10 Ridiculously Simple Systems to Streamline Your Life Today with Denise Albright

Speaker 1: 0:00

What I found over time is I started stacking all these things that I would do to operate to run my household more efficiently. And I was talking to a girlfriend of mine and she's like, oh my God, I never thought of that. I'm like what do you mean? And she's like no, she's like that she goes wait, did you just tell me? I mean, it started by saying I told her. I said I find laundry relaxing and she goes wait, what? And I started telling her some of my things I do. She's like oh, I never heard of that. She's like you need to tell people about that.

Speaker 1: 0:28

I'm like, really you think she goes oh my God, yes, so you know, we started thinking like you really can find you know the minutes and the mundane things, the unsexy things about our household. And really, when you stack them all together, you know you think of it like a game of Tetris. I don't know who listening might know the game of Tetris, right? You're trying to efficiently block all those things together. So you have all that empty space above you, right? Same thing with your household, if you can take all these little micro tasks and stack them all together and just find a little more time in each and every one of them. They all add up, right? Yes.

Speaker 2: 1:03

Hi everyone, and welcome to a brand new episode of she's Got it Together. I'm your host, Jessica.

Speaker 3: 1:09

And I'm Samantha. Each week we peel back the curtain on what it really looks like to have it together.

Speaker 2: 1:14

From the messy moments to the milestones, we're here to share it all.

Speaker 3: 1:19

So grab your favorite drink, get comfy and let's dive into today's topic.

Speaker 2: 1:23

get comfy and let's dive into today's topic, jessica, here we're back for another episode of she's Got it Together, and I am joined with my sidekick, samantha Hello, and she is not feeling 100% today, so you probably won't hear as much from her as we typically do. Allergy season yes, not very nice to her right now, and we have our guest, denise Albright from denisealbrightcom, and she is going to be chatting with us today about 10 ridiculously simple systems that you can implement today. So, denise, how are you?

Speaker 1: 2:03

I'm great. I love the intro saying this is Denise Albright. From Denise Albright, I never feel so narcissistic. I love it, I love it.

Speaker 2: 2:10

That's so funny, it's hard, I mean, how else do we do it? Yes, of course you do it as you do it.

Speaker 1: 2:19

That's so funny. Back in the day, when I was trying to name my company, I was really kind of like I don't know what I'm going to do exactly. So I'm like, yeah, name works. My maiden name fun fact my maiden name is Shrek. So that would be amazing. I mean that would be good.

Speaker 1: 2:35

That's a marketable, so yeah. So Denise Albright, which is a little more phonetically sound, a little bit more you know so so, but I'm doing well and thrilled that we could pull this together. Thank you guys so much for having me. Yeah, it's going to be fun.

Speaker 2: 2:47

So, Denise, I'm going to kind of let you tell everyone about yourself and you know where they can find you and all that fun stuff, but then we can dive in.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Awesome. Okay, so I am a married mom of three. I started my first business back in 1999. I think I was like 12. I've always been kind of a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit, and so I've worked for myself back in the day and creating invitations, announcements for you know, all kinds of social engagements. Sold that company in 07.

Speaker 1: 3:20

Thought I wanted to take time off to have a family. Did that. Realized I really like myself working and so does everybody else. Got a little bored yes, People forget to tell you that about motherhood, right that it's kind of a little bit lonely, right, Right? So I know I'm preaching to the choir here, and so I did take some time off, had a few kids and then got back into it in 2016 with the company I have today, which is really designed about helping busy women declutter their mind, and all the products we bring to the table are planners and journals and weekly planner pads and meal planning pads, things like that that can really sort of help you organize all of your thoughts.

Speaker 1: 4:02

You know we spend so much time organizing our homes physically, but really there's so much cluttered in my brain. You want to clear that mental dance floor so you can do one of two things. You can actually I don't know think, and then, secondly, enjoy the moment once you're there. I mean, how many of you have actually gotten to an event right, Maybe it's been. You know the sidelines, the bleachers across the dinner table from a loved one. You're there physically, but mentally you're three days ahead. Right, right, yeah, Right. And so you know, I'll tell my kids look, even the word moment has the word mom in it.

Speaker 3: 4:35

Shouldn't.

Speaker 1: 4:36

I get to enjoy it too. Yeah, absolutely, I love that. Yeah, so, anyway. So my mission is really to help women declutter their mind and get things out of their head so they can actually think on things and just operate a little bit more efficiently and, honestly, stress-free. When there's so much in your mind, no one gives credit to all of that energy you expend on the invisible work. Lennon Doyle coined that phrase. Invisible work Nice, all the mental logistics that we have to think through right to get things done, that no one appreciates. They just get to show up to the menu and the venue and think this is great, right? No, just relax, mom. I'm like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 5:15

As you're serving everyone in here, you know, oh my gosh Right, right, exactly so, but anyway.

Speaker 1: 5:22

So it was kind of with that sort of undercurrent that I've kind of pulled together my topic here today, because when I did become a mom I was an older mom. I didn't have my first baby until I was 39. And you know, my husband and I coined a phrase called minutes matter. And I know, samantha, that's probably you're in it to win it right now Minutes really do matter. Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 5:47

Yes, exactly.

Speaker 1: 5:49

Yes, you know, um, my husband, I'm like, if you tell me you're going to be here in 15 minutes, do not make it 22. Right, oh, yes, love it. Sometimes those minutes like everything can unravel in those extra seven minutes. Yeah, and so, you know, I really started thinking about how to do things a little bit more efficiently, because minutes really do matter. Like, sometimes you have these little bite-sized pieces where you can sort of really try to get things done. And so what I found over time is I started stacking all these things that I would do to operate to run my household more efficiently.

Speaker 1: 6:24

And I was talking to a girlfriend of mine and she's like oh my God, I never thought of that. I'm like what do you mean? And she's like no, she's like that she goes wait, did you just tell me? I mean, it started by saying I told her, I said I find laundry relaxing. And she goes wait, what? And I started telling her some of my things I do. She's like, oh, I never heard of that. She's like you need to tell people about that.

