Good Habits For Staying Organized

Hi All, Let’s jump in and look at good habits for staying organized. On Wednesdays, I like to talk about cleaning and organizing so I thought it might be fun to look at a couple of habits that will make life easier. It’s incredibly helpful to try and incorporate some organizing habits into your day-to-day. This will hopefully mean that keeping your home organized will be much easier.

If you get into some good habits, keeping your home tidy will feel much more achievable and less like hard work. I wanted to focus on a couple of simple habits that will hopefully, with time and practice become like second nature. You won’t even have to think about ‘doing’ certain tasks. They will be things you do automatically as part of your daily routine.

Here Are a Couple Of Good Habits For Staying Organized

Tidy as you go

Whenever anything is out of place, I’ll just take a few seconds and put it back where it belongs. If I open a cupboard or drawer and find some things that need fixing, I’ll go ahead and do it real quick. The same goes for wardrobes and drawers. If something needs to be folded or hung up properly I’ll try and take care of it as soon as I spot it.

This is such a great habit and I think I picked it up from a friend a long time ago. I would have to say that she probably has the neatest house in the world. I had just recently had my first son and so had she. Our boys were about two months apart in age. I spent quite a bit of time at her place back then. One thing I noticed was that she would just tidy up as she went about her day. No big deal, she just did it!

Well at the time my house was a disaster (cringe). I didn’t enjoy leaving her house and going back to mine, opening the door and seeing the mess. So over time, I made a point of making sure I tidied things up as soon as I saw that they needed doing. And now it’s just a habit. Thank you, tidy friend!!

Tidying up as you go means that what may start out as a small mess doesn’t end up becoming a huge organizing nightmare. One or two things out of place quickly multiply into more and more. So it’s a great habit to get on top of things when it’s still only a small task.

Finish Things Off

Nothing frustrates me more than when I don’t finish what I’m doing before I move on to the next thing. Going back to find I still need to address the previous task exasperates me.

Whenever I am working on something say for example folding the neverending laundry. I will really try to make sure I put it away immediately. If I leave it on my bed, which is where I do my folding, It stays there. I know this because I have been guilty of it. Coming back into the bedroom to find piles of folded laundry, no matter how neat those piles are. Is still very frustrating!!

Another example of finishing things off in my day is to make sure the kitchen is clean and tidy after dinner. This means that the dishwasher is on, the counters are clean and everything is packed away. This is an area where the whole family can help out before they each run away to their rooms!! Once all this is done then I can sit down and really relax.

The same applies to the lounge room. It only takes a few seconds to tidy up the pillows and throws at the end of the day, but it makes a huge difference to the tidiness of the whole room.

I wish I could confidently say that my home is super tidy all the time. But life happens and so there are times when things just pile up or drawers and cupboards get neglected and get stuffed with clutter. Having good habits for staying organized does mean that it will take less time to address the things that might have started to pile up.

Get Rid of The To-Do List and Just Get On With It!

Years ago I used to like making to-do lists. But I found that they didn’t really work for me. Very rarely did I get to cross everything off the list and that left me feeling all annoyed!

Now I might quickly write things down that I need to remember but I don’t write long lists. I think having good daily organization habits means there is no real reason to have a long to-do list. Good habits should mean that household tasks are getting done routinely and consistently.

It Takes Time To Build Up Habits So Be Kind To Yourself

Building a new habit takes time and effort. Start small like, for example, you could get into the habit of making your bed every day. Once this becomes second nature you can move on to other tasks until they too become a daily habit. Remember that if things don’t get done, it’s ok there’s always tomorrow. Just try and be consistent until it is part of your daily routine.

Having a couple of simple consistent good habits for staying organized like tidying up as you go and finishing off tasks is the answer to staying organized.  I think organizational habits are really the answer to a peaceful, tidy, and clutter-free home.

One Last Thing

If you would like to read about some tips for a clean and tidy home. You can find them here.