot of stuff. And when it comes to family resistance, so we we work with those types of families, but in order for all of the parties to come into a place where they're ready for this, there's a lot of pre work that happens and so that's why That's the part that we're not necessarily equipped to talk about. But I will give you one piece of advice that I have seen is very important. And the over 20 years of me doing this, right, and that is that you cannot force people to do things that they don't want to do. Especially if you're trying to make them change long term, you might push somebody to declutter throw away something in the near term, like in the short term, but their tendencies will come back, whether it's hoarding tendencies, whether it's, they just weren't ready emotionally to let go of stuff that will come back. And then you will be in the same cycle over and over unless you get to the root of the problem. So, you know, setting boundaries is really important telling your loved ones, hey, you know, these are my boundaries. But like I said, there is a whole episode where we talk about this with somebody who, who studies relationships and can guide you through that. But my tip as a pro organizer is don't force anybody do not hire somebody to help someone else that is not ready to get the help. When it comes to getting rid of their stuff, stuff has a lot of emotional value tied to it. So when they're not ready to let go of it, and you hire somebody that they don't even know, they may not be familiar with, that may make the whole problem worse. So I just don't want you to get stuck in that. So that would be my biggest advice for this question. The last question is, is there a magic organizing formula? And I chuckled. When I saw this question, it was the first time that I've gotten it, labeled like this, like, is there a magic organizing formula? And I chuckled, because I was like, I really like how that sounds, you know, just like this, like little magical, like God parent that comes in and just does it all? Okay? No, of course there is that. Here's the thing about organizing, organizing is sometimes mistaken as getting clean or getting tidy. Organizing does not mean you're clean, so that because of that, there's no just let's go and clean it all and make it sparkle. And it's all done and ready. Organizing is an action that will either need to be practice, you're not really born with it. Some of you have stronger tendencies to be more organized. Type as some of you call. And sure there is that. But to stay organized long term, it is a skill that needs to be practiced, learned and then practiced. So there is no one size fits all solution. There's no fairy godparent that comes in and just makes it all better. That's not quite how that works. Now organizers in our field and like pro organizers, we help you personalize and help you figure out something that will work for you. And that is our specialty, that is our talent. We find you know systems and create systems that will fit your very unique needs, which is something that sometimes you can't do on your own. So that's kind of like our magic, our magic formula, if you will, but it's not something that we can just bestow and it just goes away on like cleaning your stuff on like, getting rid of stuff just like that. I mean, that is just a junk Hall. And that is not organizing, that is a way to get to get more organized. But that is not organizing. So no, there is no one magic organizing formula. Some of us have created steps, like the seven steps of organizing almost anything that we have to help you. You know, break it down into smaller, smaller steps so that it just becomes easier to follow. But it's not a one size fits all type of
problem fixing here. Okay, so, So short answer no. But yes, some of us will have educational blogs and content that can help you so that you can understand it, you can embrace it, we can help you with some tips on how to get there on your own faster than if you were experimenting all over the place. So hopefully we can give you that and especially here at the organist when we know that is our hope for you to figure out a way that feels good for you that is sustainable in the long run. All right, so those are our top six questions of the year. Hope you enjoyed the this episode. A big shout out here to a couple of people really quick. This is like my academy award winning speech. So you know, feel free to stop the podcast here. But I think it is important. If you've been following us for a long time or even if you're new, just know that these are the people that make this podcast happen and the people that I'm really eternally grateful for who have supported us throughout the way and who encouraged us to keep going and encourage us to give you all of this amazing content, the first being Gaffin creative and Haley and her team who helped us out it and produce this podcast. They're just amazing. And we have Amanda Warfield who has helped me and introduced me to Haley and her team, but who has helped me with the content and just making sure that the content is what you want to hear and making sure that it flows and that it's relevant topics that are coming in, when you need them the most. So thank you so much, Amanda. And then, uh, my family and my friends, my husband, I mean, he, I think this whole process of recording a podcast is also something new for the people that are around you, especially to like, live with you, right? Because here, I am always telling him don't open the garage door, because you can hear it when I'm recording or, Hey, I'm recording between this and this hour, can you not use the internet, so make sure that the guest and I have the best audio, you know, all these things. So he is he's along on the journey with me. So thanks to him so much, and love import, and my besties who are always encouraging me giving me some new ideas on what to talk about how to talk about it. So thank you, thank you so much. Yeah, and to all of you, our awesome community that downloads the podcast that comes back and encourage us encourages us to keep going who head on over the blog post and read. You know all about our guests and about what we talked about. Thank you so much for your visits for your downloads for your encouragement. We are so excited here at the organized Flamingo to continue this podcast. For however long you'll have us and to continue helping you in your organizing journey. So with that being said, Have a great day until next week. Happy organizing. Thank you for listening to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here are full show notes and resources head on over to the organized flamingo.com/podcast Happy organizing
