How to Create Systems That Keep Your Home and Mind Clutter-Free

You're tuned in to the Dr. Kinney Show, and I'm your host, Dr. Erin Kinney, a naturopathic doctor and speaker dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of your body and guiding you back into balance. Let's get started. Hey, real quick, guys, before we start the episode, I want to share something that I'm really excited about. I know how hard it can be when your hormones feel out of balance, low energy, mood swings, and not feeling like yourself, which is why I created the supplement line Optimal Harmony. With natural science-backed ingredients, it's designed to support your hormones, stabilize your mood, and help you reclaim your energy and confidence. Because when your hormones are balanced, everything feels easier. You deserve to feel amazing every day, so let Optimal Harmony line of supplements help you get there. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Dr. Kinney Show. This week I'm really pleased to have joining me back on the show again Susie Salinas, who is the owner of Systems by Susie. She is a professional organizer, an amazing woman. I'm so glad for this— to have her back to have another conversation about how organizing can really support you in your life and in your body and your nervous system. So thank you, Susie, for being here. So fun to have you.

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Yeah, can you start by sharing with listeners just kind of your background and how you started Systems by Susie? Sure.

Yeah, we just celebrated 10 years in business, um, uh, recently, and it started off just from my own need to get my own home organized. I have 3 kids and I like an orderly home, and so I set up a lot of systems in my home. And, um, I started off by selling some school memory boxes to hold kids' keepsakes and I invited over some mom friends of mine to kind of for a mini Shark Tank to see if they'd be interested in buying it. And what happened was they were interested in that but they were more interested in a lot of the systems I had set up around my home. And so they were interested in my chore system and my school lunch system and some of these things I had set up that were working well for us. And so they asked me to help organize their homes and then one home led to another and another and now I have—

All of a sudden you're in business.

I have a team of 15 who help me and we are out organizing in the community. We're mostly in Anne Arundel, Baltimore County here in Maryland. We're organizing every day.

It's so awesome.

Yeah, it's great.

I have personally used her team and they are fantastic.

They are amazing.

It's like the most amazing feeling. Yes. Like, I feel like this was a couple years ago, I was living in this smaller house and we had this space and it was so stressful to me. I would come home and I would look at it and I am not natural— I like an organized space. I am not a naturally organized person. And I was like, I can't figure out how to make this work. But the stress that it was causing me, and I didn't want to have people over because I was embarrassed by it. It was just the whole thing. I mean, I remember being like embarrassed to sense— I was like, oh my God, I feel like I look like this polished professional person, but I had this room in my house, it's such a disaster. And Susie was like, she made me feel so at ease and like, it is pretty normal, everyone has a home like this. But then they came in and it was amazing. Like, the kids were so— it was like my kids' like playroom essentially, and the kids were so happy. Anyways, it's— it was such a great service.

I think, um, I think there's a lot of embarrassment and shame that gets attached to our stuff, and so it prevents prevents people from reaching out when they need help because they're embarrassed. And if they only knew what we saw every day, they would not be, because it doesn't faze us. And our team, we've always seen worse. And honestly, the group of ladies that are on our team, they are there to help. Like, we love doing this. Yeah. And it doesn't faze us. And we know that in 5 hours it's going to be better. And so, um, you know, if you have a space that's embarrassing, don't let that prevent you from reaching out for help because at the end of the 5 hours you're going to be so much happier that you did. And professional organization is a booming, growing business around the whole country. So there is going to be someone near you who—

that can do this for you.

Yeah, who can help you when it just gets too overwhelming and too stressful for you to do and you don't have the time to do it.

Yeah. But I think, and we'll dive into this a little bit more, but I think what I really loved about working with you and your team was that it wasn't just about coming in and like cleaning out the stuff. Because honestly, anyone can do that, right? Like I could have been like, okay, I'm going to take a day, I'm going to get rid of this stuff and like put it back. But it was more about like you guys spent the time to be like, hey, well, what's not working about this? Like, and it's more about developing, as you mentioned in your house, a system that supports your lifestyle.

That's right, right.

And I think you guys are really great about being like, okay, well, we put this in place, like, how's it going? Like, is this working? Can we make any tweaks? Like, exactly.

Yeah, that's so important. It's so much more than just pretty containers. Yeah, I mean, we love the Pinterest—

oh, everybody loves containers, and that's great.

