The holidays are coming fast. Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin of “The Home Edit” share tips for staying organized through the whirlwind that is the holiday season. Plus, they give a sneak peek into ABC’s reboot of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which will feature Clea and Joanna!
Hello Sunshine, Hey fam Today, on the bright Side, it's time to get organized so we can all have a stress free holiday season.
A girl can dream right.
Joining us are bright Side besties and co founders of the Home Edit, Clear Sharer and Joanna Tepplin. They're getting real about how to store, organize, and contain all of our holiday decorations. It's Monday, November eighteenth. I'm Simone Boyce.
I'm Danielle Robey and this is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to share women's stories, to laugh, learn and brighten your day.
On my Mind Monday is brought to you by missus Meyers Clean Day, inspired by the goodness of the Garden.
All right, Simone, it's on my mind Monday. So today I'm thinking about something I read from writer Adam Grant. He shared his new favorite word, and it is sonder s O n d er. It's the deep realization that every person you meet has lived a life full of hopes and fears and heartbreaks and love that you may never know about.
Isn't that a powerful thought?
I love anything Adam Grant has to say for the most part, and this is no exception. I love that there's actually a word to describe this indescribable concept.
Well, it blew up online.
He posted it on Instagram and it has one hundred and ninety three thousand likes thousands of comments, one from Kristen Bell that I loved. I just love Kristin Bell in general, but she wrote, I've been looking for this word forever. I'm constantly thinking when I pass a stranger, they have a favorite ice cream, a specific nighttime routine, and exciting opportunity they're looking forward to, and I'll never.
Know what it is.
I feel this all the.
Time in my life, both in a hopeful way and sometimes in an empathetic way to make my own self feel better, Like if somebody's being mean, I just think they must be dealing with stuff I don't know about. But what I love about Adam Grant's post is that he invites us to think about sonder not just as a word, but as a way of living. So it's the realization that every stranger, every person, has a life that's as vivid and complex as our own. And the concept was actually coined by writer John Koenig in the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows and it's just a basic reminder of things we know. But I love that he put a word to it, that we all carry this unique story.
It also makes me think about other things that we experience in life that we don't have words for, that we should be looking for words for them.
It's helpful.
Yeah, you know, sometimes other languages have words yes that we don't have, Like I forgot what the actual word is, But in German there's a word that says I feel visited enough, meaning like you can leave my home, I feel visited.
In us, we don't have that here.
Yes, that's a good one.
On the same train of thought as Sonder, I've been thinking about this concept that I experience all the time, where I'm looking for the word to describe that phenomenon, where there are all these inexplicable life connections that connect you to people. I guess it may be the invisible thread theory that was circulating on TikTok for a while. But I'm always astonished by like just the fact that like one of my best friends that I met this year happens to be best friends with one of my husband's friends that he knew since kindergarten, and it was just like the most inexplicable connection. There was no way it seemed humanly possible. So that's something I think about all the time too.
Well, you know, I'm gonna get woo woo on you. That's that's the universe. There is no coincidence in that. I agree, I don't think there are coincidences. Well, the takeaway of sonder for me, besides just like loving that there's a word, is that I think it's a call because we can move through life with the concept of sonder, which I think is wrapped in curiosity and humility and gratitude, because it urges you to pause and see other people with more empathy and remember that we're all out here doing the best we can with what we know and what we have. And I think it's a nice reminder to just approach every interaction without assumptions and to savor every moment in life knowing that everyone else has their own world of experiences too.
It's such a beautiful reminder. Thank you so much for that. Danielle. Well, if you're anything like us, you're probably curious about the lives of our guests who are coming on the show today. And there's always more that we can learn from them through the work that they're doing with their company.
The Home Edit.
When Clea and Joanna were here last time, they told us all about how they started their company and of course the power of their decade long friendship. And today they're back to help us stay organized through the holidays. Plus we get a sneak peek into their new show, ABC's reboot of Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
I am so excited for this show.
