As a professional organizer, there are some things I do better than most.
But before you think I’m going all brag on you, know that I’m a work in progress, just like everyone else.
I have a lot of things I need to improve upon.
But if you strive to become organized by cutting the chaos and clutter, I’m your woman!
Here are some of my *best* organizing habits that you should steal to instantly get more organized.
Identify what’s not working
Once you have a system, it’s not going to work forever.
At some point, a change will be necessary.
I adapt to my changing needs and make small (or sometimes bigger) adjustments along the way.
This is trickier when kids are involved because the needs seem to change more rapidly.
Identifying what’s not working before it becomes overwhelming is key.
Quite honestly, clutter is the main symptom of things not working.
If you have clutter, something in your system needs to be tweaked!
Make decisions quickly
I make decisions pretty quickly and I don’t get hung up on trying to be perfect.
The perfect solution may forever evade me, and I recognize that a job done is better than a job not even started.
How do I live into this?
I get rid of things that are no longer needed.
That pack of unopened cassette tapes in the back of your TV cabinet? Yeah, I don’t have those in my home.
They were donated when tapes were still being used by most people.
Likewise, I donate or trade in electronics while they still have value.
After all, clutter is nothing more than a delayed decision.
Although I’m never always clutter free, I tend to have a heck of a lot less clutter than the average person because of my awesome decision making skills.
No mail delay
I go through my mail Every. Single. Day.
There’s never any piling up of the day’s deliveries to be sorted another day.
This is mostly because I don’t have much junk mail being delivered.
I’ve gotten my name off of mailing lists using Paper Karma or similar programs to stop junk mail from even coming into my home.
Less coming in means less to deal with.
Supply check
Before heading out to the store, I generally check to see what I already have on hand, especially before grocery shopping.
I save time and money by only buying what I need and I don’t have to worry about storing duplicate supplies.
The times I haven’t done this, I’ve certainly regretted it big time because inevitably, things I don’t actually use end up in the cart.
These Kitchen Inventories cut down on duplicate purchases big time.
Put away
I don’t have bags with recent purchases strewn around in my home.
Right away, I unpack and put away recent purchases!
I can’t use what I can’t see, so I get everything out of my reusable shopping totes and put them away.
This also eliminates the possibility of purchasing a duplicate because I can’t find something.
So unpack and put things away as soon as you come home from the store.
Incorporate this into your routine to cement it into great organizing habits.
Be realistic
I keep a realistic To Do List.
My To Do List doesn’t contain everything I could do, but those things that I need to get done that day.
A mile long To Do list for any particular day is not only unrealistic, but it’s also overwhelming and sets you up for frustration and failure.
The weight of everything that remains to be done can be stifling and lead to the feeling that you’re frozen in carbonite like the dashing Han Solo.
To be just like me, each day make a short list of about 5 things to accomplish.
When those items have been crossed off your list, you’ll feel like you’ve slayed Jabba the Hut and will be ready to tackle much more!
Bottom line
Organized people like me live in the now, while planning for the future.
They take stock of what is going on in their lives and what is needed and make adjustments pretty quickly.
I don’t do the would’a, could’a or should’a.
I acknowledge where I am. Then I look to where I want to be and plan out the steps to get there.
And now you have it!
Six organizing habits that are a game changer in your quest to become fantastically organized!