Yeah, and we're happy to do it, but Function is so much more important, and so we never start a job without, um, asking the questions: what's working, what's not working for you? Um, and then, you know, setting things up to work for your lifestyle, um, because it has to be realistic for you, has to work for you. And then once you've lived with it for a little while, to come back and say, okay, how's it going, what do we need to tweak? You probably don't have to start over from scratch, but you need to adjust things. And I mean, I do, I ask those same questions when I'm running my business. What's working? What's not working? What do we need to tweak? I mean, you can do it in all areas of your life, but I really think it helps, you know, just even for your kitchen island, if it's always cluttered, you know, to kind of take a look at what's on it and to ask yourself why, where's its home, and, you know, maybe you need a drop zone somewhere else other than your kitchen island, right? And this is clearly not working. And then setting yourself up with a specific home for for everything. So, you know, our expectation is never that your home is going to be perfect all the time. My home is not. I mean, I have 4 other adults living in my home. Like, there's no way. But give me 20 minutes and I can put everything back because everything has a—

has a place.

And I think that's the ultimate goal.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that— and that's what, you know, and I, I've lived this and I know I've seen it with patients. Like, again, I'm not naturally organized, but I like a really organized space.

Yeah.

Like, it's— it is calming to— and think about when you walk into like a hotel room and like, exactly, everything is like— there's no clutter anywhere. And this is why people love to 'cause it's like, oh, everything's so clear and I don't have stuff and there's not clutter. And it's calming to your nervous system. And so if you live a really busy, stressful life, coming home to a house where it's chaos, it's not gonna help your stress, right?

It's not. And I think that's the number one thing you can do to reduce your stress is to declutter your home, your life, and really clearing the things out that aren't serving you in this current season of life. And that might be kids' toys that they never play with anymore. It could be the clothes in your closet that you kept fit into anymore. Or the little piles that children leave around the house. That's right. We were joking about that.

You'd go around and you're like, this little pile is causing me a lot of stress because I'm not sure if I can— I don't know if you've seen that video of the women going around, they're talking about the piles and they're like, I don't know, should I put this away? Am I gonna throw this out?

It's just so many decisions.

So many decisions, it takes up all this headspace, right?

And clutter is delayed decision. So those piles are you not knowing the answer. Like, I don't know where this goes, so I'm going to put it down and then I'll get to it later. And that delayed decision, when things don't have a home, and then they just go into a pile, and then the pile gets bigger and bigger, and then it gets overwhelming, and then you just don't even know where to start. And so I think whenever I see clutter building up around my house, it's generally because I don't have a home for it. And it might be like we had a birthday party and now we have some new birthday gifts and they don't have a home, or after holidays when there's new— there's an influx of new stuff. Maybe you start a new hobby. My husband just started making sourdough bread. Well, all of a sudden we've got all these new accessories, tools that he's using. And so very quickly I was like, all right, we need a new container for bread flour, we need a new container to hold all these little parts. And I put it all together, labeled it, you know, bread making.

And now there's a home for it.

And now there's a home. But for a while they were like cluttering up our kitchen. So I think you have to adapt and pivot as your life changes and find homes for things. But that's just kind of one of the first steps is noticing what's piling up. It's probably because it doesn't have a home.

I mean, I feel like in our house lately stuff piles up and I just get so frustrated, I just throw it out.

That's solution 2.

It's probably not stuff we need, but then the kids are upset because it's mostly their stuff. And so then it causes even more stress because now I'm going to fight with my daughter because I threw out the Easter basket that I was so happy about.

It is easier to throw out things that aren't yours. I mean, if you've ever had to— I mean, it's easier to get rid of your partner's stuff or your kids' stuff when it comes to your own stuff. But wait, I might wear it again.

I haven't worn it in 10 years, but I just might.

It's that what if, right?

What if I have that one occasion where my body will fit into that dress?

That's right.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so talk to me about like when you're working with— I mean, I know, I know you do this for businesses and your own business, like helping set up again systems, right? Let's talk a little bit more about that, like how the actual, like a whole system in a house or in a business can really support you.

