Declutter Diaries. Kathi Lipp joins Jessica to talk about launching into a new school year with a clear plan for less chaos.

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: and welcome to the Dr. Nursemama Show Prescrib hope for healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there friends, and welcome to my favorite time of day getting to spend time with you prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And I hope that you're having a great week. We are in the middle of the week and so many families are right in the middle of back to school craziness.

This is National Truth For Youth Bible Week at American Family Radio

And as we think about going back to school before, before I get into it with my guests today and we start sharing some encouragement that we have for you today, I want to remind you that this week at American Family Radio is national Truth for Youth Bible Week. Now, this is an initiative with Tim Todd's ministry, Revival Fires International. They're partnering together with American Family Radio to give Bibles to kids going back to school. And how it works is you can get a Bible to give to a kid who can give it to their friends. These are NewSong Testament Bibles, comic style, visually engaging, true to the gosp. And you guys have been amazing. So on Monday, we had you all called in. We had about 10,000 Bibles and we had 10,000 Bibles given away yesterday, too. That not amazing, 10,000 Bibles a day. And I think we're in the middle of the week. And if you've been listening and you've been meaning to call, you can call now at 800-733-4737. That's 800-733-4737. Or you can go tfy.org tfy.org and as you're going into all of the stores and you see all of those school supplies now, I am your classic nerd. I am the oldest kid. I am the one who always, you know, like to have the school supplies all organized and my pencils all sharpened and already so seeing school supplies is pretty exciting for me. But sometimes you see them and you think, oh no, is it that time of year again? Regardless of how you feel, I encourage you walk over to that row, walk over to that aisle and pray for the kid who will be using those. Those are tangible supplies and there is a real life child who's going to be using those with a, who was beautifully created in the image of God and just pray for them, pray over them, pray over their school year. And as you're doing that, we're going to really equip the families today who are in that back to school rush. We got a Back to school bootcamp for you today, and it is not with none other than Kathi Lipp, the decluttering expert.

How do you launch your kids without losing your mind? It is possible

We are having an episode of the Declutter Diaries today and today we're talking about Back to School. How do you launch your kids without losing your mind? It is possible, although I know it can seem impossible in so many of those stressors. When I think about Back to School, I love seeing the pictures of Back to School start to flood my feed because you see all of these kids with fresh haircuts and maybe they have glasses because, you know, they needed those. They have a lunchbox. They, they're just so fresh faced and so, so, so shining with hope, with expectations for the year. And there is so much work that goes into that picture. And I see all of the parents who have talked about the first day jitters and, and, and really prepared their child so specifically all of the things that they've had to do. One of the things I want to encourage you is as you're looking through that those pictures there may be. Have older kids and you're thinking, oh, those were the days when my kids were smaller and they wanted, they liked me more and I was the sun in their universe. And you know, they bring home the pictures and you're feeling nostalgic for those days and maybe you show your kids the pictures and say, oh, look, this was, these were the days. I just want to give you a gentle reminder that I have to give to myself too, because I have growing kids. Don't love who your kids used to be more than you. Love and express hope and who they are becoming. Love every stage and if you look back at those stage, tell what you like about that stage, but tell what you love about this stage too. Focus on their character. Compliment their character. And so those pictures are never going to be something that we'll call clutter. But Kathi, you are here to help us get it together because somehow we can have the best of intentions and then just August and September just runs over us like a dump truck. So thank you, Kathi, for coming. We're so looking forward to all that you have to help empower and encourage us today.

Kathi Lipp: Well, I could not. This, is my favorite place to be each month. And while I don't have kids at home who were getting their pencil boxes ready, I, I remember those days distinctly. And I am like you. I am an office supply nerd. I, or school supply nerd. And I have to like be on a physical time out getting new things because it's so easy to want to buy all the things and think, okay, now we're prepared. But there, you're right. There's so much more that goes into it. We don't want to overwhelm people, but we want you, we want you to be girded.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I confess, Kathi. I confess. Right here, I'm, I'm sitting at my desk. Look, I'm going to. This is the Declutter Diaries after all. It's, This package is empty. I just opened it because why do I need a package that had four different shades of pink pens? I, I succumbed right here. It had the gel pens. I was like, oh, I love the pink pins. And I bought it. I shouldn't have. So I'm sorry. This is the clutter that I brought into my house today, Kathi. But I couldn't resist. I just, it was, it was so fun to have that.

Now is the time to take care of your future self

But give us, give us a starting point here. Where do we even start? Where do we prepare our hearts and minds to think? Okay, here it comes. The lunchboxes, the backpacks, the forms we have to fill out. Like you're about to have some stuff come into your house and into your head. Where do we even start to prepare ourselves?

