How to celebrate World Organizing Day
Pause for a moment to really look over your spaces and consider how you’re affected by disorganization, clutter, and excess.
Research consistently proves that it negatively affects our health (sleep, diet), wellness (stress level), relationships, productivity, creativity, and mental health.
Organizing—at its heart—is about simplifying and stripping down to only what you need, use, and love—with each of these items having a designated home that’s easy to recall/access and also quick to put away. It’s about super intentional to remove extra steps/barriers and also to cut off the clutter at its source (impulse shopping, overconsumption, etc).
As an occupational therapist, I am an expert in activity analysis—breaking tasks down into the smallest steps in order to help restore, adapt, or compensate for anything blocks you from doing what you need to do. You don’t have to be an OT to know how to identify if a current system is not working because its steps are too complex. It looks like this:
you hang your coat on the stair railing because opening the closet, finding an empty hanger, pulling it out, putting the coat on the hanger, making room for it to go back in, etc., is too tedious and time consuming
you have piles of mail all over the home because you don’t have a designated sorting space; you are lacking what you need to deal with it in a timely manner (a shredder, a recycling bin, etc)
you have worn clothing scattered throughout your room because you don’t have a hamper (or they’re all occupied/full), you don’t have a system for clothes that are too clean for the laundry but have been worn so you don’t want to put in the closet again
We can learn lessons from our clutter.
What patterns do we see? When there’s a clutter hotspot, what exactly is it that’s getting stuck here?
Is it a me-problem or is it an everyone-in-the-home problem?
What is the current system for how this should go? Where is the disconnect between the alleged system and the lack of following it?
How can you pare down, simplify the process, and modify the routines—informing the whole family and considering each person’s needs, to make this a non-issue?
(Feels like a good time to say, remember that the goal is not perfection—it’s a home you love that’s easy to reset.)
Clutter is a problem for people worldwide; when I attended the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO) annual summit, I met organizers from different countries and it’s true that there is a serious need for our interventions all over the globe.
How validating to know it’s not just you; it’s a big part of why I love to share before pics (with consent)—because so many of us have this struggle, it’s normal, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, and there is a way out.
So, people in New Zealand, Africa, Canada, Brazil, and all over also need help with organizing. This is a skillset that can be learned, strengthened, and solidified.
If you want to learn, you will, and if you want to celebrate World Organizing Day this Monday, 5/20/24, know that people like you all over the globe will be coming together to join in the fight. (It’s truly an act of resistance to declutter and avoid overconsumption in our world.)
Let me break it down into concrete, doable ideas if it’s just you, if it’s you and roommates, you and kids, you and a spouse, etc.
Kind reminder: Monday is likely a school/work day for most of us, so don’t expect to be able to devote an entire day or even a substantial chunk of time to this. Use the day as a jumpstart and do what you can—organizing for 20 minutes is much better than none at all.
And when you set out to organize your home in any capacity—what’s the goal? Like what’s the goal in this half hour you’ve allotted (pull out the toys my kids have outgrown, for donation), or what’s the big picture goal that you’re working toward (be able to tidy the home at the end of the day in 15 min or less)?
The thing is, you simply have to START. You can reach out to me for accountability. Overall ideas to motivate are to have someone help hold you accountable. You can comment on my FB page. You can share a status of your own about your commitment to spending 1 hour for World Organizing Day. You can take before and after pics. Some people love to do the timelapse video of themselves cleaning their spaces, just for fun. Some people do well with a body double; if not in person, can you set up a video call with your sister or your friend and both agree to tidy up?
Put on music or listen to a podcast. Open the windows. Wear comfortable clothes. Consider allergy meds. Wear good shoes. Stay hydrated—keep a water bottle with you as you work. Protein and carbs before you start to regulate your blood sugar. If it helps, plan a (non-clutter) reward afterward!
Ask for help. Even if it’s just you, maybe you can have one of the teens in your neighborhood break down all your cardboard boxes for $20. Or maybe if you have pain or difficulty with mobility, you can simply tag items you’re ready to donate with a sticker or painter’s tape and then next time a family member comes by, they can help remove these items. Remember that if you love someone who’s in struggle with their home, of course you would love to help—the more specific instruction or job you can offer, the better.
