by Heidi | Oct 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
Welcome to ‘Day 5’ in the month long series of articles cataloging
Simple Organizing Solutions!
If you’ve been reading from the beginning, you’ve hopefully already gotten the right mindset and motivation needed to get organized, zeroed in on one small area to focus your efforts, have begun narrowing down your belongings to what what you love, use and actually have the room to store and consider how to cut clutter at the source!
When you’re ready to start assigning specific ‘Homes’ for all your belongings to ‘live’ and ‘land’ when not in use, take care to:
1) Group like items with like items.
2) As space allows, make every attempt to store together what is USED together.
3) Store those groupings as close as possible to the area in which they will be used.
For example, group all dry baking supplies together as near as possible to the surface where they will be mixed together. Keep all measuring supplies grouped together in one cabinet, drawer, or shelf.
Group all office/bill-paying supplies or homework supplies together and store near the area in which they’ll be pulled out to use.
Basic guiding principle?
If items ‘go together’, you ought to keep/store them together!
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by Heidi | Oct 5, 2013 | Uncategorized
Welcome to ‘Day 4’ in the month long series of articles cataloging
Simple Organizing Solutions!
If you’ve been reading from the beginning, you’ve hopefully already gotten the right mindset and motivation needed to get organized, zeroed in on one small area to focus your efforts, and have begun narrowing down your belongings to what what you love, use and actually have the room to store.
Now, it’s time to address the fact that even when you’ve moved out the excess, CLUTTER can and will still build up.
CLUTTER: “to fill or cover with scattered or disordered things that impede movement or reduce effectiveness.”
What is the source of the problem of items ending up scattered and disorderly?
Belongings don’t have a ‘HOME’.
That’s right, each and every item in your spaces should have a specific place to ‘live’ or ‘land’ when not in active use.
Any ‘homeless’ items will almost certainly become clutter. And, you know something else about clutter? It has seemingly magnetic powers….where one ‘homeless’ item happens to land, others will surely follow. First, small pockets of clutter will develop where items that don’t have a distinct place to belong – the most common? Paper of all sorts, small toys, tool and/or remotes, office/school supplies. Those small pockets slowly become piles over time, and more often than not, if not dealt with, those piles eventually either all get stuffed together in a box, closet, or even an entire room because you simply want to get it OUT.
Wouldn’t it be great if you stopped that build-up before it even began??
You would not have the stress about all that messy build-up staring you in the face, nor the dread of how to deal with it when it reaches an overwhelming state.
If you’re determined to CUT the CLUTTER in your home or office – start by observing which items do not have a specific place to ‘live’ within your space. In the effort to KEEP IT SIMPLE, just begin with this observation step, for starters. Make a bullet point list of any items that are laying around that don’t have a certain place they ‘ought’ to be.
Now, if you observe that your space is completely over-run by clutter, you’ll need to first sort through your items, grouping like things together in distinct areas/containers so you’ll have a better idea just how many ‘homes’ will eventually need to be created.
OR, you can call always on me for aid! I’d be more than happy to coach and guide you through the whole process, cheering you on and keeping motivation and momentum up when the going gets tough.
It’s also a good practice to begin considering to yourself, “Where will this item ‘live?” Before even making a purchase or accepting a hand-me-down of any sort.
Stay tuned, ideas of simple ways to create ‘homes’ for items are to come soon in the series!
What types of ‘homeless’ items did you observe in your spaces??
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by Heidi | Oct 3, 2013 | Uncategorized
Welcome to ‘Day 3’ in the month long series of articles cataloging
Simple Organizing Solutions!
Before you even begin considering what organizing solution would best suit your individual needs, it’s crucial to address if there are any items that need to be moved out of your space.
The bottom line is, the LESS ‘STUFF’ you have to maintain in your home, office or life, the MORE TIME you’ll have to truly enjoy the things that matter most.
“…we have found that living with fewer possessions means that all our belongings have a standard place where they belong in our home, which makes cleaning a snap. I spend less time searching for books, keys, and shoes. In short, I spend far less time being the janitor for my possessions, and far more time doing the things I love.”
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If you’re new to the practice of sorting through and letting go of personal possessions, or find the prospect of that task completely overwhelming, here is one of my favorite guiding principles by William Morris:
I’d also agree with Laura Wittman of
I’m an Organizing Junkie, that one should probably also add to that quote, ‘Or what you have ROOM TO STORE’.
When I coach clients through the (sometimes difficult) task of determining what to keep or what to move out of their home,
I always ask gentle leading and guiding questions to help them come to their own conclusions about the importance or practical use of their things. Questions like, “When was the last time you used this?” – “Do you have anything else like it?” – “What’s the worst that would happen if you got rid of it?’
Often, they just need ‘permission’ to get rid of items they’ve hung onto ‘just in case’ or ‘because it was a gift’.
I think we’d all rather think of our homes as a haven of rest surrounded by a few beautiful things that can truly be loved, used or admired rather than resemble a storage unit just full of ‘stuff’ we need to give valuable energy/attention to clean and maintain, or spend gobs of time searching for.
Do you feel like your home could used a healthy De-Cluttering?
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by Heidi | Oct 3, 2013 | Uncategorized
Welcome to ‘Day 2’ in the month long series of articles cataloging Simple Organizing Solutions!
When gearing up to conquer the task of ‘getting organized’ it’s quite easy to start off SO zealous that you attempt to dive in with the intention to overhaul everything all at once:
I encourage you to narrow your focus to ONE area or specific organizational dilemma at a time. If your attention/efforts are constantly divided, it’s difficult to see definite progress and you’ll most definitely become so completely overwhelmed that you’ll be tempted to give up and stuff away your organizing goals altogether:
Take a moment to consider how/where you can
Where will you focus first??
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by Heidi | Oct 2, 2013 | Uncategorized
This article is ‘Day 1’ in the lineup of a month-long series cataloging Simple Organizing Solutions.
When plotting a course toward an organizational goal (or any goal for that matter), the ultimate first step is very simple yet very important to implement:
ATTITUDE
&
MOTIVATION
Having the right positive mindset before beginning will inspire the can-do spirit to
get started (often the hardest part) with gusto and your individual motivation will be the anchor which will keep you on course if/when you begin to loose steam and wonder why you pursued the goal in the first place.
What is your current attitude towards getting organized?
Have you determined your primary motivation?
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