Wednesday, February 13, 2008

How do I keep it organised?

There is such joy and pleasure from seeing a beautifully organised and functional space.

But how do you keep it looking that way?

After all, life happens, husband, children, YOU (!) all need to use the space and before you know it, it looks like a bomb went off and destroyed your organisational bliss ;)

So I understand why this is the ONE question I get asked more than any other (after where do I start?).

I have two words for you: REGULAR MAINTENANCE.

There is no quick fix although... the more regularly you maintain, the quicker it takes.

It's the old adage of a stitch in time saves nine!

I've shared before that I do my filing about once a week. It takes me less than 5 minutes and I usually tackle the pile while waiting for an audio to download, or something quick like that.

However, if I leave the filing for a couple of weeks, it's a 30-minute session when I get around to it.

So let's go over the maintenance process:

1. pick a regular time (5 minutes per room per day is a good place to start)
2. link it to something you normally do (I switch on the kettle for my last mug of tea/ coffee every night; while the kettle's boiling, I do my quick tidy/ organise of my desk/ study area because I hate starting work in a mess)
3. don't stress if you don't get to it one day (keep a positive attitude and start again the next day)
4. constantly tweak (if something's not working, change it to suit your lifestyle)

This is what works for me.

How do YOU keep it organised?

P.S. Have you heard my welcome message on the sidebar? --->>> (under my picture)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just loved hearing your voice and your accent. That is a neat feature you added.

Hope you are having a great week!

Anonymous said...

Sounds good to me!


I love notebooks to keep my chaos under control.
http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/02/works-for-me-wednesday-controlling.html


Love your new pic on your blog!

Anonymous said...

i like the idea of doing some little chore just while you're waiting for something else to happen (like the tea kettle to boil). that way it's not like you're signing away your life or anything to drudgery. it's good when i can trick myself into getting stuff done by chopping it into small doses that aren't too painful.

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