by Clutter Free Academy Team | Dec 24, 2021 | Blog, Christmas, Clutter Free, Clutter Free Home, Freedom, Hard Stuff, Hope, Overwhelmed |
Decluttering with Kathi and Discover Freedom in the Holidays
with Special Guest Barb Roose
Are you feeling entangled by holiday clutter?
Join in to Declutter with Kathi and special guest Barb Roose to talk about how we can experience more freedom and less fear during the holidays and any celebrations. Barb always brings wise encouragement and you won’t want to miss this conversation while you are preparing your own celebration.
Let’s Stay Connected:
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Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
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Surrendered: Letting Go and Living Like Jesus
Are you facing a problem in life that you can’t fix, no matter what you do?
Are you disappointed by unchanging circumstances? Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “Let go and let God,” which suggests that surrender is God’s path for peace for your life. It maybe true, but it’s easier said than done, isn’t it?
In this six-week Bible study, you’ll learn how to let go by exploring Jesus’ time of testing in the wilderness.
As you look to his example, you’ll discover six principles that will equip you to let God lead you to victory as you deal with the problems and pain you are facing. Along the way, you’ll compare Jesus’ responses to those of the Israelites, who also faced a long wilderness season centuries earlier.
This study will equip you to give up control, reach for God, let go of fear, and experience the blessings of the surrendered life. It’s possible to let go and live like Jesus and the result is experience God’s power and peace as never before.
by Clutter Free Academy Team | Dec 14, 2021 | Christmas, Christmas Project Planner, Clutter Free, Clutter Free For Life, Clutter Free Home, Podcast |
491: Your Holiday Game Plan
How to Have the Least Stressful Holiday Season of Your Life
Kathi and her favorite holiday celebrant, Roger Lipp, are bringing all the best tips for our least stressful holiday season ever and equipping us with a game plan to carry it out. So much of preparing our house is about being comfortable in our own space. There are some key things we can do to declutter and make the holidays less stressful including
- Determine the priority places & spaces to be decluttered
- Make a help list
- Don’t leave room for unmet expectations
- Get a membership to Clutter Free for Life
Christmas—whether you really love it, secretly dread it, or fall somewhere in between—shows up the same time every year, as unavoidable as your aunt’s fruitcake.
But this season, don’t stress your “elf” out. Be ready with this amazing planner designed to help you get a handle on the holidays. Stay organized (and sane) when you put expectations aside and choose to focus on the things you truly want to do during Christmas.
You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish with just a little more organization and less obligation. The simple projects in this book will help you stay on schedule so you can spend more time enjoying your friends and family instead of frantically trying to cobble Christmas together at the last minute (again).
You can do this! Let clutter-free queen Kathi Lipp show you how. Order your copy of The Christmas Project Planner here.
Let’s stay connected
To share your thoughts:
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.
Roger is a productivity and quality engineer for a Fortune 50 company.
Roger helps teams reach their full productivity potential by teaching them the practical and simple steps to reach their goals. Roger and his wife, author Kathi Lipp, teach communicators how to share their message through social media and email marketing.
He and Kathi coauthored Happy Habits for Every Couple with Harvest House Publishers.
by Clutter Free Academy Team | Nov 30, 2021 | Christmas, Christmas Project Planner, Clutter Free, Clutter Free For Life, Clutter Free Home, Podcast |
489: 10 Ways to Prep for a Clutter Free Holiday
Part 2
Kathi Lipp and her partner in decluttering and everything else, Roger Lipp, are back to continue their great discussion on to how to celebrate the holiday season without sabotaging your Clutter Free journey. Are you unsure of how to approach the holidays without adding to your or your loved ones’ clutter? Kathi has 10 incredibly helpful tips just for that. She and Roger shared the first five suggestions in part 1. Listen in now as they share the last half of their insightful list of suggestions for celebrating the season clutter-free. Kathi explains the value in:
Christmas—whether you really love it, secretly dread it, or fall somewhere in between—shows up the same time every year, as unavoidable as your aunt’s fruitcake.
But this season, don’t stress your “elf” out. Be ready with this amazing planner designed to help you get a handle on the holidays. Stay organized (and sane) when you put expectations aside and choose to focus on the things you truly want to do during Christmas.
