14 Spring Organization Tips That Every Busy Parent Will Love

00:00:00 - Jenny GK
Sometimes I wonder what I'm gonna do. Because there ain't no cure for the springtime Tuesday.

00:00:09 - Caitlin Kindred
I was wondering when you were gonna start singing again. I like it. Yeah.

00:00:13 - Jenny GK
It's time to sing.

00:00:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay. I'm in the spring. The blue bonnets are out in Texas. And if you live in Texas, you know what that means. Because they only sprout up along the highways when early spring.

00:00:23 - Jenny GK
Please don't mow so wildflower can grow.

00:00:25 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, cute. I like that. All right.

00:00:29 - Jenny GK
Welcome to CK and GK. We're the show for adults who need a grown up.

00:00:35 - Caitlin Kindred
That would be us. Today we are sharing. I've got 14 organizing tips to satisfy your spring cleaning urge, because now that the blue bonnets are out and the allergies are happening for a lot of people, you might. You feel on the urge to clean. So here you go.

00:00:53 - Jenny GK
Before we do that, I have to introduce my co host, and because it is St. Patrick's Day season, I will tell you that Caitlin is magically delicious.

00:01:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Magically delicious. Well, that's my humble, intelligent golden retriever, Jennyny.

00:01:17 - Jenny GK
Okay, so here's the deal. Yesterday, I see a yellow lab crossing in front of our car at a stoplight, and I said to Abby, man, that is a good looking dog. That dog is trim and fit. That's a nice looking dog. And she goes, yeah, he has a gopro on. He must be a YouTuber. He's got to look good for his videos.

00:01:40 - Caitlin Kindred
She's not wrong. She's not. Have you heard of Pearl the golden girl? It's an Instagram account for a dog. And it's like, no. This woman, oh, my gosh. She puts a little microphone in front of her dog, and if you like teeth, if you like doggy teeth and you like chomped, then you'll love this account, because it's this woman making homemade, healthy foods for her dog that do all kinds of things. It's like, this is green foods that your dog can eat. These are red ones. Or today's was like, these are things that you can give your dog when their tummy is hurting. And she makes it all, and she tells you if you can have a particular fruit or vegetable, but you can't have the skins, she tells you what to take on, but it's very cute. And Pearl is a drooler, and she's got teeth, and she is so cute. I love that one. That's a cute account. If you like dog accounts, that one and good boy Ollie are my two favorite doggy accounts.

00:02:36 - Jenny GK
John really wanted Bagwell to be an Instagram star. So her handle is triple B, the GSD, because her official name is Becky Bojolais Bagwell.

00:02:51 - Caitlin Kindred
That is the bougiest talking quadruple b bougie.

00:03:01 - Jenny GK
Well, the Becky comes from saving Dory.

00:03:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Becky. Becky. Get the bucket. Get the bucket.

00:03:11 - Jenny GK
Because we got her during COVID And that was one of our COVID movies that we had to watch every single.

00:03:17 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:03:17 - Jenny GK
Either finding Nemo or finding Dory. And then, of course, the Beaujolis is. I needed to name this dog something.

00:03:24 - Caitlin Kindred
So.

00:03:26 - Jenny GK
Okay, what does it say about us that both our dogs are named after alcohol?

00:03:32 - Caitlin Kindred
We're going to get to our main meat of the show today, so let's go ahead and do that. We're talking about 14 spring organizing tips.

00:03:43 - Jenny GK
All right, here we go.

00:03:44 - Caitlin Kindred
Lay them on me. Okay, so I'm going to start with our sources for today, which are. One is an article from Motherly by Justine Laurel Lamonico. It's called eight genius spring organizing hacks to try mama. It's linked in the show notes. The other one is by Katie Holdafair. I think I said that right. Thanks. For real simple. And it's ten genius organizing tips that change the way we tidy up. First of all, some of these are from me. I only pulled, like, one or two from those people. Or if I pulled them from one of the articles, I also use them myself. So there's that. And then I also was trying to be very intentional about, like, these are things that you don't really have to buy. Or if you do choose to buy, you don't need to spend a lot of money on this stuff because that's me. There's so many people who are, like, making tons of money off of selling you clear bins. And it's like, that's great if you love clear bins, but how many can you possibly have? And I'm a testament to this because my husband hates when big boxes come from Amazon because he knows there's probably clear pins in. We're just. We're not doing that. All right, so here's a few of them.

00:04:46 - Jenny GK
Okay, here we go.

00:04:47 - Caitlin Kindred
Store boots with pool noodles. Go to the dollar store. Give them shape. Yeah, go to the dollar store. If you don't have pool noodles, just go to the dollar store and then cut them with, like, a bread knife to the length of your boot, and then stick them in your boot and they'll keep their shape.

00:05:04 - Jenny GK
That is genius.

00:05:06 - Caitlin Kindred
And then I just store them under the bed because I don't wear them in the summer. Well, we'll get to that in a second. Okay. That's one of them. Okay. Store sheets in their matching pillowcases. I feel like a lot of people already do this, but if you're not, you should. And just bundle them all together. You don't need to shove the comforter in there, but, like, all the sheet sets, just put them in their match. I love a.

00:05:24 - Jenny GK
For me, it's like a kit. Here you go. Make your bed.

00:05:28 - Caitlin Kindred
Exactly. And there's these sheet cases on Amazon that they look like. Kind of like those accordion file folders. And I don't have them, but I do kind of want them. They were ridiculously expensive when I first saw them, but they've come way down. I still haven't pulled the trigger on buying those yet. And if it's like a wintertime bed set, get a vacuum seal bag, and then just suck all the air out of that thing. After you wash it, put it in the bag, and then you'll have it ready for the next season.

