Organizing Tips for 2015

As we begin another new year with new resolutions, I’m sure many of you are including getting your home in order as one of your goals for the year. Just like any resolution, organizing can start with a flame that burns out fast if you fail to put feet to it. I have 5 simple organizing tips to share with you that will help ensure your success in conquering your clutter this year.

1. Be Realistic

The biggest mistake we can make when setting a goal is to have unrealistic expectations. Especially when it comes to time. If your garage is so full that there is no room to walk, don’t expect that you can declutter, set up a new system, and have it ready to park your car inside at the end of the weekend. Have you tried this or something similar before? What happens with unrealistic weekend projects like this, is that when the set amount of time is over and everything still looks unraveled, we just give up and call it a lost cause.

3. Map Out a Plan

Begin by writing down every space in the house that you would like to reorganize. Then, prioritize from most important to least. Assign one space for each month of the year. If you have less than 12, leave some of the summer months as well as November and December out.

2. Start Small

Break the project up into segments that can be completed in small increments of time. If you are giving your office a complete overhaul, start with decluttering the desk. Begin with what’s on the surface and work your way inside. Once that’s finished, you can move on to decluttering the remainder of the room. Lastly, knowing you are left with only what belongs in the space, you can paint the walls, hang new artwork, and add a few pieces and storage containers as needed.

4. Keep Maintenance in Mind

Another pitfall when it comes to organizing a space, is not having the right system in place to keep things in order. You clean out. Make everything nice and pretty. And then a week later the room looks like a disaster again. Two biggies to keep in mind that will help you to maintain organization are: 1- Having the right tools and 2- Having the right organizational flow.

5. Enlist Help

Mountains seem smaller when we have others climbing them with us. Make it a family project and go out for dinner after as a reward. If your children are old enough to actually help, give them small responsibilities. Grab a friend who also needs help at her home and switch off helping each other. And consider hiring a professional organizer. As a professional, I can walk through a space and determine what needs to happen to make it look like the end result you have in mind. I can also coach you as I work with you, providing strategies and encouragement to empower you to complete the project. I love climbing mountains with people 🙂

I hope you have found these simple organizing tips helpful. Here’s to a new year full of great potential to tackle your cluttered spaces. Time to get moving!

Get Organized. Simply Live.