No matter what stage of life you are in, or where you live, your home should be your sanctuary; a destination you want to retreat to over and over again. This episode of the Welcome Home podcast is for everyone who has big dreams to turn their home into a relaxing oasis, but isn't quite sure where to begin.  We bring in home organization experts, Erika and Ginny from The Girl For That, to give answers and tips on how to organize a space and create the home oasis you've always dreamed of. Whether it's a functional home office or an organized play room for the kiddos, home organization is a great place to start!

S3_Ep8 Home Organization Gurus (Erika Seamayer-Williamson & Ginny Baker).mp3

Intro: [00:00:03] Welcome Home, a podcast brought to you by John Houston Homes. Join hosts, Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor, as they walk you through the exciting adventure of your home buying and building journey.

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:19] Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Welcome Home Podcast. I'm Whitney and I have Chelsi here with me. Hey, Chelsi!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:26] Hey, everybody!

Whitney Pryor: [00:00:27] We're in the middle of May now, the weather's great and we've got some awesome things that we are getting ready to talk to you about. Chelsi, why don't you kind of fill us in on what our theme kind of is this month.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:00:43] We're talking about Destination Home this month - sharing tips and ideas on how you can make your home the place you want to be, really a destination. If you have your choice to go somewhere, you just would rather stay at home because it's so amazing, for whatever reason. That could be a lot of reasons. A lot of things that we talked about in the past couple of months, could be the reason, with the Outdoor Living Series. Now, we're taking it indoors. A home that's just so relaxing, enjoyable, inviting and inspiring, that you just really don't want to go anywhere else. We're going to cover a few topics throughout the podcast and on our blog. Today we're talking to two women that are professional organizers about how organizing your life at home can really be life changing. We're going to give you some ideas, tips and tricks on how to do this for any room and in any size house. That's also the thought is, well, I don't have any room or how many people say my house is too big, I don't know, but maybe sometimes.

Whitney Pryor: [00:01:44] Yeah, we're spending so much time at home these days. I think this is so great to touch on is, how you can make that space really yours?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:01:51] Yeah, because I think we've either loved or hated our homes in the past two years or both, at some point or another. Yeah. We just want to welcome to the show Erika and Ginny from The Girl for That. Welcome ladies!

Ginny Baker: [00:02:03] Thank you. Excited to be here.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:02:05] Yes, thanks for having us.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:02:06] We have a little bit of background with Erika and that's kind of where we got to where we are today with this topic. We just want to start with some background info about you ladies and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Ginny Baker: [00:02:17] We've known each other for 17 years.

Whitney Pryor: [00:02:19] Oh, wow!

Ginny Baker: [00:02:21] It's just kind of a relationship that has blossomed from true friendship to seeing that we want that in every aspect of our life, including business, because we work really well together. That's kind of how we got involved in this whole fiasco of organizing.

Ginny Baker: [00:02:40] That's true. Really, the way that Ginny and I met was through my past profession, permanent makeup/makeup artistry. I was a medical aesthetician and I met Ginny working in Dermatology and Cosmetic Dermatology at UT Southwestern, so that's how we met. This permanent makeup gig is kind of cool because that's okay, if I can say it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:07] Absolutely!

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:03:07] That's how we met!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:08] Yes, I'm proud of my permanent makeup from Erika. I'll tell everybody.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:03:12] I'll support it everywhere. It makes life so much easier.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:14] It really does.

Ginny Baker: [00:03:15] Now we've just passed that baton over to my daughter. Erika Lane does that now, so we pass that on to her. It has been a great place to be able to meet people. You've got that intimate time to spend with people for a couple of hours. You get to know people and then you recommend people. Our relationship, we keep coming back into each other's lives, Chelsi, and that's been really cool. Now we're here today.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:03:38] Here we are! Erika is also a podcast host. She has Amazing Grace Talk, which is a really, really awesome, inspiring podcast, so check that out for sure. She's on the other side of the mic today. How does it feel?