You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish with just a little more organization and less obligation. The simple projects in this book will help you stay on schedule so you can spend more time enjoying your friends and family instead of frantically trying to cobble Christmas together at the last minute (again).
You can do this! Let clutter-free queen Kathi Lipp show you how. Order your copy of The Christmas Project Planner here.
Let’s stay connected
To share your thoughts:
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.
Roger is a productivity and quality engineer for a Fortune 50 company.
Roger helps teams reach their full productivity potential by teaching them the practical and simple steps to reach their goals. Roger and his wife, author Kathi Lipp, teach communicators how to share their message through social media and email marketing.
He and Kathi coauthored Happy Habits for Every Couple with Harvest House Publishers.
by kathilipp | Nov 23, 2021 | Christmas, Christmas Project Planner, Clutter Free, Clutter Free For Life, Clutter Free Home, Podcast |
488: 10 Ways to Prep for a Clutter Free Holiday
Part 1
Kathi Lipp is here with her partner in decluttering and everything else, Roger Lipp, to talk about how to celebrate the holiday season without sabotaging your Clutter Free journey. Are you unsure of how to approach the holidays without adding to your or your loved ones’ clutter? Kathi and Roger give five insightful suggestions to celebrating the season clutter-free, including:
Be sure to catch next week’s episode when Kathi and Roger will share the last half of their advice for a Clutter-Free holiday.
Christmas—whether you really love it, secretly dread it, or fall somewhere in between—shows up the same time every year, as unavoidable as your aunt’s fruitcake.
But this season, don’t stress your “elf” out. Be ready with this amazing planner designed to help you get a handle on the holidays. Stay organized (and sane) when you put expectations aside and choose to focus on the things you truly want to do during Christmas.
You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish with just a little more organization and less obligation. The simple projects in this book will help you stay on schedule so you can spend more time enjoying your friends and family instead of frantically trying to cobble Christmas together at the last minute (again).
You can do this! Let clutter-free queen Kathi Lipp show you how. Order your copy of The Christmas Project Planner here.
Let’s stay connected
To share your thoughts:
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.
Roger is a productivity and quality engineer for a Fortune 50 company.
Roger helps teams reach their full productivity potential by teaching them the practical and simple steps to reach their goals. Roger and his wife, author Kathi Lipp, teach communicators how to share their message through social media and email marketing.
He and Kathi coauthored Happy Habits for Every Couple with Harvest House Publishers.
by Clutter Free Academy Team | Nov 1, 2019 | Christmas, Christmas Project Planner |
When Christmas bells start jingling are you standing in the aisle of Hobby Lobby wearing your favorite snowman sweater?
Or are you at your local grocery store making a quick trip to stock up on milk, bread and bottled water so you can hide out until December 26th?
Whether you’re Buddy the Elf or feel a deeper kinship with the Grinch… Christmas is coming. And I want to encourage you! Despite what you might think you CAN have the Christmas of your dreams. It’s not Christmas itself that has you in a tizzy; it’s the expectations surrounding Christmas.
Watch this video as I explain more about how you can have the Clutter Free Christmas of your dreams.
Join us on Facebook as we go page-by-page through The Christmas Project Planner November 4th-November 27th.
If you don’t have the book already, order can order it here.
Just imagine sitting down to Thanksgiving Dinner with Christmas already in the bag!
by Clutter Free Academy Team | Oct 31, 2019 | Christmas, Christmas Project Planner, Guest Blog |
Can I talk to you for a second?” My husband peeked into my sewing room. Fifteen projects in various stages of production covered every flat surface.
I looked up from the ironing board for a second. “Hey! Yeah, sure.”
A pause. “On the couch?”
“No, no…we have to talk in here. I have to keep working or I won’t get this done in time. It’s only fifteen days until Christmas.”
He looked at me like I’d sprouted elf ears. Clearly, he didn’t understand what a magical Christmas genie I was. All I needed was time to focus.
“Please. Just for a few minutes.”
I sighed. Maybe I could do with a break.
In the living room, my husband spent the better part of twenty minutes trying to talk me out of my crazy idea.
