Organized Life, Clear Mind: How To Build Systems That Beat Clutter w/ Takilla Combs

We rethink organization as a tool for peace, productivity, and purpose rather than a picture-perfect pantry. Tequila Combs breaks down the systems and mindset shifts that help you take control of clutter before it starts controlling your time, money, and energy.
• defining an “organized life” beyond tidy shelves and containers 
• building maintenance systems that make order stick 
• addressing the emotional roots of clutter and why letting go is hard 
• spotting consumer habits that quietly rebuild chaos 
• using “space, time, energy, money” to measure the cost of clutter 
• creating a complete laundry cycle and getting kids involved 
• starting with your schedule and learning to say no 
• connecting organization to confidence, clarity, and purpose 
• designing rooms around how you actually live, not social media reels 
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Welcome back to the show. I'm your host, Nate Shear, and this is Mind Force, the podcast sponsored by the three L's Love, Life, and Learning. Today we're talking about something most people underestimate until it starts running their life. Creating an organized life, taking control of your clutter before it takes control of you, and how organization creates peace and productivity that actually pushes you towards purpose. This isn't about color-coded perfection. It's about mental clarity, physical order, and building an environment that supports who you are becoming. Tequila, welcome to the show. Go ahead and say hi to everyone listening.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Thank you so much for being here, uh Nate. Hi, everybody. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Absolutely. For those meeting you for the first time, who are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:15

So I am Tequila Combs, professional organizer, and I am a podcast host of the Organized Life Podcast. So I've been helping people uh rid their lives of clutter and chaos for the past nine years as a profession, but I've literally been doing it my entire life. So I just started nine years ago as a business, and I love it, and I love serving people through the gift of professional organizing.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Awesome. Well, thanks for coming on the show. Tequila, what season of life are you in right now?

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Oh, I'm in a huge transitional season in my life. I am transitioning my business from just physical organizing to podcasting, to coaching, to virtual organizing. And I just recently moved back home to my hometown in St. Louis, Missouri. And so that's a transition. My children are older now and 22 and 20. And so that's another transition, helping them through adulthood. So life just feels like a bunch of transitions right now.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Oh boy, getting their apartments or dorm room squared away probably is a whole thing in itself.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Yeah, it's it's fun for me, but not for them. Like they get irritated with me because they are similar to me and know what they want, but I know what I want too, and I know what's best for them, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Oh we always do. I mean, it's hard to convince them. They don't seem to ever agree, but they they feel like they they seem like we never lived. It's so funny. Minor 12, 12, and eight. So, but yeah, it's just so hilarious. We're like, no, no, that's not it. I'm like, we've lived for 30, 40 years. Like, calm down. You're just starting. Kids are hilarious. Tequila, what led you to help people create these organized, purpose-driven spaces?

SPEAKER_02 3:08

So the funny thing is, Nate, that I've been doing it my entire life. I started off as a young child doing it in the house without permission and kind of getting in trouble for moving things without permission and like, where is this and where is that? And so I've been doing it my whole life, even to the point to where I became a young adult. And I would go over a family and friend's house and I would be like, Can I fix your pantry? Can I uh fix your closet? I didn't know it was like called organizing, right? I was just like fixing it. I I knew how I could make it better for them. And so I guess it was like, well, it was about almost nine years ago, over nine years ago, when I really learned that it was an actual profession, that people were getting paid good money to do what I had been doing my entire life for free.

Organization Beyond Tidy Shelves

SPEAKER_01 4:02

That's hilarious. I remember uh last, it wasn't this last Christmas, but two Christmases ago. I was at home in Washington with my mom, uh, with my family and everything, and I was away from work, and I guess in overactive mind, we were at Ross or somewhere, and the toy section was just wrecked. There was just toys everywhere. And so I was like going and like lining every toy that was like similar. And my wife came by and she's like, What are you doing? And I'm like, I don't know. I just want it to look, it looks crazy. They were like in the aisle and all over the place, and I'm like, even away from work, I'm still arranging these Nerf guns in like a specific order. Yeah, it's uh definitely ingrained in in some of us. Well, Tequila, I'm curious before we get too much farther, I'm flipping the mic. What's one question you've always wanted to ask the host?

