An organized life is a more peaceful life. Yet, clutter can sneak up on you and many people feel immobile in the face of it. They hate the clutter they see all around them, but they don’t know how to handle it. Below are 13 of our best organizing tips to create a more orderly life. Once you get a good routine started with these tips, you’ll have a better chance of keeping your environment sorted. And having your surroundings in order allows you to enjoy every day free from stress and clutter.
1. Address the Most Visible Issues
Begin the organization process with areas that are most visible and/or problematic. Start small and be sure to allow sufficient time for each step in the process: sort, purge, assign a home, containerize, then maintain and equalize regularly.
As an example, let’s imagine that your kitchen pantry is the worst aspect of your home. If you can get even one shelf organized, your home is going to look nicer as a result. This is one of many kitchen organizing tips that will help you going forward.
2. Create Systems to Help You
The systems you create need to fit into your life and surroundings. Therefore, if you never check your calendar, putting reminders on it isn’t going to help you. Instead, you could use a system that requires sticky notes.
The truth is that there’s no one right way to do things. Whatever system works best for you should naturally rise to the top. Grab onto it and make it work for you!
3. Keep it Simple
This is where so many well-intentioned people go wrong. If you look around you and see a mountain of clutter, it’s going to be hard to do anything with it. By keeping your expectations simple, you can chip away at the clutter a piece at a time. Using garage organizing tips, for example, pick one thing to work on each week and you’ll end up in a much better place.
4. Sort Everything
Is everything in your home sorted by the area you use it in? If not, it’s time to start. That means keeping your remote control on or next to the couch, putting all kitchen stuff in the kitchen right away, keeping your floss in the bathroom, etc.
Don’t allow items to be out of place. This way, even if you still have clutter to deal with, you’ll at least have the items you need close at hand.
5. Say No Sometimes
Society has done a good job of convincing people that they must always be available to others. However, nothing could be further from the truth. No is one of the best productivity tools there is. Before you say ‘yes’ to events, meetings or other time commitments, ask yourself this question, ‘Will it move me closer to my goals?’ If the answer is no, then say NO.
6. List Making
Create a master list that allows you to keep track of your to-dos and other projects.
Cross each item off once you’ve completed it. That way, not only will you know what you must do, but you’ll receive the satisfaction of seeing items crossed off the list.
7. Learn to Delegate
One of the most difficult things for people to do is learn how to delegate. Whether we’re in our personal or professional lives, though, it’s an invaluable skill to learn. Always look for opportunities to delegate or outsource recurring tasks or low-value activities.
Tidy Daily
This is the point that messes up a lot of people. However, if you’ve cleaned up your messy space, it’s the absolute best way to prevent it from becoming cluttered again. As an example, following tips for closet organizing will help ensure that you make good usage of your time.
The vital thing you must achieve here is setting a specific time (5 to 15 minutes) aside to work on any clutter.
8. Make Sure Everything Has a Place
Everything in your home should have a place where it goes. And when we say this, we mean a place that makes sense. Again, keeping items by where they’re useful is the best way to put this system in place.
9. Use the Right Tools
If you’re using old shoe boxes as containers, you might be doing yourself more harm than good. Our brains really love things to be organized, so putting them in a proper container definitely looks better. It’s also imperative to purchase the right tools to help keep your environment clean.
10. Use a Labeler
Have you ever seen the episode of The Simpsons where Bart gets a label maker? He labels everything, including Homer’s rear end. We want you to imitate Bart by investing in a good labeler (e.g., Brother P-Touch) and labeling everything (although labeling your rear end may be taking it a step too far).
This should be used in conjunction with your organization tools. Let’s say you have a nice storage container that’s labeled with books. You should always go to this area to return any books you’ve been reading.
11. Donate Items
Do you remember how Marie Kondo asked you to check each item in your home and see if it brings you joy? This is a similar methodology that you should follow each time you bring something new home. The best way to keep your clutter to a minimum is by donating, selling, or tossing something out to make room for the new item.
12. Control Your Paper Clutter
Take five minutes each day to look through the latest paper you’ve brought into your house. Do you really need it? Or did you simply receive bills in the mail that you’ve already got set to autopay? Go through your paper clutter and shred or throw out whatever you don’t need.
13. Hire a Professional Organizer
If you’re still struggling with getting your life in order, it might be time to hire professional organizers like the experts at In Order to Succeed. We will come into your house and help you figure out what needs to go where.
If you’re ready to get started on decluttering your life, contact us today! We would love to help you achieve the orderly life you’ve been dreaming of.