0:00

Today you are in for

0:02

an absolute treat. I'm telling

0:04

you this conversation that I

0:06

had blew my mind. Today

0:08

we have an incredible guest

0:10

named Shira Gill. She is

0:12

a professional organizer. She is

0:14

world renowned for her take

0:16

on minimalism and simple

0:19

organizing solutions. I follow her

0:21

on Instagram. I absolutely love

0:23

her and I've read her

0:26

new book, Lifestyle, and I

0:28

was insanely impressed. You are

0:30

absolutely going to love this interview and

0:32

while you listen, please take

0:35

action on something and do something

0:37

right now that'll make you proud

0:39

tomorrow. Okay, you guys ready for

0:41

this? It's a good one. So

0:50

hello, welcome Shira. I'm so excited to

0:52

have you on the Clutterbug podcast. I

0:54

am thrilled to be here. Thanks so

0:56

much for having me. This

0:58

is so great. I got a copy

1:01

of your book, Life Styled, which I

1:03

just have to say is such a

1:05

clever title. Oh, thank you.

1:07

Titles are hard. It

1:09

was good because here's the thing. Not only

1:13

is it like jam filled with the

1:16

greatest advice when it comes to decluttering

1:19

and organizing and just simplifying your life,

1:21

but it's gorgeous. Listen, friend,

1:23

is this your actual house? Because

1:27

it's styled. Oh, thank

1:29

you. So all of my books have

1:31

a combination of pictures from my house

1:34

and then local designers who I love.

1:36

So Life Styled has, it's

1:38

kind of a combo of styled

1:42

pictures from my home and then there

1:44

are five featured

1:46

homes that are all in the

1:48

San Francisco Bay area where I live, just

1:51

women who I admire, but they are

1:53

real homes, not sets. And

1:56

we brought in minimal props, just like

1:58

fruit and fluff. flowers. So what you

2:00

see is really how these people live.

2:03

That's, it was gorgeous. So

2:05

it was like eye candy,

2:07

but also incredibly informative

2:10

and actually really helpful. And I want to

2:12

talk more about the book and really dive

2:14

into the quick help. Like, well,

2:17

I'll just say it now, not only

2:20

was it like giving examples, but it

2:22

was actionable steps that you can take

2:24

in a short amount of time through

2:26

the entire book, which I

2:29

loved. So it was either like a quick

2:32

tip, like a do it now, like try

2:34

this. Every page had

2:36

a few like actionable

2:38

steps that could be taken, which

2:40

I thought was really brilliant. I'm

2:43

so glad because I am a person who's very impatient.

2:45

And so if I read a book, I'm always like,

2:48

okay, where do I get to the part where I

2:50

do something to change my life? So

2:52

I made it very intentionally actionable

2:54

on every page. Like, even

2:56

if you just have 15 minutes to look

2:58

at this book, you can open to any

3:00

page, find a quick win and do something

3:02

to improve your life. Yeah. It

3:04

was, it was super ADHD friendly. Okay.

3:07

I was, I,

3:09

I interviewed a lot of people and they

3:11

have books and I open it. I'm always

3:13

like, Oh, it's just paragraphs and paragraphs of

3:15

reading. I'm like, no man, this was like

3:17

pictures and do this gorgeous picture.

3:20

Do this. Yes. And

3:22

it was a fight with my publisher

3:24

to get images and make it an

3:26

aesthetic book, because typically for a personal

3:28

development book, that genre

3:30

isn't aesthetic. And I

3:33

really wanted to think outside the box and think

3:35

like, how do I make a personal

3:37

development book for people who maybe don't

3:39

normally gravitate towards personal development books and

3:41

make it beautiful enough to have on

3:44

your nightstand or coffee table or gift

3:46

to a friend, but actionable enough where

3:48

you can get something real and tangible

3:50

out of it. Yeah, it

3:52

was good. You nailed it. I, I

3:54

love it. And I have to say,

3:56

so I recently discovered

3:58

you on intros. Instagram and

4:01

I there's a lot of people I follow

4:03

because it's beautifully aesthetic, right? So I look

4:05

at their page and I'm like, oh, it's

4:08

just it's like I call it organizing porn.

