Q & A Episode
Episode 33 of The Intentional Edit Podcast is a special Q & A episode where Lauren answers listener questions on a variety of topics…organizing, projects, recipes, life, home solutions, DIY, routines, decluttering, family, travel and more.
Listen to this episode of the Intentional Edit Podcast now!
Full Episode Transcription:
This episode of the intentional edit podcast is a special Q and a session where I am answering all sorts of listener questions that were submitted based on an assortment of topics. There’s no questions that are off limits and we’re covering things today. Like organizing home projects solutions for your home and for busy families, rested PS, life, TV travel, do it yourself, all kinds of stuff. I’m heavier. You’re here and let’s get going with this next episode.
(00:31):
Hey moms, welcome to the intentional edit podcast. Do you wanna stop feeling overwhelmed and finally get your home organized. Do you find yourself up late at night, worrying about how you are going to get everything done and not drop the ball? You are wondering where to start and what to do. There is never enough time in the day. The piles of laundry are building up and it’s already time for after school activities, homework, snacks, and carpool. Again, I’m Lauren. I too want an organized, clean home where my family can make long-lasting memories and be present in the moment feeling like there’s never enough time to complete all the daily tasks is exhausting simplicity all around a healthy mule on the table at dinnertime and a family that contributes to the chores really is attainable. Stop telling yourself that you have to do it all, or it will never get done. Or that picky eaters will never allow for a complain free dinner. And this pod cast, you will learn exactly how to declutter implement systems and maximize routines that remove the overwhelming unorganized parts of life. Bringing simplicity to your life and home. Come on. It’s time to create a life you love.
(01:44):
Hey friends, welcome to another episode of the intentional edit podcast. I am happy to have you here. This episode is actually airing on my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I put up a poll asking for your questions on Instagram, and I’m going to answer those questions today. These questions were so emitted through Instagram story polls, and I’m answering them in no particular order. Just kind of randomly picking and going to see how many we can fit in, in a reasonable amount of time. The first question is what is your favorite room to organize? I really like organizing pantries when I started professional organizing, or even before that, when I would just help friends and family with organizing product projects, I loved organizing closets and I just loved everything about it from Hering getting rid of all the things that were not need needed, used or wanted anymore.
(02:41):
That process I really liked, but I loved putting everyth back, changing the shelves, changing the arrangement of things, color, coding, all of it. And then having this curated wardrobe of things that you actually would use in an organized space for a long time. It was closets. I think when I went into professional organizing, I thought that it would continue to be closets. It quickly became pantries. I don’t know why that is. Maybe because the purging part of it is simple because if it’s expired, you don’t really have a choice. You just get rid of it. It’s not needed anymore. The expiration date makes that clear, a professional organizer can go into a pantry without the person being home without needing to consult the person. You have the permission to discard the food that is expired. When a pantry is not organized, there is a lot of stuff that gets pushed to the back that is expired and old or no longer able to be used or to eat.
(03:45):
And then pantries just look so good when they’re organized. It’s not just about the aesthetics, the overall look and feel of an organized pantry with every organizing project. It is what happens. And the result of organized pantry is you stop food waste, you eat things before they go bad and you stop buying things that you don’t need because an organized pantry means that at a quick glance, you can see everything. You know what you’re out of when you’re going grocery shopping, it makes making a grocery list much faster. You’re not wasting money. You’re not wasting time and you’re not wasting food. I would have to say that the pantry is probably my number one space to organize. If I am helping someone or going into another house, next question is, do you still share DIY projects think that is meaning checks around my house. I actually haven’t done any home projects in probably like four to six months.
(04:47):
I love DIY projects. I’m naturally a creative person. I like doing the things on a larger scale, which in turn in my home is a DIY project. Whether that’s some kind of a wood treatment on a wall painting, or I’m one of those weird people that actually likes painting, like painting a room or a wall, it doesn’t bother me. I love the satisfaction of it. Finishing in the new color. I have a list of things I still want to do at my house that are definitely DIY related. Some projects are bigger and would be hired, but finishing a 2,500 square foot basem*nt was a huge undertaking. It literally was completely unfinished, like concrete floor and insulation on the walls. And that’s it managing that and being the go-to person and coordinating all the people and making all the design decisions to finish the basem*nt. It, it was a fun project for me in terms of creativity and design.
