AN ORGANISATION SYSTEM THAT FITS INTO YOUR LIFE
Do you feel overwhelmed by the contents of your home? Do you feel cramped in your home space? During lockdown here in Spain last year I felt like I was drowning in my home, we were 24-7 in the house and the kids were constantly needing things, opening cupboards and throwing stuff around and not putting it back. Then I looked at some organization techniques on social media. I really wondered where people got the time to dig everything out and put it in the middle of the floor, then sort it and put it back. As a full-time working mother/cleaner/nanny/chef/teacher..(you get my drift!)……I was reluctant to give myself another chore in my home. I didn’t want the task of organizing my home to take over my life. But it was clear I needed to do something, my children’s toys were stacked in a corner and every time we went into our garage we wondered if we would ever get out from under all of the things. It was a fight or flight sort of thing.
Fight or die under a heap of toys that no one ever plays with.
START WITH 15 MINUTES PER DAY
I have a system to bring flow to my home that is not overwhelming and it can be done in 15-minute bite-size slots that fit into your life rather than the other way around.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Marie Kondo and even The Home edit has inspired my bookshelf arrangement. But it is overwhelming for me to go room by room or category by category at one time. Even if I was to Kon Marie my home, I just don’t think organizing your home is not a one-time thing. There is always something to be done in the house, some new item that has come in and needs its space or a new toy that needs a place. My system will show you that having an organized home doesn´t have to be unpleasant and not something you need to dread. Most of all it will give you a real sense that you are the boss of your home 15 minutes by 15 minutes.
HOW TO GET STARTED – FIND THAT DOMINO EFFECT
When you get up and think about your day ahead you decide two things:
- What do I feel like organizing today (or do I even feel like organizing?)
- How much time between work/school runs/study/cooking do I have? Do you have 15 minutes?
Then I look at my home and I take a space that I actually feel like doing. What you are doing here is finding your domino effect, something to get done quickly so you can stand back and feel great that you have done it. Then perhaps the next 15 minutes won´t seem like such a chore. During the day before your 15 min slot you think about that space. How do you want it to look after you have finished? What items are inside? How do you want to categorize them and what things do you want to throw or put in another place in your house? Do I need any boxes to help me organize that space? When that 15 min slot finally comes around, you get to work and you know exactly what you are going to do …and in the end, you might even get it done in 10 minutes.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IN THOSE 15 MINUTES
Get 3 boxes/bags, whatever you have lying around your house, one will be for things you want to relocate, things you want to donate, and the last one will be things you just want to throw away. Set them beside your space and as you take the things out place them in one of the three bags/boxes and set aside on the floor the things you want to return to that space. Once you´re finished, categorize the objects you want to put back into the space and, if you have some boxes that can fit into the space (could be anything old fruit boxes, shoe boxes, or shop bought) start to place your categories into the space, move them around until they feel right and label them.
Then notice how you feel, look at what you have done? Do you feel proud? At peace. When you open that cupboard to put something in one of those categories doesn’t it make you feel good?!
MAINTENANCE
As I mentioned earlier, organizing your home isn’t a one-time thing. The maintenance of your new organized space is KEY. Here are some rules to retain your new organized spaces in your home :
Rule number 1. Informing the people in your house. E-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. Even your children (if it’s toys or something that they touch or have access to).
Rule number 2: Take a few minutes every day at any time of the day or indeed start doing it throughout the day. Doesn’t matter when, but stop take a look at your house, is something sitting in the kitchen and shouldn’t be there? Is there something on your bookshelves that should be somewhere else? The reason behind this is not to let piles start. Deal with them in less than 5 minutes.
Rule number 3: One Touch. Something comes into the house, whether it be a post, a new toy, the shopping. The rule is that you touch it once. No putting it somewhere to deal with it later. Touch it once, but find a new home/its home and let it stay there.
Rule Number 4: The Recap: very often you organize something and it just doesn’t work – and that’s OK. Don´t get deflated and don’t give up. Simply take 5 minutes and look at the space and ask yourself – what doesn´t work here? Why are people in your home not putting it where it should be or why is this box not closing? Is this the best place for this or should I put it somewhere else in the house?
I admit, I am only human and there are some days I do let the system go. I am too tired to take a few minutes and do a sweep of the house to put objects in their place before bed or my kids are wrecking my buzz so much that I skip tiding of their room and we make a beeline for their bed and lights out. But I do find, however, when I do stick to these basic rules my home life is calm, I am calm and there is a certain organization peace in the air. Don’t feel bad about this, as a busy mum getting rest also needs to be a priority and there is always the next day.
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