10 Clutter Habits To Break

By Elvie Look 

Even though I am a bit (just a tich) of a neat freak and love being organized, you may be shocked to know that I do not get up in the morning and wonder "hmm, what can I organize today?" I really don't think about it at all because organizing has become a "habit," and a habit is when you do something without even realizing or thinking about it.

Getting organized is really about developing good habits. I've shared about some of those habits in my articles 10 Baby Steps To Getting And Staying Organized and Best And Worst Habits Of An Organizing Junkie. For example, a good habit is to never walk by garbage or dirty dishes without picking it up.

But there is more needed to be successful in keeping an organized and clean home.

Let me illustrate it this way:
How successful would you be at losing weight if you ate healthy food ALONG with junk food? If you enjoyed a wonderful spring salad and herbal tea along with a greasy burger and fries?

Or, while teaching your children the good habit of saying "Please" and "Thank you," would you disregard their bad habit of belching at the table, or interrupting you when you are talking to someone?

You get my point. You need to develop good habits ALONG with "unlearning" or "breaking" some bad habits. You won't be successful unless you work on BOTH.

Bad Habits To Break:

1. Eating anywhere in the house and leaving your tracks
2. Not putting away tools after using them
3. Ignoring the mail
4. Leaving dishes in the sink or on the counter
5. Dropping clothes on the floor
6. Not making your bed
7. Taking the last and not replenishing
8. Keeping something that is broken or you no longer use "just in case"
9. Leaving projects unfinished
10. Procrastinating

Ok, so we know change is necessary, but that is easier said than done. Habits don't change overnight, so let's look as some practical ways to make this doable.

How To Change Your Habits:

• Pick and admit one bad habit you have that is contributing to your situation. Recognition and admission is half the battle. And notice I suggested only "one." If you try to work on all of your bad habits, it may be too much and you will give up. That's not what we want, so let's just work on one at a time.
• Make things convenient to help break that habit. For example, if you always drop your clothes on the floor, then do two things - install a clothes hook right where you are dropping them, on behind the door, and put a clothes hamper for dirty clothes there. Now you have no excuse for them being on the floor, if you are wearing them again, they go on the hook, if they are dirty, they go into the hamper.
• Enlist help from your family. If you leave dirty dishes on the counter, then get the family to all help. You can even set the timer for 15 minutes, and get everyone involved to help do the dishes for just 15 minutes. Having the timer makes it seem like a short time, they can spare 15 minutes, plus you are teaching them some good habits.
• Reward yourself. If you are struggling with making your bed every day, then allow yourself one day a week when you don't have to make it. Give yourself a "cheat" day or a "day off." Now you can play that day, and not feel guilty, but back on track the next day.
• Put your Tasks into bite-sized pieces. If you have the bad habit of procrastinating, then perhaps the tasks need to be broken down into smaller ones. For example: if you want to organize your garage but just can't get started, then break it down into small chunks. Such as - clear out all the garbage in the garage. Now that task isn't so overwhelming and makes it doable. When the garbage is cleaned out, then move onto another small task such as take all the recyclables to the depot. Then you can purge tools you are not using. Just look at ways to break it into smaller tasks.
• Put it in writing. To help you with dropping your bad habits - put up a message to remind you, either on your fridge, your bulletin board, your screen saver on your computer. Just a little visual to keep you on track.
• Remember your goal. Think about getting to where you want to be in life. You don't want to be stuck in the same rut you are now, you want to move forward, you want to be more organized, on top of things, you don't want to feel overwhelmed or like a failure anymore. Visualize your new life, and you will get there.

The Wrap Up

One key way to breaking a bad habit is to replace it them with a good habit, a specific task. One little task each day. You don't need to do this on your own. Let me help you, let me inspire you each day with one little organizing tip. Just doing one thing a day makes a world of difference. Don't wait, one tip a day into your inbox will help you get organized even if you failed in the past. Start The Journey NOW! Go to http://elviesessentials.com/oneaday

Elvie Look: Your Professional Organizing Coach who is helping people get organized with her easy tips and suggestions. These systems help the busy mom, businessman or woman,  entrepreneur or student learn the keys to organizing in simple, actionable and manageable steps. She teaches how to get organized and maintain your organized space while carrying on your normal busy life. She is the author of "21 Steps From Chaos To Calm and "One-A-Day" Tips "http://elviesessentials.com

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