Organize 365 Podcast

Organize 365 Podcasts
Organize 365 Podcasts
  • 4.5 (1.3K)
  • Self-Improvement
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Lisa Woodruff is a home organization expert, productivity specialist, and author of multiple books including The Paper Solution. Lisa's research-based teaching shines a light on the invisible work being done at home and in the workplace. Lisa's sensible and doable organizing tasks appeal to multiple generations. Her candor and relatable style make you feel she is right there beside you, helping you get organized as you laugh and cry together. Lisa believes organization is not a skill you are born with. It is a skill that is developed over time and changes with each season of life. Lisa has helped thousands of women reclaim their homes and finally get organized with her practical tips, encouragement, and humor through her blog and podcast at Organize365.com.

  1. 52m ago

    719 - Level 1 - The Maid - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework

    I asked what is the basic essential housework that is necessary for life? Level one is the foundation of The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework that starts with essential house work. I did my own study and I am sharing my findings. You might be as surprised as I was.  What is Essential Housework? How is housework defined? Housework is something you do for yourself or you pay for someone to do it. And how much time are you spending on it? On average about 23 hours per week; 3 hours for laundry, 6 hours for cleaning, and 11 hours for food preparation.  I know it's hard to believe. I surveyed a panel of 1000 people, ages 16 - 65. I divided up the panel to closely reflect the US Census ethnicities to account for all different household types. I bet you would think that there would be a stark difference in what men and women determined was housework and taking it one step further, what was essential. Nope, 90% of the panel (men and women of all ethnicities) agreed on 19 of the 78 items as housework and that they were essential.  Now, I say essential because I want to point out that not everyone owns a home or a car. And I wanted to ask people from all walks of life because essential housework needed to universally apply to everyone. All19 items fit into either laundry, cleaning, or food preparation. The Goal I'm sure this has you curious about how much time you spend on these essential housework. Do a time study. Then review, the calendar does not lie! And information is power. The amount of time each household dedicates to these tasks will vary depending on their caregiving responsibilities, whether looking after children, just themselves, or a loved one.  I gave a lot of examples of how your time may be getting used and ways you can manipulate time and tasks to free up your time.  And once again, I want to encourage you to outsource if you have the means to or you find yourself in a high demand season.  When we know what the work is, how much time it takes us, and we reduce our expectations, we can set the foundation to put systems in place so you can reach the higher levels of this pyramid. At some point, I want you to get to a done point. The goal is to reduce your expectations and time spent on housework so you can get done for the day or done for the week.  Then comes the fun part where you get to ask yourself what are you uniquely gifted and created to do? Exploring you, through Embrace. It's a 2 day self guided retreat where you think about where your expectations came from. How much housework are you doing? Why? And what do you want to be doing? You'll use critical thinking to dream about what you want to do next. What are you uniquely gifted and created to do? That's the goal! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Embrace Time Study Registration Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media

    719 - Level 1 - The Maid - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework

  2. Jul 10

    718 - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework - Overview

    I'm very excited to start rolling out The Productive Home CEO Theoretical framework. Ewww does that feel weird to call yourself a CEO? Well you are! Our homes contribute to 68% of the GDP! You are running a little business right inside your home that greatly impacts the economy.  So as the CEO, I want you to have a foundation in place that allows for planning, completing projects, and managing your household information (owned or not) for your business AKA your home.. Maid Work What I refer to as maid work is visible work. It's also what I call working IN your business.  You clean your house, wash the laundry, vacuum the house, dust, and all the other things. The people in your house can see you doing it. And it's this visible work that couples are asking who is doing what and when. This is like the organizing we do in the home. Our organization leads to productivity that leads to time.  CEO Work Then there is CEO work which is that invisible strategic planning. It's also what I call working ON your business. The CEO is a focused leadership agent inside the house for the purpose of change. This person isn't always the one who makes the most money. They don't get to dictate every decision. And they aren't better than anyone else in the home.   Every good CEO has a pulse on what's happening in the world, is strategic, sets goals, and maximizes the resources like the people and capital. The Productive Home CEO is doing the same and asking how those factors impact their home, their budget, and what will the house need due to those things and for the future. And those considerations are for all of the people in the home, not just the kids. Our kids are living their best lives these days but I want everyone to be in a place that they are taking into account self care for all.  My Work I am looking forward to testing my proposed interventions in an effort to reduce housework overall so we can all be asking ourselves what am I uniquely gifted and created to do? You cannot get to that place until your basic needs are met. You cannot start to get organized when you don't feel safe.  When you are cognitively bogged down with cleaning your house, you never get to the organizing part. We know organizing (working on the business) leads to the next level which is planning (working on the business.) Very few get to experience the last level of this pyramid of The Productive Home CEO and that is self actualization.  This is where we have that leisure time to wrestle with what am I uniquely gifted and created to do? The first thing in place to help you get to this level are the Planning Days.  Where you set aside time to think and plan. I've started to offer these monthly CEO Planning Days to really think about finances and self care.  And lastly the Self Care Retreat. You guys life is exhausting.  What are you doing to care for yourself? Self care are those basic things like clothing, bathing, food, and medical care. But we need to take that another step further thinking about your educational, recreational, spiritual, and relational needs. Remember our kids are living their best lives because we as the adults are thinking about those things and want our kids to explore all opportunities. And then we become adults and lose sight of our self care needs and this is if you have children or not.  Embrace is always available so you can explore what are you uniquely gifted and created to do. And I'd love for you to take advantage of our time study. I'd love for you to participate for your own knowledge of where you are spending your time and any adjustments you may want to make. And I'll use that information for some of my research!  In the upcoming episodes I'll be diving into each level in much more depth! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Monthly Home CEO Session Escaping Quicksand Self Care Retreat Embrace Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media

    718 - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework - Overview

  3. Jul 3

    717 - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework - Backstory

    I want to take a moment to provide the backstory to how I got to where I am today. And where we are with studying the American Home. You'll see why now is the time to start new research that will apply to all compositions of families, for the extent of their lives, to help household managers in their CEO roles. Evolution of Study As far back as the 30's and 40's, the psychologist Lillian Gilbreth studied the efficiencies of the home. We have her to thank for the kitchen triangle and so much more. Then came the book the Secret History of Home Economics. Home economics focused on the science of the home.  And then my favorite which was manufactured entity of the stay at home mom. The war was over and marketing turned its aim to women at home; how they should look and what they should be doing. Finally, our most up to date research is from the 70's-80's!  Shocked? I was too!  This is the time the gender shift was identified. Basically women began to do less housework because some women were starting to work outside the home, the man started doing more work, and overall as a household unit less needed to be done.  All of these studies were completed with couples with children under the age of 18. At that time, a good educated guess would say that was only 40% of the population. As of today that number has declined to only 17.9% of homes have a couple with children under the age of 18!  So how is the other roughly 80% of Americans running their homes and what are their challenges?  "Current" Day I acknowledge that due to my upbringing, I had some blind spots.  As I started Organize 365® I assumed everyone's lives looked like mine. Over time, due to my babysitting years, years of raising kids and being in my friend's homes, doing home visits when I was a teacher, and organizing other's homes, I realized that there are a lot of different compositions of families, not everyone has kids, and not everyone owns their homes. But we all need an effective productivity system so the household CEO can run their homes smoothly.  My Reference Point It's time to create household theories from a leadership stance.  I love John C. Maxwell's quote "Leadership is influence. Nothing less. Nothing more." Remember, you can only change and control yourself. I want to be an agent of change. I'm going to be introducing the Productive Home CEO. I'll research efficiencies and look at planning to reduce the work for everyone in the house, to maximize the economic impact we have and to be productive. This system will challenge you to to think "How can I be the best version of me and support the people in my house?" I want this theoretical framework to be applicable to all. I want to encourage you to reach out to me if I appear to have a blind spot. Please continue to provide resources and research you may find that supports the work we are doing at Organize 365®.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media

