Did you know that “get organized” is the 2nd most popular New Year’s resolution (after “lose weight”)? I can certainly see why: being able to find what you need, when you need it is both productive and rewarding. But how do you actually get organized, and stay that way? Here are four simple steps to get and stay organized.
#1 Live within your space.
Most of us have heard the phrase “Live within your means,” which suggests you don’t spend more than you earn. But have you ever thought that a similar idea applies to our possessions? To maintain order, we need to limit our belongings to what fits in our space. If we ignore this principle, getting and staying organized becomes very challenging.
Admittedly, this is a harsh reality. For a variety of reasons, we may want to keep more than we can adequately accommodate. This leads to squeezing, stuffing, stacking, and squishing things into drawers, closets, and storage locations. Unfortunately, this often renders much of what we own difficult to access. As a result, we “fight” to take things out and put them back. We may even end up spending a lot of money to store them offsite, where they can be forgotten and/or fall into disrepair.
This principle can also feel unfair– sometimes it is. Some people have large closets while others have only a tiny, shallow nook. Some have a whole workroom for storing tools while others have only a few hooks on a wall. While this inequity may be real, using it as justification to overfill a space won’t make it bigger.
Sometimes, others need to be reminded that you’re choosing to live within your space. If loving grandparents keep buying your kids toys that you can’t store, you may need to have an honest conversation about how best to show their love.
As tough as it is, you can’t be organized if you have more belongings than space to store them.
#2 Keep items for the right reasons.
If you’re ready to clear out clutter (to follow principle #1), start with the right mindset. We often hold onto things for poor reasons.
Poor reasons to keep an item:
– Guilt (“Mom will be mad if I get rid of this…”)
– Fear (“But if I get rid of this I might regret it someday…”)
– Remote possible future need (“If I lose 40 pounds I might wear this”)
– Obligation (“Everyone in the family expects me to keep this”)
Remember: simply keeping an item does not honor the item itself or the person from whom it came. In fact, storing belongings that you dislike can create negative associations, so you are sacrificing space and efficiency just to feel worse.
Instead, keep things you use, love, or need. For example:
- Clothing that you feel good wearing. (use and love)
- Memorabilia that prompt happy memories (love)
- Paperwork that supports recent tax returns (need)
- Lightbulbs that fit the lamps in your house (use)
- Cords for current electronics (use and need)
- Food your family eats (use and love)
Possessions don’t need to fit all three categories, but they should fit at least one.
#3 Give everything you own a designated home.
You can’t put things away if you don’t know where “away” is. The first question to ask yourself when you bring a new item into your space is, “Where is this going to live?” The more specific you are, the easier it becomes.
For instance:
- The stapler lives in the top left desk drawer.
- Cereal lives on the bottom shelf of the pantry.
- The garden shovel hangs from the third hook on the right of the shed.
- Tax paperwork goes in the file in the sorter on the table behind the desk.
- Toy trucks go on the bottom shelf. Dolls go in the pink basket in the corner.
- Rain boots belong in the boot tray in the garage.
In addition to specific homes, you can also set guidelines for what types of belongings are allowed in any given space. Many families set rules such as “toys stay in the playroom” or “food stays in the kitchen.”
Of course, every item in your space doesn’t need to be in its home at all times. Stuff will get taken out to be used and enjoyed. That’s what it is for. But if you want to be organized, you need to be able to put it away when it is not in use.
If you don’t know where something goes, treat it like a small red flag—pause and assign it a home. If you can’t find homes for your things because you have too much stuff, you are struggling with principle #1. If you don’t have the time or energy to tackle this, consider hiring a professional to help you declutter and create systems.
#4 Stop cleaning up and start restoring order.
Ever scurry around the house shoving stuff in drawers before guests come over? That’s cleaning up. The space looks nice, but it is completely disorganized. Perhaps you’ve been to a friend’s house and thought, “wow, they are so organized” because they don’t have anything out on the counters? Chances are if you opened a closet, you might find a crowded mess.
Organized doesn’t just mean “nice-looking”. Order means having things in the predictable places you’ve intentionally chosen.
Instead of “cleaning up,” take time each day to restore order. Unlike cleaning up, this means walking through your space and returning items to their assigned homes (see #3). Sure, on any given evening, you may leave a couple of things out because you will still be working on them the following day. But generally speaking, order is a state which you create and then maintain.
Another word for this process is a reset. I suggest telling children to reset instead of clean up. This focuses their efforts on getting the space back to where it was before play began, not randomly sweeping things off of surfaces and into containers. [If you have difficulty getting your children to restore order with their things, check this out.]
Building a daily reset habit pays off significantly. It takes effort, especially when you are newly forming the habit. However, as it becomes routine, you’ll find it becomes a gift to your future self. You can’t control what tomorrow brings, but you can control the setting in which you will have to face it.
* * *
Having an organized space isn’t a one-time project. It involves assessing your specific situation, mindfully establishing order, and then making regular efforts to maintain a peaceful, predictable space.
Do you have a favorite organizing tip?
I smiled my way through reading your wonderful advice, Seana. One of the many things I appreciate about your writing is the concrete examples you give. For instance, you don’t just say to ‘create a home for things.’ You share relatable examples like, “The stapler lives in the top left desk drawer.” Most of us have a stapler, but how many of us can find it when we need it?
That’s the simple elegance of what you encourage. Each idea about getting and staying organized is practical, doable, and understandable. Bravo!
Thees really are the basics, and yet the simplicity is where the victory is I think!
I love each of these rules to live by. The hardest I think to follow is to live within the boundaries of your space. When there’s too much, we find “creative” solutions that can change the boundaries.
I joke that it is always the house’s fault. Either the house is too small, so I had to come up with those creative solutions, or the house is too big and I just keep filling it up with stuff LOL!
I love the way you point out that the things you keep don’t need to fit all three buckets – just at least one. I use them all the time when talking a client through decluttering.
That simple little rule can help you figure out what to keep, right Diane? If you don’t have a rubric like that, it can be hard to decide.
I am a big advocate for making small, meaningful steps to keep control of the clutter. When you mention that building a daily reset habit pays off significantly, that resonated with me. When we forget to stay consistent with our habits, that’s when things go awry. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Seana. It is always a pleasure to read.
Over Christmas I got the flu and was pretty knocked out. I couldn’t keep up with daily reset. No surprise, things fell apart a bit during that time. It made me all the more committed to stay strong each day whenever I am able!
Use – need – love: I should know this, so why do I keep finding things I’ve kept that never fit any of those categories?
By the way, I keep my stapler in the top left drawer and cereal on the bottom shelf of the pantry. You’ve been peeking again, haven’t you?
That’s very funny, Janet! I guess great minds think alike when it comes to figuring out where to store things (wink, wink!).
I love the idea of “live within your space”. When my clients push back when I suggest they let something go, I always respond with, “You can keep anything you want as long as you have a good place to store it. The living room floor is not an option though.”
I also like your distinction between cleaning up and restoring order. I am going to bring that into more of my conversations with clients.
Thanks for the great read.
I love that “boundary” you share with your clients. It pushes them to think through to that level of detail. Sometimes we just lack the space we might desire. But stuffing things into a crowded space will ultimately make you hate your space.