This blog is geared for those who have already gone through the process of eliminating their clutter and have organized their home and/or their life.
It is very important that once you go through this process, you are able to easily maintain it. Of course, from time to time, we need to tweak some areas, but it should not become a large project. That would defeat the purpose of the work you have already done.
Maintenance can come in many forms. When checks bounce or bank accounts are overdrawn, it's because we didn't balance our checking account properly to always know what we have available to use. When we run out of clothes to wear, it's because we failed to do the laundry.
Home and office clutter tends to result in the "no maintenance" approach to living. It tends to be the "toss, pile and deal with it later" approach that gets us in trouble. Avoid dumping and you will avoid procrastinating (putting off what can be done now for later).
It is not difficult to maintain your "organizing mojo". If this is a problem for you, here are some tips to help:
1. Put items away in a pre-designated location, each and every time. When you initially organized a particular space, such as a drawer, closet, shelf or an entire room, you created places for your items that should make the most sense for them to be. If you should discover that the place you selected is not working for you and you "dump" your stuff elsewhere, I recommend that you re-evaluate the location you selected to see if it is, in fact, the right place for the item to be. If not, change it.
2. Some items require more maintenance than others. Items such as paperwork, dishes, food items, clothing, etc. are examples of items that might require daily maintenance. If systems are not created to control your clutter, you end up creating more work for yourself in the long run. It could be as simple as creating a basket that is designated for magazines near the coffee table in the living room and making a point to read the magazines on a weekly basis. Clearing off your desk at the end of each day will help to control your clutter and avoid creating a larger project for later. It is vital that you have the right organizing tools in place.
3. Make it convenient. If you commonly use a particular item, store it in a place that is easily accessible. Less oftenly used items can be stored high up on shelves or in a storage area as opposed to the main living space.
4. Create a routine. On a daily basis, schedule 15 minutes or so at the end of the day to put away items that are laying around. Sort your mail daily. Do your filing weekly. Determine what routines work best for you and your family and stick to them.
5. Consider hiring help. If the idea of maintaining your organizing mojo is overwhelming to you, consider hiring someone to help you. From time to time, your needs change. Items have a way of building up in the home and you need to bring some balance back into your life. Consider hiring a professional organizer who can tweak certain areas of your home or office to get it back to the way it should be or create a new, updated system for you and your family to help you regain balance.
Remember, your home or office does not need to be perfect. It needs to be functional and feel comfortable and maintaining your organizing mojo can help make that happen.
Contact me if you want to talk further about maintaining your "organizing mojo". Have a great week!
