Life Made Simple with CarlaRae

Today we look at a popular notion that I've seen many times in the field of home organizing and simple living. It's the idea that frugality and minimalism go hand in hand... I have to say I've seen these two terms tossed around together quite often.

The truth is, while there can be a little overlap and these two terms can in some ways be combined, their meanings are very different. On our quest to find simplicity in our lives, it is so important to understand the difference between these two concepts and how they can actually at times either complement each other or clash.

Links Mentioned in this Show:

Episode #15: Do You Have A "Just In Case" Mentality?

Share this Episode: CarlaRaeArneson.com/episode109

Share this Podcast: LifeMadeSimplePodcast.com

Simplicity University: SimplicityU.com

Free Guide: "9 Ways to Simplify Your Life"

Or send a text to 44222 with the word 9SIMPLIFY

Free Download: "5 Steps to Organizing Your Home"

Or send a text to 44222 with the word ORGANIZE

Website: CarlaRaeArneson.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/CarlaRaeArneson

Submit Questions: CarlaRaeArneson.com/AskCarlaRae

Around this time last year, my son was starting kindergarten. As a home organizer, I naively thought that I was completely prepared for the school year. Boy, was I wrong! After the first week I was so overwhelmed.

No one warned me. There was so much to do! And it was unbelievable how much stuff came home every day in his backpack... letters from the teacher, from the principal, flyers, stuff to fill out, supplies to buy, things to sign, events I needed to put in the calendar, and meetings to arrange. And that was only the half of it.

I was also overwhelmed with how much school work he would bring home to show me. And since I'm so sentimental, in the beginning I kept most of it.

I've had many clients with school aged children and I've helped many of them organize their homework areas, figure out their schedules, and so on. I figured it was going to be easy peasy for me to transition into a new schedule. But until I was actually a parent of a school aged child, I had no idea how much time, energy, and space it was all going to take up in my life.

After I spent the first couple weeks in shock and survival mode, I finally got a grip and developed new routines, rituals and habits that helped our mornings and afternoons go more smoothly.

I also figure out really great systems that helped me to manage the piles of papers and to-dos that flooded our dining room table.

So, this year, for Levi's first week of 1st grade I was totally prepared! I knew exactly what to expect. While it is still a drastic change from our summer routine and kind of a shock to the system in a way, I can confidently say, I've got this!

Unfortunately, I know that there are many other parents out there who are still drowning in the back to school chaos and craziness. I've actually had a handful of listeners reach out to me this month sharing just how stressful the back to school season is for them and asking for some tips and advice.

So, for this episode of Life Made Simple, I share with you some of the organizing tips and routines that we've implemented in our own family that can help get the school year off to a good start for you and your family. While the tips and strategies I give you are mainly geared towards children in elementary school you can still get a lot from this episode even if you have older kids.

Links Mentioned in this Show:

Episode #63: You Need More Margin Time (CarlaRae Confesses)

Share this Episode: CarlaRaeArneson.com/episode101

Share this Podcast: LifeMadeSimplePodcast.com

Simplicity University: SimplicityU.com

Free Guide: "9 Ways to Simplify Your Life"

Or send a text to 44222 with the word 9SIMPLIFY

Free Download: "5 Steps to Organizing Your Home"

Or send a text to 44222 with the word ORGANIZE

Website: CarlaRaeArneson.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/CarlaRaeArneson

Submit Questions: CarlaRaeArneson.com/AskCarlaRae

Life is messy. It's chaotic. And sometimes it's overwhelming. By clearing out the clutter in all areas of life, we can somehow find peace, happiness, and freedom. But it's a journey that takes time and effort. And to help you on this journey, through this show, I want to offer you all the tips, techniques and action plans that I've successfully taught all my home organizing clients over the years and have also implemented in my own life.

But, like I've mentioned before in previous episodes, a good action plan is not always enough. Many other experts in the field agree that success - in anything in life - is only 20% strategy and 80% psychology.