Speaker 1: 6:45

I'm like, really, you think she goes oh my God, yes, so you know, we started thinking about you really can find you know the minutes in the mundane things, the unsexy things about our household, um, and really, when you stack them all together, you know you think of it like a game of Tetris. I don't know who listening might know the game of Tetris. Right, you're trying to efficiently block all those things together so you have all that empty space above you right? Same thing with your household. If you can take all these little micro tasks and stack them all together and just find a little more time in each and every one of them, they all add up, right? Yes, I love that.

Speaker 1: 7:20

But anyway, that's kind of where this all came to be, and so what we're going to talk about here today Awesome awesome.

Speaker 2: 7:27

Well, tetris was one of my favorite games. I think our mom was obsessed with Tetris too, so I mean, we had that on Nintendo, the original Nintendo.

Speaker 3: 7:36

Yeah, Nintendo.

Speaker 2: 7:39

I don't know if you even remember that I feel like Nintendo was going out when I kind of got to that age, and it was the PlayStation, yes, and Nintendo the second one was probably the one that you saw and I think we had the original, like the cartridges and the gray box and all of that. Oh, totally the duck game, you know, with the gun.

Speaker 1: 7:59

I'm an Atari girl. I'm an Atari girl, I'm Atari Like. You know what I mean. So, yeah, I was pretty much, yeah, pac-man, all that stuff. But it's funny to go back and people who had like Nintendo or Intellivision all that were like whoa, you guys are the best.

Speaker 2: 8:14

Yes no no, so I, I started with Atari. Actually I mean that one, that one was on my way out, I think, but my grandparents had it and then my dad and that was like I love that one, loved it Like Space Invader and you know like, oh my gosh, all of them.

Speaker 1: 8:29

Was that the social media of the seventies and the eighties? I think so. I think it must have been. That's what we all did as teens and tweens, right?

Speaker 2: 8:37

And there was no chatting like, unless you were in the room with the person, there was no chatting across lines, yes, room with the person.

Speaker 1: 8:43

There was no chatting across the line. Yeah, that was. We always find something right. We'll always find something that pays. So so, yeah, well, um well, if you, if you want, I can just kind of dig into a couple of things.

Speaker 1: 8:54

I was going to say that one of the things that I realized, too, and and kind of piecing all this together, is, you know, I've always, um, tried to do full-time work in part-time hours, you know, and I think we operate just as women.

Speaker 1: 9:06

We are always trying to, you know, put 10 pounds of you know what in a five pound bag, yep, and so I'm hoping that some of the things I share with you today are kind of, you know, people that resonate with people. And the real takeaway here for me is I know, jessica, you and I listened to some of the same thought leaders you know on, and we get some of these great plans and these great long games, you know. But sometimes you kind of want to know what can I do right now? Yes, what can I do today, you know, and so, and two, I know we both listen to Stu McLaren. He talks about like, when you're teaching something, something, something to someone, all you need to do is be one step better than the person you're talking to One step further not better, but just ahead of some yeah, just ahead.

Speaker 1: 9:50

And so really a lot about what I'm going to talk about today there is, there is it's everybody can do anything I'm about to talk about and it's just I, just I just got there first and I can articulate it for you, and implementation is easy. And that's really what I'm going for here. Is that being able to implement these things without some big long strategy or implementation plan, right? So I thought I started out big with one that, jessica, you and I talked about and you were like, oh my gosh, you were one of those people when I talked about laundry being relaxing.

Speaker 1: 10:27

And unfortunately, you know, laundry is part of everybody's household, right, and it's not exactly the most fun. It can be overwhelming and you see, these piles of to-dos, you know that can be very, you know, daunting, and I get that. And so one of the tips that one of my friends gave me she had she has, uh, boys that were just a few years old, you know, older than mine, and so she said one of the tips she shared with me and I uh love was she said the uniforms never leave the laundry room.

Speaker 1: 11:01

And I was like I know, and I was like, oh my gosh, I said that's really, she goes. Yes, she said so, she's literally. You know she's like the boys will come in. Of course, everything's usually pretty dirty, dusty. You know grass stain. You don't really want it traipsing through your house, so everything stays in the laundry room and she's like, even when it's clean, it stays in the laundry room and that's the magic.

Speaker 1: 11:23

Um, so I thought that was a brilliant tip, and what I did on top of that was I start. I created what I call. This is my first tip I'm going to share with you. So I'll number them so people can kind of really follow along and what these 10 ridiculously simple systems are. So I created what the wind bin and what the win bin is.

Speaker 1: 11:46

It's the wash it next bin in my laundry room, and what that enables me to do is create a space for me and my family. If that person needs that uniform, that those favorite shorts, whatever it is they might need goes into that bin. If it's there, I will wash it next. Yes, right, I will wash it next, because I'm not going to be traipsing around trying to find all these favorite things and don't go unraveling the entire hamper to find those favorite jeans, right, yes, and so that kind of falls along with like uniforms and things. So all of my boys know I've got three boys. I've um. I don't know if I mentioned that I have three kids, but three boys. I only know how to make boys Um, or maybe my husband only knows how to make boys.

Speaker 1: 12:40

Um, but anyway. So the um, anyway, all the uniforms go into the wash it next bin, and what that does for me is then I literally only have to do laundry, um on a regular basis when that bin is full.

Speaker 2: 12:51

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:52

Because in the, in the background, I'll do laundry. Believe it or not, I've got three active boys. We're a family of five. I do laundry about once every two weeks. This blows my mind about once every two weeks.

Speaker 1: 13:05

This blows my mind. Yes, Cause? Well, and I'll tell you. I'll tell you that the wind bin has been the magic of it all, because literally all the critical things that need to be washed quickly are washed. Yeah, Aside from that, what I tried to do in the background is stack all of my um. You know, each of my sons have 15 days worth of underwear, just that extra day in case I'm running late. Right, but everybody's underwear is rounded up to 15. All my dish towels and hand towels are rounded up to 15. So that, literally, what I'll do is an entire load of just kitchen towels and um washcloths, or I'll do an entire load of just the kids socks and underwear. You know, and the magic about that is when you think about this laundry. The magic about that is that what, what is the most pain in the butt thing to do about laundry? It's not putting in the washer and turning it on.

