Episode 27 – Tip Tuesday – What it Means When Organizers say, “It’s A System” and How Systems Work to Reduce Stress and Simplify in the Home - Intentional Edit

Organization is in the systems. If you follow professional organizers or coaches on social media then you have heard phrases like, “it’s a system”. In this episode of The Intentional Edit podcast Lauren clarifies what systems are, the importance of good systems in your home and why they are the key to staying organized. It’s time to be intentional, learn to simplify and create the life you envision.

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Full Episode Transcription:

It’s a system. If you follow professional organizers on Instagram or Facebook, then you have heard that phrase systems are what keep you organized. If you don’t have proper systems in place, then the organization will not stay that way. In this episode, I’m going to answer a listener question and talk about the importance of systems, what a systems truly is and what systems you should implement into your home first. Hey friends, quick tips that make a big impact in your daily life are my favorite ways to implement systems around the house. I’ve been sharing easy strategies and my go-to organizing products for tip Tuesday on the intentional at Instagram feed for a few years. Now I’m excited to bring it to the podcast with short episodes, answering your questions every Tuesday. If you want me to answer your questions, go to the podcast page on intentional, edit.com and submit your questions there.

(00:50):

Let’s get started on this tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast. Hey there, welcome to another episode of the intentional edit podcast. It is episode 27 and I’m back with another tip Tuesday episode. So it will be short and sweet. The topic today is all about systems. And I am answering a question from a listener systems are the key to staying organized. If you don’t have systems in place to maintain your organization, the organization will not stick systems are, are extremely important. I can’t emphasize that enough. I could talk about systems in many episodes for a very long time. I’ve already addressed it in episodes here and there. I’m going to specifically answer the question that came in from a listener today. Before I do that, I want you to grab your phone or whatever you are listening on. Click on the link at the bottom of the intentional edit podcast, where it will take you directly to my website.

(01:52):

My website is intentional, edit.com, go there. And a button will popup that says, record it out. I want you to click on that. You just put in your name and you can leave me a message, like a voice message record the question that you are struggling with. What are you struggling with? What questions do you have about organization? What do you wanna know about simplifying your home record? That all you have to do is on intentional edit.com, click the button that says record now and leave me a message so that I can answer your questions. These tip Tuesday episodes are fun for me because I can answer the questions that are on your mind, and I can hope you solve the things that you are struggling with in a quick tip Tuesday episode, let’s get to the question from the listener today. The question is my desire is to be organized and get stuff done.

(02:45):

I’m a natural procrastinator, but no it causes anxiety and stress. Professional organizers that I follow on Instagram are consistently re referencing systems to stay organized, but I must be naive on what that is. Meaning can you clarify systems and let me know what systems are a necessity for an overwhelmed mom and family trying to get organized. This question is so good and there are so many layers to it. Let’s just go back and take a minute and talk about what, what does it mean when organizers are saying it’s a system or it’s all in the system. You have to create the system, things like that. If you follow or organizers or go to websites or blogs or you’re on Pinterest and looking for organization ideas, the pretty pictures are a great starting point for inspiration, but creating an organized space can only stay organized. If you have a system in place, good systems are the key to organization that truly functions for your home and for your family.

(03:49):

Good systems involve everyone. Simplifying daily tasks and chores comes from setting up and implementing these systems for almost everything you do. In most situations, systems, habits, routines, those words can almost be used. Interchangeably systems are set up so that they become part of your routine. Once you have a successful routine going, it’s something that is a habit. It’s just a healthy habit. That’s created to make your life easier and to simplify things in your home. What are organizers talking about? When we mention systems, think about something that you do every single day eating. If you eat at home, you most likely have a pantry or a cabinet or somewhere where you store your food. If it’s a mess and the food goes everywhere and there are not any systems in place and you come home from the grocery store, put the food away and just shove it wherever there is a empty spot that leads to feeling stressed because you don’t have an organized anything in place for your food.

(04:55):

It also is wasteful. You’re wasting money. You’re wasting food. If you go through your pantry, you going to discover things that are old or expire that you can’t use anymore. It not only causes stress because of the physical appearance and frustration of using the items. But also because you can’t find what you need easily. When you have an organized pantry and you create organization based on, on categories and what makes sense for the space you have available for the food storage for where you are living right now, then you also create a system around that or system will involve how you unpack the groceries. And these are not complicated systems, putting things away, everything, having a spot loading, having your kids be part of this, maybe it’s one of their chores, but you get back from the grocery store and the kids can put things away because they know where everything is.

