April 11, 2024 • 25 mins
"Simplify. Organize. Thrive." - Eileen Reed
In this episode, Sharon chats with professional organizing & productivity coach, Eileen Kelly Reed. Together we delve into the philosophy of lessism and how simplifying our lives can lead to a greater sense of fulfillment and purpose. Join us as we explore practical strategies for decluttering our physical spaces, mental clutter, and commitments, allowing us to prioritize the things that truly bring us joy and fulfillment. Discover the transformative power of embracing less and making room for what truly matters in our lives.
Eileen references the following book in this episode:
"Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg McKeown
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:24):
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Hustle & Harmony podcast, Finding Balance in the Chaos.
I am your host, Sharon McEntee, owner of Embody Med Spa and founder of Phy Skin Care.
Today, I'm joined by the amazing Eileen Reed of Simplify with Eileen,
an organizing and productivity coach, online estate auctioneer,
(00:45):
and inspirational speaker.
Welcome, my friend, Eileen. Thank you, Cher.
It's so good to be with you and everybody out there at Podcast Land. Thanks for the invite.
Awesome. I know I've known Eileen for several years now.
We met in a networking group and I am just in awe of everything you do and especially
(01:06):
how you, I hate the word pivot because it's overused, but I do love the way
that you did pivot during COVID and all of that.
So tell us a little bit about your background. brand?
Sure. So I grew up one of five kids and everybody in my family is what I call
pile people, bless their hearts.
So I very early on just naturally kind of like to carve out sanity and calm in my spaces.
(01:35):
Went to college, graduated, got sucked up into the corporate machine.
I was a software and IT consulting salesperson for over 20 years and great money
and benefits and trips and prizes and stuff.
But for any of you out there in sales, you know that it is a wicked grind.
(01:57):
And a lot of things happened to me as far as health and just all the grinding and stuff.
But when my dad got sick very suddenly, I had one of those defining moments.
Moments and realize just how precious life is.
My dad died very quickly after that surgery go bad thing.
(02:20):
And it just made me realize that there's more to life and that I could make
my passion my profession.
So I walked away from a six-figure career, created Simplify With I Mean in 2010.
We're now in our 14th year.
I'm married to a wonderful man, no kids, but a bunch of birds.
(02:41):
And yeah, I live in Linfield and serve sort of the greater North Shore area.
I love it. I love it. Now, one of the things that I or that has struck a chord
with me is actually your tagline for your business.
So your business is Simplify with Eileen, and I love your tagline,
Simplify, Organize, Thrive. So talk to us about that.
(03:05):
Absolutely. Thanks. So I think so many of us are just surviving.
You even said it in the introduction, very first podcast, that sometimes you
feel like you're just surviving.
And I think that that's kind of become like the okay standard,
like just barely head above water, treading madly beneath the surface and just surviving.
(03:30):
And I believe that life Life really is so much more than that.
And if we just simplify, if we sort of embrace intentionally a life of less,
you know, and we, you know, kind of organize, get some ducks in a row,
that it allows you the freedom, the bandwidth, the space to really, really thrive.
(03:53):
So how do we do that?
You know you talk about the benefits of
of less over more and simplifying and
so what are some ways that we could
do that on our own and at what point would we need a professional like you to
(04:13):
come in i mean i think everybody just like me you know transitioning my career
you have to to arrive at that point where you say, you know, this is madness.
Like a son can't want it for his mother. A wife can't want it for her husband.
You know, you have to arrive at that point where you're like,
Jesus Christ, like I'm missing things.
(04:35):
I'm, things are falling between the cracks. I'm losing track of things. I'm paying late fees.
I'm just, you know, whatever. Like I'm just eating so poorly and gaining weight
because I'm just like, you know, surviving.
So I think, first of all, you have to arrive at that point where you really
are ready to embrace, look at things through a different lens and change course.
(04:59):
And then my biggest advice is just to take it in small bites, okay?
When we're sitting at the bottom of the mountain of like, oh my gosh,
I really want to declutter and simplify and stop having so much on my calendar
and clean up the living room.
You know, the only way to approach it effectively and gain traction and momentum is to take small bites.
(05:25):
So maybe you're just like, okay, today I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to tackle the junk tour.
That's it. Just the junk tour. and you reclaim it and now you've got, you know, a success.
