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Last updated on April 8th, 2022 at 09:00 pm
A common thing that happens after people declutter and organize is that all the hard work quickly gets undone. I’d see this with my clients when I first started pro organizing. I’d return to a client’s home for the next session after a week or two only to find the piles back again. There is work to do after you declutter.
You want to be able to maintain the space after you declutter so you don’t have to start from scratch all over again a year …or a month from now.
Here are 3 things to do after you declutter to maintain your newly organized space.
01. Tidy during the day.
If you’ve done the decluttering and organizing right, you should have a place for everything. The way to stay organized is to make a habit of putting things back where they belong.
I like to use what I call a 10-Minute Tidy at various points during my day to put items we’re not using where they belong. Doing this even just twice a day makes it easier to put things away because there won’t be an overwhelming amount of work.
02. Make decisions.
Fight clutter by being proactive in your decision-making. Instead of putting everything into a pile that you’ll get to “later,” set a time to REALLY do it.
For example, I have a CEO Day every Friday where I go through my paper to decide which papers to keep and which ones to shred or recycle.
Making decisions about clutter is part of your post-decluttering routine.
03. Use labels.
If you were the one who organized a space, you know where to put everything. But your family doesn’t.
Add labels to bins, drawers, baskets, even shelves, so that everyone is on the same page and your hard work isn’t wasted.
If staying organized has been a struggle, try implementing these 3 things after you declutter.
Use this 10-Minute Tidy Checklist to make daily tidying up easier.
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