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:03:53] Oh, it's fun. It's a lot of fun. It's a neat little studio you have here. Ginny, tell him a little bit about The Girl for That and how you got started with that. She's been working a lot, you can tell him about the retreat. Then, we'll say how we got going with the organization.

Ginny Baker: [00:04:12] Sure, so kind of mid-pandemic, I realized the job that I had been working in for so long, I worked for a school district, wasn't something I wanted to do forever. HR is not really the most fun job all the time, so I had a deep conversation with my husband. I'm a really creative person, so being in HR, it was sort of like being in prison for me. He encouraged me very strongly. He's like, "there's no better time for you to leave than now. You have all these plans of things you want to do, so now's the time." I started out an event planning, which is something I had background in before, and then I also went hardcore into the social media branding, all of the marketing aspect of the social media world. With Erika, when we kind of reconnected, she was planning retreats. It was a no brainer that she collaborated with me and allowed me to plan some of the retreats. Now, she has this amazing one coming. It's going to be huge. We've done all of the branding, graphic design, all of that. The idea behind The Girl for That was for anyone. When they don't know who to hire for a certain project, The Girl for That is who you want to hire because we have the girl for everything.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:05:34] The girl for everything, that's true.

Ginny Baker: [00:05:36] Yeah, whether it be event planning, branding, social media, web design and now organization, because we realized in reconnecting that we both had a passion for that. We've done it for friends and family for so long and there's such a demand and need for it right now, so it was a no brainer. We were like, okay, that's definitely a service that we need to add.

Whitney Pryor: [00:05:59] Yeah, I'm genuinely excited to hear from you guys today because I'm envisioning all of these little cluster spots I have in my house where I've just piled things. It's just become a permanent pile of stuff. I know that I need help with that, so I can't be the only one.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:06:15] No, you're not the only one.

Ginny Baker: [00:06:17] The only one for sure.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:06:18] I'm here with you on that. I saw one thing on your website that stuck out to me, and it said, "getting organized can absolutely change how you feel on a day to day basis." One of my questions was, how have you seen that in your own lives and for your clients?

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:06:36] I can speak on that first. I tend to say that I have this A.D.D brain, I don't look at that as a deterrent, I look at it as a good thing in my life. Most people that are A.D.D are very creative, going ninety-to-nothing and kind of a master multi-tasker. Even if people are not A.D.D., whatever the situation is, we're all going in so many directions, so quickly at all times, We're really overcommitted, whether it's family or with our children. We're overcommitted in all of these ways. When we're organized, I know for me and we've seen with our clients, Ginny can probably vouch for that as well, is that when you have a place for things and when you know exactly where things go, I'll have her speak in just a minute. We're already empty nesters, but I'll have her speak on how this works with children at home, whether it's a pantry or just regular organization. When you have a place for everything, you don't feel as stressed. It takes a stress off. For me, having a housekeeper every couple of weeks, is just key for me to keep my life straight because I'm too busy. I'm way too busy. Then, having everything organized and in place makes all the difference in the world. You're not running out the door feeling stressed, you know where things are. Ginny, tell us about your family. She's got a husband at home and a husband, well three children at home.

Ginny Baker: [00:08:08] Yes, the husband's at home! He wouldn't be there if it wasn't organized, I can tell you that. He would be out doing something else. We've talked about it a lot, so many people, their lives are like a computer window with too many tabs open. You sit down at your computer, you have a goal to find this email or whatever it is, and when you sit down you're like there are 20 tabs open, where do I begin? That's our lives at home for a lot of people. There's just too many tabs open and nothing's easy to find, so the key for me as a mom, is to have a spot for everything. We like to say, "does that have a home?" That's what I always ask my kids when they get a new a new toy or whatever. If it doesn't, we create one so that they know and I know where it goes. It's very simple. There's no excuse for why it's not put away when they're done with it. Even with snacks and things like that, a lot of people think, I'm going to go buy a bunch of bins, put everything in it and make it look really pretty. Unless there's a system that, not only you can follow, but that your kids can follow, it's not foolproof. You've seen it on the Home Edit, they do colors. Their kids know, "mom, we're low on green in the pantry." You know that's sour cream and onion chips, Cheez-Its or whatever. It's just finding the right system for how your family works, whether they're visual or they have a certain spot and you have to have a compartment for each thing. It just depends on the the family.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:09:41] For lunches, some parents will make their own kids lunches, but as they get older, they'll allow them to be more independent. It's great because in the pantry, when you have it all together and in the refrigerator organized, they know exactly. You put down lower, the healthier snacks and you put up higher the more sugary snacks or put them more contained and easily accessible for the healthy snacks. That's a good little tip, as well.