Yeah, I mean, this episode is literally made for me because between October and January, my home feels extra chaotic but also extra magical too. There's Thanksgiving, there's Hanukah, Christmas, even Christmas Day, New Year's I mean, do we even get all the holidays? I feel like we miss some. There's so many that happened during this time of year.
There are so many holidays, and it's really important to stay organized during all of them because there's always extra layers of stress and people and things and gifts, and it can be a struggle to keep up with it all.
Okay, well, it's time to turn on some Christmas carols, get in the holiday spirit. Whip up that mug of hot cocoa, y'all, because after the break, Cleia and Joanne are here stay with us thanks to our partners at missus Myers. When it comes to cleaning, it's more fun if it smells like the garden missus Meyer's collection of household products Smell, Grate and Pack a punch against dirt and grime. Visit missus Myers dot com. Clia and Joanna Welcome back to the bright Side.
Hi guys, Welcome. Yeah, I'm excited to talk to you.
Guys.
We just saw you in person, which is so fun.
So, I know, I know, I love seeing people in person, so much more fun than online. Right.
Yes, the last time we saw you was at Shinaway, and I don't know about you, guys, but I just loved being at that gathering so much because it felt like this like space where women were just hyping each other up.
There's a lot of female joy that happens around Shinaway, and it is so palpable. You know, you just can't help it when you run into people. It's like everyone is so excited to just be together and it's just so nice.
It's just such a joyous occasion.
Yeah, it was incredible, and it's so nice to see so many women supporting each other, and all there were different ventures.
You know, it's not a competitive field. It's just one big hug.
You just wrapped filming the entire Extreme Makeover Home edition. It still allows me that you can build a home in a week.
Oh well, we are still wild ninety six hours and we will still never believe it. I mean, it is the only reason if you had told me that, I say, I don't believe you. The only reason I believe it is because I literally saw it with my own two eyes.
The first day when we like Joanna and I kind of ceremoniously helped put up the first wall kind of thing, or like lay the first brick. From that moment, by the time we show back up to set the next morning, we actually can't even figure out which is the build site because the house is so far along.
There's dry wall, the roofs and windows. I mean, it's like crazy, it's a full house.
It's unbelievable.
It's unbelievable.
Yeah, I'm such a sucker for a happy story. And there is no shortage of happy tears on Extreme Makeover Home Edition. You guys stopped in five cities, did seven builds, five houses built, from the ground up. Cleia. On your Instagram, you wrote, I've never witnessed anything like this. I'm wondering if there's a family's story that sticks out to you from the season, something that you can make my eyes well up with today.
Well, I'll say this number one. It truly has been the experience of a lifetime. So much of it, like even though it's before our very eyes, is hard to believe, Like the housebuild process. You know, the families that we have worked with on this show, Every single family holds such a specific spot in my heart that I don't think one could ever overlap on the other. But you know, the amount of children that we have helped serve on this show, kids who've never had bedrooms of their own, have lived on the streets even at times, kids that have had cancer and life threatening diseases, siblings who are trying to support their other siblings through disease, and they're really young, and and you know, it's hard for everyone to wrap their heads around some of the stories that are shown this show, but it is such a heartwarming, earth shattering experience to watch someone's life actually transform before your eyes like that is something I will never take for granted it is I've never.
Had that happen before to me.
Like to be able to do something for someone and over the course of five days witness their life changing for the better. I mean that is everything. And so I mean all the families are more impactful than the next. They all ladder up to just the most heartwarming stories.
But everyone can rest assured it is not only a bunch of tears.
Joanna and I are are traditional insane selves, so there are plenty of other things that will make you laugh.
Along the way.
We are not pretending to be builders. We are known along with everybody else.
Yes, did I accidentally take a sledgehammer to my foot?
I did? Like there are plenty well, there are plenty of moments, plenty of moments.
That are just joyful, you know not It's not just sad, and it's not even just happy tears. It's like there's a lot of moments of real joy being with these families, and it's they're just like lights in this universe.
Okay, but I want to know who cried the most. I want to I just have to ask the hard hitting journalism questions.
I don't think we ever cried during reveal because it was too happy.
It was too happy. We cried a lot at meeting the families, no, you know what, when they moved the bus.
