22 Jan 2014

Get Organized Challenge Week 3: Make a Home for Everything!

It’s hard to believe, but we’re already on Week 3 of our 2014 Get Organized Challenge. If you’d like to catch up, you can check out the first two posts and brush up on the organizing skills we’ve already started practicing: 1) Buy less stuff and 2) Give your stuff the “Do I need it, do I use it, do I love it?” test.

We hope you’ve got your heads wrapped around the idea that the less stuff you have, the easier it is to organize, take care of and appreciate what you have. This week’s skill is going to focus on just that – organizing and taking care of what you have. I’m sure you’ve heard it before – a place for everything, and everything in its place. The simple truth is that if an item doesn’t have a specific place to live in your home, it will live on one or more of your surfaces – your floor, your counter, your kitchen table. It will get in your way, be shuffled around, breed with other homeless items and eventually get lost in a pile of clutter!!

The good news is, there’s a simple solution – make a home for everything in your home! Whether it’s a paperclip, your jacket, or your child’s school bag, define and dedicate a place for it and other like items to live. And the more specific the home, the better, in most cases. For example, the paperclips go in the small compartment of the drawer divider in the top right drawer of your desk works better than somewhere on your desk. Getting specific not only helps keep the homes for items clean and uncluttered themselves, but also makes it easier to know where to put something, where to find something and much easier to tell someone else where to put or find something. And keep in mind that even transient items in your home need a landing zone. So create a home for returns, library books, items to be repaired, and whatever else you find lying around on your surfaces.

If the idea of giving everything a home seems daunting, just start with one homeless item. I often say that organizing is like a puzzle. Once you get one piece in place, it gets easier to figure out your next move. And if you’re practicing our first two skills, you’ll have less stuff to find a home for – yeah! So come on, stick with me here – we’re more than half way to organizing super-hero status!

The Challenge – Week 3: Make a home for everything in your home! Start with one item or one room and you’ll have some super clear surfaces in no time!