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Organizing to Match Our Family’s Needs
971 Plays1 month ago
In this episode…... Join Kallie Branciforte, Caitlin Houston, Megan Schinella and Charlotte Smith as they share tips and opinions about home organization and what works for each of the four co-hosts. We discuss how our season of life and the interest of our kids and families impact our sense of organization around the home.
Key Topics Covered: Navigating school germs and sick kids, weird hacks for treating illnesses, essential oils, messy toddlers and sensory tables, kids’ thank you notes, organizing our homes to match our family’s needs
“Organization is more about having habits that keep our lives running smoothly.”
https://www.just4momspodcast.com/episodes/episode2
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Rebranding
00:00:00
Speaker
Let's do it. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Just For Moms. I love it. I love our new name. Can I just say it? I do. It's so much better than the one that we don't speak of. ah This is our second episode. um And you know it's funny because i'm just gonna I'm just going to say it. We just recorded our first. So I can't pretend like I have to ask you guys how you're holding up because I already know.
Meet the Hosts and Podcast Focus
00:00:30
Speaker
Welcome to Just For Moms. I'm Charlotte. I'm Caitlin. I'm Megan. And I'm Callie. We are regular moms talking about regular stuff like aging, parenthood, work-life balance, and figuring out what's for dinner again. A no judgment zone to talk, laugh, and maybe cry about all the things women think about on a daily basis. things don
Back-to-School Germs and Sick Kids
00:00:49
Speaker
plan It's the new year now still and kids are back in school and I don't know about you guys but the germs are just like coming into my house, like the most unwanted guests of 2025. So how's everybody doing on that front? I will say this is the only time of year when I tread a little bit lightly. Like other times of year, if my kid has a sniffle or a cough, if they're feeling great, they're going to school. This time of year, I do tread a little lighter because I don't want to be like patient zero. You know what I mean? Like we had someone home yesterday
00:01:28
Speaker
with a juicy cough and a sore throat and no fever, not feeling great. And I took them in to get a strep test, all negative, but usually I just would be like, no fever, you're fine.
Deciding When Kids are Too Sick for School
00:01:40
Speaker
But not no now. It's everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I straight up sent Annabelle to school last week. She woke up. She's like, my throat hurts. And I looked inside and I was like, it's fine. You don't have a headache. You don't have a fever. You have nothing else go to school. And when she walked in the door at the end of the day, she had no color in her face. She had a 99 fever. And I was like, hmm.
00:01:59
Speaker
this is either strep or the of the flu thankfully it was strep so that's good but i'm just waiting for the flu to come i know it's just like the just coming i think the hardest time of this year is that like It's like, I feel like I have to play this game every morning of like, are you sick? Should I be sending? And then it's the anxiety, like you said, of like not wanting to be the one that sends your kid to school. Cause we've all sent, like you said, we've all sent our kid to school and been like, you're fine. And then they're not fine. Or we've all kept our kid home when they like definitely didn't need to be home. And I feel like every, like I already have enough decision fatigue as it is, but I feel like it's like every, between, you know, my multiple children, it's like every morning I'm like, are you?
00:02:44
Speaker
Are you too sick? like Are you not sick? Are you just tired? are you just You know what I mean? It's yeah exhausting. And when they are sick and home, because I know I had a few home before Christmas break, it stresses me out. like i can I don't know what it is. I'm just like, Megan, relax.
00:03:00
Speaker
you know like its Whatever it is, they'll take their medicine, but I get so high strong and I like worry and I'm like going out and buying all these extra snacks and medicines and all these like stuff that I don't need to do. and it's just like i like i like Even though someone will tell me to relax, but until they go back to school, then I can like catch my
Stress of Sick Children at Home
00:03:20
Speaker
breath. but it's just like Mentally, I get all stressed out. you know I just am worried it's going to spread. That's what I'm always like. Yes. Whoever's sick, can you just stay in you in your room, shut the door and don't touch anything?
00:03:31
Speaker
and ill put food in your the doorway. well are you guys and we When I took Arthur in to the pediatrician to get the strep test, you know when you're sick, they hand over a mask. like That's something before COVID, they would never have done that after COVID. it was For the 12 minutes that I had to have that mask on, I'd forgotten how much I hated a mask, but that would be such an easy solution. like Would any of you just pull out a mask when your kids are sick? Of course not. like That would solve the problem.
00:04:00
Speaker
yeah Well, I mean, that weird. I mean, all my children are six and under. So like, maybe my six year old would wear a mask, but nobody else is wearing masks. And I can't quarantine anybody. Everybody is touching everyone and eating each other's food. And so it's just like, for us, it's just like, we can try to avoid it. ah But we can't. I mean, they're gonna cough directly in my face. You would wear the mask.
00:04:23
Speaker
I guess I could wear the mask. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I will not. And don't they say like if, and I don't know if this is right or wrong because I'm no health professional here, but like on surfaces, like do you guys go crazy like windexing the countertops in the kitchens and the bathrooms and all that when they're sexy? I do that. And I'm thinking that it's going to help not spread it, but it's probably just in the air. It's not on the surfaces. I don't know.
Unconventional Home Remedies from TikTok
00:04:47
Speaker
The only time I'm like, kind of anal about it is if it was the stomach bug. Yeah. And then I'm a little more specific because that's yeah, besides that, it's just whatever I spread the germs around, let's all get it. And we're all gonna get it anyways, like by prolong it. So I feel like then this is my question, my next question is gonna be no. Do you guys like subscribe to any of those weird things?