I think I did cry one of the times because I was so overjoyed for the family, But not during the reveal.
Race screams move that bus. Both we all do very very loudly, really loud with a megaphone in case it wasn't loud enough. Yeah, but I will say.
Simone, the the part that Joy and I cry the hardest. Traditionally throughout the episodes, there's a new respect of the show where we introduce something called the edit Zone.
And the edit Zone is where all of the family's belongings go.
We take them all out of their house and then set them up in like a large location, room by room, so they can actually walk through the rooms of their home, and we make decisions about what we're going to keep and what we're maybe ready to move on with. And there are a lot of emotional landmines in doing that, and you know, you turn into like a partial therapist that you're not licensed for, and like, you know, walking through the families and going through these really difficult moments, you know, for instance, a calendar that was stuck at the exact moment that their daughter was diagnosed with cancer. And it's like the calendar never moved from that, and like being able to move past some of those things and eliminate some of those roadblocks, I mean, join and I just cried the entire soh Yeah, there were days where I was like, I'm dried up, I have nothing left. I'm like, Clay, don't say anything funny that's gonna make me laugh, cry because there won't be tears that come out, and don't definitely don't say anything sad because I have nothing left for you.
This is such a master of a team working together.
I mean everyone is at the top of their game as far as the producers and the people in the field.
And it's just that I've never witness say anything like the crew. The crew on this show. They I was gonna say they're the unsung heroes, but I'm gonna sing them. They create an entire city. First of all, where we're building this house right with volunteers, with workers. Everyone is pouring everything every second of their energy.
So hot this is it's always a thousand degrees more than a thousand.
It's so hot. We're like in Houston and August, you know, outside it was just this crew.
I don't even have enough words, Like they are the lifeblood of the show, and they make it look easy for Joanna and myself to you know, come into a scene, yeah, when they've been working tirelessly through the night. What we're trying to say is it's an incredible wild ride that you have to see for yourself.
Well, I think it's really cool that you both have led us into the insider you know, look at the process and the fact that you're shouting out all the all the workers and artisans who aren't shown on camera, because that's something that if you're just a consumer of TV at home, you don't necessarily think about. Okay, these are the people I'm seeing on camera, but there's an entire you know, army army, Yeah, of un people who are making open It's not even a small village, it's a town.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, in addition to your television careers, you also recently dropped two new books, Yes, entitled Let's Put That Away and The Home Edit for Teens.
Yes, this is so interesting.
Like I never even thought that teens were capable of understanding organizing.
I know, that's so terrible to say.
No, it's like how they're capable of understanding makeup and skincare. It's crazy the way that they consume organizing content the team.
I know, kids are lying to you. You guys, kids are lying. They know how to do it, they can do it. They know how to do it.
They're just lazy.
And they need to be They need all of these systems and ideas reinforced. Because here's what happens. Kids actually learn how to organize when they're in preschool. In kindergarten teachers, you know, you put out a certain box of toys.
When you're done with that, you have to put it away before you.
Guys on their guests, they're not just sitting out there for every day when they walk in.
No, they're right away and they go somewhere, and the teachers are not doing it.
They are like, you know, time to clean up, and if you want a new thing, you have to put that thing away. So kids actually understand organizing from a really young age, which is actually one of the reasons why we also have.
A board book for very young.
Potential organizers and the home Edit for teens is there to reinforce what they already know, what they already learned, but have fallen off the wagon, and we are there to make sure that they have systems that are smart and easy and sustainable and that they can keep up with and motivating. Most of all, we want to motivate them and empower them that they can do this and that why not make the most of their space, their room, their locker, you know, whatever it is.
Okay, So the holidays are right around the corner, and we hear that both of you get into the holiday spirit, one.
More than the other, I will say, slightly more than the other.
Why is that?