Speaker 2: 14:00

Oh, putting it away and folding it up.

Speaker 1: 14:03

Right, exactly, it's putting it away. So I set myself up for success at the front end in only putting like things together, so that, literally, how long would it take you to fold an entire load if it was nothing but hand towels and washcloths?

Speaker 2: 14:22

for your kitchen Seconds.

Speaker 1: 14:23

I mean right, and so you know what I do in the meantime. What I'll do is like so when I talk about being relaxing, not only is it mindless, because it's um, you're doing the same thing over and over again and it all goes back in the drawer. And then, because you've washed it in this sort of cyclical two week cycle or whatever, whatever your cycle ends up being, um, the drawer is darn near empty.

Speaker 2: 14:41

It fits Like that's my thing, it fits, because I hate it when things don't fit.

Speaker 1: 14:46

Exactly Cause you're like, oh, and they have to rotate and all this stuff. You're like, oh, my gosh, it doesn't fit and it's so easy to put away.

Speaker 3: 14:53

So well, that's nice too because you're not going to all these different places, like you're not like in the kitchen over here. Yeah, like it's one area.

Speaker 2: 15:04

You know, it's so simple but brilliant and I don't know why we didn't think of these things.

Speaker 1: 15:09

I mean, you know, you nailed it, because my husband's great about, like, he does all kinds of things around the house and every now and then I'm like, oh, I threw a load in. I'm like, oh, I'll tell you why. Because then by the time it gets out of the dryer, I'll throw it on the ping pong table, which is what sits in the middle of our living room. You know, aforementioned three boys, I'll throw it there. I'll say, now you fold it and put it away, run the 18 places, because you put one pair of socks in his underwear.

Speaker 2: 15:38

Well, at least it was a pair of socks. How about one sack in this load and one sack in that? Exactly.

Speaker 1: 15:44

Exactly so. I was like that's, that's the the. The hurdle that we don't realize is, like you know, throwing stuff in the washer and turning it on. Throwing stuff, that's easy, like oh, I'm doing laundry, I don't know, it's the putting of putting away of the laundry.

Speaker 3: 15:56

Yes.

Speaker 1: 15:57

So brilliant it is. The wind bin is really the kind of kickstart and it was recently.

Speaker 2: 16:24

I was at a my, my son's, soccer game. It is no more running around trying to find you know the, the shock soccer socks and all this stuff. I'm like, yep, I love it. I mean in the the fact that you keep it in the laundry room after it's washed, because that's the other thing it's like once it's put away. Oh, mom, I don't remember where I put it. Can you help me find it?

Speaker 1: 16:35

like it's, it's almost, it's yes who knows where it is, and and neither these things are fancy. I literally my wind bin is just a plastic tub, you know, from Walmart, it's not. It's not nothing fancy. My kids' uniforms we have a couple baskets that literally I will roll up their. You know, I roll up all their clothes like a burrito and I stick it in there with their, you know, socks and jerseys and things like that. So you don't have to be, you don't need to like redo your laundry room, you just need to have a designated area where these things are stacked and they're always here. Now I have been known to have some kids streaking through my house up to the shower, but that's all right, Right now it still works.

Speaker 2: 17:13

Yeah, as they get older, they'll have to be new rules. Right, right, exactly.

Speaker 1: 17:18

My 14-year-old could be a little bit like no, no problem, but anyway that it's like I said, doesn't have to be fancy, just has to be functional.

Speaker 1: 17:27

So good, um, yeah, so kind of on that, um, on that vein, yeah, I talked about the. The second thing is is really, um, we talked about rounding everything up in your, in your laundry, your critical parts to 15, 15 pieces and so on. Building on that, because I have so many of those cloths I want to have on hand, I always keep a microfiber cloth right where I need one, and I know there was Norwex advised that, like putting putting one on the every bathroom counter and things like that. So the level up from that is that on my kitchen counter I always keep to a glass jar of Dawn dish detergent water, just simple water with just a few drops of Dawn, and what that enables me to do is that when you are trying to be efficiently wipe down a counter, wipe something off, get some sponge something off of someone's shirt, you know Dawn does everything right. It does. Yes, it's incredible. Every time I watch all these little reels I'm like, oh my God, just Dawn does that really?

Speaker 1: 18:32

I mean, we're saving everything, um, but anyway, having that there it is makes things so much more efficient for cleanup. Uh, whether it's your kitchen table, your counters, you're not using um, uh, uh chemicals, but yet it's still a um, viable cleaning solution and literally just water with a few drops of Dawn having it there and then this way you can quickly clean up your kitchen, which you don't have to get the whole basin of dishwater and all that stuff going on. So you'd be amazed how handy that can come in place. Very cool, all right. So my next little tip here this is one that I started when my kids were really little, when they would go into childcare and I had to get a message to the childcare provider, and so I started what I call he-mail, and I'm showing a visual here. I love it. This is my he-mail I would literally write a message to the teacher and tape it to his back.

Speaker 3: 19:40

I love it. I love that.

Speaker 1: 19:41

And I'm a former teacher.

Speaker 3: 19:43

So I would just love that. It's like I mean, it's like they have all the apps and stuff now and whatever, but it's like you know what that's like? Foolproof. The message will send, like you can see it.

Speaker 1: 19:55

It will send and it will get where it needs to go. So I'm holding up this visual which my husband was telling me. He's like. He's like, wow, he's like, so you're doing this video. It's a podcast. I'm like, yes, but they have a video. And he's like I see you go. So those are your visual props. And I'm like those of you who are just listening.

