Posted by Lisa Sarasohn in One thing will never change no matter how much you organize: stuff will always be coming in and out of your home. And that stuff needs to be dealt with. Last week, I heard from a favorite client whom I haven’t worked with since last September. He lives a busy life and travels constantly, but he’s ready to dive back into the clutter. This reminded me of a principle I often express to new clients. People always say, “Someday, I want to get organized.” It’s like saying, “Someday, I want to get fit.” Neither of those goals are a place we just “get” to. They are goals that require ongoing attention and maintenance. Both goals are forms of self-care, and we’re all guilty of neglecting ourselves. And they both require permanent changes in habits, adopting new “rhythms”. If you fall behind in your exercise & diet routine or fall behind in your organization, there is a price to be paid, and the price is pain. I’m dealing with first hand experience, trying to get back in shape and back on the gluten-free wagon. I’m tired from eating wheat (and sugar), and I’m sore from the beating my trainer is giving me. When your clutter starts to creep in, the organizer’s term for this falling behind is “backsliding”, and that brings its own pain– stress, a sense of failure, aggravation. It’s a very common occurrence, so don’t beat yourself up if the piles are starting to amass anywhere in your house. Instead, take a good look at yourself and ask yourself if you ever really committed to new habits and rhythms to stay organized.
If you want to get ahead of the clutter again, here’s a simple exercise for you to try: take a kitchen timer and set it for 15 minutes in the evening. See how much you can straighten up and put away in that 15 minutes. You’re allowed to stop when the timer goes off. If you have children over the age of seven, get them involved in this exercise and have them pick up after themselves; a good time to do this is before dinner. Make it a game– a speed challenge; if they have a sock in their hand when the buzzer hits, they’re allowed to drop it on the floor again. Kids need to learn to be responsible and accountable for the clutter they create and now is the time to teach them organization. If everyone participates as a family, you have a better shot at getting results from the kids. If the kids are still quite small, do this timer exercise just after they’ve gone to bed, but before you give up for the night and give into fatigue.
My house falls apart when my week gets really busy. Weekends are my time to putter around and put my place back in order. I enjoy it because I enjoy the peaceful feeling I have when things look clear again. It doesn’t take long. It just takes a long time when you’ve let it go for too long. So, try this 15 minute timer exercise every night for a week, and see what gets accomplished. With time, it will get easier to stay ahead of the game and much less painful to face the piles.
If your backsliding has gone so far that your organizational systems/infrastructure have become obscured, forgotten or ineffective, it may be time to call in your organizer to get you focused and back on track. It’s not unusual for clients to do maintenance appointments on an ongoing basis with me, sometimes over many years, so you haven’t failed, you just need an occasional leg up.
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