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130. Spring Cleaning Your Mind and Space with Jane Stoller
133 Plays1 year ago
The temperatures are heating up, so it’s time to begin our spring cleaning! This week, we have a very special guest, Jane Stoller, returning to the show. Jane Stoller is the founder of Organized Jane and the author of Decluttering for Dummies, Organizing for Your Lifestyle and more. (She was also our guest last year on Episode 71 of this show!)
With spring in full bloom, we're here to discuss all things organization, from spring cleaning tips to decluttering your digital world and your business. Jane also answers a few listener questions. Join us as we learn some valuable tips and tricks to streamline your life and bring a sense of calm and order to your surroundings.
If you enjoy this episode, please feel free to rate and review the podcast on whatever app you’re listening on, and share with a friend!
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CONNECT WITH JANE
Website: https://organizedjane.com/
Instagram: @organizedjane
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JaneStoller
CONNECT WITH THE SHOW
Website: WellnessAndWanderlust.net
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Twitter: www.twitter.com/moses_says
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Milestone
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the wellness and wanderlust podcast. We're here to demystify wellness and help you out a little adventure to your life. Tune in for a new episode every week, where we'll hear from incredible guests and talk about ways to be happier and healthier in our new normal. I'm your host, Valerie Moses. Let's get started.
00:00:23
Speaker
Hi there and welcome to the podcast. I'm so happy you're here with me today and I can't believe we are at episode 130. It has been such an amazing journey and I'm so thankful to each and every one of you for your support. It doesn't matter if you just started listening to the show or you've been tuning in from week one. I truly am grateful and I can't wait to continue this journey
Guest Introduction: Organize Jane
00:00:46
Speaker
with you.
00:00:46
Speaker
Now the temperatures are heating up so it is time for us to begin our spring cleaning. This week we have a very special guest, Jane Stoller, returning to the show. Jane Stoller is the founder of Organize Jane and the author of Decluttering for Dummies, Organizing for Your Lifestyle, and more. She was also our guest last year on episode 71 of the show.
00:01:06
Speaker
So if you missed that one or if you need a refresher, I definitely recommend checking it out after you listen to this one. With Spring in full bloom, we're here to discuss all things organization from spring cleaning tips to decluttering your digital world. And Jane is also going to answer a few of our listener questions. So stay tuned for that and join us as we learn some valuable tips and tricks to streamline your life and bring a sense of calm and order to your surroundings.
00:01:30
Speaker
I'd like to thank Laird Superfood for sponsoring this episode. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you know that I'm always on the go and looking for quick lifestyle shifts that can make a major impact on my health. That is why I love Laird Superfood products. I'm a big fan of their functional mushroom coffee with Chaga and Lion's Mean. It's a great way to boost my energy for the day while getting a lot more out of my cup.
00:01:51
Speaker
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00:02:12
Speaker
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Spring Cleaning and Organizing Tips
00:02:19
Speaker
All right, my friends, now let's dive into this week's conversation. Jane, it is so good to have you back on the show. Oh, thanks for having me. Well, I am delighted to have you on. Organization has been a big part of my journey in the last year, I would say. And I think getting to catch back up with you and talk about the work that you do is personally fulfilling for me. And I think it will be personally fulfilling for the listeners as well. So thank you so much for coming on.
00:02:42
Speaker
Well, thank you for having me and I agree a lot of people are getting organized want to be more organized and it's a constant topic.
00:02:50
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's such a cyclical thing for us that we get on some kick and we're maybe starting to set a system in place, forget about it. And then a few months later realize, oh my gosh, this drawer doesn't close anymore or whatever it is. And so I think it's something that we need to continually talk about. So before we get too far down that path, why don't you reintroduce yourself to our listeners and to those who haven't listened to the show. So I'm organized Jane or people call me Jane.
00:03:18
Speaker
But really I've spent the last five years, and even before that it was my side hustle for 10 plus years, helping people and businesses get organized. So I did start as a professional organizer in your homes. Ever since I was six years old, I naturally became organized and started helping classmates and friends and colleagues. And if you're listening and have kids, that's around the age, around six to eight, when you can see your kids either showing kind of organizing or disorganizing traits. So it's also a good time to teach them some organizing habits.
00:03:47
Speaker
But for me, it's always been a passion of mine. I downplayed the value for a long time. I started the business 15 years ago, then I failed the first time around, worked in corporate for 10 years, and then five years ago made it my full-time business again, organized Jane. And really, I want to make an impact on people in their life and their business because we need to be organized in all facets of our life. And that's what I'm here for.
00:04:07
Speaker
That's amazing. And I really do think that so many of the different areas, I mean, they all tie into one another. And if my countertop is completely full of stuff, chances are so is my brain. And I find like such a tie between all of that. And so I'd say first of all, when it comes to the work that you do, what are some of the challenges that you're finding that people have, especially like this time of the year? So we are coming into, we're in spring and we're coming into summer and a lot of
00:04:36
Speaker
A lot of us are thinking about spring cleaning and decluttering and getting more organized because we want to actually get into those summer months and enjoy them a bit more. So a lot of the challenges around just
00:04:47
Speaker
putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to get more organized during the
Managing Digital Clutter
00:04:50
Speaker
season. The first quarter's been done, maybe we hit targets, maybe we didn't, but there's still a lot of pressure on us. So I find a lot of people wanting to make a plan for spring cleaning and also just say, okay, this is the time I can really focus on getting a bit more organized, which is good. So when the weather gets warmer, start decluttering. You can put stuff out in the back porch, start getting rid of things.
