Things can get crazy. Regardless of how “on top” of things you are – little things (an unexpected twist in your schedule) and big things (an unexpected – OR expected – twist in life) can put you into a tailspin.
As I shared in my last post, it’s been a crazy year for me. One of the blessings was experiencing how my three Organize Your Life principles I’ve incorporated into my own life kept me afloat. And they didn’t just move me through the storm. They’re helping me get to a pretty cool new place.
Today, I’ll share the first part of what’s become my organizing trifecta:
Organize Your Life #1 HOME: for everything
It’s knowing where to find what you need, when you need it. It’s simple. Yet powerful.
This “Lessons from the Silverware Drawer” excerpt from Stacey Platt’s book What’s a Disorganized Person To Do? illustrates this fabulously:
source: salvador G2
If I came to your house and asked you to show me your birth certificate, would you know where to find it? What about a safety pin? Your checkbook? The receipt for your computer? An extension cord? Your 2006 tax returns? Regardless of how many or how few of these you could produce without too much digging, I bet that if I were to ask you for a fork, you would know exactly where to go to get one. Why? Because the system for organizing your flatware demonstrates four organizing principles:
Forks are kept with forks.
They have a single and consistent home.
Everyone in the household is in agreement about it.
Forks are put back there after being used (and washed!).
These principles can – and should – be applied to organizing anything in your home. Keep like things together. Give everything a home. Get the whole household on board. Put things back when you are done. It’s really that simple.
Stacey Platt – What’s a Disorganized Person To Do?
Quick Sidenote! Don’t be fooled by appearance – even the most pristine on the surface homes can have homeless things galore. (Have company coming over in an hour? I can show you how to “organize” your entire house in 59 minutes. But that’s another post – and a very temporary “solution”!)
Back to the lasting solution: While we’ve probably heard Benjamin Franklin’s wise words “A place for everything, everything in its place” hundreds of times, many of us don’t truly practice it. (Notice the word “practice” because it’s really a habit – not a one time thing.)
How will HOME – for everything benefit you? (Envisioning these benefits can be quite the motivator!)
Saves time (even if it’s a few seconds of searching each time you open the fridge door, those seconds add up)
Saves money (no more duplicates – not to mention when saving time, you’re more than likely saving $)
Lowers stress (notice how stress levels rise in proportion to time spent searching for something?!) And lower stress has its own benefits including health and beauty to better focus and results)
Makes putting stuff away SO much easier (even if you let things completely go for a bit)
When I began making this a habit, everything from my virtual stuff to car console stuff became so much easier to manage. Which makes life easier to manage.
Take action!
What’s homeless in your home? (Or workspace?) You don’t have to do a whole house overhaul. To keep from getting overwhelmed, simply focus on one item / category at a time. Begin paying attention to what you spend time looking for, and give it a smart home.
Get in the habit of putting stuff back in its place. And if you need to let things slide, just take time at the end of the day or week to get things back in order.
HOME – for everything makes keeping things in order so much easier. And “easier” means you’re much more likely to do it (which is key to making it stick!).
Up next… I’ll share my second of three Organize Your Life principles. Until then, stay warm!!!
As much as I crave order, there IS an overboard line you can cross. Here are 5 ways being “too organized” can work AGAINST you:
1. Setting up TOO many categories: When setting up your filing system (in your file cabinet OR computer), the goal is to be able to: FIND what you need QUICKLY …. AND put papers (or documents, etc) EASILY.
Many of us – with good intentions, of course – set up categories with SUB-categories with SUB-SUB-categories… you get the picture. By the time you’ve found what it was you were looking for, you forget why you needed it in the first place.
TIP: Use stickies or pencil & paper to map out a smart filing system. Think to yourself: What’s the 1st word that comes to mind when thinking of a file name / category? Once you have a plan that makes best sense, rearrange your stuff accordingly.
2. KEEPING TOO MUCH: While we’re on the subject of “filing,” how much of what we have in our cabinets / boxes / computer do we actually NEED? A majority – probably never.
TIPS: Before you file, ask yourself: Do I really need to keep? Can I get this info somewhere else if needed? ALSO, purge your {computer AND paper} files – either as you are using that particular one OR block out at least once a year to weed out all the excess.
These labels might work fabulously well for some - but not us!
3. GETTING OCD: I can do this on occasion! For example, I thought it’d be super smart to label my boys’ coat hangers with days of week, specific activities, etc. Well finding the “right” coat hanger for the “right” day / time of day / activity quickly drove us all crazy.
TIP: Once you get the results your looking for, leave it alone. Don’t make it overly complicated. Basic sections in the closet for us work just fine.
4. TACKLING TOO MUCH: I used to think I can get this whole house / closet full of photos / (fill in your own blank) organized in a whole day. {Which may have been the case BEFORE kids.} I’m a hard worker and optimistic {two good things} but am working on the “let’s be realistic” part.
