It's time to get our lives together. Professional Organizer Lisa Trigsted joins us. We talk organization tips, decluttering your home and why organizing your stuff, can improve your health and happiness. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Things It's Impossible to Look Cool While Doing.

Interview with Professional Organizer Lisa Trigsted of Neat Freak McKinney

Speakers

Nick VinZant: Profoundly Pointless Host

Lisa Trigsted: Neat Freak McKinney

Nick VinZant 0:14 Hey everybody welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant coming up in this episode, organization and the top five things, it's impossible to look cool while doing,

Lisa Trigsted 0:26 you have to completely empty the space in order to start from from scratch and why I do that and why most organizers do that is that you need to see every single thing that was in there you need to touch everything. You need to decide if it is something that you absolutely love. My goal is to help you set up systems, you know in your home that are going to be lasting and it's going to change the way you feel about your home and the way you use your home. Less is more. You know we live in a world here and estates where it's just consumption, consumption, consumption, and everybody just wants more and more and more, but that doesn't bring them happiness. So what it does is creates anxiety.

Nick VinZant 1:10 I want to thank you guys so much. If you get a chance, like, download, subscribe, share, we really appreciate it. It really helps us out. So I recently saw this study and I don't mean that like, I'm smart. I accidentally came across it while looking at Game of Thrones memes. But I saw this study and it said that one of the keys to success however you define success is to have a strategy and to be organized. Our first guest is an expert at organization. She's a professional organizer that operates out of McKinney, Texas, which is right next to Dallas. She's the founder of neat freak McKinney This is Professional Organizer Lisa trick stead. So how did you get started being a professional organizer nizer

Lisa Trigsted 2:01 Well, that's a fun story. So my whole life I've been organ, an organized person, I'm the oldest of seven. And I grew up with a lot of responsibility given to me as the oldest. And I think naturally, I just was an organized person. So it all came naturally to me. And then fast forward to my adult years. After I had kids, I was helping friends organize their homes, they would come to my house and they would open my refrigerator and be like, What in the world? And so, to me, that was just a natural thing to do. So my daughter went off to college in 2006. And I just felt heartbroken. My little nest was flying away and, and life as I knew it was, was changing. At that time, I was a teacher, and I just really didn't have a heart to be teaching full time anymore. And my friends encouraged me to start an organization or an organization business. And my I'm so busy, I can't even keep up with my own schedule, and I no longer teach. This is just my full time business. And I absolutely love it.

Nick VinZant 3:17 When you first started out, did people have any idea what this was? Or did you kind of have to convince people? Or was this something that people were looking for and they didn't know it existed?

Lisa Trigsted 3:28 Well, it wasn't really like I looked it up and there, there were a couple of professional organizers in Dallas, but it was more It was like let me help you move and get unpacked, but the idea of a professional organizer was very kind of unknown. But my friends were just so encouraging because they saw the results that I you know, what I could do for them and, and my in my own home, that we just kind of, they just kind of just said, let's just try it. And so I did and I called myself just meat freak back then. And but yeah, between 2006 and 2017, things changed dramatically.

Nick VinZant 4:09 Now, do you like to be organized? Or do you feel a need to be organized like is it just essentially who you are?

Lisa Trigsted 4:17 It's both I it's just in, in in inside of me is just the way my brain works. It's the way that I function better when my home is organized, when my thoughts are organized when my kitchen and pantry. I just feel like that is just ingrained in me. It's just who I am.

Nick VinZant 4:38 So when you go into a client's house, or a location or wherever, and you start organizing, like, where do you start? What's the first thing that you're going to do?

Lisa Trigsted 4:48 So before I actually go into the home, I have a phone call or an in person consultation. Now with COVID I do a lot of FaceTime consultations and we talk about exactly What space that they want to start in? And I can I kind of get an idea of how they're feeling about the space, their anxiety level, what they want to achieve. And so by the time I actually get to their home, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to be working on. And so when, when when I come into their home and let's just take a pantry, for instance, and we go to the pantry and I ask them, the general questions, what do you love about it, what's not working? How do you envision it? And then, after they answer all those questions, we just get started. And then number one, the first thing I do is we remove every single thing, whether it's a pantry, a closet, a garage, we take every single thing out,

Nick VinZant 5:44 like out of the house entirely.

