The Lazy Genius Podcast - #450 - What to Do Before a Winter House Reset

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

I can feel it. This is the week. Or at least the week is coming where you look at the holiday decorations and extra presents and general detritus from the busy fall and get an organizational fire in your eyes. Big black trash bags are coming out. That energy is totally fine, but today, let’s talk about what to do before all that happens. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi there. You're listening to the Lazy Genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi. This podcast is not about hacking the system to find more time or hacking your energy to get more done. Hustling to be the best or to make the most out of every opportunity is exhausting and unsustainable. So here we do things differently. On this show, we value contentment, compassion, and living in our season. We favor small steps over big systems. Here we are lazy geniuses. being a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. And I'm so glad you're here. Today is episode 450. What to do before a house reset. I can feel it. This is the week, or at least the week is coming, where you look at the holiday decorations and extra presents and general detritus from the busy fall. And you get like an organizational fire in your eyes. big black trash bags are coming out. Now that energy is totally fine. But today let's talk about

what to do before. All that happens. After that, we'll have a little extra something where I share with you my word of the year for 2026. I don't usually choose the word of the year, but this year I am. It feels right. And I will tell you all about it as a little extra something today. Speaking of the year, after that, I'm going to share the lazy genius of the year. You guys, We've had so many great lazy geniuses of the week through 2025, and I have selected my favorite one to be our lazy genius of the year. And then finally, we'll close with the many pep talk for when you're feeling discontent. Now, before we get into all of that, I do want to share the honorable mentions for the lazy

genius of the year. Like we narrowed it down to everybody could have won. But we narrowed it down to six options for my favorite. sort of tip or idea of 2025, that they were all so good. They were all so good. So I'm just going to share the other five with you now. These are the honorable mentions. And then at the end, we'll show the lazy genius of the year. Okay. So the first honorable mention is Blake Bacara. This is what Blake said. I have recently been applying the meal matrix concept to all the movies and shows. I keep meaning to watch, but never actually do because by the time I'm actually sitting down on the couch, I cannot fathom

making one more decision. So I divided shows and movies up into buckets. A few of mine are, stuff I don't really have to pay attention to, visually pretty, ploddy and exciting. When I'm in a funk, I love that one, seasonal and reliable go-toes. Then I populated each bucket with a few options, some that I've seen many times before, and some that are new to me. Finally, I may two decide-once rules for myself. Number one, if I can't or don't want to choose a category, the default is reliable go-toes. Number two, if I can't or don't want to decide within a category, I automatically choose the one below whatever I watched most recently. I've already watched so many of the things that had previously been languishing away on my list. I can already see so many other places this concept

could be adapted. Games for game night, restaurants, we've been meaning to try, weekend adventures, wardrobe choices, so many. So as someone who also struggles with what to watch when I have time to do it, This is such a great idea to help with that decision making. Plus, because it's written down somewhere, it acts as a record of what you watched, too, which is always fun. So good job, Blake. All right, next is Bethany Crum, who wrote in, I have a birthday bin. I keep in my kitchen cabinet that holds all birthday items, candles, balloons, decor, plates,

napkins, etc. My kiddos's four birthdays are one a month from September to December. So I whip that baby out before the September birthday and take stock of everything I have. and everything I need. Then I place a pickup order if I'm out of a certain candle, need a couple more birthday plates, et cetera. That way I'm not scrambling each month trying to figure out what I still need. I also decided once what our birthday decor is, one garland, one birthday banner, and huge balloon numbers for the birthday kit, as well as fun disposable birthday plates and napkins for the cake. I even keep the push pins above the window where I hang the banner so I don't have to replace them

from birthday to birthday. Boom, done. Birthday bin for the win. I love this one. Such an easy one to steal if you are in a similar situation as Bethany. Our third honorable mention is from SJP 122. I bought a little garden flag that says cheers with two martini glasses. I let my neighbors know that if the flag is out, that means we are having happy hour on our front patio from 430 to 6 that day. They need to bring their own chairs and drinks. I just provide the time and place.