00:05:11
Speaker
that people say on social media that you should do when you're sick. like Put a potato in a sock under your bed with an onion and an open jar of honey. Do you believe in any of that? I'll try it. It'll work. I don't believe in it. i But while i was um I was just looking up stuff about germs this time of year, because I do have some blog posts that I wrote about like what to do when your family gets the stomach bug.
00:05:38
Speaker
And it's kind of more humorous than anything. And it's like, there's a whole article that just came out and it's viral TikTok. um cold solutions or something like that. And people who are like, well, this is how you be a cold. You put a potato in a sock on your foot, in your bed, and when it turns black, it sucked all of the germs out of you. Is this real? No. A potato turns black when you cut it because of the oxygen. No, no, no. I meant like, dupe is that a real hack that people are putting on TikTok? Yes. on tict ta Oh my God. 100%. They say that if you slice an onion and put it in a bowl next to your bed,
00:06:15
Speaker
that that absorbs the germs in the air or something like that. Also- See, I saw someone put it on their foot, the onion. I've heard onion on a foot. That's why I thought you were like making up the potato thing. No. Because I'd heard the onion thing. Nope. There's some girl on TikTok just making money off people watching her story about her black potato. No, I don't do it any of that. I mean, the most I do is I'll be like,
00:06:38
Speaker
i'll i'll ah um I'll attempt like a natural solution. like I might give my kids honey water for their sore throat to try to help alongside medicine, but no, we're not cutting onions on feet because somebody on TikTok told me to do it. Were
Debating the Effectiveness of Essential Oils
00:06:52
Speaker
you guys ever into the essential oils with that stuff? um Just a little bit. Do you feel like it worked?
00:07:01
Speaker
Um, I will say peppermint oil does help when my stomach is six to this day. I don't even own them anymore. But like my mom always has peppermint oil in her house. And if I put a little bit of water and drink it, it sometimes settles my stomach. And for a really long time, I believed that there were three I used to combine helped my allergies, but that was a load of crap.
00:07:25
Speaker
Okay. No. Yeah. And can't you like put it on like here, like in the peppermint oil? I mean, you think no happy say no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't? Okay. Like burn your face off. Okay. thats Don't do that. So what, one time, um, it does help like if you have sinus pressure and stuff to put it like above your eyebrows, because it is going to release something to smell. But when my sister was hungover once, I put it all over her face.
00:07:51
Speaker
Oh geez. And she was like screaming because it burns and it didn't help her at all. So yeah. Essential oils stress me out because I feel like there's like essential oils where it's like they work and they smell nice and then like there literally will be like There's so many rules. They'll be like, this one is fine, but don't touch this one. This one, not with children. This one will kill your pets. This one, you can't put in your skin. This one, you can only, don't mix these two together, where I'm just like, what? This seems like I'm dealing with some sort of chemical, something that I'm not qualified to touch, so. Yeah. No, the lavender, don't say, like the lavender one maybe works for helping you sleep. I don't know.
00:08:31
Speaker
Ginger was always nice on my stomach when I was weird with pregnancy. And listen, I will have gallons of ginger ale on hand for my kids. I do think there is something sort of settling about it. So it's not, I don't know, I feel like with the essential oils, the minute it became a business is the minute that, like there obviously are some ir herbal remedies that are proven, and probably even tested and are just have been around for the ages. And then, you know, someone got their hands on a marketing scheme. And yes, yeah, yeah, now we're all jaded. Because I totally agree. I think that there are definitely I mean, I mean, Chinese medicine, I mean, it's been proven a lot of these things work. But yeah, that a lot of it has just been, it's been so clouded by like all of these
00:09:17
Speaker
Idiots on TikTok. I'm with you though, Charlotte. I'm all about like the Sprite. Have a Sprite or a ginger ale when your stomach's bothering you. 100% ginger ale and saltines. like you know, the sick, sick package you delivered to somebody's house. yeah um I did hear chicken soup is given to you because it, chicken, this is just disgusting. Chicken is, warm it warms your insides. It's Chinese medicine, and chinese medicine they say. yeah That's why forever or people would have chicken soup or chicken broth because the chicken itself, that kind of meat warms your insides. So when you have a cold, it helps you work its way out.
00:09:57
Speaker
That makes sense. Yeah. That
Mom Fail Stories: The Jell-O Incident
00:09:59
Speaker
makes sense. So I feel like I'm going to segue just with no type of nice little transition right here. Just reckless abandon. Just reckless abandon. I'm going right into mom fails. But it's normal to mess up as a mom, and we like to recognize these moments so others don't feel alone.
00:10:20
Speaker
I'd say I am consistent consistently failing lately at choosing food items to give my toddler and just forgetting that even though she is intelligent and she can she speaks very well, that she's still a toddler. So something like Jell-O, like yesterday, she wanted Jell-O. And I'm like, sure, she can eat Jell-O by herself. Here, here, put it on your little table and here's your spoon and I'll see you later. And I went in the kitchen and I did dishes.
00:10:50
Speaker
And she came back in and she's like, can I have more? I'm like, what do you mean? Can you have more? I feel a smear. It wasn't even a smear. It was just like dumped on the table, then flipped over to the heater where it melted and like dripped all down the heater, just bright red, which doesn't really come off paint because it's red dye. Of course, it's not coming off paint. Was she just playing with it or would did she eat some of it too?
