Organize + Energize: 4 Ways to Maintain Your Organized Space

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Kristin MacRae, GoLocalWorcester Organizing Expert

You’ve just completed an organizing project and you stand back and admire what a great job you’ve accomplished. You’ve worked really hard to complete this project, but now the real work begins. Decluttering, itemizing, categorizing and setting up your working organized systems are only half of the process when you are getting organized. The real work occurs when you need to follow through with your systems and maintain your organization. How many times have you completed an organizing project and failed to maintain it?

Here are 4 ways to maintain your organization.

Be mindful. You walk into your home with a handful of mail. Are you going to throw it on the table with the rest of the unopened mail? You’ve just arrived home from shopping and have receipts in hand. Are you going to shove them in a drawer? When you walk into your home, be mindful of what you have in your hand and take one minute to think about how you are going to process it. You’ll walk in your home, drop your keys and phone in their designated spot and have a process to handle your mail and anything else you need to handle.

Tackle it now. Would you rather spend hours tackling months’ worth of mail or would you rather take one minute to handle it and not have to look at it again? I hope you said the latter. You will make your life much less complicated if you take the time to tackle it right away than spend countless hours on it down the road. The more you accumulate in the form of paper and clutter, the more overwhelmed you will get and you’ll get further away from maintaining your organization. Don’t let the piles get out of control. Handle it in the moment and you’ll have a handle on maintaining your organization.

Simple systems. Create a process and a system for everything you do in your home. The simpler the system, the more likely you’ll be able to follow it. People think they need to create these elaborate systems. The more complicated the system, the more likely it will fail. You want to be as efficient and productive as possible. If it takes you 5 steps to tackle a project when it can be tackled in 2 steps, why not simplify? You’ll be more likely to maintain your organization if simple systems are in place.

Choosing the right organizing products. You have to have the right organizing products in place if you are going to maintain your systems. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on organizing products. How much money have you wasted on products you didn’t even need or products that didn’t work well with your system? You can’t maintain a system, if the organizing products don’t work. It’s impossible to function with a broken system. Function with a simple system using the right products and your system will be easy to maintain.

There are many reasons why you don’t follow through with your organized systems. Call it laziness, lack of motivation to keep it organized, or you are too busy to keep up with it. You’ve worked so hard to create those working organized systems. Make a plan and put it into motion and strive to maintain that organized space.

Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune into her weekly radio show, Organize, Energize! on talkstreamradio.com.

Related Slideshow: 10 Minute Organizing Projects

Declutter and Organize

Prev Next

Spices

As you take all of the spices out of the cabinet, check for expiration dates and smell for potency. Categorize and itemize your spices to how you utilize them. Contain them in a spice rack that fits the space where they are kept. Don’t purchase a spice rack until you are finished organizing. You want to measure the space and make sure the rack fits and holds all of your spices. There are a variety of spice racks out there. Choose the one that best suits what you need it to hold.

Prev Next

Makeup

How many items do you touch in the morning to find what you need? You want to be as efficient as possible in the morning and having your makeup organized will be a big time saver. Do you have difficulty deciding what to keep or toss? When is it time to throw away makeup? Aline Sarkis, a Providence, RI-based makeup artist, states lipstick can be used for 2 years or until it starts to smell like a crayon. Mascara is good for 2-3 months. Eye shadow is good for 2 years and foundation is good for 1-2 years. Aline also states that some makeup and skincare will be marked with an expiration date of 6-12 months. Begin counting once you start using the product

Prev Next

Women: Purse

Depending on the size of your purse, and what you keep in your purse, this may take you a little longer than 10 minutes. Empty the entire contents of the purse on a table. Declutter, categorize, and itemize the contents. Break this process down and take it one category at a time. Develop a system going forward so the inside of your purse doesn’t look like a cyclone hit it. Contain receipts, gift cards, money, and makeup.

Prev Next

Men: Wallet

It’s time to empty all of the receipts out of your wallet. Do you also store receipts and random items in your car? While you are tackling this project, head over to your vehicle and declutter the center console and glove compartment.

Prev Next

Underwear drawer

If you aren’t using drawer organizers, you should start now. They are very inexpensive and will maximize the space in the drawer. How many of you wear the same item over and over again? With drawer organizers in place, you will be able to see everything you own and can categorize and itemize. Nothing will ever get pushed to the bottom of the drawer again.

Prev Next

Under the bathroom sink

If you haven’t taken everything out of this area in awhile, you may find some scary items under the sink. Empty the contents, itemize, and categorize. Throw away anything that you can’t recognize. Contain items in containers that fit the space like a puzzle. Once again, utilizing containers will maximize the space and allow you to store more items. Develop a simple system where you can locate items and locate them quickly.

Prev Next

Pets

Ninety percent of my clients have a pet. It’s time to organize their belongings. Medicine, leashes, bandanas, clothes, dishes, food, etc. Take this time to also organize any paper work related to your pet. Set up a filing system for your pet. Keep their medical records, rabies and vaccination information categorized in these files.

Prev Next

Junk drawer

Nobody says you can’t have a junk drawer. Junk drawers can be organized. You just have to think about if you need everything in this drawer and if there is a better place to store the items. Remember, store like items together. If you have tools in the junk drawer, maybe you should keep them with the tools in the basement.

Prev Next

Office supply drawer

So many people have office supply drawers that are out of control. Money is wasted on purchasing duplicate office supplies. It’s very difficult to figure out what you need to purchase if items are scattered all over the office and are disorganized.

Prev Next

Top of your office desk

If you can’t see the top of your desk, take this time to focus on this area and categorize and itemize what is there. Do you have a working filing system in place? If so, once your desk is cleared, make a habit of filing once a day or a couple of times a week. If your system isn’t working for you, it may be time for you to re-evaluate your system and make it work for the way you function.