Go Organize: Conquer Clutter in 3 Simple Steps (25 page)

Hard-core storage is for things that only need to be opened every few years. These boxes could contain yearbooks, childhood items, memorabilia you have inherited and are passing down to other generations, or if you are storing things for your adult children who have moved out of your home.

Tip:
Keep all like-items together. This makes it easier to find what you are looking for and saves time when putting things away and getting things out.

As you place things in containers, consider using colored containers for seasonal times of the year so you can quickly identify what is in them (pink for spring, black and orange for Halloween, green and red for Christmas, etc.). Clear storage containers may crack sooner in very cold weather. Heavier, more durable containers last longer in extreme temperatures.

When purchasing containers, look at them on the inside as well as the outside. Some taper in at the bottom or on the sides, so there is less storage space. Others have lids that fit even with the top of the container; others have lids that leave two or three inches above the container so you can store more in them.

Label all containers. Label shelves when necessary, so items used infrequently are put back in their place.

WRAP UP

Are you thinking:
Wow, this room sure looks good! It was a lot of work, but it feels good to have it organized.
Take a moment to enjoy how happy you are feeling. I'm proud of you. This is a room often neglected because no one outside the family normally sees it, and it is easy to put off organizing because it is not a room that is used often.

Now that your storage room is organized, how do you keep it organized?

 


• Have shelves to store items on.
  

 


• Designate places for everything.
  

 


• Label all containers. Label shelves when necessary, so items used infrequently are put back in their place. This works well for products purchased in bulk. When the supply is used up, there is still a place for it when you restock the item.
  

 


• Put things back in their places after using them. Teach family members to do the same.
  

 


• Every two to three months, assess if things are the way you want them. If they aren't, take a few minutes to put things back where they belong and this room will stay organized.
  

Congratulations on a job well done!

Now that you have a more organized life and more organized spaces and rooms, don't you feel better about yourself, your home, and your office? You will most likely save money and have more freedom now that you have an organized home. Isn't it a great feeling to be able to find everything in your home with minimum effort? Have you gotten up in the middle of the night and been able to put your finger on the medicine you needed or found something else you were looking for? Have you been away from home and explained over the phone to a family member where to find something because you knew exactly where it was?

Let's have a little review of all you've accomplished:

With each room you worked in, you first started with the Searchlight and assessed everything that worked for you and everything that didn't work. Next, you used the Spotlight and set goals helping you focus and create a wattage of a 7 or above in each room. With the third step, you were given the Green Light to implement your goals. It wasn't necessarily an easy process, but it has been worth all your effort and work. You can see the results and feel the freedom, happiness, peace, and freshness within your home and yourself. Don't you just feel lighter?

Your clutter-free porch and tidy entryway warmly welcome guests to your home. When unexpected guests come over, you can enjoy visiting with them instead of being uncomfortable about the clutter piled up everywhere.

In your kitchen, you can easily find all your supplies, and everything has a designated place. As you go room to room, you should feel proud of yourself because of all your hard work! Believe me; I am very proud of you!

Now that every room in your home is organized, you may be asking how do I keep it organized?

Honestly, I don't think it is a realistic expectation that your home will
stay
organized 100 percent of the time. Life happens, and things do get disorganized one way or another. But it's important that they don't stay that way. It is possible to
keep
organized by using each of the steps we have talked about in the previous chapters.

 


1. Regularly check your wattage in each room and always stay at a 7 or above.
   

 


2. If you slip below a 7, use the Searchlight in each room to identify what is working and not working for you and your family.
   

 


3. Use the Spotlight to set goals.
   

 


4. Use the Green Light to make changes and tweak things before they get out of control.
   

 


5. Have a place for everything (a home) and teach family members to put things back after use.
   

 


6. Use containers to keep things together and to make it easy to put things away after being used.
   

 


7. Use your space to your advantage; designate it as premium, secondary, semi-storage, and hard-core storage (see pages 24–25) for a full explanation of this concept).
   

 


8. Before deciding what to bring into your home and what to keep remember that whatever you do keep will take more of your time now and in the future.
   

Paula was happy with the progress she had made in organizing her home. Her porch was free of clutter and debris. She could walk into every room in her home and find what she needed. She felt peaceful and less stressed. She liked being in her home.