00:11:17
Speaker
I don't know. Oh, no, she ate some of it. She's over a shirt and she had a little bit here. So I mean, some of it got inside of her, but most of it. Do you have a sensory table? No.
00:11:29
Speaker
We have just like a little table that she eats at in the playroom. But she, I feel like she might be at that fun sweet spot where like if she had a sensory table, then when she wanted to make a mess of things, she might connect the dots to like bring it over to the table. I mean, she might not listen. I don't know if I could handle that in my house in the winter.
00:11:50
Speaker
With rice? I've never taught preschool, so it doesn't stay contained. Her? Nah, she'd be like, whee! No. Sensory Table is an outdoor activity in my house.
00:12:02
Speaker
But maybe I'll try that when it's not 20 degrees. You could do it in a, I don't know what your garage is like. I've done it in garages. No, our garage is not too cold. And it's yours. So the one that we, the kids had it at our preschool was like six inches deep. Yeah. I mean, is that, okay, they just throw it and do whatever. No, she would still just. That is the funnest part. Yeah.
00:12:24
Speaker
is taking it out is the most. And I feel like it was like, I remember at Valentine's day, Charlotte coming to pick up one of my kids and it was all red, but like more of it was on the floor than in the, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think the most fake news thing on social media is people who are like post the kids just playing in the sensory table and nothing comes out. I mean, it's fine. I do these activities sometimes, but I just to accept that this is either an outside activity or I will be cleaning it up for the next week.
00:12:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean the water stuff, I'll do that in the winter. Because water is easy to clean up. Yeah. rison But I wonder, like like we would do um like chocolate pudding, and they would be able to write with it. You know what I mean? like We'd put it on a plate, or even on their desk, and then they would be able to spread it out, and then with their fingers write.
00:13:16
Speaker
And it was sort of fun and novel and it was just viscous enough that like they're not throwing pudding. You would have to monitor that she's not like walking around her house with, you know, putting handprints on anything, but it's sort of messy and fun that they're kind of just, and then they can eat it. And in my experience, they were so sort of distracted and shocked by the fact that they could just get dirty, that they weren't interested in like getting the rest of the house dirty because they were like just reveling in their self-contained dirtiness, but it's not a set it and forget it. It's definitely like. Put her in the tub with it. I could. She just, she's like, um, she is a really short attention span, so it would be cool for two minutes and then we'd be done. Of course. Yeah. And it's a lot of prep. Yeah. Yeah. We tried to make, um, we tried to make homemade, what's it called? Where you mix like the cornstarch slime. Oh yeah.
00:14:10
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah, she she was cool with that for five minutes. and then i And then she was like, let's start over again. And I was like, no, we're done. Yeah. That's a one-time activity. Yeah. So and um you know anybody else have any good fails going on or? I mean, mine is so indicative of what age my kids are. But when I grew up, we would get presents for birthdays and holidays or Christmas. And then it was like ingrained in us that then you write thank you notes to everyone. Yes.
00:14:37
Speaker
My kids, I always say the words. It doesn't happen. And I was talking to my mother, and I was like, I don't remember you being on me about this. I remember you saying, has you guys written thank you notes? Maybe they would ask again, but it was just like a given that, of course, you would write thank you notes. My kids are now back in school, so forget it. I've lost the thread. you know I'm never going to pin them down again. And so every I've asked seven times. And every year, it makes me so angry. do you guys do I mean, is that a me thing? or is that
00:15:11
Speaker
we I was brought up like that too, Charlotte. My parents would always make us do it after birthday and Christmas. I try to, or I buy the ones that you can get like on Amazon where it says, dear, and there's a blank and you fill in the person's name, thank you for. Yeah, that feels like it's not even worth the stamp. Sorry. Or they hand them out at school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For kids, that's a good call because there's so many. But like for grandparents, I'm like, you have to write three sentences like, dear Gammy, thank you for the shirt. I love it. I wore it today. Love, whatever.
00:15:42
Speaker
Well, it might Annabelle's teacher, fifth grade teacher makes them write a thank you note a week. Everyone in the class. I love that. Yeah. So like we donate thank you cards and the kids have to pick someone that week that they want to write a thank you letter to. And then if you're you forget something and your parents drop it off, you also have to write them a thank you note. So like Annabelle forgot her backpack the other day. I will be getting a thank you note on Friday.
00:16:08
Speaker
That's genius. I want to be like thank you note Thursdays or something. yeah she Her teacher is outstanding, but she's like, kids don't have any manners these days. They don't understand that, you know, you should be saying thank you for everything. Like I went in Annabelle's room yesterday and I found a thank you note to her grandmother.
00:16:27
Speaker
and her Nana for the nutcracker she was in last year for the gifts they bought her. I'm like, Nana was just here. Why did but didn't you give this to her sitting on your dresser for two years? Talk amongst yourselves. I have to go get, this remind me of something. Hold on. Okay. When did you guys, yeah. When did you guys, I mean, my children are not, I mean, Miles, I guess now could write a thank you note that like I could decipher, but like a grandparent cut in.
