Tips for Differing Standards of Tidiness within a Household

Family life and having roommates are both rewarding, but each can also be a challenge at times. One of these times is when you are trying to find a balance between keeping everyone happy in areas where they differ.

When some members of your household are neat freaks, and others are more suited to audition for a hoarding television show, it is not an easy task for everyone to live together. Here are some tips on how your household members of various levels of organization can dwell peacefully together.

Have a Group Meeting

The most important tip on how to negotiate this dilemma is to keep your lines of communication open. Hold regular meetings to discuss the issue. Make it a time where everyone can input and try to keep it light-hearted and as fun as possible.

Decide on Common Goals

Although some family members or roommates may be drastically more or less comfortable with disorganization than others, there are sure to be some common goals you can all agree on. Some of these might be to have a regular group clean-up time, or to keep the living room clean since this is where your visitors spend most of their time when they are over. Choose deadlines that everyone can agree on, and talk about a minimum level of cleanliness that everyone agrees is important.

Decide on a Reasonable Compromise

Perhaps the messiest individual of the group simply may not be able to stay consistently organized, nor leave things spotless all the time. Maybe as a group you could choose certain rooms that need to be tidy, and others that are not so important.

Bedrooms are generally an area where organization can be left to one’s personal choice. This way, if someone has items that need to be put away but they don’t have time to do so immediately when they return home, they know that they can put the bags in their own room or another appointed "messy zone" until they have the time for it.

Make other compromises such as letting family members or roommates switch their cleaning duties with someone else if they are running late from work or have an especially busy day ahead of them.

Let Each Person’s Strength Be Highlighted

No two people are alike, even in the same family. Everyone has different strengths, and this can be capitalized on when you are creating your cleaning schedule. Perhaps one of the household members loves cleaning the kitchen after supper, while another prefers more time-consuming but less frequent tasks such as vacuuming. Create the schedule to cater to everyone’s likes, dislikes and natural abilities.

It can be a challenge to live with someone who is at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to household organization, but there is no need to let it destroy your relationships or living arrangements. Stay focused on what you love about each of your roommates, whether it be family or friends. Appreciation for each other and a commitment to working together will help you to live in harmony while taking responsibility together for the home you live in.

 

Baby Steps and Goals for Getting Your Home Organized

I find that most people can increase their productivity by simply organizing their belongings around their house and office. I will mention some tools that may help you when working on your specific goals to organize your life. 

 

It is so helpful to initially formulate a plan. Many of us set goals that are too broad and unrealistic when first embarking on any area of our lives.

 

In order for this plan to go smoothly, you need to have realistic, specific goals that are well-defined and written out. It is essential to set long and short term goals. For example, your long term goal could be getting your home organized in a year's time. Your short term goal could be getting one room in order each month. 

 

After you have your goals in mind, write them down on paper and put that paper in a place where you can view it often. Knowing target goals in your mind is not enough; they need to be in a place where you can view them often, so you are constantly motivated to achieve your specific goals.

 

Finally, you need to determine why you want something.  It's not enough to simply want to get organized in your life. You need to know why you have this motivating desire. Without wanting something whole-heartedly, it will be difficult to achieve it.

 

While the above tips may seem simple, it is surprising how many people set out to achieve a significant life change without knowing what they want to get done. The simplest and yet most motivating force to achieving your goals is knowing where you are going and why you are going in that direction. Follow these tips, and hopefully you may organize your life faster than you ever thought possible.

Getting your home environment more organized may certainly help you to find a happy balance in your everyday life. Things may seem more controllable, less stressed and pleasurable. However, many of us may currently feel so fragmented and overwhelmed because we aren't achieving that sense of balance when our home surroundings are cluttered and disorganized.

We may never seem to have sufficient hours in the day to get everything completed. Taking the time to make creative changes in your life can really mean the difference between simply struggling each day or enjoying your life to the fullest extent.

Learn to take control of your physical environment. The less time you spend running around searching for things, the more time you will have for what is significant to you. 

Prioritize what is in fact needed and important to you. Be decisive about what you keep. You have a finite amount of space. Use the "real estate" for those things you need and treasure.

Eliminate what you don't need. Not everything has to go the way of the dumpster. You may decide to donate to a charity or sell the items and allow yourself the freedom from feeling guilty or wasteful. If you aren't using it, chances are someone else can enjoy the items. 

Remember to contain or store things properly. Consider where you would look for items routinely and what type of like or similar items can be contained or stored together. Make a good habit of scheduling time to maintain your new organized surroundings! 

Step-By-Step Goals For Organizing Your House

The truth is you can really increase your productivity a great deal by simply organizing your belongings around your home and office. Here are some tools to help you when first starting on your goal to organize your life. It is so important to develop a plan. There is nothing that is more potent to achieving your goals than having a specific plan to start off. 