And it worked. Such an easy way to get people together. Start relationships with people who have lived on the street. for years, but never sat down and chatted like this. This one is so dear. Like, I absolutely love this. And if memory serves, we got a good bit of feedback on this one. Several people borrowed the flag idea and started gatherings with their own neighbors. It's just so, so great. All right, number four is Jess Knox. We've simplified decision making in our family for decisions between my husband and me, like where to eat or what's for dinner. He chooses on odd days and I choose on even days.

when it's something trivial that the kids can decide, the kid president of the week gets to choose. Each week, one of our four children serves as president with the oldest going first and the youngest in the fourth week. The president also gets one on one time with a parent. On rare five week months, I get to be the president. I remember when this one came through many months ago and just laughed so much at the brilliance of a kid president. And then that the mom gets the random fifth week. It's so funny. But also, just the odd and even day decision maker is great. Sometimes we just need someone to pick and know that it's their turn, you know? And finally, our last honorable mention is Abby Noisse. My Decide Once House Rule is about the library. We go to the library on Fridays after

school and each kid is allowed to check out as many books as their age in years. The kindergartner can get up to five books. The third grader can get up to eight books and I could get up to 40, which hasn't happened yet, L.O.L. Beyond that, I don't police their choices. It's baked into our weekly routine so I don't need to remember to make it happen. And it's a nice outing to have on my calendar each week. I really miss library days with kids. It's just such a good season of life. I also love the idea of having like a, for me, a 43 book limit. Actually, it's 44 now. I've had my birthday between recording this and when it comes out. One day I will go to the library and check out 44 books and it'll be so fun. These are all such great ideas. And I'm excited about another year of

lazy geniuses of the week. And stay tuned because in 2026, we are actually exploring audio versions of this. We're hoping to let some of you send in a voice recording of your tip so you can share it on the podcast. Most of those details are going to go to the folks subscribe to the latest lazy listens email. That's our podcast recap email that goes out every other week. Since the people who get that are podcast listeners, they're more likely to be lazy geniuses of the week. So keep an eye out for that link once we get the machine set up on our end to capture your lovely voices. That'll be a fun thing to start in 2026. All right, let's take an ad break, which makes this episode free for you to listen to. So thank you sponsors. And if you would like

to get that podcast recap email and get first word on when we start voice recordings, head to the lazy genius collective.com slash listens. Things are feeling a little less human these days, aren't they? But isn't the whole point of progress to make things more human? That's why, At TD, when we design a product, whether it's an app for making trading easier or monitoring your account for fraud, we ask one simple question. How does this help people? That's how we're making banking more simple, more seamless, and more intuitive. But most importantly, that's how TD is making banking more human. The ride that steals the spotlight every time it hits the road, that's the Volkswagen Tiguan.

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The same is true at the end of this school year, start of the summer, and then at the end of the summer start of school year. Those are like our three prime seasons for when we're like, we're like Mel Gibson in the movie Ransom, but instead of screaming, give me back my son, we're screaming, give me back my house. Like it makes sense to feel that way when you're moving from one specific type of season to another. Our stuff changes, right? Holiday decor, winter gear, sports equipment, school supplies. So it makes sense that when that stuff is no longer needed, we want to reset some things.

It also makes sense because of how busy the season of October through December is for most people. It's a bit of a gauntlet. And then after we run it, we would like a little rest, a little reset, a little freshness. So first, I am not going to tell you to not reset your house. I'm not going to tell you to skip projects and put down your big black trash bags. I did tell you that earlier in December, that now that the holidays are like closer to over and things have probably slowed down from the majority of folks, it's naturally and maybe even good to start thinking about a wise reset in your home. But let's do it in a way that actually benefits how we live instead of just,

creating like more unfinished projects. In fact, that's the goal really to reset your home and then be done. We're trying to avoid starting too big or starting too many things at once and then being surrounded by piles and projects. It's worth the energy to be thoughtful because it'll save you a lot of time and energy and potential frustration over the next couple of weeks. So how are we going to do that? Well, first, I want us to start with a couple of important mindset reminders, how you think absolutely impacts what you do. So before you start doing, remember these things. Number one, as you reset your house, remember that the people you live with might not have

the same house reset needs that you do. Don't assume everyone needs the level of calm that you need or the level of minimalism. that you need or the level of control that you think you need. Or vice versa. Maybe you live with someone who actually needs more than you do. It's really important to remember the differences in people. Now, most of you all listening to this podcast are women and a good portion of you are partnered and have kids. Everyone can be busy during the holidays, but I think the more people you have to manage, the busier that time tends to feel. And if you are the woman in the household, it's statistically probable that you are the primary manager of all that busyness.