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Let's see. Nate, do you feel that you have a life living are you living life in an organized fashion, or do you feel like you just go with the flow?

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Ugh. I'm probably going with the flow. I would definitely, I've wanted to make this phone call to to one of you a couple different times. I'm active duty military, and so we move a lot. And so every couple years we pick up, and luckily we get that purge. That's like one of the few things we like about moving is being able to purge and get rid of stuff and find out you have like three different toasters and two can openers and weird things you don't know why you have. So that part's great, but like figuring out how things work in each house is really difficult. So that's one thing I think we struggle with a little bit. Like if it was your forever house, you build things that were gonna last, but when you're only gonna be there for a couple, you kind of make do, which I guess is me making an excuse. And then unfortunately, you leave. So yeah, I would say we're probably in the middle. We do do some organization things. We have totes in the garage and things for different holidays that come in and out. And so we have some level, but definitely could probably tighten it up a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yeah. So the when when you think about the organized life, a lot of people think about the the containers and the pantry and things like that. But it's so much more than that. And we'll I'm sure we'll get into that. But when you live on the fly like that and tra like moving around a lot, it's really hard to get settled. Even last year I traveled so much and I felt like a a chicken with my head cut off. Like I just could not get settled. It was so frustrating. And I even I didn't travel that much compared to like some other people, but it was a lot for me. And so I completely understand. It's hard to get settled in your spirit, in your space, and all those things. So yeah, I get that.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

It's it's tough. Well, your first pillar is creating the organized life. So when you say organized life, what does that really mean beyond the tidy shelves?

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah, so what I learned over the years, first started with my own life. And I had my space physically organized, it's always been pretty organized. But I was like overbooking myself. I was like scrambling with the kids, making sure we had their papers signed and, you know, the field trip forms and all these things done at the beginning of the school year. You know, they send you home with a million papers and sheets and that you gotta fill out. And so I realized that my life was in shambles. Even though my space was organized, I was still living, felt like I was living a mess. And so I started like, I started like blocking my calendar out and saying no more often because I was saying yes too much. I started preparing my day the night before, you know, looking at my calendar. And so I just started learning a little bit more about what it means to be live kind of an organized life. I didn't know that that was what it called, but I was like trying to figure out how can my schedule be better? How can I not overbook myself? Because I would just like say, yeah, oh yeah, I can do that. Then I realized, well, no, I can't. So trying not to disappoint people, but inevitably disappointing them because I have to tell them I can't do the thing that I said I would do. And so just learning that the organized life is not just about your pantry and your containers and your closet, but how do you maintain that which you've created because I've organized clients and then inevitably I have to go back because they weren't able to maintain it, or they're not even interested in maintaining it. So, how do we maintain that which we we've created and learning that I needed to coach my clients to how to create the organized life, how to get their children involved, how to get buy-in from the family members. And so it's just a a compilation of a lot of different things in order to create that organized life, a lot of little bitty pieces that actually leads us to creating that organized life.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Yeah, that's interesting. Kind of reminds me of like dog training. Like they'll go and like train your dog at a location or whatnot, but there's other ones, the school of thought is like they come into your house and they teach you how to train the dog because if they just train the dog and give it back to you, you don't know how to continue that type of stuff. So have you seen like, do you try to get to the root of the issue or do you try to get to that, or are you just more doing the organizing and leaving? It sounded like a little bit of buy-in, but the people that don't really want to, have you seen like a theme on why they don't, you know, want to get on board?