And then maybe you say like, okay, coat closet. That's all I'm going to do is
the coat closet, umbrellas out, you know, boots that don't fit anymore out.
(05:47):
And when you string together enough of those little small iterative steps,
now you're really effecting change and you're doing it in bite-sized pieces that are manageable.
So this is very much like my chunk it philosophy, right?
Same type of thing, where when you're setting goals and the goals seem overwhelming,
(06:09):
that you just have to break them down into chunks.
And so same concept. So I love this. We're definitely on the same wavelength here. are.
And then the other piece of your business is the online estate sales.
So tell us how that happened and what's involved with that.
(06:31):
Sure, sure. So the first 10 years of my career, I was doing the in-home and
small business organizing, optimizing kind of stuff.
And then COVID and I I didn't want to go to people's places.
Nobody wanted me in their house.
And also through those 10 years, I would occasionally do like a moving sale,
(06:54):
or an estate sale where you put signs around town, ads in the paper and you price everything.
And then like a million weirdos come in and they steal stuff,
break stuff, change prices and just negotiate you down.
And I always found that process like really icky. Like, and then you're left
with a bunch of stuff because you had a price of $40 and someone says,
(07:17):
well, you take $10. And you're like, no.
And then you're left with it. So-
When COVID came, I just recognized that there's still this need to shed things,
especially like when a parent passes or goes to assisted living in a family house of 40 years.
(07:38):
It needs to be clear, but you don't want to put all mom and dad stuff in a dumpster or the landfill.
So I realized there was still this need, but there was this way I discovered
this whole world of online auctions.
And it has revolutionized my business, like, for real.
And, you know, we just go in, my team and I, we do the work on site,
(08:01):
like, grouping all the blue vases together, grouping, you know,
all the linens together,
grouping all the coffee mugs together.
We catalog them, photograph them, upload them to this platform called Auction Ninja.
Ninja and then nationally for a
week this auction runs and people are like flipping open the lap on a Tuesday
(08:27):
night with a glass of Chardonnay and they're making some bids and then you know
so it's just and it's national so people in Denver could you know purchase this
phone and then we we drop it off at UPM.
So it was just this safe, secure, non-invasive way for people to let their, either this,
(08:53):
or family's belongings, like live a new life and serve somebody else.
You know, my clients didn't need them anymore. So it's just,
it's a, it's a whole feel good way of just shepherding things out to continue
to serve and not end up in need of this.
Amazing. Amazing. I love this. Now, so you are your primary clients for that.
(09:17):
Then people who are selling a home, you know, getting the home ready to put on the market?
Or do people also do this just when they're deciding to declutter?
Yeah. So what we've found is that really our ideal client are like the adult
children of parents who have maybe, again, gone to a nursing home or passed
(09:40):
away and the siblings are standing at the house,
basement to attic, mom and dad kept everything.
And they're just like, Like we need to sell the house, but we need to clear it out first.
So those are typically my clients. Sometimes it is people moving.
Like again, if all the kids are gone and the empty nesters are going to move
(10:05):
down to Florida, to a condo, but their five bedroom house in Andover, they need to sell it.
So we really look for those full house types of things. And if people have just
some stuff or drips and draps, it's not always, sometimes, but not always the perfect fit for us.
We really like to help those kind of grieving, struggling families feel good
(10:31):
about honoring their parents and their family and all the stuff.
And just, you know, so that's really the bulk of what we do.
Excellent. I love that. Yeah. So you're also, another hat that you wear is that
you are a sought-after speaker.
So can you tell me some of the topics that you have spoken about and talked about?
(10:53):
Maybe some little nuggets of wisdom you can give to the audience regarding that.
More because the only thing I like more than doing what I do is talking about what I do.
So yeah, and I've always been comfortable speaking.
I was in sales and stuff, but boy, when, when you're so passionate about what
it is you're talking about, like, it's just, it's easy. It's fun. It's awesome.
(11:16):
So I've talked, I've spoken to realtor groups and to to realtor associations
about downsizing steps and moving and how to do those auctions.
But I've also talked, my kind of favorite one that I've been doing lately are
the five keys to living a simplified life.
(11:37):
And again, we sort of chunk it down, Sharon, into those five truly actionable
steps you can take to start effecting change and embark on your simplifying journey.
I've also, one of my also favorite topics is mastering the art of saying no.