4:10

I know that's terrible But listen, it's one

4:12

of this, you know So

4:15

and you know and I feel like oh You

4:18

know, they may not actually be professional

4:20

organizers You are actually a professional organizer

4:22

and before we started recording you just

4:25

came back from helping a client here

4:27

in Canada I

4:30

love this like you are you're

4:32

not just a pretty face friend

4:34

You're not just showing this gorgeous,

4:37

you know how your house can

4:39

look amazing you Like

4:41

live this and you help other people

4:43

live this too. So I would love

4:45

to hear How you got

4:48

started as a professional organizer? I'm also

4:50

always curious if you're a naturally organized

4:52

person because it's a strange career to

4:54

get into it really is It's a

4:56

bizarre career and I will say it

4:59

was an accidental career for me. So

5:01

I never had planned to do this

5:04

I had no business plan. I um, I had

5:06

worked as an actor for most of

5:08

my life and then transitioned into event

5:11

planning and event production And

5:13

when I was eight months pregnant with my

5:15

first daughter, I now have two teenage girls

5:18

Um, I got laid off and so it

5:20

was a real moment of like What

5:22

do I do? How do I get scrappy to

5:25

bring in some money? for

5:27

my family um, and it

5:29

really was my girlfriends who kind of pointed

5:31

out that I had always been helping them

5:33

to declutter and Organize

5:36

their stuff and it was something I was just

5:38

kind of inherently Good at

5:40

and loved doing and would do for free and

5:42

for fun And so I

5:44

really had nothing to lose and I threw

5:47

up a website sent out an email to everyone

5:49

I knew that is how my business was born.

5:51

Um Really out

5:53

of necessity and desperation and I

5:55

never thought it would turn into

5:57

a career with a capital

6:00

I thought it would be kind of a stopgap

6:02

while I was home having kids and it was

6:04

flexible and I loved it and then it just

6:07

kept going. And so I have

6:09

been a professional organizer for 15 years.

6:14

I've organized houses all over the world. As

6:16

you mentioned, I'm based in San Francisco, but I love

6:18

travel. So I've incorporated that

6:20

into my work, going

6:23

from coast to coast and sometimes even

6:26

out of the country to help families

6:28

and individuals. And I

6:30

think what sets my organizing apart is I really

6:32

am a minimalist at

6:34

heart and discovered

6:36

kind of early on that clutter just made

6:38

me kind of itchy. And so I,

6:42

in a world where we have so little control

6:44

over so many things, I found

6:46

it very cathartic and liberating

6:49

to curate my environment and to feel

6:51

like I had everything

6:53

I needed but none of the excess.

6:55

No piles, no paper trails, just

6:57

what I needed. And

7:02

so I merge minimalism,

7:04

life coaching, sustainability, and style

7:07

to kind of present my

7:09

clients with this very holistic

7:12

process. Oh,

7:14

I love that. And I get that from

7:16

your social media too. Like

7:19

that's coming forward. It's beautiful spaces. It's

7:22

minimal spaces, but it's also real

7:25

life. Yeah, I mean

7:27

I have kids and I have a dog

7:29

and I have a husband and so, you

7:31

know, I think when I decided I wanted

7:33

to become a minimalist. It

7:35

was after my kids were born because

7:37

I felt so much pressure to consume

7:39

all the time. By this, by that

7:41

you need 20 of these and I

7:43

just felt like I wanted to do things

7:46

differently and I didn't at the time see

7:48

many versions of that. And

7:51

so I thought well I will kind

7:53

of be my own influencer and start

7:55

doing things differently and then women

7:57

in my mom's group started asking, do

8:00

you not have crap all over

8:02

your house? And that's really how my

8:04

business was born was just helping other

8:06

women figure it out. Yeah,

8:09

that's how my business started too. I mean, I

8:11

I've been doing this for so long, the

8:13

same amount of time really. But

8:15

I didn't start with a website. I

8:17

had a flyer at a grocery

8:19

store with like the tear away

8:21

bottoms. It was like got clutter.

8:23

I can help. It was ridiculous.

8:25

Yeah. You tear my phone

8:28

number off or whatever. Yeah, but it

8:30

worked. And I, I struggled

8:32

with clutter. So I unlike you, I'm

8:34

not a naturally organized person.

8:36

And I'm definitely like a

8:39

maximalist at heart. I just

8:41

always have been I was on the scarcity

8:43

cycle for a long time. So I'd get

8:45

some money and I'd feel like I couldn't

8:47

trust that I would be able to keep

8:49

that money. It would be

8:51

gone and and I better buy

8:53

everything I can now before the

8:55

money's gone. And that's a cycle

8:58

that's hard to break. So

9:00

when I finally, it was like

9:02

a light bulb moment when I started decluttering,

9:04

not only did my house become more functional,

9:07

but I started like feeling the pain. And

9:10

then at the store, like thinking twice,

9:12

am I gonna have to declutter

9:14

this in three months? Oh, gosh, do I have actually

9:19

have a place for this to go? Now

9:21

that I don't have piles anymore? It changed

9:23

my mindset. Totally. Yeah, I feel like if

9:26

we pay attention to the life cycle of

9:28

the thing, as we're considering buying it, like

9:31

the cost mentally, emotionally, physically to

9:33

clean it and organize it

9:35

and maintain it and eventually

9:37

dispose of it, hopefully responsibly,

9:39

it really can kind of

9:42

slow you down from that consumer

9:44

cycle. And I

9:47

mean, this is not to say

9:49

like, I am just as likely to

9:52

buy a random thing, you know,

9:54

that I don't need. But I've

9:56

just found that minimalism has been

9:58

so beneficial to every part of

10:00

my life and giving me so much

10:03

more time and money and freedom and

10:05

energy to do the things that I actually

10:07

care about. Yeah, I

10:10

could not agree more. Okay, so

10:12

following your incredible book, I

10:15

would love to offer listeners, and I'm putting you

10:17

on the spot and I apologize for that. But

10:20

the thing that I love about your

10:22

book is those quick tips that try

10:25

this now. So for

10:27

somebody listening who either is living in

10:29

a very cluttered space or a minimally

10:32

cluttered space, is there something that you

10:34

like to recommend to sort of jumpstart?

