The honest answer is that every area of your life can be organized. . .and should be organized. Think about your time and your schedule, your to do lists and all the tasks you have on your plate and the things, the physical objects, around you.
In this post, I’m going to focus just on the things around you because they take up the most room in our spaces, like our homes and our work spaces. For simplicity purposes, let’s talk about our home. Right now, we spend the most time at home so it makes sense to start there. Here are my 5 tips to help you start to organize.
- Start with just ONE area or room – Whatever room you decide to start with, decide what you use that area or room for and how you want to spend your time there. Once you do that, decide what objects make sense to be in that space.
- Grab a laundry basket – I want you to walk around the area or room and put all the things that DO NOT belong in that area or space in the basket. You might need to do this multiple times or use multiple baskets, but the reason you’re doing this is so you can clean out the space of all the clutter.
- Clean the area or room – Once you’ve cleaned out all the clutter, you’re going to do a deep clean. That means moving furniture, sweeping and dusting. . .get on your hands and knees if you have to. Cleaning the area or room is going to give you a clean slate to work with. Once you feel satisfied, move everything back and decide on the right flow for you and your lifestyle. If it makes sense, change the positioning of the items in that area or room.
- Create a system for maintenance – This looks different for everyone, but for everyone it should start with a cleaning schedule. Set specific days when certain chores will be done. On Mondays, sweep the floors. On Tuesdays, dust. On Wednesdays, do a quick all-around clean up. You get the idea. And get everyone in the house on board with the schedule. If you have young children, set up a chore chart. Make the system fun, doesn’t make the cleaning feel like work with and easy to remember.
- Stop the Drop – When you come home, how often do you drop everything the minute you walk in? Probably more than you notice. I want you to change that. Create a system for the things you tend to drop when you walk in the house – mail, keys, your jacket and purse or briefcase, etc. For the mail, get a sorter that has slots for each member of the family. For your keys, have a hook or basket that’s close to the door. Only you know what things you’ll need to create a system for, but do it!
Now that you have my 5 tips, set a date, block time off on your calendar and get to it! Once you start and go through these steps, you’ll be on your way to organizing your life.