Working with so many clients over the years has shown me many patterns of behavior that can lead to disorganization. The way you think about organization or the way you approach a potential organizing task can determine your success with it. These 5 simple changes in the way you think about organization can help you get and stay organized:

Keep It Real:

Don’t try to replicate Pinterest pictures or magazine photos. These are not real and don’t represent something maintainable. Be realistic with the systems you set up.

Merge & Edit:

If you decide to get organized, don’t let your first step be to run to the store to buy more containers. Buying containers is the 4th out of the 5 steps of the Emend process. Merging and editing are essential steps to complete before buying containers. Merging is essential because by grouping items together, you get a better sense of what you actually own. It may have been spread out all over the house before, so you may have forgotten what you had. You may edit out enough items to where you end up with empty containers you can use that you already own.

Think Ahead:

When you are at the store or shopping online, think to yourself, “Where will I put this in my home” before you checkout. If you don’t have a place for it, don’t buy it (even if you love it!) Things without a home are called “clutter”. Don’t buy clutter.

Keep It Moving:

Avoid analysis paralysis. This occurs when you analyze a situation or possible solutions to a problem so much that you end up making no decision. Organizing has no right or wrong answers. Try something and adjust if necessary. We set up solutions we think will work for our clients every day. We instruct them to “live it” and we make changes, if needed, at our next appointment. The key is to find something that works and is maintainable for you.

Keep It Simple:

And while you are overthinking things…don’t over complicate the process. Keep your organizing process down to the fewest number of steps necessary to accomplish your desired results. You would be surprised at some of the solutions we see people come up with. Because they are so complicated, they aren’t maintainable.