Speaker 1: 20:15

I have a Sharpie in one hand and a roll of masking tape in the other. Um, but I want so I tell you. Um, so, literally like my, my son's, my youngest is in first grade. When he was in kindergarten, you know they they asked for wipes and paper towels and things.

Speaker 2: 20:29

There's a list, right.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Well, those wipes went to and from school three days in a row, and so got out my email, taped it across his chest and said please check my backpack.

Speaker 3: 20:46

They're in there, I promise.

Speaker 1: 20:50

Please check whatever Right and so um. So a couple of things that I've kind of adopted this whole little process. So now that my kids have friends coming over all the time and we have like at least six kids sleeping over every weekend and invariably there are always things to end up in said wind bin that aren't my kids.

Speaker 2: 21:11

So what I'll do?

Speaker 1: 21:13

is. I will take those items, put them on top of my laundry room counter, put a piece of tape on them and say these go back to Felix, these go back to Landon. And then this way, it's there, yeah, it's communicated, you know, and then when they're on their way to that practice or whatever, so it does helps the internal communication, because otherwise it's just a shirt sitting on top of the laundry room. Right, I mean depends on who walks by.

Speaker 2: 21:39

If they know what it is, they'll sit there forever, Right exactly, or get folded somewhere else Exactly.

Speaker 1: 21:46

So I've used that for having that masking tape. This also works on if I have to get a message to my husband. I put messages on the steering wheel.

Speaker 3: 22:00

Love it, so smart Love that Yep.

Speaker 1: 22:02

I put a message on the steering wheel wheel and masking tape is great because it leaves no residue.

Speaker 2: 22:07

Right and it stays. You know sticky notes, just don't hack it. I mean, I've tried sticky notes even on the fridge and they fall. I know.

Speaker 1: 22:13

I love sticky notes, the concept of them, but, yes, I when they fall and like, oh my gosh, it's gone forever, they're not reliable. I'll put a message on my um, uh, on my mailbox. If I have a package down below my mailbox, I can't find that I need to ship out. I'll put a message to my mail carrier. I say, hey, please grab the package down below because otherwise they won't.

Speaker 2: 22:33

Right, yeah, no, that's actually interesting. You say that because I've had that trouble and I'm shipping some stuff out now that I've got to get out to go take it, because I know my mailman, if I put it out there down below they're not going to take it. But I might put that on there Would you mind please?

Speaker 1: 22:49

Now, I do have you know, I do know my mail carrier by first name, so that does help you know, because I think too there's probably some federal law that they can't just grab something outside of you know postal receptacle. But if you have that, you know relationship. Anyway, here's your, here's your and this is available on wwwanywhereyoubuystopscom.

Speaker 3: 23:11

Anywhere right.

Speaker 1: 23:12

So just a little hack that really helps to with the internal communication and with and with with others. So okay, I know right, it's one of those things that who knew and I said also. But I said to the teacher I'm like this is he mail also available in she mail and we mail too?

Speaker 2: 23:30

yeah, I love it.

Speaker 1: 23:32

Oh, so good, I know right, so, um, but they, they get it. They're like, okay, I got it. So when the message absolutely has to get there, so, um, okay, so that was the masking tape was number four. Number five and this was inspired by my sister who has into her garage from her house is a metal door, so she keeps those little little magnets and that's where she puts eye level any flyer coupon whatever right on the door and that's kind of you know, and the garage door someone of an internal door, so she would put a magnet there. I was like that is brilliant. Now my joke my door to my house was not metal so I couldn't do that, but we implemented a magnetic strip. Yeah, that's nearby there. I know commonly when people have, like they go through the garage, just come on, yet you know lucky level refrigerator or a freezer in the garage.

Speaker 1: 24:25

But, we have a section of coupons and right now I've got teenagers who go on their e-bikes and of course they you know money grows on trees, so they don't think about the fact that you know the Jersey Mike's. Here's a $2 off coupon, right.

Speaker 3: 24:45

I love that because I feel like you'll like have the coupon and then it just gets lost somewhere or it's like oh, it's over here in this bag.

Speaker 1: 24:49

It's in the diaper bag.

Speaker 3: 24:50

It's in my purse, you don't have it when you need it, but if it's right there and like a common like foot traffic area, it's perfect.

Speaker 1: 24:57

Right, and sometimes yeah sometimes you're not the one using said coupon, someone else. Right, but I think it's really. Everything has its place, everything in its place, and you can see the undercurrent to all this. Stop searching for stuff.

Speaker 2: 25:07

Put it right where you're looking, right where you are when it makes sense and that's kind of where a lot of these things will save you so much time because going and looking for things.

Speaker 1: 25:16

So this next tip, so this is also an idea that's evolved over time. But my sixth tip is obviously so many of us now do online grocery shopping, which I remember gosh, I remember 20 years ago a friend of mine used to do that. I was like what it was called like Home Grocer or something. They were like the pioneers. I was like what kind of pointy-toity life do you do?

Speaker 2: 25:41

Yeah, what do you pay for that stuff?

Speaker 1: 25:44

Yes, I know which, now you know, all these providers make it so easy to do that. But one of the things I do we do grocery online, grocery delivery almost more often than anything thing. But the two things I do is I still use that time when the groceries are coming in to use the opportunity to reorganize, clean out a drawer, a shelf in my pantry or my fridge, because you're still you're still found time, right, you know? And what's nicer than when you open the fridge and you're like it's all organized all organized.

Speaker 1: 26:22

There's still. Invariably it's going to be a little hodgepodge. That's just family life. But what I do in my refrigerator and this is the magic part is we have an eat it next drawer. Oh, so smart. So, as you can see, the win bin may have inspired this the eat it next drawer. So there is one drawer dedicated in our refrigerator to vegetables that might need to be consumed, something that's partially eaten, leftover pizza, anything that's kind of like eat this next, right, even if it's recycling broccoli. Okay, hey, we bought more broccoli, you already had some. Put that in the eat it next drawer.

Speaker 3: 27:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 27:03

I love that.

Speaker 3: 27:04

I mean yeah, Searching for, oh, there's like this container in the back that just got shoved back there.