A lot of people set far too broad goals when first embarking on any area of their life. In order for your plan to succeed, you need to have realistic, precise goals that are well-defined and written out. It is a good habit to set long-term and short-term goals. For instance, your long-term goal could be getting your whole home completely organized in a year's time. Your short-term goal could be getting one room in order within a month. 

After you have your goals in mind, write them down on paper and put that paper in a place you can view it often. Maybe you may want to use a planner notebook or a digital app. Knowing a target in your head is not enough; it needs to be in a place where you can view it often and constantly motivate you to achieve your goals. 

Finally, you need to determine the reason why you want something. It may not be enough to simply want to get organized. You need to know why you have this desire. Without wanting something whole-heartedly, it will be harder to achieve it. 

While the above tips may seem simple, it is incredible how many people set out to achieve a target without knowing what they want to get done. The simplest and yet strongest force to achieving your goals is knowing where you are going and why you are going in that direction. Follow these tips to help you get organized and enjoy the process!

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.

Positive Benefits of Home Organization and Decluttering Your House

I would like to begin by telling you a little information about myself. I am a Registered Nurse and I also earned by diploma in medical transcription.

I have several years of nursing experience and I even had the wonderful opportunity to write and teach a few online medical assisting courses on the junior college academic level.

However, I have always had a great passion for organizing my house. I studied many resources about home organization. There is so much helpful information to learn. I decided to continue to pursue my interest in this field. I studied online and now I am a trained Professional Organizer. I successfully completed a Professional Organizing program and I enjoyed my training very much. 

Now that you are a little more familiar with my training, we will get onto our topic of decluttering the house. I would like to emphasize that I do not believe there is just "one" successful method to organize and declutter your home. 

I think it is extremely important for you to educate yourself about home organization and decluttering the house and decide on specific "organizing systems" that will work well for your individual lifestyle and family. Always remember that good organizational habits can be learned.

I have a question for everyone reading my blog today. What is clutter?

• Clutter is anything in your home or office that does not serve a purpose or function in your life anymore.
• Clutter may include items in your home that are broken or nonfunctional.
• Clutter may be material items in your home that you do not need or love.
• Clutter could also include unnecessary duplicate items in your home.
• You may be surprised to realize that having too many storage containers that aren't actually being used in your home may add to your existing clutter problem. That is the main reason it may be suggested that you declutter your home "first." Then it should be easy to figure out exactly how many storage boxes to buy and specific sizes you may need.
• Clutter could also consist of accumulated items of trash to be thrown away or removed in an appropriate manner. 

Now that we know what clutter is, why do you think our homes accumulate clutter?

• Clutter may be caused be delayed decisions.
• You haven't taken the time to decide on appropriate areas to keep your specific items in your home.
• Procrastination: maybe you feel overwhelmed about organizing or decluttering your house.
• You may be experiencing that frustrating "all or nothing" feeling about home organization. For example: you may think to yourself, "I will never have enough time to get my organizing projects done. There is just too much to do. So, why should I even start?"
• Maybe you have a very busy family schedule and you haven't been using a good weekly/monthly planner for routine chores/tasks in the home.
• Possibly the family doesn't realize your home organization goals and you may get easily distracted with many interruptions throughout the day. It may be very helpful for you to communicate your short-term and long-term organizing goals with your family. You may decide to have family members participate in your plan. This may be especially important in helping to keep your home maintained after you have everything set up the way you like it.
• You may have felt the lack of energy or motivation to complete organizing projects in the past.
• Often times, a major lifestyle change may cause a change in the normal flow of organization in your home. Here are a few examples: a birth or a death in the family, new marriage or a divorce, job relocation or health problems.

How can clutter affect your life in a negative way?

• Clutter can take up lots of extra space in a home. Think of how much more additional space you may have available after you get rid of any unnecessary clutter.
• You may be using a lot of your valuable time to take care of all the material things in your house.
• You could be spending extra money for duplicate items that you have been purchasing because you haven't been able to find the things that you were looking for in your house.
• Many people say they lack energy because they are tired of maintaining all the material things they have accumulated over the years.
• They don't have enough time to take good care of themselves or to enjoy their favorite hobbies and outlets.

What are the positive benefits of home organization and decluttering your house?

• You will be able to focus on things that you enjoy such as: exercise, hobbies, good nutrition, etc.
• You may find that you have more time to spend with family and friends.
• Hopefully, you won't have the need to purchase unnecessary items because you will have easy access to your items and be able to find everything when you need it. You will learn how to find "the right place for everything in your home."
• You may really enjoy the big bonus of having more space in your home once you get rid of your clutter.
• An organized house, free of clutter, may help you save time when you need to do your routine daily/weekly household chores.
• I find that I focus and concentrate better and feel more productive and less stress with work when my house and office are organized.
• You may increase your confidence to invite your friends over to your home again.

This is a wonderful video titled:

"How to Organize Your Home: Organizational Expert Alejandra Costello's House Tour"