SPEAKER_02 9:39

So when I say I people are not interested, it's usually people with a lot of money that just want to throw their money and get it done and have you come back and just do it. People that are really interested in learning about the organized life, they are interested in learning how to create something special just for them and their families. So I do actually love to help people get to the root of it because a lot of times it's emotional. We've we're keeping things that our dad gave us, our mom gave us, that have passed away, or that they've gave, they're still here, but they give us a lot of stuff and we don't want to get rid of it. We don't want it, but we don't want to get rid of it because our mom is gonna get mad. She she's gonna come over and ask, where's that sweater about you 20 years ago for Christmas, right? And so we're holding on to things that are not benefiting our life, and so we don't know how to get through that. And I help people to make the connection with the the item is not the person, right? It's not gonna change your relationship with them, hopefully, uh, especially if they're not here anymore. But this is your space and you have to live in it. They don't. And so you have to make it a space that's best for you, your family, and your lifestyle. So getting buy-in from the family members that actually live in the house is very important too. But overall, I do try to get to the root of the issue. And sometimes in some cases, there does need to be a therapist, a counselor that walks alongside us through the process.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Yeah, some things I've never really thought of, but I just saw a short on one of the formats. I don't know if it was Facebook or Instagram, but there's a lady, she goes over and does cleaning of your household, and she was talking about trauma, which I'd never really thought of before. But she was like, if you grew up and your punishment was to go clean and you like have that association with cleaning is bad because I only had to do that when I was in trouble, or you know, it was a miserable time, and now you grow up, which is interesting because, like you said, it's your space and you live on it. So it's really for us. But if you associate it with that, have you seen people that kind of have a negative connection with organization?

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Yeah, they try to disassociate with it, act like they don't see it. You know, it's like if I don't look that way, it's not there, or if I close that door, it's not there until they have like, it's Thanksgiving is coming, and then we need an extra bedroom, the family is coming in town, they want me to host, and then it's they then they have to deal with it. So yeah, people don't want to deal with it and they try to disassociate with it, and it's just because for one, we we are a consumeristic society. And so we consume and we bring all of these things in, and we have all these reasons why we don't want to get rid of them. And so it causes us to keep them, right? Instead of releasing things when you want new things, releasing things. And I talk about the law of reciprocity. You can't continue to bring things in if you're not willing to release. God is not going to keep putting things in your hand, they're gonna start spilling over. You're gonna start dropping them. So you have to let things go, get them out of your hand in order to bring things in. So I trained my kids to do that. I talked to my clients about that. I had one client, she thought that she was really doing something because every time she went to the goodwill to drop something off, she was going inside to get something. Like, no, you can't. But you're probably not giving them as much as you're bringing back, too. So, like, I'm like, okay, stop going to the goodwill, start spending more time focusing on your schedule, your closet, your pantry, and stop bringing stuff in. So, yeah, we got Goodwill junkies, Timu junkies, all those things. It's like taking over their life.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Oh, that's so funny. Reminds me of my wife. She loves to go to like five and below. She's like, oh, everything's like only five and below, but then like she spends a hundred dollars. I'm like, well, no, like you can't you can't do a whole bunch of little things. Like, that doesn't oh boy. Well, it is what it is.

The Myth Of Staying Organized

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Yeah, the dollar store gets the dollar store gives people too. Like you go in there and spend fifty dollars. So it's not a dollar anymore.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, that's true. Everything's gotten more expensive. I'm curious, I always find it funny, like myths. So when you like introduce yourself and you're like, hey, I'm a professional organizer, what's like the most common myth you think, or what's kind of a funny story when you introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

That once I get organized, I'm just gonna magically stay that way. That's probably the biggest myth.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

That would be nice.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

No, there's no work for me to do. Like, you know, it's just gonna stay that way. She's gonna fix my closet and it's just gonna be like that. And a lot of spouses, and mostly men, because the women are the ones that usually call me, and they're like, Well, is it gonna stay like this once you leave? Like they're like trying to check me, like, like, how's it gonna be once you leave? And I'm like, it depends on what work you guys do once I leave.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

So that's probably that's funny. But do you it does get easier though, right? It's a it's a little bit easier once it's in order, or is it still the same level as it was before?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

