Ep 13 - Is Kids Art Storage Stressing You Out? Featuring Denise Albright
This week on the podcast, I am so excited to bring this conversation with Denise Albright, founder and creator of the Class Keeper app. As soon as I met Denise and got to know this app I was instantly excited. I knew this could be a very streamlined solution to a problem that so many of my clients and students face – the dreaded endless bins of kiddo artwork and memorabilia.
Let’s jump in!
You can listen right here, on Apple Podcasts, or you can read the transcription below. Enjoy!
Carly: Welcome, welcome! I am so excited today to bring you this conversation. This is one of my favorite people to talk to. Here's all you need to know. Denise Albright is a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, literally showed signs of business prowess as a tween. She's a speaker, a business mentor, a married mom of three boys, and a persistent optimist. She’s continually designing systems in both her personal and professional life.
She can do it all… Mostly all!
Denise: Yeah, mostly all.
Carly: So she can do it all well, mostly all while being present in the moments.
Her current company, also cleverly named Denise Albright, was founded on her kitchen table in 2016, while she had a newborn and two preschoolers also at said kitchen table. It was an unexpected start that has grown into a multimillion-dollar venture serving millions of women with her organization, paper products.
Denise and her team (whom I love!) which is comprised of a small and mighty group of all women, continue to evolve their line of products as the needs of her customers do. Evolve or dissolve, baby.
One of the evolutionary systems we'll be talking about today followed the newest discovery she made about what challenges nearly every parent faces.
This thing that we're going to talk about today is what bonded Denise and I — I think direct heart-to-heart bonding, and I am deeply obsessed with her.
Welcome to the show, Denise. I am so happy to have you!
Denise: It's my pleasure.
I love that you said we solidified our relationship over that because I'll tell you — more than that, I think the major breakthrough in my business actually happened in a casual conversation that you and I were having — that changed everything about what's happening in my business today.
I give it far more credit than just, “Oh we connected.”
Oh, no, we didn’t! We took things to a whole new level, so I couldn't thank you…
Carly: Oh my gosh When we first started chatting, it was love at first convo. We've done a lot since then. We've spoken together, and we've traveled to another state together. The people that we serve have the same struggles. I think that what we really bonded over is helping people get organized through these different things.
So obviously today we are talking about kids, art, and storage — and it's stressing out our mamas.
We're going to get to the gold, get to the solution.
I really want to dig into why we care about it, what brought it about, what the pain points are, and yeah, just really dig into that.
The doodler grows up
We're going to take it back, first. Before you created your business, before your beautiful paper products, before everything, can you please share how you got into this industry? Because I know this is a very personal story for you.
Denise: Well it's funny, I have been a doodler all my life. Let's, let's start there.
I so enjoyed drawing as a child and all throughout my career, right? But I never thought of it one day as being a way to… Put a pin in that.
In the late nineties, I had this dream job selling private yacht charters on San Diego Bay.
Loved it. But it was with a small company, and there was very much of a glass ceiling in the whole operation.
I was feeling, “Ugh, this just isn't filling my bucket.”
I really wanted to break through and it was a little bit of a big decision to make at that point, but this guy that I was seeing at the time, he said — you like to draw. Why don't you do some of your drawings?
Like that's something you say to someone, “Oh, you like to sing? Go cut a record.”
You know? Yeah. It sounds so easy to do.
It was at that moment in 1999 that I quit that secure job and started out, and I started illustrating holiday cards.
If you overlay this onto the introduction of the world wide web, it was right around the time when everybody was “What… at yahoo dot? What?” Yeah.
Anyway, so that was the start where I got everything pushed off the dock, as far as how I can take my illustrations and monetize it. Within six weeks I had sold 3,500 holiday cards.
I was literally printing them on a color inkjet, scoring them with a credit card.
Then and then literally, I was even pre-cutting the paper and rolling it, rolling up these like washcloths in the tray of the printer just to hold this very uniquely sized paper.
Like it was seriously put together with staples and chewing gum. From there, things just evolved. Like I said, it was the onset of the world wide web.
I printed these cards with my website and I learned how to doodle on the back of all my cards.
