Overwhelmed to Organized

with BarbieJo Hatch

Episode Transcript

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The Mom Training Podcast with Diana Ballard

 

Diana:     Hey ladies, welcome to The Mom Training Podcast. So excited to have BarbieJo with us again today. If you’ve listened back to one of our old podcasts, she talked to us about organizing. She is a personal organizer, has five kids… And she actually, currently is working with women online, doing coaching sessions, where she helps you work through your emotional mental connection with things, as well as actually organizing your house. She goes through with you, just being with you on a call and it's just a wonderful thing.

 

  So, if you're interested in that, she just opened that up for women. And it’s such a cool thing. BarbieJo, so, so, happy to have you with us again today.

 

BarbieJo:   Thank you so, much. It’s so fun to be here.

 

Diana:        Yeah, and I'm excited to learn from you. I learned a lot from you last time you talked with us. I love this topic that we're going to talk about today, Overwhelmed to Organize. There's so, many moms that struggled with overwhelm and different things pulling them all over the place. and so… First of all, tell me about that title. Tell me a little bit about what's behind that idea of Overwhelmed to Organized.

 

BarbieJo:   So, as moms, we are in the thick of life, right? We're managing households. We're raising babies. We're trying to work from home or work out of the home. We have a lot going on. Not only do we need to balance our own lives and schedules and times. But our kids, and not only their schedules but their emotional needs, their stuff, and keep everything running smoothly. So, it's a lot.

 

  So, this whole workshop I created, around this title Overwhelmed to Organize, is coming from that place of just being a mom in the thick of life. It is so, easy to get overwhelmed with all of the plates we have to balance. And I break it down into small simple actionable things that anyone can start doing immediately to help you kind of get on top of things and help you feel like you're in control, basically. And that you're not drowning in the chaos of life.

 

Diana:        Cool, know, I love that. Yeah. So, I know you have different parts of this workshop, so we're going to talk about one piece today, like about the organized side.

 

BarbieJo:   Yeah.

 

Diana:        What is it? It's organized, it’s productivity and what was the third one?

 

BarbieJo:   Time, time management.

 

Diana:        Okay. Those are all such beautiful words…

 

[chuckles]

 

  Skill sets that you got to learn… Man, once you start practicing those things - learn how to be organized, productive and, utilizing time management, like, “Wow.” It really can take you from overwhelmed to organize as you start practicing those skills. So, why don't you share with us then, let's say, three tips or so, of what you would share with these mamas, that are trying to go from overwhelmed to organize.

 

BarbieJo:   Okay. So, my top three tips are, first of all, make your bed. Every morning, make your bed. There's a magic that happens in that. You have checked something off your to do list, first thing in the morning. Not only that, but you have a beautiful space to come home to. I talk about this all the time, because it's that important.

 

  Make your bed. We try to teach our kids to make their bed, but honestly, if you make it a daily practice every time you walk past your bedroom, or at the end of the day, it's just kind of that sigh of relief. That welcome, like, “Oh, it looks so nice in here. I have a nice place to lay down and rest.” And it just does something to your psyche, and it kind of helps motivate you throughout the day.

 

  My second tip would be to get dressed to the shoes. If you want to get something done throughout the day. With organizing with balancing… Kids, keeping them entertained throughout the days of summer, everyone's home right now. It helps if you're going to be ready for the day, ready to conquer. And you can do so much more with shoes on, than you would ever think possible. Even if you don't leave your house for the day, get dressed to the shoes and just see what happens. I mean you’ll blow your own mind. It's crazy… It's crazy.

 

  But my third tip is quick wins. It is all about the quick wins around house. Don't feel like you have to wait till something gets bad enough that you're so overwhelmed by it. Just pick a surface, just one surface. It doesn't matter what that surface is, focus in on it. Don't let anything else distract you, or overwhelm you, or paralyze you with fear or anxiety.

 

  Focus in on that one surface and set a timer for 10 minutes, and that's it. Clear that surface, put everything back into its home, because we know things accumulate, we know things get misplaced, life happens, our homes are lived in, and that's okay. That's okay. Just set aside 10 minutes every day and focus on one surface.

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  It could be that one catch-all surface that draws your attention or sucks your energy every time you walk into that room. Or it could be something that's been bothering you for some time now. Just set a timer, 10 minutes is all you need and focus in on one surface. And once that timer goes off, walk away. Walk away. You don't have to look at it again until you're ready for another quick win.

 

  But that's my biggest tip for moms with families, with growing families, with kids of multiple ages. We don't have time to do these huge overhauls. We just… I mean, life is going at rapid speed, we have to keep up. And that's when you find those little pockets of time, those little 10 minutes like, “Oh, you know what, I‘ve 10 minutes before I am out the door I have to be out the door. I'm going to nail the pantry.” And you will be amazed at how much you can actually do in 10 minutes of undisturbed focused time.

 

  But don't get distracted because it's really easy to glance over and say, “Oh, but I should really do this”, or, “Oh, I should start on that.” Focus in. Narrowing that focus on one area of the house, one corner, one shelf, one drawer, one countertop. Pick one and knock it out in 10 minutes.