Lisa Trigsted 5:50 Chuck the whole house and start from scratch. That's pretty much it but it on the front yard and burn it. No. I take it out of the pantry, we put it on the island or the kitchen table and the counters and we sort through it. But But yes, you have to completely empty the space in order to start from from scratch. And why I do that and why most organizers do that is that you need to see every single thing that was in there, you need to touch everything. You need to decide if it is something that you absolutely love, if it's something that you absolutely want to keep, if it's something that you absolutely use. And if you can't answer those questions with a yes, then I come back and say, you know, we try to figure out why they're holding on to something that doesn't necessarily bring them joy and happiness. And so there's just a, it really is a system that I go through with every single space. It's just a formula and it works and it makes people at first when I tell them I'm going to take everything out their eyes like Like you said, big bug out there like what? And, but once they see it all out, they are amazed if I had a dime for every dollar every time somebody said, How can I how do I have five of this? I would be, I would be rich because people buy things because they don't see that they already have them. Or, you know, just like in a closet, when I group all your black shirts together, they're like, Oh, my word, I do not need to ever buy another black shirt again. So that's kind of why I do that.

Nick VinZant 7:30 If you were to put a percentage on it, let's say like, what percentage of the amount of stuff that somebody has? Do they actually need or use? Are we talking like half 10%? Like how much stuff does somebody actually usually end up keeping?

Lisa Trigsted 7:46 Well, it varies. So I was let's just take a woman's closet, so it's usually they were 20% of what they have or they love 20% of what they have. And in a pantry. Obviously that percentage is going to be higher. 7525 75 they keep 25 there, they find appliances another thing still has the price tag on it from their wedding gifts, you know, things like that. But it does vary from space to space. It depends on how personal you're getting, like, obviously in a closet. It's very personal, you, you know, we like to shop, but we don't always love how it looks when when it's honest. Or, you know, we fluctuate, wait, and then we, we love an item and then we end up hating it or my the my biggest thing is don't buy it just because it's on sale. You know, I used to be that way. Oh, it's a bargain. I'm gonna buy it. But then I didn't love it. It didn't. I didn't like the way it looked on me or didn't like the way it made me fail. And so all those questions go into each space, but it does vary from space to space.

Nick VinZant 8:49 So are you organizing people's stuff? Are you kind of organizing the people behind this stuff?

Lisa Trigsted 8:56 Yes, I'm actually touching and organizing. Their stuff, but at the same time, the teacher comes out in me and I automatically, you know, during the conversation of the time that I'm there in their home, we're talking and then they're kind of asking me questions, and they kind of see how I'm putting it back in and how I create zones in every single space. And so I'm also teaching them, because I don't feel like I would be fully doing my job. If I have to come back every three months to, quote, clean it up, you know, I'm not a cleaning lady. I'm an organizer. And my goal is to help you set up systems, you know, in your home that are gonna be lasting, and it's going to change the way you feel about your home and the way you use your home.

Nick VinZant 9:41 Did you have like an overall philosophy in terms of organization?

Lisa Trigsted 9:46 Yes, yes, less is more. You know, we live in a world here in the states where it's just consumption, consumption, and everybody just wants more and more and more, but that doesn't bring them happiness. What it does As creating anxiety because they have so much junk and crap that they don't use that they, it just overwhelms them and then they get frustrated. And then you know, their bank accounts or credit cards are charged up and nothing that they're buying is making them happy. So my philosophy is always, less is more if you I would rather have, you know, 10 shirts that I wear all the time than 100 pretty shirts that I never wear. And so that's the kind of the philosophy I try to teach my clients is. Don't bring it into your home unless something else goes out. So it's a one in one out rule. And if you live with less, it really does make you feel happier. It's it's proven. It's true. My clients come back and tell me after the fact Oh my word You are right. So that those are kind of my philosophy, philosophies, less is more, simplify your space. And we'll In one out rule,

Nick VinZant 11:02 worst house you ever walked into What did it look like?

Lisa Trigsted 11:05 Oh, well, I I don't kiss until I my clients trust me with their homes, but there's a show on TV.

Nick VinZant 11:19 It was a hoarder house basically.

