ORGANIZATIONAL TIPS

Organizing is a fun, life long process if you know some of the secrets that make it easy. 

Just imagine if you were Mary Poppins or Bewitched and with a lift of the hand or a twitch of the nose you could put everything in its proper place. Life would be so much easier!!! Although that is not possible for most of us we can still have fun putting things away. (Make a game of it – have a contest – do it in-between commercials, the ideas are endless.)

Understanding a person’s mindset is imperative for success. So, I used to ask my clients to free associate the word organize. The following were some of their answers: Groan, I don’t know how, I hate it, it doesn’t make sense, it is so hard, I don’t know how to begin, where do I start, what do I keep, overwhelmed, what do I do with all this…, hate it, wonderful, order, freedom. Their answers determined how I approached the process and designed a plan especially for them. Surprisingly not all my clients hated organizing at the beginning. Sometimes they just needed to brainstorm because something was not working for them and they didn't know why. 

So let’s begin with two more questions – Do you love every room in your home? If not, why? Usually it is because the room has become cluttered, contains negative items and is no longer functional. As a result, it is time to de-clutter.

Think about how much “stuff” we bring into our homes every year. Things you buy – birthday and Christmas gifts – the list goes on and on. Do you feel like everything is spinning out of control? The problem is most people don’t follow the “in/out” rule so the rooms in your home can quickly become bursting at the seams with “stuff.”

The first thing you do when you de-clutter is look around your room. Start at one end of the room and work to the other end. Then, start to count each item – most people usually stop around 100 items – but the point is made, you have a lot in the room. Next cast your eyes on every item in the room. If one of the items does not bring you joy then that is the first to go. Every time your eyes fall upon an item it should bring you joy, a smile, etc…, if not, get rid of it.

Now that all the unwanted items are gone we need to focus on what is not working in the room. Maybe your table has too many items on it and some of them need to find a new home. Maybe the room needs to be redesigned because the flow is no longer there. Moving furniture into a new configuration (or removing some pieces of furniture) can change the feel of a room immediately. Maybe you do not have enough zones to make the room functional. 

Whatever the reason may be; once you de-clutter the room the magic begins. (Don’t forget about your closets, cupboards and drawers.)  :-)

Next we come to downsizing. This usually occurs for a variety of reasons. People are moving to a smaller place, retirement, marriage, combing two households, divorce/ending a relationship, loss of a loved one, finances and so on.

To start the downsizing process you do the same thing as you did for de-cluttering. Look around the room and eliminate all the items that do not bring you joy. I cannot stress enough how negative items in a room can bring negative energy!!!

The next step depends on why you have decided to downsize. If it is because you are moving into a smaller place the first thing you should do is measure each room in the new place. See if your furniture will fit. Count and measure the cupboards and closets and see how much space you will have to put your items. Make a floor plan so you can work out where you want your furniture to be placed. (This makes the moving process go so much easier!!!) Make sure you bring items that have built-in storage.

If you are combining two households most likely everything will not fit in one home. Therefore, before you start downsizing you will have to see what each household contains since most likely there will be a lot of duplication's. For instance, if there are two blenders choose the one that does more and works better. Choose the sofa that fits in the space and is in the best condition. Re-evaluate your collections and knick-knacks to see if it is time for them to move on. Most likely you will have to redesign the rooms to incorporate all the needs of all the new members. Remember your home is now their home.

If you have a loved one that has passed on you will need to find a home for all their treasures. Some you will keep, some will be passed on to other family and friends and some may be sold, donated or recycled. This is often an emotional time and it is important to remember that it is okay to ask for help!!!

Our last step is to organize which is my favorite!!! Did you know according to a study that 80% of clutter in the home is due to disorganization – not lack of space? Americans lose 9 million hours each year looking for lost or misplaced items. People will use 20% of the clothes in their closets 80% of the time. And my favorite – 80% of what we keep we never use.

So what do we do??? Make sure what we keep is worth keeping and we have systems in place to make our life flow. Take the office for instance. Designing a system for filing, making sure bills get paid on time and/or organizing the space will free up your time to do the important things in life. You can also create a system in your kitchen so that everything is at your fingertips when you are cooking a meal. Do not forget your pantry, cupboards, drawers and refrigerator. 

Organizing these items can ensure everyone finds what they need and keeps everything in its place. (If you find that something is not getting back to its home talk to everyone and discover what the problem is so you can adjust the items. Organization is an ongoing process that will need to be revised as old things leave, new things come in and the needs of the family changes.) The rooms you can organize are endless; the bathroom, linen closet, closets, family room, garage, tool shed, etc…

Organizing your life will give you more time to enjoy your life!!! There will be less stress and negativity. You can start small with a drawer then move to a cupboard and so on. The important thing is to start the process!!!  :-)