You not only need good strategies and action plans to simplify your life, but you need good mindsets and discipline to actually implement those strategies.

Which is why on this show, I put a lot of emphasis on not just practical tips and techniques, but also on the psychology behind it all.

Motivation is key. We all must learn how to get motivated and how to stay motivated. You can have a good action plan to change your life, but if you don't have the motivation to do so, the action plan is useless.

But, motivation doesn't always just happen naturally. Back in episode #51, I explained how it's almost impossible to wake up every day feeling motivated to reach all your goals and aspirations in life. You can't wait to feel motivated every day. You can't wait for motivation to find you. You need to find motivation!

And how can you do that? Well, you need to surround yourself with motivational people and things. Daily personal development is one way to do that.

Some people call it self-improvement, some call it self-help, or personal growth, self-actualization, self-transcendence, or even spirituality. Whatever you want to call it, it's about setting time aside for reading books, listening to podcasts like this one, listening to audio books, or reading blogs that help motivate and inspire you to become a better person and live your best life.

We all must make personal development a daily habit. Personal Development, of any kind is one nonnegotiable habit that you need to intentionally engage in every day... even when you don't feel like it. And if you do, I promise you, it will completely change your life.

I know... for some of you the idea of "personal development" seems boring and unnecessary, but it's actually a secret to success for many people out there who are living very abundant lives. And it's so easy to do! And it doesn't have to take up much time. Even just 5-10 minutes is enough.

If you want more info and specific ideas on what to do for personal development, go back and check Episode #9 of Life Made Simple.

So in honor of our 100th episode of Life Made Simple I want to encourage and challenge you, if you haven't already, intentionally make personal development a daily habit.

Links Mentioned in this Show:

Share this Episode: CarlaRaeArneson.com/episode100

Share this Podcast: LifeMadeSimplePodcast.com

Simplicity University: SimplicityU.com

Free Guide: "9 Ways to Simplify Your Life"

Or send a text to 44222 with the word 9SIMPLIFY

Free Download: "5 Steps to Organizing Your Home"

Or send a text to 44222 with the word ORGANIZE

Website: CarlaRaeArneson.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/CarlaRaeArneson

Submit Questions: CarlaRaeArneson.com/AskCarlaRae

Today I am a mother of a 6 year old. Tomorrow, I will be the mother of a 7 year old. Yes... tomorrow my son, Levi, turns 7 and I feel like my little baby boy is growing up way too fast!

For last week's episode of Life Made Simple I shared with you how crazy busy my life has been this summer. And I have to be honest, my son's birthday tomorrow is becoming a real eye opener for me. I know it's a cliché, but life is short. And sometimes when life gets crazy busy it's easy to rush through it all forgetting about the little things in life that make it worth living.

As you know, I'm on a quest to simplify my life. Like I always say, I want to focus on what really matters and somehow let go of the rest. And for my husband and I, our son is what really matters. I want to soak up every little moment of these few precious years of his childhood. Because one day they will be gone and he'll be an adult... I am so desperate to wrap up every special moment and hang on to them forever!

On this episode of Life Made Simple, I go over a list with you that I stumbled across a few months ago on a blog written by Erica Layne. I love it so much and have read it many times to myself.

"32 Ways To Savor Your Children While You Have Them" (by Erica Layne)