10:36

Like what can they declutter

10:39

today? What is something

10:41

that they can do in a few

10:43

minutes that will get that ball rolling

10:45

or make a difference? Yeah,

10:47

so I love a micro

10:49

makeover. I started a

10:51

thing called a 15-minute win a few

10:54

years ago because I had a

10:56

client who just felt so paralyzed by

10:58

her home, and it felt like her

11:01

whole home was just this monster kind

11:03

of overtaking her life, and she couldn't

11:05

figure out where to start. And I

11:07

just kind of had this idea, like let's set a timer

11:09

for 15 minutes and just do your jump

11:11

drawer, and that's it. And if

11:13

you want to stop and call it a day after that, we

11:16

can. And this kind of amazing

11:18

thing happened. She

11:20

cleaned out her jump drawer in 11 minutes, took

11:23

everything out, decluttered it, got rid

11:25

of the trash and recycling, put

11:27

things in neatly, and she

11:29

was like, I have been staring at this

11:32

drawer of doom for like 11 years, and

11:34

it just took me 11 minutes. And

11:37

so I love a micro makeover because I

11:39

think what it does is it gives you

11:41

the thrill of accomplishment.

11:44

It boosts your confidence as

11:46

a declutter or an organizer,

11:48

and you get

11:51

this feeling of like, I can do this.

11:54

Like one little baby step at a

11:56

time adds up to an entire house.

11:58

So some of the things I do, I do a lot of work. of my

12:00

favorite micro makeovers are your

12:03

nightstand surface. That's

12:05

one of those clutter magnets where

12:07

it's like, why are there bills here? Why

12:09

is there an old coffee cup? Like that's

12:11

not what you want to wake up and

12:14

look at. And that's like, could be five

12:16

minutes, right? To just clear off your nightstand,

12:18

wipe it off and put something pretty to

12:20

elevate it like a candle or art or

12:22

fresh flowers, something that makes you feel good

12:24

when you wake up. So

12:27

I love that. I love the

12:29

junk drawer, obviously. I love

12:31

under the kitchen sink. Those

12:34

sneaky areas where it's like,

12:36

I call it like a shove and

12:38

pile zone because people don't

12:40

usually go there. Like if someone comes over

12:43

to your house, they're not gonna snoop under

12:45

the kitchen sink, but you see it every

12:47

day when you're going to get your garbage

12:49

bag or your dish soap. So those hidden

12:51

spaces, even your refrigerator

12:53

or your freezer, your

12:56

handbag or your wallet for

12:58

people who feel really paralyzed, I'll

13:01

say, just get out your wallet and get

13:03

out those crumpled old receipts and the gum

13:05

wrappers and straighten your money and put it

13:07

back. And now you have

13:09

successfully decluttered and organized something and it

13:12

really is rinse and repeat.

13:15

So if you can do it once, you can do it anywhere,

13:17

right? I'm like

13:19

obsessed. I've never heard the concept

13:21

of a micro makeover. I

13:24

don't know, it's just so catchy. Listen, okay. I

13:26

love it. It's a little iteration. And my brain's

13:28

just going because I'm thinking, I know of a

13:30

lot of clients that I walk into their home

13:33

and there's a couple spaces that I know are

13:35

driving them nuts and would literally

13:37

take 10 minutes to transform. And now

13:39

I'm gonna steal the crap out of

13:41

this and call it a micro

13:44

makeover. Micro makeover, 15 minute fridge. The

13:47

front of your fridge, listen, how many people have

13:49

piled this with magnets and pictures and

13:51

notes and to-dos and old

13:53

artwork from their kids. But they become

13:56

really blind to it and the things

13:58

that are actually important to

14:00

keep on there are maybe two things. Totally.

14:02

You know, I saw there was a study

14:05

once that showed that the state of the

14:07

outside of your fridge was indicative of the

14:09

state of the rest of your home. And

14:12

I was like, oh, that's fascinating.

14:14

Like, so maybe start with your

14:16

fridge and clear that off and

14:18

wipe it down and be really

14:20

intentional about it. I

14:22

feel that to my core because

14:24

yes, the most cluttered homes I

14:26

go to the front of their

14:28

fridge is just invisible because it's

14:30

buried under stuff. But that's a

14:32

micro makeover you can do. And

14:35

it transforms the way your kitchen

14:37

looks. It will instantly make your

14:39

space feel way less cluttered, which

14:41

might motivate you to do another

14:44

micro makeover of your kitchen counters.