00:16:52
Speaker
So like, I guess it's like also tricky. I mean, I've written them in the past. like We have a few family members where it's like, it's required that I think you notice that, you know, they'll be upset. But besides that, I don't, I don't do it because it's like, I'm writing it. And then they're just like scribbling an F for Finley at the end. Yeah. I mean, he could just draw a picture though. And you could just. Yeah. Right over it. Yeah. That's
The Tradition of Thank You Notes
00:17:17
Speaker
a good idea for me. I know what the, especially at with the birthdays, I like the kids to know who gave them what. So like when they're playing with it, the Lego set, oh, that's from Max, remember? like So it's like, I hate when they like tear open the gifts and they don't know who sent them what. you know i try to I have a book that we use for every birthday, and like not Christmas, birthday, and I write down the child's name and what they gave them so then they can go back and then write the thank you notes if they decide to do it.
00:17:46
Speaker
I love that. um Okay. Can you hear me? Yes. So my grandmother died like a year and a half ago and everyone's finally gone through her stuff. She was 96. So RIP, this woman, rock star, home run. So they went through all her stuff and it's a giant manila envelope that was filled with these are wow thank you everything I have sent this woman. so this my sweat My mother addressed it, so i probably was but I was definitely like six or seven, um but she saved them all. so it's like You can look back and see how my handwriting changed. like
00:18:27
Speaker
sometimes I would use colorful pencils. Oh, this one year I wrote a thank you or this was just a postcard um on a piece of birch bark, like literally from a tree because we were on vacation. So like I was writing to this woman many, many times a year. It was just part of what we did. I mean, I guess there was no email and whatnot. But yeah, I do feel like there was more thank you notes too. And we were younger because it's not like you could just say it's like almost like you had to send the thank you note to confirm like that the present made it and that, you know what I mean? Right. And long distance calls were no joke. You couldn't be on the phone just willy nilly like that. No, no.
00:19:03
Speaker
That is so cool that you have that, though. I know, so many. Thank you. for It was cute to read back over them. And as I got older, like some of them would be like, hey, how you doing? How's it going, Grandma? like That's awesome. yeah Thanks for the beautiful charm. Something tells me that you had a specific theme in mind when you bought them. I don't know why. It's so cute. How many is there in that stash there?
00:19:27
Speaker
This is my, I got two envelopes like this. This one is, I don't know, 40, 40 or 50? Well, you saved this forever. You could put those like in a photo album, like, you know, with a little plastic. Do those, can you even buy those anymore? The sheet protectors or something? Yeah, you yeah probably we have to get an app and have it loaded. and you You can't even go to Walmart anymore. It just says, see see online. Goodbye.
00:19:55
Speaker
um So that, I mean, you showing us how your grandmother organized that kind of segues into our main topic um of our episode today, which is look at organizing.
00:20:06
Speaker
Yeah.
Home Organization Challenges
00:20:07
Speaker
She wants to segue so bad. She just always wants to segue. She's ready. Everybody enters a new year saying, I'm going to organize my life. And then usually it's not until spring when everyone says, oh wait, it's now it's spring cleaning, so I'm really going to organize my life. And you know I think this is one of those year round things where people are always looking for tips and tricks on how to stay organized in their homes, their lives.
00:20:31
Speaker
whatever. If someone could organize my brain, that would be really cool. If someone would make like an app that did that, but it doesn't exist. From the outside, I'm somebody who looks like I'm really organized, but I'm not. I'm organized chaos. So like my desk looks really messy, but I know where everything is. I can give people tips like how to keep your family organized. We'll put a calendar in your kitchen, but I really don't have a lot of Hacks, let's say hacks to keep things organized in my home just because I have one of my coping skills for my anxiety is to be OCD about certain things. So I've had to learn to walk by a mess and to walk by disorganization and just let it live there and not control it um and then go work on something else I can control. So
00:21:22
Speaker
I feel like this, you, Callie, probably have lots of organizing tips that you could offer our listeners, whereas I don't. I don't know. i feel like my um I don't know if definition of organizing it just like it's constantly evolving because so for those of you who don't follow me on YouTube like my whole sort of story was that like prior to having children I was not an organized person at all like I was not somebody you could like show up at my house unannounced because it would be like a hot mess and then I had my first child and was like wait I need to figure my life out and so I sort of
00:21:58
Speaker
like started on this journey of just figuring out how to be more organized and how to like use systems and routines to like make my life work better. And then I feel like by the time I had like my third child, like so my my definition of organization was a lot more sort of very specific. It was like, you know, all my clothes are like folded perfectly in the drawers, you know, and then by the time I had my third and then my fourth, it was like some of that kind of had to go to the wayside.
00:22:23
Speaker
You know what I mean? And so it was more it was less about it always looking perfect and more about it like having systems that work well for me. So I feel like I had to kind of let go of like what I feel like what we think organization is like we look at Pinterest and we're like, oh, that's organized. But like if you can't maintain it, that's that's not an organized home. Like you just need systems. It's more about systems and like habits and routines that you're using in your house to keep things sort of like baseline.
00:22:51
Speaker
um So I feel like some of it's that like accepting the season of life that you're in and like where, like what can you feasibly get done inside of that season of life? But for me, it's it's definitely organization is less about like having all this like pretty picture stuff. And it's more about having habits that I'm doing every day that are like keeping things running smoothly. Which I think is really important. Did you have a real years ago where it was like you cleaning your kitchen before you went to bed?
00:23:21
Speaker
Yes. So that's where everything started. So the whole, yeah the whole, my whole thing started was like I, like I said, yeah, I was such a mess. Like everything, I always just felt like I couldn't keep things clean. I couldn't keep things organized. So like the first thing I said, I was, so I was like, I'm going to go to bed every night and I'm going to make sure my kitchen, sick is clean. I like called them my kitchen sink roll. Cause I hated, I would come down in the morning and my kitchen, sick would be a mess. And it's like the worst thing to see in the morning and is the messy.
