Speaker 1: 0:00

I wanted to give a personal thank you to our good friend and show sponsor, kathy Elwall State Farm Agency. We have known Kathy for more than 15 years and there is no person we trust more when it comes to insurance than Kathy Elwall. Kathy is always available to help you find the right insurance for your family needs, whether it's covering your home, auto or providing a life insurance policy tailored to the unique needs of families in Highland Park. My family trusts Kathy with our insurance and we hope you will too. Please visit kathylwallcom to learn more and let her know that Martha from the Bubble Lounge sent you. Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson.

Speaker 1: 0:43

If your house is still in summer mode or you've got mystery piles lurking in every corner, you're in the right place. Today, we're joined by the master of taming chaos, jenny Deitch of Getting it Done Organizing. She and her team are miracle workers when it comes to bringing order to your home, your schedule and even that terrifying junk drawer you've been avoiding since 2017. We're talking all about how to set up systems that actually stick, how to get your kids and, yes, maybe even your spouse involved in the process, and how to keep your sanity while juggling school papers, meal planning and everything else that lands on a mom's plate. So grab your coffee or your label maker and let's get into some practical, game-changing tips that will help you run your home like the powerhouse CEO mom that you are. Jenny, welcome back to the show. Thank you, I'm so glad to be here. Well, I can't believe we are just two weeks out until school starts.

Speaker 2: 1:37

I know Summer has gone way too fast.

Speaker 1: 1:39

I know, I know it's flying by and I always feel like back-to-school time is the perfect time. It's kind of like New Year's resolutions, like if your systems didn't work last school year, you have a fresh slate to try something new. And that's what we're talking about. Today is just starting off the school year with new systems being organized Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 1:58

I almost feel like back-to-school is more relevant than New Year's, I would agree.

Speaker 1: 2:10

There's just like a lot more to it, right. It feels like a brand new beginning. Yes, totally agree. Well, where should we start? I think that for me, mastering the calendar is always a big challenge, like, especially when you have multiple kids you don't really know who's going where and what's happening and you go from zero to 100, just like overnight when school starts.

Speaker 2: 2:22

Yes, there are a couple of great tech tools out there for mastering the calendar. There's Skylight Calendar, cozy and Hearth and those have all come highly recommended and I see them in my clients' houses all the time. I personally use Google Calendar and I use a different color for each person of the family, but these work the same way. Each person has a different color. And then maybe there's family, but these work the same way. Each person has a different color, and then maybe there's one color that covers the whole family, like we're all going to the movies on Friday.

Speaker 2: 2:53

And these tools are so great because they do more than just manage your calendar. They have notes where you can do grocery planning, you can do setting up lists of routines for different children you know this is what this child number one needs to do and child number two has to do different things so you can set up all these different routines and calendars and grocery planning and meal planning through these calendar systems. And it's color-coded and you can get like a really big monitor, like a large iPad or something, and mount it in your kitchen so everyone can see it all the time. It's a great idea.

Speaker 1: 3:28

That's brilliant. I like the color coded. I think that that would help keep us on track a little bit better, definitely. What about as far as linking into your school calendar, because I know there's like you can toggle it on or off. I have to keep it off most of the time because the HPISD calendar is so robust that I literally can't see my own to-do list in there.

Speaker 2: 3:48

Well, some schools have the calendars broken down into more granular choices. Like you know, the football team Right, you don't have to have every single thing. So I would look and see if they have granular options like that. But I hear what you're saying. But they do link with the different, with however you want to link them up. I just don't know about how to limit it unless they have sub-calendars, but I think they probably do have sub-calendars, so you can have less things, sure sure, have you ever had that feeling?

Speaker 1: 4:21

you know the one when something just fills off with your parents. Maybe it's small at first a missed appointment, an unopened stack of mail or just a shift in energy. Deep down, you know they might need more help than they're letting on. That's why I asked Adam Lampert, ceo of Cambridge Caregivers, to join me today. Adam, what are the signs families should be watching for?