Kathi Lipp: So one of my favorite lines that I've been saying for 15 years. Now is the time to take care of your future self. And now is the time to take care of your kids future self. So any decision you can make in August. And by the way, I know some of you are heading back to school next week. you know, it blows my mind. I think of middle of September as being school. But no, we're, we're in the dead middle of summer. But there are certain things you can do now that is going to make the day to day a little bit easier. And so that's what I, I always think about. If you're a cluttery person, oftentimes you're just stressing in the moment. And there are two ways that you may want to reframe your thinking. Taking care of our future self. How am I going to Take care of the Jessica that is tired or has too much going on or the day is too long. And then what about the Jessica who can take advantage of all that, preparation and say, you know what, I may not have done everything perfectly, but, man, I'm in a much better place, thank you, Jesus. And I can rest in that and I can do better the next day, and I can just build on that and take advantage of the preparation I've done.

Let's talk about preparing for back to school chaos with some tips

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, let's talk about taking care of ourselves, because that is really important. And when we think of back to school, school especially, I think as a mom, we think about what all of our kids need. You know, you start going through, you know, what have they outgrown and what supplies do they need, and who needs new glasses, all those kinds of things. But you've talked about, you talked about this before, how it's like being on the airplane, Put your own oxygen mask on first. And if you're going into this dysregulated, burned out, already overwhelmed, like it, it is, it is going, it's contagious. That chaos is contagious. So let's talk about some ways, some specific ways that we can prepare ourselves to meet the chaos that is ensuing.

Kathi Lipp: Okay, so the first thing I would say is, all summer long, bedtime slip, right? Because especially if you're not going to school regularly or you're home, whatever that is, it's easy to let those things kind of slide. And so now is the time to start, you know, setting your own bedtime that is going to make it easier. We all do so much better when we've had enough sleep. So start working on your bedtime, start working on the kids bedtimes. Can, can you shift their bedtime 15 minutes earlier? you know, just so. And my mom used to have something with me. I was a constant getter upper right. And she said, kathy, I don't care if you're in your room till midnight playing cards, you know, because back then I was playing solitaire all the time. She goes, but your feet cannot hit the full floor. And I was asleep in 15 minutes. You know, I just had that FOMO. I was, had the fear of missing out on all the cool stuff that was happening with my parents. They were just watching TV probably, but, figuring out how can you get your kids to be in bed earlier, you can start waking up earlier so that when school hits, it's not chaos. another thing I would say is pick out the first week of clothes. And I'm not just Talking about your kids clothes. I'm talking about your clothes. What decisions can you make now? So it's not a decision on the day. My days look very different depending on whether I'm on an interview for the Dr. Nurse Mama show or I'm writing, you know, one of my books. So I know what those clothes should look like, you know, what your clothes should look like for the coming week. And so it, whether it's with your kids or if they're younger, for your kids, pick out their clothes. we used to use just a shoe sorter and when my kids were little and just stack their, their clothes in there. The other thing you can do is just have one drawer. This is the next five days worth of clothes and everything's in there. They're ready to go. And you empty out that drawer during the week, but also have yours. I just, what I do is I have a hanger. It has the, the pants, the shirt, and I have Ziploc bags with a hole punched in them, for the earrings. And I can figure it out from there, but I don't have to decide, is that clean? Is it ready to go? Those are some of the decisions I've made in advance.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That is really helpful because then that's how you don't end up putting the same wrinkled sweatpants. Here's a sweatsuit, you know, that you took off and you're wearing that three days in a row and hoping that no other parents notice because it's so chaotic. I think sometimes we forget about that. We'll lay out our kids clothes. But I like the idea, Kathi, of laying out a whole week's worth of clothes and, you know, these things. It doesn't matter if this is kids going back to school or if this is just you in whatever stage of life you're in, trying to get back in a routine. This is good for you. It's good for you and your spouse to go to bed at the same time, to have a bedtime routine to pick out your clothes so that your mornings aren't m more chaotic. This is for anybody.

Kathi Lipp has a great tip about preparing for the week

And you also have a really great tip about a Sunday reset. So I want to hear about this.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah.

Kathi Lipp: so I think it's 15 minutes, and you can only get this one thing done in that 15 minutes. But this could be critical. What is happening in the coming week? where are the friction points are going to be? Who's picking up Kristie Anyabwile from soccer? do we have, you know, to think about? Do I have everything I need for lunches or am I going to run out on Wednesday? Like, just looking at the week and if you can see the obstacles ahead, you don't have to crash into them. You say, okay, we can make a plan B. Or guess what, you are buying lunch on Thursday. you know, all, everything is figureoutable, but you have to know it's coming. And knowing it's coming doesn't mean at 7:42 on Wednesday.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah, absolutely. That is so true. I think that that reset and just preparing for the week is so important. And I think most parents can probably relate to this because when you do it, when you prep in advance, every time you go back to that prep, you're just like, oh, this was so good. Why don't I do this all the time?