    717 - The Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework - Backstory

  4. Jun 26

    716 - Lisa's Dissertation Presentation

    I did it! We did it! Did you hear in the intro when I introduced myself as DOCTOR Lisa Woodruff? I have completed the dissertation for my PhD in Applied Psychology and feel compelled to share it with all of you. I cannot say Thank You enough for all the emails, suggestions, and encouragement.  The Dissertation Here is the dissertation I delivered celebrating the work I have completed.  I proposed the question "How do prospective memory and invisible family load interact with worry in women?" Prospective memory is remembering anything that you need to do in the future. I had three hypotheses to dissect this question further. There were 379 panelists. In this episode, I shared what my hypothesis was and the results.  The future I just see everyone so overwhelmed with either poor systems or no systems to support the invisible load of the household manager.  At work and school there are systems in place that keep those organizations running smoothly. I wanted to get this PhD to have a seat at the academic table and do more research to create systems for the household manager that will live long beyond my presence on Earth. This study was a great starting point. Just like other studies, it has brought up more questions. I plan to use those questions to create more studies. Again, than you for all of you support and I look forward to all the research to come! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Lisa's Dissertation Presentation Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media

    716 - Lisa's Dissertation Presentation

  5. Jun 19

    715 - Perspectives. He Said. She Said. Happy Father's Day

    Hear Ye, Hear Ye! I declare a table for all people to have conversations about what housework is, what needs to be done, who needs to do it, and consider all life factors into those definitions and roles. I have just found myself a little frustrated that men get a bad wrap when it comes to helping in the house. Before you show up with torches to take me down, hear me out. Men There is clearly a discrepancy between what men think house work is, how it should be done, and who should be doing it. I take Grayson to swim lessons every week. I have been watching the female and male life guards and observing how they teach differently. Neither is right or wrong, just different approaches. Nonetheless, there are discrepancies in how the skills are taught and the priority on which skills get focus. My husband was always great at bathing the kids. Honestly his way was better. But if I had insisted on my way, I probably would have just done it myself in frustration. He enjoyed it and I didn't have to. When the grandkids came along he once again got excited to help with bath time. But to be clear, even if his way wasn't better, I would have kept having him do it just so I didn't. And that's just it. Who is willing to help even if it's not your way. We Are All Doing the Best We Can I took the time to read an excerpt from Sunshine Girl by Julianna Margulies (pp. 208-209). It's a delicate apology from her dad to her. It's a perspective she had not considered. Some men are going to a job they don't like everyday just to continue to provide. They love seeing their families happy and taken care of. That job they endure provides that lifestyle. And then on top of that their partner is saying they don't do enough around the house.  They are constantly being put on the defensive about "doing enough." And I get it about the invisible load and anxiety over our homes ladies. But if he says "Just tell me what to do." Just tell him. He's in his own minutiae and may not see what needs to be done around the house.  I want to see spouses working together to take care of their home. I believe both parties need to give 100%. Based on your careers and life circumstances it will likely not be 50/50.  I want to see us seeking and valuing their perspective, their methods, and trying to learn from them too. Only have this expectation for yourself. You are only in control of you. Cherish the men in your life while you have them and Happy Father's Day!! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media.

    715 - Perspectives. He Said. She Said. Happy Father's Day

  6. Jun 12

    714 - 10 Simple Ideas for Self-Care This Summer

    Pedicures and massages aren't cutting the mustard anymore. Society is crying out for self care. How can we fill our cups to continue supporting our families? In May Planning Day, I thought about what I wanted to do for my own self care. Sometimes it's the smallest things but we don't realize doing that thing would fill your cup. So I am sharing my ideas in this episode.  10 Self Care Ideas  10. Get time outside doing what you enjoy - for me I will be enjoying our deck, our back yard, and sunsets 9.  CEO Days - I will take time, once a month on a Monday, to plan how I will take care of myself, run my home, and have peace of mind because I had focused thinking and planned. 8. Identify and Protect project time - once I realized a 4 hour chunk of time on Saturdays for projects, I have protected it to keep it for myself. 7. Exercise - you get old due to lack of movement. I don't want that. I want a healthy body to support me into my 100's. 6. Have Strategic Time with Humans - those people you want to spend time with. Make calendar dates to keep your marriage strong, see friends, support your children in a way that is gratifying to you, and whoever else you want to catch up with. 5. Learn - I got a book series I loved in the past. I plan to devour it this summer. But think about what you like and get books reserved, podcasts downloaded, order books through amazon, put together your watch list on your preferred streaming service. Like what would you like to learn about? 4. Try New Foods - I have my chicken salad meal but I am thinking about exploring alternatives. But maybe you like to cook? Or maybe you are wanting to eat healthier, what does that look like for you? I will also be setting the habit to meal prep on Sundays.  3. Personal Reset - Go through your personal spaces like your closet, bathroom, or nightstand and decide if the things in there are supporting where you are going and who you are becoming. Discard or donate the rest. 2. Medical Deep Dive - I have a feeling most will skip this one but I am all about my medical binder this summer. I want to see where there are well test gaps and get the screening or baseline numbers from the tests I have avoided. We don't let our kids skip these things so why do we skip them for ourselves?  AND NUMBER ONE: Join Escaping Quicksand Self Care Retreat! You can join in person or virtually. You will get four hours on June 26th, 2026, to think about YOU! Get registered and get ready to escape that quicksand! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® Register for the Escaping Quicksand Self Care Retreat Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media