Speaker 2: 27:09

That everybody forgot about. And when was that from again, you know, like it's been in there a couple of weeks, it's been a day.

Speaker 1: 27:14

Exactly, exactly so, and, depending on you, dedicate one of the bigger drawers or a smaller drawer or something, but that's all the eat it. Next drawer, the onion that got partially cut up, and things like that.

Speaker 2: 27:25

Even like yogurts and stuff that are getting ready to expire, because they get stuck in the back of our fridge and then I move them up but nobody realizes what I want them to do with it, because there's nothing that says eat it now.

Speaker 1: 27:37

Exactly, and we don't, and I probably should make labels for it. My family knows now Well yeah, you have a dedicated drawer. Yeah, yeah, it's that dedicated drawer. But given the nature of my industry, given that I am a designer, illustrator, you know, provider of the like, denise, make a sign that we don't put on there you know Right.

Speaker 2: 27:54

Okay so but anyway yeah.

Speaker 1: 27:56

So we have the wash it next bin and the eat it next drawer. I love it. Brilliant, right? Um so, okay, so then, um, the other um.

Speaker 1: 28:09

So tip number seven is have you ever struggled with, like, looking at a task and you're like, oh my gosh, I just don't want to have to do this, whether it's it could be a little bit bigger of a task, like whether it's going through a closet or you know, uh, I just need to straighten up this kitchen or do all these dishes Right, it just can be feel daunting, you know, and if it, if it takes me too long and my phone's too close, invariably, you know, you get stuck, right, yeah, so what I'll do is I will literally perch my phone up somewhere, sometimes even tape it to a cupboard drawer with that map, this masking tape that I bought at wwwbuyanythingyouwantcom, and I will put on a time-lapse camera on myself. Oh, so it does two things. One is it keeps me on task. Actually, there's three things keeps me on task to, I will not be able to even look at my phone, right, because it's been utilized. And three, those output videos are so fun to watch.

Speaker 2: 29:14

I was going to say that's like content. Right there, there's some content we need that yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:20

I did that when I was putting away. We did. I did that Um, uh, when I was putting away. Uh, we did a couple of things. Um, when I was putting all my Christmas decorations, you know, we kind of gathered all up and put it all in the ping pong table and then kind of put it all in its boxes. And I was like oh, this is going to be so daunting, but I put the time last camera on. I was like, okay, let's get it done.

Speaker 2: 29:40

Yeah, that's a really. I really liked that. That would definitely motivate me too, cause I wouldn't you know well, it's like someone's watching you or packing when you have to pack Like.

Speaker 1: 29:52

Sometimes I feel like, oh, packing is such a I don't want to pack right now. You perch it up on, you know, on your dresser, and then you pack all your stuff, you know, and then it's just kind of a fun thing and and then then you have content for who knows what.

Speaker 2: 30:05

I know.

Speaker 3: 30:05

Whatever you want.

Speaker 2: 30:06

Brilliant piece of that. Oh my gosh, we could so use that. It'll come in handy somewhere.

Speaker 1: 30:10

Yeah, yeah, I mean moving, setting something up, baking, cleaning, all this. I mean the list goes on and on, right, you know. So, ok, so, um, okay. So then, tip number eight um, and this we we touched on this a little bit in having kind of like, where to find stuff, um, and that's really um, having a dedicated, um outgoing bag for anything you, any type of event you have, you know, especially, um, and depending on where you are in the stage of life, like you know, diaper bag would be one that Samantha, you've got at the ready.

Speaker 1: 30:42

You know, having life, like you know, diaper bag would be one that Samantha, you've got at the ready. You know. Having a baseball bag, you know Jessica, is another one that you would have. Beach bag, you know, just a, then your own personal personal bag, you can take that to think through every time. Yes, you know, um, having it ready to go, that's the magic, yeah, and in that, in that vein, and having everything ready, for example, um, right about now is the time of time of year, I'll go out and back up the truck on sunscreen and I will put one in my baseball bag, in my diaper bag, in my car, in my camping bag, in the, you know the beach bag.

Speaker 2: 31:34

Yeah, sunscreen and bug spray, those would be the two that I would grab.

Speaker 1: 31:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:38

And so to actually get you know, buy in bulk and distribute them wherever you need them and have that bag ready to go with all the mainstays it certainly helps take them down wash them, towels or what have you, but having that mainstay and you can even take that to the point where, if you are a you know a weekend warrior family and go to VRBOs, you know what have that prefab bin that has all those things that you can never count on them, having the Ziploc bags and the kitchen shears and the lighters and all those things that you're like, oh, I just wish I had that lemon squeezer Wine bottle opener I mean having just things and again trying to think it through once you know and kind of know what the what needs to happen, what you need to have in that, in that bin, and then you, just when it's washed or ready or whatever, you put it back in the bin and then it's ready to go.

Speaker 2: 32:38

You know, these are such obvious things that we don't do Right. That's, I think, why I absolutely love this, because, duh, I mean, yes, it would be easier if it was just ready to go, but do we do that?

Speaker 1: 32:51

No, we just search and search, and that's why I say nothing here.

Speaker 1: 32:57

Anybody can do any of these things because you're like, oh my gosh, of course that's what I do. My sister was here recently, like I love the fact that you two are so close, but I have, I'm pretty close to my sister and I was telling her about this, what I'm doing, and she gave me a little little bonus idea and I thought this was pretty good. Where her kids are, she, she has a whiteboard kind of in and near her drop zone, and they are a family who does my niece is a big track star they're constantly doing little overnights, things like that, and what they'll do is she'll put on the whiteboard which each of the kids have to pack for this little overnight excursion. So she'll put on the whiteboard what it is, okay, you need, you know something to sleep in, an outfit for tomorrow, you need to have whatever blah, blah, blah. And then each kid goes there and and reads the board and I thought that was a really good centralized location. She thinks it through once. She doesn't have to say did you get that?

Speaker 2: 33:47

Oh my gosh, that's what I'm doing, right, they still don't get packed unless I do it.