Yeah, I think that's such a good question. I'm a big believer in systems, and I mean, hence the name of my business, Systems by Susie. But I really do have a lot of systems both in my business and personally, um, because I think it's important to set up your life so that other people can help you. And you can't really do that without having systems. You know, if everything is just in your head, if you're the only one who knows how to do something or where something lives, then no one can help you and it stays on your plate and then your stress builds because inevitably you have more and more put on your plate. And so when you set up systems for doing things, it allows you to allow, you know, to let other people help you and to outsource. And I'm a big believer in outsourcing whether it's whether it's a paid professional or whether it's a member of your own household. You know, there's a lot of shared household responsibilities that go on in my house, but it's because there's systems for doing things. So for example, school lunches. My kids could prep once a week on a Sunday and assemble all of their lunch, like put all the chips in little bags or, you know, prepare sandwiches and we put them in the freezer and bake muffins or whatever we want to do. And then every morning, all they have to do is assemble their own lunch, right? So that's off my plate completely. Laundry, we have a system for doing laundry, and so my husband does all the laundry, which is amazing. That's great. But we have these kind of daily systems and everyone knows the process. In the same way in my business, I'm able to have other people take things off my plate because we have a system. Yeah, we have standard operating procedures where we write out step-by-step directions and we have video tutorials. And so, you know, there's never a question of how things should be done. And when you do that, it ensures a standard, at least a minimum standard. And I think that's one of the reasons people don't want to let go of things, is they don't want to let go of the control. They're worried it won't be up to their standard. But if you spend the time training, whether it's your employees or your kids or your spouse, you know, it pays off down the road. Here's a minimum standard that we're gonna agree on. And maybe like making the bed, maybe just having all the covers pulled up and the pillows off the floor is enough.

Yeah, maybe that's your standard, or maybe it's more than that.

Yeah, but verbalizing that, putting words to it and naming it can help.

Yeah.

Um, and then, you know, giving some feedback in the beginning stages, and then you can pull back and trust that they can do it.

Yeah, you can do it. Yeah. I mean, I'm just sitting here thinking like, oh, like, you know, when you have a lot of kids and let's say you want to leave for the— for a weekend or a trip, and you have someone else coming and having operating procedures in your house, how much, how much mental space and time and energy does that take off your plate? I think about like before we go away. Yeah, like if we're leaving the kids with someone else, it's so stressful because you got to write a list and you got to tell them how to— and then you know it's not gonna be done the right way. But if you have like, hey, here's an operating procedure for how you do the laundry and how you put stuff away, and the kids all know their roles, that's right, it's a whole much easier. I mean, also this is true in a business, but at a home, in a home, like, yeah, and something as simple as like a packing list, right?

Once you create it one time that you have a packing list, and then you can give that to your kids if they're of reading age.

Yeah.

And say, put all on your bed and then you can go in and double-check it, right? But now my teenagers, they pack really well. Yeah, they pack great and they know, um, where all of the bags are. They know where all the stuff is. Yes, and there's a specific place where we keep all of our travel accessories. If you want a neck pillow, they know where it is because it's in a bin labeled travel accessories, right? So, you know, having things, um, in set places organized with with labels. Labels are so important.

They're really helpful for kids.

They're really helpful.

Or adults too.

And adults.

Oh, that's where that goes, that's great.

And we have had some really highly organized clients who there are no labels and they are then the only ones who know where it is. Who know where it goes, yeah. And so people can't help them put away groceries 'cause they're not exactly sure. Maybe some of these categories make sense to you, but they might not make sense to your family members, babysitters, grandparents.

Yeah, anyone else is coming over your house.

Right. Um, we had—

Nannies if they're putting stuff away for you.

Yeah, exactly. We had, um, organized a nursery for one of our clients and the baby came early and, um, the, the mom called us later and said what a gift it was because her husband was able to go back while she was still in the hospital and put away all the onesies and the diapers. Everything was labeled.

Oh, that's so nice.

And there was a home and so she was able to walk in and have everything put away and be ready, and that was off her plate. And that could have never happened if there wasn't a structure or a system in place.

And think about how helpful when you're in a time like that, in a postpartum time, like, right, that kind of support, that kind of structure is so helpful.

But any—

like, if you're a working mom or a working dad and you've got multiple kids and, you know, you've got a million things, you've got a million plates spinning and a million things to remember, right? Trying to like not— trying to not delegate some of these tasks, it's just more stuff you have to deal with.

That's right. And I think it can feel like a lot. And I, um, I think sometimes people are resistant to outsource because it feels like it's going to take a lot of time to explain to someone else or train someone else. And you're like, I'll just do it myself. Um, but I really feel like that time is well spent because once you can get someone set up and running, you're going to be free.

I think it's going to take a lot of time, but I mean, I And I think it doesn't actually take as much time as you're gonna think, right? Would you, I mean, I feel like you guys do most of the work when it comes to it, right?

