How Does It Work

When you create a habit from a new behavior, with repetition, that behavior consequently becomes automatic. Think about the hundreds of actions we take during the day unquestionably without thinking about them. Brushing your teeth, making your coffee, getting in the car. You don’t even think about it. You automatically do these things without thinking about them because they have become habits. To stay organized we need to form good habits to keep those spaces tidy. Emphatically sticking to good habits over time will certainly build phenomenal long-term results (on the flip side, repeated bad habits over time will do the opposite– yikes)!

1. Make Your Bed Each Morning

You’ve no doubtedly heard about the benefits of making your bed every day. Studies show that accomplishing a task first thing in the morning, like making your bed, sets the tone for your day. Completing a task also triggers the release of dopamine, known as the accomplishment chemical.

We get it, it’s easy to skip making your bed. I mean, you’re just going to get into bed again that night anyway, so why bother? Trust us, making your bed is a gateway to other good habits. If you’re not already a bed-maker, we challenge you to try it for 7 days, and see what happens.  More than creating a tidy bedroom, you’ll start your day on a positive note by accomplishing a task bright and early. 

2. Ten Minute Tidy!

Tidying your home at the end of the day is the perfect way to bookend your day for success. Having a neat house before your head hits the pillow puts you in the right mindset for keeping the rest of life organized. Put some good music on and set a timer for 10 minutes. Then, with focus and determination, pick up items around the house and put them away. Get the family involved! Make it a game. If you don’t have 10 min – do 5 min. The point is to consistently show up, so you create the habit. You’ll be amazed at the results.

3. Complete Your Tasks

We certainly all live busy lives, juggling different roles and responsibilities. Maybe you’re making lunch for your kids and as soon as you give them their plates, then you realize that you forgot to respond to that email. So, you head to your computer, answer the email will simultaneously pinning a couple of things on Pinterest – and you forget all about the  mess you left in the kitchen from making lunch!

The habit to create here is to retrain yourself to complete one task before moving onto another one.  Keep a notepad out and write down the task that popped into your brain. Meanwhile, complete the job you’re working on, then move to the task you wrote down. We also love Alexa or Google home to help you remember tasks. Because, let’s face it, if your hands are full of peanut butter and jelly, it’s hard to write something down.

4. Follow the One In, One Out Rule

This one is pretty self-explanatory – if you bring in something new, remove something old. If you master this simple habit, you won’t further accumulate unnecessary items and clutter. Equally your items will stay balanced, and chaos won’t creep back into your home. If it feels like you are constantly organizing, reorganizing, and moving things around your home – the issue might just be that (truth bomb coming…) you generally have too much stuff. After you do a good edit, follow the one-in-one-out method and keep the clutter out!

5. Stay on Top of Paperwork

UGH!! Paperwork is the worst. It unquestionably accumulates quickly and without a system in place it, not surprisingly, turns into chaos! Start small, start with the mail. Put the junk mail in the trash or shredder right away. Then, for your important mail try using clear paper trays – one for action, one for events, maybe one for each person in the family, whatever works for your life.  Once the mail system is in place, maintaining all that paper will be much easier! Therefore all you have to do is focus on building the habit of using that system, putting all that incoming paperwork in its respective home straightaway. 

6. Take Things One Step at a Time

How do you eat an elephant? Obviously one bite at a time until it’s gone. See where we’re going with this? Consequently the same thinking applies to decluttering your home. In other words, organizing your entire house is a huge task, one that can likewise feel overwhelming and even paralyzing. So, break things down into manageable chunks. Start small, and shortly you’ll gain the momentum to transform your space. Check out our recent blog post Start Small When Organizing Your Home for more information on how to tackle those small spaces. Eventually you’ll get there, one step at a time!

7. Ditch Comparison

Lastly on our list, but arguably the most important rule of living a more organized life – go easy on yourself! It’s surprisingly easy to compare our progress to others. Trouble is – everybody’s life is different. We each have different lifestyles, responsibilities, energy, focus, ways of thinking and of course, amounts of stuff! Your life is unique and special, and creating habits that support how you live will make it more likely that you actually stick to these habits.

Living an organized life doesn’t have to be overwhelming! Specifically when you build new habits, slowly and consistently. Overall keep things simple. Once you’ve created the new habit, you’ll basically be on your way to a more organized life.

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