How to Get (and Stay) Organized—Without Overwhelm with Professional Organizer Julia Goldberg

Your home should be a place of peace, but when clutter takes over, it can feel anything but calming (trust me, I’ve been there!). If you're constantly battling mess and disorganization, you’re not alone—but did you know your environment has a bigger impact on your well-being than you might realize? A disorganized space doesn’t just affect how your home looks—it affects how you feel every single day.

In this episode, I sit down with Julia Goldberg, professional organizer and founder of Love It and Label It, who has completely transformed my own home. We talk about the powerful connection between organization and wellbeing, simple steps to declutter without overwhelm, and how to create a space that supports your health. If you’re ready to bring more peace and order into your home (without judgment or perfectionism!), this episode is for you.

References

Learn more about The 30/30 Program

Connect with Julia:

Website: https://www.loveitandlabelit.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/love.it.and.label.it/

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@loveitandlabelit

Audio Stamps

00:00 - Dr. Rentea shares that the April round of The 30/30 Program is now open for enrollment (see here for more details).

04:25 - We learn more about today’s guest, Julia Goldberg, who is a professional organizer and owner of Love It and Label It.

06:13 - Julia reveals some of the most common areas in people's homes that tend to get the most cluttered.

07:56 - Julia recommends the best place to start if you’re feeling overwhelmed about how to better organize your home.

10:20 - We learn some of the biggest mistakes people make when trying  to organize their home and how to solve it.

14:32 - Julia talks about the importance of helping people work within their capabilities and the way that their mind works.

16:40 - We hear important tips about how to maintain organization systems that have been put in place.

19:55 - Dr. Rentea asks Julia how better organization can have a positive impact on people’s health.

22:20 - Julia discusses strategies for dealing with items that may have an emotional attachment.

27:50 - We hear Julia’s top tips for someone who's starting on this journey of decluttering their home.

32:40

All of the information on this podcast is for general informational purposes only. Please talk to your physician and medical team about what is right for you. No medical advice is being on this podcast.

If you live in Indiana or Illinois and want to work with doctor Matthea Rentea, you can find out more on www.RenteaClinic.com

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April 30/30 registration.