    714 - 10 Simple Ideas for Self-Care This Summer

  7. Jun 5

    713 - How to Use and End Planned Neglect

    Have you ever heard "planned neglect" anywhere else but Organize 365? Probably not because it's a term I coined to describe what I do to more effectively manage my responsibilities and time. One can't do everything so you must determine what is the highest value you provide to your work, community, or family and implement planned neglect for a certain amount of time to manage it all. I Must Have Mentioned "Planned Neglect" Before I was fairly shocked when I asked AI to give me some feedback based on a few episodes I shared. It explained the "framework" I have put in place. Ha! Much to my surprise because I hadn't realized I offered a framework. I must have talked about it a few times on the podcast. But it wasn't wrong. You need to identify the timeline when you will be using this planned neglect.  Then you should tell your family so they know what's happening when you start to cut corners to free up time for you to better utilize your highest value in this phase of life. Then you need to extend a lot of grace to yourself. It's ok that you have lowered your standards. It doesn't have to be forever just while something else needs more of you.  Then you need to implement these temporary habits.  And understand that this particular shortcut you have used in the past may not help you the same as it has in the past. You may need to figure out a different way to make life easier for a certain amount of time.  So back in the day when the dinosaurs were still roaming around, I identified planned neglect.  I needed a little more time to work on my direct sales business. I thought about what could I neglect to give my attention to focus on my business? So I started with a nanny for 10 hours one day a week.  Once my business grew even more I hired an assistant to help just 5 hours a week.  Then there was the time I realized I was driving 25 hours a week. It was time to outsource laundry. It was beautiful for a while when I would drop off my laundry and pick it up folded and hung. And I have shared a few phases of life when paper plates became the china of choice in the Woodruff household.  Coming Out of "Planned Neglect" Now that the PhD is coming to an end I have really wrestled with what I want to do with that time.  I acknowledge that I will go back to cleaning my house and maintaining my own window boxes. I have really been thinking about the planned neglect I have practiced and it's time to reverse some of those habits. It dawned on me that while I am back to using real plates for lunch and dinner, I will continue to use paper plates and bowls of different sizes for breakfast. Also, I hadn't realized pursuing the PhD meant my health and body would suffer. I hadn't put any thought into my nutrition and I certainly wasn't moving as much as a person should. So now that I am coming out of planned neglect I have started to use some of that time to go to the gym. And I have decided I no longer want to spend that money on the Tovala meals. It was worth the money when I didn't have time to grocery shop or meal prep. But now, I have time to focus on my nutrition so I am not ordering Tovala meals. Who knows, I may utilize them again in a season I need to.  As I come out of planned neglect I am going to take back my body and health. I will also be giving time back to working on Organize 365®. You have already seen a little bit of this as I have eliminated the work products. I am launching my new book "Escaping Quicksand" and will likely write more books. And I am getting ready to focus on The Productive Home CEO and new terminology to go with it being the Household CEO. I also want to explore how to use this new authority in academia to benefit household managers and their systems.  And at home I will be filling in all the blanks in my information management binders from The Paper Solution® and taking one day a month to focus on my CEO position in the Woodruff house.  Planned neglect is simply looking at your tasks, deciding how you can lower your standards of that task and then implementing a new habit for a certain amount of time. Mine was the PhD recently, what is yours? EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