00:05:11
Speaker
even if it comes to paper in your office, say, I'm going to spring declutter, I'm going to spring clean. So I think this is the optimal time to sit back and actually say, okay, what am I going to focus on and just do a bit of it because the weather is enticing us to do that. Yeah, absolutely. That's so true. And there are some like when it comes to stuff, there's just
00:05:29
Speaker
so much that comes out at this time of year that we weren't using before. I'm in Florida, and so it's a little different. Our seasons are not that exciting, but it's hurricane season and then it's not. But in most parts of the country and in most parts of the world, there's almost a cycle of when certain things need to be out and accessible and when they need to be put away and even what things if you move anywhere, what no longer needs to be around.
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, and you know what season specific might be a little bit more towards myself, I'm in Canada or perhaps on the more north in the US. But again, I find that spring is just that time as we go into like April, May, this is the time when we should, you know, we get a little bit of a pressure even in our computer files, maybe it's not physical stuff.
00:06:15
Speaker
But computer files, photos, emails, there's a little bit of pressure just because all the magazines are talking about it and we want it. It just entices us to get more organized. So it doesn't necessarily have to be a winter to summer wardrobe transition. It could just be emails and files on our computer, which is a big thing going into the summer months.
00:06:33
Speaker
I think that's so important too and I know for me coming into the new year I was so focused on just getting back into that survival mode at work that I wasn't really as intentional as I would have liked to be and I'm finding that I have some big things coming up later this year that I've been feeling very scattered on and in the last few weeks just sitting down and creating some documents and really starting to outline
00:06:58
Speaker
what I want those plans to look like and what needs to happen and kind of getting that more organized. And then also actually storing things in the places that maybe they should be stored. I'm a lot calmer when approaching what's happening later in the year. And so I'd love to know because I think with us being so glued to our phones and our computers and plugged in everywhere, it can be really easy to have that digital clutter pop up. What tips do you have this time of year for just any tools or anything that we can be doing, any practices we should get in
00:07:28
Speaker
to you. So the biggest mistake that I see people making when they hear digital declutter is we think, oh my gosh, I don't even know where to start. So we just don't start because we are just too overwhelmed. And I like how you said you made a plan, you feel a bit better about these new projects coming up because we have a plan, but we need to do the same with our photos, with our emails and our files because we are becoming so digitally cluttered that it's, it's becoming an issue. So it's a little harder even with digital than physical stuff because
00:07:56
Speaker
Digital, we think we have so much space, and then we get overwhelmed, and it's almost too late. But I say start now and start today. Whether it's once a month, I have a photo date with myself, I put it in my calendar, and I declutter my photos. I use an app to help me get rid of duplicates and blurry ones, and then I make albums, and I call it a day. I'm not telling anyone to go back and go through their 40,000 photos on their phone. I'm saying start this month. With our emails, start one a day unsubscribing.
00:08:24
Speaker
And then next month, maybe make some folders. So start small, but do something today. Otherwise you're never going to get a handle on it. I love that. And I think creating that more bite-sized approach to it makes it so much more approachable because it's so hard to look at my inbox sometimes and see, wow, there's a lot going on in here. And where am I even finding what I need to.
00:08:46
Speaker
what I actually need versus the one store I went to one time that sends me five emails a day. And in our last conversation, we had you on the show in February of 2022. And I remember you talking about the monthly photo date that you have with yourself, like an hour a month. And actually, that is a practice that I've taken on. Mine is this week.
00:09:07
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't picked a date but I always choose what week it's going to be and mark it on my list for the week. And I usually like the bachelor is on or something is on and I just power through and even just deleting the screenshots of things I wanted to remember for later or the meme that I posted to my Instagram story that saved to my phone and all the things that are such duplicates. And yeah, we just don't need them and then deleting the trash too.
00:09:33
Speaker
Because I found I was having to buy more and more storage. And while everything on my computer and my phone, like it's all connected and hosting a show, I want to make sure that I have that cloud backup and all of that. Sometimes I wonder, did I need as much as I'm paying for? And probably not. And probably most of us don't.
00:09:51
Speaker
Yeah, and that's a good point too because we are paying for physical stuff usually in terms of storage lockers and or you know, precious real estate in our home. Maybe we're not even renting out a room or a suite because we have too much stuff.
Mindful Living and Minimalism Discussion
00:10:05
Speaker
So those are big dollars every month we could be wasting, but little things like storage on our phones, on our Google drives and our emails, they can really add up too.
00:10:13
Speaker
I like that you mentioned to like, do we really need it? Are we going to go back and look at it? So I 100% believe in backing up and keeping what you need, but creating that system, going through it once a month, deleting it, you likely even forgot you had it within that month, that screenshot. So those are things that are really good practices. And I'm so happy to hear that you're actually doing the monthly photo day because that's a big thing I teach in my courses, the monthly photo date and a weekly accounting date so we can stay on top of the finance aspect.