Speaker 1: 33:52

You know, you kind of graduate from the having the diaper bag ready to like okay, kids, this is what you need to have ready, some responsibilities, some responsibilities, exactly. So I thought that was a good tip. I like that. Okay so, and then let's see. That was the. I think I jumped around a little bit, but one of the other I said probably, I guess is number nine is I keep back stock on just about all my consumable items in my house, um and uh.

Speaker 1: 34:25

One of the um I did a guy a million years ago and he used to um, he used to tell me that if he was trying to, if he was contemplating a decision on something, he and he didn't want to make a decision, he would say you know what? I'm going to think through this, uh, uh. How would he say it? He said I'm going to give myself a tube of toothpaste to think through this. And he said that he would wait until he got through a tube of toothpaste to then think through something. Because he's like, let me just really mold this over and I'm not going to pressurize myself, let's just see if it's still really important really pressing after a tube of toothpaste. I thought, yeah, well, that's a weird like metric, interesting, yeah, interesting, so you know. So I kind of have that.

Speaker 1: 35:06

That was influenced, kind of like when I go and I will one buying soap. I literally this morning I said to my husband, hey, we need to order bar soap. I said, go to the Walmart, order and see he goes. Oh my gosh, the last time you ordered bar soap, denise, was November of 2022. Right now we're talking it is 2024 spring and I realize that not everybody's going to have the room or the space, but when it comes to soap, we're not talking about a huge investment.

Speaker 1: 35:37

But but sometimes what I'll find myself doing too is when I buy something and you buy the, you know the one million Q-tips I'll be like you know what, by the time these Q-tips are gone, I will be insert goal here I will be. You know, have this net paid off? Yeah, this, you know I will be able to be run, you know, run three miles without panting. You know, like, whatever it is like these goal setting things. But the fringe Benny is that literally I don't have to think, mom, we're out of soap, have to go get it. It's kind of a backstock area in our home that has all the backlog of deodorant and toners and conditioners and shampoos and whatever, and so that this way I don't have to think about it that much. Yeah, right.

Speaker 2: 36:23

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 36:24

That happens so often here. It's like you have to think about so many other things. It's like having to not have to think about those things is nice. It frees up your day. It does, and I mean that's less thinking.

Speaker 2: 36:38

I stocked up during COVID and I mean like toilet paper. You know that was the whole thing, but I still am using some of the toilet paper that we have.

Speaker 3: 36:48

But it's nice because then you don't have to worry about it when you go to the store. That's one less thing on your list. That's why I love Costco.

Speaker 2: 36:54

I'm like, okay, I do the Amazon delivery, you know like the monthly delivery or whatever, but I got in it and they were able to ship it, so I didn't stop it. And then we also had a very backup backup of Scott's if there was an emergency, because we wanted something softer.

Speaker 1: 37:11

But we still have that.

Speaker 2: 37:15

I don't know why we stopped, that we should have just continued and realized, I mean that, that paper towels and gosh, I know, and I try to keep everything in that back stock.

Speaker 1: 37:24

If you look at my back stock now, everything is kind of unwrapped and ready to go. Yeah, the toothpaste is out of the boxes, out of the cellophane, even unwrapping the bars of soap to make it super quick and easy yeah, easy to grab. And I can take all those toothpaste boxes of the 12 tubes of toothpaste that I just bought, recycle them and I have just the tubes lined up there and I have to admit I like what that kind of looks like. I'm not going to lie. All I can say Love it. Jessica, you and I have already kind of gone down this path of helping parents and fellow you know fellow parents organize all their kids' keepsakes and not being overwhelmed by the day-to-day influx of all the things that kids bring home, whether it's the real littles with all the crafts and the pom-pom art or, you know, it's the play pots and like the awards that my kids get now for sporting participation participation.

Speaker 2: 38:27

Oh my God, I can't say participation, no participation, because there's no more. Like everyone gets a ribbon, that's a whole thing. I mean like yeah, that's a whole other bucket, but yeah, everybody gets one. So there's a million of them laying around our house, right?

Speaker 1: 38:44

And one of those things at some point. You know it's easy in that moment to just kind of pile it up or put it, put it in a box or bin and kind of put it in the back, you know closet, the guest bedroom or in the attic or garage. But then invariably what happens is then one day you're going to have to deal with said bins of and my girlfriend calls it keepsake soup. Yes, because it is a hodgepodge of stuff. And so, given, you know, given where I am in life I mean, my oldest is in eighth grade, I still have one in first but I have plenty of bins and keepsake mementos that I'm like why am I keeping this? We've moved several times in recent history. Every time I move I question my like what?

Speaker 2: 39:30

was I thinking Macaroni shaking in the box? Well, I feel like my mom just went through this with me.

Speaker 3: 39:37

She's like I have these boxes no-transcript boxes, samantha.

Speaker 1: 40:08

Then you're like what do I do with them? Because she kept them for all these decades. I'm like what do I do with it? Yes, so what? So? Something that that kind of bubbled up during the pandemic? We have a, a physical scrapbook. Among my, my products. We have a physical scrapbook called the class keeper and during those you know, 18 months or whatever the thick of it, we sold 140,000 of those binders. With that. To me I was like huh, wow, we're all living in parallel lives, all staring at those giant bins, all those things. And we're like what do we do with this stuff? Now, none of us have the time to deal with it. Now people are kind of deep diving in, like, okay, let's put enough of this, enough of the good stuff, in a physical book, so at least we can like okay, check the box and maybe quell a little of the mom guilt for having never done a baby book, yeah.

Speaker 3: 41:16

Right, it's something from every year, it's good.

Speaker 1: 41:20

So the so what?

Speaker 1: 41:22

What bubbled up from that was the realization that we are dealing with these mementos that we don't know how to properly organize and keep and give them their due commemoration, and so, um, in that process, we built, uh, and and developed a mobile app, also called the class keeper, that helps parents digitally organize all their kids keepsakes, whether it's photos, photos of you with your kids, stuff, just the stuff, just the participation awards, um, in an organized way in each child's profile's, a all kinds of pre-populated with albums and sections for all these different things, where you don't have to do any thinking, right.

