Renew and Improve – Level Up Your Organized Spaces

The season of Spring makes me feel a bit more energized and hopeful. It’s a time for renewal. You can feel it in the air and see the tiny buds of blossoms and leaves appearing on the tree limbs above you. Have you noticed crocus flowers peeking out already?

Whether you are just starting out or have been working on organizing for a while, every system needs a bit of tweaking and TLC once in a while. Spring is a great time to renew, improve, and level up your organized spaces. On that note, read on for three practices to help you do just that.

If you’ve been through the “big decluttering and organizing” experience of your home or office in the past, you probably want to avoid having to go through that again. You might remember how overwhelmed and stressed you felt right before you started, and once you finished, how awesome you felt.

You want to keep that feeling of awesome going, right?

Following, are three simple practices to help keep your spaces clutter-free and organized. When you apply these suggestions not only can you continue to keep things humming along great, but also make them better and better. Ready to level up your organized spaces?

1. Review regularly:

If you’ve noticed some backsliding on newly formed routines and habits, you are not alone. It’s completely normal. To counteract this, make sure to regularly check in with yourself and others responsible for maintaining the space. Put a reminder on the calendar to check in every few weeks.

Some questions to ask:

• What’s working here?
• What’s not working?
• What needs to happen to fix what’s not working?
• What can we make even better?

Plan and carry out any solutions you uncover. When you’re reviewing on a regular, fairly frequent basis, your systems will naturally become more refined and functional.

2. Discover your “Why”:

I’m thinking you probably don’t want to get into the situation where everything is in such a total disorganized mess that you can’t even think straight again. Am I right? Especially if you’ve already been there and done that more than once. Could this be one of your “why’s”?

The first reason that prompted you to get organized may have shifted. Go down that path of discovery again.

Beyond wanting to find something quickly when you need it, what are some of the deeper reasons?

Motivate yourself again:

• Do you want to invite a new friend over for coffee without feeling like you have to apologize for “the mess”?
• Are you tired of discord and squabbles over clutter and long for a peaceful, happy environment?
• Is there a fun or important project you want to work on, but there’s no good place to spread out to do it?

Dig down to uncover your true motivations. It’s sure to put you back on your right path every time.

3. Get back on the horse:

Successes are fraught with failures. You don’t have to beat yourself up, throw your hands up in despair, and walk away. It takes time, practice, and perseverance to make new habits stick.

Be kind and gentle to yourself:

• Realize you are human, forgive yourself, and get right back into your routine at the first opportunity.
• Enlist some help if you need it, from a friend, or schedule a maintenance session with your professional organizer.
• Spruce up an existing system you’ve organized with new labels or smart-looking containers

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Have you been successful at renewal of your newly uncluttered and organized space? How have you improved it and kept it fresh?

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