Organizing...My Favorites!

Today I would like to share a few of my favorite overall tips on how I stay organized on a daily basis. I think the most important tip I can pass along to you is maintenance.

Being organized is not a destination to reach but a process to maintain. Being organized is a daily decision that requires discipline. That sounds a bit more harsh than I would like it to be, but I mean for this to be encouraging. All it really takes is a little bit each day to keep the organizing going and the good thing is there is no one way to do things. I think that is why I am constantly reading new organizing books and asking others how they do things. I have changed a lot of my systems throughout the years as well as realized that a few of them are pretty tried and true and seem to work the best for me. I hope that today you can maybe try one of these tips and it will encourage you to find your own system to begin maintaining an organized home.

1. If it takes less then 30 seconds to do something, do it now not later. You would be surprised at how many things take 30 seconds or less to do. Our mind plays tricks on us. Try it. The next time you are passing through a room and set something down instead of putting it away, stop, put it away and see how long it took you. It is amazing how quickly your house is cleaned up just by taking 30 seconds to put something back where it belongs. When we leave things undone it clutters our minds as well as our home.

2. Leave a room better than when you entered it. This is coupled with take a look around the room before you leave to make sure that things are put away or picked up. Again, organizing is not hard; it is just about making small choices all day long that add up to a clean and organized home. If your home currently has quite a bit of clutter, start the 2-minute clean-up before you leave the room. Start small and keep at it, it will come.

3. Make your bed every morning! This is a hard one for those who are not naturally organized, but there is something psychological about walking into a room and seeing the bed made. It gives the appearance of a room being cleaner than it actually is. And most beds just require you to pull up the comforter and throw on the pillows-there is that 30 seconds or less tip again. Try it!

4. Clean your dishes as you are cooking. As you get finished with one dish, rinse and put in the dishwasher right away. Then at the end of the meal you only have the dinner dishes to add and you do not have a pile of dishes staring you in the face. Try to empty the dishwasher before bed each night so you can wake up to an empty dishwasher where you can load the breakfast dishes quickly in the morning.

5. Find a home for everything or get rid of it. You should have a place for your keys, your mail, your child’s school work. . .if everything has a home you will know where to find it. If you do not have a home for it then you probably don’t need it.

Again I feel like I am only scratching the surface, but these few tips are ones that I have been able to stick with through the years and help me maintain an organized home.

Please join me tomorrow when I will share a few practical ways I stay organized. i.e. grocery lists, calendars. . .Posting by Betsy!