Speaker 3: 4:41

You know, the signs are often the little things like mom forgetting her medications or dad struggling with routines that used to be second nature. It can be hard to accept, but these are the signs that become your invitation to step in with love and compassion. At Cambridge, we help families through that transition with in-home care that's discreet, respectful and tailored to each person's needs, because our goal is to preserve independence while providing just the right amount of the support that your family needs.

Speaker 1: 5:10

And I love that Cambridge doesn't treat this like a transaction. It's a relationship. You're matching caregivers who truly care with families who need peace of mind and expect the best. If your gut is telling you it's time, don't wait for a crisis. Visit cambridgecaregiverscom or call 214-649-9922. That's 214-649-9922. Cambridge Caregivers trusted in-home care right here in the neighborhood. Well, you were mentioning that one of the apps at the beginning had grocery lists and kind of ties in with meal planning, and that's definitely something I struggle with and would love to learn more about what you recommend for streamlining meal planning and grocery lists.

Speaker 2: 5:56

Yeah, meal planning is so hard, especially like during a busy week when kids are at sports and activities and you don't get home until 6.37. I mean, and that's on the good side right, that's early.

Speaker 2: 6:09

So if you meal prep and plan in advance, I mean it's going to make your nights go so much smoother. So you could do like a template and have like a pasta night, a sheet pan night, a crock pot night, leftover night, taco Tuesday. Those are always helpful. But when you're planning for your meals you should always shop your pantry and your freezer first, see what you've got, before you run out and buy something else and give yourself another errand. You probably have plenty of things at home to make a great meal. Another thing you could do is use the app Skylight Cozier Hearth, as I mentioned before, and kind of do meal planning and have and kind of create a meal calendar. So everyone knows, wednesday is pasta and we're having this certain kind of pasta Like the school cafeteria, exactly, I love that, exactly Without the hairnet. Another thing is consider a local meal delivery service. I found a local woman and she puts out a menu every Saturday morning and I can look through it. If there's anything I want, I order it from her and she'll deliver it for me Monday, wednesday and Friday so I can put those into the rotation.

Speaker 2: 7:22

Another thing I like to do is like cook in bulk. So if you're making a certain dish, double it and freeze one. Yeah, I think that's brilliant. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 2: 7:33

A lot of people have tried those like mail from home, like HelloFresh kits I have tried all of those. They worked for about two weeks and my family was like, yeah, we're kind of done with that, is that right? They worked for about two weeks and my family was like, yeah, we're kind of done with that, Is that right? I've never used one. You know I don't love them. Yeah, but you know, once in a while they they're okay, right, okay, um. And here's another one. Um, you know, find a local like, find a cooking personality on instagram that goes fits with your family's vibe and follow that person. When they have some great recipes, make it. Make a folder on your instagram for recipes or print them out. And I love um local mom. Hire mom megan megan brown. She goes as um the baker and she's got the best family-style recipes and ideas. So I mean, check her out for sure.

Speaker 1: 8:21

Well, what about the grocery budget? I feel like so many people are really good at you know making I don't know shredded chicken and having three recipes that. That can you know go into during the week, which I think is very smart with your budget. That can you know go into during the week, which I think is very smart with your budget. Just what types of things do you recommend, just to kind of keep things on track with the budget.

Speaker 2: 8:42

Well, there are these two tech apps that I've heard of. One is called EveryDollar and the other is YNAB. You need a budget. That's funny. Yeah, they're great for families for meal planning, but they're also great for college students or just setting up a savings goal, like you want to go on a vacation and you need to put money aside. So these are really good budgeting apps. But, like I said before, when trying to save money and plan for your meal planning, shop your house first. And here's a plug for organizing If your pantry is organized, it's easier to see what you have.

Speaker 1: 9:19

I was just about to say that. That's just, you know, inspiration to keep it organized because you, sometimes I buy something that I already had.