They would go to this new internet thing and look up my website, and lo and behold, I started getting all kinds of interest from everybody all around the country, which was extraordinary.
You think about it, people would pay me for their holiday cards and then put their stamp on it, and then send out all these direct mail pieces if you will.
Suddenly everyone's flipping it over and I got these calls, “Hey, this is great. Can I sell these in my store? Are you going to be at the National Stationary Show? Where can I find more?” And I just said, “Yes, I'm going to be at the National Stationary Show. Of course.”
What is that? Yes, I will be there.
That was the beginning of a lot of where I am today. That was my first company that started out, as I mentioned, with holiday cards — which evolved into social stationery, invitations, and announcements.
Then I sold that business in 2007. Thought that was the end of that — I was going to stay home and have a few babies and really dig into the mom life.
And realized not so long into that, “Ooh I really like myself working.” And no one ever tells you when you're getting into motherhood how lonely it can be. As an extrovert, I was, oh my gosh…
Anyway, so I started dipping a toe into doing a little bit more licensing, artwork, and things like that. And did that in between diaper changes and everything else.
Then it wasn't until my third son was born that there was a production snafu with a planner that I was licensing to another company.
All this started, and that was 2016.
That's that kitchen table company you referenced in the intro that we're here today with all of the organizational stationary stuff.
Carly: Amazing. I do want to mention some of your products. I know we're not focusing on the paper products today.
Because we're going to dig into specifically kids artwork, but can you name some of the other things that you're really known for? Because honestly, they're so fun.
I just want to hear, I just want just like a little plug for just some of the kids stuff
Denise: Well, here's the thing. I think that one thing that I would try to do, and when you think about it, when people give something a name, coin a phrase, whether it's the name of an event or something memorable.
It just gives it a whole new life, you know? Yeah.
At the end of the day, as I mentioned, I was licensing a planner, which really is colored numbers on paper, but I decided to call it the Reminder Binder. So now the Reminder Binder is a thing.
For those of you out there connecting with other products, when you start talking about it by name and it takes on a life of its own, that's why I've always given everything a name.
I pretty much give all of my products a fun name because I feel like when you give it a name, it takes on a life of its own.
At the end of the day, a calendar is really numbers on paper, but if I call it something clever, like the Reminder Binder, suddenly it takes on a life, it takes on a brand, a branding that people will get to know and refer to it by name.
And then it's not just my planner. I have always done that to some degree. I've built my line based on what my customer was needing at the time.
I've got weekly planners, but I call them “Peek At The Week”.
That's also one of my registered names.
When you have to maybe remind your spouse of certain things, I have another product that’s on a weekly planner pad for him. I call it The Dad Pad
Carly: It's so cute. I've seen dads, their reaction is “Oh, this is so cool.”
Denise: I like that. Love it so much. Yeah, well it pretty much just spares mom from doing any reminding, right? Because we always get the, “Oh God, the nagging?” You know.
Well, I'll tell you what, if you write it down, you take that little few extra minutes and write stuff down, then you don't have to have to follow up on it as much, right? it's like he'll take it and own it and he gets to that satisfactory checking off the list, you know?
So the Dad Pad, gratitude journal, the Gratitude Finder are some of them… the meal planning pad. We call it the Meal Minder.
So the Gratitude Finder, Meal Minder, Dad Pad, Peek At The Week, Reminder Binder, and then the Class Keeper, which is what is used to commemorate all of our kids' keepsakes and things like that.
Carly: Yeah, and, and the reason I wanted to mention it is because I mean, I have seen these products in client homes. I didn't bring them. I'm like in the wild, in the wild! And it makes me so happy. I tell them, “Oh, I know Denise! That’s my friend!” It makes me so happy for you.
Getting into the Class Keeper binder, let's get into it because we're really here to talk about kids art storage specifically today. What are some of the common stories you were hearing from others before you created Class Keeper? Like what inspired it?
The first day of school picture
Denise: So, social media has really made it a mainstay that everybody has to take the proverbial first day of school pic. And then if you're on the ball enough, you post it on social medias and realize that everybody else is doing it. So everybody has to do that.