Lisa Trigsted 11:20 Yeah,And so I mean, and it makes me feel sad and I'm laughing because I'm nervous but it really was a sad situation they'd had an illness in the family and life and you know, had just kind of turned upside down on them and it just was like it snowball like they they didn't want to live that way. It just kind of happened. And so it took them a long time to be able to ask somebody for help. And to me that was the biggest step especially for these families that I help in that type of situation is asking for help. And then them trust. See me and so those situations are very different, you know, I do a ton of Pinterest, you know, the Pinterest pantry where everything looks beautiful. But those situations and with those families, it's a lot deeper and the emotions are deeper and it takes a lot longer and I have to just, you know, go slow and we do a lot of talking, and we do a lot of assessing, and there's a lot of emotions involved, usually a lot of tears. And but, you know, I feel very equipped to help those people. I feel like it's a natural gift for me. And so I can, you know, slow down the process because I'm normally just like a go getter, but in most situations, I just really slow down. But I mean, there's a reason that those houses get that way. But I have a great success story with a client in that same situation. So I was there like six days in a row. Their kids had gone off to camp. So it was just mom and dad at home. And then the kids came home the last two days that I was, I was there. And we ended up having a family meeting and they asked me to conduct a family meeting. And I ran into that same family, believe it or not at The Container Store Two years later, and they saw me across the store, and they were like Lisa, Lisa, come here, and they were so excited to see me. And they showed me because I had given them homework to do after I left because I got everything kind of set up. But there were still some other things that they had to deal with. They had finished all their homework, they had showed me pictures. They were so excited. And that, you know, here two years later, their lives were changed and they were able to maintain it and just the happiness on their face was just so rewarding.

Nick VinZant 13:49 I mean, there's obviously a huge difference between somebody whose house is like, Oh, you've got too much stuff. And somebody who Oh, you have you have a serious like there's a problem here and we need to get you out. hardest room to organize, easiest room to organize.

Lisa Trigsted 14:06 Okay, that's a good question. Again, it depends on the client. I would say probably the hardest room, I'm gonna say. And this is just weird to say but I'm going to say it's a guest room because what happens with most people's guest rooms is they put all the stuff that they don't want to deal with into the guest room is like a huge room that doesn't get used very often. The closets you're usually stuffed with memorabilia, things that grandma you have given them passed down from, you know, generations and things that they don't really want that they they can't get rid of. So it always gets into the junk room or the storage room. And so those take a little bit longer because we have to sift through so many things that have memories attached to them. garages can be one of those places as well. That You know, Oh, we don't want to deal with it. Now we're just going to shove it in the garage. And so when I do a garage, there's usually a lot of that to where again, I'm taking everything out and I make a pile of things that I'm like okay, this really doesn't belong in the garage. Let's talk about why it's in the garage or this really doesn't belong in your guest room. Let's talk about why it ended up in your guest room and the answer is always the same. Well, my mom gave it to me and when she comes to visit, I have to put it out or, you know, my somebody in my family passed away and it was theirs and it makes me feel guilty to get rid of it in and I always asked the same question well, if if you love to this person and they gave you something they would want you, they wouldn't want you to love and enjoy it. And if they're no longer here, they're not going to know that that you're getting rid of it and especially if you're not using it so those are kind of I would say the harder situations and some master closets get that way as well. The easiest room for me and my favorite is a pantry I love pantries I love to make them look pretty. I love to treat them as an extension of the kitchen as another room I like to decorate in there. And so give me a pantry. I could do it in my sleep.

Nick VinZant 16:13 What is the most important room to have organized like if you're gonna, you're only gonna do what you can only pick one room, you got to have this one and then everything else is secondary to having that room organized.

Lisa Trigsted 16:26 So for me, and again, this varies but for me, it's the kitchen The kitchen is has always been the heart of my home. It's where you start your mornings, it's where you and your your days and family meals around the table. You know, little kids are making their lunches you're spending your Saturday mornings or having coffee with friends and family whatever it is you're going to pick one room to get completely organized. I would say start in your kitchen and pantry and then it will just trickle down from there. You're going to love it so much that you're going to want to have organization every single room in your home.

Nick VinZant 17:05 Best way to organize by color alphabetically or by size.

Lisa Trigsted 17:11 Well, that depends. So if we're talking spices I prefer to out an organized alphabetically. If we're talking books, you know, my husband, I will defer. He has a ton of books and he likes to organize them like the library does, but I prefer to organize them in color in the rainbow. I think they look prettier, and I just think they're aesthetically pleasing that way. If it's a closet, definitely I organized by color and by style. What were the other? What was the other topic you said are the other choice

Nick VinZant 17:45 color alphabetically or size?