Speaker 2: 9:27

Yes, and I mean, I really do think that the clear bins make a lot of sense because you can see what you have, what needs to be restocked, and I like to use the clear canisters. I know it's a little bit more work to decant things, but you can see what's in the clear canister as opposed to the cardboard box. So there are benefits.

Speaker 1: 9:45

Yeah, like with the cereal, for example. All of a sudden you're completely out of it because you can't see through the box, and you had no idea, but one of the kids got into it, Right, well, so what about household tasks? That's something that we also struggle with is, I don't really have a formal plan with the tasks, but everyone knows what they're supposed to do, but a lot of times we're just not doing it.

Speaker 2: 10:05

Yeah, Well, those calendar apps have so many features and one of them is you could set up a different set of routines or tasks or chores for different family members. Set up a different set of routines or tasks or chores for different family members and it could be, you know, assigned to their color, and they know what they can see on their phone in their app, what they have to do and check it off, kind of like a checklist. So I love that. And even for little kids they have systems with stars and points and ways to incentivize kids to do it. So these apps are really great tools and we also need to embrace the idea of good enough. Okay, tell me more about that.

Speaker 2: 10:43

I mean, this is a very type A community and I am very type A, obviously owning and organizing business. I want things perfect, I want things done now, I want them done right. But I've had to learn to let go of that perfection because otherwise my kids would never learn, because I would never let them learn and that would be my fault. So you know, if they do it 80% as well as I would do it, I'd consider that a win. And so teaching your kids to take responsibility, to do these chores and responsibilities and it reminds me of a local mom, kay what's her name?

Speaker 2: 11:20

Kay Wills Wyma wrote a book and it's called and she's from University Park, the Cleaning House A Mom's 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement. Ooh, I like the title. It's an awesome book, it's an easy read and she has so many great tips on how we can let go. Ooh, I like the title. It's an awesome book, it's an easy read and she has so many great tips on how we can let go. Now, you're not going to let go and tell your kids to do 50 things and it needs to be done tomorrow. It breaks down into 12 chapters, so each month is a new thing that she teaches her kids and lets it go and turns it over. So I really think it's good for us moms to learn to let go, because we have to let our kids grow up.

Speaker 1: 11:59

Well, that plus we have to maintain our sanity Again, just tying in type A personality or just moms. In general, we want our homes a certain way and sometimes we just take it all on just because we don't want to mess with, risking someone not doing it the way we want to do. And you're right, we do need to learn just to accept that other people can do it a different way. Yes, 100%. Remember when the big freeze happened and it seemed like every house in the neighborhood had pipes bursting, floors ruined and drywall falling throughout the house. Well, if this ever happens to you, don't stress. When emergencies strike, just call mother.

Speaker 1: 12:38

Mother, modern Plumbing's master technicians are always ready to swoop in, tackle the crisis with precision and leave your home looking cleaner than they found it. And with their high-end tools, rapid response, attention to detail and professionalism, you're never left high and dry. So next time your plumbing throws a tantrum, take a deep breath and remember, call mother at callmothercom. I highly recommend them. Well, so, at the start of the school year I think we talked about this the last time you were on this show it's just all the papers that start coming into your house, and I think some of that has kind of tempered down a little bit, just with more things being paperless, but we still get a pretty good amount of stuff coming in the door. Yeah, how do we tame all?

Speaker 2: 13:19

that Well. Especially with the younger kids there's even more paper.

Speaker 1: 13:23

Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2: 13:24

But you need to create like an inbox or a designated spot where all the papers go, so like a basket that's on your desk or on the kitchen counter and create a routine for when the kids come home from school. Every day when they come home, they need to open up their binder and put any papers that you need to see into that designated spot. They need to put their lunchbox in the kitchen and they need to hang up their backpack and their coat, and this needs to become a daily habit. Every day, papers, lunchbox and hanging everything up and with the papers. Once it's in that box, that means it's now the parent's turn to respond. They have given it to us because it requires something from us. We have to do it. If we do not maintain that system and keep it moving forward, they're not going to maintain it. So the discipline comes from the top. We got to follow through with what we're trying to set up here.

