Today’s microscopic home organizing topic is brain dumping - the best way to get all the things out of your mind so you can get the right things done.

This is the first of a 3 part series on overcoming overwhelm at home.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed? That’s a silly question, right?!

EVERYONE feels overwhelmed at times. While it would be great if we could implement something that completely eliminates overwhelm from ever happening again, I don’t think that’s realistic. Do you? Life throws us curveballs, unexpected things. We can even be overwhelmed with normal daily life of running a household, working, trying to simply do all the things.

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of allowing overwhelm to rule your life and make you feel anxious and frustrated, you can start with a brain dump to get yourself moving in the right direction and to squash the overwhelmed feeling. In this episode I’ll share with you what a brain dump is, why it works and how to do one.

HOW TO DO A BRAIN DUMP

Let’s get into the steps you need to take to make it happen.

1. Decide if you want to use pen and paper or type it up. There’s no wrong method to use.
2. Start writing. Everything that comes to your mind. Don’t worry about the order. Just write or type. The goal is to get it all out of your head.
3. Write/type until you can’t think of anything else.
4. Keep the list you're making handy so that as you think of more things, because you will, you can add to the list.

That’s it! This is the first step to overcoming the overwhelm at home. In next week’s episode I’ll share what the next step is, prioritizing. I’ll share the best way to prioritize and what to consider when you’re doing so. But if you’re feeling like you need extra help right now. It’s an urgent situation. Please go to www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com and click the ask me anything link. This allows you to ask me any question you have about home organizing, including overcoming overwhelm. I’ll get back to you with a solution that you can utilize right away.

Join me again next week to continue learning how to overcome overwhelm at home.

Thanks so much and have a great day!

Your Home Organizing Educator, Tammy

Today’s microscopic home organizing topic is Kids Clothes that Don’t Fit.

When my kids - all 3 of them - were born they fit into 9 month size baby clothes. The biggest at 10 pounds and the smallest at 9 pounds 8 ounces, the clothes we got at the baby shower were simply too small. Nobody was predicting that our babies would be so big! Not even my doctor. Even the diapers we had initially were too small for their baby bottoms. I do miss the days of having babies, being able to hold them in my arms and snuggle. Now they’re all too big to fit on my lap and they don’t even want to!

Anyhow. What to do with all the baby clothes, toddler clothes, kids size clothes as they grow. Because they grow out of these things so fast, right! They wear these things once or twice then they’re too small!

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of letting kids' clothes spill out of their closet and dressers because most of them are too small, you can implement a simple process that will help you move these items out of the house for good. In this episode I’ll share with you what the process will do for you, why it will work and how to implement it.

www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com

Today’s microscopic home organizing topic is Tidying Up.

Do you have little piles of stuff scattered here and there around your home? Maybe a bit of clean clothes sitting on a chair because you’ve just not had time to put them away. Or the mail from yesterday is sitting on the counter because you just haven’t gotten to it yet. The dirty dishes are sitting in the sink or on the counter. Kids dirty socks laying on the floor in the living room. Used tissues sitting on the coffee table. An empty Gatorade bottle on the fireplace mantle. Ugh. Right? Time to carve out an hour or two to get it all cleaned up. Or is there another solution?

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of making time to clean everything up all at once you can utilize the 2 minute rule throughout the day. In this episode I’ll share with you what the 2 minute rule is, why it works and how to implement it today, right this minute… or 2 minutes!

www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com

Today’s microscopic home organizing topic is LAUNDRY.

I have these unwritten rules in my head about laundry. Do you too? Sort them by color. Wash darks on cold, whites on hot, use bleach, wash towels together, wash jeans together. ugh! Do I really need to do all these things? I mean, before kids it was easier because all the dirty clothes were just mine or mine and my husbands. After kids the whole laundry task changed. As they got bigger it changed more, right. Definitely more loads to get done today than there was 10 years ago!

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us. Instead of feeling like laundry is a dreadful never ending chore, you can take a step back and put measures in place to effectively get it done so that you truly feel that you have it under control going forward.

That’s what you want, right? I know you’re smart enough to realize that the task of doing laundry won’t ever just disappear. It’s like dishes, as long as everyone in the house is eating there will inevitably be dishes to wash. As long as everyone in the house doesn’t run around naked there will be clothes to wash!