Transcript

0:29

Welcome back to another episode of the podcast, everybody. We have a really inaugural episode today. I don't know if you can believe that after five years of me podcasting, I have never interviewed someone in person. So I am super excited. I have Julia next to me. She is a professional organizer. She has been helping to absolutely transform my home. And the reason I brought her on, you know, if you're a long time listener, you know that We don't just talk about metabolic medications and, how to do lifestyle change. Ultimately, your home and where you're living has a really big impact on your physical health as well. And we've talked in previous episodes about how there are studies that show if your environment's really cluttered and it causes stress for you, your cortisol is higher. So So There's a real relationship to physical space and both mental and emotional and physical health. And so as I've been working with her, I thought, well, let's get you on the podcast because everyone has these struggles. I mean, when you came in, I know I said, Oh my gosh, don't judge these spaces. You were like, listen, this is, everyone has this. You're not alone. So I'm going to start out, Juliet, can you tell everybody who you are a little bit about how you help people just so people have some context?, yes, thank you so much for inviting me to do this. I haven't been on a podcast before, so this is new territory for me too. My name is Julia Goldberg. I'm the owner of Love It and Label It, professional organizing. So, I not only do home organizing, but also small businesses. There's just a lot of places that people don't have the time, and so they need to hire somebody to help them., I've been in business for, actually three years. So, and the name of my company is Love It and Label It, which is basically my philosophy on organizing. So, I tell people to only keep things in your home that you love and that you use. And then to keep it organized, you have to label everything. Okay. That is so true. When I've been seeing how you have been doing stuff, I'm realizing when it has a home, when I know where things are going, it's so much easier. But it's interesting. I know you've had your business for three years, but you told me when we were talking even before that, that you were always the person, am I getting this right? Where you said that they would bring you into a space and be like, what do we do with this? Like every job, anywhere you were, they. Yes, absolutely. Every job I've ever had, I've been the one who has tackled the rooms or the. Closets or storage areas that nobody else wanted to or nobody had time to and so I was always the one I worked at a symphony. I ended up organizing their library of music and they were like, Oh, great. Yeah, let's have you do that. And I was like, yay, fun. And then I worked at a church for 10 years and I organized basically every space in there. And it's just something that I've always gravitated towards. Oh, that's so good. So, what's interesting is when I hired her, I thought, Oh, some of these areas can't be fixed. for example, think like a closet underneath a staircase where there's an angle to the little shelf above and she just has answers to everything. So I figured let's start out with,, what are some of the most common areas in people's homes that Oh, that's good. tend to get most cluttered and most overwhelmed and do you see areas where everyone struggles the most with these areas or is it just universally we struggle with all of it? Yes, I do feel like that there's certain areas that become really common for people. I looked last year at the spaces that I organized and I counted the number of areas that I organized for different people and closets were the number one. And I really think it's closets because it's easy to shove stuff in and close the door. And then you don't see it. Or a lot of people, you walk in their house and it's immaculate and they're like, don't open that closet. Because people just shove stuff in there, out of sight, out of mind, close the door, and now I handled it, you know. But as soon as you open it, something might fall out and hit you. So I feel like closets are big, garages are big, because it's the place where you just put stuff that doesn't have room in the house. And it ends up being random catch all of the stuff they get dirty really easily and then you don't want to deal with anything. Garages are tough. And I feel like any drop zone area. So anywhere where you are coming in your house, you're dropping your purse, you're dropping the mail, your keys, kids backpacks. All that kind of stuff. That ends up being the place where you put Library books that have to be taken back, where you put Amazon returns that sit there for a month, you know, everybody has those spaces, I think those are really tough too, because that's the place where you put stuff that you don't know where to put anywhere else, but you need to do something with it. Yeah, now that you're saying that, I really realize those are all the things, right? Because you want it to look presentable, but it's like so fake, right? That's like the classic, we just want it to look a certain way., When you notice this, right, you come into someone's home or someone's listening at home and they might DIY this if they don't hire an organizer, which I highly recommend, by the way. So they're sitting there, they're really overwhelmed. Where do you recommend that they start? Because I feel like we've mentioned a bunch of different places. This is a, like, a lot that I'm asking in this question, but it's like, is there a place that's best to start