5 Tips Friday: Begin to be more organised

Don't get me wrong here: I am not completely organised. BUT I have had lots of practice moving in the direction of being more organised. I do find it easy to look at a space and see how it can just 'work' for us, although time is often my enemy in achieving all I want to. It's helping me to learn patience, I am well aware.

The creative side of me is often at war with my organised side. I LOVE to suddenly decide to do something, like go to the beach, paint with the kids, buy some plants and plant them together, go wandering somewhere as a family, make a new dress for one of the girls, or make a quilt, and go instantly. Just because. The thing is, with 5 kids none of these things would ever happen without me being generally organised, because all our time would be wasted doing boring stuff like looking for school notes, buying clothes that have nothing to go with them, replacing stuff we can't find, or trying to deal with a million last minute things that we forgot.

The more children that have been added to our family, the more necessary organisation has become. I often think that I wish I knew what I know now, back when I had 2 or 3 children. So I am going to start sharing some of the secrets I have discovered that have really made a difference to the quality of our life. And as it turns out: our bank balance. This post is just the beginning. I encourage you to share your ideas too, as we are all different, and I am only too happy to learn.

Begin to be more organised.

1) Discover what is making you feel disorganised, and decide to deal with that first.

There is always one thing that seems to cause the most problems when it comes to feeling organised, but it is different for different people, depending on where we are at at the time. Perhaps it's that no one can ever find what they need when it is time to walk out the door, or deciding on matching clothing, or finding pencils or other stationary items when they are needed, or attending to school notes or bills on time, or constant calendar clashes....I could go on forever here!

Pick something that for you is number one right now. Choose to focus on just that, until it is dealt with, organised and under control. Don't be tempted to fix everything at once, or even 10 things at once. You can't. It will be too overwhelming and nothing will be accomplished. Almost everyone can work on one thing, even if it is a tiny little bit at a time.

2) Clear the obvious clutter.

I do this all the time. Yesterday I filled the kitchen bin twice while the kids were at school and I was cleaning house. Don't keep stuff you know will not be used and attend to the stuff that needs your attention right away. For example in busy seasons I put catalogues straight in the recycling, unless I am on the look out for a particular item. Ask yourself if items are worth the amount of time taken to maintain and clean them. Remember you have to give up part of your finite life to look after all the things you have, so make sure they are worth the investment, especially as they take time away from the people in your life.

3) Do one small part at a time. OR spend a whole day taking everything out, only putting back what you actually use.

These two methods work really well. It will depend on the room in question, the time you have available and the degree to which speed is important.

Our downstairs area is my current project. It is not overly important so I am using the first method. When I did the study (which was causing us major issues in many areas of our lives as a family) I used the latter method while Craig kept the kids busy out of the house (teamwork!!!)

With the first method so one or two things a day, like just putting books away, nothing more. If it takes up too much time it's easy to put it off. 5-10 minutes is much more achievable.

With the second method, allocate a whole day in your calendar. Take everything out of the room. Then put back all the items that are genuinely used, in places where it is natural and convenient for them to be kept.

4) Decide on a system - but make it as simple as possible. Be realistic!

When deciding on a system, think: can it be maintained even if everyone in the house is sick at the same time? If it can, you are onto a winner. For us, we have built and altered systems over time. Simple things like: bills are opened and placed beside the computer right away, which is also where the kids put school notes. This works because the computer is a couple of steps from the kitchen, and has direct line of sight to the stove top. This means I can pay bills, write for the blog, do work for work, or fill out school notes while I cook or even wait for the kettle to boil. If our study was a room or more away this would never work, because I wouldn't see the bills or notes, and could quite possibly forget they are there.

In other words it has to work for the life you actually lead, not for the life you dream about aiming for. Pinterest is great for ideas, and I have a few boards dedicated to organisation, but I have had to alter systems in almost every case, because every family and person is different.

There is so much I could say about how to set up systems that work, and home/furniture arrangements that flow well, so perhaps I will write more at a later date.

5) Maintain the systems and decide if they really fit well with the rhythm of your home. 

Boring I know! But probably one of the most important steps.

If the system you have put in place is too much work, seems hard, or goes against the grain of what your family generally does - it just won't work. At all. Be flexible with what you have set up, remind the rest of the family gently, and get their opinions too. If something is causing too much stress, it needs to be changed so it doesn't. You only get one life. Organise, streamline and get rid of the clutter to find more time to do the things you love. You may just find the tasks that you dreaded, become a more happy part of life as well.

If you have questions, please comment so I can take them into account in following posts.

What areas do you struggle to be organised in?

Jen.x