Bite-Sized Resolutions

 The New Year is just around the corner, which leaves many of us thinking about New Year's resolutions. Should we make them? Will we keep them? What should they be?

Whether your resolutions revolve around organization or something else entirely, here are a few ideas to keep in mind.

Keep it simple. Choose one thing, one space, or one habit. A laundry list of resolutions is overwhelming and difficult to keep up with. If you have multiple things, spaces, or habits you want to work on, consider splitting them up, choosing one for January, one for February, and so on.

Define your why. Why do you want to make this change? Why does it matter to you and/or how will it improve your life? If you can't answer at least one of these questions, is it really worth investing your energy in this change? 

Adopt a strategy and keep it simple. Big, fat, hairy plans can be intimidating and hard to keep track of. Better to choose one simple strategy that's easy to implement into your existing routine -- a baby step that's not too time-consuming -- than to attempt a complete overhaul of anything. If the first strategy you choose doesn't work, you can always modify your plan.

Describe your desired outcome. Keep it clear. What does "clean out my closet" mean? What will it look like when you're finished? How will you know you've succeeded?

Confused? Frustrated? Annoyed by my interference in your plans to make your world better? Feel free to ignore me and proceed as usual. 

Interested in giving this a try? Let's take the "clean out my closet" example and go step by step. 

Simple: Get rid of clothes I no longer wear.

Why: Because my closet is overstuffed and/or I can't find what I need when I need it and/or I'm tired of putting on clothes that don't fit or flatter every time I get dressed. Removing clothes that don't work for me will, in the end, make me feel better about myself because everything in my closet fits me and makes me feel good when I wear it. 

Strategy: Here are three ideas (choose ONE):

• I'll spend 15 minutes to an hour each weekend pulling all the clothes of one color or one category (e.g. dresses) out of the closet and going through them, keeping only those that fit and flatter and donating the rest. (Why only one color or category? It's an easy way to remember where you left off from one session to the next). OR...
• I'll keep a box in the bottom of the closet. Every time I put on something that doesn't fit and flatter, it goes into the box instead of being returned to the closet. When the box is full, I'll donate its contents. OR...
• I'll hang questionable clothes (we all have them) on a different colored hanger (or turn the hanger backwards) and make a rule for how long to keep the item. 2 weeks? A month? Until the next time I put it on and am unhappy with it? When I reach that deadline, I'll make a final decision based on how it fits and how it makes me feel.

Outcome: A closet with contents that make it easy for me to get dressed with minimal frustration because I can find what I need when I need it and I'm happy with everything I put on.

Your answers may be very different from mine because our circumstances are likely to be different. If, for example, you're a young mom considering a future pregnancy, your goal might be to remove all the maternity clothes from your closet now but, rather than donating them, you might relocate the box to a more out-of-the way location. If you're downsizing or pressed for space, you might take a more ruthless approach, or determine a plan for seasonal rotation of your clothing.

Whatever you decide to do, keep it simple and give yourself grace. Planning to tackle that closet every Saturday, but finding that you get there once a month instead of once a week? That's still a step in the right direction. Accept that life intervened and move on, adapting your plan to fit your life.

Finally, if your New Year's resolutions are organization-related, don't forget to factor in your styles. They might fit into any of the steps (simple, why, strategy, outcome) above, depending on where you are in your journey, but they can play a key role in the success of your plan.

Whatever you decide, good luck! And remember: it's a process.

Style Habits

 Do you have a specific home for your car keys? Are they there now?

How about your phone? Does it have a home? Or do you, like me, make all-too-frequent use of the "find my phone" feature on another device, or ask someone to call you so you can figure out where you set your phone down?

Creating habits, routines, and homes is at the heart of organizing. If your keys have a home, and putting them there is part of a habit you practice every time you come home, this creates a sort of organizing automaticity -- not to mention making it much easier to find them when you need them.

This same automaticity can work against us. If we have a drop and run organizing style, we might have developed the habit of just dropping everything onto the nearest surface when we walk in the door, especially if we've had a long day or are in a hurry. Those with an I know I put it somewhere organizing style might have developed the enviable habit of clearing off cluttered spaces, but if they've paired that habit with stashing the clutter in whatever space is available at the moment, the clear space they've gained comes at a cost. The next time they need those items, they may spend a lot of time trying to retrieve them from whatever home seemed to make sense when clearing the clutter was priority one. And cram and jammers? Their impulse to put everything into one place might make it easier to know where to look for their stuff, but it often gets mashed and smashed in the process. 