Speaker 1: 14:19

Well, you've mentioned before an app that helps tame the paperwork. How does that work?

Speaker 2: 14:24

There's an app called Trustworthy and it's a newer tech device out there that we've started toying with at Getting it Done, organizing and you scan in all of your documents think birth certificates, passports, car registration, medical forms and it also has an AI component within the app and everything's cloud-based and it's secure and it helps you organize all of your paperwork by topics and then, also, because it's got this AI element to it, helps you find it when you need it.

Speaker 1: 14:57

Yeah, those things. You never can find them when you need them, right? You're always like scrambling to try to find them and there's always like a tight deadline that you need it. Yeah, those things. You never can find them when you need them, right, you're always like scrambling to try to find them and there's always like a tight deadline that you need to get the information to somebody. That's a really good idea.

Speaker 2: 15:08

Yeah, so trustworthy is great and you know, once you scan stuff, it's like you can get rid of the paper. Yeah, and you can access to, like we said, anytime, anywhere, easily, right, rather than trying to dig through a filing cabinet and find it.

Speaker 1: 15:28

So digital is better. Yeah, I like this plan Well. So when my kids were younger, of course they had a whole lot more artwork coming in. We all remember those days. Some of you are still in the middle of it and everything, and you just feel guilty if you get rid of it. And of course, they think that they're just masterpieces and they don't want you to get rid of it. How do you deal with all that?

Speaker 2: 15:44

Oh, kids do not like it with the way of their art. So, getting into organizing, we've created a system called the holding tank system and my philosophy is when the art comes home, you say, oh, ah, I love it, it's so beautiful and you put it up on the refrigerator. And at the end of the week they come home on Friday with a whole new batch of papers. And you do the same thing Ooh, ah, I love it. And you take down the old ones and you put them in a box and we create this system and we do this for a lot of our clients. We get plastic stackable drawers and we label them for each child and when you put the papers in, you just drop them in the box. Now they're in reverse chronological order, with the oldest at the bottom, newest at the top, and you don't need to throw anything away until later.

Speaker 2: 16:31

When they're at camp Exactly so the kids aren't seeing you throw anything away. You just put it all in the box and you don't worry about it until they go to grandma's house during the summer. And then, when they're not looking, you pick the best ones. You order a box from Archive Box. They send you the box, you pick the best ones, you send it back to them. They do everything, all the scanning, and they send you back this beautiful Harbaugh book and then they'll destroy the art. So now you have an empty box, but you still have all the memories.

Speaker 1: 16:59

Oh, that's so interesting. I but you still have all the memories. Oh, that's so interesting. I love that. I wish they had that back in my day. Well, one of the biggest things that I asked you about before we started recording that I desperately need help with is managing the photos on my phone. Like again, they're so hard to find a specific one when I want it and there's too many on there and they're just in disarray. So do you have any tips for us to manage photos?

Speaker 2: 17:23

Photos are tough. I mean they do require time and maintenance. They're not going to maintain themselves. But there is an app called Clean my Phone and it will look for blurry pics, duplicates and things like screenshots, and it kind of can recognize things that you probably just don't need. But if you create Google Photos, if you open up a Google Photos account and you create albums, you can take photos off your phone, put them on Google Photos so you still have full cloud access to them, but then it will open up the space on your phone. If you have limited storage space, yes, that's exactly what I need.

Speaker 1: 18:00

That's a perfect fix. If you have limited storage space, yes, that's exactly what I need. That's a perfect fix. It does videos too, I'm sure. Yes, okay, good, and so you could just label each folder by football game, vacation, whatever it might be, and just get them off your phone, but they're still accessible.