Kathi Lipp: And Kathi rocks. You know, I love Sunday Kathi. She's amazing, right? You feel so good about yourself and what it. It teaches your kids capability too.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah. Well, the other thing that you say is to protect one night, keep a weeknight so that, you know, if something comes up during the week, you've got one night that you know, that you can catch up on. You can go to the grocery store if your kids, you know, eat more than you thought that they would or a project comes up or something happens. I think that's something that you're pre deciding and that's something you've been teaching us to do, Kathi, is to pre decide that and say, this is the night that we're staying home.

Kathi Lipp: Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's so easy to say, well, that square on the calendar is blank. I can fill that up. So. And some families need to protect more than one night. If you have neurodivergent kids, if you have kids who school is a big lift for them, maybe it needs to be a couple of different nights. And I. It's not just about kids activities, it's about our activities. I, I have decided. I, because I don't have kids at home, I can do two volunteer activities at a time. That's it. I'm on my church's sermon team and I'm on the school board here in our tiny little town. That's my capacity. Do I have more blank spaces? Absolutely. Am I so excited when a blank space shows up on my calendar? Oh, it makes me so happy I can't even stand it.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Kathi, when we come back, we're going to talk about some really. We're talking about agentic systems. When we're talking about agentic AI. That's AI that basically perpetuates itself. And we're going to talk about some systems that run without you. How to create a system that runs without you. You won't want to miss it. Get calm in the back to school chaos. We'll talk more with Kathi Lipp when we come back.

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Back to school chaos can cause conflict in families

preborn.com/AFR Lord, I'm just grateful that I

OKAY! by Forrest Frank: got to wake up today. You take my worries and hurries and fade them to grave. You have good plans for me that's what you say that's how I know everything is gonna be. I woke up late and the house is a wreck. Ah, couple bills on the counter I don't wanna check the car needs gas in an oil change. I guess I'll get around to that next cause my son's doing front flips on the Floor. And I'm, supposed to be a silly dinosaur? Somewhere in the mess I look to you? And a new song starts to break through? Lord, I'm just grateful that I got to wake up today? You take my worries and hurries? And fade them to gray? You have good plans for me? That's what you say? That's how I know everything is going to be okay. Going, to be okay. Yeah.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah. Welcome back, friends.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That is OKAY! by Forrest Frank. It's a great midweek song, and it's a great reminder that everything is going to be okay. I know that a lot of you out there listening have already already gone back to school. Some of you are going back to school soon, and some of you are saying, what, Y' all are going back to school. We don't do that till after Labor Day. Well, I'm jealous. But wherever you are in the back to school chaos, the good news is that no matter what happened, everything can be okay. And you can get off to the wrong start, you can have the best intentions, and somehow back to school chaos can just cause a lot of conflict in families. And I'm talking today on an episode of the Declutter Diaries with Kathi Lipp, and we're talking to families on how you can get back into a routine. Now, it doesn't matter. Maybe you don't have kids at home going to school. Maybe you're going to start watching the grandkids after school. That's. That's going to start back up. Or maybe you just think, you know what, me and my spouse are empty nesters. Or maybe you're single, whatever it is, and you think, I have gotten off of the routine and I am just, feeling like I'm running on the hamster wheel and everything is chaotic, and I kind of feel like I've done that. So it's the end of summer, so maybe. Or maybe not. My husband might have spent 30 minutes trying to help me find my keys. What did I do with my keys last night? I've got to get back and get organized. And Kathi's had some great advice so far. What we've talked about is putting your oxygen mask on first as parents, making sure that we are taking care of ourselves, that we're getting sleep, that we're eating well, that we're moving our bodies well, that we're, we're getting sunshine, we're touching grass, all the things. Because if we are not prepared for that, it doesn't matter how much pressure we put on our kids to do the right Thing we've got to lead by example. And Kathi, we were just talking about agentic systems, which we were both kind of laughing about. That is a new term that's coming. And actually agentic AI is, is really exciting and really terrifying at the same time. It's kind of terra sighting. I'll, just put that, that together. But let's talk about creating some systems without AI, but systems in your home that will run themselves, because that's really what. That's, that's the goal.

