Organize + Energize: 7 Mini Habits That Will Move You Closer to Getting Organized

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Kristin MacRae, GoLocalWorcester Organizing Expert

You can do it now or save it for later. Most of the time if you save it for later, the piles have grown and it’s now going to take you longer to complete. Spend a few minutes tackling it in the moment and save hours on the back end struggling to tackle your task.

Start practicing mini habits and before you know it, they will be incorporated into your everyday life and you’ll be able to accomplish more than you ever thought possible.

I spoke with Craig Perra, J.D., Certified Professional Coach from The Mindful Habit, who empowers men and couples in 17 countries all over the world, and he loves mini habits. He states, "Mini habits change lives. It's that simple. Setting small, ridiculously attainable goals is a powerful tool to create the capacity for your success and move you closer to your goals. The key here is to set small, easily attainable goals that move you towards the result you seek. This concept is so counterintuitive because we are taught to "shoot for the stars" and the result so often is failure. But it works."

Why are you procrastinating? What are you doing at the moment that allows you to be distracted? Are you really too busy?

Here are 7 mini habits you can start now:

Start placing your keys/phone in the same place. Every time you walk in the door, place your keys in a designated spot. You’ll never run late again because you forgot where you placed your keys. Same goes for your phone. Have a designated spot for your phone and practice placing it in the same spot. You have a home for your toothbrush, right? Why not one for your keys and phone.

File receipts. After arriving home from shopping, take receipts out of the car, wallet, or pocketbook. Place them in a monthly pouch, file or envelope. After you get in the habit of doing this, at the end of the month, match your receipts to your statement, staple, and then file. Your monthly pouch will then be empty and ready for you to fill with the current month’s purchases.

Take trash out of your car. Is your car becoming a trash can? Practice taking out your trash every time you get out of the car. You get out and the trash goes with you.

Open mail every day. Take a minute everyday to open your mail. It will take you no time at all to categorize it and decide what to keep, shred, throw away, attach to your to-do list or to file.

Take something out, put it away. It’s very elementary, but how many of you actually do this? You wear a shirt and instead of hanging it back up or putting it in the laundry, it ends up on the floor and before you know it, you have many small piles. Practice taking things out and putting them back.

Keep a running shopping list. If you used the last of the paper towels and know you need more, write it down on a running shopping list. Clear the mental clutter and practice writing things down as you need them. You’ll never have to waste time and struggle again thinking about what you need to purchase.

File papers in the moment. You’ve just paid a bill, but you don’t feel like filing it right now. Why? Take a few seconds and file it. Practice tackling tasks like this that will only take a few seconds. Items like this that get pushed to the side are the tasks that end up taking hours later on.

Craig also states, “Mini habits open the window to success, initially just a little. It allows you to build habits in a very easy non-threatening way. It eliminates (or at least minimizes) the mindset of "it's too hard" or "I don't have enough time." Mini habits allow you to accumulate mini wins that build over time.”

You’ll always hear me say this: You should always break an overwhelming process down into pieces. This is exactly what you are going to do with these mini habits. These tasks don’t seem overwhelming when you break them down into mini habits that are very achievable. Start tackling these mini habits and they will get you one step closer to achieving your organizational goals.

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.