Planning Baby Steps For Getting Your Home Organized

You can increase your productivity dramatically by simply organizing your belongings in your home. I will describe important tools to help you when deciding on your goals to organize your life. 

The first major step is to create a plan. There is nothing that is more essential to achieving your goals than having a good plan. Often times, people set nonrealistic goals when first embarking on changing any area of their life.   

In order for your organizing plan to work successfully you need to have understandable, realistic goals that are individualized and written out. It is a good idea to set long and short-term goals. For example, your long-term goal could be getting your total home organized in one year's time. Your short-term goal could be getting one room in order within a month. 

After you have your goals defined, write them down on paper and put that paper in a place where you can view it often throughout the week. This should easily motivate you to achieve your goals.

Lastly, you need to determine why you want your house to be organized. It is helpful for you to know why you have this desire. 

While the above ideas may seem simplistic, it is amazing how many people set out to achieve positive changes in life without knowing what they specifically want to get done. The simplest and strongest force to achieving your goals is knowing where you are going and the reasons why you are going in that direction. Hopefully, if you follow these tips you will organize your life better than you ever thought possible.

Making Time To Organize Your House

 

Photo Credits: By Barbara Raskauskas

Many people say they don't have enough time to get organized, but little do they realize that a well organized home or office environment will probably save them time in the long run. It may seem overwhelming if you think of organizing your whole house, but if you break down the work into smaller projects that can be realistically accomplished, it may seem like a feasible plan.

So many moms are extremely busy with their normal everyday homemaker responsibilities, such as taking care of their children, preparing healthy meals, running errands, grocery shopping, and routinely cleaning the house. In today's society many moms not only work hard in their homes, but they may also hold down a part-time or full-time job. Where do women find the necessary available time to actually complete organizing projects at home? No wonder women may feel stressed when they think of adding additional tasks to their already full daily schedule.

A positive way to plan your organizing projects is to write down some short-term and long-term goals of what you would like to accomplish and add a specific time period that you want the work to be finished. For example, one organizing project may be to clean out, declutter, and organize your bedroom closet. Short-term goals may include organizing one shelf or section of the closet for just 15 to 30 minutes a day until the whole closet is totally organized.

Another example would be a long-term goal of organizing your complete kitchen area. The short-term goal may be to declutter one shelf a day in each kitchen cabinet for 15 to 30 minutes.

Listed below are some other great examples of what you can possibly be motivated to organize or clean during a time period of 15 to 30 minutes.

Clean out and organize one desk drawer.

Wipe your kitchen and bathroom counter tops and make sure the surfaces are free of unnecessary clutter.

Sort and organize your purse.

Organize one to two bookshelves and check to see if you have any books you might want to donate.

Sort and organize one pantry shelf in your kitchen.

Organize your cosmetics and check for an expired dates.

Fold one or two baskets of clean laundry.

Make a meal plan for the upcoming week.

Make a current grocery list.

Wipe one or two shelves clean in the refrigerator.

Clean out and organize one dresser drawer.

Sort through a rack of clothes for any items you may no longer need or want anymore.

Organize your wallet.

Sort through and organize one bathroom shelf in your bathroom cabinet.

Go through your magazine collection to check for any magazines you want to donate.

Walk through each room in your home and look for any items that need to be put back where they originally belong.

These are just a few examples of what can be accomplished in a short time period. Just a little bit of dedicated time spent consistently each day will help you develop a good habit of organizing. One wonderful benefit that you will quickly realize is that once a certain area in your home is nicely organized, it will be so much easier to maintain that area. Home organization can be enjoyable and hopefully save you time and effort when you do your daily household chores in the future!

So, please don't think of “all or nothing” when you begin to visualize your organizing projects. Even a small amount of time each day should produce some long lasting beneficial results for you and your family.

I used to be extremely guilty of the “all or none” excuse for not starting many organizing projects in the past. However, I quickly learned there isn't hardly any occasion when a busy mom finds herself with 4 hours or more of uninterrupted time. So, recently I have gotten into the habit of doing a small amount of organizing each day and by the end of each week, I can appreciate my accomplishments.

I seem to feel more relaxed and productive with my work when my home and office environment are organized. I can focus and concentrate better on my tasks. I try to plan my organization for each room in my house while keeping in mind the main function I would like for each specific room.

For example, I divide my family room into three different zones, such as the reading area, the television area, and the computer area. I don't personally think there is just "one" correct way to organize a house because everyone will probably individualize their plans according to their own lifestyle.

Lastly, I found that once I had completed my organizational projects for the first room in my house, I was really motivated to continue with the rest of the house. And don't forget that you can reward yourself for a good job done by watching your favorite movie, reading your favorite book, writing your blog, or treating yourself to a great lunch. Positive reinforcement is a great motivator!

10 Baby Steps To Getting and Staying Organized

By Elvie Look 

Do you purchase magazines that talk about ways to get organized? Do you look through them, enjoy the pictures, but do not seem to have the energy to do them? Do you look around your home and wonder "where do I start?" Do you feel the task is over whelming? If you do feel over whelmed, chances are you will do nothing.