00:05:59 - Jenny GK
Or you're like me and you use a down comforter.

00:06:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, me too.

00:06:06 - Jenny GK
And it's so hard for me to sleep at a hotel that only has that pretend bed spread that you don't want to touch your skin.

00:06:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Anyway.

00:06:14 - Jenny GK
I need some weight.

00:06:17 - Caitlin Kindred
Where is the heavy? I actually have a weighted blanket that's on the foot of our bed for when it's quilt season, and my husband likes to use a quilt. And I pulled the heavy blanket over myself because it's not so.

00:06:29 - Jenny GK
So my sister was looking to give me a present, and she texted my husband and said, hey, does Jenny have a weighted blanket? And he said, yes, she does. And it's probably her most prized possession.

00:06:43 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, my goodness gracious. That is funny, because they're perfect. I love them. Okay, tip number three. So we've got two so far boots at the pool noodles store, sheets in their matching pillowcases. Number three, store bobby pins on a magnetic strip. They have ones that are adhesive on one side, and you just stick them on the inside of your cabinet or your drawer or whatever. And then when you need a bobby pin, you just throw them up against the magnetic strip.

00:07:09 - Jenny GK
Okay, so I have seen this, like, on Pinterest or something. Where do you find these magnetic strips?

00:07:15 - Caitlin Kindred
This is a craft store. No, we could do that. The A to Z store is a good place, too. Okay. Yeah, I want to give it a.

00:07:21 - Jenny GK
Try because I pretty much have single use bobby pins.

00:07:25 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, yeah. Or I have the opposite right where I'm like, this is the bobby pin that I've been using for forever because it just hooks onto my pants. And I'm really good about remembering to take it on and off of the pant hook. Yeah. Or you can also use, like, repurposed candle holders. When the candle gets too low, you just pour some water into. I think it's hot water. You pour the hot water into the candle, and then the wax will start to slowly lift off of the bottom. And then you can just pull it out in one big disc. Oh, that's smart. Yeah. And then you take it out, put it on your other candle. So when you burn, there's like that space on the wick that's like an inch. You can just put the new wax on there so then you have it a little bit longer with your next candle, and then you can use the container. So that's another thing. But I like the magnet better. Just kind of traps them all. Yeah.

00:08:10 - Jenny GK
I'm going to give the magnet a shot right now. I just have a little, like a tiny basket that's, like, cute. But what do you keep in it?

00:08:18 - Caitlin Kindred
Because it's so small.

00:08:19 - Jenny GK
So I'm using that. But again, bobby pins come out of my hair. They go on the bathroom counter, the bathroom floor, the side table, on my bed.

00:08:27 - Caitlin Kindred
And if there was a magnet that you could just sweep them into and then it would trap them. That'd be great. Yeah. Very cool. All right, keep going. Dash your grocery bags in a sanitizing wipes container. So think like Lysol Clorox bag or like, Clorox wipe container. Yeah, put them in there, and then when you pull them, they can just come out that way. Or I used to use an old tissue box. That was a really good way to do it, too. Super helpful.

00:08:51 - Jenny GK
So if you happen to live in a part of Texas that is served by the greatest store ever known to man. Heb, when you do a curbside order, they will take bags out of your truck.

00:09:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes, they will. That's a new thing. They didn't used to do that, but now they're starting to.

00:09:08 - Jenny GK
I am loving it.

00:09:09 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, yeah.

00:09:10 - Jenny GK
Because we use them sometimes on dog walks.

00:09:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. We use them for cats, but we.

00:09:15 - Jenny GK
Do not use them as much as we gain them.

00:09:19 - Caitlin Kindred
Interesting, because there is not an option.

00:09:22 - Jenny GK
For using your own bags if you do a curbside order.

00:09:26 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. They use paper bags at our heb.

00:09:29 - Jenny GK
That's nice.

00:09:29 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:09:31 - Jenny GK
We live outside the Sydney limits, so we got plastic, but I can just bag them all up and throw them in the trunk. And then next time I pick up an order, they'll take them back.

00:09:39 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, we have, like a big bin in the laundry room where we put all of that number four plastic wrap stuff, and we just bring it all to them at once. But, yeah, well, if you ever need.

00:09:50 - Jenny GK
Them for your cats, let me know.

00:09:52 - Caitlin Kindred
I will probably take you up on that. Yeah, I'll probably take up on that. Another one that I liked. Use stickable hooks to store your tools, like hairdryers and stuff. Or you can opt for those hooks that hang over cabinet doors. So I have, on the inside of my kitchen cabinet doors, I have a little hook that sits. It's like a little basket that hooks over the door. And that's where I put the things I need to use all the time. And then I also have those. It's like a command hook for hanging a squirt bottle, because I use that all the time. Yeah, that's a good one to have on the. And I just stick it on the inside of my kitchen sink cabinet. Nice. Right there. Yeah. Another thing I love about stickable hooks, this tip is one I got from real simple. I thought this was brilliant. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. Use stickable hooks to give the illusion of organization by hiding your cords. What? You take the command hook, you stick it on the upside down, or you don't have to do that. You could stick it on the back of your furniture. Take the extra cord, tie it up so that there's, like a little loop on it, and then hook it over the command hook further up off the floor. Yes. I hate cords on the floor. I can't stand it. It's one of the things that just makes me ick. And that what I thought was.

00:11:12 - Jenny GK
So I think I've talked about this on the show before, but in our media room upstairs behind the couch, I hung a series of those very narrow Ikea shelves.

00:11:27 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, yeah.

00:11:28 - Jenny GK
The ones that you're supposed to just balance, like a book or photograph or whatever. So I hung a whole line of them. There's like four of them in a row. And basically it's a coffee table behind the couch, but it's also a place for us to run wires underneath and.