where people maybe get the most bang for their buck? Or is there something that's least overwhelming? Or do you have, a process? Because I feel like if I wouldn't have had you, I didn't understand how easy it could be. Well, I'm gonna say this laughing. I'm laughing. She's done all the work, but when I say easy, I'm like, oh, I feel like you take the stuff out, you organize it, we figure out what we throw out, what we donate, whatever. or actually where the home belongs, and then it's easy to put stuff back, like you said, that you love, that you organize, but I would not have known that without you. So where can people start where it's easy, they can get the most out of it, or how can they tackle this? I know it's a huge question. So I usually guide people to start in a small space. If they say, I need help in my whole kitchen, I have this closet in the entryway, we have the garage. I usually guide them to start in the closet or something that is small because what that does is it gives you a manageable area to start with and then you can get it done quickly and you see the impact quickly and it gives you motivation to do more. So I always tell people to start with a smaller area first and then you kind of get the feel for what you're doing and you get excited that it's done. Oh, that's really good. Yeah, because it's so funny, like what you're talking about. I talk a lot about, James Clear Atomic Habits 1 percent upgrades where it's like, hey, what's the smallest step toward you actually getting started on it, right? Because a lot of us, we over index how much it's going to take. We get into overwhelm, then we don't even start it. So when you're talking about, okay, find a small area, make it manageable, uh, Get it done quickly so you can see it. I know when I started to, so I kind of got into minimalism, I don't know, about five years ago. And what was funny is, I found the right person to start with, the minimal mom. Because she was like, look, do not take everything out and you're overwhelmed. You don't know what to do with everything. She's like, take a trash bag, start with throwing the trash out. Then, because the worst thing is you get tired and exhausted and then everything's out. And you're like, now it's even worse than when I started. Right? So, okay, so that's amazing advice. So if you're sitting there. and you're overwhelmed, you don't know where to start. What's one of the, kind of one of the smallest things you can start with? What do you think would be some of the biggest mistakes that people make when they try to organize and how do you think they could solve it? Because I mean like people try to do this all the time, right? So the biggest mistake I see from people, they call me in when they have already tried usually and it hasn't worked. The biggest mistake I see is that people, by organizing material, without thinking about where it's gonna go or measuring their space. So they're at Target, at Walmart, at the container store and they're like, Ooh, I like that bin. That's pretty. I could use that somewhere. And then they get home and they use it in a random spot. And then. It's not working. Well, because you didn't look through the area and figure out what needs to happen in the area. You need to pull everything out eventually. Yes, I know that step is the hardest, but you do have to pull everything out. And figure out what needs to go back and how and what kind of system works for your family. And then you need to figure out what type of bins will work for that type of system. So you need to measure your space. That's the hard part. People don't enjoy measuring and calculating how many bins will fit across the shelf. They just want to go to the store and buy some and hope that they fit. But that's what gets you into trouble. That's where hiring a professional organizer can help because I can measure and I know the products that are out there and I can suggest things that I know are good and that will fit in the space so that it functions the best. It's funny, when you mentioned measuring, I'm like, that's the last, that's like the last thing I want to do. I'm like, where's the tape measure? I don't know, but maybe, let's see if we can do this. You have this notebook that you use and I've seen you take the cutest notes and I've been like, oh my God, I want to like take a picture of it and put it on social. She's like, she's laughing, but I'm wondering if maybe there's a picture from when we've been working together, we can put it in the show notes for this episode so people can see. I have been so impressed. Guys, if you're listening, it's like she has the room, the measurement, what it is. So there is a real process. And so I think that's a really big tip though, because I'm a million percent guilty. I'm just at Target throwing random stuff in the cart. It doesn't fit. Like I'll be like, Oh, that's a good toy bin. And it doesn't like the door is banging because it's too big. Now that I'm thinking about what you talk about. So, and it's true. I have tried stuff before. I haven't not tried things. You know, the other thing too that. I've been shocked with working with you is that you know how, how to label stuff. So I want to give a little example of people where in my closet I kept trying to put, like when I would travel, I would have a little makeup bag where I'd put my stuff together or I would have, you know, I'd have like these different things that would go with travel, but I kept reputting them in different places and it didn't make sense. And you got in there and you were like, let's just put this all in one bin. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that way when I'm traveling in two weeks, it's all together. So it's also learning that. Did you learn that over time or what? Are there like people that you followed that have good strategies with that? Or is that just intuitive for you, I feel like it's. Kind of just intuitive. I don't know where it comes from, actually, but it also depends on the people that you're working with. Some people want things labeled very specifically and some people do better with broader labels. So instead of putting things into like, these are my travel toiletry bags, these are my travel toiletries. Like, some people are just like, travel, put it all in one, you know? So it, it also depends on the people that you're working with. Okay. That's a really good point that you bring that up because I am definitely my brain thinks either lumper splitter based on what you're saying with the how it's organized. I am definitely a lumper. Like I want everything together. I don't want to have to think too much about where stuff goes. I'm not a micro organizer in any sense. And also, okay, this is I know we're We'll get back to some main questions, but I really appreciated, you went in my stepson's room and he has some specific requirements that we needed and you were really, you just sat there and really thought like what would work best for him. It wasn't just like, well, it's a closet, so we're just going to put XYZ. You were really like, what does this person need? I feel like that's the step that people are missing when it comes to health or anything. They don't think, what's my personality? What would work for me? I feel like often it's this Pinterest, Instagram, this is this idealized thing that, those people get all the traction. But in our life, that might completely not be the thing that works. Do you ever have to get people past, what they think versus what actually could work for them? Do people ever have trouble with that? Wanting it to look a certain way versus what would actually work?. Yeah, to an extent. I mean, there are some people who I know that are going to want things just for the aesthetic and that's fine if that's what they want. That's great. I'll do that for them. But then there are some people who just really need a solution. And, for those things you have to work within their abilities or their capabilities or the way that their mind works. So if you have somebody that, is not gonna decant cereal, that's fine. I just need to know that. I don't want to decant either, but there are some people that love that. They love the look of it. That's great. We'll do that But then there are some people who I would rather you'd be flat honest and say I will not decant my cereal And then i'm like great. Okay, we'll put the cereal box On the shelf then we don't need a container for it So you have to be honest with yourself about what you're willing to maintain because that is the biggest part of staying organized It's it's like exercising. I tell people it's not One and done like you have to keep on top of it. You have to keep maintaining what you've already done so if it's not It's not a system that works for the way you think and the way you run your house, you're not going to be able to maintain it. You have to have something set up that is going to work for the people that you live with and yourself. So that you can keep it the way that it is when I leave your house. I feel so called out by this. Because when you were talking about, just be honest if you don't want to decant. You know, I went through this phase where I went to Costco, bought the set. You know how they sell things in like hundred packs there. And I was like, I'm gonna, all the chips, all the cereal, everything. Everyone's gonna be able to see it. We're gonna be, it's gonna be so great. What ended up happening, no one was refilling them, stuff was getting soggy and old, I just had no idea anymore, like sometimes I wanted to know the nutrition, guess what, the box was gone, right? There were so many things and I just got honest, donated those and moved on. That's so interesting that you say that. I'm just laughing, you have to be honest. Yes, we are all not honest. And actually this brings up a good point, because I was going to ask you this later, but it's, we're just naturally there. Let's say that people, they have started to do a method. Let's say they've gotten their house under control. Maybe they've hired someone or they've kind of, you know, every single day they've done a little bit and it is now how they want. How do you recommend that people maintain it? Cause I feel like with you, I was even like, do you have a maintenance plan because I'm like, I want to make sure that this sticks around. How do people know it's not working by the way? At what point are you like this system failed? So that, and how do you maintain it, well, I think. For some people it is just maintaining what's already been done, but the reality of it is that as you grow and change, as your household grows and change, you may outgrow the systems that have been put in place. If you're in the point where your children are toddlers, like your drop zone is going to look way different. Then when your kids are in sports. So if you have something set up with diapers and training pants and all that kind of stuff in five years, you're gonna have to transition that to cleats and Shin guards and whoo, you know, everything is gonna need a tweak over time. So it is not a one and done Experience and that is hard for people to understand but it's just the reality of life that things have to change in terms of maintaining what's already been