Speaker 2: 18:14

Yes, and I always like to do a more structured organizing system by year, okay, and then subfolders within the year. That makes perfect sense. I love it. I love it. There's another phone app which I haven't tried yet. It's called CompanyCam, and I've been thinking about trying it for my company, but I honestly think it would work really well for a family. So if anyone tries CompanyCam, dm me and let me know how it goes. Well, what does it do? It batches things by date and it allows you to add tags. I think Apple Photo can probably do these same things too, but it's a lot of work. I think this does it a little bit more like using AI. I think it just gets done a little more automatically. Okay, so looking for an easier way I don't know yet because I haven't tried it, but it's just on your radar. It was on my radar. It looks kind of cool.

Speaker 1: 19:06

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Speaker 1: 20:00

Well, Jenny, as always, you've shared a lot of great tools. You've thrown in a lot of new apps this time that I've never heard of, and I'm super excited to check them out. Everything sounds wonderful, but, as you know because you know me I get very overwhelmed about getting started putting systems in place. What kind of advice do you have for people like me?

Speaker 2: 20:18

Well, we've got time. School is not for what? A month, a couple of weeks, a couple of weeks out. So we've got time. Pick one of these topics and dive in and try to solve that problem. First, all of these things do require maintenance. None of them are going to maintain themselves, and so that's where we talk about. As parents, we're going to create these systems, but we also have to maintain them and teach our kids to maintain them. If they fall apart, that's where the chaos comes in. I have ADHD too, like big time. So for me and I used to think that I wanted to live fly by the seat of my pants, I wanted to be spontaneous and that was just more fun. And as I got older, I learned that structure was so good for me, and when I was structured and I maintained my organization and I maintained my systems, I was having a lot more fun.

Speaker 1: 21:11

Yeah, a little bit more sanity, I would imagine. Yes, definitely. You know what this reminds me of is some people when they send off their new puppy off to a trainer for like a month-long doggy training camp or whatever you want to call it. Then the dog comes home and they expect this dog to be perfectly trained and well-mannered, but then they just don't really follow through with all the stuff that their trainer taught the whole family to do. They go back to old habits, the dog starts misbehaving and they blame the dog or they blame the trainer. You have to do the maintenance. You have to stop it in the work, right, I love?

Speaker 2: 21:45

that example. I mean, when I got a dog, I absolutely sent my dog to the trainer because I didn't know how to teach the dog to walk on the leash, and so sometimes people just need to hit the reset button and maybe you need to bring in a professional organizer to get your pan to your kitchen in shape so that you're ready for back to school and for me, like with the dog. Once the trainer taught me how to walk the dog on the leash and how to get the dog to heal and all that, I could follow the lead, but I wasn't going to be able to create that system. Yeah right.

Speaker 2: 22:17

So, that's a great example.

Speaker 1: 22:19

Perfect comparison. Well, so, as I said, this all sounds wonderful. Maybe some of us aren't able to implement our systems on our own, so how can we find you and how can you help us?

Speaker 2: 22:30

and you can also sign up to receive our newsletter, and we're always giving away tips and tricks, and we've got stories all the time about how to do something better or a quick hack for organizing your bathroom or whatever. So if you follow along, we might have something that could help you.

Speaker 1: 22:53

And she's actually very timely because she's been sharing all sorts of things about moving your kid into college, the dorms and all the stuff, and I can tell you, right now I just moved out my daughter of her apartment, about to move her into a new one. It was utter chaos and so many things that we could have used some help with, and so I love all the tips that you shared on that.

Speaker 2: 23:13

Oh, thanks. I've been having fun with my kids doing the college stuff.

Speaker 1: 23:16

They've been making an appearance on your videos.

Speaker 2: 23:19

Oh, yes, Well they're way cuter than me.

Speaker 1: 23:22

Well, I love that they're willing to participate. That's great. Yes, well, jenny, as always, thank you so much for sharing your expertise and just like getting us all motivated and excited for the new school year and just implementing some new systems that will help us have a successful year.

Speaker 2: 23:37

Well, thank you for having me and I wish you guys all the best of luck getting your new system set up and remember, keep them maintained. Maintenance is the key.

Speaker 1: 23:46

That's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I'll see you next time.