Every story has a plot – a design or setup to an outcome. If there is no plot, the story doesn’t go in a direction to an end.
So let’s say that we want to create our story of getting organized, and we have a plan: “to get organized.” We would need to develop an outline, of sorts, to layout the plan and know our course of action.
Once we have the basic game plan to get organized, we can make projections of the time frame this story plays out. It might be a day, a week, maybe even a month as to when our story begins to when it ends.
But time isn’t what’s really important in the plot, although we don’t want the story to go on endlessly. It’s more about the tactical steps we take in this undertaking.
As we start out, the plot begins to unfold. Now we can see things more clearly, and the “characters” in the plot (the items of clutter) take on new meanings. Usually, they end up having no meaning at all!.
The thing to watch out for in the story is that there is a climax – a point where things reach a maximum pinnacle or utmost turning point.
With clutter, it’s typically the mess we make while going through the process of getting organized. Yet, another circumstance might be that you don’t have a place to put all that clutter you’ve gathered up.
Tensions rise. What do we do with the stuff?!
Well, we find a place for the stuff, or we get rid of the stuff. That’s the resolution to the end of the story.
For those of us who work from home or work remotely, we need to ensure our work space is not only functional, but enjoyable as well.
It goes without saying that clutter is the biggest enemy of an office. So, get rid of it first and foremost.
Now, I don’t usually write dated posts (time sensitive material), however this subject comes to you at this time because of the COVID-19 self-quarantine mandates which have sent a lot of people home to work remotely.
I’ll be getting into some of the essentials you need (and probably already have) for working remotely, but first I want to get into home office aesthetics.
Make your surroundings smile at you
Your office should be a happy office space. As for me personally, I love to surround myself with things that say, “This is me” – Things that I love and things I like to look at when I glance up from my computer.
As you’ll see from my own office photos (below), I love film-making and old Hollywood movies, so I have old movie posters on my walls, a couple movie clapboards, a film reel wall hook, even a director’s chair with an authentic Warner Bro’s back rest showing it once belonged to Clark Gable.
Other things I love which have a more functional nature include some not-so-typical office supplies. Like me, you could also find a decorative receptacle to hold your pens instead of a typical pen holder. Or a nice looking tray basket for your mail and/or paper instead of plastic trays. And why not use some pretty storage suitcases or bins to store office stuff in?
I love adding fresh cut flowers in the office space too. Live plants can lift the spirit of the room, as well. And let’s not forget some aromatic scents, like candles or a diffusion of essential oils.
Get the point? Put your personality and tastes into the work space and you’ll feel much better in it. As a matter of fact, the moment I did a recent office makeover, I find that I really like to be in there a lot more now. Go figure.
Okay, so now let’s get into some of what you need to work remotely …
Remote office essentials
Working remotely requires a different set of resources and tools. It would seem to me that you’re pretty much operating with what you need at this time, so I don’t want to elaborate a whole lot here. But I’ll give you a checklist anyway.
Equipment
Computer / laptop (duh!)
Printer, scanner, copier (an all-in-one machine is a good choice)
WiFi / High speed Internet
Surge protector
External hard drive
Noise canceling headphones
Shredder
Productivity
Platform used by your co-workers or clients
Cloud-based storage
Adequate software needs
Good communication technology (like email, Skype, Zoom, etc.)
Adherence to a schedule and routines
Office Space
A dedicated room or area
Comfortable chair (ideally an ergonomics chair)
Good lighting
File cabinet
Fire-safe box or case
Desktop supply and file holders
Tray baskets
Bulletin board
Sufficient storage for office materials / supplies
These are by no means meant to be a comprehensive guide on working remotely, but I hope it helps anyway.
By having what you need and having what you LOVE, you should now be complete.
Imagine, if you will, walking into your home and getting a sense of calm and serenity and complete delight with your environment. Everything in front of you is pleasing; everything you look at makes you happy.
That zone of comfort and delight is what brings joy. And that zone is The Organized Zone.
Unlike my short-lived TV series, Disorganized Zone (available on Netflix) that made a 1-season debut, the zone I’m talking about here is quite the opposite. Because, in the Organized Zone, the outcome of our day is predictable and doesn’t have the hiccups like that in the Disorganized Zone.