TIP: Don’t lose that “I can do it” spirit, but DO break bigger projects down into doable start & finish in 1 hr or 1 morning increments.
5. CRAMMING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE into your day {which leads to week which leads to month….} This is one area of my life I’ve made big changes. While I still enjoy being productive, I no longer try to squeeze all I can into the day. As a time management coach, I’m become quite knowledgeable on how to work smarter, be more efficient but I also have become much more aware of WHY I’m doing what I’m doing.
TIP: Get in the habit of asking yourself: Okay, why am I doing all of this? Is this really the way I want my life to be? Because, as one of my favorite {Annie Dillard} quotes says, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
Do YOU go into organizing overload at times? Tell me about it in comments below!
Our kitchens arguably are the most important room to have running well {…some may say, no, it’s the bedroom}. But regardless of where you go with that, I believe {and have seen} how kitchens can make or break the rest of the home. Below are seven minimal cost / maximum result ways to help make yours perform at its best. {Zone plan followers: more for you at the end!}
1. Clear surfaces: Clutter free counters + table – walking into your kitchen and seeing… or actually, NOT seeing clutter… this truly can do wonders.
TIP: Take in small steps. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, follow along with the Zone plan I’m doing- see bottom of post.
2. Scenic behind-the-scenes: What’s INSIDE your kitchen cabinets, drawers, fridge and pantry should be set up to work for – not against – you.
TIPS: Create “centers” within your kitchen and make sure each item has a home within its center. Then, have fun making the for your eyes only parts of the room aesthetically pleasing. {For inspiration, spend some time flipping (or clicking) through your favorite home magazines or web sites.} For more detailed kitchen de-cluttering, click here.
3. Cleanliness is a virtue: Having – and keeping – a clean kitchen is absolutely doable. The key: #6; the key to doing it faster: #1.
TIPS: Clean {or at least rinse} dishes / pots / spills ASAP. Also, get other family members on board by putting away their own dishes – along with anything else they get out, for that matter!
4. Well-Stocked: Having a pantry, fridge + freezer filled with what you need is a BIG stress-reliever. And make sure to have certain go-to meal / menu favorites {and ingredients} on hand.
TIPS: Keep an on-going grocery list and add to it right away when running low on something. Simple, yet when you really do this consistently, you’ll rarely run out of – and have to R U N out for that – something. Also, plan out your meals weekly.
5. Control Center: Your place for managing your home: make this full-time job in-itself run as smoothly as possible.
TIP: Design a {well-organized!} place that keeps you – and your home – running smoothly. The kitchen is great for this because of its central location. What to keep here? schedules/calendar, grocery list, address books/contact lists, school-related papers, menus, bills, primary files… it’s really what works best for you – make it your own.
6. Rituals: or “habits”: the key to a well-maintained kitchen – and home.
TIP: At the end of the day, we do a “walk-through” {making sure everything is back in its place}. Without a doubt, waking up to a clean kitchen {vs. facing dirty dishes, clutter} & home makes the day start and stay in a better place.
7. Ambiance: big in turning a house into a home.
TIP: Don’t just save it up for special occasions: dim the lights, light candles, bring in flowers, turn on the music {adjust according to mood} – or turn it OFF – silence is at times my favorite thing! The list is endless: from the scent in the cleaner you use in your kitchen to what you wear when you’re in your kitchen. I won’t get carried away but this is a favorite topic of mine – I could go on and on…
If you have something else to add, I’d love to hear! If this sounds impossibly overwhelming, join along with me as we take the de-cluttering and cleaning step by step:
Zone Cleaning Plan
For those doing Marla {aka, “FlyLady”} Cilley’s Zone Plan with me, we are on Zone #2: The Kitchen.
Recap:
“We break our home into five areas. Each week we focus on that one are. We do our de-cluttering first, and, eventually, we will do our detailed cleaning,” says Marla. {Just 15 minutes a day in that week’s zone +building in habits little-by-little.}
For more info, click on the following: THE PLAN {PART 1} + {PART 2} ; also here’s what happened with ZONE 1
To make it happen, take it SLOW!
“For now we are just de-cluttering! We have a tendency to jump in with both feet and get paralyzed by the mountain of clutter we have pulled out. We are taking BabySteps while we are establishing new habits. Eventually all your clutter will be gone and you’ll have a way to keep it clutter free for life.” – Marla.
This is what I’ve been doing this week:
De-Cluttering:
Fridge/freezer: Bought these wonderful bins which corrals certain items that used to be hard to get to / put back. LOVE the difference! {I’ve posted a pic on FB: check it out: it’s under: Angela Harris Design.}.
Kitchen desk: Thinking of how we can better use that space. Making my own kitchen command center – #5 above. Will share soon what I end up doing with it.