Kathi: I want you to have a new easy button in your life

Kathi Lipp: Okay, So I, I want you to have a new easy button in your life. And I know the easy button for a lot of families, is, a doordash. You know, like, okay, everything's crazy. We're just gonna, we're just gonna get doordash. And I live somewhere that doesn't have doordash. But when I've done it in, I'm like, I didn't know it cost twice as much. And so that's a hard, thing to fit into your budget. But some nights you just need a break. So instead, first of all, I want you to get rid of everything in your freezer that had good intentions but has been in there.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I feel personal.

Kathi Lipp: Oh, you know what? I'm right there with you on the judging block. I really am. But could you have a shelf that had maybe six to eight meals in it? The things your family would love? Like, it's been a hard day. You know what sounds really good is a frozen pizza. Like, a pizza sounds really good. And if you're shopping at Aldi's or Trader Joe's or Costco, those pizzas could be four or five dollars instead of 40 or 50. And I'm not exaggerating. Where I live, pizzas can be around 40 to $50. So could you have that, where you're like, okay, one night during the week, it's going to be easy. And so just go ahead and preload that, get a menu on the outside of the freezer, and, you know, just mark them off as you go. another thought is have the same dinner every Monday night for a month. Have the same dinner every Tuesday night for a month. And if you're like, well, that's not enough chaos for me, that's awesome. You can be as chaotic as you want. But if you just need to get through that first month of school, what if, if every Monday was that, Costco chicken with a side salad and some mashed potatoes? Nobody at your house is going to object to it. And the decision making Goes down by a ton. And, we're just looking for easy. I would suggest the same thing for breakfast. Maybe you have the same breakfast every day. If that works. You. That's awesome. Or, you know, we're going to have yogurt on Monday, and on Tuesday we're going to make our own egg sandwiches. I would just say keep it as dead simple, easy as you possibly can. It may be the month to just buy the convenience at Costco or Sam's.

Dr. Jessica Peck: you know, I got to say, Kathi, I just want to add, I think one of the. Well, what we say in academics. Maybe I shouldn't admit this publicly, but we do say this. We have this phrase that we say. It's called see one, do one, teach one. That's what we say in healthcare. And what I'm thinking, maybe, what if you even did that for a month where you had the same. Like, you just planned, like, for this month, we're having, you know, like you said, like, spaghetti every Monday night. We're having tacos every Tuesday night. Because who doesn't love a Taco Tuesday? I love it. Yeah. Or whatever it is. And I think if you're repeating those meals, if you have kids who are of the age that they're developmentally capable of cooking, you can teach them how to cook. You can. They can see it, and then they can do it, and then they can teach the other siblings, and they could take a turn to do it, because that would be another thing. I think that would be helpful. And also teach them some life skills. So you've actually got me thinking about that. We. We may. I know my husband's listening. We. Honey, we may have Taco Tuesday for a month. He knows that I do anything to have. To have tacos for dinner.

Kathi Lipp: Right.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I'm. I think this is a good idea.

Kathi Lipp: You know what? And it doesn't necessarily have to be the same kind of tacos. Like, one of my favorite tacos is tempura. shrimp. Shrimp. You know, we buy the frozen ones at Costco, and we put that on with some slaw and cilantro. I mean, it's just amazing. And so, yes, you, can have creativity. But, what I'm trying to do and what you are doing is we're trying to help you limit the decisions. And if you have one kid who's going to make the spaghetti and meatballs every Wednesday night, and at first they're going to need help with the boiling of the noodles and how you do that and everything, but the other parts of it are pretty darn simple. And so to be able to pull all that together the first time, it's going to take you three times as long as it normally would. But eventually that investment in training your kids is going to pay you back in multitudes. I, I would say another thing that I think is critically important is if at all possible, start every morning off with an empty dishwasher.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Now that, now that's just radical.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Radical.

Kathi Lipp: I know, it is radical. Right? But yeah, there is no law that says your dishes have to make a stop in the sink before they go into the dishwasher. And so if you can actually teach your kids to rinse and load the dishwasher, you know, you, you can do this for, you know, a couple nights of training is what it's going to take. And then the sink is no longer a parking lot. And I, I never want to do this. I hate doing dishes more than any other chore in, I really do. And this is the one that can often have the biggest payoff.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, one of the things that you said that I thought was really funny is, you know, stand next to the kid for two nights and teach them how to do it rather than being annoyed about it for two years.

Kathi Lipp: Right.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You just keep saying do it, do it, do it. That's so true.

I think it's really important for kids to learn how to make their own lunch

Another great pre deciding, pre planning. We've talked about this before, Kathi, but I think this is a really great idea. And for me as a nurse, I think you can also pre decide some healthier options is to build a lunch station. I got to get on a podium, I got to get on a soapbox for just a second here, please, and just say, I think it's really important for kids to learn how to make their own lunch. They need to be self sufficient in that way. And if you build a lunch station and you just have readily accessible food that they can just build their own lunch, that's going to make it easier for you and that's going to make it easier for them. And you could even, you know, if they're younger, you could have a little chart that shows like, okay, get two veggies. Two. Or a fruit and a veggie or whatever. It tell us about building a lunch station and what tips you have for that.

