Quote of the Month
Episode #192-Rediscovering Your Creativity
Before jobs, responsibilities, and children came along, we had creativity. Somehow along the way, we lost it.
Now there’s a lot of pressure for us to PRODUCE, but not to produce our creativeness.
How do we get that back?
Today I talk with Erin about rediscovering your creativity.
FREE DOWNLOAD
This download gives you three simple steps for getting those creative juices flowing. Click here to download.
Meet Our Guest
Erin MacPherson
Erin MacPherson lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Cameron, her sons Joey and Will and her daughter Kate. She is the author of “The Christian Mama’s Guide Series“, a staff writer for Dun & Bradstreet and a freelancer for publications like Thriving Family Magazine, MOPS MomSense, FamilyLife Magazine, Daily Guideposts and BEMag. She blogs about her life, her kids and her faith at ChristianMamasGuide.com.
Episode #191-Overwhelming Situations with Cheri Gregory
How do we deal with other people’s clutter? What if it’s your parents’ clutter? And what if you are living in their house…… for free?
One listener asked me for advice on a very overwhelming situation related to someone else’s clutter so I brought my wonderful co-author, Cheri Gregory, to weigh in.
Turns out, there is a lot to consider when facing a situation like this. What questions do you ask yourself? What questions do you ask your parents?
In the end, there are important conversations we all need to have in order to understand the stories behind our parents’ treasures.
FREE DOWNLOAD
If you find yourself dealing with something similar, this download with five simple questions will aid you in your conversation. Click here to download.
Meet Our Guest
Cheri Gregory
Cheri Gregory is a Certified Personality Trainer and co-author with Kathi Lipp of The Cure for the “Perfect” Life: 12 Ways to Stop Trying Harder and Start Living Braver; contributor to multiple books, including Wired That Way and 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids; and frequent speaker for MOPS groups, women’s retreats, parent workshops, and educational conferences. She’s been married to her college sweetheart, Daniel, for twenty-five years and they have two young adult children, Annemarie and Jonathon.
She blogs about expectations, “baditude”, and hope at www.CheriGregory.com. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
Fri Fav – 5 Essential Items for Your Office
As someone who is constantly working to keep on clutter, I have to say that office supplies and kitchen gadgets are my Clutter Free Kryptonite.
So giving other decluttering warriors a list of office supplies to get is a bit like publishing the Girl Scout Cookie menu at a Weight Watcher’s meeting.
But, as you know, I’m not about living an austere minimalist life. I’m all about having the tools you need to get the stuff done in life that you are designed to do. So with that in mind, here is my list of must haves for your home office (but do yourself a favor and stay out of the accessory aisle at Office Max. That just leads to regret and despair the next day.)
- Colored Stapler
I got this idea from Cheri Gregory, a long-time teacher who has a red stapler in her classroom, so whenever a student is looking for the stapler, all Cheri has to do is say “Look for the red!”
I of course, do not have a red stapler (because as a redhead, I’ve had a life-long aversion to red and pink…) so my stapler is aqua blue and it makes me happy every time I see it. And office
supplies that make you happy, are a must.
- Wireless Headset for Phone
“How cute…” you think to yourself. “She still uses a real phone – just like Carol on the Brady Bunch…” Yes- I still use a real, wired into the wall, phone. (I do radio interviews, and they insist on having a land line.) But, I also have a wireless headset so that I can walk around, clean my desk, take notes on my computer, do laundry, and pretty much, keep being awesome while I’m talking on that phone.
- Coffee Warmer
My coffee warmer is responsible for most of my great ideas. I love this low-tech gadget because it keeps me supplied in warm coffee, without having to go up and down to the microwave ever fifteen minutes. (And you know that every time you get up from your thinking place, the potential of losing a brilliant idea triples.)
- Amazon Echo
This is like having a personal assistant at your desk. I love my Echo (her name is Alexa,) because she is just sitting there, waiting for me to tell her what to do (that’s the dream, right?)
The list of what I use Alexa for keeps growing:
• Creating shopping lists (“Hey Alexa, add cat food to my shopping list.”)
• Adding items to my to-do list (“Hey Alexa, add go to dry-cleaners to my to-do list.”)
• Playing music
• Checking the weather
• Setting a timer for 15 minutes to focus my time
• Setting a reminder
• Reordering things on Amazon
If you’re not familiar with the Echo, check it out on Amazon!
- Wall Calendar
Yes- I have a perfectly good calendar on my computer. Why would I need one on my wall? It’s all about saying no.When I have a visual reminder of what my month – and next month – already look like time-wise, it helps me to not over-commit my time and energy. Plus, it’s a great reminder to pray for my upcoming work and projects.
Because of my color-coding, I can quickly see when I’m working too much, when I’m not spending enough tie with Roger, and more. It helps me insure that my life is in balance every single day of my busy month.