In the Organized Zone, we get more things done, we have more time for ourselves, we are able to keep up with responsibilities and tasks, things like that. Top that off with a uncluttered spaces and you’ve got a happier, more functional person.
For those of you who find yourself in the opposite zone, let me see if I can help you get to the other side.
First, try to envision what you want your area to look and feel like. Picture it it your mind with as much clarity as you can muster. I think it’s best to stand in the non-optimum room you want to fix while doing this and close your eyes as you envision it.
By mentally redecorating your area, you can clearly visualize the ideal look and feel you want that room to have. It actually comes to life in your mind.
Follow this exercise with writing down everything in your vision – every detail that your vision came up with. It could be some new furniture pieces, a room cleared of clutter and debris that doesn’t belong there, a new wall color, maybe even some new accent furnishings.
I did this with someone who wanted a complete makeover in her family room. She was extremely unhappy with the space and asked me to do a makeover. Yet she had no idea what she wanted it to look like after the transformation (except it being clutter-free, of course).
In order to draw out a vision for this room, we first had to determine what kind of atmosphere and surroundings she would like to be in the most. It turned out that it was a medieval castle!
Well, I wasn’t expecting that, needless to say. However, I went with that and dived in further.
I wrote down what she envisioned the room to look like, every detail I could get out of her. I then drew up a room plan and, with her blessing, I went shopping. It was more of a treasure hunt actually, due to some of the pieces I had to find!
I found everything we wanted except for a desk unit, because the ones I saw would not go with the vibe of the room she envisioned. So I designed it myself and had it custom made. Thank goodness this expense fit within her budget!
Clearing out everything in her family room for the makeover was easy – she wasn’t going to keep anything in it except the TV. So I had a clean slate to work with.
Walls were faux-painted, new curtains were hung, the TV was draped in velvet fabric for a theater-styled enclosure, new furniture got placed strategically, and home accent pieces adorned the area, including the wrought iron floor candelabras.
I’d like to claim it was my masterpiece, but it was actually hers – she designed it with her vision and I just carried it out to the specifications of that vision.
I wish I kept the Before-After photos of this project, but it was a long time ago and those pictures got lost in a digital black hole.
My whole point in that scenario is that here was someone who had an area she didn’t like and transformed it. She not only stepped into The Organized Zone by clearing out all clutter from it, she stepped into her little slice of heaven.
Whenever you’re ready to create your own slice of heaven in your spaces, this just might help you to get started. Happy adventures doing so!
Habits, routines, bla, bla, bla, yadda-yadda. How many times do we hear those words and yet fail to fully understand the concept behind them?
I’m guessing these are just words that some of us don’t really take wholeheartedly (or enthusiastically) in the scheme of our daily life.
Whereas a routine is a regular course of procedure, a habit is an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary (as defined in Merriam-Webster dictionary).
Heaven-forbid, I hope I haven’t lost you in the defining details!
Hate ’em or love ’em, habits and routines do help in managing some of our regular activities. So I’m here to give you a few guidelines that involve being organized that will help put some sanity in your life.
So I’m going to talk about one of the key rules of organizing: Put things away where they belong when done using them.
Everything should have a place, a home, in which it belongs. Our clothes belong in the closet; our books belong on a designated shelf; our kitchen dishes belong in the kitchen cabinet, and so forth.
Beyond that, dirty clothes belong in the hamper; dirty dishes go in the dishwasher or sink to be washed; and books we’re reading belong in a reading spot.
That said, the rule of putting things away applies to just about anything and everything we have around.
In bringing in the mail, for example, it should have a specific place to go (that isn’t on a dining table or end table or plopped on any piece of furniture. Tossing mail to conveniently avoid putting it in its “home” will only build up clutter and extra anxiety later on.
Then there’s the case of putting items in a certain “holding” place and not completing the action to get that item into its proper home.
I’m talking about dirty dishes in this scenario. I know some people who hate washing dishes and pile up dirty dishes in one side of the sink and on the counter for days. Although that is the spot for dirty dishes, the routine would have to include actually washing them (and putting them away) on a daily basis to avoid pile-up.
I’ve probably elaborated enough on the rule to put things away, so I’ll move on to making that habit into a routine.
Simply put, it’s a good idea to incorporate the habit of putting things away into the routine of doing it on a regular or daily basis.