done. The biggest thing I tell people is to give themselves visual cues for when something needs to happen. This is extremely common with paperwork. A lot of people struggle with mail and paperwork. I give people oftentimes a temporary holding spot for mail and the cue is when that is full, that's your visual cue that you need to go through and sort that. Don't keep stuff on top of it. It's time to like go through it and decide what What needs to go where, what needs to be shredded, what needs to be taken care of. Same thing with kids toys. It works really well for kids. We all know that stuff comes in from all over the place for kids toys. So if you have a bin for, I do this with my kids, if you have a bin for cars, when that bin is full, that's it. That's the limit. And so then you guys have to take the bin out. I like to do this with kids so they understand how it works. You have to take the bin out and decide what's going to stay and what's going to go. So if you give yourself parameters and visual cues for when you need to handle a space. Don't let it get past that point. That's your stopping point. That's your cue that you need to do something. Every time I hear you talk, I think how many similarities to how I do things with people in health. Because it's like when people reach weight maintenance, I say, all right, this is actually a quite dynamic process. Hopefully, you know, you're still doing all the same things that you were doing, but a lot of the time I'm like, let's decide what your range is, that when you get out of that, You call me up at that point and it's not that you're 30 pounds back up. It's a lot harder to make some of these self corrections, right? I love this decide what the cue is and then really honor that, right? It's so funny because I was thinking we had made a little drop zone for the paperwork coming into the house. It's always a big thing in our family and I really like we said, okay, when it's full because I'm just so into learning from different people. I've heard, oh, every Sunday action them and it just doesn't work for me every week to do it and there's, and if something's really needed, I'm going to do it right away. So, You know, I know there's different people have different needs there, but I love that that when, cause it's random what's in there, right? It's like some kid's artwork, a permission slip. There's just different stuff. Right? So I love this letting the cue speak for itself because it's not complicated. I like things that can flow with our regular life. So I really liked that you bring that up. And this kind of brings up when I think about health and wellness, I feel that people in some capacity have figured out a system in their house. Right? So I'm gonna give you like an example, like with protein drinks, right? It's like. For me, I'll tell them, look, when it starts to run low, you know, maybe you have five, six left, maybe that's your, you know, like, go get some more, right? And I'm just wondering if you have seen any relationship to, have, have clients reported to you that, you know, when, when the pantry's better organized, they're able to make healthier choices, or have people made any comments about how their health can benefit from it? Yes, I do see that, especially if you get things set up. Well, that works for that family. For example, in your pantry, if you are putting things at the front or at eye level that are the healthy choices, and then putting things at the back or up high in a, covered basket or something that are the unhealthy choices, it's going to make you look at the healthy stuff first and that's going to be the thing that's going to catch your eye. It helps with grocery shopping too because if your pantry is organized, you can see what you have quickly and you don't end up overbuying random things. So I feel like definitely if you get yourself set up and you put the things that you know you should be eating right in front of you, you're more likely to grab that. I'm sitting here smiling because so the first thing you redid for us was the pantry, right? And right first thing when you walk in, I put my protein powders, the peanut butter, the, you know, I was like, this is so you, uh, just to kind of give, I'll put some pictures again in the show notes. If you guys want to see what our new pantry, we expanded it out a bit. We have a big family and we just, it was just really not working that these few little shelves that we had. And so you can see all the health, what I'm going to say is healthy, right? Like my, like. Water flavors, all that kind of stuff. And then you go in and it's the kid's chips and other things, but it's more buried away. You're right. It's like hard to reach some of these top things. It's just not as easy. And I totally agree this really saving money at the grocery store and. All of that, I mean, gosh, I think there were like, what, like five marinaras. Sorry guys, there were a lot of marinaras because I just didn't, like, they'd be buried in there and they're all great. We're going to eat it up. So I do feel like I've bought so much less because there's certain things like the kids really love popcorn. I can just see we have it. It's not like, do we, don't we let me buy it just because I'm a just in case shopper. And so that has really solved that. Switching gears a little bit, I know a lot of people sometimes they have emotional attachment to items or they're like, I don't know if I'm going to need it or not. So do you have strategies either, I guess these are probably two different questions, right? Because like emotionally charged objects, whether it be like maybe your parents