Preparing for something special is exciting. We dream, shop, plan, and invest time and energy into getting ready. That anticipation fuels our motivation to manage all the details. But once the rush of the event is over, it’s often hard to find the energy to recover and return to everyday life. Since post-event recovery is key to maintaining productivity, here are some ways to reset and get organized after a life event.
During the course of a lifetime, we may prepare for a variety of life events, such as:
- Vacations
- Parties
- Weddings and graduations
- Reunions
- Holidays
- Moving or relocating
- Work events and presentations
- Starting a new school or college
- Beginning a new job
- Concerts, shows, or other performances
Each of these events requires some planning. Even if we don’t always enjoy the process, the anticipation of a positive outcome—combined with external deadlines—helps us follow through on tasks like:
- Buying tickets
- Preparing materials
- Sending invitations
- Decorating
- Packing or organizing
- Coordinating with vendors
- Ordering food
- Communicating with guests or participants
In contrast, after an emotionally or physically draining experience, many of us hit an energy slump. We may feel exhausted, disappointed that the special moment has passed, or overwhelmed by the return to routine life.
Furthermore, there is often no specific timetable pressuring us to complete the many post-event tasks, which may include:
- Unpacking the boxes or suitcases.
- Putting party supplies away.
- Taking decorations down and storing them.
- Cleaning and storing special dishes, utensils, and other items.
- Returning borrowed or left-behind items to their rightful owners.
- Running and putting away laundry.
- Sorting through accumulated mail, bills, and paperwork.
- Getting started on tasks for a new job, class, or project
Avoiding these tasks is understandable—but it can hinder the functionality of our spaces, making it harder to operate efficiently and with ease.
A Real-World Example
Recently I had the chance to work with a large nonprofit organization that offers both ongoing and one-time events. My role was to help each team review their materials, let go of what was no longer needed, and create storage solutions for what remained. It was a fun project—everyone was enthusiastic, motivated, and great to work with.
As I moved from team to team, I noticed a recurring pattern: the organization struggled to reset after major events. Time and time again, I came across:
- Supplies that haven’t been touched in over 15 years.
- Duplicate items purchased because the teams didn’t realize they already had them.
- Broken items that were no longer reparable.
- Leftover bulk supplies too few in number to be useful, but too “valuable” to discard.
- Overcrowded storage spaces giving a false sense of “we need more space.”
- Sentimental items no one wanted to deal with.
- Uncertainty about what should be kept and for how long
- Lack of clear guidelines on where things should be stored.
It’s important to emphasize: this wasn’t an organization full of disorganized people. In fact, many staff members had made thoughtful attempts to label and organize. However, with so many staff and volunteers cycling through, staying consistent proved extremely difficult.
Once a space became overwhelmed, it became harder and harder to put things away properly—leading to stashing, piling, and clutter.
Why You Need a Reset Day
To combat this, I began encouraging every team to schedule a “reset day” after each major event. It’s a simple but powerful practice.
No matter how much we wish otherwise, the items we use during life events don’t put themselves away.
So it’s critical to protect time on the back end of any event to return things to order. The time you need will vary depending on the scale:
- Taking down holiday decorations might take a day
- Unpacking from a vacation could take up to a week
- Moving into a new home might require a month or more
The key is recognizing that resetting takes time—and then actually building that time into your schedule.
Go Beyond the Surface
Resetting isn’t just about cleaning up or stashing everything into a bin. It requires intentional decision-making. Ask yourself:
- Do I need to keep this? Will I likely need it again? Is it worth the storage space—or should I donate it now and repurchase if needed?
- Will this item still be good next time I use it? (Will it fit? Still function? Stay fresh?)
- Where does this actually belong? Socks go in the sock drawer. Paperclips go in the desk. Decorations go in labeled bins. Convenience often tempts us to pile things “for later”—but “later” may never come.
- What did I hide away to make the event look or work better? Time to bring it back out!
- Do these items need cleaning or repair before storing? (e.g., cleaning, untangling, wrapping, fixing)
- Is this item really worth saving? If it’s worn out, barely usable, or didn’t serve its purpose, the best decision is probably to let it go.
- What needs to be separated before storing? (e.g., serving utensils from decorations, tools from office supplies)
* * *
Restoring order after an event may not feel as fun and preparing for one, but your future self will thank you for taking the time now.
What is your tip for smoothly resetting after a big event?
A great reminder for all large groups that resets are important! I recently consulted with a local drill dance team that had not changed its storage setup in 15 years. It was exciting to bring new ideas to them to reset their spaces. Every group needs a storage reset every few years.
I agree – so exciting to get the chance to bring fresh perspective! All of us get used to seeing things a certain way, and it helps to have someone come in who has no preconceived ideas and might have some wonderful new ideas!
This is something people rarely think about. Your advice to build time to reset at the backend of every event is spot-on. The questions you propose asking are very useful. Thinking about and scheduling time to detangle lights, separate utensils from napkins, and evaluating things to decide if they are worth the space to keep them are important activities. This group was lucky to have you work with them, Seana.
Aw, thanks Diane! It was a really great project. When we talked about the need to “schedule in” a reset day, everyone was very enthusiastic!