No, it's definitely easier. The problem comes in is when we don't maintain it. So, say for instance, we do your closet, right? If you let your laundry get three, four weeks, you know, go three, four weeks without doing it, then you try to do it. You're probably not gonna complete the laundry cycle, which is one of the things that I train my clients on and coach them on is you gotta sort, you gotta wash, you gotta dry, you gotta fold, hang, and you gotta put the stuff away. That's the complete laundry cycle. If you don't do that, the clothes are gonna end up staying in the dryer or staying in the basket, and then you're gonna start pulling stuff out the closet, throwing it down on the on the chair or the you know, couch or the floor, wherever, and not really putting the things back where they go. So, in order to maintain it, so I've put the structure in place, the system in place, and that's where the organized life comes in. What day are we doing laundry? What day are we, because if it's a large family like a lot of clients I have, they have a minimum of two kids. So most of them have three. So that's a spouse and two, that's five people. You're gonna have to do laundry for more than one day, right? It's not gonna just be a one-day thing. So, what day are you gonna start the laundry? What day is the laundry gonna be complete? And you can't put like a long time in between when you're starting and when you finish because it's just not gonna happen, right? You'll be at the next week before it gets complete. So, completing the laundry cycle. So, to answer your question, it does, it is easier, however, you gotta maintain it from the beginning. So, once we complete this space, once we complete this pantry, this closet, this playroom, we have to create a system immediately on how we're gonna maintain it. What day are we gonna clean up? What day are we going to the grocery store? What day are we gonna do our meal prepping? So, all of that, that's in the creating the organized life to maintain that which we've created.

The Hidden Costs Of Chaos

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. You gotta have some level of organization, organization, of course, but the days and whatnot, I think would really help. What do you think is the hidden cost of living in a constant disorganization?

SPEAKER_02 17:38

So I have this acronym systems that I talk about all the time. When you are organized, you are able to save space, time, energy, and money. Those are the hidden costs. If you are living in clutter and chaos, you're losing space, you're losing time, you're losing energy, and you're losing money. Okay, and all of those are directly connected to clutter. Because sometimes we're looking for things that we can't find until we are. Are you here? Nate, can you hear me? Hello?

SPEAKER_01 18:18

There you are.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Are you there? There you are. Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Oh, it's all good. Little internet. Oh no, you gotta switch the speakers though.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Okay, I just adjusted the speakers again. Is that better?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Mic check.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

No, I can still hear myself.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Well, we're still rolling, so I'll go. I'll just go ahead and cut this.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Okay. How is that?

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Mic check. Mic check. I can still hear mic.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

We got it to work once.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

I know. I just switched it. Okay. Microsoft.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

I'm still there.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Still not good.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

No. Can you cycle the mic, maybe? We did that last time. We turned it again. I took the mic off.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

I took the mic off.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Okay, okay. Is there a different speaker?

SPEAKER_02 19:15

No, nothing is different. Hold on, let me try.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

For some reason I have one, two, three, four, five, four, five, six. Oh whether somewhere there's somebody.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

How's that?

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Mic check. Mic check. Yeah, I can still hear that, unfortunately. Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Don't hear myself. I just unhooked it and hooked it back. You still hear yourself.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Mic check.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Yeah. We can try to go. We were at what's the hidden cost of living in a content disorganization.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Or did you finish that one? I don't know where it dropped. I don't know where it dropped.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Yeah, I don't either. Okay. I'll just keep going. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Oh, it's all good. It's all good. Things happen. Let me ask you that question and then I'll cut it right there.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Excuse me.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

What's the hidden cost of living in constant disorganization?

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Yeah, so the hidden cost of Clutter is one of the things that I talk about the time. Well, the acronym that I love to use is called Systems. When you are organized, you save in all four areas. You save space, time, energy, and money. So the hidden cost is losing in all four areas, is space, time, energy, and money. Because when you are cluttered, you are buying things that you've already that you already have, but you can't find. So that's time and energy that you're losing and money to go get the thing that you already have. You're losing space because you're bringing things in that you already have that you don't realize you have. So that's the hidden cost. And the biggest cost is your peace, right? You don't have peace because clutter, it really does drain your peace. Even if you're trying to not act like you don't see it and disconnect from it, it's still doing something to you internally, and really what's happening on the outside is really what's going on in the inside, if you ask me. So bringing some peace into your space actually gives you peace on the inside. So your hidden costs are your space-time, energy, and money, and your peace.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Yeah, that makes sense. I've noticed even if it's like easier to walk to the front door or back door, like small things where like the shoes are not in the way and things like that. Not a big deal, but when you can unobstructed, you're just oh it's nice. Get to the door, go to the car. It's like those small things.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

And when you're able to just find things like your shoes, right? I have one client, her daughter had to wear some shoes that she couldn't really fit. They were too small, but she couldn't find her shoes. She got home from school the day before. And really her shoes were right there. She just didn't see them. So they had too much stuff, right, in this space. So she wore some shoes that were tight on her feet, and her mom, she was like, I do not care because if she just put the shoes where we're supposed to put them, then we wouldn't have this chaos going. She wore some shoes and you know her feet were like tied in the shoes.