Well slowly but surely, your kid grows up to be a JPEG, and what can you do with that photo to keep it in a place where really you can commemorate it?
I mean, I don't know about you. How many photos do you have on your phone?
Carly: So I think 18 million. It's a lot.
Denise: Yes. Give or take. Right? I’m right there with you.
I think things, images are getting lost and parents, like my kid is growing up to be a JPEG.
Really giving a placeholder for these first and last days of school photos. Like not only just posting it on social, but also giving it a placeholder.
Then we saw okay, at that moment there are so many things that you want to capture, like in a mini time capsule that you think you're going to remember about your kid, that you'll, oh, I'll always remember what their favorite food was, or what that silly thing they said was, and you don't, you just can't.
The purpose of the Class Keeper really was, the cornerstone was commemorating the first and last day of school and having a placeholder for that first day.
And then in this Class Keeper binder, which is just a custom size three-ring binder on the facing page is the last day of school of that same grade.
Seeing the transformation of your child from the first to the last day is always extraordinary.
It's not too often that you have both pictures right there in front of you.
Denise: And it's sometimes so fun to go back and look, you know?
Then on these pages, we put some key favorites and credentials about them.
The basics, what school, their teacher name, their height, and weight.
Then we had some other favorite things of theirs. What's their favorite TV show? Their favorite app. If they had a hundred dollars, what would they do with it? Which is precious because as with all your nieces and nephews, like you ask a preschooler what they would do with a hundred dollars compared to a 16-year-old.
It's all those answers at those early ages are so precious. They’re going to buy an elephant, or like a house, or…
Carly: Just more Legos.
Denise: More Legos. Right!
Anyway, that was the start of the Class Keeper, and that product alone, evolved as parents were asking for I, could it have a pocket to actually put some specific keepsakes in there? Can I add things to it? What if I have more photos? So all of those things have created what it is today.
And it's a customized three-ring binder. You can take pages out, and put pages in.
Mom guilt & baby books
This totally absolves any of the mom guilt of everybody I’ve talked to that says, “Oh, the baby book that I never started.”
Carly: Oh my gosh. I have to, and I know this is a side note, so I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have, I've reassured so many moms that almost no one did the baby book. Because everyone feels so guilty that they didn't do it.
I'm like, “No, nobody did it.” I'm having this conversation with everyone. Everybody. Nobody did it.
Denise: You're fine. You did it and it's okay. You did. You raised a baby. Right?
Exactly that. You could write a book about said baby. Nobody. I never did.
Anyway, that's where the one thing I did with the Class Keeper was nowhere on the cover or spine or anywhere does it say what years it covers?
Now inside are templates from preschool all the way up to off to college, but it doesn't say that anywhere.
Say for example, you don't start until kindergarten or you want to be done after eighth grade, you just open up those magical three rings and take out those sections there.
You're done and done. Nobody knows. No.
Carly: Yeah, it's like that Instagram sound. “How are they going to know? No one's going to know…”
Denise: No one's going to know. How are they going to know? They'll never know. Exactly. They'll never know.
And, and literally it was during Covid that I think we had a huge engagement with the Class Keeper and completely sold out of 140,000 of them.
We clearly, there's been a lot of people realizing, “You know what, maybe I should get those photos off my phone, put them somewhere in a commemorative way.”
There's a lot of people who don't have time to do the traditional scrapbooking. It's nice to have that no thinking required template.
Carly: It's a shortcut, and it's cute as hell.
Denise: Yes, it is a shortcut because I'm you know what, I call scrapbooking “scrap looking”.
I'm seeing a blank page. I will stare at it forever. What can I do? I'm not a crafty person. People think I am because I can draw. I’m like, “No, no, no.” Crafty people are a whole different level above me. I can't do anything.
You'll never see me yielding a glue gun or anything of the like.
Okay, I've got first day of school, but then what? It's on my phone and then what? I put it on my Facebook page and I don't know how to search it and find it on my Facebook page. Now what, you scrolling forever? Then, it evolved. The Class Keeper evolved.
Taking it digital
Carly: Tell us about that because this is the part where when I met you and you told me about this, I was, like, “What the hell did you just say to me?!” I was so excited.