Love your set of questions for resetting your space. This is especially difficult for large groups like a church where much of the helpers are volunteers. They don’t feel that they can make the decision to let things go for fear of upsetting someone who gave it to the church. They may have different ideas as to how to store items. It’s especially frustrating when there is no one person that is heading up the reset project.
At home one thing that I do when resetting after a holiday is that I store all special cookware and serving pieces unique to that holiday with the holiday decorations. That way I don’t take up valuable space in my kitchen for items only used once a year.
Very smart to store those special/holiday items in more remote spaces. I even did that with the holiday books and videos when my kids were little. Leaving them out all year made them less special, but once they were packed away, it was exciting to pull them out each year!
Totally agree that someone needs to be in charge of the reset. That was a role I could play now, and each team could designate someone going forward!
Gosh, you must have been reading my mind. I think everyone — individuals, families, and teams — need reset days. The day after returning home from a vacation, the day after a big speech, and all of the big events you mentioned lead to a need to re-home not only your stuff, but your mindset.
And this is true of unanticipated things, too. Last week, someone hit my car and I spent all day Thursday and Friday ironing out the details with insurance, the police, my apartment complex, the body shop, and the car rental place, and as each conversation and event occurred, I had to pull things out and place them within easy reach: the insurance folder, the folder related to the last time someone hit me, because I wanted the body shop’s number handy, printouts of the insurance company’s estimate to confer with the body shop, etc. At 6 p.m. Friday, I finally handled the last thing and was ready to decompress, and I’d planned to take time to re-set on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, just as I began putting things away, I realized I needed to put my insurance card back in the car, and when I came out, I found that someone had hit my car — just in the prior hour. (There was a witness!) So, I had to repeat the entire process, and was dealing with the police and insurance, et. al., through today. My normally organized digital and tangible paperwork life looks like a tornado blew through. So, rather than wait (in fear of bad things coming in threes), I’ve scheduled time tonight to process everything and get it all put away.
I am SO with you on the need for a reset. I think the key is to schedule reset days as if they were doctor’s appointments, on the calendar, with firm boundaries to prevent interruptions. Maybe bookend them with check-ins with a friend or team member for some accountability.
Great information!
First, what an absolute car NIGHTMARE! Your poor car (and hence, poor you as well) has endured so much! That’s a great example of how things get chaotic when an event happens. You hit the nail on the head with that scheduling the reset with the same commitment as a doctor’s appointment. Most of us need that level of dedication to push through until everything is back in its correct location.
The good news is that once you do that, you feel a sense of accomplishment, and a renewed sense of preparedness to face whatever is coming next. Which, I hope for you, has nothing to do with car repairs!
I love your list of questions for oneself, Seana. I recently traveled between Pennsylvania and New Mexico during July and returned last week. We drove cross-country, and I flew there and back. It was pretty busy. But I made it through by keeping my business materials organized. For me, it was a lot easier than last year. Last year, we built a house and then moved my daughter into the house out of state. I found that it is essential to be kind to oneself. Things will fall through the cracks. But planning and scheduling accordingly helped me a lot. Don’t expect to keep it all in your head. It is impossible to do that when you have a big move like I was dealing with. The key is to minimize mistakes.
What a big adventure! How nice for your daughter to be able to live in/care for your second house!
Totally agree that we need to not try and keep everything in our heads. I start making lists of “reset tasks” as I go along, so I don’t have to remember it all (which I know I cannot do). It’s nice to see a system emerge when you have something like a repeated trip. We can learn, tweak, and thus act more and more efficiently.
Here, here for the intentional “Reset Day!” It’s such an important part of these life events, yet it is often forgotten and not planned for. However, by declaring that there is such a day (or should be), you change potential outcomes.
Scheduling the time to reset after an event is similar in concept to creating ‘white space’ in your calendar. If your appointments are so tightly set that you have no time to breathe, think, or get to the next one, you’re setting yourself up for stress, chaos, and incomplete tasks.
We just returned from vacation. As much as we would have preferred to relax when we got home, we knew that doing that ‘reset’ was essential. One thing that helped was having the house in order when we left. That way, resetting was about putting things away rather than straightening up. That allowed us to go to sleep without any lingering tasks and wake up ready to engage with the new day.
As we’ll be heading off again for a wedding soon, we decided not to put away our suitcases. Typically, it would bother me to leave them out, but in this case it made sense. This meant we didn’t have to get the ladder out to put away the suitcases, only to have to get them down again in a few days.
We’ve had a few of those “quick turnaround trips” and I have left my suitcase down as well. It’s funny that it can bother me, but in the long run, I think it is a good thing that it does. It is that tiny discomfort that makes me push through to put everything away.
Have fun at the wedding!
This is such great advice! It reminded me of a couple of the larger organizing jobs I had, where my clients had bags of stuff they’d brought home from trips and business events and never looked at again. It’s not that big a job to deal with it right away, but it can grow out of control faster than you can imagine!
Now that I think of it, I feel into this trap myself when I was taking night courses. All my notes, handouts, etc. would sit in piles on my desk (I didn’t have a business yet) to be dealt with “someday.”
I’ve also worked with many clients who have “unpacked” items, either from a move or a vacation. One client had many purses, all full. She would change her bag but never clear out the last one she was using. As you say, one bag, box, or suitcase is a bit of work, but many that have been sitting a long time can feel overwhelming.