Kathi Lipp: Yeah, so I like bins. I'm a big believer in bins. So if you have one bin that has here are the apples, the oranges, the pears, whatever fruit that you are picking for that week's lunches. And it could be a couple of different things. But having grapefruit that everybody loves and then another bin that has, has, that you can keep in the fridge that has, is it lunch meat? Is it cheese, is it condiments? Is it the lettuce and tomatoes? You know, all of that in one bin that you can just pull out. And whether the kids are making their own sandwiches or you are, I, I'll tell you this, my husband is a genius. He's brilliant. And I cannot tell you how much he loves that I put out the food for him to make his sandwich or I put out. And I do it for me too, but like, for some reason he gets overwhelmed going into the fridge. And sometimes kids do too. So just having these different bins and that also helps you notice, hey, we're running low on these rice crisps or we're running low on the little packages of carrots. and so if you're not buying the carrot, you know, the baby carrots and the little packages, can you make those ahead in just some snack size Ziplocs or something like that? Just having things that it's much more available to grab and go. But kids, when they choose their own stuff, even healthy stuff, they are much more likely to eat it than if they get there. And it's like, okay, it's celery sticks, you know, something that they had no voice in, as you know, an illusion of choice. Choice still empowers your kids. Even if it's just a choice between these chopped up celery sticks or these chopped up carrots, that still is a choice that they've made and they're invested in their lunch.

The water bottle is perhaps the bane of parents existence today

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, let's talk about a really hot topic, Kathi. Something that is perhaps the bane of parents existence today and can really. I know as soon as I say what this is, people are going to go on a tirade. I'm talking about the problem that is the water bottle, Kathi, the water bottles in the house. And I know I can already hear my husband saying we didn't have water bottles when we were growing up and somehow we still stayed hydrated. But the water bottle is just, it is just a thing. And it feels like it is. You know, there's just, they're just everywhere and that I've lost mine. And I don't know where the straw is or where the lid is. Do you have any lifelines for how we don't have family fights over water bottles?

Kathi Lipp: Yes. So a couple of different things. Make sure you have the equipment to clean it. Make sure you have the, the straw brushes and the bottle brushes and teach your kids how to do it properly. The next thing I would say is let your kids individualize their water bottles as much as you can. So the stickers and everything. Because for the most part, we're not sticking those in the dishwasher, we're washing them at the sink. But they're ownership if they actually have decorate. I, for my niece, her water bottle is an extension of her personality. Like, you could look at that water bottle and you know that that's Elsa's. The other thing I would say is that, make sure your last name and, a parent's phone number is on the bottom of that water bottle. We don't want kids phone numbers on there if they already have. Have phones, but so that they can be returned that etc. Etc. So those are the things I would say. I, I think it's really important to let kids know, hey, if you lose your water bottle, you know, this is how much they are. So we have to decide what kind of chores you'll be doing to replace that. Until then, you can use the one I got at the conference. And that's real motivation, right?

Dr. Jessica Peck: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Kathi Lipp: So I, I think that, you know, I know there were certain things I had as a kid that I'm like, I don't come home without these. And as, they're going to be kids who are going to lose everything. But to give you every opportunity to either get it home or to find it once it's been lost.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, that is great advice.

Kathi: Figure out what appointments your kids need for the rest of 2026

And let's talk about other things that we can do to have preparation. You have so many, so many great, great ideas. I don't even know. Where do you want to go next?

Kathi Lipp: Okay, so I think one thing to do right now, right this minute, is figure out what appointments your kids need m for, especially for the rest of 2026. So do they need sports physicals? Do they need vaccination? What do they need? Do they. When are your haircuts going to be? Because right now, if you want a haircut in October, there's plenty space. You could get all the kids in in one day. But if you're trying to make that in, you know, September 30th for October, you're going to be running back and forth. So can you chunk out all your appointments? Can you chunk them out on the weeks that they don't have school or, you know, when it's going, when it's convenient for you instead of just having to take what's left Over. So I think that that is the thing that if. I said if I'm going to tell you to do anything, it's is put your nurse hat on. do you need to refill some prescriptions right now? What? And make sure you're taking care of yourself, too. You're a dependent in your own family. And we also know if mom's down, it's. It's hard. It's hardest on mom. It's hard on everybody else. So let's make sure you're taking care of yourself, that your health isn't coming in last. So I know you can agree with that.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I definitely can. Absolutely.

