Plenty of people approach organizing projects with the mindset that setting aside a big chunk of time is the way to go.\u00a0 This can be the stereotypical idea of not starting to clean out the garage or basement until you have a weekend to dedicate to working on it.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s even a reason to procrastinate, \u201cOh, I don\u2019t have enough time to work on this \u2013 look at my weekends, they each have things that are more important.\u201d<\/p>\n
It can also be the internal \u201cshoulds\u201d of having the time to spend on organizing projects \u2013\u00a0 \u201cI should be spending at least 6 hours a day organizing my stuff, I don\u2019t have that<\/i> much else to do\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
First, one of the ways we all end up with too much stuff is that we haven\u2019t embraced the process of purging as part of our life.\u00a0 When purging happens only when you\u2019ve found an available weekend to clean out the garage (or wherever) \u2013 the stuff will pile up again.\u00a0 Is this how you want things to function going forward?\u00a0 I\u2019d encourage you to incorporate the purging and hence the organizing process into your life in order to avoid a weekend of cleaning out any space.<\/p>\n
Organizing is never truly finished; rather it\u2019s part of life.\u00a0 Even when you\u2019re attentive to getting things out, stuff can accumulate.\u00a0 Have I shared how my husband and I found 3 sets of mixing bowls in our cupboards a couple years ago?\u00a0 3 sets!\u00a0 Somehow things slip through, or multiply behind our backs \u2013 and I had no idea there were 3 sets using up our valuable cupboard space (even a couple years later I\u2019m confounded by it!).<\/p>\n
Second, when you\u2019re tackling a space over a weekend, you could be heading yourself into a state of overwhelm.\u00a0 Getting overwhelmed has potential consequences \u2013 serious ones even!\u00a0 In your goal of cleaning out the garage, you might reach the state of being overwhelmed as everything is strewn about for sorting \u2013 and when walking away is not a feasible option. \u00a0\u00a0When it might be possible to walk away, the stuff is there, now less contained and probably gnawing at you to get back to it.<\/p>\n
You might get through everything and then find yourself resistant to any other projects that involve sorting and purging \u2013 it becomes overwhelming to consider another big<\/i> project.\u00a0 What people often discount about any organizing \u2013 whatever the size \u2013 is how much energy it can take. \u00a0If you\u2019re working alone, physical energy is probably required. \u00a0Yet, I\u2019m talking about mental energy \u2013 the decisions required for every item.\u00a0 Often each item is more than 1 decision \u2013 since once you\u2019ve decided to keep it \u2013 the first decision, where are you going to keep it? What other items do you have like it?\u00a0 How will you know where and how to find it when you need it?\u00a0 And any number of other decisions for each and every item.\u00a0 This can be extremely draining \u2013 and please don\u2019t discount how much or how normal!<\/p>\n
No matter what the size of the project \u2013 whether you want to get the whole house organized or just that linen closet \u2013 it can be done in small steps.\u00a0 The basement can be approached in small chunks of time rather than waiting for a whole weekend.\u00a0 When you break things down \u2013 whatever the size \u2013 you want to make sure you keep the things you\u2019ve sorted distinct from the things you have yet to sort.\u00a0 It can also help to keep things tidy \u2013 it\u2019s common for things to get more chaotic before they get better \u2013 so containing the stuff in order to keep things and spaces accessible as well as avoid being overwhelmed just by entering.<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s not obvious, I don\u2019t recommend the weekend room tackle!\u00a0 There are more reasons I find it counterproductive, though I\u2019ve certainly met and worked with people who take this approach.\u00a0 As long as it works for them, that\u2019s what matters; though I expect they are still in the minority.\u00a0 Regardless, when you\u2019re working in a space, sorting, organizing, and purging it needs your attention.\u00a0 So, in the other extreme, I would be cautious about starting an organizing project when you might have to run out of the house in 5 minutes \u2013 unless you have a plan!\u00a0 Bursts of organizing can be any amount of time \u2013 theoretically \u2013 you get to decide for yourself.\u00a0 What amount of time works well for you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Not everyone loves the process of organizing \u2013 rather planning bursts of organizing to tackle this or that room to get it in shape. Yet there are ramifications to this approach \u2013 for many of us \u2013 so consider these dynamics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,18,5,9,7,22,17],"class_list":["post-1721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organizing","tag-behavior","tag-goals","tag-household","tag-motivation","tag-procrastination","tag-productivity","tag-spaces"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-rL","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1722,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721\/revisions\/1722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}