Well, Okay, Joanna and I are both Jewish full stop. But I have always celebrated Christmas. Like in our house, we always had a tree. My dad wore a Santa hat Christmas Morning to give out. Like I just this is just the way we've always done it, and I have carried that tradition on for me and my kids added to that. That's right, I just slightly throwing up. We only had one tree and now I have four at four four. But I just love it. To me, Christmas is just it's a season. It's the happiest possible time in the world, and for me, it starts November first and usually goes through February first. Sometimes I'm the thieve of which is otherwise called Halloween. Sometimes it begins to start.
No, I start.
I'm in November first, girly, Okay, I let Halloween happen barely, like barely streaks midnight.
It's curly, like the trash cans show up and all the pumpkins go away.
Well, Joanna told People magazine that she got into your car clear in October and you were playing Christmas music.
So can you if you if you're.
Saying November, I don't know. I kind of need to hear about this moment.
And let me tell you. It's not just jingle bell rock. It's like Hark the hit Heaven Angels sing, Hark the Harold Drum. Okay, no, it's aish so forgive me. Yeah.
No, it's not just Mariah Carey. It's like straight up like silent Night. Okay, like I am, like God, rest you merry, gentleman.
So I think Christmas music, in my view, you know, you start it whenever you want. I think Christmas music is legitimately it's a personal choice.
And but for Christmas decorations. I feel like I have to see Halloween through, even though I don't like to decorate for Halloween. I think it's a passover. I mean, that's actually a Jewish holiday, but it's like a holidays. I alsost have to stop over to think, like, I think Thanksgiving is a Christmas holiday.
Proved me wrong. I just think that this is this is what You're gonna get some backlash on that one. Fine.
Okay, Wait, while we're on the topic of holidays.
I think we have to talk about decor organization. Okay, I'm also Jewish, so I don't have personal experience with this, but a lot of my friends say that they have a hard time organizing all of their decor and keeping the Christmas decorations intact because a lot of the ornaments are really fragile. How do you recommend organizing and keeping everything nice?
Okay, so, first of all, a couple things.
Going back to the conversation we would have with our children, we have to have the conversation with ourselves as well.
We can only have as many.
Christmas decorations as reasonably fit in the bins and space allotted. So if you have an area in your garage or an area in your attic or whatever it is, and it can fit whatever it is, three big tubs. That's it. That's all you get. If you can't live within the confines of that space, you need to edit out your items. Like that's just the number one we see people who hold on to way too many decor items. Holidays can get out of control for people, and you really have to think, like even when I'm buying a handbag, we're buying like something from my closet, I think about, like do I have space for this?
Where is this going to go?
And if the answer is kind of maxed out, well, then I can't get that. And people somehow think holiday is like plays by different roles that they can just go keep frazy and keep buying.
And it's like, no, I understand.
It's fun to go buy holiday stuff and like go to target it, you know, right when Christmas comes out and like buy all that fun stuff.
That's great.
If that's what you want to do, make a plan to do that once a year and like have that moment, but then recycle out the things that you are no longer going to use. You can't just keep accumulating forever. Right, so that order everyone. I mean, she's exactly right. You need to make sure that everything's properly stored. You know, an ornament organizer is so important to have. Ornament organizers are key if you have breakable ornaments things that you care about. Again, we always go back to an item discarded on the floor, or if an item.
Is just thrown haphazardly in a bin. How much do you respect that item? Is that ornament actually special to you if you're just.
Throwing it in with all the other breakable ornaments and seeing what lasts for the next year when you take it out, Like, get an ornament organizer, have your lights all like put together nicely and not a tangled ball.
Put your items away. You know, you can do it whenever you want.
It's not like one day all of a sudden, the Christmas Police come for you and say take it down.
I would know because I keep it up until February.
And you know, it's just like, treat your stuff with respect, give yourself a proper amount of space and proper bins storage bins for the items that you have, and it's simple, you know, and make.
A note of what you don't use.
Because people always keep buying and buying and buying because they're not properly storing their stuff, and so they're wasting money essentially rebuying the same things.
So we see that a lot.
Yeah, people waste their money on holiday decor because they only see it once a year.
So they're like, do I have stocking holders? Like do I? What about you know, this a centerpiece for the table or whatever.