Kathi Lipp: Anything else that they, they should know about booking in advance or anything about scheduling appointments, go for it.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Okay, I will go for it. Because I think that is really important. One of the things that you and I talked about in one of our recent conversations, Kathi, was creating your own making. Sure. Organize everybody's medical record and having a one pager that you can take with you for everything. I would go back and listen to that because I have done that now for our family. You know, everybody's got an electronic health record. But to have that one pager that you can give to the person who doesn't know your kid or the new school nurse and just say, hey, this is it, that's really important. Listen, we'll be right back and we're going to talk about front loading your calendar with Kathi Lipp. We'll see you after this break. And my father, your great grandfather fought in World War II. Really? He was a gunner on the big ship out in the Pacific Ocean. Wow. Your great grandmother did her part, too. Was she on a ship? Oh, no, she stayed back home. She and a lot of her friends worked really hard in a factory because the, men had gone off to war and they held scrap metal drives to help in the war effort. The folks back home were heroes, too.

Jeff Chamblee: Here at the American Family association, we consider you the heroes back home. as you fulfill your responsibility of caring for your family day to day, your partnership with us is crucial as we fight the enemies of freedom in America. Thank you for your commitment to the American Family Association. Grandpa, what's a scrap metal drive? Let's get some cookies and I'll tell you all about it. Yeah.

Big God by Terrian: With foes on my left and fears on my right. They think that I'm, all by myself in this fight. But they do not know the infinite size of the God who is by, my side. Hey. Under fire. But my goliath Standing in the shadow of the Almighty I ain't lying Testifying, man, I'm talking about a big God Big God when trouble comes and run the way Only remedy for big eyes is a big God Ain't nobody gonna shake my face no, I'm not afraid Throw my hands up and praise for the times that he pulled me through I'm counting on a big God that they can't stop He's a big God

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Big God, by Terrian And we do serve a big God who can handle anything that we throw his way for sure.

Declutter is one of the primary causes of conflict within families

And one of the things that we can be as families, we can be wrestling with at this time of year is back to school chaos and back to school clutter. And people often ask me, you know, why do you talk about this so much? Because I see clutter as one of the primary causes of conflict within families. Families when we're disorganized, when we can't find things, when we don't set our kids up for success and they lose their soccer cleats again while we are screaming at them for not being responsible and we're trying to find our keys. Or wait, oh, is that just me? That's what happens. Or when are you going to clean off the dining room table so that we don't have to eat around the island anymore? All of these things really create tension, and we're just. Just going so fast. We are living at the speed of a smartphone. I'm just talking about this a lot so that we can work together to make small, incremental changes to set our families up for success. So this is the Declutter Diaries. We're talking with Kathi Lipp. And you can find Kathi at her clutter free academy. You can go on Facebook, just tell her, your friends of the show. She lets you in for free. She loves our people. She loves our listeners. And you can join people who are on a really serious journey, who are saying, okay, it is time. It is time for me to take back control of our life. And today we're talking about Back to school bootcamp. What can we do? And we've already talked about putting your oxygen mask on first, taking care of yourself, not just getting the kids backpack ready, but your work bag, your gym bag, whatever it is, wherever you're going, making sure that you are pre deciding and setting yourself up for success. And we've also talked about creating some systems that run without you having the same meal. Maybe, every Monday night for a month or maybe even longer. Than that. And, and, and other things that we've talked about really equipping your kids, having a lunch station, having a launch pad by the door. We've talked about this before. It was just really good. Having an emergency kit in the car so that when you get there and you realize, oh, they haven't brushed their teeth, like, okay, we've got to set them up for success later. But right now, let's bless everyone around you by giving you a, disposable toothbrush before you walk into that school. And Kathi, one of the things that we're starting to look at, and I know I was looking at my calendar today and, and I mean, just starting to look at, okay, what do I need to do? And let me just say this one last thing and then, and then we'll talk about the calendar. Cause we were talking about health appointments. It's really important if you have the resources and, and there are a lot of times resources that you're not aware of. So don't be afraid. If you think, like, I don't have dental insurance, I don't know how to take my kids to the dentist. Talk to your primary care provider about it and just say, I, I need. Do you know of any resources? Do you know? Because there's a lot of, of resources that maybe you're not even. But kids need to have a checkup with a primary care provider. They need to have their eyes checked, they need to have their teeth checked, they need to have oral health. Those things are really important. But going to that primary care provider is going to be your anchor. You really need somebody who you trust, and then they'll tell you everything else that you need to do. That's somebody you're trusting with your life.

Book any standing appointments you can today before it gets away from you

But Kathi, let's, let's go back to the calendar and talk about how can we pre decide some things while we're talking about those health appointments, what else do we pre decide on the calendar before it gets away from us?