That's right, but for us, if you hire professionals especially, I mean, they're gonna know what to do and they're gonna tell you what they need from you. Like for us, we need our clients maybe 30 minutes for the editing part and we can take care of the rest. Same thing, like if you're gonna outsource your laundry, if you hire a laundry service, they're gonna know how to do your laundry well. You can go over some specifics with them. But when you hire professionals, it's going to be a little easier. If you're outsourcing to your kids, it might need more training.

Yeah, exactly. And you might have to like keep training them because they might do it wrong a few times or they might forget.

But it's worth it because, you know, you're not just raising kids, you're raising adults. And it's good for them to contribute to your household. It's good for everyone to feel like a contributing member. And it's good for you because it reduces your stress.

Oh, 100%. And, you know, I I work with so many women and men that, you know, have really stressful lives. And none of it's bad stress, right? They have jobs they love or businesses they run, and, you know, they have great kids and they, they have a great house that they love. But, you know, there's a lot of things to do. And I think I have a lot of patients that are very Type A, and they don't like to delegate. They like to do everything themselves.

That's right.

And I see what happens to them over— I mean, you can do that for a while, but eventually your body is gonna be like, okay, you know what, I need a break. Yeah, I have been in a spend state for way too long. And it's right to take a toll on your hormones, specifically for men and women, but more women, you know, your estrogen progesterone levels will start to decline because your body, it needs cortisol to do all these things you're doing. It's gonna start stealing from those sex hormones and shunt them over to cortisol. And then, and if this is happening during, let's say, perimenopause or menopause, your symptoms are gonna get exponentially worse. And this is usually the time when our careers are at their height, our kids have a million things to do. Like, it's usually a very busy time in life, and it's kind of unfortunate. This is how designed that we have to go through menopause during that time of life.

That's right.

But, you know, if you can outsource some of these things, it's gonna save not only you time, but it's gonna save your body's resources, which is—

That's such a good point.

And then you have so much more energy, and so your mood's gonna be better, you're gonna enjoy your kids more, you're gonna enjoy your friends more, 'cause you're not worried about, oh my God, I can't let my kid do the laundry 'cause they don't know how to do it, or I can't let my mother-in-law, right?

You have to let go of some things. We like using a trim, trash, or delete. You know, you can brainstorm what are the things in your life that you can trim and just, you know, scale back a little. What are the things that you need to trash completely? Just take them off your plate, right? And just give up on that hobby that you thought you were going to like, but you still have now a room full of stuff, right, related to that hobby, and you probably spent a lot of money on it. But if it's not serving you in this current season of life, like, let it go and release it and just trash it. And then delegate. You know, there's some things that you you can delegate and have other people take on. And really naming what matters is the important thing. So that if having dinner together every night, if the thing that matters about that is being together, the community, then what you're eating may not matter as much. And you can let go of some of that.

Having to have a perfect meal made every night. Exactly.

You know, whether it's takeout or whether it's pre-packaged or whatever, you know, if the being together. Now, on the other hand, if eating healthy is the thing that matters, then you probably need to carve some time out of your schedule, you know, on the weekend and doing the things. Exactly. So I think naming what matters can really help because I think we put a lot of expectations on us, especially as women, to do a lot or to do what other people are doing. Yeah. Um, and sometimes we need to release ourselves of those kind of expectations.

Like, your advice is like, make a priority list, like, what is really important to you in this season of your life. And I think that's a really important, like, differentiation is what might have been important to you in your 20s or your 30s or your 40s might not be It might not be the current thing that's important to you. Right? That's right. I would imagine, my kids are not quite full teenagers yet, but we're in the 8 to 12 range.

Mm-hmm, almost there.

What's important now might be different. That's right. I mean, I feel like when they're teenagers, they're gonna be out with friends on their things. Exactly. So your season of life is gonna maybe determine some of that, right? That's right.

So it doesn't have to be forever. Yeah. One person who I love is Casey Davis. She wrote a book about keeping house while drowning. And she talked about laundry laundry even. That is really hard when you've got little kids and/or if you've got something like ADHD that makes doing laundry really difficult. That maybe the important thing isn't everything is folded, file folded in a drawer, but maybe it's just that your kids have clean clothes to wear. And so maybe it goes right from the dryer into their drawers and even doesn't get folded, right?

The kids don't care.

