Habits That Will Help You Kickstart Your Organizing Journey
As a habit coach and professional organizer, I regularly get to see patterns of clutter behaviors in my clients and guess what? Many people operate the same way! If you’re ready to put in the work and dig yourself out of clutter mountain, it might feel like a lot to begin with but I promise you it’s possible and I’ve seen (and have had my own!) personal transformations in hundreds of people. It isn’t easy - but with a great plan and SYSTEMS, you can do it. Everyone can do it!
Focus on ONE task at a time.
As you’re getting into the routine of creating organizing habits, create a mantra that will help you stay focused on one task. If your phone commonly distracts you, repeat out loud or in your head “I will check my phone when I finish folding & putting away the laundry.” If you jump around from room to room, repeat “I will not leave this area until all of the items are put away.”
Set your phone on DND and set a timer for a realistic amount of time. When you’re just getting started, SHORT amounts of time are best, for example 5 minutes per day of decluttering one room. You want it to feel almost too easy, like you could continue. Achieving the 5 minutes will help you prove to yourself that you can succeed at becoming organized and that you won’t give up on the goal.
There will be setbacks, like you find yourself answering a text while you set your goal to stay off of your phone - but overtime this habit becomes second nature.
2. Let it go.
Often, disorganization and clutter come from stuff we don’t use regularly or even want to keep. If you see something that is junk, like old magazines, a reusable container you thought would come in handy (but never did), or something that is broken you never got around to fixing, TOSS IT.
Keep a container located in a central location for donations. Anytime you see an item that you no longer use, but could still be useful in another home, think like Marie Kondo:
Does this item make me happy?
When is the last time I used it?
Is it something that is still useful for my current lifestyle? (ie. A smoothie blender that was used for a diet you’re no longer on.)
Does the clothing fit, is it comfortable, and is it outdated for my style/needs?
Asking these questions will help you learn more about why you’re holding onto certain things and will make it easier to get rid of stuff in the future. When you’re just getting started, try to put in one thing per day and take it to a donation center weekly. When the habit is a part of your life, try a whole room/drawer a couple of times a week!
3. Put your mental clutter on paper.
In the organizing space we often talk about PHYSICAL clutter, but tackling your mental clutter is a total GAME CHANGER. Do you ever find yourself with a long to-do list and by the end of the day it’s as if nothing was accomplished? That’s all thanks to your mental clutter. Here are a few habits to help you clear your brain space and save energy for all of the life things:
BEFORE BED: create a to-do list for the following day. Add to it as the day goes on and move anything over to the following day that wasn’t completed. This removes the stress of tasks from your brain and will allow you to relax. More sleep!
EVERYTHING GOES ON A CALENDAR. Even stuff you think you will remember, put it on the calendar. If you are regularly co-scheduling with a family member or spouse, it’s really helpful to create a joint calendar or invite them to events on your phone so it goes directly to both calendars. This removes the need to remember bringing it up again later after you’ve already put it in your calendar and everyone is on the same page.
KEEP A LIST ON THE FRIDGE. As soon as you run out of a regular household item, put it on the list. This is really useful for stuff you don’t buy regularly and might not have been the last one to use it and dispose of the container. (ie. laundry soap or last roll of toilet paper.) This lets the person who is doing the shopping know it’s gone even if they haven’t realized yet.
MEAL PREP & ORDER GROCERIES. The last thing a busy person needs is to come up with a dinner plan on the fly. Once a week, plan what you are having for dinner and either order your groceries for pick up simultaneously, or create the EXACT list you’ll need for the store. Bonus points for doing this on the same day of each week, because that removes another random variable from the equation! You’ll know that every Saturday you plan means, and every Sunday you shop and prep.
PUT YOUR BILLS ON AUTO-PAY. Missing a bill payment is STRESSFUL. Getting the mail for bills and late bills adds physical clutter and especially mental clutter. 99% of businesses offer auto-pay and electronic communication - DO IT>
4. Everything has a home.
If it doesn’t have a home, create one and ask yourself the questions from #2. Clutter becomes overwhelming when items don’t actually live anywhere and they start to pile up. It’s overwhelming because when it’s time to straighten up it takes a ton of time to figure out where you want to put everything. You can speed that process up by giving everything a home and organizing clutter weekly, or even daily as you create better habits.
Things used daily should be stored for easier access than less often used items, and they should not be stored together. Something that’s only used monthly or yearly shouldn’t be with something that’s used daily because it makes your day to day more difficult.
The home should make sense. Unless it’s a daily use item, don’t keep random stuff in kitchen drawers. Creating a junk drawer with no purpose doesn’t serve you. I refer to junk drawers as a utility drawer, because it’s organized and not filled with JUNK. Junk implies you throw stuff you don’t love into it. Cluttering up a utility drawer with rarely used stuff that belongs in a bathroom cabinet or garage = stress and disorganization.
Spend money on organization product for your daily use items. I don’t push product unnecessarily, but sometimes they can completely change your life! Small bins in drawers, labels, cord ties, or cube storage can help you get stuff off of the ground and in an easy to find location for relatively cheap.
5. Daily Non-Negotiables
To start your organizing habits, only choose 1-2 things to do daily that REALLY increase your energy and happiness. This might be something simple like the 5 minute declutter, making sure your keys are always hung up when you walk in the door, setting out your outfit the night before, or emptying the dishwasher before bed every night. What is one thing that makes you feel accomplished and like you have given an effort toward better habits that day? Add on or change these up as you advance in your organizational habit journey!