Laundry Systems That Save Families

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Oh, that's a good example of physical pain over, you know, not being organized. Jeez, that's that's pretty bad. Well, your second pillar is taking control of your clutter. And I love stories in the show. I think that's how we learn well. So can you share a story where clear clear physical clutter unlocks something deeper in someone's life?

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Yeah, so the full saying of that is you've got to take control of your clutter before your clutter takes control of you. Because if you don't take care of the if you don't take control of the clutter, inevitably you're gonna be drowning in the things that you are trying to rid your life of. Or not necessarily trying to rid your life of, but living into, like you're living with the clutter. So one of the best stories I have is a client. We did all of her, we did a, we did her entire house, but one of the things that she didn't really get was how to do the laundry cycle. And it was literally taking over her family. So she had four kids instead of the three and a husband and herself. So, you know, that's a lot of laundry, right? And when you don't deal with the laundry, your kids don't know where their socks are, they don't know where their underwear are, your spouse doesn't know where this is, you don't know where that is. And it really does bring tension, especially during the school week when you are trying to get ready for school, rushing in the morning, six, seven o'clock in the morning. Who wants to be looking for socks and underwear? Right? So it really drains the it was draining the family. And so she called me after we got her entire house mostly organized. She called me back to do a laundry transformation, how the laundry was running through the house. We reconfigured how the laundry room was set up, how the clothes were set up inside of the drawers, how they got their laundry completed on a day-to-day basis, on a weekly basis, but they were doing laundry like three times a week. And we coached the children on how to be participants inside of the laundry routine so that it wouldn't just be all on her. Because at this point, her oldest was like a freshman in high school, her youngest was, I mean, her middle, you know, two were like in middle school, and then the youngest was elementary. So you can fully get those children involved in the process. So drowning in laundry is one of the biggest things that uh really drain my clients and and hurt the family dynamic. Outside, you know, money is one of the biggest things. But laundry is really, it could be a big doozy because you'll be buying things that you already have because you can't find it. It's time for the the kids to have an activity and they say the kids need a white shirt. Well, you just go out and buy one because you don't even know that they, well, you know they have one, but you can't find it, right? So it brings tension on a few levels when you are living in clutter and chaos.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

That's that's good. Yeah, I like to see that second and third order because we know that it's a routine task and it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but it is actually rippling into other parts of the house and whatnot. It's pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

We talked about this earlier a little bit, but I'm curious what mindsets shifts have to happen before real changes happen.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

The the biggest thing is you just gotta really be self-aware. Until we are self-aware of where we are, it's hard to get to somewhere that we think we wanna be. So knowing I'm cluttered, knowing I'm living in chaos, knowing I, you know, can do better from where I am really does start the biggest shift in your life. And that's when I get the phone call, right? So it's like, okay, I and I can't do this on my own. So I'm aware that I'm a mess, and I'm aware that I can't do it on my own. So that's the biggest mindset shift. Well, the first. Then I will move into changing your relationship with stuff, how you see stuff, how you see things. Remember, I talked about it's a consumeristic society. So not holding so much value to things that you have that you've brought in really is very important when you're trying to declutter because we hold value to things that actually society doesn't value as much. So we'll say, I don't want to get rid of that handbag or those shoes because I paid this amount of money for it. Or people say, Oh, I I got this handbag for this amount of money. I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna go ahead and sell it. Well, what you think you're gonna get for it is really not what you're gonna get for it. So that's probably some of the biggest things. Changing your being self-aware and then changing your mindset relationship with the actual stuff that you have so that you'll be able to release some of the things that you have.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

It's interesting how common that is too. There's that phrase like spending money for people that you know don't care or know anything about you. Like it's crazy. You want this outward appearance. And they don't even care, you're gonna pass by them, you maybe never see them again. It's really bizarre. But like you said, we are in that materialistic world.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

Yeah, absolutely. Materialistic, consumeristic, and we just I mean, look at the people in Asia. Like they live in these small apartments with very little things inside of them. It's not because necessarily they don't want them. It's it's not necessary. We have so many things that are not necessary in our space. And if we just look at that, uh, it'll be a big difference for us.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Yeah. A year ago we lived in Florida, and then before that we lived three years in Japan, and the houses are definitely set up completely differently. So kind of interesting not having a pantry and having what we would consider things that we need. And they get by just fine. So it's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

So to kill a I'm curious, where should someone start if they feel completely overwhelmed?