I think you should either take a photo of the bin that you pack up, you know, and look refer to it next holiday season before you start unpacking everything.
Take a photo, or you know, have the.
Bins labeled Christmas wreaths, Christmas ornaments, you know whatever, so you know the contents taking it.
If you can take a photo of it and just put it in a little digital album and have that before you go buy the next thing, then you really know what you have.
So in terms of those irregular or hard to store objects, let's say a wreath, for example, is your advice in general to invest in like specific organizational storage pieces for those hard to store items.
Yes, I think that if you have items that you know are going to be tricky to store, find a storage bin, find a storage container. They even make wreath holders, you know, I mean there are all sorts of different things that exist.
Holiday storage is a very wide category.
So find the thing that fits that item, and just know, again, this is my space. So I could have three wreaths in here but not a fourth or you know, whatever it may be. And I think it's just you know, really holding yourself accountable. And the holidays can be a hard time to do that because it's just fun and we get excited and we want to go crazy and you know, make our house look like a Hallmark movie. But you know, there there have to be parameters and boundaries for everything, and holiday is no exception.
And it gets you know, there's a lot happening. People have parties, they're traveling a lot. There's just so many other things that I think it's distracting and hard to keep up with. So the more organized you can be on the front end and the back end, the better your holiday is going to be.
What about string lights? What do you guys do to avoid having that, you know, massive knotted, massive lights?
Simon, not guys, This is just one of us that has these string lights.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting Joanna does not have string lights.
You love string lights?
I have, yes, I mean you just have to really take your time to roll them correctly. You know, you can use your elbow, you can get a spool, you can do a figure eight. But whatever you do, do not just throw it into the bin like that.
That is almost to even open that. That just gives me such heart palpitations thinking about opening that. Yeah, that is a good way to start a season.
It's not.
And there's nothing more frustrating than untangling a whole thing of lights. So again, they don't get up and move in the year. You know, it's like they don't cause it's not toy story. No one's like coming alive. So whatever you put in that bin in there should be what you're taking out.
So you just have to be really cognizant of how you store things and how you put them away.
And again, don't be rushed, like take the time.
You need to just make sure that, like if it's gonna be overwhelming to like take down the lights, the ornaments and the tree all in one day. Take the ornaments down and then you know what, leave your tree with just twinkle lights on it, and then take the lights down and you know It's like you don't whatever you need to do to make sure that things are put away properly and not if that if it's stressful to you, then remove that stress. But you know it's just going to start the holiday season off on a bad foot if you throw things in the bin without proper organization.
I feel like we can't talk about the holidays without talking about party planning and hosting. Are you guys mostly party hosts or party goers?
I would say I'm a hoster? Would you say that?
Join it?
Oh? You were definitely hoster. I mean I hosted a lot of people last year. Yeah, after I moved into house this year less less. So I'm going to be a goer this year.
You're not even gonna be a goer. Yeah, I'm going to my parents' house.
But you both have host experience, so I'm gonna call you both veteran hosts. Do you have three tips to remain organized ahead of guests coming for a big event?
Oh?
All right, So for like a dinner party, for instance, I like to have all of my paper goods and tablescape like already thought out in advance, So before I even invite people, I need to have a plan like I like to go to Hester and cook or you know a store like that, and get really cute place mats for the occasion.
You know, I have napkins printed.
My mom actually just gave me some beautiful linen napkins that look so much like my wallpaper in my dining room. I'm very excited about it. But I like to think of the table first. I start by thinking about a vibe, honestly before I even invite people to come over. So I just have a lot of kind of pre planning in my head. And I also don't know how to do anything small. So it's like if I have a dinner party, like it's going to be like a full scale event.
And I learned that from my mom. My mom joy and I would laugh.
We would go to my parents' house for like a Fourth of July barbecue and in LA and we would get there and my dad is just like stomping around mad because my mom doesn't know how to do anything just small. Like it can't just be hot dogs.
There's like goat cheese, Christine's with like balsamac glaze, like walking around with like a waiter, like no one and.
Like I love your mind that's how that's how I was raised.
So I can't do something and not cross the bridge all the way.
