Plan to Simplify

I know: you think schedules and routines are for school-aged children. You'd like to think you've achieved a more bohemian lifestyle since your school days. You're laid-back and able to roll with the punches. People who plan out all the details are boring. Here's a question for you: How many times have you arrived at work late and grumpy, because it wasn't until you went to get dressed that you realized your wet clothes were still in the washing machine?

You likely already have a few tasks which you perform at the same time every year. Things like changing your seasonal wardrobe, changing your car tires, cleaning out your eaves trough. You know what the benefits are to doing these things, so it's not such a huge sacrifice when you actually put the time aside to get them done. The same approach can be used when performing daily or weekly tasks.

Schedule time to do personal or business admin. Instead of letting your filing accumulate for six weeks or more, set aside 30 minutes on a Friday afternoon to sort and store everything piled on your desk. At the end of a long week, you can still be productive by performing tasks that aren’t as demanding as budgeting. If you still need to action something, file it in a desktop filer. (I’m not endorsing this product; I  just want to give you an example of what it can look like). You’ll see it first thing Monday morning and be reminded of the task to complete, without your desk looking like a twister hit it.

 If personal admin is where you struggle, try to determine how to make the task more enjoyable. As in a corporate environment, I do still suggest that you establish a routine, i.e. pick a night during the week, or an hour on the weekend that you will address the paper flow and bill payments. Beyond that, you do have a bit more flexibility. If you’ve gone paperless, you can curl up in front of the TV with your laptop and pay bills. Or, if you perform best in the morning, why not focus on admin on a Saturday morning, while the rest of your family snoozes a bit longer.  You’ll accomplish more without the usual interruptions, and by the time everyone is up you will already have accomplished something for the day.

Even laundry has its day. Don't wait until there's one pair of socks in your drawer before you do some laundry. Many people like to designate one day of the week to do all their laundry. For me, that feels like a prison sentence. I don't want to give up a full day of the weekend to be a slave to my washer and dryer. If you have a quiet night during the week, why not designate it as a wash night? You don't have to do all your laundry. Worst case scenario, you may have to do a couple more loads of laundry on the weekend. Better to give up an hour or two over the weekend, then to miss a full day of fun.

Prepare for the next day -- whatever that may mean for you. Nobody likes waking up to surprises. Before going to bed each night, do some preliminary work. Check the weather channel so that you know whether to pull out winter boots or an umbrella. Maybe you need to set your alarm for 15 minutes earlier than usual if you anticipate bad traffic or school bus cancellations. Pack your briefcase, pack your children's knapsacks, put them beside the boots or umbrella at the door. Maybe all you need to do to get your morning off to a smooth start is to prep the coffee maker before you go to bed.

Planning our time is as necessary to being organized as planning a physical space. These suggestions are merely some new habits you can introduce. Once they – or whatever changes you decide to make – are routine, you will discover that chaos and confusion are a thing of the past. You'll find yourself living a simplified life.

Organized Chaos

Organized Chaos. We hear it often, this, the ultimate oxymoron. Many do exist in this state; I suspect with some degree of difficulty. I cannot.  I crave a sense of order. Symmetry. Harmony. I will take a moment to admire a balanced floral arrangement, a properly scaled centrepiece, the mantle that looks as if it was transported from the pages of a magazine.  

But at Christmastime I’m struck by the irony that the thing I enjoy the most is what I can only describe as a beautiful example of organized chaos: the Christmas tree. Unlike the big retailers who erect magical winter wonderlands filled with trees that each have a colour theme, our family puts up a tree that displays a random collection of ornaments.  It’s a mishmash of glass, yarn, felt and pipe cleaners. It reflects bits of nature and holds memories of overseas travel and special events. Nothing is sorted, categorized or assigned a specific home, the hallmarks of organized living.   

Perhaps this example of chaos is accepted because we only have to look at it. Perhaps is can exist because we only look t it. Its purpose is nothing more than to provide aesthetic appeal. It won’t make us late to a meeting, or lose our keys.

But isn’t it true that when chaos takes over our physical space we treat it as a Christmas tree and do little more than look at it? We make a mental note to wash the dishes later. We’ll clear the desk next weekend. Until days become weeks, weeks become months and now things have spiralled out of control.  Chaos has won the battle over organization.  We don’t know how it got to this point, or how to restore order.  We are paralyzed.  

Our Christmas tree analogy can help.  Most people pick a day in January that they will devote to dismantling the Christmas tree and putting away the Christmas decorations. One-by-one, the ornaments are removed from the tree and returned to their dedicated storage container. Space opens up in our home. Life returns to normal – whatever that may be. Why not treat your piles of paper and laundry like the tree? Decide on a time to get started, and address one item at a time.  It won’t come together as quickly or easily packing up after the holidays, but progress can be made.