I mean, that could be one solution for you that the main thing is that that your kids have clean clothes, and if that allows you to stay on top of laundry, then that's fine. That's fine. And it's not going to be forever. It's for this season of time. Or maybe you need to outsource, you know, having your laundry done. Or maybe you need to designate a family member, or whatever it is. I think it's important to kind of ask, you know, what is the main thing? What's important here? We've—

in our house, I, I actually, I'm in charge of laundry, and my partner isn't. He does all the cooking. So like, he's in charge of the kitchen and I'm in charge of like— but I was like, I'm happy, I don't mind doing laundry. I'm very good at it. I don't love putting clothes away, right? Not— I'm not— my strong suit. But luckily we've had like— I feel like all my dressers are still labeled from when you guys were— so, so my kids, and they're, they're old enough, they can put their clothes away now. I feel like I'll sometimes go in there and they're not put perfectly away. There are all the— the shorts are all in the drawer that's labeled shorts, which is great. They're not folded, but it works.

Pick your battles, right?

Yeah, yeah, it like works. And I'm like, that's right, let's have clean clothes and their clothes are put away. And that's right, it's been working. It's been working really Well, would I love for them to be really nice and folded? Yes, but maybe later on or maybe never. I don't know.

That's right. I think the important thing is that the clothes are making it from the laundry room to their drawers. And I think kids actually like to help out and contribute. We find that all the time when we're organizing. And if it means getting a picture label, like we have a picture of a shirt that we put on drawers for kids. If they can't read. They can't read, and having that visual cue. Allows them to help you and it's good for them. They want to help. Same way in the playroom, you know, having pictures on the different bins. Yeah, they know then where the cars go and they know where the Magna-Tiles go and they can help clean up themselves. It's not all on you. So I think that's great to outsource that and have your kids do the part that you don't like, right?

Yeah, or we have the kids like they unload the dishwasher every morning. We have like all the dishes and things that they use are in drawers that they can reach.

That's right.

Because we have shorter kids. And so I feel like what I would love to have the glasses up top, but it's not really the— that's right, they can't help us, right? So like, it's easy for them. At first it's kind of weird, you're like, wait, why are your cups in a drawer? Well, they're in the drawer because that's— those are the kids. Adult glasses are up high, but like, the kids can access them, they can put them away, they can take them out.

It's a lot easier. So smart. I think you set up your home to work for you, and you've allowed the people in your household to help. Yeah, right. And if that's what it takes, then I think that's such a good idea.

I think— and I'm sure you guys do that too, right?

Yeah, we do. We have the same kind of system where our kids, um, you know, dishes were all in like a lower— yeah, in a lower drawer. And I think that has served us well over the years. And now that they're all taller than me, then we've moved things up. But you have to make it easy for people. Yeah, organization will stick if it's easy. So you can't change people ultimately, and so I think trying to is a lost cause. And so I feel like if someone's always dumping their keys or their glasses on a counter, just put a tray there and contain it. And they're not gonna change their habit of where they're putting it, but that way it's all together in one place. So if you find the sunglasses somewhere else, you know where to put them.

It has a home. It has a home, yeah, I think that's—

Right, and so making things easy for people like for your kids to get their own snacks, you've made it easy. Yeah. So they're going to do it instead of calling for you. Yeah. You know, and they can make their own lunches.

They can exactly get out their drinks. I do have a question to see if you have a solution. I feel like the one thing that is not working in our house is my kids come home and they take their socks off and they just leave them all over the place. Socks and shoes, right? I—

shoes they're good at. Oh, put their shoes. Oh, that's impressive.

They each have cubbies and we have a shoe bin. Like they're relatively good. I mean, every now and then, but like, I feel like for the most part, the shoes are where the shoes need to be, which is great. I'm like happy for that one.

But the socks— I have one of my kids'—

I find socks on the couch. I just feel like I'm constantly picking up socks and I don't know what to make them do.

I don't have a solution. I mean, I will say one of the things we do is we kind of have some put-back-later baskets. So if I have something that belongs to one of the kids, I throw it in their basket and then it can pile up as long as it needs to until until it's full, and then it's like, okay, you gotta put this stuff away. But yeah, I mean, or it's kind of making them come down and getting it and cleaning it up. But I think that is a universal problem.

Yeah, that's what everyone's like, this is a problem we all have. When you get on the couch and you take your socks off and you just leave them there.

