The Organizing Mindset: Transforming Chaos into Calm

In this episode of The Pulling Curls Podcast, Hilary Erickson explores the organizing mindset. She shares tips on how to approach organizing tasks without feeling overwhelmed, the importance of giving yourself plenty of time, and the need to embrace the initial challenges of organizing. Hilary also emphasizes the flexibility to make adjustments and try different systems until you find what works best for you. Stay tuned for next week’s episode on the postpartum mindset. Happy organizing!

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Where to find organizing supplies episode

Timestamps:

00:02:38 Organizing can feel overwhelming, but it’s normal.
00:03:27 Try different methods and start small.

Keypoints:

1. The episode is titled “Organizing Mindset” and is part of Mindset month on the Pulling Curls podcast.
2. Hilary Erickson is the host of the podcast, a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse.
3. The episode is sponsored by Hilary’s cleaning schedule, which aims to help make home organization easier.
4. Hilary emphasizes the importance of setting the right expectations when it comes to organizing, starting with feeling like you have plenty of time.
5. She advises against rushing through organizing tasks and encourages taking the time to find systems that will work long term for your family.
6. Hilary suggests that the first part of organizing may feel overwhelming, but it’s important to push through and know that it will get easier.
7. A mindset tip she shares is to be okay with making a few attempts to get the organization system perfect, using Amazon boxes or Dollar Store items initially.
8. It’s important to be open to making changes and tweaks to the system as needed, without viewing it as wasted time.
9. Organizing your house requires keeping a positive mindset and being willing to adapt and adjust as necessary.
10. Next week’s episode will be about the postpartum mindset, so listeners are encouraged to tune in.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:00.600] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on episode 214, we are talking about the organizing mindset. Remember, it’s Mindset Month over here at Pulling Curls. Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:13.330] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple.

[00:00:28.220] – Hilary Erickson

Let’s smooth out those snarls with pregnancy and parenting untangled, the Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:00:40.360] – Hilary Erickson

This episode of the Pulling Curls Podcast is sponsored by my cleaning Schedule. Now, the cleaning schedule works for me. It doesn’t work for everybody, but hopefully if you download it, it’ll give some ideas of how to make a schedule to make your home run on its own and you don’t have to think about it. You just do the things that are on your checklist. So grab my cleaning schedule, come find it in the show notes.

[00:01:01.830] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, we’ve talked about mindset, and here we are talking about the organizing mindset. I think this one is also very important because organizing can be really overwhelming if you set the wrong expectations. So my first tip is to feel like you have plenty of time. You guys know that I love my timers, but I’ll go into organizing and I’m like, I’ve got ten minutes to do this job. And that isn’t doing me any favors. Maybe I’ve got ten minutes to clean out the area because that isn’t a very fun thing and you can linger on it. It’s not fun in any form, and taking time to do it often doesn’t do you any favors other than making you feel more overwhelmed.

[00:01:40.140] – Hilary Erickson

So I would encourage you going into organizing thinking I have plenty of time to do this. We’re going to talk more about this, but I have time to check out the systems that are going to work. I don’t need to feel rushed. I can do a really great job on this so that it is a system that works long term for my family.

[00:01:55.140] – Hilary Erickson

Whereas if you go in thinking I’m going to do this just a quick job, usually when I do that, I’m only taking like half the things off the shelf. And you guys know that I really feel like in order to really organize the space you have to take out all the stuff, clean it out because that’s going to feel real good and then put back what you need. So having more time allows me to be like, okay, I can take out all the stuff and feel good about it rather than like I only have ten minutes before carpool and I need to organize this spot which that may be the case. But if that’s the case, maybe pull everything out and then organize the rest when you get back if that’s possible. #chokinghazard.

[00:02:29.860] – Hilary Erickson

Okay. The second part is that the first part is just going to suck. And sometimes I forget this. I’m like, Oh, it’s going to feel so good when I clean it out. But as I’m pulling out all these things that I am later going to have to organize, I just start to feel more and more and more overwhelmed. Not a great feeling.

[00:02:47.820] – Hilary Erickson

So as you go in to organize, just remember that first part is going to feel overwhelming. I know that I have a friend who’s been pregnant so many times, and she says, I just know that those first few weeks are the first day four, day five is going to be the part where it stinks. I think if you go into organizing thinking, okay, it’s going to be a little bit overwhelming when I pull everything out and that’s okay, totally normal. But I’ve done it before. I’ve passed that speed bump of how difficult that is and then I can move on.

[00:03:14.190] – Hilary Erickson

So I think that’s just something that if you just say yeah, it’s going to stink, or if there’s some part of organizing that you don’t like. For me, it’s always the overwhelm of when I get everything out, I’m like, I don’t know how I’m going to organize all this. So that’s a good mindset tip number two.

[00:03:30.960] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, finally organizing mindset tip number three is that you may have to make a few attempts to get it perfect. So a lot of times you guys know that I tell you to just use Amazon boxes initially and see what’s working, especially if it’s something that’s with your family because kids don’t read our minds very well and they don’t know exactly how we want to keep an area sometimes. So I would encourage you to just be okay if you have to give it a few tries.

[00:03:58.410] – Hilary Erickson

Another option is to use things from the dollar store. Sometimes you can use baskets or bins from the dollar store and see how it works. Then when you finally find a system that you think is going to work, or if you just need some small tweaks, you can get more expensive items. Check out my podcast on the places where I get supplies, but you can get more expensive items that you really like the look of to achieve what you completely want in that area.

[00:04:21.720] – Hilary Erickson

So don’t go into organizing, say, this is going to the end all be all of my system and then get super annoyed when it doesn’t work in a few months or a few years. I’m always like, Oh, I just created that system and I feel like I need to fix it. But then when I really think about it, it’s been like six years since I created that system, so I need to get it together. But being aware that you may have to change things and that’s okay. It’s not wasted time. You’re just trying some things. They didn’t work out. That’s good information. And now you can try something else is a great mindset tip for organizing your house.

[00:04:54.170] – Hilary Erickson

Those are my best tips for the organizing mindset. Stay tuned. Next week, we are talking about the postpartum mindset. So you’re going to really want to listen to that episode as well. Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls Podcast today. If you liked today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

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