Episode 131
Organizing is not my strong suit. It’s actually something that I tend to shy away from if I can help it. But in the interest of life-long learning and personal growth—and out of necessity because we had the huge move from Maui to Idaho coming up—I decided to tackle the topic with your help! This episode is packed with questions from Elevating Motherhood listeners.
My friend Jennifer Ford Berry made the dive into getting more organized so easy! She helped me so much during this transition. This interview took place before I even started packing the first box (and before the baby was born in December!) I got to apply her insights from this chat to the move and WOW what a difference. Her guidance was with me the whole time and has even carried over into setting up my new home here in Idaho.
Jennifer’s Bio: Jennifer Ford Berry is a professional organizer, best-selling author of the Organize Now series and Purpose Over Possessions…and she has a new book in May! She is also the host of The 29 Minute Mom Podcast—I was a guest on her show, too! She owns a semi-annual family consignment event: Mothertime Marketplace, is the president of Jennifer Ford Berry Ministries, and is a loving wife and mom of 2.
She shares all kinds of insights and tips for organizing your life and home. We all come to this topic with different energy—some of us love organization, some of us avoid it—no matter where you are on your organization journey, Jennifer has some helpful thoughts that will speak to you!
In this episode, Jennifer & I talk about:
- My interview on Jennifer’s show
- 9/11 influencing her career shift
- Organization hang ups
- Time
- Perfectionism
- How hard we are on ourselves when we feel unorganized
- Digital overwhelm
- Digital organization vs. pen/paper organization
- Embracing what we are good at
- Finding help
- Trusting organizers
- Acknowledging and embracing the season of motherhood we are in
- Toys all over the floor
- Getting our family on board with helping
- Getting our kids to help
- Getting our spouse to help
- Roles & responsibilities getting lost in gender role discussions
- How much time we should dedicate to organizing
- Is there such a thing as too much organizing?
- Organization and maintenance
- The wooden chore chart I mention is from Treasures from Jennifer
- Planners that aren’t used become clutter
- Striving for perfection
- Ask yourself “Do you love this? Do you use this?”
- Maintenance is time consuming
- When to toss or donate items
- No one in this country should be going without everything they need in this country
- Getting items into the hands of people who need them
- Local give
- How to organize large toys
- Do you want what goes along with an item you acquire
- Advice for organizing your pantry
- Advice for organizing your photos
- Cleaning with sweeps
- Advice for those who find organizing overwhelming
- Give yourself credit
- Giving family members credit, too
- How to be consistent with maintenance
- Where to start your organization
- Find your energy burst and go from there
- “I’m not living in The Container Store…”
- How organizing affects our family relationships
Jennifer’s Links: Website, Instagram, Podcast, and My Episode on The 29 Minute Mom
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