THE ORGANIZATION STATION

Why get organized? 

There are many different reasons why you might want to organize your home. The main reason is STUFF.  George Carlain the comedian has a whole routine on how we all feel the need to have “STUFF”.

1.      You can’t find a path through your stuff anymore.

2.      You are considering moving to a bigger home because your stuff has taken over.  Houses are getting bigger and bigger all the time just to have more storage, we used to have on closet 4 feet wide, now we have whole rooms for closets.

3.      You are overwhelmed by all your stuff.

4.      You feel anxious all the time because there is so much to do, and when you need to do something, you can’t find what you need because of the arrangement of your stuff.

5.      No one visits your home anymore because there is stuff everywhere.  Your kids don’t have friends over because of the mess.

6.      You have less living space because every nook and cranny is covered with stuff. 

You know the saying “stuff, stuff “everywhere” and not an inch of room to spare.

What will you gain from being organized? 

1.      More free time

2.      Life without Chaos.

3.      Better Health.

4.      Better relationships with family and friends, because now you can  have people over to your house.

5.      Better family life, because you will find the time for the things in life you really truly enjoy. (Like your kids). Well maybe your kids!

6.      More money,(because you won’t have to move to a bigger home for all of your stuff.

7.      Peace of mind (that feeling that YOU are in control of your life).

8.      A feeling of Accomplishment.

9.      Energy, you should feel your energy rising and your mood lighting.

10.  Empowerment, managing your environment helps you feel less like a victim and puts you back in control of your life.

11.  Less stressed.

Ideas to keep from falling back to your old unorganized ways.

Once you achieve your goal of organization in your home, you need to find a way of doing things that works for you.

For example: 

1.       “A place for everything and everything in its place.”  Examples of this maybe, the scissors are in the desk drawer, and always take them out and put them back there,  you  save time and energy not having to look for them when you need them. Or having a basket for each person in your family by the front door.  Everyone can dump in or retrieve thing they need, such as backpacks, car keys, gloves, homework, or lunches.

2.       If something comes in something else must go out.  An example of this is that you have weeded out your closet and now everything fits perfectly. Then you see a big sale at the department store and you just HAVE to have some new things.  But before you buy,  you will need to get rid of something in your closet to make room for that new item.  ( the point I am trying to make is to THINK BEFORE YOU BUY.)  If you buy new STUFF, you have to let go of old STUFF.

3.       The home office filing system.  Whether you have a whole room for your home office or a corner in the kitchen, you need to find the best way to organize your duties, such as a filing system that separates “ the mail”, “the bills”, “the many things to sign for your children”, ”the important papers to keep” and “the calendar of family activities”. Here are just a couple of ideas that you might find helpful. 

For a calendar:  get a Family Calendar with columns for each family membe and assign them their own color marker.  Make sure that each person is responsible for writing things down as they come up. 

For filing: Make an ACTION FILE! It could be a file cabinet or it could be a box, you could  color code it or it could put it  in alphabetical order.  The point is to find what ever suits you and your personality best. And then JUST USE IT! To organize your STUFF. 

4.       The most used item in your home get the front and center places in your home.  An example of this is your linen closet in the bathroom.  Put the items that you use everyday in the front of your shelves.  I couldn’t figure out why my shelves in the bathroom were always a mess, then I started really looking and I figured out that I  kept my hairspray in the back of the shelf because it was tall, I was always knocking over everything else on the shelf putting it back in its place.  It is such a simple thing but I bet I fought that battle for 2 years before I came up with the brilliant solution of moving to the front.  And while I am on the subject of hair spray “how about all those “beauty products” that you never use and WILL never use, but you feel they cost you so much that you can’t throw them out. I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO THROW THEM AWAY----FAR AWAY! 

There now don’t you feel better.  Someone has given you permission to take control over your STUFF. 

The lesson here is to not let ourselves be overwhelmed EVER AGAIN with stuff.