Speaker 1: 42:08

So we took the same concept from the physical book no thinking, just inking. Now it is just no more. Um, you have it right from the um, whether it's from your camera, camera roll or a live photo, or you can also go back and backdate photos that you may have from years before, or even taking pictures of all the keepsakes and logging them. Yep, and the other, probably the most magical part about this as a mom is, each child's profile has what we call keepers, which is a log. Think of it kind of like your little micro blog of all the cute things your kids said and did that you want to remember.

Speaker 2: 42:48

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 42:49

But trust me, over time you're like wait. Which one of you said that?

Speaker 2: 42:53

Yeah, that's my favorite part, I think, because it is all those little things, the words like we had union and oh well, shoot, you was a quassadilla.

Speaker 3: 43:05

I called it a quassadilla, a quassadilla A quassadilla yes.

Speaker 2: 43:10

Genetically, Absolutely. Oh yeah, I just. There's so many things I mean I do remember that one still, but there's going to be a day when I forget many things. I mean, I do remember that one still, but there's going to be a day when I forget it.

Speaker 1: 43:22

Yeah, there will be.

Speaker 2: 43:23

Pedestrianian was Sydney. And I think oh my gosh Hiccubus was me yeah.

Speaker 1: 43:32

Hibiscus was Hiccubus. I just See, I know. So all those things you want to, you want to log and remember, you know, or even, and in the keepers you can put a photo with it if you wanted to put, or just a story, just text, and everything is searchable. And the other part is that it's shareable as well, and when you share, you can share with someone as a view only. Like, maybe you know, our moms and dads may not be contributing content, but they want to see it in real time. But then you know, like my husband, he's got some of the best photos on his phone and the best memories. Ok, babe, he's got some of the best photos on his phone and the best memories. I'm like hey, babe, you know you can upload too, so I share it with him. You know, and I'm the only you know, I only have to have one membership for family. You can share it to whomever you like, and then they can be, they can have the option to share as a contributor, so my husband can upload content too.

Speaker 3: 44:18

Yeah, I love that and I'm so excited for this because, like you know, I have mo. He's 18 months and then I'm gonna have another baby. I'm like this is great, I could start doing this, like now. And it's just like I have all of this this time and all these memories that I'm already going to be able to have organized and not have to like worry about it like 30, 40 years from now and be like oh my God, here's your bin.

Speaker 1: 44:39

Like and there will be probably some you know but the you know your child get like maybe one box where kids these days are getting like they're like oh yeah there's an entire pallet full.

Speaker 2: 44:52

Get a U-Haul Totally.

Speaker 1: 44:55

And that's where I wish somebody you know would have would have grabbed the shirt collars of my preschool mom self and said look and matter of fact I even have.

Speaker 1: 45:05

You know I have somewhere. It's not handy. I did start doing that before this app was even a thing, and this is my, this is my tip that I that I started then, which I can now log in the classkeeper app. I can now log in the classkeeper app when your child comes home from a few days of preschool. What I literally did with my little guy he was four at the time I sat him down in the middle of the like, right in front of a window, crisscross applesauce, put all his artwork around him and then had him look up at me and take a picture. Love it. Yes, that's what goes into my classkeeper. That's the joy.

Speaker 1: 45:38

Seeing his face and seeing what he made, because you know what? That styrofoam? It was a styrofoam cow and a popsicle stick, john Deere tractor and his whole theme of farm animals. That was the theme for summer camp that week and I'm like you're never going to do those things justice. You don't want to keep it, but seeing him with that, you know fruit and rainbow, him with that, you know fruit and rainbow, yeah, that's magic, priceless, yes, yes and so, and then you know what you can do with all that. That cereal art then.

Speaker 2: 46:04

Right, yeah, I don't want rodents and all that coming in you just you know secretly, Snack later.

Speaker 1: 46:11

Bye-bye. No one can see my, my, my gestures. That you're listening. But yes, then you can let it go. Yes, you have it, it's there, it's perfect, you've given it the, the, the proper, um, you know, uh, attention that it needs and, and, and, really that's you know what, what you really want. And then one day, when they're like mom, what was it? Did I smear Vaseline all over my face? Or was it spaghetti sauce? Or was it baby powder? Let me search it up real quick, yeah.

Speaker 3: 46:43

I'll tell you the day.

Speaker 2: 46:45

Yeah, and that's the. I mean like the artwork, the thing you keep it. But then to remember, okay, what grade was this? You know, like, when was it what? You know who was your teacher, like you can't remember all of that stuff, and this is kind of a cool way to incorporate all the details within it.

Speaker 1: 47:00

Oh yeah, or, like you know, the leprechaun traps. Do you want to picture them? They're so proud of that thing. But then go bye, bye. The gingerbread houses All those you know, the student of the week posters. Oh yes, you know there's so many oversized three dimensional things that I'm like I don't have the space nor the moving truck big enough.

Speaker 2: 47:20

And you'll never do anything with it. Like there's not, you're just keeping it to keep it. You're not doing anything with it, it's not going to turn into something later, you're just keeping it. To keep it because you feel guilty.

Speaker 1: 47:31

And your, your kids won't. Your kids won't want it either one day. And just like Samantha's saying like no, mom, don't throw it away, but no, I don't want it.

Speaker 3: 47:38

Right, it's like I don't have room for that, but please don't get rid of it. Like right, right. She's like well, someday, if you don't take it now, it will be yours. She's like when we're long gone, it'll be yours. It'll be yours somehow. And I was like okay.