00:11:47 - Caitlin Kindred
You don't see us. Smart. That's a good idea. I wanted to put up some of those, like, you know what, the lighting that the cool kids are doing all the time at the top of their ceiling. Yes. I wanted to put up some of that. Yeah, the tube stuff. But I put it in our entry hall and there's a cord that runs up the side before you get to the actual lighting, and it just looked really tacky. So I used some of that stick on cord runner stuff. So it's just like a white plastic thing. That's another option. But I'm just talking about, like, when you have your nightstand and you've got all the cords dangling behind it and you can see them on the floor, and I hate that.

00:12:21 - Jenny GK
Brilliant.

00:12:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. But it immediately looks more organized once you get the cord and it doesn't attract dirt and, like, dust and stuff can't get stuck there.

00:12:30 - Jenny GK
Oh, my gosh.

00:12:32 - Caitlin Kindred
I pulled out a dust bunny once, like, underneath the bed when we had more cats here, and it was like pulling out my own head. It was like such a big ball of hair.

00:12:42 - Jenny GK
German shedder.

00:12:43 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, exactly. Okay.

00:12:46 - Jenny GK
We cannot vacuum without emptying the multiple.

00:12:50 - Caitlin Kindred
You have to. It's so awful. Okay, that was number six. Number seven, use under the bed storage containers to store items like out of season clothing or extra bedding or shoes. Mine is full of shoes underneath the bed, and they make those really handy ones that roll. So I would highly recommend the rolling ones if you have the amount of space under the bed. But if you have it, you should use it. So here's the thing about that, okay?

00:13:18 - Jenny GK
Our bed used to be on these bedlifts. It's like a princess and the pea kind of bed.

00:13:28 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay. Right?

00:13:29 - Jenny GK
You have to hop up on it. John hates it.

00:13:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:13:33 - Jenny GK
He was like, why is our bed 7ft off the ground? Why do I need a ladder to go to bed? We have plenty of storage under our guest bed now because I put the lifts under that. But our bed is normal.

00:13:49 - Caitlin Kindred
I actually like when the bed is. I don't want it to be low, but I want it to be like, Caitlin doesn't have to use a booster to get up on the bed.

00:13:59 - Jenny GK
Oh, no, we are talking like, I want to have to use the vault to get on the beam bed. You have to dismount in the morning.

00:14:11 - Caitlin Kindred
No.

00:14:14 - Jenny GK
I lost that argument.

00:14:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, I could see why I'm not into that. Our bed. Feet touch the floor now. Okay, that works. All right. Number eight. Yes. Okay. Use a shoe organizer. We've talked about this before. Use a shoe organizer to store other things besides shoes. Like, for example, I use mine to store cleaning supplies on the inside of my laundry room. So like, your Clorox wipes, your Lysol wipes, any of your sprays, I have extra trash bags in there for cleaning, like cat boxes. All that stuff is in there you can use it to hold toiletries, other small items in your pantry. When we had a big pantry with the closet door, I used to use it to hold spices. That was another good.

00:15:01 - Jenny GK
That's interesting.

00:15:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Thanks. I thought it was a good one, don't you? You put yours. Yours has travel mugs in it. Right, right.

00:15:08 - Jenny GK
So we have a pantry door that's normal size door. And we have one of those shoe racks with the pockets.

00:15:18 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, exactly.

00:15:19 - Jenny GK
And every pocket has a togo mug or a water bottle because I take coffee with me to work every single day, and Abby and I both take a water bottle. And oftentimes Abby also is taking a smoothie to work to school. So we're going through multiple travel cups a day. So we have quite a large assortment of them. And this shoe rack like game changer, they're all right there. Easy to find. And you don't have to look for the lids because they're stored with the lids on it. No big deal.

00:15:51 - Caitlin Kindred
Smart. Love it.

00:15:52 - Jenny GK
That said, we also have a traditional shoe rack that has, like, the pegs where you hang the shoes.

00:15:58 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:15:58 - Jenny GK
On the outside of our downstairs linen closet.

00:16:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Smart. It is.

00:16:03 - Jenny GK
On the outside. It is like, here, look at our shoes. It's fine.

00:16:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Nobody.

00:16:07 - Jenny GK
I live in a house.

00:16:08 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:16:10 - Jenny GK
I could turn it around and hide it inside my closet if I needed to, but for right now, it's on the outside of the closet. And all of our shoes are up off the floor.

00:16:20 - Caitlin Kindred
Exactly.

00:16:21 - Jenny GK
And it's a great job for my five year old. I can tell him, go hang up the shoes. And he goes around the house, picks up all the shoes off the floor and hangs them on the pegs.

00:16:29 - Caitlin Kindred
Smart. I like that idea.

00:16:31 - Jenny GK
And it's made for shoes. And it actually is used for shoes.

00:16:34 - Caitlin Kindred
Brilliant.

00:16:35 - Jenny GK
Mind blown.

00:16:36 - Caitlin Kindred
I know. Shocking. Okay, number nine, use those clear vinyl place mats that you can get at the dollar store or in the dollar spot as shelf liners for your fridge, because that way, when it's time to clean them out, all you have to do is take that off. I've also heard good things with people using that press and seal wrap, but I have had less luck with that. I like the idea of it would.

00:16:59 - Jenny GK
Be hard to pull out.

00:17:01 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. But the vinyl things, they just stay in there. And because every fridge shelf has that little plastic edge to it, they just kind of stay. They're not going to rock around in there. And then I also would highly recommend a lazy susan in your fridge. If you have this fridge, you love a good lazy Susan. I really do.

00:17:18 - Jenny GK
Because they should name it a lazy Caitlin.

