Organize + Energize: 7 Things to Remember Before You Get Organized
Kristin MacRae, GoLocalProv Organizing Expert
Organize + Energize: 7 Things to Remember Before You Get Organized
Here are 7 things to remember before you begin your project.
1. Focus and limit your distractions. Staying focused and limiting your distractions plays a big role in tackling your organizing project. Here are some tips on how to stay on track with your project.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST2. Break down your projects into small tasks. Your project is to tackle your entire office. You can’t go full steam ahead and start randomly tearing apart the entire office. Break your office into sections and tackle one category at a time. Tackle your desk, then the paper piles, and then the bookshelves. This will help you to stay focused on one category at a time. You won’t get overwhelmed if you focus on one area.
3. You have to empty the entire space you are working in. You won’t know what is hiding in the back of the closet if you don’t empty everything out of the space. You can’t get a clear vision of a space until it is empty. You want to be able to maximize your space and you can’t do that if you just shift items around.
4. Categorize and itemize. I’ve been in homes and offices where the same items are stored all over the place. How does one find anything? Do you realize the money you are wasting because you are probably buying duplicate items? Imagine the time you are wasting searching all over for these items.
5. Every item should have a home. This is how you create your systems. Every item in your home has a place to be stored. It’s not just stuffed into a closet or a desk drawer.
6. Maintain your systems by creating routines. You have your systems set up, now what? You have to maintain those systems or you will end up in the same mess you were just in. From those systems, create a daily routine. Just like brushing your teeth and putting your socks on, create a routine to maintain your organization. It’s a simple as taking something out and putting it back where it belongs.
7. Habits will form from your routines and it will become an everyday way of life. Some say it takes 21 days or longer to develop a habit. That’s less than one month. At this time next year, you could have a maintained office and home and because of that, you will have more free time, less stress, and you will save money!
You may be saying, this is all great, but I just don’t have the eye for organizing. You are not alone. Many people never developed their organizational skill set. They may have grown up in a disorganized home where both parents were disorganized and they were never taught the skill set. If you are stuck, enlist a professional to help you with your disorganization.
5 Organizing Blunders
Not planning ahead
Getting organized is a process and you have to have a plan on how to conquer your project. You can’t tear apart an entire room all at once. You need to break the project down into small pieces. Plan to tackle your project in 3-hour increments. If you work longer than 3 hours at a time, you are setting yourself up for burnout. Plan ahead to try to avoid distractions and stay focused.
Click here for more tips on how to avoid distractions.
Purchasing the incorrect supplies
I know you are excited to get organized, but don’t rush out to the store and purchase products just because you like the way they look. Get organized first. Figure out what you need to contain, and then purchase your container to match the items you need it to hold.
Click here for more on choosing the right container.
Not letting others know about your system
Once you set up the organized system, you have to get everybody in your home on board. Show them the systems and how you are going to function with this system going forward. Label everything if you must, so everybody gets in the habit of putting items away. Remember, the simpler the system, the easier it’s going to be to maintain.
Need help creating those systems? Go here.
Not maximizing your space
Use every inch of space and use it well. Take everything out of the area you are organizing. You can’t get a clear visual of the space if it is filled with clutter. Shifting items around is not going to work.
Here are more tips on maximizing your space.
Repeatedly clearing spaces
You are creating more work for yourself if you continue to clear spaces once a month. Create a system and allow everything in your home to have its own place, and you will never have to clear a space again.
Kristin Carcieri-MacRae
Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune into her weekly radio show, Organize, Energize! on Mondays at 8:30am on www.talkstreamradio.com.