Speaker 1: 47:53

Well, we could kind of wrap up these 10 things with the Classkeeper app and then also offering your listeners a special promotion on the Classkeeper app because of being a fan of she's Got it Together would be a great opportunity. To now present the Classkeeper offer. Yes, no, that's perfect, perfect. So, basically, by using, we'll share a link to that offer. Yeah, in the show notes and normally the the, the annual membership. It is $39.99 right now, but no, no, not for you. It is. And we talked to Jessica. She's like what is it going to be, jessica? $7. $7. Yes, so by using the link, you will actually be entitled to getting an annual membership and it's available both on Apple and Android for just $7. So, finally, that's less than you know what a latte these days.

Speaker 3: 49:01

Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 49:03

It's really a mental free space. I'm not the physical free space. You don't have those eight bins crowding. So anyone listening who whether you have kids who are just starting out, like where Samantha is and kind of doing an active uploading, or maybe where Jessica and our Jessica and I oh my gosh, it's hard to say Jessica and I are- Wow, it is a really, it's a mouthful yeah.

Speaker 1: 49:27

Right, you know some teens and tweens. You know, between us, you know it's a little bit more of a backlogging, which is still possible, you know that I can still go through Exactly, you know, and even to say to in later stages. I know parents who have shared their profile with their grown teenager, grown teenagers. But here, here's your bin.

Speaker 2: 49:51

Yeah, there you go, you you right. I like that. I mean, that's perfect the past, that you can pass it off. I guess, yeah, that's so nice. Because again it's another thing like okay, well, yeah, I've got all these memories, what am I gonna do with them?

Speaker 3: 50:07

but here you go when it's easy to look at them too, you can go, you can look at them whenever you want.

Speaker 1: 50:13

You don't have to like rifle through a bin or it's usually like up in the attic or somewhere where you can't see, like what dish, you can see whatever you want. Yeah right, I had a girlfriend of mine, her daughter's in college, and she said, um, she was going through a sorority rush and needed pictures of some childhood things and and she could find them in the app, versus, like, having her mom go back.

Speaker 2: 50:34

Oh my gosh, how am I ever gonna find yeah, and who prints? Now that's like the other thing. It's like I have all these pictures in my cloud, my iCloud, you know at least now putting them in the classkeeper app.

Speaker 1: 50:48

They're somewhere that someone's going to look at, because right now in my cloud, they're just there, you know, right, and you know if there's, and I'll tell you because you can also share it with someone as a contributor. Say, for example, you are overwhelmed with all those photos or all those bins, you can actually one outsource it to someone else. Whether you there's professional organizers who will do this for you, you know, and whether or even, if you want to, you know, pay your own team to be like, okay, go through these photos and just pick, cherry, pick some good ones and put them in this album. Yeah, the digital album, yeah, you know, on the app, so you don't have to necessarily do it yourself.

Speaker 1: 51:25

Well, now, I did want to put the put the bonus offer out there too, because, given that this class keeper app is, even though it's been a labor of love for about nearly two years, we still are, we consider, kind of in the early stages and we are eager to get the word out there, and we know the best way to do that is by getting feedback. So, and improving the app and getting the word out there. So, anyone who does get this app for hello $7, use the next link to write a review or provide some feedback to us. We will give you a $25 voucher to spend in our online shop, where we have all of our planners and journals and weekly planner pads and daily planner pads to help declutter your brain. So physical sense. But you have a $25 voucher that you can spend in our shop as you wish.

Speaker 2: 52:22

So awesome. Yeah, the products are amazing. I got a million of them here now. My favorite is the reminder binder. Right now, like that's where my life is at the moment, and I also, I like your, your fine, your budget binder. I like that one too Like those are the ones I've really dove into.

Speaker 1: 52:41

That one's been a great uh. It's a compilation of all the practices and principles and kind of. Again, you can see everything in one place, right, you need it.

Speaker 2: 52:48

That's exactly it, it's convenient.

Speaker 1: 52:49

Yeah, the, the reminder binder has been an evolution of the um. You should see the first one I think I did in 2008, compared to the one now. It's just been. As I get feedback, you know, we're able to build and stack things on there.

Speaker 2: 53:03

Oh, so cool. Yeah, Absolutely worth every bit. Class app keeper is you know like that's amazing. I use it. I mean, I'm probably only through my first three years-ish, that's impressive though you did that fast. Yeah, I mean it's taken a couple months but that's because I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to it. But it's working really well and it is. It's so nice because we can just refer back really easily and it's been fun going down memory lane, honestly, doing all of this backlog.

Speaker 2: 53:33

I think I've enjoyed it more than I realized, because it's not feeling like a task, it's feeling like just going down memory lane and it's, it's cool. So, yeah, definitely, definitely grab it If you've got kids and need to organize your, your photos and all of your projects and whatnot. Totally worth it.

Speaker 1: 53:51

So one, one more little system just to like just take care of all that, because otherwise it just piles up and then it becomes overwhelming. So if you start, you implement some of these things that we shared today are just great way to kind of condense things down, make a little bit more streamlined and find some extra minutes, because minutes matter. Yeah, that I couldn't say it better.

Speaker 2: 54:11

Minutes matter, and I mean you. Your tips were so good. I mean, like I said, they make so much sense, and it's just amazing that we don't realize this. We need someone to tell us. So thank you so much for sharing all of that. It was definitely worth the 45 minutes talking about all of this. I mean, it really, really was. So again, thanks for joining us, and do you want to tell everybody where they can find you if they want to connect?

Speaker 1: 54:41

Absolutely so. Again, try to keeping it all in one place. Probably the best way to find me and all the different channels is just to go to my website, which is denisealbrightcom.

Speaker 2: 54:52

Yes, can't forget that one. Awesome, all right. Well, we will be back next week. Thanks for joining us today on. She's got it together.

Speaker 3: 55:02

it's been a real journey, sharing and laughing with you all we hope you're walking away with a smile on your face and a bit more confidence in your step remember you're not alone in this crazy ride called life. We're all in this together, one day at a time don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review and, of course, share this podcast with all the incredible women in your life.

Speaker 2: 55:22

Join us next week for more stories, more laughs and more real talk.

Speaker 3: 55:26

Until then, keep embracing your unique journey and remember you've got it together more than you think.