00:17:20 - Caitlin Kindred
They really should. I'm kind of offended by that. But I love them that much that I'm willing to go. Oh, sorry. No, I didn't think about the implications.

00:17:29 - Jenny GK
Of calling you lazy.

00:17:34 - Caitlin Kindred
I'm not lazy. I just have ad. I was trying to make a deficiency. Make fun of my dopamine deficiency problems. All right. Okay. This is one of my favorite tips. It's fine. I'm good, I swear. Okay, this is one of my favorite tips because we just kind of talked about this. But this is more general, but I don't think it fits in necessarily as a general thing. Watch where the clutter forms in your house and then put a basket in that spot.

00:18:04 - Jenny GK
Oh, that's brilliant.

00:18:06 - Caitlin Kindred
So let me explain kind of in a more big picture thing of what? I mean, when I was in college, I had a psychology professor who talked about people putting sidewalks in on campuses and why you should never do that in a certain space. And the reason that you shouldn't do that is because you just let the kids on campus walk around wherever they're going to go, and then you use that to make the sidewalk.

00:18:32 - Jenny GK
What do they call that? Preferred path.

00:18:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, there's a term for it, and I don't remember what it is, but I don't either. We had a space, we had like a quad space where it was a big grassy area, a big rectangle that wasn't used for anything. So it wasn't like a football field or a practice. It was just like a grassy area. And kids always walked through it in a diagonal every single time. No one was ever taking the rectangular path around. Right? Finally, after I left campus, they finally put like stone, diagonal sidewalk. Yeah, stone there. Just do that. Okay, so that's what I'm saying with this. The same principle applies, right? You see a space where clutter forms. Put a basket there. You can go through the basket later. But if the part that bothers you is that there's clutter there, then put something there to contain the clutter. And that way, when you need to put it away, you can either throw it all in the basket and hide the basket, or you leave the basket out. Maybe it's pretty, who cares? But you figure out some way to contain it, and then you can go through it later. And then if you need to, you can go through it sitting on the couch instead of standing in that spot where all the clutter is making you crazy.

00:19:48 - Jenny GK
That's so smart. We actually have a couple of designated baskets.

00:19:54 - Caitlin Kindred
We do, too.

00:19:55 - Jenny GK
So it's like, okay, this is for John's clutter.

00:19:58 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Or this is for Sam's toys that he leaves in the living room at night. And we throw everything in the basket at night if he's not put it away yet. Right? Yeah. Okay, so those are my ten item things, like where you get an item and you use them. I have a few other tips. I have four more tips that might be helpful for people who are organizing.

00:20:17 - Jenny GK
I am going to be so organized.

00:20:19 - Caitlin Kindred
I always tell myself that if I can just follow my own advice, I'd be really great.

00:20:24 - Jenny GK
I listened to one podcast where she was like, so, implementation is way more important than information.

00:20:30 - Caitlin Kindred
I'm an information hoarder, and I don't act on any of it. So here we go. All right, general tips. Start small and use a timer. Here's what I mean. Start in one corner of your living room or wherever you hate that spot is. That's just a mess for me. I always start on my kitchen island because there's just this one spot that's covered in garbage. And say that you'll work on that space for five minutes. That's it. See how you feel after that. Set a timer. Make the timer. Be loud. If you have one of those AI assistants that you can talk to by saying their name, use that to time yourself. But let me tell you this.

00:21:10 - Jenny GK
You better say please and thank you, because when Skynet happens and the Terminator comes, you want them to spare you. Do you know how kind I am to those robots? Even if I use chat GBT, I'm.

00:21:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Like, will you please pretend you're the number one question that you need to ask on any chat GPT prompt at the end of it is, what else do you need from me to accomplish this task?

00:21:35 - Jenny GK
Nice.

00:21:36 - Caitlin Kindred
And it will tell you if you're missing anything. That's amazing anyway. And then I always end with, thank you so much.

00:21:41 - Jenny GK
I really appreciate your help. Because those robots, they're going to come through and they are going to harvest human souls, but they're going to look at me and be like, you're good. Thanks for being nice to us.

00:21:50 - Caitlin Kindred
This has been conspiracy theories by CK and GK, mostly GK, because she's crazy right now. This is not me perpetuating. I'm just telling you to use a timer. Okay, that was number eleven. The next one, number twelve, is that your new organization system? And I have this in the notes, and there's two little twinkle emojis on either side because it's like, ooh, organization system needs to account.

00:22:22 - Jenny GK
Yeah, you're so fancy with emojis in the notes.

00:22:24 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, I have a little thing on my keyboard that lets me just immediately find them. That's so fancy. Whatever you do, your new system needs to take into account anything that you use regularly because if you have to mess it up all the time just to get the things you use often, it's not going to last long. So here's what I mean by that. Most people do like with like, think about your bathroom. If you're somebody who has a lot of products, right? Like you put your hair stuff in one section and you have your face masks in another, and all of your lipstick is in one spot. And maybe you don't use lipstick or whatever. You know what I'm talking about? But what if you use the same hair product every single day and then you have to dig through all your other hair stuff just to find it? And then what if you use the same lipstick every single day and you have to dig through all your lipsticks just to find it? Why wouldn't you just create a category instead of like with like, why don't you create a category that is frequency of use? That's amazing. That's so smart. Put things together that you use all the time. Like for me, again, we know I love a lazy Susan. I have a really deep one in my bathroom and it's in my cabinet. And all of my morning skin stuff is in one of the sections. Every morning I will use those things and it's all grouped together. And then I have a section for my evening skin stuff. And then I have things that are grouped together with type. So I don't always use face masks. So I put all my face masks together, but I can still easily access them. It's just that the things I don't want to put lotions that I use every single day in with other lotions that I don't because I'm going to have to dig through all that stuff and mess up my organization system. So just consider when you categorize your things as like with like, consider possibly frequency of use as one of your categories.