Ginny Baker: [00:10:07] It's good responsibility, too.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:10:09] Yeah.

Whitney Pryor: [00:10:09] Oh, yeah. Would you say that's where you start? Do you look at what you buy as a person and how organize it from the start or do you have any other tips or tricks from like how do you get started in organizing your home?

Ginny Baker: [00:10:24] I think you start with a spot in your house that stresses you out the most, honestly. For a lot of people, that's the closet. For some people, it's the pantry or it could be the linen closet. Whatever it is, I think you start there because once you are able to tackle that, everything else seems so much easier to tackle. Like I said, you just you look through everything. I like to pull everything out, divide it up into categories and figure out where each category's home is going to be, just like we talked about, and then just make it known. Labeling is essential in organizing. Like I said before, you just really have to make sure everybody is on the same page and they know this is where we're putting this now, you know?

Whitney Pryor: [00:11:11] Yeah, that's great.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:11:12] Yea, because I feel like I'm like the queen of bins. I like to have bins for stuff, but then I didn't think about your point about having a system to that bin. The bin on its own, isn't the only answer. It has to have kind of a system or a strategy behind it. Now I'm thinking, what do I need to go back and reassess in mine? I have a nine year old daughter and at the end of the day, I say, "go make your rounds." That's like our thing. She hates to hear it, but that means she goes through every room of the house to backtrack the trail that she's left in every room, like a pair of shoes or pair of socks.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:11:53] Do you have her put that in a bin?

Chelsi Frazier: [00:11:55] Yeah, everything has to go up, wherever, but before the end of the night. I'm not going to say I have everything organized. I'm probably like 60% of the way.

Ginny Baker: [00:12:07] That's pretty good, actually!

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:12:09] Yeah, that's pretty good. I wanted to say something about how you're talking about you have a lot of bins. We worked with people before where it's kind of interesting. One of the women I can think of that we worked with, once we went through everything, had our pile for getting rid of - all three different piles, the thing of it was, she had so many bins that were unnecessary. I'm serious, probably 20 bins. Now that's the other problem, you can just buy bin to put more stuff in.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:42] Yeah, that you don't even really want to keep.

Ginny Baker: [00:12:43] Yeah.

Whitney Pryor: [00:12:44] Yeah.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:12:44] Yeah, I think that's what I need to reassess.

Ginny Baker: [00:12:47] Once it's in the bin and you don't see it anymore, it's sort of like out of sight, out of mind. That's a really important question and you have to revisit that question every couple of months. You need to take everything out of the bins and say, "have I use this in the last three months?" If you haven't, get rid of it or give it to somebody who needs it.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:13:06] Another little, well go ahead, I'll let you go on. I was going to talk about a trick in the closet, but we'll talk about that in a bit.

Ginny Baker: [00:13:11] I was going to tell you a trick too, for your daughter when she makes her rounds real quick.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:15] This is really for me. That is why I wanted to do this, no, I'm just kidding!

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:13:20] Something I have to do with myself is instead of like using something and putting it down, I always have to say, as I'm putting it down and my daughter does this, too. We have this mantra now and it's, put it away, don't put it down, put it away, don't put it.

Ginny Baker: [00:13:35] Or you can say, touch it once. It really needs to say touch it once, not here, then the next here, there and then it finally makes its way back to where it needs to go.

Ginny Baker: [00:13:45] Yeah.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:45] The shoes, they're like a repeat offender.