So what are your office must haves? Tell me in the comments below so I can test-drive a few and report back in a later blog post.
Episode #190-How to Be More Productive with Roger Lipp
Feeling overwhelmed with all you have to do? Do you have ideas and projects but feel like you are juggling all the plates in the air and can’t get a grip on what you have done and what needs to be done next?
I just happen to know one of the best personal resources for being productive: my talented and productive husband, Roger Lipp!! He is a productivity expert for a Fortune-50 company and today he shares some of the best tips of the trade to get your work done without dropping the plates.
Listen as we talk about the three key components to getting and staying productive. We’ll learn crazy technical terms like Kanban, Scrum, and Pullback Planning. It’s actually quite fun and we promise you’ll feel like a productive project manager in no time!
FREE DOWNLOAD
Some people (Kathi included) work better with paper and post-it notes. Download this simple Kanban board as a way to be more productive. Print some out for your kids as well. Click to download.
Meet Our Guest
Roger Lipp
Roger Lipp is a sought after teacher on personality types in marriage and in business. His expertise is in productivity and team building, both in the tech world and on the home front.
Fri Fav – 5 Blogs You Should Be Reading
This March, we are all about taking your office to the next level. In addition to your space, I want you to upgrade your mind. Here are five of my favorite blogs for taking care of business. Subscribe, you’ll be glad you did.
- http://gettingthingsdone.com/gtd-times/ I am a huge fan of the GTD (Getting Things Done) system and David Allen (and have been for years). It has helped me stay focused, more productive, and keep a tight lid on my clutter. It is an overhaul to apply his principles, but when you do, your life will become a lot more focused, quickly.
- http://moneysavingmom.com/ Let me be straight up with you – Crystal is one of my favorite people on the planet, I would promote her making a box of Mac and Cheese. But Crystal has one of the best business minds I’ve ever encountered, and if you are in business, launching a business or thinking of starting a business, you need to follow what she is doing.
- http://michaelhyatt.com/ Michael is all about using the time you have well. He is smart and focused and his blog posts give you the practical application that you need in order to make a real difference in your day (and your business.) Oh- and listen to his podcast because Michele Cushatt is the cohost and she ROCKS.
- http://dynamiccommunicators.com/ You will never be bored listening to, or reading, Ken Davis. What I love about what Ken does is he is all about communication and making it as effective as possible. If communication is a part of your business, this is a blog to read.
- http://chadwickcannon.com/ Aspiring authors – Chad is the one to read. He has had great success in launching books and now is sharing that knowledge with the world. If you are an author, this is definitely a blog you want to get on your rotation.
Are You Prepared to Be Blessed?
I admit, consistency is not one of my “gifts”.
For most of my life, every week I had a new, “better” place to keep my keys. (Sadly, I was never, ever, able to find my keys, so the test of “better” could never really be proven.)
I used to consider myself free-spirited. But as I’ve gotten a little bit older (and hopefully, the teensiest bit wiser), I’ve seen that “free-spirited” is really the self-indulgent way of saying “flaky”. I do some random things and hope they work out in the end.
And when it comes to finding my keys, well, that has some built in consequences when I’m being free-spirited.
But when it comes to real life? Sometimes those consequences take a little longer to show up.
As I’ve looked at people who I want to be like when I grow up – the ones who are spiritually mature – the ones who as doing what they know God has called them to, one of the traits that I see over and over again is consistency.
Recently, I had a budding author ask me to share the inside secrets of becoming a published author. (I get this question all the time: “How do I get published?”) But she, and most other people, don’t like the answer.
“By writing every day, going to writers conferences, and learning everything you can about the business. “
She didn’t have time for that. She wants to be published this year.
Sigh.
That is what led me to share this post on my personal Facebook page. About the people who show up. Consistently, every day.
Are you ready to receive all that God has for you?
No. Really?
I believe that one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated traits of people who are doing big things in this world on behalf of God is faithfulness.
Those who show up every single day, not knowing if they are going to succeed or not, but knowing that they are doing the right thing.
The people who work hard at building up what God has called them to, but also recognize that building into other people, every single day, has eternal rewards we may never recognize here on earth.
I’ve seen it happen again and again. We think we are ready for the next big step, that we will just “catch up” when big things happen. But we need to be preparing and building in advance every, single day for what God wants us to do in the future.
By being in His word so when the big things come, we have the wisdom to know what to do with them.
By being grateful to Him for the small victories, so when the big things come, we don’t forget who those victories belong to.
By practicing faithfulness in the small things so that when the big things come, we don’t forget who we are being faithful to.
By investing in others, so when the big things come, we don’t forget whose family invested in us.
There is no shortcut to faithfulness, which is what leads to wisdom. It needs to be practiced in the “little things” times, so that when the “big things” come, wisdom is second nature.
