Seeking a Cure for your Clutter Condition?  Tidy Heidi Shares an Antidote for Disorganization

Seeking a Cure for your Clutter Condition? Tidy Heidi Shares an Antidote for Disorganization

Most anyone you meet would likely agree that there are many benefits to being organized and seeking to produce a tidy and organized living space, yet so many individuals and families struggle to either get organized or stay organized in their home.
After some intentional research, client observation, and personal reflection, I think I may have a solid suggestion for an antidote to getting organized and staying organized.

An Antidote is defined as something that works against an unwanted condition to make it better.

Something that relieves, prevents, or counteracts unwanted effects.
Read on to consider how this suggested antidote could be just the ticket to more consistency in achieving your home organizing goals – or any goals!
Some goal seekers strive to make progress toward success by seeking just the right “motivation” for their particular situation.  They create vision boards, they seek out inspiration from others, or they simply wait for the illusive motivation to simply strike and they wait for the perfect conditions before expecting to produce any change.
But honestly, I have found that motivation as a catalyst for getting things accomplished is a myth.

Motivation alone cannot be relied upon to make progress on your goals. You must identify and capitalize on what will consistently inspire you to ACTION. 

Our repeated experiences often shape our lens of how to attain success and achievement.
Think about it – For the majority of our developmental years, we have outside sources guiding and directing our success.  Like goal achieving guard rails set in place to support us, propelling us forward. Parents guiding and directing expectations in the home, teachers at school, coaches of sports teams, leaders of extra curricular activities.  We HAD to show up to class every day (built in routines), we were EXPECTED to turn things in on time (assignments from teachers), we gave and received support from our team-mates and in some cases, consequences were doled out when expectations were not met.
When we launch out into the world on our own, those built in expectations and outside forces are simply not as present in the same way outside of expectations from a boss or supervisor on the job.  It’s now our job to produce that.  Some will continue to succeed on achieving goals without these external sources in place, but for others, its more of a struggle and that can be quite frustrating for someone who was identified as being a successful high achiever in their younger years.
Perhaps we but simply need to consider how those same experiences of built in outside expectations can be replicated or built in for ourselves to find the success we seek within our home goals, or any personal goals, for that matter.
I love reading and learning about personality differences, traits and such.  I can completely geek out on all things relating to the various individual Temperaments, The Enneagram, Myers Briggs and the like.  So, naturally I was quite interested to check out a particular book by Gretchen Rubin titled ‘The Four Tendencies .  If you click through to the Amazon link you’ll see that in this book;

Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question “How do I respond to expectations?” we gain explosive self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. “

For myself, I identify somewhere in-between the Upholder and the Obliger Tendency.  I observe that inner motivation will only propel me so far, then I need to rely upon outside forces, sources and accountability in order to keep me consistently showing up for myself and my goals.
I’ve long been a fan of checklists and have relied on them to help stay on track to uphold routines get things done. I created a collection of Printable Checklists that you can reference and download.
Recently, I additionally made a more personalized checklist in order to stay on track with some of my more current and specific goals.

 

I have also considered and identified additional ways to make intentional efforts to create guard rails and outside support and expectations to continue propelling myself forward. One example is in asking for accountability from outside sources like my husband,  friends, fellow entrepreneurs as well as professional and personal coaches.  This works particularly well for those certain tasks I knew I might be more reluctant to attain simply by relying on my “Upholder” tendency alone.  Another example was to join a local gym that has strength classes that I can sign up for.  That way,  I can get crowd accountability to complete my strength training goals alongside others rather than relying on personal “motivation” to pursue that all on my own.  The monetary investment is an additional incentive to show up once I sign up!
If you determine that a particular goal is worthy to prioritize giving your time and energy to pursue, take some time to consider how you relate and respond to expectations.  You can then consider how you can seek to create select circumstances and experiences for yourself as a way to serve as a catalyst to growth!  The solutions will depend on your natural bents and tendencies and and once you uncover that, you’ll find your personal antidote to achieving success in your goals as well!
If you also have obliger type tendencies, (where you tend to meet outer expectations, but struggle to meet inner expectations) then finding outside sources to spur you on towards your goals will be  huge!  Seeking out additional accountability with a friend, family member or professional will be just the ticket to your eventual success!
Finally, no matter what individual tendency you have, one constant will always remain:

The more items you have, the more you’ll have to manage.  