Ginny Baker: [00:13:47] Totally.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:13:48] My daughter's room is upstairs, and so I'll remind her, "hey, are you going upstairs? See if there's something you need to grab and take with you that needs to go up there that you just left behind," you know?

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:13:59] If you have space, a bin at the bottom of the stairs is a great place to put things for them when they're going upstairs. Some people put a shoe spot in their garage. You can do that as well.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:14:12] Yeah, I like that.

Whitney Pryor: [00:14:13] The homes that we sell range in square footage, anywhere from 1,800 square foot all the way up to three or 4,000 square feet. What kind of practical things can you share with this for small homes and large homes? What are some good tips and tricks, not only for the larger ones, but even for the smaller spaces that people have?

Ginny Baker: [00:14:36] Sure, I think a lot of people look at shelves. This is one of my main things. You look at shelves and you think, okay, I can put baskets on the shelves, but nobody really ever thinks about what's below. It's a perfect spot to hang something where you can slide a new drawer in there. There's so many different means to making a space usable. I think the key factor is, no matter the size of your home, pantry, closet or whatever it is, you have to kind of assess before you go in there, take everything out, look at your space and be sure you're utilizing all of it. Whether it's the under shelves or the clothing rods where you hang your clothes from, there's just so many aspects to how a space can be used.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:15:20] There are a lot of solutions. In small, small spaces, you can't believe how organized that can be and how you can utilize every single inch of space. It's amazing. Something that's three foot wide and tall and you've got a blank wall, you could build a children's desk or an adult desk. You can go up with the shelves and you've got a whole station. People may think, well, I don't have the room. We even help people that have mobile homes.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:15:55] Oh, wow. I've seen what y'all can do with some draw organizers, so I believe it.

Ginny Baker: [00:16:00] Yeah, that's the thing, when you when you open your cabinets or you open your drawers, you want it to make you feel happy. You want it to save you time, the efficiency just down to putting your makeup on. If you can find your concealer and you don't have to spend 3 minutes rustling through a drawer to find it, it starts your day off right. It's a real quick way to lose your day when you've got your family ready to go. All their kids have their shoes on, your head into church or something, and you can't find your keys. That's a horrible feeling, so just being organized, knowing where everything is and giving everything a home.

Whitney Pryor: [00:16:33] I just blame it on every family member. It's their fault, They lost your keys!

Ginny Baker: [00:16:36] Where did you put them?!

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:16:38] Where are they?!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:40] Yes!

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:16:41] We didn't answer really about a larger home.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:16:44] Yeah, do people ever say, "this room is just so big I don't know what to do with it?"

Ginny Baker: [00:16:50] A lot of times when a house is large like that and there's not a lot of stuff to fill it, it's even a bigger problem of not having a home for things because everything kind of gets spread out. It's kind of, again, assigning a room to what its use is going to be and then organizing the things within there.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:17:11] Or maybe if it's a large like a game room or something, it's amazing how you can turn it into a little area that's for a sitting area, a prayer are or reading area. You can really utilize the space well, not only with organizing, but with just each little thing. You can have a play area. Just making a solution for a large room, it's a lot of fun working with people to be able to come up with that.

Ginny Baker: [00:17:41] Yeah, especially in the small spaces because in a large house you can really give each room its own assignment, basically. With a small house like you were saying, you can easily take a game room and then convert it to where you can turn it into a guestroom when you have family come. Or it can be a kid's workspace for homework so that they can be out of the kitchen when you're making dinner. It doesn't matter what size your home is, there's a way to make it work for you, and that's the key.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:18:10] They can work for you. Ginny's also been designing for quite a while. She does decorating and designing with that, so it comes together.

