Latest / JOY LOVING HOME - SAHM, Productivity, Home Organization, Declutter, ADHD Mom, ADHD SAHM, ADHD Brain / 238: Back-to-School Reset for ADHD Moms

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238: Back-to-School Reset for ADHD Moms · JOY LOVING HOME - SAHM, Productivity, Home Organization, Declutter, ADHD Mom, ADHD SAHM, ADHD Brain

• 0:00
  Have you hit back to school yet? This is always a difficult podcast to try and
• 0:06
  time out because I've got cousins in Arizona who are in a year-round type of
• 0:12
  setup that started back in July.
• 0:14
  I have friends in the Northeast and they're more of a start after Labor Day kind of folks.
• 0:20
  The immediate school system I'm in started a few weeks back.
• 0:25
  Well, right at the beginning of August. So yeah, and you could be anywhere in and amongst all of that.
• 0:32
  So this may be a little late for you to listen to or a little early for you to listen to.
• 0:39
  But what I'm going to suggest in my sort of back to school, back to basics podcast
• 0:45
  here is going to be relevant.
• 0:48
  Even if you want to say oh yeah let me
• 0:51
  actually do that now if kids have already been in school for two
• 0:54
  weeks or if they've got two weeks left but you're starting to get that itch
• 0:58
  to have everything just lined up so then let's dig into what's what's really
• 1:03
  important a wise person once said everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish
• 1:09
  by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it's stupid.
• 1:14
  Well, Fish, quit trying to climb trees while getting advice from well-intentioned monkeys.
• 1:20
  It's time to jump in the water and learn how to swim with the current of your life.
• 1:24
  I'm Joy, a professional organizer, mom of four, and fellow Fishbrain.
• 1:29
  If you're looking for a place to get understanding, encouragement,
• 1:33
  and ideas for your home that actually fit how your brain thinks,
• 1:37
  then I'm glad you're here.
• 1:39
  Let's ditch the type A advice and embrace what makes our brains and our homes unique.
• 1:44
  Together, we could have a joy-loving home.
• 1:50
  You may or may not know that I am a former, mostly fourth grade teacher.
• 1:56
  I taught a few other grades in there, but the biggest bulk of my teaching career was in fourth grade.
• 2:03
  And I will say that that whole summer brain drain is real.
• 2:10
  There's sort of two parts that go along with this.
• 2:14
  Picturing me as a fourth grade teacher, I would begin with what felt like babies
• 2:22
  who had just barely gotten out of third grade.
• 2:25
  And by the time I was ready to hand them off to the fifth grade teachers,
• 2:30
  they felt like they had grown so much.
• 2:33
  So then enter summer, all the information that falls out of their brains,
• 2:39
  and then enter that new class that feels like third grade littles again.
• 2:46
  So it just always felt like, oh, all right, we got to reset my brain and how
• 2:53
  I need to teach into the realistic situation that these are not my almost fifth
• 2:58
  graders that I just handed off.
• 3:00
  These are fresh out of third grade with a summer brain drain that I am dealing with.
• 3:06
  And so because of this, I would take several steps back and make sure we at the basics in place and.
• 3:14
  Get a firm foundation ready so that they could be more successful as the year went on.
• 3:21
  Same thing has to happen to you with your home.
• 3:24
  So we tend to, if you happen to be a stay-at-home mom, have this blessing of
• 3:31
  I'm about to encounter some time.
• 3:34
  And I want to make the most of that time that I'm about to have because I have
• 3:40
  big dreams and goals and successes that I want to have with my home over this next school year.
• 3:47
  But I want you to slow down, realize you're also coming out of a summer chaotic sort of brain drain,
• 3:55
  and I want you to get all of your basics in place so that you can have the most
• 4:00
  success in your home as the school year starts.
• 4:03
  So think about what the first thing you do is you go and grab all the school
• 4:08
  tools and you make sure they're well organized and ready to go so that the kids
• 4:12
  are set for everything they might need to be successful.
• 4:17
  In the classroom as teachers, we would see them come in with all these shiny
• 4:22
  new pencils and erasers and notebooks,
• 4:23
  and we would help them understand how the classroom was organized and where
• 4:28
  to keep all their tools and where to find things if they needed it while they
• 4:33
  were actively working so that there wasn't any time wasted on finding supplies.