If you find you’re consistently overwhelmed and over-worked in terms of keeping things orderly and organized, the best antidote may be to simply, but intentionally, remove the amount of physical items within the home in order to more easily manage and maintain overall.

Marietta Professional Organizer Tidy Heidi Tips on Maintaining Order in the Home

Marietta Professional Organizer Tidy Heidi Tips on Maintaining Order in the Home

An Organized lifestyle is not something you merely attain, but that you also must maintain…

The act of de-cluttering and finding homes for everything alone, will not be enough to keep order in your home.  Regular Maintenance is necessary to keep an organized home.


Identify specific times during the day that you will dedicate to the habit of tidying your space, 10 minutes being an absolute minimum. ( You may decide to increase the time or frequency. )

You will likely observe a few things in this commitment:

1) The more you have, the more you have to manage…might you determine to own less in order to spend less time and energy to manage it?

2) You may find that there are “homeless items” that lack an intentional place to live when not in use. Identifying places for things to live will speed the maintenance process as you will not need to additionally make decisions about what to “do” with an item just lying about. It becomes automatic.

3) Because you’ll gain a sense of being at peace which increases feelings of calm and control due to your efforts, you’ll begin to look forward to your pockets of tidy times. ⏲️
 
Board Game Organization : with Metro Atlanta Professional Organizer

Board Game Organization : with Metro Atlanta Professional Organizer

Many of my clients have several pesky areas in their home that they’d like to improve upon when they reach out to inquire about my Professional Organizing Services. In this particular home, I completed a Pantry Organization project, Master His and Hers Closet Organization as well as revamping a linen closet. I am always SO proud when a client is able to implement ideas that come up during our time together all on their own – and that’s what this post will highlight:  How to Organize Board Games!
Marietta Professional Organizer, Atlanta Professional Organizer, Kennesaw Professional Organizer, Acworth Professional Organizer, Peachtree City Professional Organizer

 

My client knew that she wanted to use this hall closet in a more intentional way, as well as put together better storage for her family board game collection (some of their games were also stored elsewhere in the house).
The family had only been in the home for about a year, and this area had become a bit of a ‘stash and dash’ zone where things were being kept ‘for now’  until they found a more permanent home.   Based on the location in the home, it was my impression that this closet would traditionally be used for coats.  However, the home owner hadn’t used it for that purpose yet, and didn’t feel a distinct need for that storage in this zone.
Marietta Professional Organizer, Atlanta Professional Organizer, Kennesaw Professional Organizer, Acworth Professional Organizer, Peachtree City Professional Organizer
BEFORE: Hall Closet Stash Zone

 

I suggested that a good principle of organizing is to always make it your aim to store like items with like items.  Based on the number of games they owned, both she and I thought this closet could work but my client wasn’t sure the best way to store them… 
 
 I suggested looking to purchase some free standing shelving that could be moved easily, should they decide they wanted to move the game collection elsewhere or re-purpose the closet for more traditional use…
 

 

Marietta Professional Organizer, Atlanta Professional Organizer, Kennesaw Professional Organizer, Acworth Professional Organizer, Peachtree City Professional Organizer
My client found this shelving on Amazon that was perfect for the space and ordered and stacked two of them.  I loved that she placed the board games side by side in order to house more as well as make it easier to remove and replace a game to and from the shelf.
Marietta Professional Organizer, Atlanta Professional Organizer, Kennesaw Professional Organizer, Acworth Professional Organizer, Peachtree City Professional Organizer

From Overwhelmed to Organized : Playroom Before and After! Marietta / Peachtree City Professional Organizer

From Overwhelmed to Organized : Playroom Before and After! Marietta / Peachtree City Professional Organizer

Welcome to the refreshed playroom for a family with 4 young girls!
The mother of the home was feeling overwhelmed with the state of the playroom before reaching out to Operation Organization by Heidi for aid….

She felt bad asking her daughters to clean up

when even she didn’t know where to begin to address the over cluttered space…
We worked side by side, sorting through each item in the room, making decisions about what would stay in the space, what would be donated or trashed, put into toy rotation storage, or re-located.
New and intentional storage solutions were implemented (like using book bins) and toys were sorted and stored by category.
Mama’s review:
“The playroom functions so much better for everyone now and
we’ve been able to to maintain it even after playdates with friends!”

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