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Last updated on September 20th, 2024 at 03:24 pm
What’s the secret to keeping everything organized? I could give you a million suggestions for systems and processes, but none of them would do any good unless you changed your habits.
That’s right. Your habits have more to do with the secret to organizing than anything else.
Habits are SO HARD. There are entire books written about creating and breaking habits. But the more I learn about them, the more I’m convinced that habits are the key to organizing success.
There are two habits you should start using now if you’re serious about keeping everything organized. What are they? Decision making and doing it right away.
Decision making
The habit that causes the most clutter is putting off decisions. If you can’t decide where to put something, it will most likely end up becoming clutter. I’ve seen those procrastinated decisions spread all over kitchen counters, in giant tubs of school work, and in closets bursting at the seams.
If you want the clutter to stop piling up, start making decisions right away. Make a habit of tossing the junk mail immediately instead of setting down on the counter. Decide now exactly where all those sewing supplies your mom brought over will live instead of leaving it all sitting out in the hallway.
If you can’t make a decision right now, set those things aside in a special place and set aside 10-60 minutes each week to decide. This works really well with paper, especially if you’re using an actionable paper file. But then you have to make a habit of setting aside the time to make those decisions.
Expert Peter Walsh said, “Later is the best friend of clutter.” Truer words have never been spoken. Decide now, friend, and watch those piles disappear!
Do things right away
The one-minute rule could change your life. And it kinda ties in with the decision-making rule. Actually, it should help with that rule.
If it takes you less than one minute to do something, just do it right then. When all those little one-minute or less tasks start to accumulate and pile up throughout the day …well, I’m sure you’ve seen the results: a train wreck.
Training yourself to do little things, like putting things away as soon as you’re done using them, will make a huge impact on how your house looks and it will definitely help with keeping everything organized.
For example, say you’re making yourself a snack of apples and almond butter and you leave the knife, cutting board, and almond butter out on the counter. Then your kids come home from school and dump their papers, lunch boxes, and random junk all over the same counter. Then it’s time to make dinner, so you throw the cookbook and all the spices and supplies you need for dinner on the same counter.
What are you left with?
A mess. A big mess that will probably take you around 20-30 minutes to clean up.
If you had taken a minute to just put things away as soon as you were done with them, it would have saved so much time! (And it probably would save you from nagging the kids and hearing them complain.)
Little things add up! You’ll be surprised how quickly your house will transform when you start doing things right away!
The Secret’s Out
The key to keeping everything organized isn’t really in the systems. It’s in the habits you build up. A great resource for learning about strategies for making better habits is Gretchen Rubin’s book Better Than Before. There are so many great examples of how to work with your personality to build better habits.
So, to recap, if you want to keep everything organized make decisions immediately and start doing things right away. I promise it will cut down on the clutter and piles around your house!
Use this 10-Minute Tidy Checklist to help you build habits for a tidier home.
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