• 4:40
  So with that in mind, we are going to dig into what are the home tools that
• 4:46
  we need to have in place, shiny new, ready to go.
• 4:51
  They don't have to be new, but cleaned up and reorganized and clear in our heads
• 4:57
  as to where they are so that as we conquer any particular project during this next several weeks,
• 5:04
  we're not slowed down by this act of trying to go find things.
• 5:10
  So I'm going to focus in on three particular places that I think are most important.
• 5:16
  And you may say, oh, she forgot one.
• 5:18
  And if I did, I should pause a moment and say, I love to hear from you guys.
• 5:24
  It is the best for me. So if you ever are inspired or have a thought or a question
• 5:31
  or any ideas regarding the podcast and you would love to reach out to me,
• 5:36
  I would love to hear from you.
• 5:38
  There are two very simple ways to do that. One, you can just email me.
• 5:42
  I'm joy at joylovinghome.com.
• 5:45
  Put podcast in the subject line and give me a thought.
• 5:49
  Otherwise, I don't post a whole lot in Instagram, but I do get any DMs over there.
• 5:56
  So I'm joylovinghome on Instagram.
• 5:59
  You can go over there and shoot me a DM and happy to have a chat with you there.
• 6:04
  If you happen to already be in my free community, which is you go to bit.ly
• 6:10
  slash joylovinghomecommunity if you'd like to be a part of that,
• 6:14
  you can always send me a message through that.
• 6:17
  It's great to put questions in there because not only would I weigh in,
• 6:21
  but also members of the community could weigh in, which is awesome resource there.
• 6:25
  And then I also have a membership group that is $10 a month where we meet every week.
• 6:32
  And so you could just ask me face to face on Zoom if you ever have a thought
• 6:38
  or a comment or a question.
• 6:39
  We discuss a lot of different things that have happened in the podcasts in that group as well.
• 6:44
  So what I'm trying to say is, while I'm sitting here in front of a.
• 6:49
  Microphone and sort of what seems like talking to the air, I know you're there
• 6:53
  and I know you're a lovely group of people and I would love it if you wanted
• 6:56
  to reach back towards me because it's the highlight for me to hear from you all.
• 7:00
  And while I'm actively digressing, as I hold you in suspense of my three particular locations,
• 7:07
  I would also love to say it means the world to me if you ever feel like taking
• 7:13
  a moment and writing, writing and reviewing the podcast wherever you listen.
• 7:18
  It is immensely helpful for the growth of my podcast and just for me to get
• 7:25
  a sense of what you're liking and what you might like more of.
• 7:28
  So if you ever want to leave a rating and review, I would be ever so grateful.
• 7:33
  All right, back to what I meant to talk about. So the first part that I think
• 7:38
  is super, super important as we enter this new school year, because it's good
• 7:44
  for you and it's good for them.
• 7:45
  And that is to have your launch pad, your landing pad, your mud room,
• 7:51
  your entryway, whatever it is we want to call that location,
• 7:54
  because it's different for every house.
• 7:56
  But that space where you can make sure the kids know the lunchboxes are,
• 8:02
  the book bags go, their shoes, their sporting equipment, their musical instrument,
• 8:08
  their library book, your keys, your purse, your shoes, whatever you need to
• 8:14
  grab and exit the house or at the place you know where it's going to stop as you're walking in, that.
• 8:23
  Is a space I want you to get set up. It is worth your time to say before I do
• 8:28
  any other wild and exciting project that I would like to do,
• 8:31
  I am going to get this in place.
• 8:35
  So take a little bit of time, think it through. How do you want their book bags
• 8:39
  to be? How do you want their lunch boxes to be?
• 8:43
  Do not overcomplicate this because so often you're running, you're rushing.
• 8:50
  It needs to be easy drop and easy grab. Those are your only goals.
• 8:55
  We do not care about aesthetics in this location.
• 8:58
  I will say the other great
• 9:01
  part about having a launching landing pad set for those of us with ADHD is if
• 9:09
  we lose track of time working on some project that we have lost ourselves in
• 9:15
  while the kids are at school and suddenly we look up and are like,
• 9:18
  I'm supposed to be in the car rider line, or I'm supposed to be the bus stop now.
• 9:23
  You can grab what you need and run out the door.