Ginny Baker: [00:18:19] Yeah, we'll build, measure and create a system specific for your needs and for your space.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:18:26] I think a lot of people, we've talked about this on other episodes, ne room is a multi-use space. Really now, sometimes people have two people working from home, kids doing school for mom or it's kind of a hybrid thing, where we're sharing an office space or kids desk is also your desk. I can see people needing help on figuring out how to make three needs fit in this one room.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:18:54] We were talking about that recently, when people want to share a desk space. I'm not saying you can't, but really giving that child their own space will help both of your stress levels, for them to have their own markers, colors, pencils, erasers and all the things that they need, as opposed to being in your space. I think that could create a lot of stress if you're in the same area. I mean, you could make it work. On the left hand side, you could have all the drawers and organization for the adult and then the child on the other side. I think having their own space, we can make anything work, but I think their own separate space is probably best.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:19:34] Yeah.

Ginny Baker: [00:19:35] We've even done a desk where the parents are there all day working, but then when their kid comes home from school, there's a pop out that kind of folds from underneath the desk and that's their child's side. Because it folds down, they have to put their things away. It can't just always stay out. It kind of creates that routine for them of, okay, I've got my computer from school, I'm going to sit here, do my work and then I'm going to put my things away.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:01] Yeah, I agree that separate space is really helpful. My daughter has her own desk area because our house was built in the 80's, so it had a built in. Then we converted a little space for my desk, but she still pops up right here beside my shoulder all the time. Whitney is laughing!

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:19] I'm having flashbacks!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:20:21] Video calls with each other when we work from home. Both of our daughter's like little heads creep up from the corner, it's funny. They have their own space, but they still end up in yours. For the majority of the time, it is super helpful. My problem is just training her to put her stuff away right when she's done with it. There's a bin for map colors, put them in there when you're done.

Whitney Pryor: [00:20:42] You've got Clarke way better trained than I have Maggie. I was just telling Chelsi this morning, my daughter is a human dumpster fire. She just leaves a trail everywhere she goes. I know which room she's been in because there's crafts, hot glue guns and strings everywhere.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:20:59] Well, see, that's when you make a chart. You make that chart, we work with those as well, and make them really fun and exciting. The best part about the chart, without going too much into that, is saying if you do all these things on this, then you get sticker or however you do it. The good thing is, the whole reasoning behind that is saying, if you have to ask them, they don't get it. That's really cool because when they don't get their sticker or whatever for the day, it's their own fault. It worked with my daughter, she's 28.

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:30] That's great.

Ginny Baker: [00:21:31] I like it.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:21:31] Then they're like, "oh, if she has to ask me that, I don't get it."

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:35] I'm going to take initiative.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:36] Do it on my own.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:21:36] See, try it out.

Ginny Baker: [00:21:38] The other thing is, when it looks fun and you kind of have to plan it to where putting away the map colors, is it's pretty when they're all put away. When it's pretty when they're all put away, it's a lot more fun for them and they're a lot more eager to put them away than leave them all over the desk.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:54] I think so.

Whitney Pryor: [00:21:54] Or they get broken, I agree.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:21:56] I know we talked about kind of that little pop under desk for that shared space. Are you seeing any other kind of trends or ideas for at home learning or homework home offices?

Ginny Baker: [00:22:08] I think we've maybe done one, maybe two, it was kind of a closet space. A lot of people have taken an extra closet and turned it into an office area or a kid's desk area. In a guest room that is strictly for guests and it's got a closet that really doesn't get used except where to put junk you don't want to see, it's a great use of space to create a spot for your child to do their homework or for your husband or for you to work. If you don't work well in the same room and you're both working from home or maybe one's on conference calls and you don't want to interrupt.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:22:42] Is also for a craft area.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:22:44] What is your favorite store to shop for home organization?

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:22:48] Well, I stick with more The Container Store. I've shopped at that store for 25 years. I'm telling my age, it doesn't matter. I don't care, but I just love the store. You can find things at Home Goods and Bed, Bath and Beyond has things. Ginny has a way of finding things, even sometimes at the Dollar Store, look really nice and fancy. I don't, that's not my thing, hat's more her thing. It's my brain. It's too much searching. I want to go directly where I know where I can find exactly what I need that I need. When I go into the home to see, are they wanting this, what's their budget, what are we wanting to do? Then, we can go from there. It's just easier. I know where things are in The Container Store.