And I find that a lot of my clients whose clutter and lack of time to do things,
(12:06):
it really stems from them just being, you know, too gracious about saying yes
to everybody and then essentially saying no to themselves.
So I actually teach ways, again, actionable ways, the dialogue,
the phrases, and the intent behind saying no, just setting up some boundaries for yourself.
(12:27):
We all need boundaries, Eileen, especially busy working.
You know, you're wearing all sorts of hats and it is hard. You want to be everything
for everybody. So I think that's great.
Put your own mask on first. That's what the airlines say. And it's like so true.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you, you know, that, that comes to the saying too,
(12:50):
that you can't fill anyone else's cup if, if you're running on an empty cup.
Right. So, so in your, your underlying message.
I believe anyway, from, you know, everything that you're doing is that it can
truly be powerful and life-changing to simplify your life.
So in what ways would you say?
(13:13):
Yeah. So, well, first of all, I think that it's, it's like less about organizing.
It's more about having less to organize. So I consider myself, I'm not a minimalist.
I'm a lessest. I'm an an essentialist. And I find that when you,
from your calendar, maybe you step away from, you know, being on this board
(13:37):
or being, you know, secretary treasurer of that organization,
or, you know,
when you, when you simplify your, your calendar, when you simplify your obligations,
when you kind of declutter your perceptions, like, oh, I really should do that.
Or I ought to have the the newest Louis Vuitton bag.
(13:57):
So calendar, obligations, perceptions, and then space.
When you reclaim all that.
Like what you find is that the things that really matter, the things that are
important, the things that like speak to you and your soul and align with how
(14:17):
you want your life to be, those things rise up.
And we're not exhausted anymore. more. We're not distracted.
We're not impatient.
We're not taking poor care of ourselves.
We're not rushing. We're not, you know, we're able to see.
(14:38):
When things are organized, like your closet, for instance, right?
Like if you throw your closet open every morning and it's just like an utter
shit show and it's just like, where are my gray pants?
And you're just foraging and you're getting mad and now you're late to your appointment.
Like that's no way to live, right? Right. But if you had a gray section or a
(15:01):
pants section and you would send out all the other stuff that no longer fits
or just feel scratchy or just is so yesteryear and now you're left with the right amount of things,
you find those gray pants fast.
You're not, you know, angry and frustrated.
You're able to make a good breakfast. You're able to get to your meeting on
(15:23):
time. Like life is better. Yeah.
Yeah. I find that I procrastinate less the more organized I am.
For example, with business tasks, if I know where that file is that I need to
accomplish this task today, I'm going to go right to the file and do it.
(15:46):
If I think it could be in seven different places, I may put that off to the
side before I decide to tackle that task.
So I agree with you in all of that, that it's very much changes your mindset too.
Yes. Instead of spinning and just wasting time and again, then you just like,
(16:07):
screw it. I'll just procrastinate. I'll find it tomorrow.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So that ties into the podcast name,
which is Hustle and Harmony, Finding Balance in the Chaos, right?
So tell me, how do you find balance in the chaos?
Or how would you recommend one of our listeners find balance in the chaos?
(16:29):
So I think the balance becomes evident. It comes to the surface when you simplify everything around you.
Like I said, you know, the calendar, the obligations, the perceptions, the stuff.
Again, it just, it rises up because you're less distracted.
(16:50):
You know, I just want to show this book because I love it. And I've read it
three times. I'm going to do my fourth.
It's by Greg McCowan. it's called Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. So good.
And it really just talks about not doing more things, but doing more of the right things,
you know, and just choosing, you know, intentionally looking at what you have
(17:14):
on your plate and just choosing that, you know what,
either I can delegate that or I'm just going to discard it because,
you know, whether it's It's maybe like, you know, can't really think of an example,
but just discard it. It's not, it's not important.
So I think the balance comes when you choose, simplify, choose to intentionally
(17:39):
surround yourself with less.
And then that harmony, that joy, that alignment, that everything becomes apparent. parent.
I'll make sure I put a link to that book too, but it just reminded me of,
and I know you talk about this in, in respect to your entire life,
(18:02):
but it reminds me too of the saying
that your house should be your living space, not your storage space.
Man. And I love that. And now, I mean, I moved from a very teeny tiny shoe box of a house. So,
I was lucky enough that I saved nothing because even a newspaper on the coffee
(18:22):
table made things look cluttered, right?