When I’m done with a meal, I make it a routine to clean up the kitchen before I move on to something else. In other words, I don’t actually start something else until I’m done with kitchen cleanup.
And with laundry, when I’m done with washing and drying the clothes, I make it a routine to put my clothes away where they belong before doing something else. The clean clothes don’t sit around for hours or days to get put away – they are done as part of the laundry activity.
My life is calmer as a result of having routines that involve finishing the activities I start. That means I get some sanity in the areas I put attention on.
Get the idea?
Well, give it a try and see how your life goes. You never know how it will change your well being by following this one simple organizing rule.
As we find ourselves staying more at home during the Covid-19 virus quarantine, I wanted to come up with a 5-Day Room Makeover Challenge to help occupy your time at home.
We’ve been so busy and in a hurry that things at home start accumulating and piling up into what becomes clutter. It gets to the point where sometimes we don’t even notice the mess after it’s been around for awhile.
Now that a lot of us are stuck at home due to the Corona virus, you’re also stuck in the mess we created. So this is my challenge for you to take the time to do something about that.
Start with picking out a room that’s frowning at you. Then look around it. Take photos, even a video of it.
Each day for 5 days, tackle those rooms you’re not happy with. Some rooms may take more than a day and some rooms won’t need your attention at all. If you get this challenge done in a day or two, that’s great! Well done!
Post your before pictures as well as your after pictures in the comments below and let’s do this together!
Note: Also share this Challenge on Facebook and Instagram – follow at:
Gather up anything that is out of place in a room and put those items away. If you have a lot of things around to gather up, put them in a bin and put away after you’re done gathering.
TIP #2:
Go through any “STUFF” bins that you’ve gathered up from the room you’re organizing and decide if you’re keeping it, if it needs a “home” (because you didn’t have a place for it yet), and categorize the items – clothing, books and magazine, etc. – into other bins or bags.
TIP #3:
Go online and shop for any storage solutions you may need to provide “homes” for items that haven’t had a nice home to live in. If it’s visible storage, make sure it fits in with your decor.
TIP #4:
Donate or toss anything you don’t use, don’t need, don’t like, etc. Try to get rid of all the excess items we tend to keep and streamline your belongings.
TIP #5
Refresh your de-cluttered room with new paint, new throw pillows, new art, whatever will make you happier in that space.
In the ideal world of having stuff, we would be able to have all the stuff we want in the spaces we have. Yet, in the real world this isn’t always the case for those of us who have small spaces and not enough storage.
I’ve seen overcrowded bookshelves with more books than can fit on the shelves. I’ve seen clothes closets so jammed with clothes that you can hardly pull out a piece of clothing. I’ve dealt with stuffed food cabinets, jam-packed file cabinets, cramped linen closets, packed cleaning supply spaces, over-flowing hair and makeup products, more DVDs and CDs than you can listen to in half a lifetime, you name it.
Essentially, I’ve seen more stuff loaded into spaces that just aren’t able to fit them all.
Often times, the spill over of stuff ends up in other areas. That’s not a terrible thing if you have other areas to house the stuff. But that’s just wishful thinking to many of us.
So I’m going to bring up yet another organizing rule (the other rule is about time covered in my article Good Organizing Habits To Keep Your Sanity). This rule is: Fit items in the space allowed for those items without over-crowding the space.
What does this mean for those jammed areas of stuff? Well, simply put, it means to thin out the herd, to get rid of some stuff. It means going through those crowded areas of stuff and deciding what we can live without.
At one time my linen closet contained numerous blankets that I think I was collecting and saving for a guest-army sleepover. It wasn’t until a disaster hit another country resulting in supplies, like blankets, becoming in dire need.
So I went through my blankets and sundry of throws and began to fill a rather sufficient donate bag. When I was done, I had left myself enough blankets to accommodate weather change blankets and one for the guest bed. And my closet looked GREAT when I was done, the now perfect fit for my blankets! Who knew?!
Not only that, but it felt good to donate stuff that I really didn’t need but others needed. I feel the same way about donating to other places as well because people can find second-hand goods they need or want at half the normal retail cost. So, I’m contributing to a good cause when I’m getting rid of my stuff.
Okay, I may have gotten a little off topic on donating stuff, yet I felt it was relevant in what we can do with the stuff we’re getting rid of. I certainly don’t want you to box it up and store it! Please!