She saved money because, when she shopped, she wasn't buying duplicate things she knew she had at home but couldn't find. When she was shopping, she also considered if she had room for what she was going to buy before making the purchase.

One of the things she liked best was that everything had a designated place to be — everything had a home. She had taught her family to put things back when they were finished using something. They weren't perfect, but it was much better than it was before, and they were all working on putting things away.

She realized organizing is an ongoing process and not a job that is done once and lasts a lifetime. When something was out of place, she stopped herself from thinking and feeling that everything was disorganized. With her Searchlight, she looked around and realized it was only in a few places that needed to be tweaked and brought back into order.

Paula feels good about herself and her home and the amount of time she saves not having to look for things. She is happy when she has guests drop by; she has peace of mind and energy, and she has less stress and frustration in her life. She feels rested and in control.

When you do enter the Green Light to update the organization in your home, these tips will help you manage and complete the project:

 


• Always start slow. Take baby steps.
  

 


• Keep only things that you use or that light you up.
  

 


• Work from the inside out in every room.
  

 


• Eliminate distractions (e.g., the phone, young children) when working on an organizing project.
  

 


• Set deadlines.
  

 


• Use your timer.
  

 


• Don't keep things “just in case you may need them someday.”
  

 


• Make use of the pockets of time you have every day to “tweak” things before clutter takes over.
  

Tip:
Say you have tried everything for creating a clutter-free home and you have worked hard to get it organized, but it just never comes together the way you want. Maybe you are setting expectations that are too high. If you expect your home to always look like the cover of a magazine, you're bound to be disappointed. Make sure you set goals that meet your needs and help you function better in and feel better about your home. It doesn't have to look perfect to be organized.

I encourage you to feel the joy, pride, and satisfaction of having your home organized. You have moved toward a better, peaceful, brighter, and happier life. You can now spend more time doing the things you like to do. By having an organized home, you have peace of mind, happiness, and energy, as well as less stress and frustration in your life. You did a fantastic job. It is not always easy or pleasant to assess our problem areas and then change them, but you did it!

The following worksheets will help you use the Searchlight and Spotlight steps. There are also examples of complete worksheets to help you determine what information to include on your own sheets. Refer to these sheets as you use the Searchlight and Spotlight around your home. Write your answers in your organizing notebook.

SEARCHLIGHT WORKSHEET (Example)

This is what Paula's Searchlight Worksheet looked like when she evaluated her laundry room.

1. Determine Wattage:
Paula rated her wattage at a 3.

2. Set the Intention:
Her intention was to raise this room to a wattage of 8. The difference between an 8 and a 10 for her is that she can simply feel comfortable in this room; it doesn't need to be a showroom. She wants it to be a room she enjoys being in, but it's the laundry room, so she doesn't have to have the fifinest of everything to light her up here. She wants it to be a room she enjoys going into instead of avoiding the room because it is gloomy, overwhelming, and messy.

3. Identify What Is Working:
Paula likes the clothesline in the room because she can hang clothes on it when she takes them out of the dryer. She likes the counter space to fold clothes. She likes the cubby compartments where she keeps baskets for each member of the family and that each person takes his or her basket to his or her own room when laundry is fifinished.

4. Identify What Isn't Working:
Paula determined what wasn't working for her were: dirty clothes all over the flfloor, laundry supplies that were not easy to reach, and boxes that belonged somewhere else were stored in this room. She didn't like her laundry basket. It was in good condition, but it didn't work for her. Her sister had given her the rug on the flfloor, and she disliked the colors. She didn't like that the counter space was always fifilled with clutter.

SEARCHLIGHT WORKSHEET
(Photocopy for your own use.) Use this sheet for each room in your home.

1. Check your current wattage for this room. On the wattage scale of 1 to 10 how do you feel? This is an emotional way of looking at organizing. Pay attention to how you feel in this room, not to how you logically perceive the room should look according to other people's opinions. Your goal isn't to make your home look like the pages of a magazine. Your goal is to create an environment that makes you happy and meets your everyday needs in realistic ways.

2. Set your intention for what you want your wattage to be.

3. Identify what is working for you in each room.

4. Identify what isn't working for you in each room.