To organize sustainably, we need to create habits that are easy to do (even when we're tired or in a rush) and easy to remember. And, we need to match the new routine to the habits we already have.

Wait. What? Why would we match a new routine to an unsuccessful old habit?

We wouldn't because that wouldn't be helpful at all. What we need to do is to match is the impulse behind the old habit to a new routine with a better end result. 

Those with a drop and run style need to create a new habit that makes it as easy to put something down as it is to put it away. We can still drop and run but, by simply changing our drop-off destination from the nearest surface to a designated bin, basket, hook, or drawer, we can keep the automaticity of the old habit and create a more organized space.

The same idea works for the I know I put it somewhere example above. Clearing the counters is a great impulse, as is putting things away. But the system breaks down when there's no logic or consistency to where the items go. By finding consistent homes (back to those bins, baskets, hooks, drawers, etc.) for the items we're clearing away, we can upgrade our existing habit to one that's more helpful in the long run.

The shift for those with a cram and jam organizational style, then, is merely one of size and shape. Cram and jammers can still put everything into one container; it just needs to be the right size and shape for what it's storing. 

When we feel as though our living spaces are disorganized, it's easy to label our habits as "bad" when, in reality, all we need is a simple tweak to move from a routine that isn't working to one that is effortless. 

When we build on what comes naturally to us, we can learn to view our habits as incomplete instead of simply wrong. And the beauty of that simple switch is that not only do we move from clutter to organization, we're able to feel better about ourselves in the process.  

Containing Christmas Clutter

Alexas_Fotos via Pixabay

 'Tis the season for tons of clutter! (Fa la la la la?) Between the decorations and the presents (that we inevitably put in a "safe place," away from curious eyes), we’re in the midst of a season that can stretch our organizational systems to their limits.

Not an issue at your house? That's wonderful! But, if you're feeling the crunch, here are a few ideas to keep in mind.

Keep it simple. Now is not the time to try fancy new plans. If it's not broken, don't change it. If it can wait, let it. If it can't wait, replace the strategy that's not working with one that's proven more successful elsewhere. Trying to do it all (particularly on top of holiday preparations) is overrated, not to mention counterproductive.

Keep it consistent. ’Tis also the season for the same things to be put (away) in the same places -- time wise and stuff wise. Although predictability can be boring, it can be a lifesaver when life is overwhelming. And for many of us, there's something comforting about a routine we can count on when both the calendar and the house are more crowded than usual.

Keep your styles in mind. With more people in and out of our homes, not to mention more goodies to put in “safe places,” it’s not only those with an I know I put it somewhere organizational style who find it easy to stash stuff now only to need it later and not be able to locate it. Keep one big bin behind closed doors to use as a container for all the half-finished holiday preparations you need to grab and stash when company’s coming, and decide on one location for hiding Santa’s inventory (preferably in a drab-looking container unlikely to attract anyone’s attention or interest). That way, you know where to look once the company has gone home and you want to wrap presents.

Try to avoid making a contribution. To the pile-up, that is. While it seems like putting one more thing on the pile won't make that much difference, that one more thing you set down now becomes one more thing you have to put away later. Strategies like give it five (minutes) and don't put it down, put it away! can help keep clutter manageable.

Manage the little things to enjoy the big things. If you’re thinking that these ideas sound like temporary solutions, you may be right. Then again, many of the organizational challenges we face at this time of year are temporary as well, and it’s silly to spend precious holiday time working out long-term solutions to short-term problems. In this busy time of year, it’s okay to do what works now. Then, after all the cookies have been eaten, the gifts have been unwrapped, and the decorations have been put away, we can nail down the strategies that keep things running smoothly the other eleven months of the year. That said, if these temporary solutions work now, there’s no reason not to continue to use them once the holiday glitter has settled. 

Until then, deck the halls, trim the tree, and then sit down and watch a Christmas movie. Or pile the family in the car, and drive around the neighborhood to take in the light displays. Or gather in the kitchen and make cookies (or a meal) together. Make a mess, share some joy, or revel in time spent with people you love.

The clutter can wait. That is, after all, what New Year’s resolutions are for.