(05:45):
But now that it’s 99% done, I would say that my brain needed a break from the projects, the DIY projects and things like that. There’s definitely little things in the works. I haven’t really done anything to my bedroom yet. So I have some plans for that. A couple other things I know you’re asking, am I gonna share, am I still sharing them? If I do the projects, I need to get better about sharing. And I always have questions coming in and comments coming in and people saying that they love seeing the things that share when I do share on Instagram or social media always intend to get better with that. But I also value being intentional with my time. If I’m doing a project, I usually put a book on audible or I’m bingeing some podcasts or something. So I’m not thinking about sharing on social.
(06:35):
I will try to get, or that that’s always one of my goals. I know you love seeing that and it feels good when you send me messages that my projects have inspired you to go ahead and tackle a project or ship lap a wall, or do something DIY that is out of your comfort zone and that you have done it. You feel good about doing it and the accomplishments of having successfully completed a project, but also making your home a space that you feel better about and like to be in more because that DIY project added to that, yes, I still have more DIY projects to go, hopefully in the next month or two, I will start some of those again. And I will try to share and take you along in Instagram stories. This next question is, are you done with projects in your house?
(07:24):
I think I pretty much just answered that there’s a couple left, but Mo all the big ones are done. Moving on to the next question. This one says, I’m exhausted. By the time my kids are in bed, I can’t make myself do the dishes or clean up I, any ideas to motivate myself. I know I would feel better the next day. If my house isn’t still a mess. That is true. You definitely would feel better the next day. If your house was not messy, when you wake up to a clean house or you walk out to the kitchen and the counters are clear, there aren’t dishes for you to do. It’s the same idea behind making your bed in the morning, you are setting yourself up to have a good day or a better day. You’re not adding to the stress, the second that your eyes open, and you see these things nagging at you that need to be done.
(08:14):
I don’t necessarily have solutions or ideas to motivate you, because I don’t think that being exhausted at the end of the day and not feeling like cleaning of the dishes comes from a lack of motivation. I think that you could change some things in your routine and not have a giant pile of dishes to do every night. The solutions I would tell you for that or the ideas for that would be depending on the ages of your kids, very young kids, even a two or three year old can take a bowl or spoon to the sink or counter a little bit older than that can load a dishwasher by teaching everyone in the house. Of course, this doesn’t work if you have babies, but if your kids are old enough by teaching everyone in the house that the responsible thing to do, and that the expectation is to rinse your dishes and put them in the dishwasher.
(09:08):
You alleviate the majority of dishes that is stack up in your sink. If you are cooking a number of meals throughout the day, and you are having dirty dishes, pots, and pan, things like that, again, depending on the age of your kids, dinnertime dishes can be a chore that rotates through different kids, different nights, even if it’s something that twice a week, you, if you just have one child that is at an age that can do the dishes that can be responsible, maybe just two nights a week or two days a week, whatever fits into your schedule, it has to be customized for your family. Another thing is do the dishes while you are cooking. So if you are making dinner and you have things in a skillet on the stove, you used a knife and a cutting board to chop the things that are now in the skill.
(09:55):
While those things are in the skillet cooking, you can wash the cutting board and the knife and whatever else you have used, and it can already be in the dishwasher. The majority of the things that you cook with can be in the dishwasher before you even eat dinner before the food is ready for you to eat. That’s another idea for that. You have to custom a as these things to your family, think out of the box for solutions. But I think if you can make a couple of those changes, then you won’t need the motivation at night when you’re exhausted, because you deserve downtime. You deserve a time to rest and recoup, and at time for yourself, if the dishes are not there at the end of the night for you to do, then you won’t even have to deal with that. Another question that came in is, do you cook if so, favorite recipes?