So then when I moved to a bigger house, I, for the most part,
carried that with me of not really saving things that weren't important to me.
So I love that. And that resonates with me when I start to see clutter in my
house that this is my living space, not my storage space, right?
(18:44):
Right, right. Right. And I used to do a lot of people, like they wouldn't,
we'd walk through the house, you know, and talk about what their priorities
are, make their priorities with the kitchen or the office or whatever.
And I would look at their bedroom and it would just be like piles everywhere.
Things like pokes of cards stacked on top, the exercise machine, maybe a desk in there.
(19:07):
And like your bedroom is really supposed to be your sanctuary.
It's where you go go to recharge and restore and relax and replenish.
And just, you know, when you shut your eyes, the last thing you see is just
like delayed decisions and piles.
I'm like, when are you going to sell me? You know, there's my pile of mending.
(19:29):
And, oh, you're going to donate those two bags.
Like if it's all just right around there, I don't feel you give yourself the
benefit of true rest and restoration. restoration.
And so your house, absolutely. But listen to me, Peaks, bedrooms,
okay? Keep those as a sanctuary.
(19:50):
I love that phrase that you just said, when the last thing you see is delayed decisions.
I love that. And it stays with you and it's in there and it's like interfering
with, you know, what you need to do just to restore. Love it.
So is there anything you want to leave the audience with as far as living and
(20:13):
thriving with a simplified life.
So I think it's just, you know, that little thing that it's less about organizing.
Don't go out to container store and buy a bunch of bins and perfect hangers and all that stuff.
It's less about organizing. It's more about having less to organize.
Let's not have the overflow pantry shelving units in the garage or the bottom of the basement steps.
(20:41):
We don't need 4 million rolls of paper towels. Just, you know, just less.
So less, check out Greg McCowan's book. Check out my website.
And again, as you want to embark, start on, start with little bites.
You would also said something like, when is it right to call in an organizer?
(21:03):
You know, it's, hey, I feel for years paid a personal trainer trainer because
I know how to go to the gym.
I know how to pick up the weights and go on the treadmill.
But honestly, I never got the results I wanted until I started pinning a personal
trainer and I had a repoint with her every Monday morning at eight o'clock and
(21:26):
she would give me larger weights than I ever would choose for myself.
And she would make me do intervals on the treadmill while I was just sort of
moping along at, you know, 3.0.
So I think there's a, there's great benefit to having somebody, you know, coach you.
But you can also do it with like your sister, your best friend,
(21:49):
an accountability partner.
Like that's great to have some like fun with it, have a little contest.
Like, okay, you know, Marsha, every Monday morning, let's talk about what we're
going to do this week. And then let's, you know, see how we do.
So, yeah, accountability is good. I love that.
So I think every member of our audience should pick one little thing over the next week to.
(22:15):
Simplify and that, you know, will help them get on the path to doing this for their life.
So if somebody, I'm going to have you kind of give all your information now
as far as if somebody wants to talk to you and see if you could help them out
as far as simplifying and organizing, how would they go about doing that?
(22:36):
So probably the best is my Simplify with Eileen website.
There are links there at the very bottom to all my social media accounts,
Instagram, YouTube channel, Facebook, all that kind of stuff is there at the bottom, the hot links.
And then under my services, there is a link to my online auction website,
which sits on top of Auction Ninja, and you can, you know, see what that's all about.
(23:02):
So those are really the best ways. I have gotten a little bit away from doing the organizing.
I have some other colleagues that I refer because really the need for the online
auctions has, and speaking, like I'm speaking next Saturday,
I think you interviewed Amy Guber.
We're speaking at the Better Together event event on April 6th,
(23:26):
next Saturday in Waltham.
So those are the areas that I'm really focusing on now.
So feel free to check out what I'm doing.
I love that. I love that. And I love to see you thriving, which you always have been.
Every time I've connected with you, you just radiate sunshine and you're just
doing wonders. So I love it.
(23:48):
Thank you so much, Eileen, for being on the Hustle & Harmony podcast.
It's so great to have you on here. And I'll put links in for those of you who
are interested in getting in touch with Eileen or learning more about her services.
As well as the book that you recommended.
I'm always looking for a great nonfiction book. So this is great.
(24:10):
Thank you. I'm so impressed with all your accomplishments and with the latest
being Hustle & Harmony, I stand in awe.