00:10:40
Speaker
Talk to me about the weekly accounting date because that's something I am embarrassed to say. I work in a financial institution. We talk about the importance of budgeting and making sure that you're not paying for things that you don't need to have, but I'm guilty of it and I'm sure that many of the listeners are too. So what does that look like for your clients and what are some things we can be doing with that?
00:11:00
Speaker
Yeah, so I like to even break it down super simple and you don't even have to have a finance degree or even know what you're doing. I just say at the end of every week, go through your receipts, especially if you have a business, if you're a business owner, make sure they're all captured with a photo and or the email and send it to a receipt tracking software. I will send you my top three and then I have a freebie on how to use them. But those should be captured because whether you're a business owner or not, you have certain write offs you can do.
00:11:28
Speaker
And if you try to do it at the end of the year, it's too much. So every single week, send their receipts to the app, write a little bit about them. If you have an accounting software, if you are a business owner, send it to that. But every single week, you should be looking at that. Also, your invoice is what's coming in. And I don't make it complicated. You can even do, oh, watching a TV show if you need to, because it shouldn't be too stressful. It's not doing your whole entire books. You're not balancing anything. You're just looking at what you spent and what's coming in and making sure they're all going to the right softwares.
00:11:56
Speaker
I think that's great. That's something that is so easy to lose track of. There are so many things that we don't realize we have as recurring payments. We don't realize that we're spending as much as we are on, in my case, Amazon a
Handling Sentimental and Mental Clutter
00:12:10
Speaker
lot of the time. Exactly.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah, like a prime day comes up, I think I'm saving all this money. And it turns out I definitely didn't. And I got a lot of stuff that or, you know, maybe it was maybe it was useful. But did it all need to happen at that time? Maybe not. And actually knowing what's coming in and what's going out.
00:12:29
Speaker
makes it a lot easier to be intentional when it comes to the future purchases and to really think about, do I need to go buy this? Or should I be more intentional about making sure that I'm capturing this for business or for whatever the case may be? So I think that's great. Yeah. And it can also be such a great point. You mentioned about just
00:12:50
Speaker
you know, we're always buying or consumer society and that leads to more clutter and physical stuff. So being intentional that week on your accounting day will also help you figure out what you did buy. Maybe it's already duplicate of what you have or can you donate something that's similar? So it helps on the stuff aspect as well.
00:13:06
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, I'm trying to be so much better about last year. I did this exactly the wrong way where I emptied out everything in both bathrooms rather than focusing on one at a time. But as I was doing that, I found I have so much ibuprofen in the house because I just kept going out and buying it. And then I had multiple things that I didn't even realize that I had or just extras where it really wasn't necessary. I'm one person living by myself. I'm never going to get through it before its expiration date.
00:13:35
Speaker
So I've really tried to be intentional then about as I'm buying things, really inventorying it and trying to maybe have one in reserve so that I'm never without deodorant or something like that, but that you don't have however many of the thing that you don't need to have. So it's a nice way to cut back on the spending, cut back on having to store all these things that are just sitting there. Again, just knowing what is actually in your home and being able to make space for
00:14:03
Speaker
the things you might actually want or the activities or whatever it is. Oh, exactly. And I think the storage aspect is a huge issue, just paying for that or having something that you're storing, but never actually using. Yeah. Um, another question I have for you, because you really do work with the physical and the mental, emotional business, all the clutter that comes up in every area. There's a lot of brain clutter. And you know, when it comes to, I think getting things done, whether you're a business owner, whether you're,
00:14:31
Speaker
just moving through the world through a busy life and trying to stay on top of things. What are your tips for staying organized in that respect? Yeah. So I think we mentioned already having some kind of systems or dates with yourself. I call it from the accounting date, from the monthly photo date, setting yourself up for those systems and kind of creating habits around being organized and decluttering. You know, whether it's a 10 minute every single day in your calendar, a 10 minute declutter at the end of your workday.
00:15:00
Speaker
it's in your phone, you actually pops up and you're like, Oh, okay, I'm going to declutter my work, my desktop and my workspace for 10 minutes. Creating those habits and systems is really important. And I think being organized, a lot of us say, Oh, I'm so disorganized, but that's a mindset. And we can now change that to really say, okay, I'm going to start with a few small things to change that mindset. I am an organized person because
00:15:21
Speaker
I have the system, I feel a bit better and they're constantly improving too. So just really putting in some of the, you know, the systems in your businesses, in your house, maybe it's a weekly declutter date with your family, maybe it's putting some donate bins by the door. Maybe it is having that weekly finance date with your family too to say, how much should we spend?
Overcoming Organizational Challenges
00:15:40
Speaker
Do we have too much stuff? Can we do a weekly or a monthly donate or something like that? So setting up those for stuff and for your business is super important.