(10:45):
I do cook this question. Well, I guess it’s not asking me if I like to cook, but I will say over the years, the amount that I enjoy cooking or not changes, there was a time a few years ago where I was experimenting with recipes. And I noticed that I had collected 2, 3, 4 recipes that were very similar, but there was something I liked about one or something I didn’t like about another. I had glanced a couple other recipes and then take the things that I liked and ate my own recipes. I’ve come up with probably 40 or 50 recipes that my family eats and their variations of recipes that I would find on Pinterest or in cookbooks and use. So now I have them all and they’re organized. I can find them. I do reusable meal plans. I don’t think about cooking this the same way that I used to.
(11:43):
And I just grab a meal plan that I’ve already created for two weeks. I have the corresponding grocery list. I pick a different dinner from that meal plan each night to cook. I like simple meals and things that don’t take a lot of time in prep work, but they also need to be good and nutritious and not full of a lot of junk. So I like to cook when it’s real food in season vegetables and fruits, easy meals, don’t take a lot of time for weeknights in terms of favorite recipes. My favorite recipes are mostly recipes that I’ve come up with or modifications I’ve made to other recipes. And most of those are on my website. You can just go to intentional, edit.com and click on recipes. Most of the recipes that I like are on the, the website. The next question is favorite TV shows.
(12:38):
What do you watch? I don’t spend a lot of time watching TV, but I do have a few shows that I record. I never have the TV on just playing in the background. It bugs me if the TV is on and I’m not watching something. Or if someone isn’t watching something for a favorite TV shows for me, I do watch a couple of the real Housewives. I watch New Jersey, Beverly Hills and orange county. So I record those. I rarely sit down and watch a show. Maybe once a week, I will watch a show where I am not where I’m not doing something else. I think this is why I kind of like more mindless TV. Like these reality TV shows where you don’t have to pay attention, cuz I can press play and I am watching it, but I’m doing something else like prepping a meal or setting the table and figuring out something for entertaining or having people over or, or even cleaning doing a deep clean or something like that.
(13:39):
I’ll watch those shows. So I do watch those real Housewives that I mentioned. Um, we watched the Yellowstone series. That’s one where I definitely carve out that 45 minutes once a week for the few weeks that it’s on, sit down and just focus on the TV show because it’s so intense. There’s a couple other things like sometimes I record the summer house series. I used to watch a lot of DIY and home decor stuff. I don’t watch that so much anymore. I think that’s all that is recording right now is the two real Housewives that are on. If you are real house source fan, you should message me the people that you like and which franchises, if you watch any of the same ones that I do. The next question is how can I do a coaching session with you? Okay. So I am revamping the coaching part of my website, but I would say in about the next week there I’ll have a new you coaching section on my website.
(14:38):
So you can actually click the button to book a session with me. It will give you a, it’ll give you an option to show you what times are available in the next two weeks. You can select a time, pay, answer the questions and it will send you a confirmation. Then we’ll be good to go until then. I would say, if you were listening to this episode after like March 5th or so of 2022, go to intentional at.com, click on the coaching tab. At the top of the page, you can book a session with me through that. If you’re listening to this before that send me a direct message through Instagram or send me an email, something like that. Get in, contact me through messenger on something. Say that you wanna book a coaching session and I’ll send you the link to book it because I’m just revamping that on the website.
(15:28):
That’s on my to-do list for the next week or so, but I have taken on extra coaching plan this and next week, the time I have to do the coaching page is limited, but it’s on the list and hopefully it’ll be done in the next couple of days. And then you can just go click on the button, pay and get your confirmation, answer the questions and you’re ready to go. And we’ll do a coaching session within two weeks from when you click on that. So this question is about organizing and it is where should I start organizing when my whole house has too much stuff, I get this question a lot. Everyone wants an answer that is a one size fits all answer depending on your personality. What is the root cause of the messy house and all this stuff I will guide you. Like if, if we were doing a coaching session, I would guide you because I would ask you some follow questions in general.