00:24:17 - Jenny GK
I already did this and I didn't even think about it. I have all my daily wear makeup in one bag and then all my other makeup is just in a drawer. Right. But it never occurred to me that I'm sorting by frequency of use. It's more of just like this is what I wear every day and the rest of it is for fun.

00:24:36 - Caitlin Kindred
Exactly right. But that makes sense for so many.

00:24:40 - Jenny GK
Other things besides just getting ready in the morning.

00:24:42 - Caitlin Kindred
Exactly. Why are you putting all of your batteries in some hard to reach place? Because it looks nice there. Like. No, put them where you're going to need them all the time. Because if you're like me, the dinosaur toys never stop roaring in the house. So you have to have them easily accessible. Okay. My other two tips, I've got two more. One of them is, as you organize, you might feel two things. This is after you've gotten started, by the way. You might feel overwhelmed at first. That's a different thing. That's why we say start small and use a timer. But as you organize, you might feel these two things. One is the urge to label, and the other is the urge. Love me a good label. Right. And the other is the.

00:25:27 - Jenny GK
You gave me a label maker because.

00:25:28 - Caitlin Kindred
You know, it's so good. Okay, so the urge to label. The other is the urge to purge. You like that? My marketing.

00:25:38 - Jenny GK
Yeah, I want that on a t shirt.

00:25:41 - Caitlin Kindred
Go for it. But two things I'm going to say, here's your caveats about that with labeling. I would suggest that you use labels that are easy to remove, because it might be that you have this vision for how all of these things are going to come together. And you're going to use this cute little bin, and you're going to label it, and it's going to say paperclips. And then you find a crap ton of other paperclips and they don't fit in the bin. But you made a little bin and you've already labeled it. And so now you have to. Or you have to do something ugly that you're not going to like. Right. Because that's how I would function. I'd be like, I already mean the label. Now I have to pull it off, and it's ugly.

00:26:15 - Jenny GK
It's like my notebook. It's like my pretty notebook that I'm afraid to write in because I'll mess it up.

00:26:19 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:26:20 - Jenny GK
So now I have a blank notebook.

00:26:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Or you have the stickers and you're like, but what if I change my mind and I don't want the sticker on this. Yeah. Okay. So my suggestion is just use ones that are easy to remove or easy to wipe clean or something like that. So that if the space you intended to hold something doesn't work out, you don't have a like. And then it feels like a setback. Even though it's not that big of a deal. When you're already overwhelmed, it can feel like a big deal. And you feel frustrated by it. Okay. So that's one thing. My second thing is with the urge to purge, I would recommend setting up a little purgatory space. Or a bin. That's brilliant.

00:27:01 - Jenny GK
And that's what I do with the kids anyhow.

00:27:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:27:04 - Jenny GK
Like when I go through their stuff, I'll put it to the side, and if they ask about it, give it.

00:27:08 - Caitlin Kindred
A week, see what happens. Here you go. Exactly.

00:27:11 - Jenny GK
But if it doesn't get asked about.

00:27:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Bye. All right, so I think that one of the articles that I read called it a ripening bin. I didn't really like that name for it. That was weird. But I did like purgatory.

00:27:24 - Jenny GK
I like purgatory.

00:27:26 - Caitlin Kindred
I like that. That's clever. Sorry. So put the things that you're considering keeping, but you know, you probably don't need to keep. It's like that. Like those feelings. Put them in that bin and leave them for a set amount of time. Now, I'm not saying leave them for a month. That's too long. No, but I am saying maybe it's the next time, you know, you're going to have time on your calendar to organize. So maybe it's a week, right? Or maybe you're somebody who's got some time right now. So you set it for three days, and then after that certain amount of time, make it a calendar appointment so that you have that time blocked off and you don't forget. Then if you haven't taken it back out of the bin in that amount of time, then that item can go. But it's like the kid toy thing, you know, you have to stash it first before you can actually let it go. Do the same thing with your things because you might have that urge. So just keep that in mind as you're rapid fire throwing things into a trash can. Right. Okay, my last one. This is number 14.

00:28:31 - Jenny GK
Last one.

00:28:31 - Caitlin Kindred
We've talked about this one before. Take a cue from Casey Davis, who's a wonderful ADHD mom, counselor, therapist, has a great podcast introduced to me by fabulous creator. Take a cue from her and remember that cleaning is not equal to. Tidying is not equal to organizing. They are three different tasks. Cleaning is actually actively going in and removing dirt and grease and grime and germs. Tidying is picking things up and putting them back in their homes. Organizing is giving those things homes. Okay. Love it. They're not all the same, so don't try to tackle them all at once. It's not fair to you. You're going to go crazy and it's too overwhelming. So just start by doing one of those things. I highly recommend organizing and then tidying and then cleaning up, because it will just make your life feel less stressful. If you're not equating the three things. Cleaning is not tidying is not organizing. They are three separate things.

00:29:45 - Jenny GK
And I love that I have even started using that language at home. I'll be like, okay, we need to tidy this room.

00:29:51 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Tidy is very different from clean. And to me, you might look at a space and you're like, oh, my God, this space is a disaster. I need to clean it up. But what you mean is there's stuff everywhere. So what I need to do is tidy it up. And then anything that doesn't have a home yet, I need to organize those things into a home. And then it might not even be that dirty in your house. My house isn't dirty, but it isn't tidy. Right. They're two different things. Right. So just keep that in mind as you're doing well.

00:30:23 - Jenny GK
And also, I don't really want my kids to clean.

00:30:27 - Caitlin Kindred
No, I want them to tidy so that it can get clean. I want them to tidy. Yeah.