00:15:48
Speaker
That's so true with family. It's not just what you're bringing into the home, but what others are as well. And you could have a few very different styles of whether you have the person that's minimalist, but then you might also have the person that likes to have. And I don't think that that's wrong necessarily to have like physical things that bring you joy or whatever it is, but to really be intentional and have the conversations about it and to
00:16:12
Speaker
kind of hit whatever that middle ground looks like and I think also for people to understand I think especially the kids too about the financial impact as they get older too and really being intentional about I guess the stuff but really having it as more of a conversation I think is so key. Oh yeah 100% and I think
00:16:31
Speaker
that conversation as you can start early, start in your family or start with your colleagues. It really does help on a, you know, we all want to reduce our stuff and we don't need to be minimalist or it can, minimalism means whatever you want to mean. It can mean having less stuff. It can mean, you know, some of us are really minimal, but it really means different things to different people. So just opening up the conversation.
00:16:50
Speaker
you know, sharing about what you're doing to be more decluttered and how it might affect people you're sharing quarters with, offices or homes. So I think it is a conversation and just, you know, always putting it in a positive light and saying, this is how we're going to approach this. And a lot of people get immediately nervous or stressed when they hear declutter because it's an emotional thing, getting rid of something.
00:17:13
Speaker
They might not want to, or they know they need to, or they just, it can be emotional. So setting it up in a positive conversational tone is really the right thing to do.
00:17:22
Speaker
Yeah, there really is so much tied to our emotions when it comes to the physical. And in our last conversation, we did talk about the sentimental stuff and how we can really then be intentional about, you know, is there a way we can honor this in our home or is this something where it really doesn't necessarily tie back to the person that gave it to us or whatever it is. And maybe we don't need to physically have it or maybe there's a way to capture it that makes more sense than
00:17:50
Speaker
having a ton of things that were passed down to you from all these people that are just shoved into a closet. Yeah, it's very tough with sentimental items. And again, it's everybody's different. And I never say do not keep them because important to you, we want to be able to value that and it brings you joy if you look at it once a year, whatever it may be. But again, the last sentence you mentioned stuffed away in a closet and you never look at it, you forgot about it, you don't even know
00:18:14
Speaker
where it is, then it can't even bring you joy. So making sure that you have space for the sentimental items enough that it's not taking over your entire living quarters, but that you actually enjoy it once in a while and you say, oh, this is my sentimental area. These are my, whatever they may be, t-shirts from comics. I don't know, but enjoy them while you have them or put them on display or whatever it may be. Because sentimental isn't the bad thing. It's if you have so much, you can't find it and you can enjoy it.
00:18:39
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah, I think that's so, so important. And something else, we had a few questions coming in from members of our audience as well. And as far as we had, you know, based on the physical clutter and the mental clutter, but as far as that mental clutter goes, this listener had asked about to-do lists.
00:18:59
Speaker
and whether he has a mental to-do list. He says that it's not the best for him and he was wanting to know a little bit more about creating a better system for himself to really be more productive and to get things done. So how effective are to-do lists and are there mistakes we're making when we're creating those? Yes, a to-do list can be a whole separate podcast, I think.
00:19:23
Speaker
And there's so many different productivity journals now and apps to help you with productivity. And I'm just a firm believer in keeping it super simple. I do think getting it on paper helps and to differentiate between the to-do list and your priority list. And I follow this. It's called the Ivy Lee Method. You can Google it, but it's a simple. I got a consultant back in the day, Charles Schwab. He went into a company and said, I want to help make your employees more productive.
00:19:48
Speaker
And what he did is he said every night he talked to them for 20 minutes and he had them write down their top seven priorities for the next day, only seven. The next day he met with them again that night. He said, okay, in order of priority. He said, okay, the ones you didn't finish, I want you to like put them on the list for the
Digital Tools for Organization
00:20:03
Speaker
next day. So really like seven priorities is the big thing to focus on. And to-do lists, we can have so many, but are they really what you should be focusing on for priority? So I don't have special journals or I don't have a complicated process for to-do lists. I just have a simple notebook.
00:20:18
Speaker
And every day I focus on my seven. I don't do a hundred because I get overwhelmed, but keeping it super simple. So I would tell the listener to start seven priorities and go from there every single day.
00:20:29
Speaker
I think that that's a great point. I am someone who's very guilty of 100 things on the to-do list. You can't get them done, and at the end of the day you're thinking, wow, I was not productive. But when you really look back, actually you were, and you got the things done that needed to get done sometimes, or you focused so much on the things that weren't really important. It was the low-hanging fruit.
00:20:51
Speaker
Now the thing is still, yeah, it's like still going to be on your plate the next day and the day after that. And my to-do lists end up with multiple columns and it's very difficult to look at sometimes. Yeah. And I always, I always liked that first priority is usually the hardest one you don't want to do, but once you get that done, everything is easier. It's like that. There's a book that Brian Tracy, he's the guru that I've always studied.
00:21:14
Speaker
He has a book that eat the frog first, so eat the biggest priority first that you don't actually like doing, but after you get that done, everything else will seem easy.
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I had to do that even today. There was something I was absolutely gritting and it really did not take me that long to do it. Yeah. And once it was done, I felt like I was on such a roll with everything else. It's so simple. The mindset or the habits are very simple, but it's just the forcing us to actually do the hard stuff first and get it over with and then going from there.