00:23:45
Speaker
kitchen sink so I was like I'm just gonna that's what I'm gonna do like no matter what no matter how tired you are you're cleaning the kitchen sink it doesn't have to be the whole kitchen the kitchen sink has to be clean and then that's what kind of started everything so I was like wait if I can take a few minutes to clean the kitchen sink and I can do that every day look look at how much easier my mornings are like every morning it come down it's like ah you know it's like you kind of get this little Like dopamine boost and you're like that was great. And so at night you're like, you know Maybe I'll do this too and I'll do this because it'll make my morning easier. um So definitely ripples, you know, it's like one little habit I always say like the more good habits you make the easier it is to make good habits and the more bad habits you make The easier it is to make those bad habits um But sort of like we talked about in our last episode with resolutions and you're like you can't just do them all at once it was like I did that one first and then I added one and then I added one and
00:24:31
Speaker
Um, instead of trying to tackle it all once, I was like, just, you got to pick just one thing you can achieve. Callie with your sink. Do you do something with the laundry before you go to bed too? Cause I try to make sure that there's a load in the dryer and then one in the wash. So it's like the sink's clean and also the laundry is somewhat situated for the next morning. Do you do the laundry too?
00:24:54
Speaker
My laundry's a morning. So like the first thing I do in the morning is I like walk our laundries in the bathroom upstairs. So I can walk down the hall and switch the laundry. And then, but yeah, it's the same thing. I just do mine in the morning. Coming home to, or even anytime when there's dishes in the sink, even though that's the place for them, yeah I'm like, like putting them all in there. Or if someone leaves a cup out on the counter.
00:25:17
Speaker
You know, and I'm like, are you done with it? Are you done with it? Can it go in the dish? Like, I feel like even though there's juice in it, like I want, like I'll put it in the, just so it's in the fridge and off the counter. I feel like for me, I have to forget about like the aesthetics of organizing. I feel like sometimes it's easy to get distracted by what we see on social media and how we think it's meant to look. And for me, there's definitely times when that feels great. And like don't get me wrong, I love a clear bin with labels. But I have accepted the fact that with my bandwidths, I have to organize in a way that like benefits
00:25:53
Speaker
the family, like that's the point of my organizing is so that I know where things are and so my kids know where things are and so in theory that's where things will live. That doesn't always happen with my kids and that's the most common rant I have is guys, I have set up systems and if you choose not to follow the system then I have very little interest in helping you find your shoes.
00:26:15
Speaker
like
Struggles with Maintaining Organization
00:26:16
Speaker
There's three places your shoes could be. They could be in the bins in the mudroom, they could be in the basket by the back door, or they could be in your closet. And if they're not there, then you've chosen to ignore the systems that are set up to help, and that's unfortunate. So like if you were to open any closet in our house, I don't have a Monica's closet anywhere at this point. like There's no scary places where I just am like throwing things to get rid of it.
00:26:42
Speaker
But there's definitely like bins and pockets of certain closets that when they get overwhelming that will force me to go and renegotiate. But I have you know i have shelves and kind of bins for Like kind of the things that I need so I get like a I'm probably like a B plus because if you were to say Where are your gift bags for birthdays? I could go find them. I know where they are. Like they're not in a cute set up They're not in a cute place, but I know exactly where they are and they're with other gift wrapping stuff. So I've
00:27:15
Speaker
you know we've been in this house for four years so i've sort of reached the place where everything is where it should be and now it's just a question of managing the volume because it's just so much coming in not as much going out that's like the volume thing you just said um it's like we clean out our unfinished side every six months and right now it just looks like we're ah donation center for goodwill like just that hasn't been sorted and I don't understand and to the point where I said to my husband I'm like do we just get a dumpster and just throw everything in it because what is all of this garbage? I think a lot of people because of social media see right now everyone's organizing and this is all the things you can buy on Amazon they feel this pressure to buy all of these things and I have been guilty of purchasing the little plastic containers to organize whatever this and that and my
00:28:05
Speaker
food pantry, which is not really a pantry, it's a cabinet, and my fridge and the kid's bathroom closet only for three months later, it looks a mess again. Yeah. It's like a bin within a bin within a bin. like We feel like we have to do that, you know and it's like, we don't. Yeah. and i just I feel like the hardest thing with the organization though is I feel like we all Maybe because we see these things on social media is like, we think that we like organize at once and it's just going to stay organized. Like even if you're using systems to put it back, like all organization structures need maintenance. Like they all need maintenance. And I feel like we think like when one of our organization structures gets messy.
00:28:44
Speaker
that we failed but like we haven't it's just like anything else like you have to wash your laundry every day or whatever it's just another thing you have to maintain so i feel like because of maybe social media we have these like unrealistic expectations of what an organized space even looks like like i have to say yeah i clean and organize everyone's closets by color, but it doesn't stay that way. Look at Caitlin's face. But I do it. Like I just did Ava sweatshirts the other night and I had them all pinks, blues. For me, it just feels better that way. but And I know it's not going to stay that way, but I'll do it every like, I don't know, maybe it's every six months, same thing.
00:29:24
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, but that's your personality and you're not flaunting it and you're not showing people this is how you're supposed to live. That's your, you know, that's how you function. Um, and I just, I hate that so many people see other people functioning one way and thinking that they have to do that too. Cause you've done that. Yeah.