Therefore, my friends, you are desperate for calm in a way that your family might not be. They've had a great holiday season because you probably made it that way. That's a kind gift you gave them. And also, it means they don't have the same reset needs that you probably do. So this is an opportunity for two things. really is one thing, just in like two different directions. This is an opportunity for compassion. Your people can be compassionate of your needs to reset because you can kindly communicate with them how much you need some calm after holding all the details of the season. You can do this

without being passive aggressive or shaming, but you can also be honest. You can be like, I did a lot that you guys didn't see and it's made me really tired and I need some visual rest. So even though you guys don't care as much that the hall closet gets reorganized and you really don't want to help me, it does matter to me and I appreciate your help. You know, that's compassion from them to you. There's also compassion from you to them. You don't have to resent your crew for not caring or for being content to live in what you refer to as a pig's die. It's probably like not even close to that. You just have a higher sensitivity to the visual overwhelm because you've also been dealing with the logistical overwhelm.

So you can soften toward them for not caring the way that you do. I say this in my house all the time. Actually, no one's ever going to care about my house being tidy or calm as much as I care. And that's okay. My family can benefit from my care without my being resentful about it. But I can also communicate to them that I need some help and would appreciate them doing it because they love me, not because they agree with me or have the same need. It goes both ways, right? So that's the first thing. Another thing to consider is rather than thinking

so much about now, consider what you can do for your future self next winter. Some of your reset stress is residual from the season you just came out of. So a good way to channel that might be to use the magic question to help yourself out later. Just pay attention to that. So the magic question is one of our original 13 lazy genius principles. What can I do now to make winter in my home easier later, later meaning next year? So as you're resetting, think about that. Maybe that is the mindset that you need to actually hold that it's about taking care of yourself next year because you just feel really stressed from this past season. There are a lot of possibilities of how you could answer this question. If there are Christmas decorations in your bins that you did not use this year and you realize

you did not use them last year either. I want you to pull them out and donate them. Make your storage easier right now by having more room to pack things up, but also by getting rid of what you don't need for next time. If you hang stockings or wreaths or some kind of Christmas cardholder situation, like bag up those things with the hooks or leave them on the wall like our lazy genius of the week did with the birthday banner, right? You can just leave the nails in the wall. You can put all the things in like a little sandwich bag so you can label them and be like, this is what this is for for next time. If you know that you already pull out something early like candles or stockings or an advent calendar, like you do that first, pack that last, pack that on top. So you can access

it more easily next year rather than having to like sift through all the things to find it. right. You could even put like a piece of painter's tape on the container that says open me first. Like this is the one that goes first. You can even walk around your house now before your house reset and take photos of where you put all your decorations, how you set up stuff so that you can remember next year that you liked it when the little bottle brush trees were on your mantle instead of somewhere else or whatever. What can you do now to make decorating for Christmas or getting out all winter gear or whatever it is easier later. Keep that magic question in mind as you reset the house. You might not need to do much for the immediate future as you do for next season next year.

It might scratch the itch more than you think. And one final reminder, as you do this house reset, keep in mind that you don't have to reset the house for 2026 or whatever year you're listening to this in. You can just think about this for January, right? What do you need in this next small season in this next month? What would help you feel calmer in your home just for January? If you keep your thinking smaller, you'll keep your choices smaller. And that's really helpful to keep you from being surrounded by piles and projects. All right.