SPEAKER_02 28:43

The first place, ironically, is gonna be in your schedule. You gotta look at your schedule. You gotta look at your lifestyle, how you're running your life, or lack thereof. Because before you can even start decluttering, when are you gonna have the time to do that? When are you gonna have the time to work with the coach? When are you gonna have time to put it in your schedule in order to declutter and get organized? So the first thing you do is look at your schedule, clear out some things that are not benefiting your life, that are not pushing you towards purpose, and start saying no. One of my, so you know, I have a podcast, the Organized Life Podcast, and I had a guest on there. She was a therapist, and she hit me so good, she said, no is the next opportunity. The next opportunity for them to get somebody else to do it.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

The next opportunity for someone else to handle it, the next opportunity for you to do something for yourself, right? So say no more than you're saying yes, right? Because when you say, but when you're saying yes to everything, that means you're inevitably saying no to something. So learning how to manage your schedule is the biggest thing when it's taught when we're talking about creating the organized life outside of your pantry and your closet. Yes, we want to do that, but how are you gonna make time for it? You gotta call somebody, you gotta schedule them, you gotta put them in your calendar, right? Or you gotta schedule it for yourself. If you're doing a DIY and organizing it yourself, you gotta schedule it, you gotta make time for it. So it starts with your schedule.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

There you go. Yeah, the foundation is time. We're never gonna get more of it. So block out some stuff and get after it.

Organization Fuels Purpose And Confidence

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Yeah. Well, your third pillar is organization fuels purpose. How does organization directly impact productivity and peace?

SPEAKER_02 30:44

Yeah, so I think that one of the things that I learned working with clients is how it opened up and expanded their minds, their peace, their productivity that pushed them towards purpose. And what I saw was that we got them organized, we got them decluttered, they started a business. They moved, they sold the house that we completely just organized. I mean, a 35 square foot home, we organized the entire thing and then she sold it. Right? She was like, I don't need all this space anymore. I don't even have that much stuff anymore. She sold it, she started a business. Her business is doing great, right? Because she's able to think more clearly, she's able to have more peace in her space. And so it really does help when you clear out all the chaos from your physical space and you start to like really clear out the the chaos and clutter in your in your in your body and your mind and your you know spirit, it does trickle down, and then you can really drive yourself towards purpose. What am I on this planet to do? What am I on in this world to do? Because if you can't really see like that, then what are we here for, right? But that clutter in that physical space, it really does block our mental space to help us do the things that we're actually meant to be doing.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yeah, if you're drowning all the time and just barely staying at that sea level, then you probably can't do the thing that you're supposed to do. You're just trying to get by.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Yeah.

Getting Kids And Spouses To Buy In

SPEAKER_01 32:26

I'm curious. Earlier you mentioned the buy-in from the family and things like that. What have you seen on like age appropriate? How do you go about like what the different kids can do and what ages and things like that?

SPEAKER_02 32:37

Yeah, so one of the things that I love talking about is I I'm starting this thing called the Organized Kids Campaign. Whenever I go into a home or working with a family, I love how the kids, first of all, they're like, what is this lady doing in my house? Why is she touching all of our stuff? Like, what are we gonna be doing here, right? And so they're getting they very they're very intrigued. So they start looking to see what am I doing? And then I get them involved in the process. Okay, so come on in, like, sort these spoons and forks for me. Which ones do we want to keep? Like, sort the the books, which ones are for mom and dad, which ones are for you. And then it really does help them help their parents to be accountable because you know children are the best accountability partners, right? They will tell you, Mr. Killer said she did not say put that right there. Mr. Killer did not put that right there. So they really do help me when I leave to hold the parents accountable. So getting buy-in, and especially with the spouse, getting their buy-in. Sometimes it takes a little bit to get the spouse buy-in because they are not real, they're not fully invested. But once they start to see the transformation, they'll start to say, Hey, that is starting to look good. And I had one client, her husband was like, ooh, when can you do my shoes? When can you do my clothes? And so getting the family to buy in is very important because in order for the space to stay organized and feel like it's a success, you gotta get them to buy in because they're gonna just start throwing things here and there and everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

That makes sense. Got to get the buy-in from the stakeholders. Yeah. What do you think the connection is between an organized life and confidence?