00:29:44
Speaker
I have a friend who um runs an organizing company in town. her The company is next level organizing. I can't speak highly, more high higher, more highly? I can't speak more highly. yeah Yeah, they're great. um But she has, whenever I've worked with her, the questions that she always asks are, you know how do you like how do you use the space?
00:30:08
Speaker
And then she will talk to me and sort of talk about like the zones within the space. And that is going to be, to your point, Callie, super specific. Like if you have kids whose number one game is make believe, then you're going to have your dress ups next to your kitchen next to whatever it is in their playroom.
00:30:25
Speaker
Whereas if you have kids who all they want to do is play with trucks, then you might have like a whole section with like trucks. You might have the costumes next to the trucks because they, so it sort of depends on how you use your house. And then you know one thing I always ask myself that I find as helpful when I'm organizing is, which things do I use the most? Because I think sometimes we I am guilty of putting the cute things front and center. And it's like, wait a minute, you wear that ski hat once a year, so that should be way up high. Right now in my closet, my my exercise clothes are like in a bin that I have to step up onto a steps tool to reach. and i I use them every other day because I go for a walk with the dogs and I do my strength training. but
00:31:13
Speaker
It's a stupid place for them to live and yet there they are. So next time I redo my closet, I'm going to rethink that. You just made me want to, I like want to pause this and go move my workout clothes are in my closet and I use them every day and my pants are in that bottom drawer over there. And I don't wear hard pants in the winter. So I need to make a swap. swap Yeah. It seemed like it was looking in my closet. I have all the flip flops and sandals face right in my face. And then I have to climb up on the ladder for the boots.
00:31:43
Speaker
But why? And i'm in my mind, I love the sandals and the warm weather and all that. So I'm like waiting for it to come back. But it's like, Megan, like it makes more sense to have the boots in front of your face to just grab. But I won't do it. I climb the ladder.
00:31:57
Speaker
I feel like it's going back to like the whole season of life thing too, though. It's like, so just because I think sometimes we get stuck in, you know, like maybe a few years ago, you weren't working out as much. And so the workout stuff was up there. It's like, I think too, we create an organization system. And then when our life kind of changes, I mean, they they they kind of need to be constantly updated you know and reevaluated. Something I always talk about in my YouTube videos is I always talk about like prime real estate. That's like what you're talking about. is like those main Those cabinets are like the the easy drawers, the ones right at eye level. i'm like Those should be the things that you use like every day. like If you're opening an eye level cabinet and it's not like an everyday item, like that's not in the right spot.
00:32:38
Speaker
I once had somebody, i this was years ago on my stories. i'd like had my back like You can see my entire bedroom right now. um the white you're not If you're listening, you can't see my bedroom. so Just first, I'll give you a visualization. We used to have different nightstands and they were open. like When we first moved in our home, we just bought what was affordable and they had these like um It's like metal shelves drawers <unk>ers in the nightstand. And you could see everything inside. And someone commented on my stories. Oh my gosh, let me come over and just organize that for you. What a mess. And I was like.
00:33:16
Speaker
Sit down, Jan. Yeah. like it And it made me self-conscious. I don't want, wow, somebody notice that in my stories? like And again, like I said, i have I have OCD tendencies. It's taken me a long time to learn to live with a mess and to not like have to fix everything that looks messy in front of me. And it just it was one of those moments where I was like i kind of ashamed of the mess, but then at the same time, like I don't care. um And I don't feel like people should ever be ashamed of their mess. It's your mess. You choose to live in it and, you know. I mean, I guess both things can be true, though, because my knee-jerk reaction is that, ah like, that's so rude. and That was rude. Period. Full stop.
00:34:00
Speaker
And I agree with you. I remember when I first had babies, I was like folding their little onesies in the perfect way. And the more kids I had, the more I had to let go of the fact that like their little onesie basket was just going to be, they weren't going to be like lined up by whatever with the folds facing up. I just, and I mostly cause we had like nannies that were helping. And so I just, I couldn't always be in charge. And for me, to your point, Caitlin, that was so freeing.
00:34:26
Speaker
But I will say that I think sometimes we are blind to our own pain points. Like, we walk by things that, like, I go to my parents' house. I'm like, Mom, what are these piles of things everywhere? And you just don't see your own piles. So not that you needed that feedback from that person, but I suspect that fixing whatever she was noticing took 12 minutes. And it probably felt really good. And you probably hadn't even seen it because you just sit down in bed and you Like, no so I guess both are true. You know, I guess we can close out on this if you had anybody has any other tips. I really like
Toy Rotation for Better Engagement
00:35:02
Speaker
um the prime real estate tip though. I think that's a takeaway from this episode of how we feel about organizing.
00:35:10
Speaker
One thing that we did put out on our social media a couple of weeks ago, though, was about toys and how more toys don't equal more play because studies have shown that it's just overwhelming. It's just overwhelming. Yes. And so um something that I started doing that I know other people do is just rotating my kids toys. And so It actually happened by accident. We were clearing out the playroom to prepare for a birthday party. And there were a lot of toys that my daughters didn't want the guests to play with. So we put them all in a closet. And they've been living there now for a month. And I know I'm going to pull them out in a couple of weeks. And Arbor is going to be all excited. And the girls will be all excited. But you know that just kind of keeps toys organized. And you know my playroom doesn't look as much as as bad as it did before.
