Home Organization Services & Homeschool Coaching
Have you ever worked all weekend to get your home tidy, just to find that it is an unmanageable mess again a few days later?
You’re not alone.
Intelligent people from all walks of life struggle with organization. Some exert themselves for hours or even days trying to get things in order, only to slide back into cluttered living within a short period of time.
If this is you, don’t give up! Living an organized lifestyle just takes some education, practice, and experimentation. If you’re determined, it’s possible!
To get you started, here are five of the most common reasons for disorganization, and the solutions you can implement today:
You may have heard the old motto “There’s a place for everything, and everything must be in place.” Well what if there isn’t a place for some of your things?
Your items without a home end up in temporary housing. Daily mail piles up on the counter in a pile with your kids’ old drawings, the coupons you clipped for next week’s shopping, your purse, and the plastic bags with the equipment you’ll be using for the plumbing project you’ve got to get to. All of these items are important, but in a jumble they feel like clutter.
Finding a good home for all of your items is essential to staying organized. Here are some helpful suggestions for the things listed above.
For important mail that doesn’t need immediate attention, install a wire wall organizer that you can tend to it at the end of the week. I wouldn’t recommend files or drawers, since these tend to be “out of sight, out of mind.” You can clip things like coupons to the organizer using a wooden laundry clip.
For old drawings that you don’t want to part with, purchase a folder for each child and label it with their name and the year. Don’t forget to write their name and the month/year on the back of the drawing!
Purses and shoes can have their own racks and hooks.
Sometimes the problem is not with our regular organization, but with the new things that come into our home.
What happens when we have good places for everything, but haven’t decided where to put that new kitchen device we bought at Target. Even though it’s a beautiful piece of equipment, without a home, it quickly becomes clutter. To prevent that, make storage decisions right away. If that place doesn’t work, you can always move things around later. Tomorrow quickly becomes never, so find a home for your new items immediately.
If you have helpful homes for all your items, but you’re still frustrated with clutter, you may have to create some better habits.
Don’t be offended! We’re all working on ourselves in some way. None of us are perfect.
Practice putting your things away after each use. When you’re through with each meal, clean the dishes and wipe down the table and counters. After a trip to the gym, put the dirty laundry in the bin, hang up your bag, and put away your shoes.
Once you’ve mastered this, you can teach it to your kids as well! If they pick up the toys from one bin before they move onto the next play thing, night time clean up won’t be necessary! Having your whole family practicing tidiness will make your home so much more serene and enjoyable!
If you’re struggling to find room for your possessions, “Tetris-ing” things into spaces that are already at 110% capacity, you need to declutter.
Here’s the essential question you need to ask: What are you keeping that you don’t need for this season of life?
Decluttering is a popular topic, and there are a lot of sources you could go to for suggestions on how to go about it. If you distilled all the advice, I think it comes down to asking yourself these two questions:
“Have I used this lately?” and “Is it important enough to keep if I’m not using it?”
Decluttering is something that should be done regularly, since life is always changing, but it’s often something we neglect. That can happen for a variety of reasons, both emotional and practical.
The first step I take with clients is to discuss their vision for the space we’re working on. We talk about what they want to accomplish in this phase of their life, and make a physical list to use as a reference. Using those notes as a barometer, we sift through their possessions one category at a time, determining what to discard and what to keep.
So pull out your notebook and take some time to jot down all the things you want to accomplish this year, or in this season of life. Be specific! The more precise your goals, the better you’ll understand what steps you need to take to get there, and what items you’ll need to take with you on your journey. You can do this!
Sometimes we don’t declutter for emotional reasons. Every item we own has an emotional attachment of some sort, some are neutral or positive, and some are negative.
Examples of negative emotional attachments include:
1. Sentimental attachment (inability to let go of an item from your past).
2. Fear-based attachment (concern that you’ll need an item in the future).
3. Guilt-based attachment (expensive items you never used, or gifts you were given by beloved family and friends).
When you’re struggling to let go of an item, it helps to revisit the notes you made about your life vision. What do you really *need* to move forward in life?
It’s legitimate to keep sentimental items that are important to your vision. After all, our past is part of our future. If an item brings you joy and pushes you to be your best, rejoice in that!
If you need to let go of an item, but are struggling with guilt, fear, or an inability to let go of the past, it can help to stop for a moment and be thankful for the role it played in your life. Sometimes just holding the item in your hands and thinking about the joy it once gave you or what it taught you about yourself can make letting go much easier. Taking a photograph of the item can also help.
It’s important to give emotionally triggering items away immediately so you’re not tempted to pull them back out of the box. Before decluttering, it’s a good idea to find a local thrift store or ministry to give those items to. But don’t give it to your favorite thrift store! You might just see it and be tempted to buy it back!
Decluttering and organizing can feel overwhelming, especially when you have other responsibilities like raising a family. Just be gentle with yourself and begin when you’re ready.
Having a vision and a plan to work on step-by-step is the surest method for success. Once you’ve mastered the fundamental skills, staying tidy will seem simple in every future season of life.
Hannah is the founder and consultant of Tidy Home and School Room. She specializes in helping families organize their homes and educational materials in ways that create natural flow and reflect their goals. Her unique method blends traditional organization services with personal coaching so clients are empowered to live organized long after their projects are completed.
Hannah is the founder and consultant of Tidy Home and School Room. She specializes in helping families organize their homes and educational materials in ways that create natural flow and reflect their goals. Her unique method blends traditional organization services with personal coaching so clients are empowered to live organized long after their projects are completed.