14:46

Yes, that's a big one, right?

14:48

Big. I know. I feel

14:50

like that's a pretty universal. It's like every

14:53

home I go into, I'm like, show me

14:55

your kitchen counters. And

14:57

it's inevitably things that don't belong

14:59

there, kid art and receipts and,

15:01

you know, papers,

15:03

homework. And I think like

15:05

that's a thing where you can clear it off

15:08

and feel like you're winning at life in 15

15:10

minutes. Oh, this

15:12

is good. Okay. I'm excited because you're a

15:14

professional organizer too. And I've been working with

15:16

clients now I volunteer and donate my time

15:18

in the community. That's

15:21

incredible. Yeah. So I've been doing houses

15:24

and it's, I've been out

15:26

of the game for so long that I'm realizing

15:29

when I do this, like how much I genuinely

15:31

love it, but I also am

15:33

reminded of really important things. Like

15:36

a lot

15:38

of people don't have systems.

15:40

And there's like these key

15:42

little home systems that

15:44

are critical to maintaining the, you

15:47

know, just the function of living

15:49

in your house. And

15:51

I noticed things like people

15:54

don't often have an action file for

15:56

their papers, like a place to put the papers they have to

15:58

deal with the things they have to do. have to sign,

16:00

the bills they have to pay. It's a pile

16:02

on the counter. Or oftentimes,

16:05

people don't have a really proper landing strip or

16:08

landing zone for the keys and the purse and

16:10

the wallet and the backpacks. It's like, where do

16:12

your kid's backpack go? And they sort of motion

16:15

to the floor. Yeah, like

16:18

that chair. What

16:21

about the clothes that aren't quite

16:23

dirty enough to put back in the

16:25

closet, but too dirty to wash? That's another one of

16:28

those things that I see in

16:30

almost every home. So there are

16:32

these patterns. And I'm

16:34

wondering if you notice anything too

16:36

that is like a small system

16:38

or structure or solution

16:41

that a lot of homes

16:43

don't have that they probably

16:45

should. Yeah, there are a few that

16:48

I recommend for every home. And it's

16:50

so interesting. I mean, I'm glad you're bringing up

16:52

systems because it's kind

16:54

of the key to everything, right? Like

16:56

running smoothly in your home is having

16:58

these really simple intuitive systems. And

17:01

I would say like the few

17:03

that I always insist on for every home

17:05

just because they make such a difference are,

17:08

I call it the inbox.

17:11

So one place for mail,

17:13

bills, paperwork, school forms,

17:15

basically anything that requires your

17:17

attention. I call that my

17:20

inbox. I have one by the front door.

17:22

You want to have it in

17:24

a place where it's really easy for people to dump,

17:26

right? And if you review it

17:28

once a week, it's never going to turn into

17:30

a mountain, but having that centralized place. So like

17:32

when my kids come home and they're like, mom,

17:34

I need you to look at this and

17:37

I don't have time. I just say, put it in

17:39

the inbox. And they know if they

17:41

want me to look at something and deal with it,

17:43

it has to go in this one vessel in our

17:46

home that we call the inbox. And

17:49

it's so simple, but it's

17:51

astounding. And I know cause you go to

17:54

people's homes too, that if you say like, where's

17:56

the place where your mail and your bills and

17:58

your paperwork and the kids stuff. goes,

18:00

people will be like, uh, the

18:03

kitchen counter, the dining room table,

18:05

my nightstand. So just centralizing that

18:08

is going to really remove a major pain

18:10

point. Um, yeah. And

18:13

it's good. Like you said, it can literally

18:15

be a basket. It can literally, I love,

18:17

I've never heard it also referred to as

18:20

an inbox. That is so good because

18:22

then it's not like, well, this isn't a bill.

18:24

This is like a medical form that I've got

18:27

a sign or deal with this week, or this

18:29

is an invitation to a wedding that I have

18:31

to. And so people can have

18:33

decision fatigue of like, well, I shouldn't put

18:35

it in with the bills that need to

18:37

be paid because it's not technically a bill,

18:39

but if it's just an inbox basket, oh,

18:42

that's good. Anything that requires your attention. So

18:44

I always caution people against over-organizing. Like I'll

18:47

see people who are like, well, this is

18:49

my basket to file and this is my

18:51

basket to shred. And this is, and

18:53

I'm like, just, if you have to deal with

18:56

it, put it in your inbox and then you

18:58

can kind of triage the importance when you review

19:00

it. But I'm big into, I

19:02

used to be a preschool teacher in a former

19:04

life, so I love a simple like

19:06

five year old proof system.