00:35:59
Speaker
I love toy rotation. And I feel like when I had Miles, Miles and family are about two years apart. And it's just the two of them. Like I was very strict about, I would like once a month, I would like take out certain, you know, we have like the box, everyone has the, shit you know, the cube that I would take out some and I'd put new ones in. And I feel like a new problem we have now that, not that Opal is using the playroom yet, but now that I have a one year old all the way to a six year old using the playroom, how that has sort of evolved. And I found that I now have like, I have toy rotation, where like toys that I rotate out, when there's like an adult around, because there's a lot of toys that my six year old can play with that my one year old cannot play with, right? Like they're just not safe, or it's just going to be a mess. And I found that like, I've made my playroom into just like the open ended, like they need no assistance kind of toys, if that makes sense. So like, that you know, those open ended toys that always stay out, right? Like, I don't know about you guys, like magnetiles, there's like one for us, it's just like always out in the train sets and cars.
00:36:59
Speaker
And then I rotate in sort of like the needs assistance to play with toys. Like what's an example of that? What's a needs assistance toy? Board games. Oh, yeah. Nobody in my house is playing with board games. Some arts and crafts are like play dough is a needs assistance. I can't my one year old can't not even my my almost four year old really can't even really do play dough by yourself just connects and yeah, yeah, so we have like the needs and so I will pull them out like on weekends or it's like things that babysitters know to that they can go and get and so it's just sort of funny how that's evolved to because like toy rotation worked so good for us when it was just the two close in age and then now
00:37:37
Speaker
I'm still using toy rotation, but again, going back to like our original thing, how I've kind of had to update the system for like this new season of life that we're in. Yeah. we could never That's one of the reasons toy rotation was always tricky for us because there were just so many ages in the mix. so now that And now that my kids are older,
00:37:54
Speaker
you know they don't need that their attention span is so much longer that you know when your kids are Arbor's age and they play for five minutes, they go through toys.
00:38:05
Speaker
So fast, like my kids are now at the point where they get out of toy and they're pretty good at settling in for 40, 45 minutes, which is age appropriate. So we just don't need to.
00:38:16
Speaker
rotate as much. They're just not going through it. Charlotte does, uh, well, Arthur, he's your youngest, right? Will he sit and still play? Yeah. I mean, you can hear the squeaky sounds of my soapbox coming out. They don't have devices. So like, if they don't have homework, he will often just read, like look at his Kindle and listen to a podcast. Sometimes that's his brain break. Um, but they can't, they don't have the option of pulling out a device. And so if they want to do something, they have to go.
00:38:43
Speaker
and play with the toy or play with the basketball. So it's not always their first choice, but yeah, he'll find something.
Evolving Play Preferences as Kids Grow
00:38:50
Speaker
So our problem is you know we have the two teen teenagers and then Niko's eight. So we still have the playroom for toys, but I feel like he's more into sports now because he plays on team. So I feel like we don't even really play up there. But then when they have friends over, especially in the wintertime and if you don't want to go outside, I feel like we still need to have toys or the board games. and you know Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, our toys have changed a lot. There's no question, but they still, he still, we have a bunch of Lego still, and we have a couple, like anything that is sort of engineering focused where like those connects blocks, he will still grab those and build things or like a marble run, but it, you know, it's ever changing.
00:39:33
Speaker
Yeah, I mean Annabelle is 11 and Ailey's 8 and they still play with American Girl dolls and Barbies and baby dolls and all that stuff. So I have that and then you have arbors. At the end of every show, we like to talk about pits and peaks, you know, a high or a low over your week, sometimes two.
00:39:53
Speaker
I'm going to start with my pit. Arbor is dropping her nap and she loves to sleep. So she's just miserable because she doesn't want a nap. She straight up says like, I would rather hang out with you. But then by six o'clock, she's running hot laps in the playroom and then won't go to bed like at all. And she says there's monsters or she's thirsty or her pajamas hurt her feet. And so.
00:40:22
Speaker
It's really fun. Well, she's overtired. Yeah, but you can't put her to bed earlier than like, I mean, she's sleep trained since she's five months old. And so we're in this transition of dropping the nap, but like her babysitter just texted me. She wants to go to sleep and she wants you to sing you ah her a song. And I was like, no, I'm not, I'm busy.
00:40:42
Speaker
yeah This is a total non sequitur, but I thought it was so sweet. I saw this on social media. Mr. Rogers did a piece years ago with um Margaret, the woman who played the Wicked Witch of the West.
00:40:53
Speaker
You know, yeah um and I guess so many kids were having nightmares because of her. Like, she was really scary. And so Mr. Rogers brought her brought her onto his show with no makeup, no nothing. And he just talked with her and showed. They talked about, like, make-believe. And she was so smiley and happy. And they had her, like, put a witch's costume on without the face and, like, keep talking to him. And the whole point of it was, like, that was just make-believe. Like, this is who I am. That was just pretend. It's like broke. It was so sweet, right?
00:41:21
Speaker
Mr. Rogers was just to just thank you to the world for giving us that man. Yeah, no kidding. Yes, anybody. sorry You said nightmare. And I thought about that. That was the second second. Yeah, and it fits. I have a peek. Okay, do it. All my holiday stuff is put away. i instead it The gone.
00:41:47
Speaker
the decorations, the outside, the inside. I mean, it takes hours, but it's done and it feels good. And now I've been organizing just like what we talked about because social media makes me feel like I need to organize, but it won't be 66 days so the habit won't stick, but here we are.
