Your Organized! Now What?

How do you Maintain your New Organization System?

Great question!  One, I get often from my clients who spend countless hours sorting, purging and now organizing their things.  It takes time to collect the clutter, it takes time to get rid of the clutter, how can we ensure it doesn’t come back?

First and foremost, now that you are in control and want to stay that way you have to be committed to your new system.  You  have to take the extra time to put things away, to teach your family about your new system, to maintain it everyday, that’s right, everyday!  If you start to let things slide then what starts out to be a small stack of papers on the kitchen counter ends up being a mountain of papers.  Here are some simple tips to keep in mind when maintaining your new system…..

1.  Key Organizing Principal – For everything there is a place.  That’s right, every item, no matter what it is, a piece of paper, a tin can, a hammer, everything needs to have a place to live.  If it has a home, it has a place to return after it has been used.  Don’t waste your time looking for items, don’t waste your money buying items you already know you have.  Keep it in it’s home, and return it, and you will always know where it is.

2.  Get the whole family involved-  In order for your system to work, everyone in the family needs to know where things are, and what is expected of them.  Especially if you have children, have a family meeting and give a tour of your new system.  Better yet, involve them in developing the system in the first place.  The more ownership they have the more likely they will be to want to maintain it as well.  Make it a priority in your home to live an organized life.

3. Clean up everyday- Take 15 minutes everyday to clean up, whether it is in the morning or night, it’s up to you, just get it done!  Even little bits at a time will help maintain your system.

4.  Do a major purge every 6 months- Every 6 months, go around room to room and get rid of anything you are no longer using or need.  If you do this twice a year you are eliminating any chance of holding onto any unnecessary clutter.  It also won’t seem so overwhelming, when you are doing this on a consistent basis, you won’t have as much to carry out each time.

5.  Tweak your system- If it’s not working for you and you are still loosing your keys or paying your bills late, then the system in place is not working!  Change it so it works. Pay attention to what is going wrong and what is going right.  It could be a simple fix, like adding a table in the front entryway to place your keys, or it may be more complex like a new filing system all together.  To stay committed to an organized life you have systems that work, and they don’t always work the first time.  Be patient!

Being organized is a choice we make everyday!  Habits are hard to break, and habits can be hard to form! Start small, and be patient!  At the end you will take back your time, your space, and your control!