a place for everything and everything in it's place?

Question

I am sure many of you have heard that motto. I live in utter chaos. I can never find anything. And if I do, I set it down and 5 minutes late, i can't find it, again. I grew up in a house with my mother whose middle name was clutter. If there is anyone who has any tips for this unorganized housewife, I would really appreciate them. I just can't seem to get any organizational skills in order. HELP me please!!!!!

Answer 1

Start off each day in an organized way, and you'll get more done than you can imagine. Here are some simple steps.

MAKE A TO DO LIST. Make a list of the things you have to do tomorrow, the evening before. Prioritize and organize each item in the sequence that it should be accomplished. Consolidate similar tasks together. When you wake up in the morning, you'll have a clear-cut guide detailing everything that must be done.

BE CAREFUL OF GETTING DIVERTED. Very often, a schedule gets thrown off track due to distraction. If you find that you constantly get off track, get a watch with a timer and set it so it goes off every 30 minutes. Every time it sounds, be sure you're working on what you originally said you would. If you're not, stop what you're doing and get back on schedule. Most distractions are not emergency situations.

CALL BEFORE YOU LEAVE. If you have an appointment during the day, always call to confirm before you leave your home or office. This will ensure that the person you're meeting did not forget about the appointment. Also, if there is going to be a long waiting time, perhaps you can do something else first, before you leave.

CHECK OFF ITEMS AS YOU COMPLETE THEM. Every time you finish something, cross it off your To Do List. This will give you a sense of accomplishment throughout the day.


DO A FINAL CHECK. At the end of the day, take a look at your list. How many items were you able to accomplish? Are there only 1-2 things left undone, or many? If there were just a few undone, simply move them to tomorrow's To Do List. If there were many undone, and you worked diligently on everything all day, then you probably had too many things on your list to begin with. Re-think how much you can possibly do in a given day. Remember, you only have 24 hours, and you should be using a third of those hours to sleep!

Happy Organizing! :)

Answer 2

Glad to help. Most of us have way too much stuff, so start by getting rid of everything you don't absolutley need or use. It's much easier to keep clean. For example how many sets of sheets do you need? I say just two, maybe even one- you wash it and put it back no need to store it. Also don't keep things that only do one special thing. They take up space and you rarely use them after the first week.
Make a week of going through each room and see how much you can do without. Maybe you could make it a contest to see who can get rid of more. Ok all that being said, now to cleaning. Make sure everything you own has a specific place not just floating around the house.
You need to make the effort to put things in their place. Including laundry(hamper) clean clothes closet, etc. After eating take care of dishes right away either by putting them in dishwasher or washing and putting away. Make sure at the end of the day you go through and do a quick clean-puttting everything away so you can start the day fresh tom. Then when you get home from work you may just have a liitle tidying to do from that morning. Set up a cleaning schedule like saturday laundry. Monday mop floors Tuesday clean bathrooms etc. so you really shouldn't need to be dealing with clutter after you get going then it's just a matter of doing your daily chores. You'll appreciate having a haven for a home. God Bless you!

Answer 3

I'm a slob living in a neat persons body. Doesn't make sense? Well, I'm a slob...but I was raised in a "neat freak" household so I'm a neat freak..who lets the house go......and go....just to clean it up and organize again., I tell you this so that you can find the same fusion.....where you can let the neat freak in you out...overcome your up bringing.

First steps is to get rid of excess stuff. Go thru your closet....toss stuff you haven't used in a year. While you are there...start placing the stuff in an order....colors or sizes..etc. The system has to make sense to you. Go out and buy some plastic containers....for your new system. Once closet is done....do the rest of room....toss what you don't use...or need. See where you can store within your closet. Then hit the next room....and so on...and so on. Once you get used to (example: put all your belts in a container in your closet) you'll be able to find them without the hassle.

Good luck.

Answer 4

S T E P A W A Y F R O M T H E C O M P U T E R


Take note they all have good ideas I'm the same way, Its
Fall and winter coming I'm starting with all my coats to donate to a local mission for the homeless Blankets too
Good luck I know your overwhelming dilemma

Answer 5

Get rid of stuff you don't use or need. Put it in bags and call Goodwill or Salvation Army. They'll come to your house and pick it up. Call them every week until you are through--no matter how long it takes.

Start getting into the habit of storing things in obvious practical places, like cosmetics, bath essentials in the bathroom. Put dirty clothes and other articles in one place close to your washer.

When you get through using things (and you can start doing this RIGHT NOW) put them in the obvious practical place where you'll be able to find them next time you need them.

When you make breakfast (lunch,dinner...), put the dirty dishes in the washer or sink where you can keep a small bowl with soapy water in it to rinse dishes,etc. off immediately after eating.

Go through the mail when you bring it in the house and throw away or shred everything you don't want or need. Put the remainder in an obvious practical place after marking on the front the date due/amount to be paid on bills, or other notes with dates for other action to be taken later. It's really best if you sit down and make out a check and put a note on it with the date to mail it OR schedule it on your online banking site.

Start a TO DO list with four categories: Calls, Go, Write, Do. Calls are phone calls you need to make to anyone. Go is errands that you have to make outside of home. Write is anything you have to write from a check to a letter or email. Do is anything that needs doing around the house. This will help you get all your calls done at one or two sittings. You will be able to organize the route for your errands so that when you take the time to do them, you can do it more efficiently. Things that need writing can be done together, again, when you take the time to do them. Do--for example, painting that table, washing clothes, cleaning the floors, etc., etc.--all these things according to your priorities.

You can only do one thing really well at a time. Don't allow yourself to get distracted from your current task to start on another. Recent studies have shown that "multi-tasking" is just not as good; it actually slows us down because we can only really focus on one major task at a time. Remember to mark off items that you've done so that you get that little feeling of accomplishment. When your list gets mostly done and starts looking messy, take a moment to celebrate, and then make a new TO DO list.

Try not to be too discouraged. As we all know, housework is never really done. I just try to keep it to a reasonable level in most areas of the house, with little piles of clutter that I try to reduce from time to time, and keep the main living area picked up and reasonably clean.

Remember, Superwoman is a myth, not a reality.

Answer 6

You probably run from one task to another, thereby losing or misplacing things as you hurry along. I find LISTS are necessary. In the morning write down what needs to be done and stick to doing it until finished then check it off. At the end of the day you'll feel that you acomplished what you set out to do.
Good luck!
Katie31

Answer 7

I HAVE discovered the fly lady- and her website- www.flylady.com I am just learning to fly- declutter and get more organized- we can do anything for 15 minutes- check it out-D