00:30:31 - Jenny GK
Because I've seen how kit cleans the bathroom.

00:30:37 - Caitlin Kindred
That's not working for me. That's pretty funny. Gross. Well, keep those in mind. All right, so 14 things.

00:30:45 - Jenny GK
It's too bad it's not time, because then we could use a fortnite to describe them. But Fortnite describes time, not lists.

00:30:52 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:30:53 - Jenny GK
So I was kind of excited about that.

00:30:55 - Caitlin Kindred
A baker's dozen plus one. Okay, there you go. 

00:31:01 - Jenny GK
All right, we'll take a break, and when we come back, you'll get to hear about what I'm obsessed about.

00:31:04 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. Ready? We are. And I want to know what you're obsessed with. Just tell me. Lay it on me. Okay, so right now, I'm, like, in.

00:31:15 - Jenny GK
Total science nerd mode, and I'm obsessed with the upcoming gut club.

00:31:19 - Caitlin Kindred
When is that again? April the eigth. Thank you. Okay.

00:31:23 - Jenny GK
And it's, depending on where you are in the country, sometime between 1230 central and four ish.

00:31:29 - Caitlin Kindred
In the morning or in the afternoon. During the day. During the day? Yeah.

00:31:33 - Jenny GK
Afternoon, afternoon. It would not be exciting if it was at night.

00:31:38 - Caitlin Kindred
Might be. I don't know. This is me being really dumb. I was asking the question because I really thought our listeners would need to know. But then, now that I'm thinking about what an eclipse actually is. We're talking about a solar eclipse, not lunar.

00:31:54 - Jenny GK
It happens.

00:31:55 - Caitlin Kindred
I swear I'm not dumb. Okay.

00:31:58 - Jenny GK
So I will tell you, like, I'm a total dork. We went in 2017. We drove to Nashville.

00:32:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Remember, to watch it live.

00:32:04 - Jenny GK
It was incredible. It was like one of the most spiritual moments of my entire life. Hanging above our fireplace, above the mantle, place of honor is a huge, like, 24 x 36 print of the sun from Nashville.

00:32:22 - Caitlin Kindred
That's cool. I didn't realize that's what that was. Awesome. Yeah.

00:32:25 - Jenny GK
So we bought it from a photographer who was taking it under the same near where we were, but we didn't take pictures because we just wanted to enjoy. But we, where we are in Texas will be in totality. So that means that the sun is going to be completely covered up and you get to see the corona. You can take your glasses off and look at it. And different parts of central Texas will have longer periods of totality. So I have actually taken the day off of work. We're going to travel to a place that has the most. And it's going to be four and a half minutes.

00:33:00 - Caitlin Kindred
Wow.

00:33:01 - Jenny GK
But that is not the most amount of time you can spend in totality.

00:33:04 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:33:06 - Jenny GK
That might be the most that you can without traveling. We are going to the center of the band.

00:33:10 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:33:11 - Jenny GK
Because I'm a dork. But there is a way for you to spend several hours in totality. What? Delta Airlines has scheduled flights that start in Dallas and end in Detroit and follow the band of where wild eclipse is traveling across the United States.

00:33:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Well done.

00:33:36 - Jenny GK
The first flight sold out in 24 hours.

00:33:38 - Caitlin Kindred
Of course it did.

00:33:40 - Jenny GK
The next flight, as I checked on March the third, the seats were $1,000 each.

00:33:48 - Caitlin Kindred
This is brilliant. This is a real.

00:33:51 - Jenny GK
But it is the most time that you can spend in totality.

00:33:54 - Caitlin Kindred
But can you even travel with the eclipse? Like, you can't see anything.

00:34:00 - Jenny GK
I have to imagine that they are like, scheduling flying at a height that you can, but, like, half the plane.

00:34:06 - Caitlin Kindred
Will be able to see. Okay. It's brilliant. Someone's going to just do it and be like, oh, I go to see. And it's going to be cool, but I can't imagine. All right. Right. So there you go. Okay.

00:34:17 - Jenny GK
$1,000. You could spend the most time possible. Otherwise you can do like me and just drive about 45 miles out of town and you are in the center of.

00:34:28 - Caitlin Kindred
I need to get the eclipse glasses, if I haven't already. I don't know where they are. We had.

00:34:32 - Jenny GK
Okay, yeah. If you don't have them, what you want to get. And this is so dorky and so nerdy and you can make fun of me for the rest of my life. It's fine. You will not be the first person for making fun of me for loving science, not even today. Okay, what you've got to get are welders goggles. Now, you don't want the welder's, like, shield that flips down over your face.

00:34:56 - Caitlin Kindred
That's a different thing.

00:34:58 - Jenny GK
But these are, like, steampunk esque goggles.

00:35:02 - Caitlin Kindred
I had in my head. Yes.

00:35:04 - Jenny GK
Okay, you want to get those, you can buy them on A to Z, and they're not labeled for eclipse viewing. They're just for welding. They're more expensive than the eclipse glasses. If you buy those little 3d movie glasses at the gas station, they're like $3, right? These are a little bit more, but because they have the elastic band around your head and they suction cup onto your eyeballs, you don't have to hold them.

00:35:31 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, that's nice.

00:35:32 - Jenny GK
You don't have to position them. You don't have to worry about accidentally looking at the sun because they don't cover your whole eye. These frog eye things are killer. We used them for the eclipse in the fall.

00:35:46 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, yeah, we saw that one, too. But we had the paper glasses. Yeah, right.

00:35:51 - Jenny GK
We used them then. And I was like, okay, these are killer. They're super nerdy. You look like a frog man, but they are so worth it.