So, let's do baby steps. Here are ten small things you can start on that can make a difference, and will give you the feeling of accomplishment, not failure. You don't even have to do these all today. Try doing one step a day for the next ten days:

Paper: seems to mount up and soon get out of control. If you have a paper delivered to your home everyday, plus flyers, plus mail and magazines, this can instantly become clutter. Blitz through your home collecting up all newspapers and magazines and put into your recycling bin. You should keep only current reading material in your magazine rack or basket. I keep one magazine basket in both of my bathrooms, and one in the living room. Rotate your magazines, and put your older issues in a donation bag or into your recycling bin. Collect up all mail, paper receipts, notes, appointment slips, etc. that you have tucked into cupboards, on the counters, your purse, on the table, and put them all in one central location like your desk. You can even organize them into piles - like with like. All your receipts in one pile, bills in another, etc. Just by putting into one central location will eliminate that scattered feeling.

Kitchen Counters: Clean off your kitchen counter top. If you have papers there, collect them all up and take them to your office or your desk. You can deal with them later, but if you have a clean kitchen counter, it will feel and look instantly gratifyingly, clutter free and organized. Take time now to remove everything that does not belong on your kitchen counters, wash up the dishes, scrub the sink and make it shine.

The Floor: is not storage space. Do you have clothes lying around? Go through now picking them up and putting them away in their respective rooms, closets or into the laundry hamper. While you're at it, throw a load of laundry in. If you have clothes that need folding, do that and get them put away.

Toys: If you have children you should get them on board with collecting up toys and putting them into their toy station or play box.

Entrances: Attack your entrances by organizing your foot wear neatly, hanging up all your coats and removing anything that does not belong in this area. If you have sports equipment, homework and backpacks, put them into the rooms they belong.

Home for purged items: Create a bin or box for "donation" and one for "garage sale." Have a place for them. As you clean up and organize, you have a place to store things that you no longer wear or use. This prevents them from accumulating in your closets and becoming clutter in your home.

Start Purging: Now set a goal everyday to be "purge conscious." Getting organized doesn't mean stripping your home of things you love or use. You just need to be conscious of the things you are not using or are outdated, cracked or broken. Make decisions daily and put these trinkets or items into your bins. You still have time to retrieve them if you change your mind and made a mistake. But put them into the bin and just see if you will even miss them. Just by purging one thing everyday will take away the overwhelming feeling and start you on the road to de-cluttering your home and closets. It could be a shirt you never wear, a trinket on the side table that is just collecting dust, or a bowl that has a chip in it.

Bulletin Board: Create a bulletin board to post your messages, appointments, coupons, phone numbers, pictures, receipts, "to do" lists, instructions, etc. Just by making a home for these in one central location removes a lot of clutter.

Stay Organized Organizing Secret: Every activity must have a station. Every thing must have a home. Take a moment to consider what is becoming clutter - most likely it doesn't have a home or activity station. Give consideration to some place you can make a station for that activity. For example, If you con't have a desk or office for doing your bookwork, then it will pile up onto your dining room table. Make a station for this activity, either a nook where you can put a table or desk. Or, a basket with a lid that can store all of supplies like your cheque book, calculator, pens, stapler, bills. If it has a home, it won't become clutter.

Stay Organized Organizing Secret: Make the most of every step. Never walk by dirty dishes on the coffee table, or wrappers, empty pop cans. If you are going by, pick it up and take it with you. If you are going downstairs, take a load of laundry, if you coming upstairs, bring up the folded clothes and put them away.

Elvie Look is an Entrepreneur, Expert Organizer, Cook and Seamstress. She provides organizing solutions, tips, menus and recipes at: http://www.elviesessentials.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elvie_Look

Creating an Organized Home

By Jill Borash 

When you set about the task of trying to create an organized home, it can seem overwhelming. There are so many rooms that need attention and so many things that you need to find a place for. How can you get it all organized? And how can you do it without going crazy?

In order to keep from getting overwhelmed, you will need a plan. Decide in what order you will tackle the rooms in your home. Which one causes you the most stress? It is best to start with that one. Then figure out in what order you want to tackle the others.

Once you have decided on the first room that you are going to organize, start by going through the items in the room. Figure out which items you use and need and which ones you do not. Sometimes all you need to create an organized home is to get rid of those things that you no longer use. If the items are in useable condition, donate them to a good cause. Otherwise just toss them out.

Once you have just what you actually use and need in that room, figure out how you want to organize it. This may mean getting some home organization tools to help you. Be sure that you do not buy too many as this can sometimes just add to the clutter in your home. Think about how you use the items and where they belong the best based on how you use them. If you are unsure, just put the items where you think they belong the best. You can always rearrange later.

Another important thing to remember when you are trying to create an organized home is that your home will never be completely organized. In order to keep your sanity, it is best for you to remember that. Get more free tips at http://www.YourHomeIsOrganized.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jill_Borash