So with those reminders in mind, let's practically think through a house reset. Okay, first, let's name what it is you want to do. What are you wanting to reset? What projects are you itching to start? What rooms in your house are you like, I want these back because I don't like being in here right now. If you don't spend like five minutes really naming this, the likelihood is high that you're going to pinball between different rooms and different projects that do not matter in the same way. And then you're going to get distracted and you're going to start to. big when a smaller solution might have worked just fine. So taking a few minutes to really name all the things you want to do, kind of like a house reset brain dump, it's going to be worth your time, I promise. So I want you to do that first. I want you to walk from room to room in your house with your notes app, open on your phone or like a little pad and pen, and identify what you want to reset. Then you might have specific answers in one room and then you might just have a general sense of overwhelm in another and that's fine. Just name it. Now, as you make your list, I want you to ask yourself

through each room, what's the smallest thing I can do in here to make this room feel better? Name that while you're walking and write it down. That's going to help you prioritize what you actually have time to do. For example, so our coat rack and shoe storage are both, in the kitchen, okay? That's no worries, except that we've had a season of band concerts that require dress shoes and rainy days that require boots and new shoes because feet have gotten too big and more coats because it's gotten colder and now I feel like the coats and the shoes are eating my kitchen. Now, if I were to start my house reset walkthrough in the kitchen with a general sense of overwhelm, which I do feel a little bit, that's fine.

But if I don't also try and identify the smallest thing that would make that room feel a lot better, I would ignore the shoes and coats and I might instead start reorganizing all the cabinets that don't actually need it. The cabinets aren't the problem, right? So just pay attention and be honest in your walkthrough of how you're feeling about a room and what you want to change. It's important to name that feeling, but also take the time to identify. a small thing that's causing a bigger problem. I know for certain that if we essentialize the shoes and

coats, only keeping what's necessary for each day and we store the rest somewhere else, the kitchen's going to feel totally fine. Like, that's all it really needs. And I just saved myself four hours of needless organization and piles of plates and bowls, right? This is the goal. This is the goal. So do a house reset, walk through, make your list of all the the things you'd like to do. Don't be shy. Make it long. But then name what small thing would make a big difference in each room, knowing you could stop there for now if you wanted to. That's a great place to begin. All right. Now you potentially have a to-do list or like a project list, right? Now, how do you choose where to spend your limited time and energy? Because hear me, hear me,

your time and energy are limited. Unless you are deeply disciplined and intention. about the list that you just made, you absolutely have things on there that you're not going to have to, you're not going to have time to do. You're going to have to let go of them for now. You're not going to have time to get to all of them, not without sacrificing rest and regular responsibilities and just the enjoyment of the last few days of the holiday season. So how do you choose what you're actually going to do as you look at your list? Start by asking yourself this question. Is this busy work? or is this genuinely helpful? I'm the queen of busy work. I like relabel and reorganize and overcomplicate things all the time. I just need a place to put my energy and sometimes I channel it into busy work for the house. Now that's fine. That's not bad.

But I find it so helpful to know that that is my tendency so I can spot it more easily. Just the other day, I felt the itch to reorganize my photo app. I have lots of like organizational folders, but I haven't dealt with them in a while. Rather than just tending to the most recent photos or even just deleting things I no longer need, I was like, let's delete all the existing albums and start over with something better. No, there is nothing wrong with my folders. I just haven't practiced a couple of good habits in a while. Ms. Freddie, a wonderful resource when it comes to digital photo organization, has this concept called the Daily Delete, where you go through the photos that you took that day and you delete what you don't need. So you have eight photos of one kid posing. Go ahead and pick one and delete the

seven. You have a grocery list screenshot that you sent your husband, but you don't need it anymore. Delete that. That daily practice, it keeps your photos from getting out of control over a long period of time. And I haven't practiced it in a number of months. I used to have an alarm. on my phone to remind me to do the daily delete and then I deleted the alarm because I didn't think I needed it since I was doing the daily delete every day. Well, you guys, it turns out I was doing it because the alarm reminded me to do it, not because it was something I remembered naturally. And now I have months of photos that have not been tended to. So the solution here wasn't for me to create a bunch of new albums. That's busy work. That's not helpful. What's helpful, what's

helpful is to delete photos from the last two weeks today and then maybe do another handful of weeks of deleting tomorrow and I'll set an alarm to remember. You hold a lot of power in being able to identify what's busy work and what's actually helpful. And I'd argue that more than half of your house reset energy is absolutely busy work. So just name it, name it that that's what it is and then let it go. Or name it and do the smallest possible thing to make it feel better, and then see if you can let it go. Okay.

Now, with what's left on your list, maybe you've identified like, oh, yeah, that's busy work. I don't really need to do that. But you have the rest left. I want you to look at that and say, what is the project that if I do it, it will make me feel the best? Now, I know all of them would feel great.