(16:23):
Think about where your problems are, where are you struggling the most? Where do you feel the most overwhelmed? You can start there. And if you are purging, you need to do a thorough ruthless, purge, get rid of everything and you need to declutter and purge. Before you start to organize anything, do not purchase any bins or baskets or containers or drawer organizers until you know exactly what you need. And that happens once you have purged and gotten rid of every single thing that does not belong in that space anymore. Sometimes I recommend starting with a small space. If you don’t have one problem area, you can’t identify it because your whole house is a mess. Then start with a small space. Maybe you start with a junk drawer or a linen closet. Go back in the podcast. Episodes, listen to the deep cluttering guides. The purging guides the step by step.
(17:17):
The first few episodes are great to get you in the right mindset. And to give you those step by step guides that you can follow to purge and declutter, and then move on to organizing so that you are doing this the right way. The first time you’re not in this situation again, a, a few months down the road where you need to start this process all over again. One question that’s submitted. It just says most cluttered area in your home question, mark, question mark, question mark. You’re asking me what’s the most cluttered area in my home. I don’t really have any areas that are cluttered. And I attribute that to good organization, doing a thorough decluttering over the course of about a year of every single room closet cabinet covered everything and eliminating anything that wasn’t being used. And then having good, having good systems to keep things organized.
(18:12):
Once you have purged and you have your organization in place, something that I recommend to stay organized and clutter free is to put a bag. You can do this in a couple places, put a shopping bag or box in your closet in your hits closets or in your garage or a linen closet, where anytime you come across an item that you do not use anymore, you don’t want it anymore. Your kids have outgrown. You don’t like the style of it anymore. It’s been hanging in your closet for a long time. You have no intention to wear it. And now you feel like you can let of it. You put on clothing and it doesn’t make you feel good or it doesn’t fit. You put all of these items into the bag or box. And when that bag or box is easily accessible, it’s readily available to you.
(19:02):
You just drop the things in there. When it’s full, you walk it out to the car and you drop it off at wherever you donate your unwanted most, the next time that you drive by you replace that bag or box with another one. So when you always have that in your closet or a space in your home where you can get rid of things, if it’s a kitchen gadget that you don’t like, it’s frustrating you. If it’s toys, you’ve realized that your kids don’t play with, if it’s whatever, a gaming system, a DVD, something that you’re like, why I have this, I have this for years and we haven’t used it. It just goes in the box having that bin or basket or shopping bag that is always there for donations, keeps you in the mindset to declutter the items and constantly purge the items that are no longer serving you in your family.
(19:47):
So you, you can get rid of them quickly without think about doing a big purge or going through everything. Again, you’re just constantly in the mindset of passing on the things that are no longer serving you and your family and giving someone else the opportunity to have something that they wouldn’t be able to purchase. Currently, this question I’m gonna answer, this is an easy one. It says, how do I get my children to put bath towels back on the towel bar and not on the floor. This can be super frustrating and lead to lots of extra laundry, but there is a very easy solution for this towel. Bars do not make it easy, especially if your kids are young to have to fold and put a towel back. Also when the towel is folded, depending on the climate you live in, it can take your towels much longer to dry.
(20:39):
So I would recommend removing the towel bar or just adding hooks. You can easily add hooks. It’s not hard to take a towel bar off patch the holes and then add hooks. Or if you have enough room in the bathroom, add hooks on a different wall, but it is very simple to take the towel and hang it up on the hooks so much more than folding a towel and putting it back on a towel bar, moving onto the next question. My home needs more structure for basics. And I’ve learned from your podcast. I can get that with routines, but I’m unsure and need reassurance. Could we do this in a coaching session? Absolutely. In a coaching session, we cover all kinds of things. Some people need help with where to start purging. Some people have already purged and need help with the organization. But most of the time, it’s not the physical belongings that I’m working through with coaching calls.
(21:37):
Most of the times it’s creating systems and routines that we want to have become these healthy habits for your family so that your home runs like a well oil machine. We want things to happen in your house easily and effortlessly and have simple maintenance systems and routines are the key for that. Most of my coaching sessions actually, that’s what we’re talking about. So in this situation, if you’re the one that submitted this question, or you’re thinking the same thing that you need more structure, sure. This like this one says, you need more structure for the basics and you want to establish routines morning routines and evening routines are what I suggest the most. An evening routine is a game changer for your entire next day. I have a whole podcast episode on that go back and listen to the evening routine podcast episode you, yes, I would love to do a coaching session with you and we will knock out a few routines in that coaching session to work towards you accomplishing what you want to happen in your home and what you want to feel in your home rather than stressed out and overwhelmed with what’s going on.