Yeah, yeah, I would say, I just like to make sure that there's always fun treats involved, because it just they're always pretty, they're always happy, and there's so many cute ways to display them that I think it's a missed opportunity not to have a lot of colorful candy and cake options.
Right, Joan and I really differ in that regard.
I am not a candy and cake person, so I like to think about the meal, the drinks, the table, the guests, my outfit.
But yeah, dessert does not cross my mind.
My favorite thing about hanging out with you guys whenever we get invited to a home edit event is I know there's going to be candy and cake ban Joanna, I guess I have you to thank for that.
Thank you.
You're welcome, You welcome, So I will always come when there will always be drinks and there will always be cake and candy. Oh my god, that is or like an ice cream bar or like something crazy, and.
It's going to be a colorful display.
That's right, It'll always be rainbow. Yeah, it's the way I.
Mean you got around the one life, like, let's make it happy wherever we can.
It's hard enough. Okay.
Well, in our holiday themed episode today, we would be remiss if we didn't bring up the Home Edit Gift Guide, which I cannot wait to see this year. You put it out every year, and we know that you have a very rigorous approval process for the brands products that make it out of the list.
How do you go about selecting who makes a cut?
Yes, it is a democracy, so we definitely everyone puts in their ideas and we think about different categories that might be fun. Like this year we have like a Taylor Swift gift guide, you know, like different kind of things that are just outside the normal clias Picks, Joanna's Picks, Gifts for a hostess. Like we we try and kind of do some some outside of the box gift guide thinking yeah, and for fun.
It's really fun. I mean, gift guides are just really fun. And it's an opportunity.
Also to you know, highlight female founded businesses, to highlight you know, businesses with women of color, to give them might you know, help.
The LGBTQ plus community.
Like it's just it's really nice to kind of dig deep in the arsenal and get creative with what we're putting on.
Highlights of new brands exactly.
Well, thank you so much. You guys are always so much fun. We so appreciate your time with you.
Being on the first time. We were excited to be asked back.
Happy Holidays, Happy Holidays.
Clia Shearer and Joanna Teplin are the founders of The Home Edit and the hosts of ABC's Extreme Home Makeover Home Edition.
We need to take a quick break, but we'll be right back. Stay with us and we're back, Okay. I know this time of year, it's pretty easy to get caught up in the frantic pace of the holidays. There's shopping for gifts, all the get togethers, all the outfits. There's so much to think about and everything that goes into bringing the holidays to life. So often we can overlook the simple moments that every day parts of our routine that we need to do to keep ourselves happy and most importantly healthy.
Will our friends at Hello want to sprinkle a little magic on those everyday moments and make a little every day yay. And it's got me thinking about being present and taking a moment to have a little fun with the mundane moments in our lives. Having two boys, I'm constantly trying to bring a little magic to our routine, be it making the beds, brushing our teeth, or putting away the toys.
You know, sometimes we miss the magic when we miss those small moments. I actually started putting up post it notes in my mirror so that when I'm getting ready, I can really actively try to be more mindful.
Yes, and once we start doing that, it's so easy just to notice how sweet life really is. And the holidays are the creme de la creme of sweet moments. When I think about sweet moments around the holidays, I think of decorating the tree with my kids. What about you, Danielle.
Okay, When I think about the holidays, I think about the first snowfall. I grew up in Chicago, and so I had such a quintessential holiday upbringing. We were building snowmen and sledding and having snowball fights. And I just think of the snow before it's flushy and ruined by all the animals.
That sounds so picturesque. Oh my gosh, I'm Midwestern. First snowfall. I love that thanks to our partners, Hello say hello to thoughtfully crafted toothpaste and deodorant that can make even the most basic tasks become moments of fun.
That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, we're talking networking during the holidays with confidence coach Susie Moore.
Join the conversation using hashtag the bright Side and connect with us on social media at Hello Sunshine on Instagram and at the bright Side Pod on TikTok Oh, and feel free to tag us at Simone Boye and at Danielle Robe.
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See you tomorrow, folks, Keep looking on the bright side.