But what's the most essential to get your early energy? You want to go on the right order and doing the most important thing with your highest level of motivation right now is a really good place to start. Now, if you have not taken down your holiday decorations yet, that's probably a really good place to start. But let's say, what if the closet where all your stuff goes is chaotic? What if you could put everything away, but there's just not an easy way to do it because where it goes is already too messy, right? I can see a world where cleaning out the closet is first that that goes before you take down all the holiday stuff. But let's still apply the principle of starting small, which is essentially what we're trying to do with all of this. What's the smallest thing that you can do in this closet

to make the organization work better? What are the alternatives to take? To take literally everything out and starting over, kind of like my photo app. Practice over and over asking, what's the smallest thing? What's the smallest viable solution? What's the best bang for my buck? However you want to phrase it, see what you can do to make things better without redoing everything. It's the idea of starting fresh rather than starting over.

You can do just a couple of smaller things to improve the organization of that closet rather than gutting the whole thing. So if your order requires like a little closet or basement or garage tending before you take down your holiday staff, that's great. Just keep those start small glasses on your face so you don't add more to your list than you need to. So pick the most important thing to you on your list that would be really helpful and then do it. Do it kindly. Try to do it without getting distracted by other offshoot projects that do not matter right now. Keep telling yourself, this is the thing that matters most. I'm going to focus on this right now. And do it with small steps as the priority. Now, this takes practice, but it's worth the practice. Now, if you have a big

project and you finish it, that's amazing. You're absolutely allowed to start over and gut and all the things. I just want you to do that, like on purpose, not accidentally. We don't need accidental projects that will just like stick around all January long. Okay. And then one final thing that I would remind you of before you reset your house is to focus on one room at a time if you can. The nestor, Michael and Smith, has the phrase one sane space, which I've used on the show before. I use it in my house all the time. The part of our house that we call the L, which is our living room, kitchen table and kitchen, it's in the shape of the L is where we spend like almost all of our time as a family. That is my one sane space. As long as that L is tended to regularly or reset when it's

house reset time, the other stuff can wait. It's fine. Like having one space that feels more or less done is really good for you. So as you do your house reset, maybe start with the most important room. reset that room to a gratifying point all while starting small and not starting over before you move on to another room. It's like the idea of cleaning up one game or activity before a kid starts a new one. Clean up one whole room and reset it before moving on to another. That would build momentum in a better way and keep you from living amongst all the projects and the piles. Okay, so let's recap here. Remember, I'm not telling you how to reset your house.

I'm telling you what to do before you reset your house. So before you do any sort of house reset, start with some helpful reminders. First, the people that you live with might not feel the same way about all this that you do. And that's okay. Compassion both ways. Second, consider what you can do now to help yourself next season. That could actually give your big black trash bag energy a place to go that's really helpful for next year. Third, think about just this next month as you reset. Not forever. You're not resetting the

house forever. It's just for now. Now is great. Now you can also do a walkthrough of your house and really name what you want to do. Just go ahead and say what it would be. But try to keep in mind, what's the smallest thing that would make this room feel better? Right. That's always a good lens to look through. Also be on the lookout for busy work instead of something. thing that's genuinely helpful. Ask yourself, what is the most important thing that you could do in your house and focus on that instead of project pinballing all over the place, which we often do, and try and reset one room at a time so you can have a place that feels more or less done and calm and is ready for moving into this next season. And that's what to do before a house reset.

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roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero, more like habanier, yes. Save the everyday with Amazon. Okay, let's get in today's a little extra something. It's my word of the year. Okay, I just don't really ever do a word of the year. I think I've done it maybe twice in the last two decades.

there were a few years where I felt like I should choose a word that directed my year, just because it feels like, everybody's doing it and it seems important. Should I do it too? But I had wise friends who were like, um, Kendra, it doesn't matter. You don't need a word. Like it's fine. So I know that some people only choose a word of the year if it feels right, if something comes to mind.

