3 Tips to Effortlessly Successful Organizational Systems (Even on Your Worst Days)

We all desire our lives to run smoothly and according to a plan. Unfortunately, we often find out life just doesn’t work that way. Because our lives are so closely connected to our organized spaces, we can experience similar feelings of frustration and disappointment when these spaces aren’t working for us.

Have any of the following organization scenarios ever happened to you?

• Have you ever organized a space only to find yourself reorganizing the same space over and over again?

• Have you spent money on beautiful (but complex) organizing systems, and they ended up being too complicated; and therefore, not easy to maintain?

• Have you ever had organizational systems that worked great…until…life got exhausting, chaotic, or stressful? Then, items didn’t get put back properly, the space got messy, and clutter started piling up?

If you’ve experienced one or all of these scenarios, don’t worry. You’re not alone.

As a professional organizer, I encounter many people who have enthusiastically spent a lot of time, effort, and money putting together a beautiful system that, unfortunately, doesn’t work for them. I find there are a number of reasons why:

• it’s too complex

• there are too many steps

• the items aren’t strategically arranged

• they struggle with over organizing

• they struggle with under organizing

If we could only organize and put things away as effortlessly as Mary Poppins can.

You might not be able to put things away this effortlessly, but I can help you optimize your organized spaces to work better for you over the long haul.

Thankfully, it’s quite simple. First, I want you to imagine how you feel on your hardest, most exhausting, and frustrating days. Next, I want you to create a plan that would be easy to use on those days. In other words, what organizers and systems would make life easier for you on your worst day?

This change in perspective sets you up for success and allows you to continue a consistent routine, even when your day, week, or month isn’t going according to plan.

With this new perspective, apply the following 3 tips:

Tip #1 | Note consistent pain points in your space.

Move through your home, look around, and determine which places and spaces trigger discomfort and/or negative emotions. These will often be the areas that aren’t systematically working for you, spaces that are frustrating to use/access, or surfaces that continually collect clutter (no matter how many times you clean them off). Select one of these spaces (I recommend the smallest and least overwhelming to start), and apply tips 2 and 3.

Tip #2 | Put frequently used items in the most accessible locations.

Make sure you put the items you use the most in a location that doesn't require bending down too low, needing a step ladder, or reaching to the very back of a deep space. Aim to put these items front, center, and/or at eye level.

Tip #3 | Choose organizers that are easy and convenient to use.

The goal for your organizational system is to have the fewest steps possible when putting your items away (bonus points if you can put things away with just one hand). If your organization requires a multi-step process—i.e. taking the container out, pulling off the lid (with two hands), putting an item in the container, putting the lid back on the container, and putting the container back on the shelf—it’s probably too many steps for something that gets used daily. These steps aren’t inherently difficult, but if we’re honest with ourselves, the process isn’t ideal or easy to maintain.

When you successfully do these 3 things well—identify your pain points, place items in their ideal locations, and select the appropriate organizers for your items—your space will be effortlessly simple to maintain and keep organized even on your worst days!