4 Tips To Getting Organized Even When It's Not Easy

Organizing is not easy and if anyone tells you it is don’t you believe them. I am a professional organizer and I have organized with hundreds of women and men and what is easy to me isn't necessary easy for them or for you.

Years ago I had a friend who cross country skied. I had never been on skis before but it sounded like fun so I asked her if I could ski with her. She said yes and instructed me on what I would need. Besides skis and poles she told me to bring a lunch and gorp (snack food for the trail that included M&M’s, raisins and nuts). I gathered everything she had told me to bring and we arranged a meeting place.

 I was so nervous when I got out of the truck in the parking lot where we were meeting to car pool to the ski resort I locked my keys in the truck.

She told me how easy skiing is and what fun it is. And I believed her. So when I had a few problems right from the get go such as being able to get my skis on, staying upright on my skis on the flat part of the trail let alone staying vertical on the down slope; I started thinking this was not so easy as she had led me to believe.

In my opinion as a professional organizer this is how it is with organizing. What one person may think is easy you may not agree when you start to organize. If this has happened to you; you probably blamed yourself and maybe felt like a failure as organizing was not easy as you had been told. You may feel something is wrong with you. Actually, nothing is wrong with you.

As you become familiar with tried and true key organizing concepts and put them in practice it will become easier, you will gain more confidence and you may even tell your friends “organizing is easy”.

As I kept skiing it did become easier and now when I go skiing it is second nature to put on my skis, glide onto the trail and maintain my balance. It was with practice, determination and trial and error that I became comfortable with skiing. The same is true when it comes to organizing.

Here are 4 refreshing organizing tips to inspire you to get organized:

1. Create your organized aesthetic. Do you think a room or area is only organized if it is clean and Spartan? The truth is there isn’t a uniform look when it comes to organizing. It is your home, arrange and organize it to meet your standards and needs.

2. Stop trying to be a perfectionist. Do the glossy magazine pictures discourage you because you know you can’t reach that level of perfection? Stop comparing your home to those photos.

3. Do like things together. Start each day by making a list of what you need to do. Prioritize the items and group like tasks together. This will save you time, money, effort and energy.

4. Keep clutter out of your home. Resist buying something you don’t love, won’t use, or don’t need.

Organizing can be easy with practice but it isn't necessarily always easy. If it helps you have a more peaceful and happy life it is worth it. It can save you time and money which is certainly worth the effort you put into organizing.