I sat listening, glancing at the sewing room door every three seconds. Nodded and smiled. Bounced my knee.
Meanwhile, time was wasting.
He cleared his throat, a sure sign that I needed to focus back on what he was saying. “I just don’t want you to spend three days in bed after Christmas is over.”
I popped up from the couch. “Don’t worry, I won’t. Back to work.” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and scurried back into the sewing room. I thought I heard him mumble something about “manic,” but I didn’t have time to ask him to repeat himself.
I could get this done. Would get this done. And it would be an epic Christmas.
I wish I could say I took my husband’s wise advice that December 10. But I didn’t.
After raising a family, I felt like I’d pulled off enough Christmases to know what I was doing. I didn’t need help! Certainly not in the form of my husband’s counsel. Besides, isn’t everyone crazy-busy around Christmas?
True to form, I exhausted myself so much that I was sick in bed from December 26 until January 2. All for one day of celebration.
Skip forward to last year, when I discovered Kathi’s Christmas Project Planner. Not only was I able to have a joyful Christmas without driving my husband crazy, but I could record notes and thoughts about my Christmas plan for this year. (I already know I don’t need to buy wrapping paper and that I’m going to feature the blue and silver decorations I bought on clearance last December 27. It was fun to go shopping instead of recovering in bed!)
Each day, I tackled that day’s project without worrying about missing something or over stressing the details. My December went from frantic to peaceful and pleasant.
One of the most impactful pieces of advice Kathi gives is to find out what Christmas traditions and foods are most important to those you’ll be celebrating with. I was able to plan for the things my family thinks are important (homemade pumpkin pie with real whipped cream) and leave out what isn’t. Who knew that once they became adults, Christmas eve pajamas wouldn’t be cool anymore?
Through the process, I learned that the Christmas season is more than one day. Life can be joyful throughout the month of December with a little planning and setting of expectations.
The other positive change was scheduling everything I needed or wanted to do. That way I could have a realistic view of when things would get done and how much I could reasonably do. (My husband was very grateful that I didn’t take on a massive December sewing project last year.) We saved a ton of money on shipping alone. Instead of last-minute priority mail, we could send packages media mail with confidence they’d get there in plenty of time for Christmas.
This year, I’m already excited to plan for Christmas. I just received this year’s planner in the mail and it’s beautiful! I love that it has a place to write lists, menus, and notes inside. That way, when we’re shopping for gifts we don’t have to try to remember if we got our daughter a toaster already — it’s written down in the book. There are even pockets designed to tuck away recipes and receipts.
Since two of our kids are flying from the West coast to visit over Christmas, we’re delighted to have a houseful. But that will take some planning and preparation. We’ve already started having conversations about what traditions, activities, and food are the most important. Like last year, everything we expect to do will be on the calendar.
I’m glad I took notes about decorations, menus, and gifts last year because I wouldn’t have remembered any of those details. That saves me work.
Speaking of memories, I’m smiling as I begin this year’s Christmas planning. This morning it dawned on me that, for the first time, all of my planning and preparations last year freed me up to focus on what’s important. I don’t remember a hectic season of frantic work, or all of the details it took to pull off a wonderful Christmas.
The memories I do have are special family times and a sacred worship service. It turns out that it would be our last candlelight communion led by a well-loved young pastor. He passed away from cancer a couple months later, leaving a wife and three beautiful daughters. I wouldn’t trade that precious time for anything, and I’m glad I wasn’t distracted by a chaotic schedule and Christmas stress.
Want to get in on the fun and join a book study for the Christmas Project Planner? There’s a group on Facebook and we’d love to have you.
Click here to join!
Lyneta Smith is a writer and editor who lives near Nashville, TN with her husband and an opinionated tortoiseshell cat. They enjoy holidays and family nights with their adult daughters more than ever. Lyneta is the author of Curtain Call: A Memoir, and has been published in numerous national magazines and newspapers.
Barb Roose is a speaker and author who is passionate about teaching women to live beautifully strong and courageous so that they experience God’s great adventure of faith and purpose for their lives. She’s the author of multiple books and Bible studies. Barb lives in NW Ohio and is proud mother of three adult daughters. Whenever possible, Barb prefers to eat dessert first.