Ginny Baker: [00:23:37] I like store The Container Store too, but I also love a challenge. We always say, it doesn't matter what your budget is, we're going to find the solutions for your budget and we're going to make it look like a million bucks when we do it.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:50] So you don't have to have an extra $1,000 laying around to start getting organized right?

Ginny Baker: [00:23:55] Definitely not.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:23:56] I love what I've seen you guys do with makeup and beauty product organization. Where you can see all your products and brushes in one place. We kind of talked about that earlier. What's your advice or go to pieces to help with that?

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:24:10] The Home Edit, I'm going to call them out again or give them a shout out. The Home Edit, the two girls that have their products in The Container Store, they've got a great solution. They've got some great products. They're all acrylic and all clear. I have to see things because I'm total out of sight, out of mind, that's just the way my brain works. Even if it has a label y'all, it's pretty, but I'm telling you, I have to see it. If it's up, I don't remember what was in that thing. I use a lot of those containers. That's a great system because they stacked together. The ones that I did that you saw, are in the drawer and it's a double stack. It's like a vanity. Our home was built with lower vanities with a big wide drawer. I was a makeup artist for years. I used to put my things in the big oh, my gosh, what'd you call those things? A train case? I had all that stuff, but it's way too much. I keep all my things that are for parties and glitter, the stuff that you don't use every day. It's really, really nice to be able to have it like that. Not everybody wants to just leave them out, especially if you have children or younger children, but they're solutions. The acrylic, I think is the best for makeup and for things just in the bathroom. There's a small elpha shelf that fits beyond that lovely plumbing, that seems to be always in the way under the sink. Why couldn't they move that? The elpha shelf is a great thing. Seriously yall, I'm like, where has that been all my life? It's so functional. I have it all opened up and for my makeup, as well. When I'm getting ready it may look messy, but all I have to do is stack those back together, shut the drawer, shut those drawers in the cabinet and everything spic and span.

Ginny Baker: [00:26:06] Everything has a home. The other cool thing about the clear acrylic for makeup is, we all have those little things, notes from our spouse or children or whatever that make us really happy, so having that clear acrylic, you can put those underneath it

Chelsi Frazier: [00:26:20] That's cute!

Ginny Baker: [00:26:21] Yeah! Then when you have your makeup in there and you take it out, you see it as a reminder in the morning of something that makes you feel good.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:26:28] Yes, you saw my polka dot, the pink and white, that we put underneath. I've got a little card from the first flowers my husband ever sent me that said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. That was when we were already engaged, but I have it in my makeup drawer because that's a great place.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:26:48] Then when you come home, your sink is not a mess, everything's put away. I hate coming home and have to immediately put stuff away. I'd rather it just be clean and ready to go.

Ginny Baker: [00:26:59] Yeah, that's one of the things people don't realize is what a timesaver being organized is. When you don't put things away as you use them, you've got to walk from room to room and you got to figure out where everything goes. It takes a whole day to clean everything up and put it away. Whereas if everything has a home, it's easy to use it. You put it away, you don't set it down, you touch it once and your day is still yours to do stuff instead of clean.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:27:30] Yea, nobody wants to do that on the weekend either.

Whitney Pryor: [00:27:34] Tell us about some of your more memorable projects. What are your favorite ones that you guys have worked on?

Ginny Baker: [00:27:40] I think one of my most memorable is dear friend of mine who was going through a divorce and she had to downsize. It's so sad to see their lives turned upside down and them trying to figure out, how to keep all the things that mean so much to them. I think any time there's an emotional tie or hurdle, it really touches us and it makes us just want to make it extra special and feel like it's better than they could have ever imagined.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:28:11] Instead of feeling like, this was a life I had and this is the life I'm going to. Whether it's a smaller home or just having to get rid of things, we put the bright side on it instead of looking at it as such a heavy thing that's sad or depressing. We try to spin it around to say, let's look at all the highlights of the things that you do get to keep and just look at the blessings and everything. We get to do a little ministry there along with that, which is what I've got to do with permanent makeup all these years. It's just transforming into this, but to get to help people with that or the woman that lost her husband.

