In today’s issue, I want to talk about the organization of space and reveal the following key ideas:
- How is an organization different from cleanliness and why is it important?
- Why is it especially important at the end of the year?
- What are the principles that should guide the organization of space?
- Which approach should be chosen?
Let’s cut right to the chase, because there’s a lot of information:
Let’s start by analyzing the subject area and setting the task (don’t be afraid, it will be clearer):
How is an organization different from cleanliness and why is an organization equally important?
Maybe it’s obvious, but still – you may have a clean house, but it’s not well organized. Or maybe it’s well-organized, but not very clean. Cleanliness and organization are different things. You can dump different things in your closet and clean it up. Or you can put everything into boxes and crates, but you can also put them into oblivion and cover them with dust.
And very often (and I myself did for a long time in this way) we just do periodic general cleaning, but do not engage in the exact organization of space. And in the end after some time we can not find anything again. Or we spend a lot of time on keeping order.
So, why is the organization as important as cleanliness?
- A good organization makes your life easier and more enjoyable: all items are located exactly where they are used. Everything is easy to find and easy to take and clean. You get more out of life because it’s really nice to find the right things at the right time exactly where they’re needed.
- A good organization helps to spend less time and effort on keeping things in order. What’s more, it helps to keep it in order. When you have a special drawer for used batteries that says it’s a drawer for used batteries, the whole family knows where to put the used batteries. When a computer screen pack of tissues is placed next to the screen, it remains clean. When socks and pantyhose in children’s cabinets are folded according to the proposed system – there is always order (from about 5 years old child is able to maintain it himself).
- A good organization ensures long-term order. If the system is convenient, everyone likes to use it and maintain it. And you do not have to shake all the cabinets every two months to put everything back together again neatly.
- A good organization at home is reflected in the clarity of thought. This unobvious advantage can be explained as follows: our home is a reflection of our consciousness. When there are corners and rubble in the house, it reflects a similar state of our thoughts. But if all the corners of the house are organized, there is a system in the house – clear and convenient, so your thoughts are also in order. You feel more collected, confident and motivated. You have no thoughts on the edge of your consciousness, in case someone sees my pantry – there will be terror…
In short, good organization is just as important as cleanliness. And I really want to inspire you not only to do the general cleaning before New Year’s Eve (read more in this article), but also step by step, day by day to visit your home. Which will also affect the order in your head, order in the house will greatly contribute to clarity and peace of mind!
Why is this especially important at the end of the year
As I said before, the end of the year is a magical time when you can interrupt some negative trends in your life, start new healthier habits, leave some questions in the outgoing year. And if by the end of the year you start to take some steps in this direction, then you are no longer dragging this issue in the next year.
It is also important to free up energy. And reconsidering all corners of space, liberating from the old, superfluous or unloved is a great way to release this energy and direct it to the realization of your dreams.
We all know how much easier it is to breathe after general cleaning. And this is not only because there is no dust, but also because it fills the space with new, fresh energy. And doing it at the end of the year is extremely useful.
What are the principles to be followed in organizing space?
Take into account your uniqueness. Organization of the house should be based on the convenience and features of your family and you personally. Some are more systematic, some are more creative, some have children, some do not. Your hobbies may change over time. And so on and so forth.
For example, when I had little kids, I used a lot of Montessori principles at home. It’s a system where you organize the house so that the little person can use it as well: take a glass and pour water from the cooler yourself, get to the sink, soap and towels, take a rag and wipe the spilled water, etc., etc.
They also have a great system of end of project, you can read more about it, it has become part of our life!
Think about which organization will make your life easier and more pleasant! Check out our blogs to be inspired by ideas. Meditate and imagine the perfect device for your home.
Also consider using different areas of your home in a rational way. For example, I found out that I have a whole chest of drawers in my kitchen which is not used rationally at all. There are just things lying there that were accidentally in the kitchen and never found their place.
At the same time I can use this chest of drawers to store all my ingredients for home cosmetics and fragrances, instead of storing them in the pantry and dragging them every time I want to create new aromatic magic in the kitchen.
The same applies to bedside tables, shelves, cabinets, etc., etc. Think about what you use more often than less often? Where exactly do you use these items? Think about the other members of the family. How do you make your home more comfortable and convenient for them?
Believe me, thinking about it and making changes to it will give multiple benefits in the form of greater attention to order and a more peaceful and friendly atmosphere in your home!
Which approach to choose?
There are a lot of approaches, I’m going to voice two key ideas that suited me (and these ideas are applicable not only to bringing order, but also to many other things in life), so:
Clean up in small portions. Do not try to organize the whole house in one weekend. It’s better to dedicate one drawer, shelf, and daddy each day. Today we have sorted out the medicines, tomorrow the documents (to be honest, it took me half a day to create a convenient system of document storage), the day after tomorrow a drawer with socks and so on.
Sometimes you can devote a weekend to the reorganization of large areas. For example, I rearranged my pantry and racks on the ground floor so that I could move all my boxes for creativity and create a craft room.
This required three whole days of continuous work, as first I had to take everything off the shelves, sort it into bundles, understand what is stored there in general, think about what boxes are needed for convenient storage, arrange everything and sign. But all the subsequent corners of the house was much easier to disassemble, since it was already created a general storage system and all items were easy to find their places.
Improve the system as you use it. It is impossible to create the perfect system the first time. It is important to get started. Then let the system live for a while, see its flaws and improve. After a while you will come to a very, very comfortable option.
This approach does not exhaust, gives you time and opportunity to test and improve ideas, and ultimately makes it more likely that step by step you will clean up the whole house (presumably 2 weeks before New Year’s Eve, as we still have 4 weeks ahead).
Well, in this issue I’m sharing examples of the Home organizing blog ideas that we’ve implemented in our home, which have proven to be convenient and easy to maintain.