19:09

The other one you already mentioned, just having

19:12

a landing station. Where do

19:14

you put your coats? Where do you

19:16

put your bags? Where do you put

19:18

your dog leash? Do you have a

19:20

designated easy place by the front door

19:22

for those things? I happen to

19:24

live in a house that's over a hundred years old

19:26

and doesn't have a mud room or

19:29

an entry closet. So we've had to kind

19:31

of cobble together our own system

19:33

just using baskets and

19:36

hooks. And it really can be that

19:38

simple. The difference between piles all over

19:40

your house and not is

19:42

a couple of baskets for shoes and a

19:44

couple of hooks for bags and coats and

19:47

hats and call it a day. I

19:51

also will say, so this is

19:53

my third book that we're talking

19:55

about. In my second book, I

19:57

traveled around the world and I...

20:01

and toured the homes of 25 professional

20:03

organizers who

20:05

live in cities as far away as

20:08

like Lisbon and Paris. I went all

20:10

over Canada, which was so much fun,

20:12

Vancouver, Montreal, Mexico

20:14

City. And I found that

20:16

all of the organizers that I interviewed, even

20:20

though they were so different in terms of

20:22

their style and their taste and their process,

20:24

they all have these three things in common,

20:26

which were monitoring the volume

20:29

that came through the front door, setting

20:32

up simple systems and implementing habits.

20:35

And it was those three things that I

20:37

started thinking, well, these apply

20:39

to the home beautifully, but what if

20:41

they could apply to our life? And

20:44

so I just wanna stress that you can think

20:46

about this in terms of how

20:48

setting up systems could make your

20:50

life easier, how automating plans

20:52

or meetings or doctor's appointments

20:55

can really streamline and create more

20:57

flow in your life. And

21:01

that's really what I dig into in

21:03

this third book is kind of how

21:05

to apply all of this to both

21:07

your home and your life, your relationships,

21:09

your finances, your career, your schedule. I

21:12

love this. Yeah, and it's a quick

21:14

tip. So something small that I did

21:16

that really changed everything was if

21:19

I'm running errands, it's on a Friday.

21:21

So, and I know this doesn't sound like a

21:24

big deal or whatever, but if

21:26

I have to get my hair done

21:28

or I have to, everything, it's like

21:30

I do that on Fridays. This freed

21:32

up so much time in the other

21:34

six days. Love it. Like

21:37

life changing, just structuring one

21:39

day for errands has been

21:41

like crazy. Like I'm like, oh, I

21:43

should probably go to the bank. Oh, I can do that

21:45

on Friday. Like I'm not gonna just drive

21:48

all over the place. It's

21:50

one day. Okay. Do you have,

21:52

I'm putting you on the spot again because

21:54

I love your quick tips. This is good.

21:56

Like real advice for people listening of things

21:59

that like small. things they can do. Do you

22:01

have another system that you recommend,

22:03

whether it's like a home system

22:05

or a life system that

22:07

can be a small thing that has a big

22:10

impact? Absolutely. And I love

22:12

your Friday errand day. I might steal that

22:14

from you because just to

22:16

not have the decision fatigue and to

22:18

batch everything on one day, I think

22:20

is brilliant. Um, similarly, I

22:22

like to schedule a get it done

22:25

day once a month, um,

22:27

for all of the really annoying tasks

22:29

like dropping off or

22:31

picking up dry cleaning, dropping off

22:33

donations, especially those tricky things like,

22:36

you know, electronic recycling, um,

22:39

all of those things that you just never want

22:41

to do. I personally batch once a month on

22:43

a Sunday. And so I'll just

22:46

kind of fill my trunk and have my

22:48

to do list of like, here's for my

22:50

get it done day and designate that. Get

22:53

it done day. I feel like I got

22:55

to write that down. Get it done day.

22:57

Yeah. We'll brand it. Um,

23:00

I also like, I found

23:03

things like getting, um, you

23:05

know, flea meds for my pet or like

23:07

remembering, you know, when is it tax season?

23:10

When do I need to sit down and

23:12

do this? When do I need to, um,

23:14

set up my annual physical? So

23:17

now what I do is when I complete

23:19

things like that, you know, that are annual

23:21

or semi annual, I put

23:23

in my calendar, the next one. So

23:25

like, if I have my annual physical, even

23:28

if they're not scheduling out, I

23:30

know that they schedule out three months

23:33

in advance. So nine months from then

23:35

I put on my calendar book physical,

23:37

um, likewise with like my pet medication.

23:39

Like I have to give my dog

23:41

flea meds every three months. So now

23:43

I just have it on my calendar

23:46

as an automated, um, appointment.

23:49

And the other thing, I mean, just cause I love

23:51

automation so much is I find

23:53

we're all so busy and that the

23:55

really important stuff, like seeing our friends

23:57

or having a date night with our

24:00

partner. get lost in the shuffle for

24:02

me so easily. So

24:04

I have started automating my

24:06

social plans. So I

24:08

have a Tuesday night, date night with

24:10

two of my closest girlfriends where we

24:12

just have a standing date. And every

24:15

Tuesday we go to one of their houses, one

24:18

person picks up takeout, one person brings

24:20

wine and chocolate. We never have

24:22

to do that back and forth shuffle of like,

24:24

when are you free? When are you free? Da,

24:26

da, da. We just know it's baked

24:28

in. That's

24:31

really good. I just, the last

24:33

two weeks started every Thursday

24:35

night is date night with my husband. And

24:37

I was resistant to that for a really

24:39

long time. Cause you know when like people

24:41

schedule time with their partner, I'm just like,

24:43

what? I never want to be that old.