That's right. Yeah. I mean, you can also offer positive incentives. If we don't find any socks this week, you get to pick the playlist on the way to school or something like that. I do believe in positive incentives, especially when kids are younger. Yeah. Um, not bribes, but incentives, right? Yeah. Um, I think that can help too.

Positive incentive. We do like a point system. Yeah, you get points. Yeah, you get to certain points, they get a big prize.

Like, okay, so you need to add— they're working towards that.

They're working towards a Yes Day right now.

I don't know. Oh, that's fun.

You saw that movie?

Yeah. I've never been brave enough to do one.

I'm a little nervous. There's a lot of rules that are surrounding the Yes Day. We'll see if they— they have to We put the points up really high for them to get that one. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, but it is definitely, I feel like when you, again, when you are working or doing all and raising kids, it's a lot on your plate.

It is, and I think working together can really help. And one of the things that we've done that's been a game changer for us is we have a day on the weekend where we do prep. And so I do meal prep, we actually do all of our laundry, we clean out the fridge, we look at our schedules. Now a teenager calendars. It's like a Google Calendar where we're syncing our calendars, looking at the week ahead, kind of getting the backpacks cleared out and packed for the week, getting our school lunches. Like, having a little bit of time to pause and prepare for the week ahead makes such a difference. It makes such a difference. And I know people are so busy. It doesn't have to be on a weekend.

It could be on a weeknight. Yeah, because what if you guys are traveling? Do you like reschedule that for another day?

Like, we will, or we'll minimize. We just say, I I usually say like, what are the top 3 things that like, what are the must-haves this weekend? And I let the rest go. Yeah. Um, but I know for me having groceries is going to be a must-have. Getting gas in the car is a must-have. Like there's some, some basic things. Yeah, exactly. But having that, we call it our weekly prep, and everyone is helping with it. Yeah. You know, everyone's doing their own, um, part of it, so it's never all just on me. Yeah.

Which is so nice.

Yeah, it is nice.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, how— like, can you talk about like how that's, you think, maybe changed your life for the better, like to feel supported in so many ways like that?

Yeah, I think, you know, I, I just— I— it is a real cause that I have, um, to lighten the load of women specifically, and it's the whole mission of our business.

Yeah.

Um, and we do that through organization and setting up systems, but I really believe that it's good for every member of the household to contribute. And I do think that it's important to spend the time, um, setting up those systems in your home. And so when it was little, it meant a lot of checklists, you know, and a lot of training. And so, um, breaking things down— so we talked about SOPs in my business.

Well, you know, cleaning a bathroom, we have an SOP for that in your house.

I love it, you know. And we have a checklist. And I think I purchased it from someone else, but it was basically step-by-step of how to clean a bathroom because kids don't know how to clean a bathroom. And so, but they can follow directions. And then we put everything that they would need in a caddy, and so it's like the bathroom cleaning caddy, and I made sure every bathroom had one. And so it made it easy for people. There was no excuse because you know exactly what to do. They had the training, they have the checklist, and then when they were little, I would do it first and have them watch me, and then I would have them do it, and then I would go back and inspect it after. So I kind of would fade— really hands-on at first, and then I would fade when I felt like they had it. And now, like, when we have to clean our house, we just divide and conquer. Who's taking this bathroom? Who's taking this one? I'll do— like, I— it's— it pays off tenfold for that time you spend setting up. But what you were asking earlier is is I am now free to have time. I'm not doing everything. I'm not resentful because I'm the one cleaning the house while everyone else is out doing fun things. I have time for hobbies and I have time to go out with friends and— To do the things that recharge you.

That's right.

Yeah.

That's right. Yeah. And that, again, I feel like that's something I'm constantly teaching my patients. You have to build in time to recharge, to rest, to restore, or you can't keep up the pace that you want to be running.— and so, you know, I treat a lot of really ambitious, amazing, powerful women, and they're coming to me when they've been doing all the things for too long and they've not made themselves a priority, and they get in this loop where they've been doing it on their own, and it's really hard for them to be like, "Wait, but how am I going to have time for this?" But I think, you know, having the message, you're going to have to delegate some things, you might have to trash some things, you might have to— you've got to figure out what are your priorities and let those other things go. That's right. And then when you do, then you can recharge and have fun. And but then I feel like when you— there's this common, like, I think it's like a misperception. Everyone's like, well, I can't rest, I don't have time for that, I have so many things to do. But it's almost like a script flipped and be like, well, wait a second, if you did rest and recharge and do the things that make you feel good, your hobbies and your friends and all those things, how much better at everything else are you going to be? How much, like, how much could you grow your business? Or maybe you could start a business or start a nonprofit. Or how much more could you give back to the world if you're coming from like a full cup place.