Some of you do it in a very disciplined way every single year. Sometimes you choose a word and it doesn't really have much impact. Like it's all fluid and it's all fine, right? There are enough rigid things in life. Your word of the year does not have to be one of them. But this year, I really do feel both the desire to have a word that I lean on and that I see through as like a purpose in 26 and I have an idea for that word. I wonder if it's because 2025 just felt so crazy, especially this last quarter of it. Or maybe it's because I'm getting older. Like I turned 44 a couple of days ago and I want to enjoy more thoughtfulness and intention in my life. I don't know. Maybe it's because this is a year where

having a word is going to matter. And I just can't see that yet. I don't know why. I just know that I had a word come to mind immediately. And I knew I wanted it to be my word of 2026. and that word is flourish. So flourish means to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment. So to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment. Here's why that word matters to me this year.

I don't love using the terminology of survival, especially in the space. Sometimes we go through seasons where we feel like all we can do is survive. All we can do is keep our heads above water. I get that. I feel honestly like I just came out of one of those. And that's normal and fine. But sometimes the survival energy from a super busy season, it seeps into everything, even when this season is over.

It's like we're doing the bare minimum to get things done, right? we're waiting until the last minute to do something that matters. We're waiting until tomorrow to do the thing that would be so lovely for us today. I keep saying we and us, but I'll just say me and I. Like, this is how I feel. Now, while I do vigilantly protect my margin every week, sometimes that margin is simply to just like get me back to equilibrium. It's not necessarily something that's leading me to flourish, to grow vigorously.

And while I do vigilantly protect the feeling in my own home and I want to create and nurture an environment of warmth and growth, I often do that more for my family than I do it for me. Like I'm part of a family, so it's important and it helps. But I don't feel like I always personally set myself up to flourish on a regular basis. I set my family up to flourish and I protect my personal margin. enough to not burn out. You know, I have hobbies and relationships, and I very much feel like myself most days, but I don't make regular decisions for myself

that contribute to my own flourishing. It's more than I'm tending to my own survival. And I think I'd like to flourish. Now, I don't know what that will practically look like in 2026, but I do think that it will be an important word to think about and look through when I'm presented with a choice. Does this help me flourish? Will this small act lead me in the direction of flourishing rather than just arriving?

This example is just an example and it's not prescriptive. But like my 17 minute nap is survival. I do it almost every day and it's so important. But flourishing might be going to bed or at least being in bed by like 9.30, two to three days a week. instead of most nights being after 11 with like that weekly desperate stumbling to the bedroom because I'm tired and I'm staying up with my older kids. I'll probably use plants as my practical analogy with this, at least for the first couple months as I get used to having this word in my life.

But plants, if you think about it, plants flourish when they're regularly watered, when the dead leaves are cut off when they're spotted, when they're turned 90 degrees to get like another angle toward the sun. I tend to my plants this way because I don't want them to just survive. I want them to flourish. I'd also like to flourish this year or at least be thoughtful about the favorable environment that might help me do that. So my word of the year is flourish. There we go. We'll see how it goes. And that is today's a little extra something. All right. Now, this is so exciting for our lazy genius of the year. Our lazy genius of the year of all the submissions for 2025 is Lexi Frank Hauser.

Here is what Lexi shared. I'm an avid cook and collect all of the things, spices, sauces, seasonings. My pantry is full of delicious potential because I like to be ready to make a specific meal or 12 at any given time. The problem is I end up forgetting what I have, which leads to buying duplicates or letting a culinary inspiration die, a sad death, because I can't find what I need. The solution I found was to organize my pantry by cuisine instead of by container. For instance, instead of grouping canned tomatoes, chickpeas, water chestnuts, and refried beans, all in a can section, they all join their buddies in the Italian, Mediterranean,

Asian, and Latin sections. When I want to make a certain kind of cuisine, the search is faster. plus it's easier to know what I have and what I need. There is still space for all-purpose ingredients that we use often, but organizing pantry ingredients by cuisine and how they'll be used works way better for me than organizing by the shape of container the ingredient comes in. Okay, here is why I love this and why to me it is the lazy genius of the year. Well, first I just love the phrase, my pantry is full of delicious potential. Yeah, it is.