24:45

And I have to like, you know, schedule

24:48

time. But then I haven't

24:50

actually spent real quality time

24:52

that isn't our dates. He said, he said

24:54

it. He was like, you realize our dates

24:57

are going to Costco now. And

24:59

I'm like, oh yeah. That's

25:02

not what we want. When

25:05

it won't get done, it's like, there's

25:07

that saying like what gets scheduled is

25:09

what gets done. And I feel like

25:11

we're all so good about scheduling the

25:13

dentist appointment for the kids or the

25:15

PTA meeting. But we rarely schedule time

25:18

for ourselves, you know, time

25:20

with our partner. Even

25:22

like I scheduled date nights with my kids

25:24

now. So I found like now

25:27

that their teenagers were all so busy, so

25:30

now like my youngest daughter Emily is

25:32

in competitive soccer. And every Thursday after

25:34

soccer, I take her out to dinner.

25:37

So we just know we have this like weekly

25:39

date together and we don't need to look for

25:41

it or plan it. It's just baked in. So

25:44

I think the tip for people, like the actionable thing

25:47

is I would say, think about what

25:49

you're longing for more of in your life

25:51

and see how you can automate that. Whether

25:53

it's a weekly yoga class, a

25:56

date night with friends, a date night with

25:58

your partner or even schedule. in

26:00

like an hour to just be alone

26:02

and hear your own thoughts. Put it

26:05

on the calendar and make it an

26:07

auto repeatable date. So

26:11

good. Love these quick actionable things that

26:13

you can do that. Honestly, it seems

26:15

like, yeah, it's common sense, but we're

26:18

not doing it. Like

26:20

we have to be intentional, pick

26:22

up our phone, put it in

26:25

and do that right now.

26:27

Yes. Like right this minute and next

26:29

week or whenever that comes up, you're going to

26:32

be so grateful that you did. It's a simple

26:34

thing. You never have to think about it again.

26:36

It's just baked in as you say and done.

26:40

So, so, so good. OK, I

26:42

want to talk about your home

26:44

and some of your solutions or

26:51

organizing systems that you're like, I'm so glad

26:53

I did that. That this really works. And

26:55

something for me, it's I'm just going to

26:57

share one that's so simple.

27:00

I got I started using this all out of pad. So

27:03

I get it from Amazon. You can get

27:05

it from the container store. It's literally like

27:07

a pad of paper that's laid out like

27:09

the grocery store is. So all the produce

27:11

is together. Everything's kind of all together. And

27:14

I attach that inside my pantry with

27:16

some 3M strips. And then as

27:18

we run out of things, our whole family knows

27:20

to just check it off on the list. So

27:23

when we think like, oh, we're getting low on

27:25

ketchup, we just like check it off on this

27:27

list. And then you

27:29

just tear it off and take it with you

27:32

to the grocery store. Sometimes I forget. I

27:36

forget to tear it off sometimes. So I'll like

27:38

text my family and they'll take a picture of

27:41

it and send it to me when I'm at

27:43

the grocery store. But still, it's like this ongoing

27:46

all out of things list that we need to buy.

27:48

This has been incredible, not only for meal

27:50

planning, because when I think of like, oh,

27:52

I'd love to make, you know, roast

27:55

vegetables this week or something, I can check

27:57

off the other things I need. But

27:59

also, So nothing's getting forgotten about, and I

28:02

don't have to make multiple trips to the

28:04

grocery store. Absolutely. Brilliant. I

28:06

love it. That's so smart. The all

28:08

out of pad is such a good

28:10

idea. I love things like

28:12

that that are just like a little tiny

28:14

hack that makes your life easier. So

28:18

I'll say, I mean, so, you know,

28:20

I've organized now hundreds and hundreds of

28:22

homes. And the main thing that I've

28:24

observed is that most people have a

28:26

volume problem, more so than a systems

28:28

problem. And so

28:31

I have systems in my house

28:33

to help monitor volume, because

28:36

what I find is owning less is

28:38

a lot easier than organizing more. People

28:42

always come to me with like, okay, what

28:44

are we going to buy? Like, what

28:46

are the fun new organizing things that we can

28:48

buy? Listen, Sheara is throwing

28:51

some tough, love hard tricks right here, and

28:53

I'm here for it. Listen, you cannot buy

28:55

your way out of clutter and there is

28:57

no magic system that's going to solve your

28:59

organizational salute. Oh God. Yes,

29:01

you can't. And organized clutter is still

29:04

clutter. It's really, you've got to start

29:06

with volume. And so some of the

29:08

systems I have in my house to

29:10

help us with that are everybody

29:13

in their closet has a donation bag. And

29:15

so it's just hanging on a hook in

29:17

the closet. So as my kids grow out

29:19

of things, they toss it in the donation

29:21

bag. If they realize like, I just

29:24

really don't like this and I'm not wearing it,

29:26

instead of being like, Mom, I don't want this.

