Top 5 Mistakes You've Made Organizing Your Home
Top 5 Mistakes You've Made Organizing Your Home
Do you ever get your house perfectly organized--only to have it fall into chaos again? You have the time, the motivation, the books, and the magazines. You've seen TV shows on organization, and you've read blog posts on it. You're ready to finally get your house in shape. But you could be setting yourself up for failure by making these common organizing mistakes.
Over-organizing.
Say you've been looking through Pinterest at photos of incredibly organized people for ages, and you're finally ready to get started. So you go out shopping and come back with pegboards, bins, baskets, magnets, cute labels, and chalkboard paint. You fill your space to the brim with these things, and everything in the room is tacked up or stored away. But a week later, half of your stuff is in the middle of the floor, and you don't know where you put the other half of it. Sound familiar?
If you're trying to figure out a creative way to store every single item upfront, you're probably overthinking this. You don't need everything to be in a rigid, complex system. As long as it's easy to access and remember, you're organized.
Trying to be someone you're not.
Along the same lines, it's important to realize that organization is very personal. Someone else' s way of life won't work for you because they're not you. You can draw inspiration from other people's systems, but you shouldn't feel like anyone's way is "the right way."
You're most likely to succeed when you organize your life based on how you already live it. Do you thrive under a lot of structure, or do you need the freedom of just a little structure? Do you need to see the things you access most often, or do you prefer them tucked away so they look nicer? Does making things aesthetically pleasing energize you, or do you prefer function over form? You have a unique personality type that's the formula for your success. Experiment to see what works best for you.
Mixing up priorities.
Don't worry about organizing things that are just going to get disorganized again. If you're sorting by color or alphabetical order for no reason, give yourself some freedom. Some things can be tossed into a bin with similar things and still be organized. It's easy to get caught up organizing something in the tiny details until you end up discouraged because the rest of your house is still a mess. Focus on fixing problem areas where you aren't finding or accessing things as easily as you could be. That will make the most progress toward organizing your life instead of just organizing your stuff.
Not planning ahead.
Even the most organized person has moments of laziness; organized people just know how to make up for laziness. For instance, if the place you want to keep your shoes is upstairs in your bedroom, you'll probably end up with a pile of shoes by the door. If you get home from someplace tired, you just want to rest, and taking your shoes upstairs might seem like too much effort at that moment. The organization has to be easy to maintain.
Take note of the places clutter seems to gather, and put storage there to catch it. Always aim to make putting things away as easy or easier than leaving them out. Hanging your keys by the door is a great example of that; you can just drop them on the hook as you walk by. In the above example, you could put a bench or small shoe rack to hold the shoes you wear most often. You're more likely to stay organized, and your future tired self will thank you.
Keeping too much stuff.
No amount of organizing can turn too much stuff into a pleasant home. Technically, you can probably fit all of the stuff you own into your house, but not in a way that's livable. You could box them, label them, and put them on shelves like a store or a warehouse. It would be organized, but it wouldn't be at all like home. It's impossible to have a beautiful, organized home without regularly getting rid of stuff. It helps to put a number on how much you need to get rid of. Ask yourself how much more living space you want. If you want 20% more space to live, get rid of 20% of your stuff.
Many people don't want to let go of things because they might need it someday. If this comes up for you, consider how much you pay in rent or mortgage to house all of this stuff. Then add in the cost of stress: More clutter and less space means you'll spend more time, energy, and stress looking for things. Valuable objects get damaged in clutter, and it can be unsightly or even a safety hazard. Now compare those costs with what you would pay if you happen to need that object in the future. Is it worth it? Is this object what you want to spend your space and energy on?
Organization is worth it.
With a more organized home, you will be able to have everything you own ready to use for both work and play. You'll have more peace when clutter isn't crowding out your living space. Your home will seem brighter, and you will feel accomplished and ready to take on the day. Knowing how to prevent these five organizing mistakes will help you be happier and more organized--and stay that way.