Denise: I know. Yes, that was the conversation that changed everything about the Class Keeper, in particular, so to respond to what you were saying, yes. It was during Covid when we had this we realized that parents need something to commemorate all of their kids' stuff in a way that is, that will check the box and pacify that feeling of, “Okay, I've done this for my child they'll appreciate it.”
Now later — you’re not going to have the guilt now. And later on, you get something, and hand this beautiful compact box to them.
Then parents are asking, “Well, what do I do with the oversized poster and with the participation awards and the trophies and the rock collections and what if…” and on and on it goes.
There are not enough photo pages and things like that. So what we realized in that moment is that we really need to take this to a digital level.
There, there was born during this last year and a half was the Class Keeper mobile app. That was and really what it's designed for is really to have a digital placeholder for all the good stuff for each of your children that is in an easy-to-access, searchable, shareable, secure, and private platform.
Carly: Yeah. When you think about what all those descriptions share. You can share it with spouses to help upload content or childcare providers to upload content or the second household that the children are a part of. Maybe don't want to talk to that other parent all the time. That's fine. You both have access to an app.
Denise: Absolutely. I mean, that's one of the bridges that we offer to parents who, for whatever reason, do not share the same commemorative keepsakes. Everything can funnel to one placeholder that can be shared by all.
In the mobile app, you can have a child profile with infinite amount of photos and stories per child and infinite amount of people who are sharing either as a contributor or as a view only — say like grandparents and things who may not be a contributor necessarily, but they want to obviously want to see what's happening in their grandkids lives.
That's where the sharing part comes in place. Then the security, obviously having a placeholder where, where everything is going to be safely stored and will span the ages and you don't need to worry about hard drives or zip drives or things like that.
Or is it on my phone or is it on his phone? It's all one common place where it's safe and secure and searchable.
That's the other magic is that being able to say, “Okay, let me search up all of the Halloween costumes for Lucas.” You can do that. You can see all of the content from Halloween costumes.
Which is something it's really hard to do on Facebook that where a lot of people use their digital pics as a digital scrapbook.
Carly: Yeah. The thing that really, really got me is that this is a way to take all of the bins, which can just pile up and be a real pain point for people and something that is very, very easy to, as I like to call it, just “kick the can” on the procrastination. But then things pile up, pile up, pile up, and all of a sudden you have eight bins per kid of old schoolwork and artwork and commemorative trophies and awards and certificates of participation and all the things.
It can be emotionally difficult to cull through that. And so I think this is, I think this is just an amazing way to be able to let go of a lot of physical items while still honoring the memory of those things and being able to share it with your children in the future.
Denise: Absolutely. I tell you one thing we really didn't connect the dots on — is why that conversation between the two of was so magical and it's building out what you just said was even as my own kids, I've got middle schooler, elementary schooler, and then a kindergartner.
I'm already in that space right now where I do have a pile-up of bins and the beauty of digitizing that in a private way is that I can go and scan and when I say scan, I should really say, take a photo of it — no one's using a scanner — take a photo of and upload it into my kid's profiles and backdate it.
It's taking all those bins and putting them in a place — think of it as putting it almost in a top of a funnel and getting it all organized. In the end, you have this very organized placeholder for everything. And it doesn't matter if it's artwork if it's a trophy if it's a rock collection if it's a Lego — if your child builds? How many models have your kids built with Legos? Guess what? You're not going to keep them, you take a picture of your kid with them.
That's your memory — is that child's face with that aircraft carrier that they just built or whatever it might be. That's what you commemorate.
We give this false sense of value to some of the keepsakes that I’m asking, “Why are we keeping this like pompom spaghetti and meatballs?” Your child didn't make it from anything more than glue and yarn and you're like keeping it for 40 years and it's — why are we doing that if you have the luxury?
I wish someone would've grabbed me by the shirt collars of my preschool mom self and said, “Look, the best thing you can do for yourself is create a system or early on as your, as your kid is making all of these.” Because kids are like machines. They crank out so many crafts.
Carly: It's Ford Motor Company over here.
Denise: Yeah, right? Churning it out. Exactly.
