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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

Getting Organized in 2012

Happy New Year to you! As we start another year, discussing of resolutions and goal setting is very common. Don’t stress over it this time around. I like to think of the New Year as a chance to experience something different, to try something new, and to consider making changes for the better.  Picking major changes or deciding on life altering resolutions isn’t my style. So to get you started, here are some simple resolution tips if you’re making goals to be more organized

7 Tips of How to Set and Keep Organizing Goals

1.Be realistic. Take a step back and look at the big picture. Ask yourself what would be feasible to expect from you and from family members. Before you answer, “nothing”, I know that’s true. You can and you will get more organized this year, but perfection or standards we’ll never reach isn’t the goal. So be realistic as you’re thinking through what you’d like to organize or keep better organized

 

2.Make sure your goals are attainable. Redoing every single closet with new closet systems and building a home office space may be too lofty for your budget or time. Instead, consider what would be within reach and what would be attainable. Perhaps, it’s reconfiguring your existing closet, or just adding more shelving to it. And the home office may be good idea to get paper out of the kitchen or front foyer area, but the solution may be as simple as getting a new filing cabinet or actually using your existing one so that paper doesn’t lay around.

3.Take into consideration your daily habits. This is extremely important when I organize with clients. Habits are engrained in us for better or for worse. I’m not saying we can’t or shouldn’t change but it is a whole lot easier to work within you personal parameters instead of reinventing the wheel. Watch your patterns and your “pathways” through out your home or office to help you recognize those habits. Think through them and add to them organizing systems instead of trying to eliminate them.

4.Figure out what overwhelms you and work around it. If tackling a whole room or emptying out a whole closet is overwhelming, then don’t take that approach. There’s ways to organize that don’t need to put your whole system into shock. Biting off what your time will allow and what your patience can stand is what you need to keep in mind. Leaving projects unfinished is common when we don’t allow for the time needed to complete them or we undo too much instead of organizing a little bit at a time.

5. Prioritize. Not everything is a crisis and top priority. Finish this sentence, “ I would just love it, if ________was more organized.” Whatever space or project first came to mind is what should be first on your list. Everything else can wait.

6.Know when to ask for help. Sometimes it’s easier reaching our goals with someone walking us through the process and keeping up on track. That’s not to say you are incapable of every organizing something on your own. But consider the time saved and the headaches avoided, if you were to bring in help on projects and skills that you aren’t stellar at doing. I truly believe in surrounding myself with businesses and professionals that will help me run my business in the best way possible, instead of trying to do everything mediocre on my own. The results are a lot more rewarding and worth every penny.

7.Have a deadline. Deadlines are often scary but they propel us forward. They keep us accountable, and they hopefully prevent procrastination when we’re eager to push off the task. So mark your calendars and come up with dates. If it helps to set your phone to chime at you daily, then do it. A daily buzzer will help to incorporate a daily routine or organizing habit.

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