Ginny Baker: [00:28:53] Yes, that one, too. It's an emotional thing, but at the end of the day, it's almost like being organized can give anyone new life. When you're going through something that feels like your life is almost ending, it's a whole new beginning. It changes it from mourning their past vs. embracing their new beginning. .

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:29:19] It's fun to walk alongside someone and embrace their new beginning. You've got this connection with them. That's why this business grows so fast in this area, this home organization, I know for us. When you befriend someone, you're not just in their home organizing and we're out. We're really caring about their life and really want to get to the bottom of what's going to serve them.

Ginny Baker: [00:29:44] Yeah, you learn what's important to them and that becomes important to you, so just finding a way to make it work. It's amazing how they can look at something difficult and hard, then all of a sudden, when we're leaving and hugging them goodbye, they're so thankful that it's exciting. You see that as you're organizing and as you're changing things from what it's been to what it can be. You're showing them and they're like, "wow, I had no idea!" It becomes exciting vs. sad, you know?

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:30:14] True.

Ginny Baker: [00:30:15] It's fun.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:30:16] They're like, "don't leave me!"

Ginny Baker: [00:30:17] Yes!

Whitney Pryor: [00:30:18] "Just live in my closet!"

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:30:20] That's one of the other things, is once we have everything organized, we'll go back in six months to a year and then you can reassess, that's what I've done.

Ginny Baker: [00:30:33] We also are working on putting together a reminder that goes out to previous clients, that can kind of drop a note in their text messages and email and say, hey, it's been three months since we organized your closet. Don't forget to go through your bins. Based on the timeline of whatever it is that we organized, we'll send you those reminders. That way, if you need our help again, it's easy to get in contact with us.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:30:58] I love that. It's like a support system afterwards.

Ginny Baker: [00:31:01] Sure.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:31:02] Yeah.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:31:03] We talk about this at work and some of our small groups, some of the things that yall have said, just really connected on that for me. It just seems like you're very much using your gifts and your calling to reach people where they're at, then maybe coming alongside them. I think that's really beautiful. Your talents and your career, but you're also taking it to another level, on the spiritual side, maybe when they're open to it. I think that's really neat. Don't cry Erika because then I will cry.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:31:37] I know, you look like you got a little teary eyed!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:31:40] It's just really cool.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:31:40] Well, thank you. I think that's just who Ginny and I are, as people. We used to before, we'd go a couple of years without seeing each other. For the first, probably 15 years, we'd see each other and we would hug and cry. We've had this connection for a long, long time. I think that just kind of comes out into everything. I think one of the things that Ginny and I have been working on this last year is, I know we're we're still talking about this, but it has to do with that is launching the retreat lifestyle. Not just for the retreat for the weekend, but a lifestyle of retreat. Some of it has to do with organization and touches on other subjects. That's something that's just kind of who we are and how we like to work with people.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:32:30] Yeah, well, it's a gift. It can definitely be seen and felt. I just wanted to call that out.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:32:35] Thank you!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:32:36] We're talking about destination home and organization is a part of it, but you have to be motivated to want to do that. Also, sometimes we need help.

Whitney Pryor: [00:32:47] I didn't even think about that, about how life situations can put you in a position where you do need that extra help with the organization. It's not just people living every day and feeling overwhelmed, but there's certain times when people need that extra help. I think that's awesome that you guys are able to to help people out in that way.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:33:07] Thank you! I can't believe I almost forgot about this, but creating a space for someone's war room. If you saw the movie The War Room, their war room is actually her prayer room. So ever since then, I've created a space for myself. That is so much fun to help create for other people because I know what it's meant to me, just to be able to have this space alone. Before, my books were all over the everywhere. My husband was like, "how many books are you reading?" I'm that type, I don't read one start to finish. I'm have like five going at once, which drives some people crazy, but that has to be one of my favorites. I know it's not as much about organization, but it is. It can be, I think creating that.