Goal Setting

Last month's post looked at the importance of planning your (organizing) projects. The first thing to do was to set yourself a goal. Before a Professional Organizer begins working with you, they need to understand what you want. Unfortunately, the direct approach seldom works. Whenever I've asked a client "What's your goal for this space?", they look at me for a moment then reply, "I want it to be organized".

Understood, but let's dig a bit deeper. What does organized look like? Can you articulate your vision of organized? Remember: this is specific to you/your family, in the context of the room you want to organize.

In setting goals for your organizing project, we need to identify that which is specific, attainable and measurable. For example, do you want the kids to help themselves to snacks without the kitchen looking like a war zone? (This would be a specific goal). Then let's discuss ways for your kids to achieve some autonomy, while still being responsible for putting things back where they came from. If we can get the snacks in the right-sized container, and put that container in a place that's easy for the kids to access, we may have solved one organizing dilemma. (This is how we hope to attain the goal).

One of two things will now happen when the kids help themselves to snacks: they will leave the kitchen in an impeccable state, or they will still leave the kitchen in a shambles. (This is how we determine/measure whether we've attained the goal). If the kids don't immediately embrace the changes, don't worry. We haven't failed: we've learned something about the kids and how they function in the kitchen. This is our opportunity to teach new behaviours to the kids, or modify the solution -- or both.

The goal of a pristine kitchen is still attainable. We just need to determine how to achieve it. Remember that change takes time. It can be time to find the right solution, time to learn a new way of doing things. Regardless, with patience and a bit of Q & A, we can achieve our organizing goals.

The One-In-One-Out Rule

If you've ever sought advice on how to control your clutter, you've likely heard about the one-in-one-out rule. The concept is simple: When you acquire something new, discard something old. This works well for clothes, shoes, books and much more. It's an especially useful rule to apply to toys.

If you have children, you know how quickly their play area can be overrun with toys. You also know how easily a toy falls from grace when replaced with something new. And come January 15, no matter how organized an individual you are, you may find yourself sifting through a mountain of toys, old and new, asking yourself, "Where did all this stuff come from?"

As a parent, you have a choice. You can gather up some neglected toys on the sly and remove them from your home. Fingers crossed, you won't be found out. I've tried this and gotten busted. So, I've adopted a different approach. I involve my son in the process. If, for whatever reason, we've acquired a few new toys, I wait a week or two, then have a chat with the little man. I pull out a couple of toys that haven't been touched for months, preferably those that are no longer age-appropriate, and gently suggest that since he's having so much fun with his new thing-a-ma-jigger, that it might be a good time to donate a long forgotten toy, so that another little girl or boy can enjoy it.

By involving my son, I hope to accomplish a few things.
1. Keep the task manageable, by donating only a few things at a time.
2. Teach him the simple behaviour of identifying things that matter.
3. Get him comfortable with the idea of keeping only those things that are still used and enjoyed.

If all goes well, by the time he's my age, he'll be a pro.

Organize for YOU

Many people think they are organized. Some simply say they don't know how to organize. But the vast majority replicate what others do. While this may be a good start, it will likely need some fine tuning.

When people set out to tackle a disorganized space in their home they overlook two very important things: examining their own behaviours and circumstances. Being aware of these is as important as sorting and editing your belongings.

When we moved into our house, all cleaning supplies were put into the laundry room, in the basement. Our house doesn't have a utility closet in the kitchen, like some. No problem. Like items were grouped together and put in a designated spot. We had observed the first two rules of organizing.

Then we had a baby. Then our baby began to eat solid food. Then our baby started throwing food all over the dining room. Upstairs. Instead of retrieving the broom from the basement once a day or every couple of days, we were running up and down the stairs every few hours. Not fun. So we started using a lot of paper towel to wipe up the floor and save ourselves the trip to the basement.

Stop. Circumstances had changed. Behaviours had changed. The storage location for the broom had to change.

The broom now resides on a single hook, in the linen closet, on the main floor -- a few feet from the dining room. An unconventional location by some accounts, I'm sure. I don't know anyone else who keeps a broom in their linen closet. But it works for our family. We can easily get to the broom when needed and just as easily put it away.

Successful organizing is not about tidying up a messy room, or doing what everyone else does. It's about everything having a designated place and you being able to access your things easily. You can't remove yourself from the equation. This is about you planning for you. Always keep in mind what you need to achieve -- and be selfish: if you don't plan according to your daily time constraints, preferences and abilities you'll be no further ahead than before you started.