And that brings me to my last point on this subject – don’t store what you don’t use (unless it’s important papers or photos). Storage areas, like a garage or attic, should only contain archival boxes. For example, if you’re storing dishware that you don’t use, ask yourself, “Why?”
Space for most of us is a valuable commodity. Use it well without over-using its capacity. A freed-up space is a happier space, and that happiness bounces right back to you.
Making changes in your life can either be disruptive or settling or both. Some changes are forced upon us while other changes are self-imposed. Either way, we need to deal with it, or it will deal with us.
I like to look at change as a new chapter in my life. I’ve moved many times, I’ve gone through a divorce, and I’ve had loss of jobs, like many of you. I believe it’s how we tackle those kind of changes that makes a difference in how we move forward and how we feel at the end of the day.
One lady I met recently was going through a divorce with a bad husband, foreclosure on her large, spacious home and having to move to a much smaller space. I helped her with holding a large moving sale and getting rid of 85% of her belongings to be able to fit into the smaller apartment she was going into. It was heart-breaking, to put it mildly.
While I was working with her, she was quite depressed at first. I offered whatever encouraging words I could find to help her get through this transition and, by the end of the sale, she was looking ahead at a new future and the next chapter in her life.
I wanted to share this story because her attitude shifted from the feeling of despair over her life changes and reflecting over the past to being hopeful while anticipating and planning her future.
Her next chapter included a fresh start, a new beginning. The burdens of up-keeping a large home on her own and dealing with a bad husband were behind her. And it’s how she shifted her point of view that helped her look forward, not behind.
There was once a reality TV show called CLEAN SWEEP that would empty a cluttered up room or entire house of its belongings and have the owners look through their stuff to decide what to keep, donate, and sell. Then they would have a yard sale followed by creating a new look inside the home.
It was a fresh start. A new look. A way to begin the next chapter of living with a clean slate. It’s quite therapeutic actually. People feel better; they feel happier in their new space.
So if you’re feeling stuck or unhappy in your environment, you can do something about it without it doing something to you first. Maybe that’s the time for a clean sweep in your space and a fresh start with a new look.
I propose taking a look at what you want to change in your environment and then taking steps to change it. And always try to look at the bright side of change – that it’s going to be better, and it’s going to be better because you’ve decided so.
The most common issue I’ve come across with people who want to get organized is that they just don’t know where to start. Usually the case is when things get so out of control that the task becomes overwhelming.
Now, in order to determine where to begin, we first have to observe the surrounding area that we want to tackle. Just “looking” at the area and saying to yourself, “Urgh, this is a mess!” is not enough to deal with it, although it’s a good semi-starting point.
The real place to begin is to fully observe the room or space you want to organize. That means to examine things and try to find the underlying cause for the clutter, such as:
Clothes are piled on the floor which are dirty and have accumulated there instead of the clothes hamper to be washed.
Reason: You might find that the hamper is full, or just not placed in a convenient spot to easily toss dirty clothing.
Solution: wash clothes more often and/or place hamper in a better spot and/or get a larger hamper.
Papers are spread out all over the dining table and cannot be used to eat at anymore.
Reason: Your home office area is cluttered, therefore you needed a place to work on current bills, etc.
Solution: Organize the office area first (using same observation methods) and then incorporate the papers from the dining table into the organized office.
Hobbies, project stuff, and/or kid toys are lying around and cluttering up the room.
Reason: Bad habits of not putting things away where they belong resulted in the accumulation of stuff in common areas.
Solution: Get things put away, then establish a routine of cleaning up the area by putting things away when done using them.
And so on, and so forth.
After observing the area or space, you should pretty much know what needs to be done. However just putting things away may not be enough.
By that I mean, we may need to determine better solutions for our stuff, like what “organizing tools” can be used to get organized with. For example, if paper gets out of control, find tools to handle the flow of paper and the paper itself . This could be tray baskets, desktop file organizers, etc.
Observing something is actually confronting what is in front of you, and that is why it’s the first step to getting organized. When we don’t confront something, it’s easy to ignore it, or not even see it at all.
Try the challenge of taking that first step in getting organized. I say challenge, because it’s essentially a start to getting organized and that can be a daunting thought!
My recent article on time – Finding Time To Organize Your Home – was sort of my lighthearted attempt to guide you in finding time to get things done. So now I want to follow that with the plan of making time.
