Home Organizing As Easy as 1, 2, 3
Brought to you by Joan Kosmachuk,
Professional Organizer and Personal Life Coach

“Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.” —Henry Thoreau

If you’ve been reading my newsletters for a while now, you’ll know how important it is to eliminate from your home anything you no longer use, want or need. We call all the extra stuff “clutter” and it really must go. Once you’ve eliminated that stuff, you’ll be free to organize all the things you want and need to support your current lifestyle. For many people, this is where the rubber meets the road. They just don’t know how get or keep all their “keeps” organized. So here are three “keys” to successfully home organization.

ONE: You need to find organizing products and systems that work for YOU!

There are some amazing products and systems for sale that are designed to help you get better organized. But one product rarely fits all. If you like things out of sight, then cupboards with doors and drawers, trunks and under-the-bed storage containers, opaque plastic bins with airtight lids and filing cabinets will all be good systems for you to consider. However, if you are a visual person you’ll need to organize your things out in the open where you can see and remember them. Open shelving units, lidless baskets, clear bins, and desktop filing systems will be far better options for you to consider.

If you are always on the run, avoid products or systems that take a lot of time to use or maintain. If many hands put away dishes or laundry etc. your storage spaces need to be simple, consistent, clearly marked and must be equally easy for everyone to use. Look at the organizing products, tools and systems that you and your family are currently using (or not using) and ask yourself if they really are the best help in keeping your stuff organized.

Two: You need to work with existing HABITS, not against them!

If your children habitually drop their coats and backpacks at the door when they come home, it will be tough slogging to get them to walk 5 feet down the hall, open the closet door, and put them away. You may want to work up to that ideal, but in the meantime, install some hooks or a coat tree and some sort of basket or open shelving unit in the exact location where they habitually drop their stuff. The same carries through for the adults in the house. Does your husband tend to drop his newspaper on the floor by his favorite chair? Stick a decorative basket there to catch it so it will be easy to empty when full. Do you leave your mail and other incoming papers on the kitchen table? Put an incoming mail basket on the table where you can contain the mail until you are ready to deal with it. Just look for the areas in your home where clutter habitually reigns and find a way to contain it.

Three: You need to maintain a positive ATTITUDE!

Keeping your home organized takes time and effort. Maintaining the right attitude toward organizing and maintenance tasks is key to your success. A self-defeating attitude says, “I’ll deal with it later,” “I can’t be bothered”, “It doesn’t really matter anyway” and so on. In contrast, developing a positive attitude that comes from thoughts like: “I’ll just do this now before I forget”, “I’m going to lead by example”, “I can do this”, “It does make a difference” etc. will not only support your efforts to get organized, but will help you to stay organized.

If you need help to identify your organizing style, or to figure out what products and systems will best support your habits, consider getting professional input by hiring a professional organizer. To hire the services of Joan Kosmachuk, please email your request to info@simpleeffects.com or call 617-784-0707.

If you found the information in this newsletter to be of value to you, please feel free to forward it to your friends and colleagues; you'll be helping them organize their lives.

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