I’m excited to announce a new product line of items to help you get organized, but because it’s a departure from my core business offering, I felt like it deserved an explanation as to why this type of pivot.

I’ve always been a nerd about planning – I’m “super Type A,” if that’s a thing. But over the years, I’ve honed some processes for getting organized and being more productive at home, without having to clean out another closet. These systems emerged after having problems in different parts of our life at home that needed fixing. By tackling the root problems with an ongoing system, these solutions were actual fixes – not just a Band-Aid closet or pantry purge.

In this blog, I’ll explain the frustrations we had in each area in our house, and how this system has improved each situation.

Fix lots of issues in the kitchen by having a plan

When I first moved in, Adam and I had the dreaded “what do you want to make for dinner?” discussion, nightly. Tensions seemingly always rose because I had decision fatigue by the end of the day, and he got frustrated that I couldn’t decide on anything. Then, once we landed on something and went to make a particular dish, we often realized we were missing one ingredient. Midway through cooking, one of us had to run out to the store to snag the key thing to complete the dish. By the time we’d end up eating, we were both annoyed. Meanwhile, we usually overbought/overspent and some of our groceries never got used. So much went to waste, which we both hated.

There were lots of issues in the kitchen, so I knew we needed a plan to help us get organized and fix the problems. We started taking a bit of dedicated time together over the weekend to review our upcoming week ahead. We checked if we have evening meetings, plans with friends or family, a date night out, or if we’ll be home and cooking. We also looked at the weather forecast. For any nights we’d be home, we chose what we’d be cooking each night, factoring in a few things:

• Variety of cuisine types
• Variety of protein “main” bases
• A matchup of the meal’s vibe with the weather (example: cozy, warming chili on a dreary and cold, rainy night)

This ended the nightly discussion and indecision. We already knew what our plan was for each day. Boom!

During our same planning sessions, we started taking the list of meals and making our grocery list based on those recipes. By doing so, we knew we’d never be missing a key ingredient, but we also knew we wouldn’t be purchasing something random that would get tossed, unused, a week later. Over time, my back-of-an-envelope grocery list evolved, as I started laying it out by the sections in the grocery store. This makes shopping a breeze!

Now, I’m thrilled to offer you a beautiful, illustrated version of this system in a convenient, tear-off notepad. I hope it helps you with meal prep and grocery shopping, as much as it’s helped us.

Get organized in the home office

Running my own business, I theoretically control my day. But when I went full-time in 2016, it felt so… open. Sometimes the openness made me feel overwhelmed and scattered. I had a handle on what client projects were assigned to which days, but I didn’t know how to direct my time within each day to actually be productive. I had a separate list for my content posting schedule, another one for exercise plans, a sheet with goals, and my daily schedule/to-do list. It was all over the place! Cross-referencing so many different things was irritating and took up a lot of space.

To combat this, I set up a weekly planner for myself with #allthethings in one place. At the beginning of the week, I filled in everything I knew: appointments, top priority/task assigned to each day, and what my editorial/content game plan was for the week. Then, each evening as I closed out the workday, I set up my schedule for the next day, in blocks of time. I’d block out 9 am – 12 pm for Susie’s envelopes, for example. I didn’t have to wonder where the time would go – I’d directed it.

My Google Spreadsheet printout wasn’t cutting it as a desk accessory, so I took the system I’d used to get organized and made it cuter. Add in a dash of some watercolor florals, a note and goal for the week, and a pretty layout, and you’ve got yourself a do-it-all system you’ll be happy to have out on your desk! It’s time to feel in control, productive, and organized at home, and this notepad will help reduce your mental clutter.

Relax fully – and learn – in your bedroom

I have terrible anxiety… about basically everything. Years ago, my therapist encouraged me to keep a journal or notepad or Post-It notes (basically anything) on my nightstand with a pen, so that when my mind is racing in the wee hours of the morning and I find myself wide awake worrying about something, I can write down whatever’s keeping me up at night. By doing so, I don’t have to remember it, and it allows my brain to go back to “relaxed” mode, so I can fall back asleep. This helps me get organized the next day with my middle-of-the-night list of anything I need to tackle; plus, doing it on a full night’s sleep is much better than the sleep-deprived, anxious alternative. I decided it was time to upgrade my freebie-swag-bag-corporate notepad with something more appropriate for our space!

Reading a book to learn something requires a bit more careful attention than just reading it alone. As someone who was an English major in college, I read a lot (as part of my nightly routine, as much as possible). Over the years, I’ve found that spending a few minutes jotting down notes about what I’ve read helps me retain the information far better. By keeping the note sheet tucked in the front cover of the book, it’s there as a quick reference whenever I need it. Lately, I’ve been doing some specifically anti-racist reading, learning, and unlearning. The importance of retention has never been greater, so note-taking with my reading is at the forefront. If you’re doing this work, too, I hope you’re retaining your learning so you can make it actionable.

You’re more organized than you think. Your space doesn’t need another closet purge. You need a few simple, ongoing systems to feel less scattered. You can get organized in your kitchen, home office, and bedroom without spending a ton of money or time to do so. You can feel efficient and productive as you run your household, and you can have a solution to help your family – just like we did! Marie Kondo sparked joy. Now light a fire with it.