God has big things for you.
Are you ready?
If you’ve been waiting to get Praying God’s Word for Your Husband, the ebook version is only $.99 through March 5. You can get it on your Kindle, Nook, etc. Get it on Amazon here http://ow.ly/EbeVd.
What People Think
“Thank you Kathi Lipp for writing what women think and feel. Before this book I thought I was praying for my husband but I wasn’t. Praying the Word of God is the best and only way to truly pray. There is nothing like inserting my husband’s name and my name in those verses. Thank you! thank! you thank you!” – Chance Perard, Amazon Reviewer
Episode #189-Creating Your Own Creative Space
Want to get things done and yet don’t know where to start? Can you find your desk under all your piles?
Today we talk about my process of creating your own creative space. A place where your creativity has room to flourish. With the right things in place, and everything else not in your space, you’ll have the ability to focus and get your creative juices flowing. I used to think buying some cute things and adding them to a space was the way to decorate. But you can make cute out of clutter!
Below are pictures of some of the things I mention in the podcast. Leave a comment and let me know what space you work in and what you need to do to make it more creative.
FREE DOWNLOAD
When creating a creative space, using the M.O.S.T. method will get you organized and make your space special. Download this printable for the how’s and why’s of the M.O.S.T. method.
Meet Our Guest
Erin MacPherson
Erin MacPherson lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Cameron, her sons Joey and Will and her daughter Kate. She is the author of “The Christian Mama’s Guide Series“, a staff writer for Dun & Bradstreet and a freelancer for publications like Thriving Family Magazine, MOPS MomSense, FamilyLife Magazine, Daily Guideposts and BEMag. She blogs about her life, her kids and her faith at ChristianMamasGuide.com.
How to Create More Storage in Your Bedroom
WE are a nation obsessed with storage.
We love to have systems, solutions, tricks and tips on how to keep ALL. THE. THINGS.
So before you do any of the suggestions below, my first reminder is that you can’t organize clutter.
Yes, you can go to the Container Store (I mean, why wouldn’t you? Their store is a little bit of heaven here on earth…) and buy all the bins, sorters, holders and hampers. But if you are using those to contain clutter, they will all just blow up in your face at some point.
So get your bedroom down to those things that you
- Love
- Use
- Would buy again
And once you’ve culled your room of clutter, now it’s time to make that space work as hard as you do!
Dresser
- Baskets or small containers to hold misc. similar things (When I had longer hair, I had a basket with ponytail holders, barrettes, etc.)
- Lazy Susan for makeup, brushes, etc.
- Small tray to put bottles, etc. on. (Makes cleaning easier, just remove the tray)
- Drawers – Organizers
- Can be small boxes, etc.
Back of door hangers
- With plastic pockets for small items (makeup, jewelry, scarves, socks, slippers, etc.)
- Hooks for clothes you wear routinely (use these for PJ’s, robe, etc.)
Under the bed
- Storage boxes – plastic, cardboard. I prefer plastic see-through (great for out of season clothes, linens, etc.)
- Under bed drawers
- Extra linens
Closet
- Shelves above clothes
- Shelves below clothes for shoes
- Two poles for two levels of clothes (not smart if you want to store shoes underneath clothes or if you have animals that will rub against the clothes on the bottom – learned from experience.)
- Hanging organizers that have a cubicle for each day of the week. (Get organized on your prep day with all the extra’s for each day of the week, including shoes, jewelry, scarves, socks or nylons, slips, etc.)
Misc.
- Baskets
- Large for Dirty clothes
- Square for books, magazines or various reading material.
- Various sizes for miscellaneous items ( I know they probably have a home somewhere, but putting them in a basket and unloading when full is better than tossing on the floor or over a chair)
- Bed Buddy – cloth organizer that hangs along the side of your bed between the mattress and springs or frame.
- Perfect for keeping phone, flashlight or booklight, a small book, kindle, pens and paper (for those big ideas you get in middle of night) lotions, etc.
- Add a square ottoman that is hollow for storage. Use it to sit on when putting on socks or buckle shoes.) Keep an extra blanket inside, or other essential you may need within easy reach. Kids can keep video games, remote, in their rooms.
If you’ve been waiting to get Praying God’s Word for Your Husband, the ebook version is only $.99 through March 5. You can get it on your Kindle, Nook, etc. Get it on Amazon here http://ow.ly/EbeVd.
What People Think
“Thank you Kathi Lipp for writing what women think and feel. Before this book I thought I was praying for my husband but I wasn’t. Praying the Word of God is the best and only way to truly pray. There is nothing like inserting my husband’s name and my name in those verses. Thank you! thank! you thank you!”
– Chance Perard, Amazon Reviewer
Today’s To-Do List
When it comes to your home, peace is possible…
Kickstart to Clutter Free
Clutter Free Book