00:35:59 - Caitlin Kindred
All right, I'm down. I'll take a look. If they're not wildly expensive, then I'll get myself a pair.

00:36:05 - Jenny GK
I don't think they are, because we have four pairs. I can't imagine that John bought something.

00:36:09 - Caitlin Kindred
That was, like, good to know. All right, well, that's awesome. I'm going to take it down a notch and just appreciate the small things in life. And you had an obsession with fruit fairly recently.

00:36:23 - Jenny GK
Oh, you know, I'm still in it. They sell them at Costco now.

00:36:27 - Caitlin Kindred
Sumo oranges, guys. She came to my house.

00:36:30 - Jenny GK
I sure did. And when I gave it, I gave it to Bryce, and I was like, don't even tell her I'm here.

00:36:34 - Caitlin Kindred
Just give her this orange. I don't know what I would think. I was working. I was still doing work for something, and he came in and he was like, yeah, I have an orange for you. And I just went, first of all, I knew you were going to do that. I didn't know when you were going to do it, but I knew you were going to do it. And then I was just, like, holding this orange while I'm in a meeting. Okay, but mine right now, if I can't get my hands on a suitable orange. I'm eating an ever crisp apple. This is like, okay, how is this different than honey crisp? Honey crisp, we all know, are, like, the size of your head. They're, like, bigger than a soft, and they're, like, 22, 50, and they're 250 each. Each. Now, granted, one of them is probably two days worth of apples. Right? It's a lot. An evercrisp is a little.

00:37:24 - Jenny GK
I'm side eyeing because I eat a.

00:37:25 - Caitlin Kindred
Whole one in a day. I don't even. But an ever crisp is, like, a little bit more tart, which is what I like. I am a green apple person. I love the tartness of them. So it's a little bit more tart. And they're smaller. So it's like, you still get the same coloring on the outside, that red and green kind of. Yeah, it's really pretty looking, but they're just smaller and they're better priced. They're, like, a dollar 13 per apple. Okay. It's a big deal when you eat, like, an apple every single day, like I do, because that's my obsession right.

00:38:01 - Jenny GK
Now, is you got to keep the doctor.

00:38:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, yeah. But also, this is my hyper fixation food, and I'll probably be sick of it in a little while. So I'll buy a bunch, and then I'll decide I just can't eat it right now. And then they'll just sit in like I do with grapes. The other one is also wasabi peas. I don't eat them together because that would be gross. But I really love, like, wasabi trail mix right now, and wasabi peas are my favorite part.

00:38:26 - Jenny GK
They're so good.

00:38:26 - Caitlin Kindred
I love them. And they're not even, like, people are so spicy. No, it's not. It's not spicy for me. It's a different kind of hot.

00:38:33 - Jenny GK
People want spicy.

00:38:34 - Caitlin Kindred
It's a different kind of hot. It's not like some people take a.

00:38:37 - Jenny GK
Spoonful of horseradish in the mornings because of their allergies.

00:38:40 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. I also have been very into, like, cinnamon gum. Like, big red and hot tamales are big for me right now, but these are much better. Wait, sorry.

00:38:52 - Jenny GK
Hot tamales are really big for me.

00:38:54 - Caitlin Kindred
I love hot tamales. Do you eat them? Do you like hot tamales? No. You're missing out. No.

00:38:59 - Jenny GK
I also don't eat takis.

00:39:01 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, I don't eat takis either. That's too much for me. It's not that it's too much, like, hot. It's just that it's too messy. And I feel like I'm really, really tearing my body apart, even though hot savales have that probably that red chemical that's really bad for you. Like Skittles do, right? Doesn't matter. Okay, gem of the week. Let's hear it. All right.

00:39:19 - Jenny GK
So I read this book that was about 40 day fast, and it's not like not eating for 40 days. It's like a pattern, right? Like you eat this and then you don't. And then you do water this day, and then this day you do intermittent fasting for 16 hours. Whatever.

00:39:36 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:39:37 - Jenny GK
And I was, like, all set to do it. I had read the first part of it all, the science and everything. And then the second part of the.

00:39:45 - Caitlin Kindred
Book is the actual plan.

00:39:48 - Jenny GK
And I went through and read the plan and it was like, not going to work for me.

00:39:52 - Caitlin Kindred
Good.

00:39:52 - Jenny GK
It was just not right for me. Right for a lot of people. And again, proven with science, but it was just not going to work for me. And I looked at my husband and said, I don't want to do this book.

00:40:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Then don't do it. Am I a quitter? No, you're not a quitter.

00:40:07 - Jenny GK
You never started.

00:40:08 - Caitlin Kindred
See, right. There you go. Perfect. A non starter. I'm into it. No, you're not a quitter. And also, I actually think that you did the right thing here, which was looking at something and going, this is not something that I can handle for whatever reason. Either I don't feel good about it or it's too much or it's going to make me feel stressed.

00:40:35 - Jenny GK
Yeah, no, it totally makes sense. But it was just such a swing in calories. Like, there's one day where you're eating like 20% fat and then another day where you're eating like 70% fat and 2000 calories one day and then 500 the next. I can't do this to my body. It doesn't make sense.

00:40:54 - Caitlin Kindred
I don't like that. So I'm glad you made a choice for yourself. That was a healthy one. That's great. Okay, here's mine. I had to tell my masseur, my massage therapist, the other day, which, by the way, I haven't been able to get a massage. It's now March, and I hadn't been able to get one since November because they're so far booked out. So it's not like I'm like, oh, my massage therapist. It was like, no, I finally got an appointment and I'm the one who books them while I'm there so that I can try and get on the calendar. Otherwise, I won't call because I just have problems with calling, apparently. But anyway, I had to tell my massage therapist that I fell off the toilet.