 

  It's all about baby steps, baby bites. Don't overwhelm yourself. Because when we're overwhelmed, we stop. We're not going to progress. It's not going to get done. Rather, take that 10 minute and take a baby step forward. And hey, you know what? The house might be trashed but, “Hey, my nightstand is looking pretty good right now.”

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[chuckle]

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  And that's how it starts. It's a snowball effect. And it helps you maintain an organized house too, if you're just doing little pocket in 10 minutes. That's my biggest tip.

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Diana:      Okay, I have a question about that though... Say, that there's an area that… And I’m thinking about one right now, for me, it is the top of the fridge. That top of the fridge, like, it literally, like the biggest thorn in my side. Because, I don't know how things get put there so much, and how… I mean, I go up there and look right now, I'm like, “Why does the kids’ little turtle sprinkler on top of the fridge?” or, “Why is there…? Like how did all of this stuff get up there? And it continues to accumulate because it's like, when there's not a place to put in, it goes up there.

 

  So, say we have an area like that, where it has like a bunch of little things that go in random places. How would you help someone have a win with that? Like, I don't know if 10 minutes would even get all of that on top of my fridge, right? I mean, what would be a goal for an area like that? Because honestly, the top of my fridge is an overwhelming thing for me, because it's a constant battle.

 

  No matter who I talk to of, “Please don't put stuff on top of the fridge.” There's tool, and there's all these other things that continue to accumulate. How would you… If I set 10 minutes, I might get a corner. So, it's like a goal of like, “Let's make a goal to clear one corner”, or make it so, I'd taken the big things off the top first, or…

 

  Like, walk me through that, because I know that there's another mom listening right now that has a place in their house that like… Sucks the life from them?... No, I’m just kidding. [chuckle] Not that bad… But you know what I mean?... It's an area that constantly struggles. So, talk to that mom, talk to me about that, about how I can have a quick win. Because it hasn't been touched, because it feels like such a big task. So, tell me about it.

 

BarbieJo:   Okay. So, we all have that one spot. It might not be the top of the fridge for everybody but we all have that one spot. For me, it's my dryer; on top of my dryer. That seems to be like the catch all place where it’s, nobody knows what to do with something, they’re just kind of put it on top of the dryer. And so, my advice to that is, yes, still same 10 minutes.

 

  But I would clear everything off of the top of the fridge. Like, take your hand and just get it all off, put it into bins, get laundry baskets, get empty laundry baskets, get boxes, whatever you have and start just putting the piles. Say, “Okay, this is an outside thing. This is garage thing. This is a bedroom thing. And this is a kitchen thing. And just sort them out like that, and then deal with those later. Deal with those bins later.

 

  But you've cleared off the top of the fridge, and everything has then been sorted, so it's kind of divided. And if it's stuff that you're not sure what to do with, that's okay. You could have a home for miscellaneous things and put it in a box in the garage, and everyone knows, “Oh it's an odd end item, I'm going to go looking at that box in my garage.”

 

  But you don't want that focal point in your kitchen to be sucking the life out of you. So, I would say, clear it off as fast as possible, even if it's just going from the top of the fridge, into a huge garbage bag and then get to it later. But I would say, you want that visual calm and peace in your kitchen. So, when you walk in your kitchen, it's like, “Ah, now I can make dinner. Now I feel undisturbed in my kitchen. I can settle it.”

 

  And then, you know what, get to those items later on. You can sort them out in 10 minutes easy, but then finding a home for them, you can spread that out. And say, “Okay, maybe tomorrow's 10-minute quick win, I'm going to handle… I'm going to deal with one of those boxes that we sorted out yesterday, from the top of the fridge items.” Does that make sense?

 

Diana:        I literally just feel like you've solved like a life mystery to me.

 

[laughter]

 

  This day, I’m like, “Oh my gosh that is…” Because my mindset was like, you take one thing off the fridge and you go find where it goes and then you go take another thing.... I’m like, “That's going to take me like a lot of 10-minute sessions just to get that cleaned off. But if I have a bin to separate these things in, then it's like, “Oh, yeah. There's like a million things that go in the garage and then these are the kids’ things, and then like what the heck is this? I don't know…” and then I could do a bin a day, after that. And like have it…

 

BarbieJo:   Totally.

 

Diana:        Yeah. So, that was very… Yeah, life mystery, solved. Like, “Okay, I could totally, totally do my fridge today.” Like it doesn’t feel overwhelming.

 

BarbieJo:   Awesome.

 

Diana:        I can now keep that organized today.

 

BarbieJo:   Awesome.

 

Diana:        I'm going to throw another place, of like wherever we put our bills. Being able to separate things like that or paperwork that needs to be put away, or giving things… Separating them in specific piles, and just saying, “I'm going to address this today.” Or these two bills today, or different things like that.

 

BarbieJo:   Exactly. Yup... Yey.