Oh, thank you, Eileen. Thank you.
Everyone else, don't follow the Hustle & Harmony podcast wherever you listen
to your casts and be sure to follow
me on Instagram at shaa underscore mom boss and at embodied med spa.
(24:32):
Music.
Music.
(00:24):
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Hustle & Harmony podcast, Finding Balance in the Chaos.
I am your host, Sharon McEntee, owner of Embody Med Spa and founder of Phy Skin Care.
Today, I'm joined by the amazing Eileen Reed of Simplify with Eileen,
an organizing and productivity coach, online estate auctioneer,
(00:45):
and inspirational speaker.
Welcome, my friend, Eileen. Thank you, Cher.
It's so good to be with you and everybody out there at Podcast Land. Thanks for the invite.
Awesome. I know I've known Eileen for several years now.
We met in a networking group and I am just in awe of everything you do and especially
(01:06):
how you, I hate the word pivot because it's overused, but I do love the way
that you did pivot during COVID and all of that.
So tell us a little bit about your background. brand?
Sure. So I grew up one of five kids and everybody in my family is what I call
pile people, bless their hearts.
So I very early on just naturally kind of like to carve out sanity and calm in my spaces.
(01:35):
Went to college, graduated, got sucked up into the corporate machine.
I was a software and IT consulting salesperson for over 20 years and great money
and benefits and trips and prizes and stuff.
But for any of you out there in sales, you know that it is a wicked grind.
(01:57):
And a lot of things happened to me as far as health and just all the grinding and stuff.
But when my dad got sick very suddenly, I had one of those defining moments.
Moments and realize just how precious life is.
My dad died very quickly after that surgery go bad thing.
(02:20):
And it just made me realize that there's more to life and that I could make
my passion my profession.
So I walked away from a six-figure career, created Simplify With I Mean in 2010.
We're now in our 14th year.
I'm married to a wonderful man, no kids, but a bunch of birds.
(02:41):
And yeah, I live in Linfield and serve sort of the greater North Shore area.
I love it. I love it. Now, one of the things that I or that has struck a chord
with me is actually your tagline for your business.
So your business is Simplify with Eileen, and I love your tagline,
Simplify, Organize, Thrive. So talk to us about that.
(03:05):
Absolutely. Thanks. So I think so many of us are just surviving.
You even said it in the introduction, very first podcast, that sometimes you
feel like you're just surviving.
And I think that that's kind of become like the okay standard,
like just barely head above water, treading madly beneath the surface and just surviving.
(03:30):
And I believe that life Life really is so much more than that.
And if we just simplify, if we sort of embrace intentionally a life of less,
you know, and we, you know, kind of organize, get some ducks in a row,
that it allows you the freedom, the bandwidth, the space to really, really thrive.
(03:53):
So how do we do that?
You know you talk about the benefits of
of less over more and simplifying and
so what are some ways that we could
do that on our own and at what point would we need a professional like you to
(04:13):
come in i mean i think everybody just like me you know transitioning my career
you have to to arrive at that point where you say, you know, this is madness.
Like a son can't want it for his mother. A wife can't want it for her husband.
You know, you have to arrive at that point where you're like,
Jesus Christ, like I'm missing things.
(04:35):
I'm, things are falling between the cracks. I'm losing track of things. I'm paying late fees.
I'm just, you know, whatever. Like I'm just eating so poorly and gaining weight
because I'm just like, you know, surviving.
So I think, first of all, you have to arrive at that point where you really
are ready to embrace, look at things through a different lens and change course.
(04:59):
And then my biggest advice is just to take it in small bites, okay?
When we're sitting at the bottom of the mountain of like, oh my gosh,
I really want to declutter and simplify and stop having so much on my calendar
and clean up the living room.
You know, the only way to approach it effectively and gain traction and momentum is to take small bites.
(05:25):
So maybe you're just like, okay, today I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to tackle the junk tour.
That's it. Just the junk tour. and you reclaim it and now you've got, you know, a success.
And then maybe you say like, okay, coat closet. That's all I'm going to do is
the coat closet, umbrellas out, you know, boots that don't fit anymore out.
(05:47):
And when you string together enough of those little small iterative steps,
now you're really effecting change and you're doing it in bite-sized pieces that are manageable.
So this is very much like my chunk it philosophy, right?