00:41:34 - Jenny GK
Wait, what?

00:41:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Off the toilet?

00:41:37 - Jenny GK
You fell off the toilet?

00:41:38 - Caitlin Kindred
Not the way that you think. Okay, so let me explain.

00:41:43 - Jenny GK
Maybe we need to practice sitting.

00:41:44 - Caitlin Kindred
No. Good. I promise. What happened was I have, like many, been impacted by the ADHD medication shortage, which means I get random bursts of energy when my body just tells me I have to do something. So what happened was on Monday of this week, we finally got some shelves installed in our house. And there was dust from the walls, right, from all the anchors and all that stuff. So I started to vacuum that out, and then I got on a cleaning rampage, and I was in the bathroom, and there's new shelves in the bathroom. And so I was cleaning up all the dust from the bathroom, and I looked up and my ceiling vent, where you suck all the humidity out of your bathroom, was disgusting. Oh, they get gross because they get wet. And then all the dust sticks and all the dirt sticks. It's nasty. And this one, for whatever reason, it does come out. I could have taken it down, but I couldn't take it down all the way. And I'm not tall enough to see what I needed to do to unhook it to be able to pull it off. Okay. So I had to leave it there. So I had my vacuum. I'm like sucking all of the dust, but in order to reach it, I had to stand on the toilet. So I'm standing on the toilet, like, with my arms up in the air vacuuming this thing and then using.

00:43:08 - Jenny GK
Please tell me that when you fell off, you hit your head.

00:43:13 - Caitlin Kindred
No.

00:43:14 - Jenny GK
And thought of the flux capacitor and invented time travel.

00:43:19 - Caitlin Kindred
No, I am not that smart. But what I did do was I started to use a.

00:43:26 - Jenny GK
Got a friend falling off a torry.

00:43:29 - Caitlin Kindred
I was using your head doesn't invent time travel. A cleaning wipe to wipe off all of the caked on kind of dirt. And I having to open up the cabinet, get another wipe, close the cabinet. So finally I just went, I'm going to leave the cabinet open. But what I didn't think about was how when I'm standing on the toilet and the cabinet door, they're really kind of close to each other. And in an effort to miss the cabinet door, when I stepped down, I hit my knee on the, like, you know those really gross, like, Mitch McConnell bruise hands. Yes. Like voldemort hands. That's what it looked like. And it's as big as a baseball. It looks like I got hit in the leg with a baseball. It's really bad.

00:44:20 - Jenny GK
But I league of their own style.

00:44:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, yeah. Like on the inside of my knee.

00:44:25 - Jenny GK
You know, that was a real bruise.

00:44:26 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, that thing.

00:44:28 - Jenny GK
Yeah, she actually got hurt.

00:44:31 - Caitlin Kindred
And they were like, oh, let's write this into the script. All right.

00:44:35 - Jenny GK
Anyway, back to you falling off the.

00:44:38 - Caitlin Kindred
My massage therapist is working on my leg and he's like, what happened here? And I just went. I fell off the toilet. I was like, what? And I basically had to tell him the same story that I told you. And he was just like, can I tell people that you fell off the toilet? And I was like, I won't use your, but I have a podcast. And I was just like, yeah, just tell, just tell. It's fine. You can tell anyone you want that you have a client who fell off the toilet.

00:45:20 - Jenny GK
So when I was 17, I had to get a physical for some camp I was going to to get in to see a doctor on base. It was taking forever. So we just went to one of these dock in a box clinics.

00:45:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:45:35 - Jenny GK
And said, okay, we'll just pay the $59 and get the physical. I am covered, like torso to mid thigh in big quarter size welp bruises.

00:45:48 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, no.

00:45:50 - Jenny GK
The doctor asked my mom to leave.

00:45:52 - Caitlin Kindred
The room because, remember, I'm 17, not 18 exactly.

00:45:55 - Jenny GK
He asked my mom to leave the room and he says, we need to talk about this. What's going on at home? Why are you covered in bruises?

00:46:00 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:46:01 - Jenny GK
And I had to tell him I really like playing paintball. And I've been lying and saying I'm 18 so I could play without an adult.

00:46:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Please don't tell anyone. That's hysterical. I bet that doctor was so relieved. Yeah.

00:46:21 - Jenny GK
He was like, oh. I said, yeah, the paintballs come at 300ft/second and they leave bruises all over your body. You end up looking like a Dalvatian.

00:46:30 - Caitlin Kindred
But I love it. Oh, my gosh.

00:46:35 - Jenny GK
He's like, okay, you can go to camp.

00:46:36 - Caitlin Kindred
Get out of here. If you're well enough to play paintball, you're probably well enough to handle. Oh, my goodness. That doctor must have been relieved. But I'm sure the massage therapist was like, this is bad. What is wrong? Really ugly bruise. It's gross. It was like blue for a little while and then it turned purple and now it's like greenish yellow and it's not a good one. I don't know if you've learned this.

00:47:04 - Jenny GK
About your body, but I have noticed that as I get older, bruises last longer.

00:47:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, and I've always been slow to heal. It's like a fair skin thing, but also. Yeah, it's nasty. It's going to be there for a.

00:47:15 - Jenny GK
While, so maybe you really are magically delicious.

00:47:18 - Caitlin Kindred
Maybe the colors of the baby. Because I'm nice and I got the red everywhere, but I also have yellow, green, purple and blue on my leg. It. It fell off the toilet. All right, it's time.

00:47:36 - Jenny GK
Okay, so I'm supposed to say make good choices. You are, but you fell off the toilet.

00:47:43 - Caitlin Kindred
I think I'm going to say don't stand on the toilet to clean your air vent, because that's not a good choice. I did not listen to you. All right, y'all. Bye.