29:28

They toss it in the donation bag when the

29:30

donation bag is full, we just drop it off.

29:33

Likewise, I love my closet to

29:35

look like a beautiful curated boutique.

29:39

This is challenging because I share a

29:41

three by six foot closet with my

29:43

husband. However, we've

29:46

found a way to make it work. And I

29:49

essentially am very big into respecting the

29:51

physical boundaries of your space, whatever that

29:53

is. So I have this itty bitty

29:55

closet, but I want it to feel

29:57

like a beautiful boutique. I

30:00

space out the hangers just like

30:02

at a boutique. They're not crammed

30:04

together. They have beautiful space. They're

30:06

all matching. And if I

30:09

buy something new, there literally is not

30:11

a hanger to put it on. So

30:13

I am forced to practice the one-in-one-out

30:15

rule and really be real

30:17

with myself about like, okay, if I

30:19

really want this new jacket, what's the

30:21

jacket that's coming out so that I

30:23

can hang it? So I've made it

30:25

kind of impossible for myself to

30:28

acquire more. So

30:31

I'm very big into the

30:33

volume game of just always

30:35

questioning, being the gatekeeper

30:37

of your home and questioning what is

30:39

coming through the front door. In

30:42

terms of a life system that's really

30:44

helped our family, it's the Sunday night

30:46

family meeting. I

30:49

have made this more fun for my kids

30:51

by letting them take turns picking the treats

30:53

that we have during the meeting. So

30:57

while they were initially very reluctant

30:59

to gather every Sunday with their

31:01

parents to talk about family business,

31:04

now it's like they get very excited

31:06

to pick like the M&Ms or the

31:08

ice cream Sundays or whatever we're gonna

31:10

have during our family meeting. And

31:12

what we do, we have a very brief

31:15

agenda. So I have

31:17

everybody go around and state their wants

31:19

and needs for the week ahead. So

31:22

my kids will have to think like, do

31:24

I need a ride somewhere? Do

31:26

I need new cleats for soccer? Like

31:29

what are those things so that I'm

31:31

not managing all of it? And

31:33

then I as kind of the

31:36

house manager will then say, okay, great, and

31:38

in that moment, I will

31:40

order those cleats on Amazon. I will

31:42

make the appointment. I will coordinate the

31:44

carpool so that it is done. And

31:47

I cannot tell you how much time

31:49

and energy and headache this

31:53

simple family meeting can save you.

31:56

So we do want some needs. We get it

31:58

done right then and there. and

32:01

then we review the meals for the

32:04

week and the rides and

32:06

logistics for the week. So this

32:08

usually takes us like less than an

32:10

hour. And then we

32:12

have the meal plan, we've decided the meals,

32:14

we have our grocery list based on the

32:16

meals for the week. We know like what

32:18

nights we're going out or the kids are

32:20

out or you know, I have a

32:23

meeting or an event. And

32:25

we walk away from that meeting being

32:27

like, okay, business has been taken care

32:29

of and we can wake up Monday

32:31

and kind of start fresh. Okay,

32:34

you shut the front door right now.

32:38

Okay, listen, I used to

32:40

do family meetings, but my

32:42

kids were a lot younger and I found

32:44

it was a lot of like, what

32:47

do we want for dinner next week? And then

32:49

everyone would pick a meal that they and right,

32:51

and that was great, but I kind of like

32:53

got busy and then I stopped doing it. But

32:55

now I have teens. Listen

32:57

friend, they need rise and they need

33:00

this and they've got this going on

33:02

this day. And it's just chaos. I

33:04

am shut the front

33:06

door, Shira. I am bringing back

33:08

Sunday freaking family meetings. We'll have

33:11

it right after dinner because we

33:13

eat dinner as a family. And

33:15

it's going to be like, what do you

33:17

need this week? What do you want? Like

33:19

my daughter was like, I need a new

33:21

doctor. She still is a pediatrician. She's 18.

33:24

She's like, it's embarrassing. There's

33:26

baby chairs that are a foot high off the

33:29

floor that we sit on in the waiting room,

33:31

you know? And I just haven't,

33:33

I'm like, yeah, yeah, I need to find the

33:35

time. Stop

33:37

Sunday freaking family meeting where

33:39

when they have their need, we

33:41

immediately address it. Yes.

33:44

And even if it's something that like has

33:46

to be done during business hours, you can

33:48

schedule it for that Monday morning, or you

33:50

can email, say the pediatrician and say like,

33:52

we need a referral. It's,

33:54

I cannot tell you how, and

33:57

again, so simple, not

33:59

a huge. time suck. We really keep it fast.