00:21:47
Speaker
Absolutely. Now, another question that I received that I've definitely struggled with this myself, but how do you restart a project that you abandoned, like when life happens? So maybe you've been really working on the garage or particular area of the house or even something that is on the digital side or, you know, a different type of goal. You've abandoned it, things happened, and you've lost that momentum. How do you come back to that? And
00:22:14
Speaker
You know, full steam ahead or in whatever way is going to get it to where it needs to be. Oh, oh my, I think this
Emotional Aspects of Clutter
00:22:20
Speaker
happens to all of us, especially if you're a business owner. We have so many things on the goal and we're so gung ho and then something else comes. We forget about it. We draw the project, whatever it may be. So this is so normal. And I think it's, it has to happen in life because things come up.
00:22:34
Speaker
and different priorities take over. And if it's something that is going to move that needle in your business or it's something you really want to do personally, you probably need to say, okay, I'm going to set a deadline, maybe enlist some accountability support, start small again. But I would put it on your, not to-do list, but on your, let's say, priority. If it's a big priority, say, I'm going to map this out. Like you said, for a project you're working on, map it out and what are the next steps. But it's totally okay to forget about a project and come back to it.
00:23:00
Speaker
But again, if it is something that's really going to help you drive your business, your personal life, put it back on that priority list. Yeah, I think so often we just put so much blame on ourselves that oh my gosh, I wasn't going to get this done because I had whatever challenge that came up and
00:23:16
Speaker
Instead of figuring out that way to come back to it that makes sense for us, we just approach it with that shame and just ultimately push it under the rug. And I think when we really can get intentional with that and yeah, put it on the priority list or, or if it's the thing that you realized, maybe this is not my priority anymore. Cause I've held guilt over projects that I didn't finish that weren't needed for anything in particular. It was for me personally and realized I don't think that I want to even do it.
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's also a really good point because a lot of the priorities, are they really priorities? And are they for you, for somebody else, for your team? Do they need to be done? Can someone else do them? So figuring out those priorities. And that's why I love, you know, having an accountability group or a mastermind or a coach or someone that
00:24:00
Speaker
hash out, okay, this is really what you should be focusing on.
Business Updates and Rapid-Fire Q&A
00:24:03
Speaker
And the other stuff, maybe they're nice to do, but they're not priorities. Yeah, exactly. I think just figuring out like, I love the Eisenhower matrix with the urgency and importance. It's a good one. Yeah. Yeah. It's one that really made me start to rethink like,
00:24:20
Speaker
how am I spending my time? And again, that low hanging fruit, a lot of times it is so easy to go to the thing that's not really that important and it's not urgent, but it'll take you two minutes and it's, you know, instead of really putting the time in so that maybe you can avoid things being too urgent altogether if you really prioritize it in the way that you've laid out here.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And there's, I think there's something to be said about that too, because we're spending so much time on items, like getting the priorities right first will really help you organize your thoughts and your next steps and the next day even better.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah. Now, just in general, when it comes to our organization, whether that's again, physical, mental, business, life, any mistakes that you see people making that we can avoid or adjust. Yeah. The biggest mistake, I think I've already mentioned it right on this call is just not starting. We're so overwhelmed today that we're not starting.
00:25:11
Speaker
And I think we're also saying like, I'm just too busy. I'm too overwhelmed. I'm too cluttered already. What's the point? So it's really, if you can on this, if you're listening right down right now, three areas that are really causing you stress when you hear the word disorganization, getting organized, likely there's a trigger that made you even listen to this podcast. And those are the things that I want you to start today. And the mistake of not starting today is that you'll never get to them because we need to just
00:25:36
Speaker
start small and start somewhere. A lot of us are probably thinking about emails during this or photos or attics, but write down those three things or those areas, whether it's mental, digital or physical stuff. And the one that you really are, like the one that's causing the most stress, tonight or tomorrow or whenever, start even 10 minutes a day working on it.
00:25:56
Speaker
I remember that was something you said to me about a year ago with my guest room really gives me like, I would think about it and my chest would get tight. I literally had physical response to it. And that's something that I, you know, it's a work in progress.
Podcast Closing and Listener Engagement
00:26:12
Speaker
I think there's furniture that would make it a little bit like a little more streamlined, but I was really able to work on that closet. So I actually know where things are. And it's,
00:26:21
Speaker
a lot easier to find what I need and to move through that room, it's more functional. And I really dreaded it. But doing it, I don't get that same feeling walking into that room or thinking about that room and how much our physical things really weigh on us.
00:26:39
Speaker
Oh, and that's a big thing. And I think my advice hasn't really changed much since February. I hope it's not boring for the listeners to listen to the first episode. But it's that reiteration of just like you said, start small. And it is the little things like it's often those that time we spend thinking on something that is causing us to lose focus, or we could be focusing on something else. So start small and start today. That's the biggest advice.
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah. That start today piece is huge too, because I hear so many people that think it's never going to happen. And it's like, well, it can happen. And think about where you'll be. Like, I am such a big proponent of, you know, you talked about the 10 minute declutter at the end of the work day. I love setting timers because I will, there, there's a meme of the girl that's cleaning her room. And five minutes later, she's wearing like a crazy mask and she's found all these things. And that's me. I was a little kid.