Break it down into small chunks. On a commercial break, gather up all the snack bowls and cups and return them to the kitchen. If you’re bingewatching Bridgerton, maybe between episodes take a 10-minute break to fill up a box for donation.
Whether you’re just you, or you have family or roommates at home, your overall option is to consider a whole-house sweep together or separately OR each focus on your biggest pain point. If the clutter in your entire home is overwhelming more so than a specific spot, like the closet or the bathroom vanity, then it makes sense to do a quick tackle of each room with a plan of attack. If it’s that one spot that’s your stressor, go hard there.
Whole home options:
Play the 12-12-12 game. In each room, find 12 pieces of trash/recycling, find 12 items to relocate to their appropriate homes, and 12 items to donate. (You can also make this game quicker with fewer number of items like 5, or you can go higher like 20! There’s not really a wrong way to do this.)
Set a timer for each room, even just 5-10 min in a space. Pick up everything off the floor and focus on clearing horizontal surfaces. Work smarter—use a bin for anything that does not belong in the room so that you’re not running, running, running, back and forth and losing focus. The key here is to properly empty the relocation bin between each space so that you don’t have bins and bins of random stuff at the end and no energy left to address.
Scan the room and identify one category that’s a widespread problem here. Maybe there’s papers all over the room. Focus strictly on papers, gathering them up and doing a rapid sort of anything that can be instantly trashed or recycled without much consideration. Anything you’re unsure of, put it in a bin so you have all the paper in one place. Or, if it’s clothes all over the bedroom, focus on solely the clothes—moving them to a laundry bin or back to the drawer/closet, weeding out what you can in the process (for donation, returns, or relocation).
Single space focus (e.g., the entryway, your walk-in closet, the pantry)
Focus first on minimizing. Start at the top left and, just like you’re reading a book, do a mindful scan from left to right to have your eyes on every single item. This is you taking inventory. We must do this to stay aware of what we have, so we don’t waste time or money looking for misplaced items, buying duplicates, buying more of what we don’t need, etc.
Pull out anything that’s an easy choice. This first round should be fairly quick with the decision making. Don’t agonize over anything in this first pass. You are just putting your eyes on something and if it’s obvious that it can go, then pull it out. (Those “healthy” protein bars that no one eats, that expired tuna fish, the maternity clothes that you no longer need because your kids are teenager, etc.)
Group like items together. In a pantry, this looks like all the breakfast items together, all the salty snacks together, all the oils/vinegars together. Are there duplicates? Can they be combined to free up space? Is anything expired? Pull it out.
Once you have like with like, you can see, for example, wow I actually have 14 black blazers. Then you can say, these two are really the ones I wear most, they fit well and are comfortable and I feel confident in them.
Make it a goal to create space. It’s way easier to pick out your clothes when you don’t have a jampacked closet that has button-downs mixed up with formal short sleeve shirts and hoodies. If you don’t have to lean your body weight against the clothes to push them over to see what you have.
If someone is working with you, be respectful with language that’s observational, NOT judgmental. Remember, this is about making the home better for everyone in it, not just you. This is NOT the time to shame, blame, or attack anyone. Be on the same team in problem-solving mode, and talk about how to do better moving forward.
Have a plan in place for what to do with items you are donating so they Don’t. Just. Sit. There. For. Months. Mobilize your clutter, and you will see and feel instant relief. If you have questions about where to drop off something—ask me! I can provide so many options!
Give yourself rest afterward. Put your feet up. Notice your AFTER. Notice how it feels compared to before. Maybe your partner will give you a foot rub. Maybe you can update your status to share that you filled a recycling bin and two bags of x for donation. Unwind with a book or your favorite show and know that you can accomplish so much, little by little, one shelf, one cabinet, one room at a time.
It’s a lifelong journey, and I’m here to help empower you to get started and stay the course. I’m proud to be a professional organizer who leads with empathy, respect, and integrity. Lean on me for accountability this World Organizing Day—and if you want to go further a book a free call to see how hiring a professional can significantly change your home (and subsequently your life!), click on this button below.