You know what, not everything is epicly memorable. So I sometimes cheat, I'll plop my kid on the floor, crisscross apple sauce. I'll put 10 things around him, all of which he created at kindergarten that week. Snap a picture. Little aerial view.
I get a smiling face, all the fruit loop artwork, and popsicle stick art. Boom! Done, commemorated, honor that artwork for about a week or two, and then bye-bye.
Carly: That is like the biggest life hack I have come across in months though, honestly, because it, it really commemorates the pride that the child feels — that's the gold, that's the moment.
If you're thinking to yourself, “Great, my kid is 12 and I didn't, we didn't think about that.”
There's no time like the present Mom, and with our cell phones, it's so much easier. You could just capture that moment and that pride right then, and that's all you really need.
Keeping memories without the overwhelm
Denise: Absolutely. For those of us who have kids already in middle school and couldn't possibly go back and capture that photo, I still do it even for my older kid. I go through his bin and I grab a collection of items, snap a photo, and then a lot of its stuff that I've kept in that bin.
Honestly, I'll have my son, Lucas, who's 12 now, and be “Mom, why'd you keep that?” Why did I keep that? You know?
Older kids are like “I don't need these 27,000 vocabulary sheets where I traced A, B, C…” They’re “Oh yeah, I remember I hated doing that, or whatever it was.”
And you know that there's that piece. Talking specifically about kids who are older there's, there's a time too that like in my life now, my son will not want me to post anything on socials anymore with him in it.
I share the app with him. That way he can upload photos. Of course, my husband does things with my boys where I'm not always there and he can upload photos. I still have this collaborative collection of his memories that is not going to be so embarrassing to him because I posted it on socials.
It's still — I want to capture that time capsule. Quite frankly, he'll want that too one day.
He's got access to the app. I don't have to dump these like dilapidated boxes and bins on him as our parents did to us, right?
No comment, right? So I'm like, I want to have that all collectively there, but just not in a way that that's going to be like burdensome to me in the short term and have to look at all these bins.
I literally like my shoulders hike up when I think about all of the stuff. Which is what every, I'm sure every client will — you have that conversation? It's so debilitating when you have all this physical stuff surrounding you — I don't want to do that to my kid.
Hey, great new thousand-square-foot apartment! Here’s your giant bin. Oh, wait. And there are six more in the car. This is just the tip of the iceberg, buddy. Don't worry. I have more coming.
I have met so many people where they're in the purging process. It's at that moment where they end up getting the bins from the parents that they've been holding onto for 30 years and they're — “No, I'm trying to declutter. I don't want all this crap from 30 years ago.”
That's how it can feel. I'm not saying that it's all crap, but I think that when you're starting to purge, then when you're like flooded with, let's just say hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of mementos from 30 years ago, then that can feel like it doesn't help with the overwhelm.
Then when you do bequeath these to your child? After you've kept it for decades? Now we’re like, great. It suddenly has this perception of value because it was, it's been living, it's lived on since the eighties.
I want to stop the madness. I don't want I have three sons who — one day I anticipate them finding spouses and thinking, “Okay, chances are these daughters-in-law are not going to want — the last thing they want from me if I shove everything in their storage units or in their limited storage space, is all this stuff.
I mean, that's what my mother-in-law did to me.
Carly: It’s really hard, and especially when you're just starting out, you do have limited storage space. I mean, I talked about this very, very recently, like in your home, that is the most expensive storage that you have by far, because of your mortgage, your rent is going to be a lot more than a storage unit. And a few weeks ago we were talking about the yays and nays of storage units, but I digress.
Okay, so this is not a left turn, but I know since you guys have launched this, you guys have likely heard a bunch of really fun and creative examples of ways that people are using this, and I would love to hear some of those.
Denise: Absolutely. Again, sometimes the best breakthroughs happen because we always listen to our customers. Our entire line has been introduced because of people sharing ideas and we've added features to every product we have, honestly. The Class Keeper app is no different.
So it's funny. We are always developing and building on this app a few things that, with the tools, we have now, we have, with each child profile, you have an infinite amount of albums.
You have one for every grade, but you can also create custom albums. People are using them in such creative ways, for example, some people are creating an album of just their child's face on their birthday.