00:27:29
Speaker
who would be told to clean her room and would end up like reorganizing the bookshelf and then reading one of the books and not doing like I would I would alphabetize instead of actually kind of doing the thing because there was no real structure that I put around it of course as a little kid and
00:27:46
Speaker
Now finding like I can look in a room sometimes and think, oh my gosh, this is so stressful. Set the timer for 10, 15 minutes and amazed to see. I've even taken pictures sometimes of what the difference is in that time. And if we don't do anything, it's still going to be bad. Like it's probably going to be worse, but the time is going to pass anyway. So.
00:28:05
Speaker
Can you spend the 10 minutes that you were scrolling or can you find a way to still work toward that goal or, you know, but yeah, the starting today piece, I think that's, again, it's, it's overwhelming. It's intimidating, but just a little bit of progress can go a long way. Oh, a hundred percent. And I think that's the biggest mistake we make. We think we have to do it all at once and a lot of us are perfectionists and we think it has to be perfect. It doesn't, your closet doesn't have to be just start eliminating one thing today or start with your
00:28:33
Speaker
pants one week, the shirts the next week, start small. Yeah, absolutely. Now in terms of organizing, like the systems that we have in place, any others that you recommend for the physical declutter? Yeah. So for those systems, it really depends on the state of the stuff where you, if you live alone with other people, but really set up something that works for yourself. So I would start with a, maybe a room that's causing a lot of stress and say, okay, I'm going to start with this room.
00:29:01
Speaker
put a declutter box in or a donate and sell box. Other physical spaces that are big clutter traps are usually the entryways into our homes. We're usually dropping things there and it never goes anywhere. So figure out a system.
00:29:13
Speaker
Maybe it's hooks, maybe it's boxes for everybody that comes in to put the stuff in, maybe even key drawers, simple things like that. So as soon as we walk into our entryway, the stuff already has space. The same thing with our offices. Is there something we can do? We might be back at the office now. Is there something we can do to make it more efficient, get rid of the paper clutter, but set up those systems in unique kind of spaces and start with the ones that are usually causing you the biggest stress or the biggest common clutter traps.
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah, because that's going to be making the biggest impact overall. And I'd love to know with the paper clutter, that's something I struggle with this. I think a lot of people do. And I have way too many files in my desk that probably don't need to be there. But it can be really hard because you think, oh my gosh, this thing is absolutely, I'm going to need it one day. And then you realize,
00:30:03
Speaker
I really will never need this ever again. But do you have any tips for kind of approaching the paper clutter and recognizing like when it's time to let that go and that not everything is necessarily an important file? Yes, and this depends on of course the type of work or the type of
00:30:19
Speaker
documented is like I do agree some are important to keep, but likely if you can digitize them or they already on a digital version. A lot of people have, you know, mortgage papers or, you know, titles, things like that that are super important. But can you digitize them and put them into a cloud file? Anything paper, can it be converted to digital? If yes, do it. Does it need to be converted to digital? Maybe not.
00:30:41
Speaker
And have you looked at that in the last year? And if not, will you ever need to? If it's super important, of course, personal document or something for your career business. If you haven't used in the year, can somebody else use it? Can you pass it along? Maybe it's a training document or something for a client to use.
00:30:58
Speaker
and start kind of really being a bit more harsh on your paper documents to get, I would try to go 100% digital if you can, especially in this day and age, but the amount of time you don't want to spend hours scanning, but is it worth to scan and keep? If not, I would consider discarding it depending on the type of paper that it is.
00:31:15
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that's so huge. It's something, again, like I have so much of it. And I had to think about, am I ever going to need this speeding ticket that I got 10 years ago that has been paid? Everything is, you know, like, no, I don't need that. And there are things that, you know, my medical files, that's all the doctors have those online. Absolutely. I may want to keep my birth certificate. That's probably a good one to have. Yes.
00:31:44
Speaker
And like the less you have, the better you can find the really important stuff. And that's what I want to stress. Like the birth certificate is so hard for people to find because they have so much other stuff. The speeding ticket should go.
00:31:56
Speaker
And as well, a lot of other stuff that we think we need to keep what we really don't because, you know, medical records, maybe if you want to in a special file there, but a lot of that stuff I would consider, okay, first, you really need to keep it manuals are a big one, I see people keeping, but we can find more updated ones online. And even, you know, insurance documents and things I would
00:32:15
Speaker
really start creating them online and then deleting them when you don't need them anymore, when there's a new edit made, because then our computers end up being a big mess as well. But start really getting rid of things right away and just make it part of your daily routine. I think that's so important. I really am trying because we all get so much junk mail and just immediately throwing it in the shredder, throwing it in the trash if it doesn't have anything important, or just really going through it and figuring out
00:32:45
Speaker
Does this need to be around? Cause I know like the paper clutter is probably one of my worst things. It always has been, we've never been, and it's the same with my family. It's always been like the house is never dirty, but can you find anything? Eh, it's definitely gotten better. My parents are, I don't know.
00:33:03
Speaker
organizational kick now and they're really working on that. But that's a big thing is finding those papers. I know that I wasn't able to find my social security card at one point because it was put in such a strange, like I put it in such a strange place and I had so much that it was a really hard thing to get to. And now with the, I don't know how it is with Android, but I know with the iPhones, you can now scan into the Notes app and it looks just as good as it would on a scanner.