Lisa Trigsted 17:48 Okay, so, yeah, I say color and alphabetical are the biggest ones for me.

Nick VinZant 17:55 We'll put a link to your Instagram page on the RSS feed for this podcast. I saw One of your Instagram posts that has the books organized by color. At first, I was like, Oh, that's too much. And then I looked at it again, I was like, Oh, that looks pretty good.

Lisa Trigsted 18:12 It really does. Like I said, it used to be a teacher. And in my classroom, I would have them color coded. And the kids kept it that way. They thought it was really fun. There's white books, and you know, and then here's where the white book goes. But like, you know, my husband's, you know, a student, and he uses all of his books for research. And so for him, he has to have them, you know, done by like the library, and he uses this really cool app called library thing. And so if i and it's very, it's, I love it. It's a great organizational tool. So if I ask them, Hey, honey, where's that? Where's this book? He can look on his app and say, Okay, go up at my office. It's the third shelf down second, second bookcase over like right in the middle like he can tell me exactly where all of his books go. So it like I always tell my clients. It has To work for you not necessarily me. So even in my own home it's done two ways but but but it works and that's the key is what works best for you.

Nick VinZant 19:10 Best organizing container Tupperware or something else.

Lisa Trigsted 19:16 Oh not tupperwareI love the Oxo brand, the pop tops. But if you're gonna pick one container to, to organize, it's going to be a lazy Susan and they make so many amazing lazy Susans right now they have them with dividers in them. So you can, you know, stack things up. But I have lazy Susans and every single room in my house and I use them in every single client's home. Whether it's a shelf up high in your garage that has chemicals out of the reach for kids, you can twirl that Lazy Susan and get the chemicals down without having to go get a ladder. Nothing gets lost in the back because it stays contained. And that little rounder. I use it for everything and that's, that's my number one if you're gonna pick an organizer, pick a lazy Susan.

Nick VinZant 20:08 Let's keep let's get controversial. Who is? Who's more disorganized men or women?

Lisa Trigsted 20:16 Oh, well, I'm gonna have to say women. I mean, most of my clients are women. And they're the ones that hire me. And when I go into the spaces, I mean, I do organize for a man and I do organize masterclasses. I have both, but I'm gonna have to say women sorry, girls,

Nick VinZant 20:39 is that on an average orders? They're just some that are, like so disorganized that they kind of skew the average,

Lisa Trigsted 20:47 probably that they probably. I don't know. It's hard to tell. I mean, like, it's hard for me because, I mean, 98% of the people who hire me are women, and so they're the ones I'm going into their homes and organizing. So that's why I feel like it's women. I mean, in my house, it's not me, I'll say that.

Nick VinZant 21:09 Well, I mean, they tend to have more stuff, right? Like I do feel as speaking for the male population. Like we just have less stuff. So it's easier for us.

Lisa Trigsted 21:17 This is true. So yes, in a master bathroom, I will spend the majority of the time organizing her makeup and then I go to his, you know, sink and there's three items. And so yes, I would say on average, really, and truly, I really believe it's women. They're more more disorganized.

Nick VinZant 21:35 How often do you get a phone call after you've done with a client saying they can't find something?

Lisa Trigsted 21:44 Well, a couple I've had but they were friends of mine and they were teasing me I went organized one of my friends pantry when I very first started and her husband called me and said he couldn't find his underwear. And I said, Well, it definitely is not in the pantry. But if I always tell my clients when I'm done, I'll say if you can't find something, text to me, it's hard to have a couple of those, or a couple of where did we put that again? And I'll answer but yeah, but for the most part, I do a walkthrough after with the client, and so they kind of pretty much now and I also label everything. So usually if they can't find it, they see the label. They're like, Ah, that's where it is.

Nick VinZant 22:26 One thing in someone's house will make a professor professional organizers eye twitch,

Lisa Trigsted 22:33 when they try to buy their own bins or baskets or containers. I've come I've had people hire me and they're like, Oh, I already have all the bins and baskets that you'll need. And I get there and I'm like, oh, why did you do this? And so, because number one, they don't always fit, they don't match. I like everything to be aesthetically pleasing. So I don't like mismatched bins, I don't like mismatched hangers. So I always tell my clients, especially if they tell me that I will say, Well, I'm going to bring some stuff as well. And if you don't, if I don't use what you have, hopefully they can return it or use it somewhere else. But you know, if my name is on the line, I try to you know, I try to bring my prop I always bring the products that I know will work best but though, when I talk to all my organizer friends, I think that's what they always just like, oh my even word How? Yeah, they don't like it when you go out and try to buy your own product.