00:42:04
Speaker
Some organizing's better than that. you know that when you Every time you organize, even when you're color-coordinating your kids' sweatshirts and it doesn't matter, you're getting dope on me. I know. It's a win for you. Yeah. Every day, like tonight, I was like, okay, tonight I'm going to hang up Ava's, do her t-shirt and long-sleeved your every... Because I'm trying to like keep it going because then when the spring and the summer, I want to be outside. I don't want to be inside. Leave me alone.
00:42:28
Speaker
um I have a pit that sort of connects to that. It's my goddamn walking treadmill. I bought it with such dreams, with such hopes and dreams in my heart, guys. I was like, winter's going to come, and it's going to be snowy and icy and cold, and I'm just going to want to walk, and I'm going to do it. i am I'm just not living my walking treadmill life. Is it boring?
00:42:49
Speaker
No, I don't know. I just like, I was walking the dogs for a while and now it's even too cold for them because the puppy doesn't have any fur really. So I don't know. I should be doing it these days when it's like 20 degrees out, but I haven't. So maybe, but don't you feel like.
00:43:07
Speaker
Walking outside makes you feel better anyways, right? Of course. Yeah, yeah. But what's a walking treadmill, like at your desk? Yeah, it's small enough that it folds up and fits under a bed or my couch. So it's I like that it's not just a big hunk of furniture in the corner. And I got one that specifically would go fast enough that I could really walk. like It's not just like an idle like walking desk type of situation.
00:43:31
Speaker
um And I have used it once or twice, um but just I had such dreams for that thing. It sounds incredibly boring, so I understand. Yeah, you watch TV and stuff. Yeah, they have once people like put it there. like Michael and I both have standing desks. So Michael has a walking treadmill. He was actually really good about using it for a little while, and then we moved. And I'm not sure what happened. It's a habit, like anything. But I always like keep thinking keep when he was doing it, I was like, I'm going to get one of those for my standing desk. Because when I stand up, then I But I'm worried that while I'm walking, and like how are you computer working? you know and I just don't see how that works. When I'm walking, I'm walking. You know what I mean? like i'm not When you're walking, are you watching shows? Yeah, do you have your phone?
00:44:15
Speaker
Yeah, i have it I have it in our bedroom where there's a big TV, so I can run the TV and watch. So I'm not just like meditating or whatever. But I also, like if I had it at my desk, I would be strolling. And so part of me is, like i don't i just I can't believe there's any like caloric benefit to like strolling for an hour. I mean, maybe, but it feels like- I mean, steps are steps. They say steps are good for you, right? I guess.
00:44:40
Speaker
They said that if you walk 10 minutes before you eat and after you eat, it's good for your body. But I think just any walking any we sit so much. I think it's just any I think the point is just any walking, right? Yeah. like Yeah. You should come to hot yoga with me in town. No, no. I just appreciate that because I keep saying that I'm I don't think that I'll use one. And I feel like that tells me that I probably wouldn't.
00:45:07
Speaker
At least you're honest about it, Charlotte, because I feel like everyone else is like, oh, it's amazing. You want it to be. I just don't understand. When you say walking treadmill, like I think of the the ones that I've all seen as people at their desks. And I just don't understand how you work and walk. Yeah, how you get stuff done. Unless your job is just like watching things. How do you type? I don't know. I knew a woman who would do it, and she would have everything set to dictation. No. How does that not spell things wrong? Absolutely not.
00:45:36
Speaker
I don't know. My brain doesn't work that well to dictate. No, absolutely not. Well, I talk differently than I write, too, so I don't know if that would work for me. Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Maybe January 2025 will be my walking treadmill, or February, whenever we release this. but yeah Do you have a pick or a pick Callie? Are we ending? Are we four? I have a peak. I have a peak. I have a peak. Yay. I have started this. You talked about this. I feel like in the last episode, Caitlin, I started journaling. I've always wanted to journal, but then I, I feel like this is like everybody. It's like, then you're like, what, what do I journal? What am I supposed to write about? you know, am I just supposed to be writing about my is it a diary? Am I writing about my day? And so I always kind of get stuck on that. So I actually spent a bunch of time like reading about there's like all these different kinds of journaling. and know Like there's journaling where you're just like writing about your day. And then there's like, a million, there's like gratitude journaling, right? We know what that is. There's ones like one line a day, right? We all know those journals, there's like manifestation journaling, But then there's like all these other ones like daily logs. So whatever I did all of this kind of research and I was like reading about other people and like the kinds of journaling they do. And I'm trying a journal where inside the journal there's six different kinds of journaling. So each day I can pick what I want to do. Do I just want to write?
00:46:49
Speaker
Or do I just want to put one word down or do I want to put, so like you can, I can kind of pick and choose. Cause I feel like the, I always get stuck in journaling cause I was like, I don't want to just sit and write about my day every day. Like it's so, so it's like, if I want, I can just say, write down one thing that happened that day or I can whatever. And I got to pick the six kinds that I want and I'm doing it. Was that a Christmas gift? It was not. Okay. I love that.
00:47:14
Speaker
Well, I love that for you. I love that journey for you. Yeah. It makes me happy. I'm on the same journey too. ah So thank you all for listening and you know I hope we're back to chat with you guys. I'm not chatting with you guys. We're chatting for you to listen to next week. So bye.