From Reactive to Proactive: Organizing Your Space and Life

We have dissected S.M.A. from our home organizing acronym, S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S. You know what (S)pace you are organizing. You know at the end of the day the functional feeling will be your indicator that you have accomplished 80% organization ((M)easurable). And the (A)esthetics we know are not going to be like a magazine, but it could have a country french flair or whatever design you like. We are moving onto (R)eactive to proactive, (T)hings in place, and (I)terative today. Let’s look at the six categories I’ve been using as examples…

• Teacher

  • R- You are going to go through last year’s paper and see if you still need any of it. 

  • T- Teacher camp, you can attend a replay and get going right now or catch it live the first two weeks of July to get systems in place.

• Organizing Your Paper

  • R- If you have a chunk of time, put all the paper in one place. Then sort for keep, shred, or recycle. 

  • T- Once you have your organized paper piles, actionable paper goes in the Sunday Basket® and reference paper goes in the binders.

• Organizing Your Health Journey

  • R- Do a total clean out of the pantry and fridge. Toss all food that no longer supports your health goals. Important to restock with food that does provide the health you are looking to accomplish. This is a good time to revisit your recipes.

  • T- 15 minutes a day which could be one drawer at a time. You can do 15 minutes back to back too, but keep the tasks small so if you get interrupted you don’t have a big mess in the kitchen. 

• Personal Development/Personal Spaces

• R- Get rid of 20-30% of your closet. Our bodies are constantly changing and your wardrobe may be from before kids or a full time job and now you stay home. I have suits in my closet that I don’t wear, but I keep them because they remind me where I am going, so they are aspirational. It’s ok to keep things like that. And it’s ok to slowly replace your wardrobe. You’ll go through it at least 3 times so you can weed out and add as you go . 

• T- My big special thing I did was black flocked hangers. Is there something fun to help you organize? 

• Getting Your Kids Organized

• R- Only keep the things that are relevant to their age and phase of life. 

• T- A cube system or bookshelf helps you and the child to have defined spaces.

• Organizing Your Family & Communal Spaces

• R- You are fighting the tide of memories in this space. Try to remove the items you think you want gone. If you don’t miss them, then they weren’t serving the space and you can choose to store or donate them. 

• T- Be honest with yourself. Are the things in that space serving your family in the current life phase you are in? 

And (I)terative, this is a step that does not need explaining for each step. You will know it‘s time to iterate when you look around and you are no longer happy walking into that space. When yester-year’s project and today’s project are still out, that could be a sign the family has changed. Maybe you no longer have elementary aged kids, maybe you moved, but something has changed and you need to iterate to make the space functional for your current phase of life. 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• Teacher Friday Workbox®

• The Paper Solution®

• The Productive Home Solution®

• Kids Program

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter 

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