If you are like one of the many people who find it difficult to stay organized, don’t feel bad or ashamed! This is a common issue that we hear from among most of our clients. So, If you’re looking to extend your house cleaning and keep tidy until your next cleaning service, I’ve found some excellent tips to help keep you organized and keep clutter at bay. I hope you find these tips useful.
“Organizing Tips to Make Life Easy
The rules of decluttering may be arbitrary, but there are certain dos and don’ts that you can abide by to help you sustain and successfully maintain this lifestyle.
• Don’t Store It, Toss It – Reorganizing your space, your life and all the little details that wear your down means that in a few months’ time, you’d be rearranging again. Instead of doing that, toss things out. Toss, don’t keep, because you’re not getting rid of the clutter when you do that. The clutter is still going to be there, even if you put it out of sight. If you have not used it for the past six months to 1 year, time to say goodbye.
• No More Shopping During Sales – Going shopping during a sale only means you’d end up bringing home more stuff, and that’s not what decluttering is supposed to be about. Just because it’s cute and it’s on sale doesn’t mean you should get it. Unless it’s absolutely essential to your survival, you can live without it.
• Starting Out Small – The easiest way to begin the decluttering process and be able to see it all the way through is to start small. Instead of purging out and decluttering everything in one weekend, try opening a drawer or a cabinet, get a box and de-clutter.
• Learn to Be Grateful With What You Already Have – Being happy with what you already have reduces the need to keep buying more, or looking for the next new thing that you think is going to make you happy. When you’re no longer buying the essentials during your shopping trips, it probably means you already have everything that you need to survive happily. You just don’t realize it because you’re not consciously reminding yourself to be grateful for everything that you already have.
• Don’t Buy It Unless You’re Replacing It – Instead of making a new purchase, start getting into the habit of only buying new items if your current ones need to be replaced. Adding on new items without tossing out any of the old ones is only going to add to the clutter in your home. If something new is coming in, something old needs to go out to create a balance. You don’t need two items of everything in your home.
• Remember That Less Is More – If you like uncomplicated stuff, clean surfaces, organized things, then furnishing your home with just the essentials is more than enough to make you happy. It’s okay if not every corner or surface is filled with something. Sometimes, having empty spaces might be just what you need.
• If You Can Borrow It, Do It – If there’s an item you need, but you know you’re only going to use it once, considering borrowing instead of buying. This includes items of clothing. There are plenty of online fashion outlets that specialize in borrowing items on a certain fee.
• If You Can Fix It, Do It – Instead of immediately tossing out an item or piece of clothing if it’s broken or torn, see if it can still be fixed before you give up on it entirely. Choose to fix their items instead of immediately resorting to making new purchases. Focus on buying items which are durable. Not only is it going to last you a lot longer, but the possibility of repairing it is also often successful, saving you a lot of money in the process and valuable time when you don’t have to shop around for a suitable replacement.
• Being Mindful Of Your Purchases – No more buying on a whim, those days are going to have to be put behind you now. Oh, you will still need to shop, but you are going to do differently from now on is to practice mindful shopping. This means that you’re going to now think long and hard about each item before you purchase it, weighing the pros and cons and whether these items are necessary or essential. You need to factor in the functionality and practicality of each item, and in what way it is going to enhance your life. It sounds like a lot of work to do before making any purchase, but once you get used to the process, you’ll be able to go through the motions without even really thinking about it.
• Go Digital – Where possible, consider minimizing your paper trail by taking documents like your finances, paperwork, billing, data keeping, and so on in your computer or cloud drives. Scan your documents, scan your photos and place them all in your cloud drive- you’d find that it is a lot more secure and safer, and the added benefit is, it doesn’t take up any extra space in your home. The freedom that you get by living with less can be a lot more liberating than you may think. It’s not just about downsizing all your belongings for the sake of clearing away the mess in your home alone. No, it is much more than that. It is about clearing your entire life and redefining it to have more purpose and meaning than it once did before. The general rule is that for something to become a habit, you need to stick to the routine for about 21-days or so. The initial 21-days is when you’re going to have to put in most of the hard work into the process and to be disciplined and not give up halfway through when the going gets tough. Stick it out for this first couple of days and being an organized person will eventually become a habit that is ingrained and a part of your life. You will be amazed at how this experience can bring you a sense of peace, not just in your home, but in every other aspect of your life too (Moore Home Clean and Organize 48-51).”