Same type of thing, where when you're setting goals and the goals seem overwhelming,
(06:09):
that you just have to break them down into chunks.
And so same concept. So I love this. We're definitely on the same wavelength here. are.
And then the other piece of your business is the online estate sales.
So tell us how that happened and what's involved with that.
(06:31):
Sure, sure. So the first 10 years of my career, I was doing the in-home and
small business organizing, optimizing kind of stuff.
And then COVID and I I didn't want to go to people's places.
Nobody wanted me in their house.
And also through those 10 years, I would occasionally do like a moving sale,
(06:54):
or an estate sale where you put signs around town, ads in the paper and you price everything.
And then like a million weirdos come in and they steal stuff,
break stuff, change prices and just negotiate you down.
And I always found that process like really icky. Like, and then you're left
with a bunch of stuff because you had a price of $40 and someone says,
(07:17):
well, you take $10. And you're like, no.
And then you're left with it. So-
When COVID came, I just recognized that there's still this need to shed things,
especially like when a parent passes or goes to assisted living in a family house of 40 years.
(07:38):
It needs to be clear, but you don't want to put all mom and dad stuff in a dumpster or the landfill.
So I realized there was still this need, but there was this way I discovered
this whole world of online auctions.
And it has revolutionized my business, like, for real.
And, you know, we just go in, my team and I, we do the work on site,
(08:01):
like, grouping all the blue vases together, grouping, you know,
all the linens together,
grouping all the coffee mugs together.
We catalog them, photograph them, upload them to this platform called Auction Ninja.
Ninja and then nationally for a
week this auction runs and people are like flipping open the lap on a Tuesday
(08:27):
night with a glass of Chardonnay and they're making some bids and then you know
so it's just and it's national so people in Denver could you know purchase this
phone and then we we drop it off at UPM.
So it was just this safe, secure, non-invasive way for people to let their, either this,
(08:53):
or family's belongings, like live a new life and serve somebody else.
You know, my clients didn't need them anymore. So it's just,
it's a, it's a whole feel good way of just shepherding things out to continue
to serve and not end up in need of this.
Amazing. Amazing. I love this. Now, so you are your primary clients for that.
(09:17):
Then people who are selling a home, you know, getting the home ready to put on the market?
Or do people also do this just when they're deciding to declutter?
Yeah. So what we've found is that really our ideal client are like the adult
children of parents who have maybe, again, gone to a nursing home or passed
(09:40):
away and the siblings are standing at the house,
basement to attic, mom and dad kept everything.
And they're just like, Like we need to sell the house, but we need to clear it out first.
So those are typically my clients. Sometimes it is people moving.
Like again, if all the kids are gone and the empty nesters are going to move
(10:05):
down to Florida, to a condo, but their five bedroom house in Andover, they need to sell it.
So we really look for those full house types of things. And if people have just
some stuff or drips and draps, it's not always, sometimes, but not always the perfect fit for us.
We really like to help those kind of grieving, struggling families feel good
(10:31):
about honoring their parents and their family and all the stuff.
And just, you know, so that's really the bulk of what we do.
Excellent. I love that. Yeah. So you're also, another hat that you wear is that
you are a sought-after speaker.
So can you tell me some of the topics that you have spoken about and talked about?
(10:53):
Maybe some little nuggets of wisdom you can give to the audience regarding that.
More because the only thing I like more than doing what I do is talking about what I do.
So yeah, and I've always been comfortable speaking.
I was in sales and stuff, but boy, when, when you're so passionate about what
it is you're talking about, like, it's just, it's easy. It's fun. It's awesome.
(11:16):
So I've talked, I've spoken to realtor groups and to to realtor associations
about downsizing steps and moving and how to do those auctions.
But I've also talked, my kind of favorite one that I've been doing lately are
the five keys to living a simplified life.
(11:37):
And again, we sort of chunk it down, Sharon, into those five truly actionable
steps you can take to start effecting change and embark on your simplifying journey.
I've also, one of my also favorite topics is mastering the art of saying no.
And I find that a lot of my clients whose clutter and lack of time to do things,
(12:06):
it really stems from them just being, you know, too gracious about saying yes
to everybody and then essentially saying no to themselves.
So I actually teach ways, again, actionable ways, the dialogue,
the phrases, and the intent behind saying no, just setting up some boundaries for yourself.
