The very first step in organizing is decluttering. Generally the reason our space is not organized is because we have too much stuff in our space. Our things don’t have a proper home. Decluttering means to remove what you no longer need or use. The easiest way to get started decluttering is to take a trash bag in the room and throw away any trash laying around, old paperwork, broken stuff, etc. How do you feel? Still have some energy? Take one area, for example, the dresser drawer and bag up anything you don’t like or doesn’t fit anymore. These items can be donated. This is a good place to stop if you’re tired. You can pick back up another day. If you have energy , you can do another drawer. Eventually your entire room will be done.

Once your decluttering is done, you can figure out which organizational items you may need. Just remember the right order of things: Decluttering first, organizing second!

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But just a few tips and low cost product ideas can have you proud to open that secret cabinet door.

Best of all, you get a little time back in your life. Think about it.

You see a recipe and think, do I have any thyme left? When does Rosemary get here anyway?

When the fire starts and you begin mixing your secret formula, everything is right there. No more searching for a spice while the world burns.

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Yep! That’s what I said, KISS; meaning Keep It Super Simple!

We tend to make things over complicated when we are tackling a big job. Over complicating something can overwhelm us, causing us to give up midway through a project. Or never start!

So what’s the secret to getting your space organized?

Ask yourself, ’what’s the most simple way to tackle this project?’

If you have a large area to organize, tackle it in smaller sections.

For instance, do you want to organize your office? Tackle the desk area first. Clear off the top of the desk, then work on one drawer at a time. Shred papers you don’t need, then file the remaining papers. Once you’re finished with the desk area, move on to another corner of the room, and so on. When you divide up the room into quadrants, it’s so much easier to keep it super simple and leave overwhelm behind!

Another way to keep it super simple is to organize one room at a time. Have you ever been in someone’s house when the entire house has a remodeling project going on? It’s overwhelming!

Taking on the entire house at once is just setting yourself up for disappointment and overwhelm. Take on the room that’s most important to you first. Take before and after pictures for motivation to continue on to the rest of your home.

The next time you decide to get some organizing done, just remember to KISS!

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In a recent survey, more than half the families said they experienced stress and 48% felt anxiety about the move. These feelings even caused a number of families to put off the move altogether!

Consider my story:

Moving day 2005. Our family of 5 is leaving a house we’d been in for 10 years. 

I keep a clean house. But as I packed up and the hidden stuff started to come out, I realized something. I am an “out of sight, out of mind” kind of lady. 

Rather than dealing with all the stuff, I would store it in the attic or hide it in drawers. Never to be seen again was sitting there and could no longer be ignored. 

Moving is tough but this junk was piling on even more stress!

At first, I just packed it up willy-nilly. Deal with it later. Towards the end, it was just throw it all away. Something I should have done years ago. 

I had no plans of having any more babies, but I was saving baby stuff, just in case!

Funny thing is, I thought I’d been doing a good job getting rid of things down through the  years.

A couple of garage sales a year. But it clearly wasn’t enough. Here I was with boxes of stuff I didn’t want or need anymore. 

Did I really want to take all this with me to a new house? Why didn’t I get rid of this stuff sooner? 

Let me help you alleviate the stress of moving by helping you to declutter before your move. You’ll get help with packing up your old house.

When you hire a professionaI organizer, you make moving day a true brand new start. How?

You can even get help with unpacking your new house and organizing everything from day one! 

If there is a move in your near future, reach out and lets walk through the process together.

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6 Things I’ve found to be helpful..

1. Make your bed every morning. I know this sounds too simple, but it really does help. Your whole bedroom may be a mess, but when you make your bed, your room is 75% cleaner looking! 75%! My bed has sheets, blanket, and pillows. That’s it. Keep it simple and you can make your bed in 1-2 minutes. Mine takes 1 minute!
2. Write down your top 3 things you need to get done for the day.
   
   Don’t overload your day even if you think you can squeeze one more thing in. Just 3 things. Do the thing you really don’t want to do first, 
   
   That way it’s over with sooner, and it gets done. Having a particularly bad day? Just pick one thing to do and do it well! 

3. Exercise for your health and lower your anxiety levels.
   
   I know, I know! You don’t feel like it or you don’t have time right? Even just taking a walk around the neighborhood counts. It’s so important for our mental health to spend some time outside and to get exercise. If you have a dog this can be a great help to get you outside for a walk. Our dogs expect a walk every morning, even when I don’t feel like it. Even 15 minutes can benefit you greatly.

4. Do laundry 2 times a week   
   
   No one likes running out of clean clothes especially when you’re already stressed. Do yourself a favor and wash at least one load during the week and the rest on the weekend, or something similar with your schedule. This will help keep up on laundry before it’s out of control.

5. Always have a menu for dinner
   
   Now this one has been difficult for me at times. Sometimes the menu is planned but I just don’t have the energy to cook. It’s helpful to think of more simple meals, even frozen pizza and a salad counts. It’s not necessary to have a fancy cooked dinner every night. The evenings when you do have more energy for cooking, cook extra so you can have leftovers for your busier days. 

6. Go to bed at the same time every night
   
   We’ve all heard about the importance of getting enough sleep. It really does help us to cope with stress better. One way to get you in a bedtime routine is to set a reminder on your phone. Set your reminder for 30 minutes before your bedtime, so you can start with your bedtime routine such as putting on your p.j.’s, washing your face, brushing teeth, etc. so that you’ll be ready to jump in bed on time.

Hopefully this small list will provide you with some organization in your life. Organization is like anything else that you practice. The more you implement it in your life , the better you will get at it. Start small and before you know it, you’ll be more organized than you thought possible!

Organized Life, Happy Life!

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