Ginny Baker: [00:33:54] I think to, that quiet time that can be spent there. That's the thing, you have to also being organized, the key to it is having quiet time in your mind to be mentally prepared to keep things organized. Whether that's sitting down in your prayer space or taking a yoga class in the morning or just going for a walk with your dog, all of those are a great ways to start your day. When you do that, it makes tackling anything feel so much easier. She makes like the most amazing prayer spaces. A lot of the clients that we talked to don't realize that they even have space for that or that that would be something that could serve them, so it's fun.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:34:35] Yeah, I love that we started out thinking we're going to talk about how to get organized, use drawers, bins and things like that. It really came full circle to spaces in your home and holistically organizing your life, your home and your spirit.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:34:53] Looked what happened!

Chelsi Frazier: [00:34:54] I know, I love it! For those that are now inspired to get started after listening to this episode, how would you suggest they either start on their own or with The Girl for That? What would be that kind of some next steps?

Ginny Baker: [00:35:09] Sure. I think in terms of contacting us, we do a free consultation. We'll come out to your home or we can zoom, whatever you're more comfortable with, and we'll look at the space that stresses you out the most to start. Then from there, we'll figure out what your budget is and how we can make make that work for you. You can get in touch with us just by going to thegirlforthat.com. Our phone number and email address, everything is on there. We also have Instagram and Facebook, which are great sources of inspiration. If you aren't ready to call us in and say, "I can't do it, you know I need your help," that that would be probably your first step. We're posting all the time. Our website has a lot of great solutions and pictures for some ideas.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:35:55] Yeah, you can start by looking at pictures even on our website or honestly, a lot of times I'll Google "pantry" and "organization". I'll use The Home Edit for a lot of stuff. Those girls just know what they are doing.

Ginny Baker: [00:36:12] They know what they're doing.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:36:12] They're a great inspiration for us, as well as, for other people. I'll just type in "The Home Edit Pantry". If you want to get started on your own, whether you see pictures on our website, just touch images at the top and take a look and see. What typically happens is, I would say nine times out of ten, people need a little help. It's not because they can't do it on their own, but kind of about the emotional aspect that comes with it, is that you just need a little help. You get 60% of the way done, but not the rest of the way. I've even found that in my own self, so I need help. We all need that extra help because then it's inspiration upon inspiration, and then you're able to complete a job and get it done. Either way, if it's something you want to do, try it out on your own first. If not, you can give us a call.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:37:05] We also have The Girl for That coming out to one of our model homes, our newer one in Brandy Ridge in Midlothian. Y'all are going to do some really fun stuff there in the master bathroom, so stay tuned for pictures of that. We'll link to it and we'll also put them in our blog, so you can see some closet bathroom space organization. I don't know, maybe some surprise spaces, so they're just going to get in there and see what they can do.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:37:31] I can't wait!

Whitney Pryor: [00:37:32] Yeah, that'll be fun and definitely visit it in person too, to kind of see how that all works out.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:37:36] Yes, thank you.

Ginny Baker: [00:37:38] Draw some inspiration!

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:37:39] This is so much fun, y'all. This is what we like to do is have fun and help others, right?

Ginny Baker: [00:37:43] Yeah, absolutely.

Chelsi Frazier: [00:37:44] Thank you so much. We really appreciate y'all coming on.

Whitney Pryor: [00:37:47] Thank you.

Ginny Baker: [00:37:47] Thank you for having us.

Erika Seamayer-Williamson: [00:37:48] Yes, thank you so much.

Whitney Pryor: [00:37:50] Well, that wraps up another episode of the Welcome Home Podcast. For more information about their business, you can visit our show notes for their website, which is thegirlforthat.com. They also have Facebook and Instagram. For more information about our homes or any questions about our podcast, feel free to give us a call at 866.237.7803 or visit our website at jhoustonhomes.com. Thank you!

Chelsi Frazier and Whitney Pryor: [00:38:21] Welcome Home.