I’ll start with using the comparison to making a meal – we plan what we’re going to eat that night, we make sure to have all the ingredients we need for the meal or recipe we’re preparing, then we proceed to actually make the meal.
The preparations into making the meal help us in expediting how fast we can get this meal done. So therefore, let’s apply that with making time.
As a note, although I’ve thought about this in the past as brushing thoughts, this is the first time I’ve sat down to examine the idea of making time, so please bear with me. I’m actually creating my this concept as we go along.
Now, for the sake of this topic, I’d like to examine routines and how we can shorten them to make time.
In the morning we get up and get ready for work, school, or whatever. We pick out the clothes we want to wear, we eat breakfast, we probably take our vitamins, and so on.
If we were to save just a few minutes of time doing something, we’d actually be making time for something else, especially time for ourselves. See how that works?
Let’s take our morning routine and see how we can shorten it a bit …
Instead of picking out clothes to wear in the morning, why not try picking out your clothes the night before? That could save an average of 5 minutes in the morning for a lot of us.
And breakfast – try a few recipes that you can make ahead, like omelette muffins, which is a favorite of mine. You may have seen these type of muffins at Starbucks where they have egg bites. I like to mix some of my favorite omelette ingredients into muffin pans and pour beaten eggs into them. I store them in the fridge and pop them in the oven for a few minutes in the morning. Check out my recipe for Keto Egg Muffin Cups: http://yummyketorecipes.com/keto-egg-muffin-cups/
Yes, I do cooking videos, too.
Okay, anyway … so then there’s taking vitamins. I presort my vitamins into daily pill organizers (marking the day of the week). This way I just dump the day’s vitamins into my mouth and that’s it. I think I save another 5 minutes doing this.
So now I’ve now saved several minutes doing some preparations ahead of time. This means I’ve now MADE TIME for something else. And that brings me to the subject of this article which is making time for yourself. Whatever way you choose to use it, it’s for yourself. See?
Shortening our routines is just one way to make more time for ourselves. The processes in which we do things, like work, is yet another way.
Clearing off your desk when you’re done working at it is an example of streamlining our work process because, when we start work the next day, we have a clear desk to work on.
I could get into a number of ways you can shorten the tasks you do, but I’m hoping you get the idea by now and can find creative ways to make time.
I hope this gives you a start in doing that. I’d love if you shared what you’ve done in the comments.
Time is a funny thing. We loose it, we can’t keep up with it, we run out of it, and we just can’t seem to manage it.
We also use time as an excuse why we can’t get things done that we want to get done. I myself tend to blame time on a number of activities that I intended to do but didn’t get to doing.
There’s still hope in getting things done and defeating the time monster.
Here, our challenge is to find time. But, in order to find it, we would have had to lost it first. Makes sense, right?
Wrong. We are perfectly capable of finding time without it ever having been lost in the first place. Because it exists somewhere, and we just need to go looking for it.
It’s sort of like the game “hide and seek” where someone hides and then you have to go find them. Time is similar. It seems to hide from us and all we have to do is go find it.
Take your typical day, for example. Some routines exist, like what we do in the morning before work, or how we go about preparing daily meals, or whatever it is that we do regularly. We’ve obviously made sure to set aside some time in doing these activities.
Maybe organizing hasn’t been an essential task to take on, so therefore you don’t need time to devote to it. However, if you’re reading this, I doubt if that’s your case.
Keeping an organized home is an essential activity for your well being and your stress levels. Therefore, let’s see how we can find that elusive commodity we call time.
Time lurks in the crevices of our day. It’s often hidden between other activities we’re engaging in. But it’s there.
Once we’ve taken a glimpse of any time available to us, we can then reserve that time. Think of it as making a dinner reservation and schedule it before something else takes that time slot.
You don’t have to call this a home organizing appointment. Call it something more fun, like “My well being project” or “My creative time” or “Cure clutter blues” or whatever you like.
So after you’ve found time and scheduled what you want to do in that time, you’ll want to do what you can to use it. Yes, using time is part of the equation.
You can set reminders, you can do what needs to be done to prepare for that time, and you can keep that time in your face so that it doesn’t slip by.
So simple, yet so hard to do. Yes? But trust me, when you want to get something done, this is how you do it.
