Five Steps to Get Any Space in Order
When organizing your home, it's important to treat each space individually. Every area is different depending on size, items contained, and its purpose. However, there are simple steps you can follow to get any space in order.
1. Have a clear intention. Ask yourself, what it the purpose of this space? Is it an area to relax in, work, or store certain items to be used in that space? Visualize what you want the area to look like. What is your end goal?
2. Commit to organizing. Some areas can take more than a day to organize, others, under an hour. Either way, the clarity of mind and productivity that comes with an organized space is well worth the time and effort. Take a look at your schedule and pencil in a date to manage your clutter. Putting a date on the calendar is one step closer to committing. Don’t think too much about the labor of your project, stay positive and visualize the end result.
3. Pull everything out + Sort. Pull everything out of your space and begin sorting objects into three piles: items to keep, throw away, and donate. When making decisions about individual items, identify the objects purpose. Is it of frequent use to you? Does the item ignite passion? If not, get rid of it. Next, separate the remaining contents by category (depending on the amount of items you are organizing, you may need to further separate objects into subcategories). What items make sense to keep in this space? If there are objects that you don’t use in that particular area, they probably shouldn’t be there.
4. Find your objects a home.
Use containers to organize items that are unstructured (i.e. batteries, paper
clips, writing utensils, toys, etc.). Make sure to keep items in places that are easy to pull out and put away. Organization is dependent upon the system that you create and put into place. If it is difficult to retrieve objects and put them away, you simply won’t. Use an aesthetically pleasing container to store items that you use frequently and want to keep accessible.
Note: You are limited to the space that you have. If you find that not everything can fit within your space, it’s time to scale down further and exercise some tough love (you may even need to solicit the help of a close friend or family member).
5. Maintenance. Sadly, no space will stay organized without a little effort. If it’s an area that you use daily, set a timer and dedicate 1-2 minutes each day to keeping it organized. If it’s an area that you use less frequently, check in every week or two. The more TLC you give your space, the easier it will be to keep it in order.
Our storage systems are always changing depending on items we acquire or dispose of. Don’t think too much about your storage plan, you can always reevaluate your system and make changes to better support your lifestyle.
Happy tidying!
