I Can’t Organise Today Because ….

I Can’t Organise Today Because …..

…I don’t know where to start.

The only wrong response to this excuse is to not start at all. Organising or being organised is a way of life. It’s not an event with a beginning and an end. It’s an ongoing process that will help change your life and the way you see it. You can literally jump in anywhere.

… the kids are home.

Perfect! Make your children part of your organising as opposed to seeing them as obstacles or part of the problem. Take the opportunity to teach your children valuable lessons and habits that they can carry with them through life.

Almost any child is old enough to help out around the house. They can start with simple tasks while being supervised by you. Tasks like transferring laundry from the washer to the dryer or maybe helping to fold clean towels are great ones for toddlers to start with!

…I don’t have the money.

Organising requires no money to get started. You simply need to pick a project and start. In fact, the very worst mistake you can make is to run out and spend a stack of money on organising supplies. Pretty boxes or containers are useless before you have taken the important first steps of purging your no longer needed belongings and coming up with a plan for the stuff that will remain.

…it will take too long.

If you have just five minutes, you can begin to organise. One example, go to your bathroom cabinet and quickly pull out all products, medicinal or otherwise that are expired or that you have not used in the last 12 months. Be firm with yourself and toss anything that falls into this category. By setting parameters, you will avoid having to go through each item wondering whether or not you should get rid of it.

…it’s too overwhelming.

Take baby steps. You can break your organising project into small manageable pieces. Instead of cleaning out your whole closet at once, decide to just go through your purses or shoes. Then the following day or the next time you have a chance, you can move on to another phase.

…I like all of my things and do not want to get rid of anything!

Very often we are so controlled by our emotions that we fail to realize that we are holding on to things that have outlived their usefulness. By giving some real thought to your purging phase, it may be much easier than you expect. What commonly happens is that we get so used to having certain items around that we think we need them or love them. Once we take the items as simply items and not the memories that we associate with them, it can be very easy to let the item itself go. By getting rid of the item we are not getting rid of the memories. We will always have those. It’s okay to allow yourself the freedom to dispose of things without having to get rid of the good feelings attached to those things.

Say you have a whole room full of decorative objects and even though you may know it’s too much in one place, you don’t want to get rid of any of it. You can choose to pack away a portion of them and store them someplace accessible so that you can bring them back out and pack away other items at certain times. This is called rotating. You can schedule this rotation to follow certain holidays or a specific time frame such as every three months or just whenever the mood strikes.

…I’m afraid to do it wrong!

The only way to really do it wrong is to not do it. As you work through your project you will discover that some things may work better than others but there is very little about organising that can’t be undone if necessary.

If you decide to put certain items into a drawer, you can always change your mind and put something else in there. If you move furniture, you can always move it back. If you set up a filing system and it doesn’t work for you, you can always set it up another way. Being willing to adapt and make changes as you implement your organizing efforts is an important part of the fluid process.

Now you can come up with all of the great reasons why you should organise today!