(05:52):

Packing lunches would be part of a system that revolves around an organized food, storage location, having healthy dinners, being able to easily meal plan, all kinds of systems are wrapped up in something as simple as a organized pantry, but just organizing the pantry. If you just organize the pantry, it’s not gonna stay organized with some kind of system around the organization. Another example of a system would be a morning routine or an evening routine. And I have specific podcast episodes dedicated to these things. Every day you bathe or shower, brush your teeth, get dressed, have to pick out what you’re going to wear when those are things that cause as a stress or frustration, because you are, don’t know what to wear. You think you don’t have any clothes. You’re trying multiple things on in the morning and throwing things on the floor. And now you have a big mess in your closet or bedroom creating a system around that eliminates all of those things that I just said.

(06:54):

If you have a system where you’re picking out an outfit the night before are, you’re saving time and you’re not creating a mess because already know what you’re going to wear. And you’re just getting dressed, creating systems around evening routines and morning routines for kids eliminate the struggle in the morning or evening because they know what to expect. They know what to expect from you. And they know what they expectations are for what they have to get done. Once you set up systems, they become routine and the routine becomes a habit that just happens. You have these things. Now that just happen. If you brush your teeth every night before you go to bed, and that’s the last thing you do, you’re not thinking about brushing your teeth. It’s just something you do. You put your pajamas on, you wash your face, you your teeth. If you’re not in the habit of doing one of those things, then it’s not going to happen all the time. But brushing your teeth is not stressful. It’s not something to get worked up about or to bring you down. It’s just something that you do because it needs to be done. It now is a habit. You created a root teen around it. Even if it wasn’t intentional.

(08:03):

Going back to the question from this listener, we have an overwhelmed, stressed out mom that is procrastinating and full of anxiety because of the lack of systems. If you wanna change your life for the better you have to change your habits. Those habits come from good quality thought out systems. If you ever stop and think about why you’re doing something, you’re just moving through the day. Most likely you’re moving through the day. And it’s because you’re doing things that you’ve always done out of habit. They can be unhealthy habits that are causing you stress and feeding the anxiety and making you stay in that overwhelm state, or you can be intentional and change those habits so that they are, they stop holding you back. When you’re intentional with your time, your decisions, your relationships, your home, your activities, then you create systems and you have systems around those things to keep you focused on. What is most important for you?

(09:07):

Intentionality is the key to living the life that you are envisioning. And the listener that submitted this question knows that simplicity is out there, knows that she can be organized. She’s naturally a procrastinator. She wants something better. And she doesn’t know where to begin props to her for reaching out and asking this question to get clarity. Organization is going to help her, but good systems are key. Good systems are the key to organization that functions in your home and functions for you and your family. Once you have these systems in place to go through most of your day, it see, it could seem daunting at first, but you’re just going to create systems one at a time, go back and listen to other episodes of the pod cast. And it will explain to you little things that you can implement. Of course, you’re only gonna start with one system.

(10:02):

And I always recommend going to whatever is causing you the most stress and the most frustration and creating a system around that by eliminating the problems and finding ways to solve the problems. Simplifying the simplifying daily tasks and chores comes from setting up and implementing systems for just about everything. And it will make your life so much simpler. It really takes the frustration out of everything. And it makes things that used to cause you stress become easy. I could talk about systems for hours and give you many, many examples. Send in your questions for me. If you have them, if they’re specific to systems, then we can dive into different systems for whatever you are struggling with on additional episodes. I would love to hear your questions. That was just as quick as I could share for information about creating systems, what systems are and why they are so important in your home. Thank you for listening to another tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast. I will meet you back here later this week for another episode. Thanks for listening to another tip Tuesday episode

(11:13):

On the intentional edit podcast. Keep submitting your question so that I, I can keep answering them on these episodes. They’re quick episodes and I love to share actionable solutions for you to implement at home. You can always send me an email or direct message on Instagram, but I have added a cool way to submit voice questions on the website. It’s honestly my favorite way to take questions. Now, head over to intentional edit.com, click on the podcast page and scroll down to where it says, submit your questions for the podcast. Ask me anything there. And you can even be featured on the show. Questions can be about creating systems in your house, decluttering, how to manage family schedules, getting kids on board with organizing, managing, and maintaining systems. Honestly, they can be personal questions of things you wanna know about how I do something in my house. I want to know what you want to know if you’re struggling with it. Other people are too ready set. Go over right now to intentional edit.com and ask your questions.

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Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!

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