(22:46):
Yes. I would love to do a coaching session session with you, help you figure out those routines that would best fit your home. Don’t wanna make this episode crazy long. So let’s do one more question. And this last question says favorite place to travel in the United States. Ooh. So for like a beach destination, okay. I’ll do like summer and winter. So for beach in the United States, I love Southern California. Some of the beaches there, I love LA Jolla and Oceanside. I like laid back environments like that, where it’s more of a small town feel where there’s nice restaurants, but also a ton of local businesses. And, uh, just a very laid back, peaceful, calm vibe going on. So that would be for summer also the weather, because if I’m on summer vacation, I don’t wanna go to a beach where it’s humid or too cold to enjoy.
(23:43):
So that’s probably why I gravitate more to like Southern California. It’s still nice weather. It’s warm enough to be at the beach in the water outside, but also cool enough that in the evening as you need a sweatshirt and then for the winter, I would say my favorite little winter, like mountain town is Telluride. Again, that goes back to, I love that it was a real town that there’s buildings that are over a hundred years old, the architecture, just the feel. I love places with local restaurants and local businesses. I will go to a locally owned family business restaurant any day over. So something that is a franchise or commercial situation, that it was an old mining town and that there is history and that there’s stories around the buildings and books written about the town and all kinds of things that are real events.
(24:40):
So I like the old towns and the local restaurants and supporting the local businesses. Those would be probably my two places that I’ve gone to many, many times over and over again. But I also like exploring new areas and going to cities that I haven’t been to. If you have any suggestions for me of cute little towns that have a lot to offer in a lot of family, own local businesses to support you can touch me those too, because I like to go to a new place once or twice a year and check it out and learn about those places. Send me whatever you have and your ideas for that. If you have more questions, you can go to my website, intentional edit.com and there is a little button that will pop up that says record. Now you can actually record a message for me, just like you would leave your friends a voicemail and ask me a question.
(25:33):
If you have a comment or if you want me to answer a question on a future podcast episode, I normally answer those questions, listener questions on tip Tuesday episodes, but I thought it would be fun to mix it up and do this Q and session for my birthday episode. So I hope you enjoyed that. And I have a lot of other questions that I didn’t get to, but I didn’t want this episode to be too long, but again, head on over to intentional edit.com, click on the record now button and submit your questions for me. If you want me to answer questions for you on a future tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed the Q and a today, and I will meet you back here next week for another episode.
(26:20):
Thank you for listening to the intentional edit podcast. If you found today’s episode valuable, tell your friends about it by taking a screenshot, sharing it on social and tagging me at intentional edit. I’ll be back soon with another episode in the meantime, find me@intentionaledit.com and be sure to follow intentional edit on social platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, to ensure you catch future episodes, click the subscribe or follow button. Now I am grateful for a five star rating and review from you. Be sure to let me know what you liked about this episode and what you want me to cover in the future.
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Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!
Intentional Edit participates in select affiliate advertising programs. If you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on this site or any related social media platforms, Intentional Edit may make a commission. All opinions are my own.
My Favorite Organizing Products
Amazon | The Container Store
Where to Shop
Organizing
The Container Store | Target | Bed Bath & Beyond | Walmart | Marshalls| Ikea
Design & Decor
Wayfair | Joss & Main | West Elm | Crate & Barrel | Pottery Barn | Urban Outfitters |
Deals
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Nordstrom | Banana Republic |LOFT | J.Crew | Lululemon | Nike| Saks Off 5th | Abercrombie
DIY
Home Depot | Sherwin Williams | Michaels | Ace Hardware | Amazon| Etsy
Crafty
Michaels | Ikea | Etsy |Home Depot | Target | Amazon
Organizing | DIY | Recipes |Creativity | Design | Home | Shopping
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