Spring Cleaning: Organizational Strategies

Corresponding video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyCe5MtQW2g I must admit, I’ve never read Marie Kondo’s, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I’ve also never seen her new hit show (available on Netflix), Tidying Up.

I have used Making Lemonade’s free printable as a guide for organizing for myself and You Times Two’s Organizational Assistance Service (www.facebook.com/YouXTwo). Making Lemonade has a lot of great tips, tricks, and suggestions that can be found here: https://makinglemonadeblog.com/free-printable-decluttering-konmari-method-checklist/

An organization overhaul need not be a painstaking, time consuming, drudgery! Be encouraged! I would encourage you to either pick a room to use this process on or pick a week (or two… or eight) and do a one time overhaul of the house as a whole by category.

Make a commitment to yourself RIGHT NOW that from the time you start this process until your dying day, you will do your best to keep up with it. Sure, life has ups and downs. There will be children, weddings, emergencies, sickness, and deaths… but if you have a system in place, catching up is a lot easier than inventing and implementing.

I began my organizational system when I was 21 years old and have maintained it through all the ups and downs that I have faced over the last 10 years. Every year, I try to find ways to improve it. I’ve had to do little overhauls, but nothing major. I’ve moved eight times since starting an organized lifestyle and generally use my moves to do a full overhaul and pair down (don’t worry, I have no plans to move again!).

I’ve lived in my current home for four years and found at the 3 year mark, it was time for another overhaul. Life changes (wedding, baby, divorce, death) can also be a choice time for pairing down.

The info graph is very self explanatory and Making Lemonade does a great job of explaining the process. There are many YouTube videos online that will also go through the process. For the rest of this post, I’d like to talk about a few recommendations I have for you as you take on the organizational journey and why I like this particular process.

Don’t do it alone: I have found that many of my clients do not use my organizational services because they don’t know how to put items in an order. Sure, they may want suggestions or input here and there, but it’s nothing they can’t google. The reason they hire You Times Two for organizational or time coaching is because they want the accountability and the emotional support to achieve the goal of an organized and efficiently designed home life. Whether you choose to use You Times Two (www.facebook.com/youxtwo), another service, or a friend, I HIGHLY recommend not doing this process alone.

Pick someone who is objective. I highly encourage my clients to include their family members in on the process and not to give away items that a spouse, child, or parent may want to hold onto until they have a conversation. These conversations can slow the process and in many cases halt it.

It’s very important to ask someone to help who will ask the following questions and be strong enough to not allow rabbit trails.

1. Have you used it in the last 6 months? Will you use it in the next 6 months? If yes, consider keeping it… if no, it’s time for it to go. I have made a few exceptions for items that I know I want to keep and use within a few years such as backpacking gear, a few decorations in storage, and some dog training equipment.

2-3. Do you have a valid, non emotional reason for keeping this item? If no, send it packing. If yes, consider keeping it.

4. Do you have a valid emotional reason for keeping this item? If no and if it’s not practical, throw it out! If yes, what emotion and memories does it invoke? Are you wanting to hold onto this item because you need closure or to process an event or emotion? Do you feel as though you may betray someone or a time in your life if you give this item away? Will there be a time to let go in the future? If so, what would that season look like?

5. Is this item worth more than the space you could have, the peace of mind that comes from living clutter free? If no, is it even a choice? If yes, consider keeping it with confidence!

6. Would you be able to get rid of something of greater/equal size? If no, it might be time for some tough love. If yes, put that item in your give away/garage sale pile.

7. Is this item a duplicate of any kind? Pick the one you like most!

Keep Moving: When organizing, the mess can become overwhelming! I always tell my clients that we are going to “explode” before we come back together. If you’ve ever moved, you know that moment where you look around about 2/3 of the way in and see nothing but piles of stuff. Even worse is the final two hours of a move when you have all those little things that need to be addressed and no boxes to put them in!

I have learned that when you start to feel fatigued the best thing to do is something productive. I know. It sounds counter productive to focus on being productive at a time when the productivity is the very thing that is draining the life out of your spirit… but trust me, it will work!

Sick of organizing books? Go fold a load of laundry. Do the dishes. Cook dinner. Catch up on emails. Take a shower. Listen to a sermon or podcast. Read the Bible. Work out. Do something totally different to stimulate your brain until you can go back and give it another few hours. (Can you see why bringing a friend may be helpful at this point?).