That's cute. When you look at that album and like swipe, swipe, you can see the transition because everybody gets their photo taken blowing out the candles on their birthday.
Also with different members of their family. Like I know this story came from a family who just lost their grandma. They had this whole album made for each of their kids that was dedicated to just their child, their child with their grandma.
It was just a commemorative collection. And it's, it's like that was so cool that you can make something that specific, whether it's for — we’ve also talked on, on the vein of birthdays, you know how your kids get all these birthday cards and you’re, “Oh gosh, some of them from grandparents, from very important people — do I just chuck them? Or what do I do with them?”
You know? So now I take a picture of it. Then I put them in an album and then I'm “Okay, done. Bye.” And, you and I were talking earlier about okay, take a picture of the front side and then take a second picture of the inside and there are ways to commemorate that so you can see what grandma and grandpa had to say to you on your birthday, which is something that one day from now there that really might be cool to look back.
Carly: Absolutely. To see the handwriting and the message. That's sweet.
Denise: Yes. That connectivity — obviously having any themed events — whether it's Halloween costumes or it's dance recitals, karate tournaments, or anything themed. And, one of the best features I think about the app, honestly for those who are always like when your kid will say to you, “Mom, tell me something cute that I used to do when I was little.”
Carly: Oh, yes, I love these. Also, I need to tell you, Denise, I have this app because we use it with clients. We have a service where we help them upload their stuff because they may not have the time for that. That aside, I have a profile for my dog, and so now I have like cute things that my dog has done.
Denise: Stop. Okay, so there you answered your own question. What are some of the cute and creative things? They create profiles for their dogs!
Carly: And I'm sorry, I totally got you off topic, but what is, what would you say share the feature about the special things?
Kids say the darndest things
Denise: Within each profile we have a section for each child or each pet is a section called Keepers. What that section is, think of it as like a micro blog every time your kid does and say something cute and clever, you want to remember it? Every parent I know has jotted these things down somewhere on the sidebar of a calendar. Emailed themselves. Texted themselves. Written it in a journal somewhere, but they're all 12 different hundred places.
In the app, there is a section where you can upload a story. You can assign it to a profile, assign keywords to it, so you can search it later. You can add as many photos as you like to it to remember all the cute things that someone says as a child as a little person or, just even as they get older, the funny, cute things that they do and you want to remember.
Carly: Like the family inside jokes.
Denise: Yes.The family inside jokes. When, especially when my son, my littlest guy used to call a bulldozer, a "booze dozer”. Actually, someone said that would make a great name for a drink.
Carly: My sister used to say, instead of popsicles, she said Pao, and we still call her Pao!
Denise: Exactly. I mean, you talk to my siblings, if you say, “Hey, go put this in the living closet,” they're going to go right to the linen closet. It’s really cute.
We as older siblings, I was an older sibling in my family, so we remember what the littles used to do. No one remembers for us.
I wish I had more of that piecework to go back and say, “Well, what were some of the things I did as a kid?” I want to be able to give that to my kids to go back and share stories.
As I mentioned, you can search anything too. You can search by funny, you can choose tags that we prepopulate or create your own — funny things that someone says, or like milestones or however you want to tag it. If you want to tag it, whether it's soccer or whether it's dance or vacation or family fiascos, whatever it is, you can search it all.
Carly: That's so fun. I love it. Well, I want to know, because this is literally what you do for a living. You're helping stressed out parents get more organized through paper products and through the Class Keeper app, which I'm a big fan of. To the parents who are thinking about kids art, storage, and maybe they want to pull their hair out one by one, what is your biggest advice for getting started?
Advice for getting started
Denise: That is a great, great question. I think there are three phases that any parent will find themselves in.
1. There are the empty nesters.
2. There are the ones who are in it to win it, like I am right now, right? My kids have some level of bins or just getting started with bins.
3. And then the newbies.
And so if you're an empty nester and you have the bins, this is where — we’ve actually met parents who have said they've gone to their kids, their 20-something kids, and say, “All right, here's your bin. Let's digitize this together.”