passed away and you have some items. Or, I think the other question, too, is the I don't know items, because I feel like some things I don't know if I use it a few times a year, if I'm ever going to use it. I'm going to give, like, my tofu press as an example. I want to be someone that's going to use that darn tofu press, but I don't think I have in the past year. So, what do you, for those two different scenarios, either I don't know or being attached to items, what do you think? It is really common to have emotional attachments. Two items. I mean, some people are more likely to be like that than others. Some people are just like, let's get rid of it. I don't care. But some people really, really struggle with it. And I'm a very sentimental person and it's hard for me to get rid of stuff too. But I do think once you get started, and if you start slowly, and slowly be willing to donate things, it does get easier. People a lot of times get hung up on, heirlooms, or gifts, or things like that, that are really hard to let go of because there's emotion tied to who gave it to you. But I tell people, especially with gifts, the point of the gift is usually, The happiness that the giver gets when they give it to you. They feel happy when they see something that they think that you might like, the thought that goes into purchasing it and they're happy to give it to you. But once it's gifted to you, it's not your obligation to keep it. And that's where a lot of people get hung up. They feel guilty about it. The thing is that if you're just keeping it just because someone gave it to you, you're not even using it. And so sometimes you have to think of your stuff as actually an animate object. That set of china will be happier being used by someone instead of sitting in boxes in your garage. Or that salad spinner will be happier being used by someone and not sitting on the top of your cabinet. So sometimes you have to think about things that way. That if you're holding on to it just because. You know you're not going to use it, but just because, you have to think that it would be better used by someone than taking up space. And I do give people grace, if you think, you know, I bought this because I really thought I would be that person, and I want to get to that person, that's fine. you don't have to get rid of it just because you only used it once. If you really want to get back to that, let's keep it. But let's not keep it right at the forefront. Maybe we put it away a little bit more. Or you can also meet yourself in the middle and say, you know what? I don't think I'm going to use this, but I'm not ready to get rid of it. Let's put it away in a tub in the garage or somewhere else. And then your cue in six months, write it in your calendar or something. Did you think about that thing? No. Did you go looking for that thing? No. Then it's time to let it go. Oh, that's all so good. Uh, so good. I've heard that referred to as a time will tell Ben, like, like you said, like how you set the reminder six months I've even heard don't open it, don't even open a sequence. That's the dangerous part. That's the dangerous part. We were talking about this on my way in. If you let yourself look at it, then you're like, uh, then the process starts all over again. It's really hard not to open that box. But we were talking about it with kids, if they haven't seen a toy in six months, they haven't asked for it, they haven't looked for it, as soon as you get it out to donate it, suddenly it's the best thing they've ever seen. It happens every time. Definitely that, yeah, we were gonna get rid of, where I was gonna donate some of these, random Lego parts. And literally my son's like, what's in this shaking box? He brings it down this morning, he's playing with it, right? So, oh, that's all so good. Let the gift giver have the joy when they gave it to you. It's not your obligation after that. And I also think that. It's a burden ultimately having to, manage all this stuff in our home. That's what I started to realize years ago. It was like, once I had my own kids, stepkids, there was just a lot going on. And I was like, I don't want to have to manage 900 clothing items, all these toys. It's not about not trying to give them more, having weird philosophies on things. It's just, it's ultimately my responsibility if I want them to have an environment that's like healthy for them. Right. And one other thing related to that. A lot of us have boomer parents, and at this point, we are the ones who are getting boxes of random things. You don't want to be like your parents. You don't want to gift your kids all the random stuff, because you don't want it now. So what I tell people a lot of times is think, what are you saving it for? What's the goal of saving it? Are you saving it to give to your children someday? Would you have wanted that when you were their age? Most of the time, no. So don't keep something to burden your kids with. You've got to be honest with yourself with that stuff too because, you know, our parents have basements full of stuff and we don't want it. So think about what your kids would want too. Yeah, that's such a good point because I think about what has my husband liked, when his grandmother raised him and when she passed away, he loved that she had kept just a few, you know, like a grade report card from kindergarten that was so cute, right? Like they talk about, are they talking or, you know, it's just like really cute stuff, but it wasn't. It wasn't overbearing what came in, and it's treasured, we still keep it, like you really helped us with the keepsake box, so definitely. All right. So