(12:27):
We all need boundaries, Eileen, especially busy working.
You know, you're wearing all sorts of hats and it is hard. You want to be everything
for everybody. So I think that's great.
Put your own mask on first. That's what the airlines say. And it's like so true.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you, you know, that, that comes to the saying too,
(12:50):
that you can't fill anyone else's cup if, if you're running on an empty cup.
Right. So, so in your, your underlying message.
I believe anyway, from, you know, everything that you're doing is that it can
truly be powerful and life-changing to simplify your life.
So in what ways would you say?
(13:13):
Yeah. So, well, first of all, I think that it's, it's like less about organizing.
It's more about having less to organize. So I consider myself, I'm not a minimalist.
I'm a lessest. I'm an an essentialist. And I find that when you,
from your calendar, maybe you step away from, you know, being on this board
(13:37):
or being, you know, secretary treasurer of that organization,
or, you know,
when you, when you simplify your, your calendar, when you simplify your obligations,
when you kind of declutter your perceptions, like, oh, I really should do that.
Or I ought to have the the newest Louis Vuitton bag.
(13:57):
So calendar, obligations, perceptions, and then space.
When you reclaim all that.
Like what you find is that the things that really matter, the things that are
important, the things that like speak to you and your soul and align with how
(14:17):
you want your life to be, those things rise up.
And we're not exhausted anymore. more. We're not distracted.
We're not impatient.
We're not taking poor care of ourselves.
We're not rushing. We're not, you know, we're able to see.
(14:38):
When things are organized, like your closet, for instance, right?
Like if you throw your closet open every morning and it's just like an utter
shit show and it's just like, where are my gray pants?
And you're just foraging and you're getting mad and now you're late to your appointment.
Like that's no way to live, right? Right. But if you had a gray section or a
(15:01):
pants section and you would send out all the other stuff that no longer fits
or just feel scratchy or just is so yesteryear and now you're left with the right amount of things,
you find those gray pants fast.
You're not, you know, angry and frustrated.
You're able to make a good breakfast. You're able to get to your meeting on
(15:23):
time. Like life is better. Yeah.
Yeah. I find that I procrastinate less the more organized I am.
For example, with business tasks, if I know where that file is that I need to
accomplish this task today, I'm going to go right to the file and do it.
(15:46):
If I think it could be in seven different places, I may put that off to the
side before I decide to tackle that task.
So I agree with you in all of that, that it's very much changes your mindset too.
Yes. Instead of spinning and just wasting time and again, then you just like,
(16:07):
screw it. I'll just procrastinate. I'll find it tomorrow.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So that ties into the podcast name,
which is Hustle and Harmony, Finding Balance in the Chaos, right?
So tell me, how do you find balance in the chaos?
Or how would you recommend one of our listeners find balance in the chaos?
(16:29):
So I think the balance becomes evident. It comes to the surface when you simplify everything around you.
Like I said, you know, the calendar, the obligations, the perceptions, the stuff.
Again, it just, it rises up because you're less distracted.
(16:50):
You know, I just want to show this book because I love it. And I've read it
three times. I'm going to do my fourth.
It's by Greg McCowan. it's called Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. So good.
And it really just talks about not doing more things, but doing more of the right things,
you know, and just choosing, you know, intentionally looking at what you have
(17:14):
on your plate and just choosing that, you know what,
either I can delegate that or I'm just going to discard it because,
you know, whether it's It's maybe like, you know, can't really think of an example,
but just discard it. It's not, it's not important.
So I think the balance comes when you choose, simplify, choose to intentionally
(17:39):
surround yourself with less.
And then that harmony, that joy, that alignment, that everything becomes apparent. parent.
I'll make sure I put a link to that book too, but it just reminded me of,
and I know you talk about this in, in respect to your entire life,
(18:02):
but it reminds me too of the saying
that your house should be your living space, not your storage space.
Man. And I love that. And now, I mean, I moved from a very teeny tiny shoe box of a house. So,
I was lucky enough that I saved nothing because even a newspaper on the coffee
(18:22):
table made things look cluttered, right?
So then when I moved to a bigger house, I, for the most part,
carried that with me of not really saving things that weren't important to me.
So I love that. And that resonates with me when I start to see clutter in my
house that this is my living space, not my storage space, right?