    713 - How to Use and End Planned Neglect

  8. May 29

    712 - Vacation Days, Sick Time, PTO and Trips, Let's Get Into It

    Hope you are mentally hungry, because I'm unloading a lot of food for thought. Greg and I were in the car discussing the perception of a vacation vs. a trip. And that of course led to the time you take off for said vacation/trip. And that got me thinking overall about how transformational this summer is going to be for me. Good news! You have a front seat to all of it!  Vacation vs. a Trip Ok, so we're in the car talking about vacations vs. trips. And Greg joked "You never take vacations." And he's kind of right because in my life I guess I couldn't really take a vacation. When I was a stay at home mom, we just went to FL. I didn't have to submit vacation time. As a teacher, I just always worked and thought of summer as my vacation time. If you are a teacher you know it's quite the contrary!!  And when we do go to FL I do more work than at home. I turn into a 1950's wife so Greg can fully enjoy his vacation. And I love doing that for him and the kids. Greg thinks it's a vacation because he's with his family, gets to go fishing, and go to the beach. I will say London felt like a vacation to me. We had no expectations, I didn't do any laundry or cooking, and we had fun.  When my parents took us to Disney, we attended an art class. Yep, went to Disney to attend school. But we took a lot of trips in my childhood where we learned about thing and places and now that's what I enjoy too. My trips feel like vacation more to me but again Greg jokes they are trips. But I do think in reflection of this summer being so transformational with the PhD coming to an end and Greg thinking about retirement, I'd like to go on more vacations.  PTO, Sick Days, Retirement This led us to talking about PTO, sick days and Greg wanting to retire. His mom fell a little while back and he was the closest primary care giver. It was funny to watch him go through it. When you take someone else to the Dr. you should just take a half day and use your sick time. Greg was like "But I wasn't sick." Right but it was a medical appointment. I always took the kids to the dr. so Greg never had to think about that. Then he asked what exactly was PTO. So we talked about how many hours he has accrued and how neither of us take sick time or PTO. We are hearty and we work. But what about when Greg doesn't work and I still want to? Will I take advantage of some PTO? I don't know but these are questions I want to start asking myself as the household CEO.   Welcome To My Transformational Summer I took advantage of a lot of planned neglect and worked a lot of hours pursuing my PhD. Now that it's done, I want to decide what things I will let back in or not. There will be a lot of open time now and I want to think about how I will use that time. I decided on one thing and that was my Paper Solution™ Binders.  I feel like I neglected them a little so I'd like to really spend time getting them up to par. I never did the workbooks so I am doing them now. Before the PhD Abby was pregnant, now she has two children. Greg wants to retire. All of this has financial implications on our budget. I feel like I need some CEO time. So I decided in the middle of the month I will set aside two hours to just think about our household financial goals and I came up with seven questions which will help me decide if I am taking care of me in a way that fills my cup so I can continue to take care of my house and family too. Yes, I am going to offer this "co-working" time once a month. You too deserve time to think without your family around. And you too deserve time to take care of things for your household manager responsibilities that need to be done Monday- Friday, 9am -5pm. I want this household CEO time, to be a time for you to be able to really think through your household management, through a leadership lens, to make sure that you are stewarding all of the resources you have, well. And that you are taking care of yourself so you can be of service to all of those around you, for as long as possible, and in the best health as possible.  I hope you'll join me June 15th from 9am - 11am.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media

    712 - Vacation Days, Sick Time, PTO and Trips, Let's Get Into It
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About

Lisa Woodruff is a home organization expert, productivity specialist, and author of multiple books including The Paper Solution. Lisa's research-based teaching shines a light on the invisible work being done at home and in the workplace. Lisa's sensible and doable organizing tasks appeal to multiple generations. Her candor and relatable style make you feel she is right there beside you, helping you get organized as you laugh and cry together. Lisa believes organization is not a skill you are born with. It is a skill that is developed over time and changes with each season of life. Lisa has helped thousands of women reclaim their homes and finally get organized with her practical tips, encouragement, and humor through her blog and podcast at Organize365.com.

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