I have been loving talking to you. I think there's a million things that I could ask you about, but I think we really gave people a good sense of where to start potentially, how to keep going through things, kind of some maintenance aspects, some difficult tasks. What do you think if you had to kind of give your top maybe One, two, three tips, whatever you have to give someone who's starting on this journey for either decluttering, organizing, just sort of getting, taking back their home if you would. It's tough to come up with just three, but, I think the biggest thing is like we talked about earlier, start small. That way you don't get overwhelmed right away and give yourself grace. It can be super overwhelming to take on these tasks There's a lot of emotion involved in decluttering and people do get what's called decision fatigue So start small that is probably the number one tip Don't don't start with a huge project because you don't want to get overwhelmed and quit in the middle of it Another thing that helps a lot of people is Say you start in the living room. You're going to start decluttering the living room. You're going to find stuff in there that belongs in a different room. Don't take it to the other room. Make piles in the living room of where things are going to go, but don't leave the living room. Because what happens is you take the hammer to the garage. Now you're in the garage, and you're going to see something else that needs to happen. And then an hour later, you're going to be like, oh wait, I was organizing the living room. So that is a big tip too, is whatever space you're in, Don't actually leave it. Just make piles on the floor if it needs to be donated. If it needs to be trashed, have a trash bag right there. If you're going to move it to other places, you can even have a basket ready for stuff that goes in other rooms of the house and do that at the very end. And the last tip. is not going to be very popular, but it's just part of it. You gotta pull everything out. I know, it's, it's hard, but that is the only way to really get in and see everything that's in there and make sure that you're actually organizing. I mean, the biggest part of organizing is decluttering, and if you don't take everything out, you're not going to get through it all. Yeah, I can't agree more with you. I think I've had resistance to that in the past, but when I've seen how quickly it can be, you just, once you're making piles of like items and A hundred percent that you don't know what kids have outgrown or what's happening when it's all in there. It's not just like, oh, those are our hats. When we were going through it's like, yeah, he does not fit that toddler hat anymore. So, yeah, yeah, this is good. That's such invaluable advice. Because I call it what's like squirrel, squirrel, right? You're just like in another room. That's what I'm guilty of. I'm like, oh, there's a screwdriver. I need to go put that in. This is going to be a good action if I go put it in the box. It's like, no, it's not because then I'm. not in it. So gosh, those are really good tips. And do you think that you would have any different tips for someone that wants to maintain this, that maybe they already feel like they have a good grasp on things? Would the, would it be any different, I guess, is the question. So we kind of touched on this earlier about talking about maintaining spaces once they're organized. I think number one is. Giving yourself those visual cues and then acting on the visual cues. So when something is full, that's your cue that you need to do something about it. So you need to make sure that you are actually following those things that you set up to help yourself stay successful. And we talked about needing to refresh. It's okay to say, you know what, I organized this three years ago and now it's not working. That's fine. That happens to everybody. You are gonna have to go to a space again and make some tweaks as your life changes or your house changes or, you know, everything like that. It's not a failure. It just needs a refresh. And then the final thing that my clients probably get really mad at me about, but I'm guilty of using the phrase don't put it down, put it away. Seriously. This is what I tell my kids and they get really mad too. I'm like, can we like clean up the living room? And they just move a pile of books somewhere else. I'm like, no. Let's put the books away. They go on the bookshelf. If you have that in your head as you're walking around, don't put it down, put it away. That will save you from getting to chaos in between, refresh again, I feel so called out with all these things. I'm like, oh my gosh, but it's so true. I feel like the version of that, that I tell my clients, I'm like, you cannot just set a goal and just, it's written somewhere, like it's in a little book now it gets forgotten in the next 90 days. Is it on a card? Do we have it in front of us? Is it written the next day? What the first step is going to be if we have no plan that is actually in front of us, like day to day reminder set, like something it's new. We're not used to doing it. So totally. Oh, I just love everything you're saying here with the visual cues. And I really like to how you gave us permission for a refresh because I find the aesthetic changes over time. I know now, like I'll have like some elements, not aggressively everybody listening, but some elements of like farmhouse and like the coffee and tea thing that I have on the counter. Maybe it's capitalistic, but I like to change that every year or two. I just don't want it to be like always the same thing. I think things change