What stage of organization is your home in?

Let’s talk about getting organized.

In my experience I have found 3 levels of organization ~ or disorganization. ~ depending on how you look at it.

Overwhelmed
Looking for Systems & Routines
Maintenance & Repair

These stages are not static. You can progress from one to the other and back again. It’s a lot like finding your ideal weight, being debt free or the level of cleanliness you prefer in your home. There is no one right answer.

Overwhelmed

Just by reading this blog I know you desire to more organized. For some of us the thought of being organized is downright overwhelming for a lot of reasons:

You don’t have the time, or the perceived time, to get the job done.
You don’t know where to start.
You’ve tried in the past, but it didn’t work.
So many areas of your life are out of whack – what’s on more!
You desire to be organized, but circumstances beyond your control leave that priority off the ‘to do’ list.

I COMPLETELY understand! I have lived in a state of being overwhelmed for about 3 years. There was literally nothing I could do about it at the time and I just had to push through.

When the season was over, I devoted the whole season of lent to getting my “home” back.

If this is you…this year I will give you strategies and tasks to help over the course of the year bring your home into a more organized state.

Looking for Systems & Routines

I have been in this stage of organization since my second kiddo was born! Children have a way of making chaos out of any calm. My entrepreneurial lifestyle creates more ‘to do’ lists and ‘projects’ that add to that chaos.

Toys

I was not the kind of mom who put all their children’s toys away 3 times a day when they were little. I let the mess get to be a ‘project’ and then tackled it in a day. {I also do laundry in one day}

Each time I cleaned the bigger mess, I could see what the kids are playing with and create better storage solutions.

Kitchens

The kitchen is a great example of this. When you go through your cabinets and pantry you can find lots of foods you used to eat, but don’t anymore. As the seasons change so do our favorite foods.

The same goes for appliances and serving dishes. Some like the microwave and your main serving dishes are uses over and over. But others like the coffee pot gets replaced with a Kurig maker and you keep the coffee pot ~ why?

I can understand if you have parties or family over and will need a bigger pot of coffee, but I was just at a party for 40 and they used just the Kurig.

I’m sure you are voicing your opinion on this and that is EXACTLY what I want you to do in this stage. Once the clutter is gone, I want you to analyze WHY you have what you have left and then… create better systems

Routines

I would say the most universal routine is the morning routine. I’m not saying the routine is the same for everyone, I am saying most people HAVE one. It is in tweaking the routines and adding more systems to your day that you can save hours of time and frustration!

For me ~ knowing that I do laundry on Monday and Thursday allows me to not worry when I see mountains of laundry on Wednesday night. I have a plan to get it done.

If this is you…this year I will give you strategies and tasks to help over the course of the year bring your home into a more organized state by creating systems and routines that add hours to your family’s day!

Maintenance and Repair

This final stage of organization has eluded me for 13 years… hmmm how old is my son this week? Oh, yeah, 13!

I remember back to the pre-kid days of my life when I knew where stuff was and it wasn’t broken when I found it. It’s been a long time coming, but I am finally de-cluttered and have awesome functioning systems. I am ready to maintain what I have done and repair neglected areas of my home.

As I lead you through every area of our homes this year I will be looking at what needs repainted, what I need to replace and maintaining the systems I have set up.

If this is you…this year I will give you strategies and tasks to help over the course of the year tweak your home to be the best it can be.

So are you ready? It all starts with PURGING and we will tackle that tomorrow.

Get Organized for 2013