Summary: Ruminations of a BUSY to Balanced Mum I was SO excited when I had a phone conversation with a client about setting up sustainable organising systems for her – a system that will work for her, not against her. (I know – I get excited by the strangest things!!) Chuck Coker via Compfight We spoke about her organising challenges, the process we would take to help her and then came the best question of all – “But Helen, how do I know the systems you set up will be sustainable?”. Regardless of whether you organise and declutter your home on your own or get professional help, there are a few important factors you need to know about setting up sustainable organising systems. 1. You really need to know what organising problem you’re dealing with. We get a lot of enquiries for help to organise and declutter all areas of the home. We get comments like “My garage needs organising”, “My office is driving me nuts”, “My kids rooms have too many toys” or “My whole house is driving me insane”. These comments are true – and definitely reflect what’s going on for this person – but they don’t get to the heart of the organising problem. The real questions to ask are – What’s going on in this space for me? What’s already working? What’s definitely not working? I know that sounds really simple, and yes there’s a whole other skill required to get to the diagnosis of the problem and then coming up with a strategy to make it happen, but if you can analyse and work out what is and isn’t working you’ll be well on your way to creating an organising system that will stand the test of time. I have a three drawer filing cabinet which was completely organised about four years ago. That was when Mr 6 was only two and I had just started my business. Move forward four years and my business has grown, Mr 6 is now at school, Hubby has changed jobs and we’ve moved house. It was definitely time to get in and organise my paperwork! Because it was already (mostly!) organised – ie a system had already been developed four years ago – it was just a matter of focusing on what was working and what wasn’t working. My business paperwork was working (therefore there was no need to touch it) but our home and financial papers really needed a good cull and new filing categories created. After analysing what was going on for me I was able to come up with a strategy and then get in and organise it. 2. You really need to know yourself, your preferences and commitment levels. If you decide to work with a professional to organise your home you will find they will ask you 101 questions to work out what’s going on for you. If you decide to work on your own you need to ask yourself 101 questions as well. It starts with “what’s already working” and “what’s not working” but then you need to ask yourself: Why is this working? Why isn’t this working? Have I got too much stuff? Are my cupboards/drawers/storage areas overflowing, or completely inadequate? Are things just put anywhere without any real home? Is the process I’ve set up too complicated for me? If I put things away do I forget about them? Do I find organising boring? Am I just too busy to organise this space? Am I dealing with life’s issues (eg relationship problems, birth of a new baby, moving house) and things are a little difficult at the moment? Is my space just too small and holding too much stuff? Are my children/flat mates/partner helping keep the space organised or making it difficult? This year I’ve been tested in regards to my own commitment levels to keeping our home organised. I wrote about it here but briefly we – we went to Fiji for a holiday, all got a tummy bug, came home and put our house on the market, sold the house, moved house, put Mr 6 in hosp[...]