1. Watch them when they sleep.
2. Inhale them after they bathe.
3. Steal some extra time brushing your child’s hair. She says (A wet brush is a must!) Keep on brushing it straight through the teen years.
4. Read the heartfelt things your kids write about you and let them sink in. (When our kids give us valentines or birthday cards, are we really taking their words in? It’s time to start.)
5. Break a personal parenting rule or two.
6. Be silly. Sing at the top of your lungs in the car, dance in the grocery store, pull a harmless prank.
7. Let them climb into bed with you (sometimes).
8. Don’t round UP on their ages. She says, even if your child turns 7 in two months, keep thinking of him as 6. There’s need to hurry childhood along, right?
9. Fill your home with photos of them.
10. Practice living simply so your mind is clearer, which—in my case—helps me experience more moments as they come.
11. See your children through a camera lens.
12. Capture not just their milestones but the scenes you see every single day.
13. Choose one thing you can accept, rather than tolerate. Letting go can alleviate so much agitation.
14. When they’re hurting, try to place yourself in a similar situation from your past and really remember what it felt like to be where they are.
15. Prop your phone camera up and use the time lapse feature to record a family meal or a homework session. Looking at it later will help you appreciate the beautiful chaos of raising children.
16. Watch them closely when their minds are fully engaged in something they love.
17. Do something for you. Often. “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”
18. Climb under some blankets and read to them. (And for those moments, choose not to let it bother you when you get sat on and accidentally elbowed a dozen times during your reading session.)
19. Get rid of guilt. It’s clouding your view.
20. Regularly take some time to remember your childhood. It’ll help you better appreciate theirs.
21. Claim for yourself and your family a distraction-free block of time. A morning with your laptop closed, an afternoon away from your phone... you get the idea.
22. Figure out and focus on what and who really matters to you.
23. Make it your goal for a day to double the amount of eye contact you have with your children.
24. When you pack away a size of clothing your child has outgrown, make a little ritual of remembering this last stage and how quickly it passed.
25. Take more video footage!
26. Build yourself a supportive village. Not a lot of “savoring” goes on when you’re parenting on an island (because Too much energy is going to survival).
27. Organize some one-on-one dates with your children.
28. If your child is old enough to text, take screen shots of cute text conversations you exchange.
29. If hurrying makes you agitated, try building more free space into your schedule so you don’t have to rush so much between activities.
30. Snuggle up with them for movie time. We do that a lot in our house.
31. Listen.
32. Experience something new with them—something they’ve never seen.

Links Mentioned in this Show:

Episode #63: You Need More Margin Time (CarlaRae Confesses)

Share this Episode: CarlaRaeArneson.com/episode95

Share this Podcast: LifeMadeSimplePodcast.com

Simplicity University: SimplicityU....

I have something to share that I am so incredibly excited about! So I decided to release a bonus episode with all the details.

I created Simplicity University as an online school to offer a variety of digital courses and workshops to help you organize your home and simplify your life.

Each course can be taken in your own time, while in your own home, and can be completed at your own pace. It's definitely unlike anything you've seen before! They'll include videos, audio clips, worksheets, and other helpful downloads. The courses are compiled of modules and lessons that are specially designed to inspire and motivate you.

Over the last few years, I’ve been creating my first signature course, Organizing Basics 101: Mindsets & Action Plans To Simplify Your Home. It is now in the final stages of production. For a limited time, we will be opening up pre-enrollment for this course at a huge discount (over 50% off).

We are also offering a GOGO special... “Get One, Give One!” You can pre-register for the course yourself AND buy one at 75% off to gift to a friend.

Just go to SimplicityU.com for more details.

Subscribe!

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to the show to stay updated on all our new episodes. You can also visit (or share) our website at LifeMadeSimplePodcast.com or CarlaRaeArneson.com.

And feel free to subscribe to our mailing list! Don’t worry, we promise to keep you email safe.

Do you have any questions, comments, or do you just want to say hi? Click here to send a private message on the “Ask CarlaRae” page of our website.

Free Resources:

Free Guide: "9 Ways to Simplify Your Life"

Or send a text to 44222 with the word 9SIMPLIFY

Free Download: "5 Steps to Organizing Your Home"

Or send a text to 44222 with the word ORGANIZE

Links Mentioned in this Episode (and other fun ones to check out!):

Simplicity University: SimplicityU.com

Share this Episode: CarlaRaeArneson.com/bonus-episode

Let’s Connect!

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Facebook.com/CarlaRaeArneson