Kathi Lipp: So, book any standing appointments you can today. You know, we talked a little bit in the last segment. Well, visits, dentist, eye exams, like you were just talking about. Orthodontist, haircuts, anything that you can. The earlier you book, the more control you have over when that happens. And especially if you're working full time, that's going be critical. There are only certain things that can be done on the weekends, and you want to be able to have as much control over that as you possibly can. And this may be a time where you need to, you Know, call in the troops. Can Grandma or grandpa take them for some of the things that aren't quite so critical? you know, it takes, it takes a team to, you know, make this family run. Also just, I mean, almost as important as all those health appointments is, what about your vacations? Or are there going to be long weekends or even a weekend at Grandma's? Put those on your calendar so that, you can tell your kids, hey, we're not doing anything the weekend of the 14th because we're going to be at Grandma's. Or we've decided to go on vacation because it's very easy to let one random kid from school's birthday ruin the potential for being able to get away as a family. So family comes first. You put those things in first. Yeah, we've all heard the illustration about putting the large rocks in and you put the sand around it and anything outside your family starts to become sand, and you put those big rocks in first. also, you know, we talked about those sports physicals, vision, screening, all that kind of stuff. Make sure that if your kid has some health needs that you've got the school nurse, you've got her phone number or his phone number on speed dial. You know, when that call is coming in, work with them, make an appointment if you can, to say, hey, here's what's going on with my child's health. Here's when I would definitely want you to call in. And, here are some things that they know how to do on their own. I think having that conversation with can, leave a lot of panic for a parent. I know you've got some advice about this.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I do. It's really good. I love what you said about putting the school nurse as a contact in your phone. Find out what the school nurse phone number is and add it as a contact. Because in that way, you know, because I have been that school nurse, Kathi, where you're calling and calling, and people are so hesitant to pick up a number they don't know because they think it's, you know, a scam or something like that. But once I see school nurse pick up, that's how I have it in my phone. School nurse pick up.

Kathi Lipp: So smart.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Because then, you know, because you don't want them to have thrown up and then be sitting there in dirty clothes, you know, just waiting. And then who likes to be that parent where you feel so bad? It's like, I've been trying to get a hold of you for an hour and a half and you feel so bad.

Kathi Lipp: Yes.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I think that's a great day. a great idea. You also have a great idea about pre deciding what happens if a kid gets sick. Kathi. I see this all the time. It's like, oh, my gosh. Well, I have work. You have work, or I have. Have this, you know, charity thing. I have a volunteer thing. I have to take this one to the doctor. Like, what. What do you do? Pre deciding? Your plan, I think, is brilliant. And I'll tell you, we actually, my husband and I, when I kid, my kids were young, we already had this plan. Like, if a kid wakes up and throws up in the night. I know, I'm sorry. Some people are like, oh, I don't want to think about this stage of life.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Right?

Dr. Jessica Peck: But this is a reality. My. Our plan was my husband took the mess and I took the kid. Like, that's just. We just knew it. We didn't even have to. We didn't even have to say anything. It was just like. Like if, Because if you got four kids, I mean, somebody's gonna throw up at some time. So we just get up and it's like, all right, he's gonna go get the. The bed stripped and clean up the room. I'm gonna clean up the kid. And we just. We didn't even talk. It was great. because it's in the middle of the night. What.

What advice do you have for predecising that sick day policy?

What advice do you have for predecising that sick day policy? What do you do?