But it doesn’t have to be something you dread. It can just be a chore that happens as needed for your current season of life or current level of chaos in your home. In this episode I’ll share the best 2 options you have, why these options will work for you and how to get started this week.

www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of allowing spring cleaning to seem like a black mark on a great time of year, you can find a new way to get started. In this episode I’ll share with you what areas you should start with, why it’s important to do spring cleaning and how to get started today.

Free Spring Cleaning Checklist.

In each episode I share a microscopic home organizing topic. That just means it’s something you can implement today, from start to finish, if you so choose.

Today’s microscopic home organizing topic is this: What you can do when you don’t know how to get organized.

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of feeling like you should already know how to get organized or forcing yourself to figure it out on your own you can ask questions and get answers. In this episode which is super short so you can take action right away I’ll share with you where you can go to ask questions about home organizing, why it’s ok to ask questions and the steps you can take today to get started.

Let’s start with where you can go to ask all your home organizing questions. I’ve created an online community - not in Facebook because we all know Facebook is just a time suck with oodles of distractions. Instead it’s found within my website so that you can stay focused when you’re working on your home organizing project. This community is where you can go to ask me anything about home organizing and I’ll answer!

I used to feel like there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t be organized “like everyone else.” I was too embarrassed to ask questions of my friends that always seemed to have it so together. You don't have to keep struggling. Maybe you’re not sure where to get started. Or maybe you have a room specific question like, what is the best type of container to store my makeup in? Whatever your question is, come to this community and ask it. You don’t have to forge through this all by yourself. You are definitely not the only one who struggles to get and stay organized!

So, the steps to ask your questions are quick and painless.

Go to http://www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com Click the button on the top of the website and sign up for an account -no payment info is needed. Create your profile - basically add your name and picture if you like. Ask your questions!

I like to wrap up every episode with a single point to remember. This point is meant to help you remember what you’ve learned today so that you can make progress and build momentum in your home organizing journey.

Today’s point to remember is this:

Ask questions. Get answers. Today.

Thanks so much and have a great day! I hope to meet you in the free community!

This is it. This is the final strategy that will help get you off the hamster wheel of home organizing. That’s where you organize the same spaces over and over and over again. If you’ve not listened to the episodes detailing out the other 7 strategies you’ll certainly want to go back and listen to all of them. It can be right now before the rest of this episode or after you’re done here. All 8 strategies work together because they’re all created with sustainability in mind. If you’re not able to keep your organized spaces organized what’s the point, right? It feels like such a waste of time.

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of stopping your home organizing project after everything has been physically done you can finish by putting measures in place to SUSTAIN it. In this episode I’ll share with you what it means to SUSTAIN your work, why it’s important and how to make it happen.

Let’s dive deep into your home organizing journey together. Sign up for The Secrets to Lasting Home Organization at www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com .

Join me next week as we dive into what you can do when you don’t know how to get organized.

How many times have you stopped at a store, saw some really nice baskets or bins and all of sudden had motivation to get organized. Literally this is where I think we all start. My daughter, without any prior discussion, asked if we could buy these specific baskets so that, and I quote, “I can organize my bedroom, mom.” How is it that buying baskets or bins will result in an organized bedroom? When we actually stop and think about it we realize that the baskets and bins would look nice but we have no idea if they fit the space or what we would even store in them.

And this is why so many of us wind up on the hamster wheel of home organizing where we have to organize the same spaces over and over and over again.

The strategy we’ll talk about today is the strategy that most people think of when they think of getting organized, but with a twist.

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of starting with cute bins and resolving to just get rid of everything, you can shift your focus when you ORGANIZE. In this episode I’ll share with you what it means to organize, why it’s important and how to organize so that you can set yourself up for success and ultimately get off the hamster wheel of home organizing.

You can dive deeper into organizing by focusing on the function with me by your side. Sign up for The Secrets to Lasting Home Organization at www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com .

Join me next week as we dive into strategy 8, Sustain. This is the final strategy in this series about How to get organized and stay organized.

Your Home Organizing Educator, Tammy