• 9:28
  Without realizing that you don't know where the keys are and you forgot where
• 9:31
  you laid your purse down and you were supposed to grab this and bring it to
• 9:34
  that and you didn't remember to grab it out of the wash or whatever.
• 9:40
  That panic moment of I can't find my and then you are 10 minutes late is a feeling none of us wants.
• 9:48
  So get that launch pad, landing pad, mudroom, entryway set.
• 9:53
  It's also awesome to have just a big basket in there that is anything that has
• 9:59
  to exit the house or enter the house in the way of errands or items that you might need regularly.
• 10:06
  It does not hurt to have a basket in the vehicle or a basket right at the doorway
• 10:10
  to be able to pick up and grab in one fell swoop.
• 10:15
  So that's number one. Number two, get your laundry room set or wherever it is
• 10:23
  you like to keep all of your cleaning supplies.
• 10:25
  I wrote laundry room down because in my head I was thinking cleaning supplies,
• 10:29
  but not everybody keeps their cleaning supplies in their laundry room. That may just be me.
• 10:33
  So what I'm saying there is that is the highest equivalent to the kids' supplies.
• 10:39
  You don't want to be in some
• 10:43
  wonderful hyper focus where you've decided all of a sudden that you're going
• 10:49
  to take every book out of the bookshelf and you are going to grab some Murphy's
• 10:56
  oil soap and you're going to wipe down every bookcase and really evaluate what
• 11:00
  books you want to keep and not keep.
• 11:02
  And you get everything down and you start looking around for the cleaner and
• 11:07
  you're like, I don't remember where I left it.
• 11:10
  Do I keep it under the sink? Do I keep it in the bathroom?
• 11:13
  Did I have that in the laundry room? Is it down in the basement?
• 11:16
  Do I need to leave the house and go buy some?
• 11:18
  It's better for you to take stock, get that inventory set and know one place
• 11:25
  to go so that you are not slowed down.
• 11:29
  Slowed sounds weird to me tonight. I'm recording this at midnight right before
• 11:34
  I'm supposed to get on a flight and I have to leave my house at six in the morning.
• 11:37
  And sorry if this sounds fuzzy, but I did want to record and send something out.
• 11:43
  So anyway, if the words are off, you're going to give me some grace and love
• 11:47
  me through it because I cannot think of the past tense of slow down.
• 11:51
  Slow down and get this part right so that you aren't slowing down later when you need the tools.
• 11:59
  That's my fix for that. Anyway, so location one was that entry exit.
• 12:06
  Location two is wherever you want to keep your cleaning supplies.
• 12:09
  All right, location three is getting the kitchen in enough order to,
• 12:17
  And convincing yourself that the most basic of basic meals needs to happen over
• 12:24
  the next few weeks while you're getting adjusted to all the new pick up and
• 12:28
  drop off schedules and practice schedules and remembering,
• 12:32
  oh, this is what it's like to pick them up, get them home,
• 12:36
  have the quick snack, and then get them to practice and then have supper or
• 12:40
  have supper and then get them to practice and then pick them up from practice
• 12:44
  and now they're starving. So we have second supper.
• 12:47
  None of this needs to be complicated. It just needs to be sustenance.
• 12:52
  So think about how can I stock some easy grab and go, remotely healthy.
• 13:01
  Halfway edible, protein heavy, whatever your goals are from a food standpoint.
• 13:08
  Try and convince yourself to keep that easy for these first several weeks while
• 13:14
  you are trying to figure out this new schedule in your life.
• 13:18
  If that means you have a few extra minutes on a Sunday night and you decide
• 13:23
  to brown four pounds of hamburger meat and divide that up and night one is tacos
• 13:30
  and night two is spaghetti and night three is leftover tacos and night four is leftover spaghetti.
• 13:37
  It's okay for those first few weeks to say it is what it is.
• 13:42
  You are all being fed and nobody is going to bed hungry.
• 13:45
  That's really all that matters. So take a few moments and just kind of get that
• 13:51
  kitchen stocked with the easy and the ready.
• 13:55
  And I think if you can conquer those three basics, you're going to be ready
• 14:00
  to start a new year as successfully as your kids are going to be.
• 14:05
  So I hope that's helpful.
• 14:07
  Like I said, give me a shout if you think of anything I forgot that you consider
• 14:11
  of vital basic and yeah, continue to choose joy.