over time. So Julia, I've had such a good time talking to you. I know everybody's going to love hearing this. So can you tell us. Where can they find you tell us about social where you are most what your handles are there and then also website and then what's the process with someone going about working with you? Let's say if they live local to the Indianapolis area because I know we do have a lot of local listeners okay. So my website is loveitandlabelit. com and I do most of my social media on Instagram, which is also on Facebook. So my Instagram is Love it and label it with periods in between the words. And then it's the same username on Facebook. I also have a tick talk that I'm not on a lot, but Matea is convincing me to do more on it. It's also just my company name. So if you search it under my company name, you'll find me I love it. I actually had another question for you. Cause I'm thinking, I think it's actually hard when people are navigating, whether it's hiring a stylist, an organizer, when you're bringing someone into your life. Cause I feel like you guys all have different philosophies, right? Like everyone doesn't have the same, Either way of going through the process or things like that. Do you think that there are, because I know we did, I think it was like a consult call, right? Where you just kind of see, what do you want? Can I help you? All that kind of stuff. Are there questions that I should have asked or cared about? Because I feel like, my vetting, quote unquote, was just looking at your Instagram and being like, okay, I like what she does. But are there things I maybe should have asked? Do you think from your perspective that you think are, like you find it works out better or not with the client? That's a tough one. I do the consult calls for that purpose just to make sure that we will be on the same page. I think some people get pressured into hiring somebody and then I can tell that it's not gonna go well. But you do have to make sure your personalities match. It's like choosing a doctor or a therapist. You guys have to mesh well. I mean we're looking through your underwear drawer and stuff like we need to be comfortable with each other and There are different organizers that have very different styles So I do think if you're looking at hiring somebody find their portfolio if it's on their website Um or on instagram and make sure you like that their style there are different levels like there are high end organizers Do a lot of expensive, products and it looks beautiful at the end, which I love. It's gorgeous. But I feel like I'm more kind of in the middle in terms of organizing for what I call quote regular people. So I'm trying to make it a solution that is maintainable. It's not necessarily all high end product, but it's product that's going to work for you. So you have to make sure that who you're hiring is gonna. Work within your budget and give you a product that you like the look of to, which a lot of us are really flexible and can go different directions with it. But I think that's important to look at. And then there's also, making sure that who you're hiring is an actual business and not. Just your friend's friend. So for an example, I have an LLC, I'm a company, I have liability insurance. Those things are really important. When you're looking for somebody, make sure that you check their business background and their legitimate business too. I'm so glad I asked you that question because you brought up so many good things because I think people don't think about it in this space. You're so right. Some random person will be like, Oh yeah, I do that on the side or like cleaning businesses, right? And you don't understand if they're at your home and something happens. I mean, yes, you have homeowner's insurance, but you don't think about the consequences of these things. So wow, is that good? But yes, to the personality match. It's funny because when I met when we talked, I was like, okay, she's. She's going to get my behind in gear. I was like, she's nice, but she's going to do this. And I need that. I need someone who just comes in and gets it done. I love it. And so good what you're talking about with the price point on things. Because I, I've been so shocked. Like I would think in my mind, like we got a mirror for my closet and I thought, oh, it's going to be several hundred based on, I wanted it to be full length and lean back a little bit and like a gold around the outside. And you found something on Amazon that. It was a third of what I thought it would be. And you just know, okay, this is Amazon. That's the container store. You just know where everything is. You're able to get it really quickly. So it's invaluable. And I'm laughing because I had debated for a hot minute. Do I get, a designer for my new office? Right. And I was thinking, okay, like I have zero abilities. Right. And I started to look around and one of them, the quote to start. to just consider if you would even talk to them was for that room. Did you want to spend 40 to 60, 000? I said, and good day. And I closed that website down. I was like, that's a no. Right. And again, some people might be like, Oh yeah, no problem. Right. That that's like, no, depending on the size of your business, What we're doing, that's not quite where I'm at, but like, there's no problem with any of that, but I love everything you bring up, so thank you so much for coming on. We're gonna get this up. Everybody in the show notes is all of her social website, everything like that, and just thank you so much for coming on and sharing all this with us. Thank you so much. It was great to be here.