Cleaning:
Clean out fridge /freezer
Wiped down cabinet fronts
Wash trash can {bleach then hosed off outside}
Plan to do in next day or so: deep clean oven, steam mop, clean baseboards + light fixtures
I’ll wrap up with one more Marla quote for anyone asking the question that I’ll sometimes ask myself, “Why bother?!”…
“I know this sounds like too much to do, but after you get the worst part done, keeping the kitchen clean is not very hard, and besides, having a clean, functional kitchen blesses your family with fine meals, interesting conversation, and training for when they have families of their own. What a wonderful legacy to leave them.”
Here’s Part 2 {the ACTION PLAN} for saying bye-bye to clutter and hello to a clean home. What appeals to me about this plan from Marla Cilley {the FlyLady} is the simplicity of it all. I can see how it can really help you maintain your home with ease after doing it consistently for a few months. And it’s not too regimented which I love.
The FlyLady’s ZONE plan:
Your home is broken down into 5 zones: in { }’s I’ll put the start date of that zone for this month {July 2011}
First day of month: start with Zone 1, then that following Monday, you’ll begin Zone 2, and so forth. {Some months you’ll spend almost a whole week in Zone 1, other months – only a day or 2. It’ll even out over time.}
SPEND JUST 15 MINUTES EACH DAY in that week’s zone:
EVENTUALLY, you’ll move to the detailed cleaning {Marla says this sounds like spring cleaning but it’s not: “It is cleaning in Baby Steps so that in a few months’ time you will have totally decluttered your home.”}
Add this zone plan to yesterday’s ideas and before you know it, your home should SPARKLE. Starting with the sink!
De-cluttering your home AND cleaning = overwhelming for most
Keeping our homes clean AND free of clutter = unimaginable for most
You may be thinking, “I have better things / bigger priorities than trying to impress with my homemaking skills.” While I totally get that, I know from organizing training along with working with clients {and myself! I’m not naturally organized} that bringing more order into our environments enhances everything we do and provides more time for what we love.
Easier said than done, I know. That’s why, after reading Marla Cilley’s Sink Reflections, I decided to give it a try for one month and share here with you as I go. When you have a {well-working} system in place, it really frees your mind up for bigger and better things and this one for your home really makes good sense. {Plus, Marla (aka “FlyLady”) has a huge following so there must be something there!}
This is what I’ll be sharing:
TODAY: tackling clutter {along with performing ONE single – but important – cleaning task}
STEP #1: DO THIS NOW! Shine your sink. She explains how here. {If you do this with me, click on this link and do the steps – it’s THE FOUNDATION FOR THIS PLAN!}
“I know you are ready to get started, but hold your horses, because I don’t want you to crash and burn. We ARE going to begin with a cleaning task. You just have to have faith that this is the best way to start. Your home did not get dirty in a day and it is not going to get clean overnight… It all starts with a shiny sink.”
– Marla Cilley
STEP #2: EACH MORNING: get dressed {look good to feel good} – including putting on “lace up shoes”
{I’m a barefoot kind of girl but must say there’s something about putting on my tennis shoes that gets me going. And a tip from follower: put on good lotion before putting on socks – fab beauty treatment for feet – LOVE!}
STEP #3: “YOU CAN’T ORGANIZE CLUTTER” so spend just 15 minutes a day {actually set a timer!} doing one of the following:
27 Fling Boogie: go around as quickly as possible & get rid of 27 things {“Speed is key” – & immediately after, take box to car for donating / or toss in trash}
Hot Spot Fire Drill: Take care of items in “hot spots”which Marla describes as “an area that, when left unattended, gradually and insidiously takes over your home.” {For example, the dining room table, kitchen counter, chair in bedroom, exercise bike (turned clothing rack)…}
“If you do nothing else besides getting dressed {with lace ups} and spending 15 minutes a day tossing out your clutter, you are going to see major changes in your home and the way you feel about yourself. You can do this by setting a timer and spending the whole session in one area or you can spread it over Hot Spot Fire Drills, Room Rescues, and 27 Fling Boogies.”
– Marla Cilley
Marla also reminds us to:
get good sleep
do something each day for yourself {she devotes a whole chapter on taking care of yourself entitled Running on Empty}
give up going for perfection
take baby steps {it took Marla nine months to really get her routine in place and get to the place like the one described in last post}
Clutter control and cleaning maintenance are two key things I’m focusing on this month but there’s lots more great stuff in both her book, Sink Reflections, and website including:
FlyLady’s 11 commandments: #5 {while SO obvious} is what I’m working on; #7 was a big organizing downfall of mine before I began training in this profession.
the importance of baby steps {this reminds me of a favorite wellness book of mine, Kathy Freston’s Quantam Wellness – it’s the “small, focused changes” you make that will add up to big transformations – this goes for organizing, wellness, so much more…}
