Top 4 Tips for Staying Organized in 2020
Damon Cox • Mar 02, 2020
By late winter, many people have begun to backslide on their New Year’s resolutions. Or, in some cases, they haven’t gotten started on their resolutions yet and may be wondering if they’re going to accomplish any of them at all. If you’re one of the many people who resolved to get more organized this year and you’re finding yourself struggling, don’t worry. There’s still plenty of time to get yourself on the right path this year. Take a look at some of the top tips that can help you get organized and stay organized as we continue through 2020.
Set Regular Routines
You can put all of the work into cleaning and organizing everything in your life, but the problem is that it won’t stay that way on its own. Clutter accumulates and things get disorganized more easily than they get organized, so if you don’t want to keep winding back in the same spot that you were before you undertook a big organization product, you’ll need to put some effort into small chores that help you maintain that organization. This is easier if you make these small chores into regular routines.
For example, if a lot of clutter tends to find its way into your purse and briefcase, designate one day a week to clean it out. It’s a lot easier to get a week’s worth of receipts, junk mail, and general clutter out of your purse and put away than to do it with a year’s worth of the same items. Similarly, you could take a day once a month to clean out your closet – pick up clothes that have fallen off of their hangers, take clothes with missing buttons or loose seams to be repaired, get rid of broken hangers and clothes that no longer fit. Do you feel like you don’t have enough room in your closet? Read How to Increase Storage Space in Your Master Bedroom Closet, recently published by Closet Decor & More.
Make Your Goals Manageable
You can’t overcome years of disorganization in an afternoon or change a lifetime of habits in a weekend. Trying to do too much at once is counterproductive – you end up feeling overwhelmed and dissatisfied with yourself for not being able to accomplish everything that you wanted to accomplish in the time frame that you set for yourself. But there’s an easy solution for this – set smaller, more manageable goals.
One way to do this is by breaking big chores into more manageable chunks. For example, instead of writing “clean whole house” on your to-do list, break it into parts. Write down “Clean bathroom. Organize pantry. Declutter bedroom closet.” And so on.
Speaking of to-do lists, breaking big chores into smaller chores can make it seem like your list just got much longer. But you really don’t have to get all the parts of your organization chores done in one day either. Instead, try this: each morning, write down the top three things that you have to get done that day. Other jobs can get done if you have the time and energy, but the top three things are non-negotiable. That way, you can feel accomplished knowing that you’ve completed the most important tasks of the day (and more if you’re able) but you don’t have to feel bad about the things that you can’t get to.
To some extent, breaking goals down and prioritizing a few goals each day is just a mental trick. But staying organized is as much about your mindset as anything else, and these tricks will help put you in the right mindset for working incrementally toward more sustainable organization in your life.
Make Sure Everything Has A Home
It’s difficult to stay organized when you don’t have a place to put things that clutter up your home. “Clutter” doesn’t necessarily mean “trash” – sometimes it means things that you need but don’t necessarily want to have out or in your way all of the time. But if you don’t have a place to put these things, then you end up with disorganization and messes in your closets, on your surfaces, and in other places in your home.
You can eliminate this problem by making sure that everything has a home. Boxes, baskets, drawers, hooks, and other storage solutions can help you with this – maybe you need a jewelry box so that your dresser tops aren’t covered with loose rings, and chains, for example. You can repurpose a clear plastic shoe organizer to store scarves in so you can see and find them easily and they don’t end up in a heap on your closet floor. A rack with hanging hooks can give you a good place to store hats so that they aren’t scattered around the house. You get the idea – come up with places to put the things that tend to clutter up your home.
Bring in A Professional
If you’re still not organized and still feeling overwhelmed and stressed out about it, there’s no shame in bringing in professional assistance. For example, a custom closet
organization company like S&S Cabinets & Closets can help you out by designing and installing a custom closet system
that gives you places for all of your belongings and meets your preferences and lifestyle needs.
When you hire a custom closet
organizer, you’ll meet with a designer to talk about your storage needs and how you envision using the space available. They’ll also take measurements of the space so that they know what they’re working with. Then, they’ll recommend a closet organization system that’s personalized for your needs and that optimizes the space available. That might mean installing new shelves and rods, or adding accessories like belt racks and jewelry organizers to your bedroom closet, for example. When it’s finished, you’ll find that it’s much easier to keep your space neat and organized.
Getting organized is a great New Year’s resolution, but it doesn’t happen all at once. Pace yourself and work on building good organizational habits, and before you know it, you’ll have a more organized life.