Nick VinZant 23:36 In real life. What are you most disorganized about?

Lisa Trigsted 23:40 Oh, okay, that's a good one. So for me, it's my digital pictures. I take a ton of pictures, I love pictures and I I have them somewhat organized. But it's like, you know, the cobblers kids never had any shoes. For me. It's like that when I come home. The last thing I want to do is organize the pictures on my computer. But over the quarantine, I did get all of my hard copy pictures organized, which was a huge thing on my to do list that I just never had time to do. So I'm getting there slowly but yes, my my, my photos on my computer definitely need help.

Nick VinZant 24:20 Last question for me. Do you think that people your clients can really change? Like, can you become an organized person? Or are you going to see these clients again, whether it's three months or a year later?

Lisa Trigsted 24:32 100% people can change. I say if there's a well if they really want it, and they are and they're asking for help. I mean, the chances are that they're they're sick and tired of the way they're living. And so they want to change. And my sister in law, I mean, by her own admission, was not an organized person didn't grow up, organized. You know, for a long time in her marriage. She wasn't organized and she didn't even know what she was. Clean and everything was cute and clean, but it wasn't organized. And then she read the Marie Kondo book, The life changing Magic of Tidying Up. And that book changed her life. And so she now i mean is beyond organized and she taught herself. So definitely, you can change and my clients, you know, I'm so proud of them. I you know, I do a lot of repeat jobs, like I have a client that I'll come and start in their kitchen and pantry and then they're like, Okay, next I want you to come and do this room and then I do this room and pretty soon I've done their whole house. So every time I go back to a repeat client, I always go peek. I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna go peek in your pantry. And I mean, I would say 90% of the time. It's, it's not like I would have it is that pristinely perfect. But it's still the systems are still completely set up. And the systems are working. So for me that shows that number one, I've done my job. properly number two they are a really are working the systems that I have in place and three they really desired to change. So yes, definitely people can, can learn to be and stay organized.

Nick VinZant 26:15 Have you ever gone too far though? Like, you'd be like, Okay, this is I've organized this too much, right like the books in color, but they're also alphabetical by the author's birth country or something like I've gone too far here. Have you ever done that?

Lisa Trigsted 26:32 My husband will say yes, of course. I'm gonna say no, I mean, nothing is ever too organized. But I'm sure if you interviewed my husband, he would just be laughing at that question. So I'm gonna say no, I mean, nothing can ever be too organized but I do get a lot of eye rolls. When I show my own space and if I show the before and after, I will get a ton of direct messages that people saying oh my even word like really your before it. Like my perfect after so. But yeah, I get a lot of eyeballs on that when I show my own home, but to me Nothing can be overly organized.

Nick VinZant 27:13 Or they secretly jealous eye rolls though I feel like they're secretly jealous.

Lisa Trigsted 27:18 I think so. I think so. I'm just gonna say that yes, I think they're secretly jealous. Nick VinZant 27:25 That's really all the questions I have what's coming up next for you? How can people get ahold of you?

Lisa Trigsted 27:30 Well, I have been doing a ton of virtual sessions during the quarantine and I, like I said, I live in, in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. So Texas is kind of opened up a little bit more than the rest of the country. And so during the quarantine, my virtual sessions went crazy. And I even had sessions in the UK. It was amazing to meet people all over the United States and in Canada and the UK. And so I'm still doing those and now that I'm back into people's homes, I still I'm saving one day a week to do virtual sessions but you can find me at meet freak McKinney calm on Instagram at neat freak macanthony on Facebook and Pinterest at Nate freak McKinney.

Nick VinZant 28:13 I want to thank Lisa so much for joining us if you want to connect with her, we have linked to her on our social media accounts or Profoundly Pointless on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And we've also included information about how to contact her on the RSS feed that's on this podcast. If you check out your her Instagram, there's like organization that most people think is organized. And then there's her level of organization, which is a whole nother level. It's one of those things where you're like, wow, is that alright, that's, that's pretty impressive, honestly.