Do not start more than two tasks at a time and do not move onto a new organizational related task until you complete the first. Did you notice how all of the examples I listed above had nothing to do with your organizational overall but everything to do with productivity? They were all tasks that center around keeping up with your home, mind, body, or spirit. I do not recommend sitting or laying down either because this can get you stuck. If you must sit or lay down, set an alarm and commit yourself to the discipline of resuming your organizational goals once it goes off.

Don’t think too much: One of the other issues that I find a lot of clients run into is over thinking and over analyzing every little thing.

“But I really should keep this parasail because I might go visit the ocean in the next 40 years…”

“Have you been to the ocean in the last 40 years?”

“No… but I got it for a really good deal! It would be worth a fortune today!”

*Looks it up online*

“Ok, it looks like this thing is worth about $2,300 today minus that big hole in the side which I’m sure will be problematic… and we are landlocked so that will affect the market.”

Toss it!

Overthinking and overplaying will stall the process and make it less likely for you to continue and see it through. This is where you need to release yourself to go animalistic. Go with your gut. You have 3 seconds to respond with PASSION… do you want it or not?!

Find your fit: I come from a home that was always decorated with nick nacks and interesting items. The idea of living in a cluttered little hobbit hole where everything has it’s place and every occasion has a “thing” greatly appeals to me.

Simplicity is the current style and trend. Simple open spaces are in and cozy homey nestled nest is… for the unique right now.

When I did my organizational overhaul, I had a friend help who has a very different style. She loves simple and hates “clutter”. I find the “clutter” interesting and homey but knew I wanted to find a balance. She helped me dramatically, but there were a few times that the questions she asked me challenged me to decide firmly why I wanted to keep something.

I love rich bold colors even though earth tones are very popular right now. I don’t mind having a few earth toned pieces here and there but without many bold colors, I do not feel at home.

These are just a couple of examples to make a point. Only you can decide what you like and why. Put time into thinking about how you want your home to feel at the end of this process. Put together a pinterest board of styles you like. Decide why you are doing this in advance. Share all of this information with your coach or helper so that they can be helpful and not harmful to the process.

When I coach my clients, I try to be very deliberate in the balance between probing/challenging them and encouraging them. One one hand, a good coach will understand the intuition involved that requires a discerning and sensitive heart. On the other hand, a good coach needs to feel comfortable to ask the right questions at the right time for the right reasons in order to move a client along in the process and effectively efficiently attain the goal. Communication is key in this process whether you are doing it with yourself (introspective coaching) or being aided by a coach, assistant, or friend.

Keep it up: You did not do ALL OF THAT WORK just to squander it away did you? Like we said, life has ups and downs. There are times when I fall flat for several weeks at a time but when you fall off a horse, you’ve got to get right back on.

Organizing is no different. If you’ve checked your self discipline in organizing at the door for a few weeks, you owe it to yourself to give yourself a figurative spank! Get it together and honor yourself by making room in your life to keep up with the maintenance aspect.

In my next PEP (Personal efficiency Program) post, I will dive deeper into keeping it up if you care to do it yourself.

If you don’t want to keep it up or need a hand in keeping it up, hire someone. I have a few clients who have hired me in the past to simply come in, pick up, do laundry, do some filing, etc. Sometimes $75-175 per week is more valuable than the several hours of household tasks. If this is ringing true, please call or email me! I’d love to help however I can. We can put our brains together to come up with a solution.

The KonMari is just one of many ways to organize a home!

I love it because I am very methodically driven and appreciate structure. I love how this method begins organizing items that are likely to hold a less emotional attachment and moves to sentimental items towards the end.

If you are choosing to use this method to do your home in a huge chunk, this is a great system because as you get used to the system and method, you will find tackling more emotionally charged or triggering items are less intimidating.

When I used it, I started in my kitchen and tackled appliances, plates, napkins, etc. before looking at items my grandmother (who died the year before) had passed down to me. I realized that I enjoyed and appreciated some of my items more than some of the things she left me. I was then able to let go for practical reasons rather than hold on. It also allowed me time to process the grief of loosing her on a deeper level. I enjoyed reminiscing her memory.

I kept a few items for sentimental reasons, but not as many as I would have expected. I also realized that I didn’t need nearly as many items as I owned. Taking time to go through every single thing also gave me a chance to see what may need to be upgraded or repaired.

In our next post, I will talk more about picking up and the Personal Efficiency Program (PEP). PEP is a wonderful program that I learned about through an audio book on tape that I rented at the library. PEP goes hand in hand with cleaning… but I’ll explain that in greater detail in my next post!