34:01

You know, we do that whip of like, what

34:04

do you want? What do you need? And sometimes

34:06

just by asking your kids, they will surprise you.

34:08

Like I'll have a kid who's like, you

34:11

know, I haven't had friends over for a

34:13

while and I'd really love to have a

34:15

sleepover. And then it's like, okay,

34:17

let's look on the calendar, pick a date for

34:19

the sleepover. You invite your friends done. I

34:23

just added this every Sunday at six

34:25

20, because we eat at six. So,

34:27

and I just invited my whole family

34:29

and I put it on repeat friends

34:31

and it's, and now it's baked in.

34:35

Okay. You're getting things done live.

34:37

I love it. This is amazing.

34:39

Honestly, that is something everyone listening

34:42

should do. Even if it's just

34:44

you and your spouse, honestly, the

34:46

kids have moved out or your

34:49

kids are little. So

34:51

brilliant, Shera, because you're right. It's like

34:53

not only, I was like, what do you

34:55

want for dinners and things? What are your

34:57

wants and needs coming forward

35:00

for the next week? That is a

35:02

question that is brilliant because

35:04

it opens up a whole new

35:06

conversation of things you might not

35:09

have thought of. And

35:11

it eliminates those little surprises throughout

35:13

the week. Like, Oh, by

35:15

the way, it's my best friend's birthday tomorrow. Exactly.

35:18

Yes. Very helpful

35:20

to do this exercise with the calendar open

35:23

so you can catch those things. Cause how

35:25

many times are you scrambling because your kid

35:27

is like, I have a birthday party right

35:29

now. And you're like, why didn't you tell

35:32

me a week ago? So we

35:34

could have prepared this. So, and,

35:36

and delegate, like when my kids

35:38

say, you know, I need a

35:40

gift, I'm like, okay, pick it out and send me

35:42

the link and I will order it right now. But

35:45

like, we're just taking care of business. This,

35:49

this is going to change my life. So I,

35:52

I'm going to just tell

35:54

you, this is one of my favorite

35:56

podcast interviews I've ever done. And I've

35:59

done. What an honor. Because

36:02

honestly, stop it. I love

36:04

these like real life actionable

36:06

steps that people can take. I just got

36:09

a new robe today. Guess what? I'm

36:11

getting rid of my old robe. It's like

36:13

one in, one out. We

36:16

tend to overthink life sometimes

36:19

and we overthink all

36:21

the things that we need to do that we forget

36:23

to look at the simplest solution.

36:27

I mean a million percent and I feel

36:29

like we're all so maxed out in terms

36:31

of time and energy and

36:33

capacity. We have so much coming at

36:35

us. So it's like

36:37

thinking through what is the most

36:40

simple pared down solution for any

36:42

given challenge whether it's in your

36:44

home setting up a drop

36:46

station or an inbox or it's your life

36:48

setting up a family meeting or automating

36:51

your doctor's appointments or your date

36:53

night or your friend date. These

36:57

simple things that can take less

36:59

than five minutes can really

37:01

free up so much time and energy for you.

37:05

So good. Okay. My

37:07

friend, listen, you've got a mega

37:10

fan now for life. I'm going

37:12

to follow you everywhere. I'm so

37:14

absolutely impressed. I'm

37:17

recommending everyone buy your new book. I'm about

37:19

to go get your last two books too,

37:22

which I didn't know about because you

37:24

are absolutely amazing. But let my

37:26

listeners know how they can get a hold

37:29

of your new book. I got like a

37:31

little PDF advanced copy that was, I was

37:33

so excited to get, but is it

37:35

available now in bookstores? Yeah.

37:37

So it's available everywhere around the world

37:39

for pre-order. It will be in your

37:42

mailbox if you pre-order on December 2nd.

37:46

So that is the

37:48

pub date and my other two

37:50

books, Minimalista and Organized

37:52

Living are available also wherever books

37:54

are sold. And

37:57

I'll just give a shout out for my

37:59

free newsletter community. which you can just find

38:01

on my website, which is my name, shiragill.com.

38:05

I host this community for thousands of people

38:07

all over the world on every continent who

38:10

are just looking to streamline and simplify

38:12

together. It's a hundred

38:14

percent free. I give actionable tips

38:17

every single week and

38:19

it's really fun over there. So I hope

38:22

some of your listeners will join along. I'm

38:25

sure they will because we're all about

38:28

actionable steps, quick, easy, little like things

38:30

we can do immediately here at the

38:32

Clutterbug community. So this

38:34

has been such a great chat

38:37

with you. Thank you so much. I hope

38:39

everyone listening is feeling just as inspired as

38:41

I am. And I'm gonna run over and

38:44

just follow you and learn more because this

38:46

is what I need in my life. More

38:49

like to the point, let's get her

38:51

done. Let's just simplify and

38:53

make life easier. So thank you, Shira,

38:56

so much for joining us. You are

38:58

incredible. And thank you to all my

39:00

listeners and we'll see you guys next

39:02

time. Thanks so much.