(18:44):
Right, right. Right. And I used to do a lot of people, like they wouldn't,
we'd walk through the house, you know, and talk about what their priorities
are, make their priorities with the kitchen or the office or whatever.
And I would look at their bedroom and it would just be like piles everywhere.
Things like pokes of cards stacked on top, the exercise machine, maybe a desk in there.
(19:07):
And like your bedroom is really supposed to be your sanctuary.
It's where you go go to recharge and restore and relax and replenish.
And just, you know, when you shut your eyes, the last thing you see is just
like delayed decisions and piles.
I'm like, when are you going to sell me? You know, there's my pile of mending.
(19:29):
And, oh, you're going to donate those two bags.
Like if it's all just right around there, I don't feel you give yourself the
benefit of true rest and restoration. restoration.
And so your house, absolutely. But listen to me, Peaks, bedrooms,
okay? Keep those as a sanctuary.
(19:50):
I love that phrase that you just said, when the last thing you see is delayed decisions.
I love that. And it stays with you and it's in there and it's like interfering
with, you know, what you need to do just to restore. Love it.
So is there anything you want to leave the audience with as far as living and
(20:13):
thriving with a simplified life.
So I think it's just, you know, that little thing that it's less about organizing.
Don't go out to container store and buy a bunch of bins and perfect hangers and all that stuff.
It's less about organizing. It's more about having less to organize.
Let's not have the overflow pantry shelving units in the garage or the bottom of the basement steps.
(20:41):
We don't need 4 million rolls of paper towels. Just, you know, just less.
So less, check out Greg McCowan's book. Check out my website.
And again, as you want to embark, start on, start with little bites.
You would also said something like, when is it right to call in an organizer?
(21:03):
You know, it's, hey, I feel for years paid a personal trainer trainer because
I know how to go to the gym.
I know how to pick up the weights and go on the treadmill.
But honestly, I never got the results I wanted until I started pinning a personal
trainer and I had a repoint with her every Monday morning at eight o'clock and
(21:26):
she would give me larger weights than I ever would choose for myself.
And she would make me do intervals on the treadmill while I was just sort of
moping along at, you know, 3.0.
So I think there's a, there's great benefit to having somebody, you know, coach you.
But you can also do it with like your sister, your best friend,
(21:49):
an accountability partner.
Like that's great to have some like fun with it, have a little contest.
Like, okay, you know, Marsha, every Monday morning, let's talk about what we're
going to do this week. And then let's, you know, see how we do.
So, yeah, accountability is good. I love that.
So I think every member of our audience should pick one little thing over the next week to.
(22:15):
Simplify and that, you know, will help them get on the path to doing this for their life.
So if somebody, I'm going to have you kind of give all your information now
as far as if somebody wants to talk to you and see if you could help them out
as far as simplifying and organizing, how would they go about doing that?
(22:36):
So probably the best is my Simplify with Eileen website.
There are links there at the very bottom to all my social media accounts,
Instagram, YouTube channel, Facebook, all that kind of stuff is there at the bottom, the hot links.
And then under my services, there is a link to my online auction website,
which sits on top of Auction Ninja, and you can, you know, see what that's all about.
(23:02):
So those are really the best ways. I have gotten a little bit away from doing the organizing.
I have some other colleagues that I refer because really the need for the online
auctions has, and speaking, like I'm speaking next Saturday,
I think you interviewed Amy Guber.
We're speaking at the Better Together event event on April 6th,
(23:26):
next Saturday in Waltham.
So those are the areas that I'm really focusing on now.
So feel free to check out what I'm doing.
I love that. I love that. And I love to see you thriving, which you always have been.
Every time I've connected with you, you just radiate sunshine and you're just
doing wonders. So I love it.
(23:48):
Thank you so much, Eileen, for being on the Hustle & Harmony podcast.
It's so great to have you on here. And I'll put links in for those of you who
are interested in getting in touch with Eileen or learning more about her services.
As well as the book that you recommended.
I'm always looking for a great nonfiction book. So this is great.
(24:10):
Thank you. I'm so impressed with all your accomplishments and with the latest
being Hustle & Harmony, I stand in awe.
Oh, thank you, Eileen. Thank you.
Everyone else, don't follow the Hustle & Harmony podcast wherever you listen
to your casts and be sure to follow
me on Instagram at shaa underscore mom boss and at embodied med spa.
(24:32):
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