Organizing Alone

What if you want to get organized but other people who live in your home do not? Many folks who long for a little order in these circumstances just give up and live with the mess. It is not an easy task to be neat when all around you is chaos. Clutter begets clutter.

If you are one of those people who want to be neater but cannot gain cooperation from housemates, there are a few steps you can take to bring a little order to your life

Talk to others in your home to see if there can be agreement on keeping certain spaces clutter free. Perhaps the living room and entryway are a good start. You may even find you have an ally or two who also want a neater space. You may want to agree on a pick-up day when everyone picks up items that are where they don’t belong.

See if introducing some new tools into the environment will help decrease the clutter. Some ideas are a big brass tub or basket for books and magazines, a trunk or wagon bench for toys, a trash can in the family room where people eat snacks or near the microwave where containers are discarded, clothes hampers in the bedrooms to keep dirty clothes off the floor.

Organize what you can control. Straighten your side of the closet, organize your study or work area, and purge your old books and papers. Your example of being able to find your stuff when you need it may prompt others to stop wasting their time digging through clutter to find what they are looking for.

The most important thing is that you will have taken control of what you can directly affect and will have made your desires known to those with whom you share space.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

GET READY, GET SET, GET SCHOOLED

As August hurries to a close, thoughts turn to the beginning of the school year and all the organizational tasks that have to be completed before the bell rings marking the beginning of the first class. These tasks include lining up clothes and uniforms that fit and buying the required supplies that appear on the endless lists provided by the various schools. It also means modifying schedules to accommodate bus pick-ups or parent drop-offs, or student drive times. It includes taking time to calm some children’s fears and curb other’s enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations. It means finding the time to accomplish all that needs to be done. Before the doors even open, you may find that you have lost control of your time and your budget and are rapidly losing your patience and what is left of your mental health.

It is just this kind of environment that promotes disorganization that leads to permanent clutter and chaos. Here are a few hints to help you stay in control until the little (or big) angels start to school and the family adapts to the new routine.

Take a deep breath and assess what needs to be done. It helps to make a list with due dates beside each item.

Solicit help from the family to accomplish tasks. You might even make a game of it by posting the list in a prominent place and see which family member can complete his/her assignments first. This also teaches younger children to plan and meet deadlines, a skill they will appreciate during the school year.

Keep track of what you spend. If you have not prepared for this year's expenses, you will have a basis for estimating next year’s expenses. You can also minimize initial expense by buying only a one month supply of each item. Once your child is in school, you will have a better idea of what is needed and what is “cool”. I still have a supply of No. 2 pencils which, for some reason, were not “right”

Keep behind the clutter. Throw away packaging. Find a space for the supplies as you buy them. Give away the clothes that don’t fit rather than letting them pile up in a corner. Make sure the children get their rooms “study ready”. At least clear a space to get homework and put down the books.

Let some things go. Do you really need to dust this week? Can you skip a meeting? Can you wash the car next week? There are only so many hours in the day and managing your time requires making choices and setting priorities. School is not going to wait, so what will wait?

Take care of yourself. You and your family come first, so make sure you have adequate rest, nutrition and recreation. After all, summer is ending and school is right around the corner. Health and happiness are always top priorities.

Beverly and Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Bedrooms

Bedrooms are for sleeping, right? You would think a room with such a specific purpose would be easy to keep organized and uncluttered. That is not the story for most of our clients. The truth is that a bedroom is a multipurpose room and sleeping is just one of the functions it supports. The functions of a bedroom depend on the frequency of use and the age(s) of the occupant(s). So-called spare bedrooms often become the repository for homeless objects and unfinished projects so we are not talking about them today. They are a whole different challenge. We are focusing on regular occupied bedrooms where folks sleep, share intimacies with spouses, partners and friends, get dressed, store clothes and jewelry, read, study, exercise, sometimes have home offices and hobby stations. It is a truly multi-functional space. Often it is the only private space for individuals sharing a home.

Because a bedroom is used for more than one thing, the first step in removing clutter and organizing the space is to list the things you do in the bedroom. Then determine the best place to accomplish that task, given the space available. We find it helpful to think of the bedroom in zones. The most often used categories include:

- Sleeping Zone
- Dressing Zone
- Play Zone
- Study Zone
- Relaxing/Socializing Zone

Once we have established the zones, we group the items that are needed for that activity together in that space as much as possible. While we are completing that activity we assist the client in arranging, storing and purging items that go in the space.

Some hints our clients have found helpful include:

- Create a reading station near the bed that includes adequate lighting, book mark, and a place for book and glasses
- Store children’s must have bed items in a bedside table or an underbed rolling storage box that is easy for them to access
- Use pegboard or cork board to hang jewelry near the dressing area

An organized uncluttered bedroom is a worthwhile investment. Getting dressed in the morning is less stressful and going to sleep at night is more peaceful.

Beverly and Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net