I love that. That's so important. That's, that's a good message for me to hear too, because I think, um, even when you clear things off your plate, you still have to prioritize and schedule. Yeah, you know, having that time, because there's always going to be more stuff to do. Yeah, but I think that is, um, but it's one of our—

keeping that rest and recharge. And, you know, again, whatever that means for you. It might be reading, it might be spending time with friends, it might be a hobby. Again, the time where like it doesn't feel like a chore, it's not something you have to do. If that needs to be up in the priority as well. And the analogy I use with patients, I'm like, if your phone is on 5%, would you expect to go on a 3-hour Zoom call on your phone? No, you got to plug your phone in.

Such a good point, right?

Like, that is a priority, is keeping your body's energy levels up. If you want to do all the things, that's got to be a priority. It's like putting gas in your car, whatever. There's tons of analogies we could use there, but yeah, like, so that has to be up there in the priority list.

Yeah, and honestly, I mean, in our culture nowadays, I think the stuff that— the amount of stuff we all have in our home really contributes to that. There is so much overconsumption, and there's just so much coming in, and it's really hard to take the time to get rid of it, so it just keeps coming in and coming in. And I think if you can have a more— you don't have to be a minimalist, but I always consider myself being intentional. You know, really thinking about the stuff you're bringing into your home and being intentional instead of just clicking buy, buy, buy. I think it makes a big difference because the less stuff you have, the less stuff you have to take care of.

Because with all that stuff comes decisions, decisions and time and like it's space and all of it, right?

So I think just clearing out some of the clutter in your life and that is a first step that feels so good. And you know, I would say to start small. You don't have to immediately tackle your kitchen because that's really hard. That's a big job. But if you can start with your junk drawer, right? Start with something that's not your keepsakes. That's really hard. Start with something like your linen closet or your cleaning supplies or a junk drawer. Stuff you don't have a personal attachment to. And every time time you go in that drawer, it's gonna feel so good when it's cleared out and when you only have your favorite pens, when you only have what you need and not all that extra. And then refusing when people try and give you stuff. They try and give you pens or branded— or you go to a birthday party.

Think about when you go to a conference and you get these swag bags. It's all supplements and all these things, and I'm like, "That is cool, but do I really need this stuff?" No. I usually say no No to the swag bags. That's right.

I don't need it. Say no to the swag bags.

Say no to the swag bags. I know they're great, but I mean, maybe there's one or two items in there you're like, I would like that.

That's right. But it's being intentional, right? Take the things that you think you'll use and give away the rest. Donate the rest. Let it go. And the money, for most people, the money's already spent on these things. You can't get that money back. But when it's starting to impact your health— And it's not like you're going to sell it. Yeah. I mean, if you are going to sell it, then give yourself a timeline. Because most people say they're going to sell it, and then they don't. You don't. So just free yourself from it and let it go and pass it on to someone else who's gonna appreciate it.

Yeah, it's a good, it's a good message. It's a really good message. There's so much in managing of the stuff.

Yeah, there is such a connection. I think Gretchen Rubin talks about outer order, inner calm, and I think there's really something to that. The amount of stress seeing a cluttered space can cause you— there's physical reactions, right? And your stress level going up. And like you talked about the hotel room, just how nice and calming it is to be in an environment that's clutter-free. And you can have that in your home. Oh yeah, you can. You know, and once— one drawer at a time, one room at a time.

Yeah, it always feels so good when you clean out. I love when you just do one drawer. I just love, I love like the hour like right after the maids come and and they put everything away and you walk in. I mean, usually it's an hour because I feel like my kids come home.

It's like, I never want to cook dinner on the nights where my house—

you don't actually? We do takeout. It's like every other week they come and we do not cook. The kitchen's gonna stay clean for at least one night. Exactly. But then my daughter's always like, can we bake something? I'm like, not tonight. Tomorrow you can bake something. I like the clean counter and all, you know, the floors are clean.

Exactly. You want it at least for 24 hours, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's kind of, kind of wild. But yeah, I have, I have one daughter that is like super organized. I mean, she just— and self does it. Like, and then I have another daughter who's a 100% packrat. Like, I probably need to have you guys come back because—

yeah, there usually is a mix in your house.