00:33:30
Speaker
Oh, exactly. And that's, that's what I think we need to get, you know, take a picture of things and save it, right? It doesn't need to be perfectly scanned and it actually looks the same.
00:33:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's sped up my life in so many ways. And yeah, it just takes no time. You don't have to wait for like, because I think that's another thing is people say like, you always hear the millennial problem of you have to print things when you're at the office because you don't have the printer, scanner, whatever at home, but you don't need to have all that equipment anymore to still get these things done.
00:34:01
Speaker
And I feel like a lot of, um, you know, people younger generation is like, well, I've never had a printer. So I think we need to get with the times on that too. Yeah, absolutely. Now, as far as the digital goes, there are so many great tools out there. You talked about how you have some tools for the accounting piece, but any other, I guess, digital tools that you recommend for getting organized and making your life easier.
00:34:26
Speaker
Yeah, for digital tools, I like so many different types of apps to help for the email side. I use like a CRM system. I use HubSpot to help me keep track of my emails. So I'm not stressed about, you know, losing emails. That's kind of a system for business owners and for personal lives. For accounting, definitely I have three receipt tracking apps that I use almost every day.
00:34:47
Speaker
For photos, there's different types of apps that I can that I recommend, but you can Google some to help you reduce like the duplicates on your phone and also the blurry photos. There's so many different tools for you know systems and to get you depending on what you're looking for, but I'm really big on
00:35:04
Speaker
the ones that you can use every single day that'll help make you a little bit more organized. And it could just be something like the notes on your phone, like you mentioned, or maybe it's a scanner app if you still want, or something that can help you start. But the big ones are, depending on if you have a business or not, I think everyone needs to track their receipts, everyone needs some kind of email tracking software, and also a good software for photo reduction is really helpful.
00:35:26
Speaker
I need to do that photo reduction. Even with my photo dates, I'll take so many pictures and so many videos. I'm like, this is going to be content and then it's never going to be content. Or I find it I'm like.
00:35:36
Speaker
I think this is a picture of the ground. Like this is not what I needed to capture in the first place. I think that's something that people can relate to. I love HubSpot and yeah, I think, I think the notes and that's something now I am guilty of just kind of brain numbing things into notes and then finding that weird things are in notes together. And so for me, I've started to occasionally, maybe every other week kind of go through my notes and put them into folders where it makes sense or kind of rename or delete if it's just.
00:36:03
Speaker
I was trying to remember something I like the reminders in the phone to just reminding myself and now set reminders for things like cleaning my tea kettle because I don't think to do. Yeah, that's actually that's actually on my list for tonight. I love it. Little things like that to help any of you feel better afterwards and it gets done.
00:36:23
Speaker
then it kind of makes it aids in that mindset of I can do this, let's do the next organizing or decluttering task. Yeah, absolutely. So I think that having the digital, having just mentally having those systems in place, all of that is just so key. Anything else that you recommend for getting your life organized at this time of year and really feeling on top of things?
00:36:46
Speaker
Yeah, so I would go back to that list we started and if your listeners were, you know, why you, why you used to listen to this podcast. There's got to be a reason. Of course, I love your podcast, but listen to every episode, but there has to be a specific reason that triggered something with organizing or disorganizing. And I really want the listeners to hone in on that one thing. This time of year, the big things I see are usually related to more stuff and cleaning and home stuff.
00:37:10
Speaker
But again, offices, it's a great time to really review the stuff you have around you. Are you using it? Can you do something else with it? And can somebody else use it? So create a donate box or a sell box. This is a great time of year to do that and keep the momentum going.
00:37:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's a huge one for me. I also find being in PR and community relations in my day job, I get so much physical stuff. And sometimes it seems like a nice item. So I'm like, yeah, I want to keep this. And then I think I don't need X number of this promotional item, but I know that other people will really appreciate having it. And so sometimes if it's something where it's maybe not going to go to a nonprofit, but it's something that I know, like,
00:37:51
Speaker
Hey, there are people at my work that could use another notebook or that could use whatever the thing is. And, you know, sharing those things in those communal areas and kind of having in mind, like when I know that this is where this thing is going to go or with clothing, sometimes if I'm getting rid of clothing that I want to give it to somebody else that is going to really like it or finding a home for that next thing makes it a lot easier to part with it.
00:38:16
Speaker
Exactly. And that's what I think I love about, you know, we were so consumeristic, but now there's still a lot of people that need what you don't use. And it's, it's like a new gift to them. And I think
00:38:26
Speaker
the donating aspect or the, you know, the re gifting that whatever you want to call it is so important. Yeah. Cause again, we, we're a very wasteful society and we throw out so much that maybe it doesn't, it can be reused in another way or somebody can take it. So I think once I realized that I don't just have to throw things out because I'm very guilty of that too, but there's a less wasteful way to approach it. And then it also kind of makes me think, well, maybe I don't need to buy this many of this thing in the future. And it kind of
00:38:55
Speaker
resets the intention there too. Yep, exactly. And I think just putting awareness to it is very important. Yeah, absolutely.
