Organizing Every Day Keeps the Clutter at Bay

28 Jan Organizing Every Day Keeps the Clutter at Bay

If there were only one bit of wisdom I could impart on my clients, it would be to organize a little every day. Organizing every day will keep the clutter at bay! If you simply take 15 minutes each day to organize, it will save you time in the long run.

Take me for example: if I didn’t organize everyday, I’d be drowning in my clients’ stuff. Part of my services includes taking donations away from clients’ homes and dropping them off at a local charity or recycling them. While I try to do this after each client session, there are days I cannot manage it. On those days, I end up taking the items home and I have to keep them sorted. Additionally, I consign items for clients, so I have to keep those items organized until they get to their new owners. I spend a few minutes every day organizing said items so I know where they are, and can be reminded of their status.

Another example: if I didn’t organize my books every day I would be lost! The reason? I have made the mistake in the past of going a few days without organizing/updating my books, and it’s been a disaster to remember everything (even with my impeccable memory). I now make it a point to manage my books for 15 minutes every day, and it saves me the hours it would take to catch up on the weekend.

Most people hate organizing. It seems the equivalent of doing laundry or cleaning a toilet, but you still have to do these things. Organizing is a part of daily. You don’t have to love it, but you have to do it (or if you’re really lucky, you can pay someone to do it for you). I promise, if you take 15 minutes a day to do a little organizing you’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in a short amount of time. If not, things pile up and you find yourself spending the better part of your weekend catch-up organizing.

Don’t know where to start? First, set a timer. Then pick one small space – a drawer, a pile of clothes, that stack of mail – and do what you can in 15 minutes. If your timer goes off and you realize you can do a bit more, spend another 15 minutes organizing. The sooner you make friends with the process of organizing, the easier and more clutter free life will be.