She has a system. We've got all the labels, like we sold all the labels and all the stuff, but she just has so much.

I know. And some people are more sentimental than others just naturally, and it's harder for some people than others to let go. —Um, but I think, um, we have seen with our clients, like, we have a membership where we'll go every quarter where we go and we just work our way through people's homes room by room, and we can see them get better. It's like exercising that decluttering muscle. They get so much better at it through practice. And I think it's true with kids as well. When you train them, look, we don't have the space to keep everything. You have to make some decisions about what to keep and what not to. Sometimes kids will surprise you. They'll be like, "I don't need that toy. I don't need that drawing," or whatever. Then there's some kids who want to keep everything, and so one of the techniques we use is to have a container and say, "This is the boundary." So when that container is full, we can't have anything else. Like stuffed animals are a great one, for example. Once it's full, like, you're gonna have to say goodbye to some friends, and we'll pass it on. Yeah, right, kind of that one in, one out rule. And so, you know, when when your school papers fill up a container and it's full, well then we need to go through it and we need to get rid of some stuff. Exactly. And that can be a good technique because it's, it's important, even if it's hard for them, it's important for them to understand that skill. Yes, to learn that skill and have to practice it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that. I think I might take that home for my daughter. These containers are full, we cannot buy any more dolls. That's right. Now she like, she makes money and she buys things herself, and so I can't control. I'm like, wait, I didn't buy it. She's like, oh, I bought it myself. I'm like, wait, what?

Like You didn't need any more dolls. I know, it's hard. I mean, there's so much attachment that we have to stuff, and it could be sentimental. You don't want to let go of something because it triggers a memory with someone, or it could be how you were raised. Your parents gave away everything, so you want to hold on to everything. Sometimes we see that cyclical. Got it. Parents are super organized, kids are like, I'm keeping everything. Exactly. And then it's the reverse too, you know, it goes both ways. So some of it is kind of your upbringing, but framing the way you think about stuff and wanting to— having the vision for your life and for your home. What do I want to feel like in my home? And if it's you want it to be an oasis, a place that's calm, that's— you can be together and relax. It's hard to relax when you are surrounded with stuff, right? So having that vision and then working towards that vision Is, you know, having all of these things out going to contribute towards that vision, or is it getting in the way of it? And then letting it go. Yeah.

So if people are local, how can they find you to work with you?

So a good place is to connect with us on Instagram. We, we show a lot of our before and after transformations on Instagram, and then you can also sign up for our newsletter on our website, and we We put out a lot of blogs and tips and tricks and a lot of checklists that you can use. I have a lot of resources for people they can find on our website, but Instagram is kind of our jam and a fun place to connect.

Her videos are, I feel like they're so pleasing to watch. It's like, you see them and then you're like, oh man, it's like a whole form of ASMR in some way.

And it almost looks like magic if I didn't know how hard it was to actually do. You would think our team had a magic wand to make it happen. Made it all bippity boppity boo. Go away. But it is.

It's so satisfying.

Yeah, you guys do a great job with your interior. Yeah. And you can see at the end of our transformations, you can see people exhale. You see their shoulders go down. We have tears sometimes because it's been a mess for so long. And that relief they feel, number one, that it's just clutter-free, but two, that We've partnered with them. It's not all on them anymore. I feel like that's why we have the best job in the world. They feel supported. Yeah, exactly.

You're giving them this amazing support, and support helps you in so many different ways. I feel like I talk about that on almost every episode of this show, but find some way to get supported because it's changing. It allows your nervous system to do what you just said, to be like, "Oh, God." That's right, and it's not a weakness.

It's supporting my small business, the ladies who work for me. It's giving them meaningful employment. It's fantastic.

So it's good all the way around. Yeah. And if people are not local, what's a good resource for them to find a great professional organizer? Do they just look one up or what do you think?

You can always DM me. I have organizer friends all over the country. So I can definitely connect you. There's also a national association called NAPO and ICD. Those are two organizations that list local organizers. But always feel free to reach out and I can connect you.

Fantastic. Well, this has been awesome. Thank you so much for all these great tips and great conversation. Yeah, thanks for having me. You're welcome. Thank you guys for listening, and we'll see you soon. Thank you for tuning in today. If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to connect with me on social media to find more helpful tips and information. You can find me @DrKenny on all of the platforms. And please be sure to subscribe and leave a rating and/or a review. This helps grow the show so more people have access to this knowledge that leads to empowered healing. Love and light, and see you next week.