SPEAKER_02 34:29

So the organized life and confidence. Say the question one more time. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

What do you see as the connection between that organized life and confidence?

SPEAKER_02 34:40

The organized life gives you peace, productivity, and clarity, which inevitably builds your confidence. When you have confidence in who you are, what you're doing, and like how you're living, it really does benefit your entire life. So that clarity gives you confidence. It gives you peace. And it really does like take your life to the next level because you're able to move freely about, right? Without worrying about what's happening, what's going on, this, you know, all these different things, you get the clarity that you need so that you can move freely.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. How do you think someone can design their space, their physical space to support their larger, bigger goals?

SPEAKER_02 35:26

It that's another thing when we talk about being self-aware. So one of the things that I do when I work with clients is I just look at like when I walk in, how they're already living. Yeah, I see the clutter. Yeah, I see the chaos, but there is some form of system you have created already. So what's actually working for you? Right? And we're gonna do more of that. So using what's already there, what's already working for you is very important. So when you guys get up in the morning, how do you get dressed? Right? When we get ready to leave, where do we want the shoes to be? Right. So organizing the shoes. Some people may want them in the garage, some people may have a mud room, some people may have everybody has their shoes in their room. So looking at how you're already living to design a space that works for you. When you look at the pantry, right? So if you have little kids and you don't want them getting their little fingers in the snacks, you put the snacks higher. Right? If it's okay for them, they're at an age where they they can reach it and you're okay with them going in there, then you bring the snacks down lower. Where do we put all our cereal together, put all our uh grains together, put all our canned goods together? Because sometimes, like one house I was recently at, they had canned goods over here, canned goods over there. I mean, canned goods everywhere. You don't even know what you have. So you just go into the stores to buy more canned goods because you didn't realize you had some black beans on that side of the uh pantry, because you know, you were looking over here where you thought they were. So looking at how you're living, like what it is that you actually need, what it is that you're actually using, being self-aware. That's the biggest thing.

Final Takeaways And Where To Connect

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Yeah, that makes sense. Well, tequila, let's try to bring it all together based on your three wonderful pillars. What's your final takeaway message for our listeners?

SPEAKER_02 37:28

The final takeaway would be really just look at what you're already doing that's working for you. Right? So don't try to create what you see on TikTok, don't try to create what you see on Instagram. All of that's pretty. You get the pretty reels, which is great, but we gotta create a space that actually worked for us. We can't just be creating things, going out buying all these things that we see people using on on these social media platforms because you don't know what that space looks like in one, two, three months, whatever. It it could be a total disaster. And then when you're going out buying these same containers that you see them buying, you don't know if it's gonna fit, you don't know if it's gonna work for your house, you don't know if you're gonna have more tall stuff than they have. So, really looking at what you have, and it's all about, like I just said, being self-aware. That's the biggest thing. Seeing what works for you, creating a space that works for you, and stop. Listen, I'm I tell my clients all the time, stop trying to be so Pinterest pretty. I get that, but it's not practical and it's not functional for you, even though it's aesthetically pleasing, right? But we want to make something that actually is more practical than just aesthetics.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Awesome. Make it work for you. Tequila, this has been powerful and practical. Thank you for helping us see organization a little bit differently. Before we wrap up, where can listeners connect with you and learn a little bit more about your work?

SPEAKER_02 38:57

So my website is Extreme Audacity, which starts with the X, not the E. So it's X-T-R-E-M-E, A-U-D-A-C-I-T-Y, extreme audacity.com. You can find me on all the social media platforms at Extreme Audacity, and personally, it's Tequila Renee.

SPEAKER_01 39:18

Perfect. We'll get that post of the show notes and all the reels and everything that comes out. To everyone listening, take one small step today. One drawer, one shelf, one system. I love you all. See ya.