This week KonMari Quick Tips episode is dedicated to tidying with kids! KonMari’ing with kids presents its own special opportunities and challenges, but it can be done and can even be fun!

So now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life.

Head over to Apple podcasts to subscribe and review the show, which helps us reach others along their tidying journeys.

To extend your tidying experience, you can join the Spark Joy Club!

Visit sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Join the Club” to become a member of the Spark Joy Community or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Thanks for tuning in and we hope your day, sparks joy.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-The question from listener Heather that sparked our Quick Tips episode.
-How to determine whether to tidy your kids clothing after your own.
-Be mindful that all your child’s things may feel sentimental to them. Respect this, but guide your child in making choices.
-The importance of age and ability in guiding your child’s tidying experience.

KonMari Quick Tips:
-Tip: Utilize your kid’s natural love of their toys in teaching gratitude for the things they keep and the things they let go.
-Tip: Use a Thank You box as a means to create a physical boundary around the sorting process.
-Tip: Your kids will have different lengths of time they are able to focus. Keep sessions short.
-Tip: For artwork, consider using services such as Artkive to consolidate and preserve the most special things. Artkive
-Tip: Work with your kids to get rid of old broken crayons and paints in favor of things that encourage creativity.
-Tip: When organizing, encourage your child to consider that space is a precious commodity and consider which item is in it own space.

We are pleased to introduce the new Joy Sparker members of the Spark Joy Club.

Welcome!
Elisabeth Swim
Jonathan Perry
Janice Mellon
Melissa Woody
Robin Porter
Marte Rieser
Marla J. Williams
Rosanna Sutherby
Chelsea Lewis

Visit sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Join the Club” to become a member of the Spark Joy Community

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest this week is Stephanie Seferian of Mama Minimalist.

Stephanie lives just outside of Boston with her husband and two daughters.
She podcasts and blogs weekly about how the themes of minimalism, sustainability, decluttering, low-waste living and parenting intersect.

Her podcast, The Sustainable Minimalist, features eco-friendly tips and incremental strategies for cutting through clutter as a means to more fully enjoy life's sweetest moments.

Now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-How Stephanie decided to pursue a minimalist lifestyle after becoming a busy mom.

-Her Three Dimensions of Minimalism: Aesthetic, Experiential, Sustainable.

-How going down the minimalist path gave her more time to be present for her children.

-How our tendency to buy, declutter, and buy again impacts the environment.

-The challenges of having young children and maintaining a minimalist household.

-How to manage the influx of gifts that come into the home.

-Recycling old cellphones at Best Buy:
Best Buy Recycling Program

-Learn about Cellphones for Soldiers:
Cell Phones for Soldiers

-The struggle of letting go of a beloved wedding dress!
Brides Against Breast Cancer

Gems:
“We are destined to being constant consumers of technology.”

“We had the normal parent thoughts of 'When we have a yard, things will be better. When we have a place for our daughter’s stuff, we will be more relaxed.'"

“There’s no one path to minimalism.”

“It’s about getting out and getting living.”

“We emphasize experiences over stuff in our home.”

What sparks joy for Stephanie:
“The simple and often overlooked moments with my daughters and husband.”

Parting words of wisdom:
“Just take one small step toward simplification. And if it feels right, take another.”

To connect with Stephanie, you can find her at MamaMinimalist.com
@mamaminimalist on Instagram and Twitter

The Sustainable Minimalist on Facebook:

Listen to her podcast:
Sustainable Minimalist Podcast

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Stephanie Seferian.

Our guest today is Meg Brunson.

Meg is a multi-passionate mama living in Phoenix, AZ with her husband and 4 young daughters. She is a serial entrepreneur and a former Facebook employee, striving to provide a better life for her family through entrepreneurship.

She is the founder of EIEIO Marketing, the host of the FamilyPreneur Podcast, and recently helped her 10 year old launch her first business.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

-You'll learn how Meg started her business and her motivation for becoming an entrepreneur.

-Meg's tips for teaching your children critical thinking skills.

-How she and her daughter drilled down to find the perfect value statement that created Story Time with Kiki: Story Time with Kiki

-The importance of the calendar in managing a busy household with kids.

-How Meg and her husband support their girl's passion for learning.

-Meg's strong passion for helping kids set and achieve their goals.

-Using setbacks and challenges as a way to help kids be resourceful and resilient.

-Meg's favorite resources for building a great business:
A CRM platform: Dubsado
A scheduling platform: Acuity Scheduling

-And, hey, we all need a good resource for relaxing!
Winc

To connect with Meg, you can visit her at her website: www.megbrunson.com
Or her marketing website: www.eieiomarketing.com

She's on Twitter: @themegbrunson, Instagram: themegbrunson and Pinterest: themegbrunson

Her facebook is:
Meg Brunson on Facebook

She's the editor at: Phoenix Kids Out and About

And Kiki's website is: Story Time with Kiki

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week's show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

What sparks joy for Meg:
Her kids "those happy moments, their smiles and giggles" The freedom of working from home and being able to spend spontaneous moments with the kids while pursuing her entrepreneurial dreams.

Gems:
"We should be paving additional paths for our children."

"Drill down to the thing you know the best and find the value proposition within that knowledge."

"Turn their questions back on your kids. Get them to explore the question themselves."

"If you are passionate about it, I really believe you can make it happen."

"I'm going to have those good resources. I'm just going to have to build them out myself!"

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Meg Brunson.

A Certified Simplicity Parenting Coach and KonMari enthusiast with over a decade of experience, Christine coaches women to create home environments that support harmony and connection.

Christine coaches from the heart, using joy as a guide and her clients find so much peace in having less, doing less, and editing their lives and their homes with intention.

In this episode, Christine will share her unique approach in helping moms find their own path in creating an intention-filled life. Christine transformed her space with the support of her husband and their young, spirited daughter.

You can follow Christine on her website, Creating Calm Coach, on Facebook at Christine O'Brien Coach or on Instagram @creatingcalmcoach. Download her Free Creating Calm Checklist.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Christine’s private Facebook group community, KonMari Method: Life-changing Magic for anyone working through the KonMari tidying process

• Christine’s virtual consulting program, From Chaos to Calm, which consists of group and individual support for making joyful transitions

• How Christine combines two powerful schools of thought to inform the way she supports moms to relax into full presence with their children: Simplicity Parenting and the KonMari Method

• Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne

• Re-occurring KonMari related pain points that may sound familiar:
  1) feeling too overwhelmed to start, 2) getting stuck at some point in the middle of the process, and 3) uncertainty regarding doing KonMari with a family

• How to guide a family through the process and how to find the joy click-point when you have growing kids

• How speaking to your items can “soften” and facilitate letting them go

• How focusing on the positive and the joy can apply to your vision for fitness and diet

• Learning about Brene Brown , who says that gratitude creates Joy

Christine’s favorite tidying tip:
“Tune in to your intuition and trust your joy checks.”

What sparks joy for Christine:
Her family and the transformation she has witnessed as a result of this process. She’s joyful about sharing this way of living!

Gems:

“The toys she’s interested in change all the time.”

“As you get more in tune with what brings you joy, more space develops for experiencing joy.”

“Put your oxygen mask on first and make sure you complete your tidying first before you move on to your children.”

“Different personalities come out for display when you do KonMari with a family.”

“What? Talk to my clothes? Say thank you and goodbye?!”

“The process is about connection and not perfection.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Christine O'Brien.