00:39:02
Speaker
Well, I love the work that you're doing. I definitely would love some updates on what's been going on for you in the last year and what you're working on. I do have some rapid fires and they have been updated since our last one. So yeah, I got some new questions for you. Now my first one, what is your favorite self care practice right now? So right now it's just going to like a spa for a treatment, whether it's a facial, whether it's a massage. And I think that just helps me disconnect and it's also good for my body.
00:39:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Hey, you can't be on your phone. Exactly. It's like meditation and actually good for your skin. Good for everything. Absolutely. Love that. Now, do you have a one word theme for the year? Or if not, is there a word that you'd like to embody this year? Yes, systems. You mentioned it a couple times already on this podcast, but for me, it's systems.
00:39:52
Speaker
Oh yeah, that has made it so much easier for me to feel on top of things and to not let my stuff take over. Just if I know that on this day, this is when I do this or I set this timer or I have this practice that I do and that habit and really creating the systems makes it so much less overwhelming and easier to maintain. Oh, 100%. Yeah.
00:40:15
Speaker
Love that word. And my final rapid fire for you, what are you most looking forward to right now? So this kind of relates to the systems, but I'm looking forward to just a bit more calm because I've been organizing my business for five years and now I can take a little bit of a breather. So it's just more calm because systems are in place. I did take six to eight months off. I did a kind of a blog post on that and how my business kept running. So just calm, but systems keep everything running.
00:40:41
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah, the com I think, I think many of us can relate to that. And I think that's definitely something to look forward to. And I'm excited for that for you. Yes, thank you. And I'm doing some in person workshops again, which, you know, I don't do very often, but it's nice to, you know, to bring everyone together and talk about their systems and how we can get everybody else less overwhelmed as well.
00:41:02
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And I think you learned so much from hearing from different perspectives and what works for different people in different situations. Talk to me about the workshops you're offering and any other updates you've had since February of last year. Yeah, so my kind of business motto stayed the same and in terms of just getting started and I still offer my six step signature course for
00:41:24
Speaker
you know, to get your life and business organized. And in February last year, I was doing a retreat. I did that in April last year, and that was a really big, full-blown retreat, five days. And now I'm doing more. I have three in-person locations coming up in April and May.
00:41:39
Speaker
in Whistler LA and Cabo and we're just going to be focusing on my six steps in the course and together working side by side for those two days to get your systems in place. So a little bit more in person but still the course is run online and it's continuously taking applicants.
00:41:54
Speaker
That is so cool. And those are, I mean, three very different, but beautiful places to do the in-person workshops too. Yeah, it is. That's amazing. But what a great community that you're building and what a great way to really help people to pursue the dreams that they have and to really get intentional and to focus on what matters instead of all this physical and emotional clutter that we have.
00:42:19
Speaker
Exactly. And I think we're just so overwhelmed by it. Emotionally, we're overwhelmed by the clutter, but the physical, the digital, and the mental. And then we need to get a hold on it. And the mistake we make is not addressing it and not doing something about it. Yeah. Now, I would love to know for our listeners who maybe didn't tune in last time or newer to the podcast or need a refresher, where can they find you and connect with you?
00:42:43
Speaker
So my website is www.organizedjane.com and I'm most active on Instagram at Organized Jane. So I'd love to share resources or if anybody needs to reach out about a specific place in their home or business process, whatever it is, reach out on Instagram and I'll be happy to give you a resource and connect with you on it.
00:42:59
Speaker
Wonderful. I'm going to make sure to link that in the show notes and I want to congratulate you again on the in-person workshops. I think those are going to be amazing and just all the work that you're doing, the systems that you've created for yourself to really again, be intentional and then hone in on what matters for the business and for the people that you're working with. And I want to thank you for coming on the show and sharing this insight with us.
00:43:22
Speaker
Well, thank you again for having me. I think this is an amazing, you know, wellness is so important when we talk about it with not just, you know, what we eat and exercise, but clutter is causing a lot of stress. So I think this is an important topic for the podcast.
00:43:34
Speaker
Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of Wellness and Wanderlust. I always love Jane's actionable takeaways, and I feel like her tips are so accessible to all of us, no matter where we're at in our decluttering journeys. I am such a big fan of doing a little bit at a time and doing that consistently because those 10 to 15 minutes of tidying up makes such a difference. And I know that I operate better in all areas of my life when I'm living and working in a space that's organized and functional.
00:43:59
Speaker
The digital decluttering is another really huge one for me. It's something that I've been working on, but I'm really looking to expand on in the year ahead. And I, again, love the tools and takeaways that she provides. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure that you follow Jane on social media. Check out all of her amazing resources and connect with her. And if you'd like to lend your support to the show, it would mean the world to me if you left a rating and review on your favorite podcast app to let us know what you think.
00:44:27
Speaker
Your reviews help our show reach more people and make an even greater impact. And I'm so grateful to each and every one of you who have taken the time to share your thoughts with us. If you have a topic or question for a future episode, reach out to me on Instagram, Wellness and Wanderlust blog, or drop me a line at Valerie, V-A-L-E-R-I-E, at wellnessandwonderlust.net. Thank you again for tuning in and can't wait to see you next time.