Oh, and then they, the editing happens then, because I even — in my own company our director of marketing is in her late twenties and she's like, I did that all for myself because I was asking, “Mom, why'd you keep this? “ So there's that piece of going through and creating that.
She created both a physical Class Keeper and a digital one for herself. You need to start out with some collection of all the goods and then digitizing or keeping things and being honest with yourself as to what really has value to you. And, help your future self.
And, I should say, if you're doing it for your children to think — okay, really, do you really want to burden your child because they don't know the value that you put on this, that you kept it for 40 years? To really be ruthless, I say ruthless, be honest.
In it to win it — same concept. Only at more fluid pace where you're actually — there’s incoming items. Set yourself up with a system so that you don't have the eight bins after they've gone —start now.
Staying present
And also don't feel compelled to get it all digitized from preschool on up through before you start with seventh grade. Live in the moment. Capture those moments and then you can always go back. The beauty of the app is that you can retro date.
Don't ignore what's happening right now — and then you can always go back and honestly, those are the people who, like I myself need a professional organizer to come in and digitize all of my stuff for my kids because I'm right now “in it to win it”, and I need to get caught up so that I can do it in the moment.
And then the third phase is the ones that are just now starting their families, I know it seems like crazy because they've got so many things just trying to keep this little person alive every day. There's so much that goes on with new motherhood that's so overwhelming. But to really consider setting up a system to commemorate the moments, especially the ones that you think are memorable, like the little milestone type events and photos and things, capture them.
Be consistent about adding them to your child's profile. Also don't forget to invite your partner to do the same. Because why is it, it usually falls on one person's shoulder and that really shouldn't be the case anymore. We need to distribute that load. Make sure you set up that the system to include a collaborative effort to make sure that you've got someone who’s also contributing.
Then especially when one day, when the child does start going to preschool and churning out all of those crafts and keepsakes and everything, and that tidal wave starts coming in that doesn't stop.
Have a system. Like I said, mine was always been — some of the items I have my child hold, take a photo, upload it to their profile, or if I get backlog, sit them down in front of a, facing a window. Crisscross applesauce. Spread it out. Take a big old picture, have them look up at you, if it's a smiling, little toothless grin or whatever it might be.
Then you can keep the products for, keep the items for a short period of time.
Carly: Love it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on today, Denise, and giving some tips about it, sharing your story. Really giving people resources to help them get organized and help them tame the overwhelm that comes with all the kiddo stuff, specifically from school and art projects and the like.
Really, really, really appreciate you and I know that we will definitely have the link to where people can check out your products and the app and everything down below, but in addition, where can folks find you?
Denise: Thank you! As I mentioned, my company is cleverly named by my name, which is Denise Albright. You'll have the link in the show notes to find me there. Everything we described today is there, the Class Keeper, the Class Keeper app membership. All of those things will be on my site. So I would love it if you were to find us!
Carly: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you! Thank you again so much for being here today. It's always lovely chatting with you and I'm sure we'll talk very, very soon.
Denise: Sounds great. Thanks for having me, Carly. This was my pleasure!
Carly: Thank you for tuning in today! If you want to learn more about how I can help you head to Tidy Revival dot com to learn more about how I work with people one on one, or in the Clutter-Free Home Process course community. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe so you'll always have access to the latest episode!
We would also love to hear your takeaways. Feel free to tag us at Tidy Revival on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. The Tidy Revival podcast is written and hosted by me, Carly Adams, edited by Brittany McLean, and the title Song Maverick is by Dresden The Flamingo.
Until next time, remember —
Links mentioned in this episode
Make sure to follow Denise on Instagram - @denisealbrightstudio
Class Keeper App- help organize your kiddo artwork / all the school keepsakes DIGITALLY
Check out Denise's website - Right now you can get 50% Off Sitewide* during the Scary Good Sales Event Plus get Free Gift with every $40 order & Free Shipping on every $75 order (order value after the discount is applied). Use code SCARY at checkout.
Are we friends on social media yet? Whether your jam is Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest or Facebook - follow us @tidyrevival
Snag your FREE printable decluttering guide to give you inspiration on where to start at home.
Want to learn more about the Clutter-Free Home Process course community? Check out all the details here.
