I also have a Christmas planner that I created just for you that you are able to download, print, and use during the busy holiday season. You can snag that right here!
I was doing some organizing the other day and started thinking about how organized people stay organized. I was also thinking about some of the big hinderances that we face in our day to day life when it comes to getting and staying organized. Here are four major challenges when it comes to getting and staying organized on a daily basis.
1. You feel overwhelmed about where to start - If this is you, what you need to do is to break things down into manageable, bite-sized pieces. Using time blocks of 10-15 minuets, tackle a small task. Things like cleaning out your spice cabinet, going through a drawer, and cleaning out 1 cabinet. Remember that it doesn't have to be perfect. The key here is just to start. Starting small will motivate you to keep going little by little.
2. You don't have a permanent home for everything - This is a big reason why people cannot seem to get organized. They do not have a designated spot for each and every single thing in their life. If you have a "junk drawer", guess what is going to end up there? Junk and everything that does not belong, except what you intended to put in the drawer! It's not a good way to organize and still be able to find things. Instead, take the time to consider each and every item and put them in a logical place for those things to live. When things don't have good, logical permanent homes, that is when you have piles on your desk, things stacked on the floor, and you cannot see the top of the dresser.
3. Outdated Systems - These are the things that have worked for you in the past. Maybe they worked really well for you at one time, but just as seasons change, your needs change and so your organizational systems must change as well. Maybe you had a great system for filing papers, but as time went on you realized that you need to do something different. Or you had a baby and needed all the baskets for bottles in the kitchen but your baby has grown and no longer needs bottles. Don't live with the old systems every day, instead change with the times as needed.
4. Outgrown Systems - You've literally outgrown the system. Think over-stuffed filing cabinets, closets bursting to the seams, toys overflowing the designated container, and crafting supplies filling up the bookshelf. What you need to do here is evaluate, purge, and reconfigure; getting more storage as needed. Perhaps the system works well for you and there is no need to change it up or you just need to add more storage to the already working system. Maybe you only need to purge a few items to make room for other things. The key to this organizational challenge is to evaluate. Ask yourself: Is this working? Why or why not? What can I do to make it better? Is there a simple change that I need to make in order to make it 1 million times better? Most of the time, surging a few items and rearranging things will solve all the organizational problems and it will function at peak performance once more.
These four organizational challenges are all things that we come up against in our everyday life. Here are two examples of these challenges worked in my home recently;
When winter fast approaching, I knew I needed to reorganize the family coast closet. There were too small coats and shoes that were not going to work for the upcoming winter. First, I took out my children's coats, boots, snow pants, hats, and gloves. I didn't really need to take out my or my husbands things since I knew those were fine. I had each child try own her winter things and took out the too small items. I also made a note for the things each child needed. Then I put the remaining winter gear back in place. The only thing that I bought to complete this organizational task were some hangers as we did not have enough in the closet and coats were having to double up with each other and stuff kept falling on the floor. Now, I can safely and efficiently open the coat closet and everything is all in place and ready to go at a moments notice!
The other quick organizational update I did was to my children's shoe storage. I store the too small and out of season shoes in a couple of bins so that when the next child needs another sized shoes, I can quickly see if we already have something that will work for them. I had the shoes in 2 bins but when I was doing the big seasonal change-up, I had to add several pairs of shoes to the bins and guess what? One bin wold not close! After quickly assessing the situation, I realized that the system was just fine and worked well for us. The problem here was that the current storage was overflowing and I only needed another bin. I bought one, moved some shoes into it and voila! Everything fit and there is plenty of space for more shoes later on.
As you see, getting and staying organized doesn't have to be hard or complicated. You just have to think about what your current needs are and what exactly is not working with your current set up. That's it! Our organizational needs change and evolve as our needs change. We have to be open to change and be willing to adjust as needed.
The major thing to remember is that you can have the most sophisticated organizing solution in place but if you fail to maintain it, it will not work. Things will only stay organized if you put things back where they belong. Take the 5 seconds to put things in their home after you are done using them. Organizing is all about taking simple, small steps and developing good habits. If you do these two things than I promise that you will start to notice a big difference in your home, work, and life.
With that said, what if you identify with one of the four organizational challenges? What should you do? First, assess the situation. Ask yourself these questions - What is wrong? What is not working? What could make it better? Than go from there. Maybe your current setup is just fine but an additional basket could make all the difference. Maybe you are working with something that needs to be completely overhauled and started again from scratch. Who knows? That is why it is important to take the time to think through each situation you come against and evaluate your needs.
To help you, I have created a organizing project worksheet for you to download, print, and fill out. Hopefully you will find it extremely helpful to you as you start a new organizing project. You can download it below.
I am frequently asked about some of my favorite organizing things that I love and use when starting any organizing project. Here are a few of them. You can also see more of my favorite organizing products and books here.
What are your biggest challenges when organizing in and around your house? I love hearing from my readers so drop a comment and let me know!
Don't forget about getting ready for Christmas before the holidays start! Now is the perfect time. Read all about it here. And don't forget to snag the project worksheet!
GREAT article! Excellent ideas! I do feel overwhelmed because I look at the whole project instead of looking at the project in small workable time frames. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and reading Amy! I'm so glad that you found it helpful!
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