 

Diana:        I’m like, “Girl, you got to give me some feedback. Like how can I do it?”

 

BarbieJo:   That's amazing. Yup, you got it. You got it.

 

Diana:        Okay. Cool. Awesome… Tell me about, you've talked about like making your bed. Is the rest of your room clean too? You know what I'm saying?

 

BarbieJo:   Because it has to be.

 

Diana:        Like it’s a sanctuary… I'm just curious, like so, is the bed, like the main focal point. And that brings like an automatic peace and an automatic win, like you were saying? Like you're saying so, it's like the first thing you're winning from the very second you wake up, is that it?

 

BarbieJo:   Right. Right. Because not only do you get to check something off your to do list, first thing in the morning, but you've made peace in your home. You've made it part of that sanctuary by having that made bed.

 

  Now my bedroom, I have it as my home office. We have a lot of stuff going on in my bedroom. And then, my husband is a borderline hoarder. So, I mean, it's not always going to look perfect and picked up. But as long as my bed is made, it brings that that sense of finished. Done. It's kind of still put together, and we still have a welcome area to welcome me at the end of the day. That's how I see it. Someone's ready to embrace you at the end of the day. Like, “Here, this spot is for you. It’s all ready.”

 

Diana:        Okay. This is totally off topic, but are you a throw pillow person or not a throw pillow person?

 

BarbieJo:   I am… But I've had to keep it down to a minimum because my husband despises the throw pillows.

 

Diana:        See, my husband won’t even let me have any throw pillows.

 

[chuckle]

 

  We can’t have them. But I kind of agree with him because like where’d you put them… It’s just more stuff… I was just curious. Like are you a throw pillow type, you just never know.

 

BarbieJo:   We are. But I will say, my throw pillows do serve as function as well, because my husband, when he's in bed, he'll prop one up behind his head or one under his neck, or one under his feet. And then, then we go to bed at night, they just go on the floor. And that's okay, because in the morning, when we make bed, they go back on the bed.

 

Diana:        Awesome… They’re really beautiful… Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, cool. I love that. Thank you for sharing… I love your idea of the quick wins and being able to set a timer for 10 minutes and being able to knock that one task off. Because I think that really is important for us moms, our job is never ending. It really is. It’s never ending.

 

  And so, to be able to mark something off the list, even if it's something small, brings a sense of accomplishment. And we need to have things like that happen throughout the day. Because we can accomplish the sink, and it's good. And then the next few minutes, someone brings something and puts it in the sink again. So, it's being able to choose that moment of accomplishment and win, that… I don't know... Sustains us, I guess, as moms. At least in my opinion, for me.

 

BarbieJo:   100%. And you have to be easy on yourself. Life is going to get messy. We have kids, things are going to get undone, and that's okay. It will happen, and that's okay. It's alright.

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 As long as you pick those top three things that are the most important to you every day, to get accomplished, then no matter what else happens during the day, as long as those three things are done, you can feel amazing about yourself and what you were able to do with your day.

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Diana:        I love that. Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. I just want to hear one more thing. I know I’ve asked you this on the last one, about your favorite place to organize in your own house. But I want to hear - I know you go into other people's houses to help them organize. What's been one of your funnest, I mean, most engaging areas that you have helped someone organize lately?

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BarbieJo:   So, I just did my very first glam room, and it was so, fun. It was so fun.

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Diana:        What’s a glam room?

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BarbieJo:   Like, this was a bedroom turned into kind of like a dressing room, makeup station, hair station. Kind of, it was her glam room. And so, we had like a collection of shoes. We had all of her beautiful party dresses. We had a closet of all the makeup and facial things and all the hair extensions and all... It was so fun to do. Because it was like making this bedroom into a boutique.

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Diana:        Wow.

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BarbieJo:   You walked in and everything was on display. All of her beautiful items were on display. And this is the place where she comes in to get ready for special events or parties or whatever. Anyway, that was the most fun transformation to date.

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Diana:   Oh, I love that. So cool. Awesome ... Well, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us and for solving a life mystery for me about the top of the fridge. That really did help me a lot. I hope it helped another mom too, like, “Teeding! Oh, my gosh. that's like how I can totally conquer this. I just split it up into different sections and focus on one section at time.” I love that.

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  So, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today.

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BarbieJo:   Anytime. You’re welcome.

 

Diana:   It's so fun to have you back on the podcast. We've enjoyed learning from you the last time and this has been enriching. So, we'll definitely want to have you on again, BarbieJo.

 

  And ladies, so, I'm going to connect on the show notes, how to connect with BarbieJo. You can see a lot on her Instagram, how she organizes things and she posts a lot of fun things in her Stories… It’s BarbieJo.Hatch, so @BarbieJo.Hatch is on her Instagram. So, I will make sure I put her website and different things in there. You can go and learn from her. And check out her Overwhelmed to Organize and maybe even the coach with her, if you want to have some professional one on one time with her, which is great.

 

  And ladies, thank you so much for joining me today, and we'll see you next Tuesday on The Mom Training Podcast.

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