Kathi Lipp: A couple of things. Yes. So mom and dad need to discuss this together. And also, who are your backup? Because I remember when my kids were younger, I had the more flexible schedule, but sometimes there were things that were pretty hard for me to move, and Roger was the person. I really think it's important that the school nurse knows both parents can, be called. And it's not just mom, it's dad. We've got two parents in this family, and I usually was the one to do it, but sometimes Roger was the. The parent who would make that happen. Also making sure that dad, grandma, grandpa, neighbor, whoever it is, has that school nurse's number in their phones, too, so they know to pick up as well. But I think, you know, for us, one of the things that the decisions we made is I needed to. Mornings were really important to me with work, and so I would go and do the morning, and at lunchtime, I would take the rest of the day off, and I would, I would relieve Roger, who then would work. And so, like, that was the system that worked for us. But also knowing that you have a backup plan. And for a lot of us, my backup plan was a friend and I was her backup plan and we made it work. But knowing that there's more than one adult, that is the bottom line, is really, really important. Important.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That is really helpful. I, I think absolutely. Just deciding before, like, and asking that person, can you be my backup? Can I call you if anything happens? And then they already know that and they just say like, okay, remember when I said that you were going to be my backup? This is that time you're not having to explain yourself and everything. You're just saying, I think that's a great conversation to have even now, even talking to grandma or whoever it is and just say, okay, if any of the kids get sick in the morning when they have to, to go to school, can I call you get for help and then just see, you know, what, what is their schedule? How are they receptive to that? Who, who are you going to call her for help? I think that's really helpful. And, and in that line, you know, the other thing I wanted to point out that you said that I think is really important, Kathi is protecting that blank space on your calendar and treating it not as an invitation but as a closed, A, closed opportunity there. And maybe you could even name it something with your family, like, nope, that's our catch up day. Or no, that's our, that our family first time, you know, or no, that's our, our rest time. That's our reset, whatever it is. I think I can see kids really looking forward to that. And one of the things that you talk about help individualize that is to get the calendar out of your phone and onto a wall. I do have this. We have a big calendar on our refrigerator so that everybody can see it, because everybody goes to the refrigerator every day. And we can see like, oh, he's got work today, you know, oh, he got football practice. Oh, she's, you know, whatever that is. That's really helpful. So, and whether that's paper or whether that's digital, what do you see as the benefit of having a visible calendar like that?

Kathi Lipp: Oh, I think what that says is it's enough. We, we have enough on the calendar. Nobody in this house is bored. And being able to see that calendar gets people on the same page. So it's if, you know, one child needs to go here and the next child needs to go here. We only have one parent at home yet we have to prioritize and we have to make plans and I Think the other thing, you know, we talked about protecting that night, at least for the first month. Protect that Saturday morning too, if at all possible. little bodies and little brains. Going to school after being off for 10 weeks, weeks, that's exhausting. And one of the things that we always did our back, our, our first Saturday after school, you know, we, they usually went Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we would do waffles because the batter could sit in the refrigerator until you woke up. And so not everybody had to get up at the same time that first Saturday for breakfast. Just whenever you got shut up, I would just step away, I'd pour you some waffles. It felt like a celebration. But also, you know, if you needed to sleep until noon that day, we're going to let you do that because your body just, it needed that rest. But then we're going to get back on our schedule. So I think having that calendar that everybody can look at and can we squeeze in one more thing? You know what, I'm going to call no on that, just because, you guys, all of us are grumpier when we're overbooked and peace is the priority in our household.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, you talked earlier about having that 15 minute Sunday reset. And I think some of the conversation, if we're really intentional and we ask our kids and we check in especially frequently when we're going back to school, are you just trying to get back on a routine or whatever it is? If you ask your family, say what? Ask your spouse, ask your kids, ask the grandparents who were helping you. If you have, you know, extra family or help in your ecosystem, ask them and just say, what were the pain points this week? Like what didn't go well? Like what, what stressed us out? Where did conflict happen? And is there anything that we can do? And most of the time, Kathi, this is what I was going back to saying at the beginning of this segment when I opened it. Most of the time that conflict is going to happen around some sort of disorganization or clutter. It's going to happen over, you know, you, you didn't do the laundry because we couldn't find this thing in the dirty clothes or you forgot this or you were late or we had to run out and disrupt our whole evening because we needed these supplies. I think that check in is so important. And Kathi, we're already at the end of our time together, but just in a minute or so.

Kathi Lipp: Be gentle with yourself as you start back to school

Any last encouragement, for our, for our, our just amazing listeners who are right there with us.

Kathi Lipp: Oh, my Goodness, everybody who is listening, be gentle with yourself. There are going to be problems the first week. There are going to be tears most likely. And just know it's not always going to be like this. But if your goal is peace, you can get there a little bit at a time. Just how can you take care of your future self?

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know? And Kathi, the last word that I would say, something that you have taught me as we get back to school. It's like our algorithm knows it. So it starts selling us all of these beautiful organization systems that we need. Listen, you don't need that. You need something livable that works for your family. It does not have to be Pinterest ready. It does not have to be social media swoon worthy. It just needs to work for your family again. You can go to Kathi Lipp's Clutter Free Academy, on Facebook, you can get in there for free. Or listen to any of the past episodes of the Declutter Diaries. And wherever you are in your back to school journey, if you are just glad that that is something you're not having to deal with. If you're in the middle of it, if you're loving it, whatever you are, whatever you're doing, I pray I always do that. The Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace and the back to school chaos. I'll see you right back here tomorrow. We'll talk more back to school.

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Jeff Chamblee: opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Declutter Diaries. Kathi Lipp joins Jessica to talk about launching into a new school year with a clear plan for less chaos.

Declutter Diaries. Kathi Lipp joins Jessica to talk about launching into a new school year with a clear plan for less chaos.

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