Now, here's the thing. This tip is doable for everyone. It helps save you money. It promotes cooking that you might really enjoy. And it doesn't change the space needed in your pantry. I actually talk about this idea in the lazy genius kitchen. You don't have to organize your kitchen the way everyone else does. You don't have to put boxes together and cans together and bottles together or whatever. You don't even have to cook Asian and Latin Mediterranean foods for this to work. Store breakfast stuff together, snacks together. chili ingredients together if you make a lot of chili baking ingredients together. In my pantry, the pasta and jars of sauce are right next to each other, even though they're wildly different shapes. This really is such a great way to find a little extra pleasure in cooking and even in meal planning. Plus, it really does keep you from buying things you don't need. You can see, like, all the fun bottles of stir fry marinade, you know, in like one section

of your pantry. And you go, you know what? I'm going to cook stir fry this week because I have. an easy marinade that I can just use or for the next few weeks because I have several bottles now that I've organized it this way and have found several that were in different places, right? Plus, I think any time that you can hear permission to organize or put things in a place that makes sense for your life as opposed to convention, I'm just all for it. So, congratulations, Lexi, on being the lazy genius of the year.

Now we're going to close with a mini pep talk for when you're feeling discontent. So today is the last Monday of 2025. So weird. And almost always at the beginnings and endings of things, we feel a little twinge of something. Now, it might be all positive for you, like Lexi's delicious potential when you're at the start of January. But potential is not always welcome. Like sometimes the looming season. or year ahead, it can feel disappointing or discouraging because we don't have as much to show

from the year before or we're just not really happy where we are in life. Like, I know, I know that some of you are even feeling discontent with the broad strokes of your life, like, that your marriage isn't healthy or that your family doesn't look the way you thought it might, that your job doesn't give you anything more substantial than a paycheck. And even that doesn't feel like it's enough right now. you're lonely and still don't have the friendships you figured you would by this point in your life. You haven't gone anywhere and so long and you feel kind of stuck, maybe both physically or emotionally. You might not feel excited for a new year because it's just going to be the same as the old ones.

That's how it feels. So to you, first I want to say, I get that. Like discontentment is a real thing. It impacts everyone, everyone. And sometimes life just doesn't look the way that we invent. visioned it. There is real grief in that and it's good to feel that. And to you, I would also say to hold fast to the phrase, good is here right now. Look for the good in your life, in your days, in your moments if you have to. It is absolutely there. I guarantee it. This example is on my mind

because I just did my annual viewing of the Lord of the Rings trilogy while I were at presence this year. but I think of Frodo taking the ring to Mortor, even if that horrible season of his life, oh my gosh, where there was no hope, it felt like there was no hope. It was all darkness and gross. There was still good. You know, there was still Sam. There was still conviction and purpose. There were still memories of his friends and his old life in the shire that made him smile.

It made him grieve because that life was gone. but there was good even in remembering what has been good. For most of the journey to Mordor, he didn't even have blue sky or grass or birds to comfort him. It was literally just darkness. I don't want to say, you know, at least you don't have life in Mordor, but I don't know your life, you know, still, if Frodo, if Frodo, who I realize is a fictional character,

but you get my point. If Frodo could believe that good is here right now in his darkness most awful right now, I think we can too. Like good is always here. And when you're discontent, it's such a gift to yourself to look for it. So grieve what you don't have, absolutely, but also look for the good and what you do. It's there. I promise you it's there.

And that's a mini pep talk for when you're feeling discontent. I just want to say thank you for listening to the show this year. It means so much. There are so many terrific podcasts out there. And for you to continually choose this one to keep in your ears is something we will just never take for granted. If this show was in your Spotify wrapped or if you just know that it's been helpful to you this year, maybe you can go find your favorite episode of 2025 and send it to a friend. Or you can head to the reviews on Apple Podcasts and share what your favorite episode of the year was. for any new listeners to discover.

Regardless of how you share the show, I just want to thank you for doing it and for being with us and listening. I can't wait for 2026 and more episodes of the Lazy Genius podcast. This podcast is part of the Odyssey family and the Office Ladies Network. This episode is hosted by me, Kendra Adachi,

an executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Special thanks to Leah Jarvis for weekly production. If you'd like a podcast recap every other week, be sure to sign up for the latest lazy listens email that goes out every other Friday. Head to the lazy genius collective.com slash listens to get it. Thanks y'all for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.

I'm Kendra. I'll see you next year. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life? Because when you're living a B or B, plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all

in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.