Why your organisation isn’t staying tidy.
I see and meet a lot of people who have tried to organise for themselves and given up in frustration. It’s definitely demoralising and can lead to low self esteem, sleep issues and a raft of other effects.
Firstly- Don’t feel like a failure because your organisation doesn’t last. You clean the shower- do you feel like a failure because it needs doing again on the next cleaning cycle? Organisation requires maintenance, like anything. But if your system really isn’t working, within weeks of a declutter or reorganise- here’s some reasons it may not have stuck, or how you can improve your systems.
You’re using the wrong size container
A frequent- use container should be 80% full when you first set it up. It’s likely that you will find more items that fit that category as you continue to organise, or that items will continue to fill that container sooner than they leave it.
Once it’s full, you begin to put things somewhere else… and that’s the beginning of the end for your new organisation.
You haven’t categorised appropriately
If the category doesn’t ‘make sense’ then people won’t be able to follow the ‘rule’.
Create categories based on the amount of items that can be grouped together. Sometimes the category needs to become more broad, sometimes it needs to become more refined.
Often people (Mum, I’m looking at you!) get frustrated when the family can’t follow organisational structure.
Imagine a box called summer. What would you put in it? How long would it stay an effective category?
Now think… summer accessories. Now you have a better idea of where that box lives, and what you might find or put in there.
You aren’t sticking to the category (likely because of the two reasons above).
Continuing the example above: If you’re not sticking to the category, it’s because you’ve run out of space, or because items don’t have a home.
Do you have a winter accessories box… or are beanies going into the summer accessories box and it’s overflowing?
Label it, stick to the ‘rule’. If it’s not working, change the category to suit.
It’s not natural or takes too many steps to maintain.
If you have to take more than 1-2 steps (like opening a lid) to put something away, it’s unlikely you’re going to want to keep it up on a frequent basis.
I love ‘throw it in’ containers. Baskets, and boxes without lids for instance. I just don’t have the patience to spend time putting something away. I have a ‘dumping spot’ in each area of my home as part of a quick reset strategy, then I throw it into the appropriate basket when I have more time or interest to do so.
Organisation takes maintenance- but having it well set up to begin with will make the reset a little easier. Were these tips helpful for you? let me know what resonated in the comments section below!
