Hey there, today I want to chat about something that will hopefully help you think differently about organizing your home. So many are overwhelmed and frustrated with all the clutter and disorganization they see around them. It can be overwhelming and paralyzing. Where to start is what I often here and I want to help. After 15 years of blogging here I continue to try. Chaos and stress are debilitating but the good news is, we don’t have to stay stuck. Unlike so many other areas of our lives that we can’t control (sickness and natural disasters for instance) we do have some control over the state of our homes. We don’t have to live buried and burdened by our stuff and when we understand this concept, we can finally decrease frustration and find freedom in living a clutter free life.
Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Want to know more? Keep reading because there’s a little trick to organizing your home and it’s not as complicated as one might think.
Over the years I’ve tried to use the words “get organized” sparingly. I think it sends the wrong message that freedom only comes when you permanently put an end to disorganization. Simply because it’s almost impossible to be “done” with organizing. I can’t imagine a time where you’ll be able to say “whew my house is organized and boy am I so glad I’ll never have to do that again!”. Well I guess you could if you stood still and didn’t get on with the business of life. But life does goes on. We buy new things, kids outgrow clothes and toys, paper creeps in out of nowhere, we get sick, our kids move out, they move back in. You get what I’m saying. Nothing stays the same. It’s what makes life interesting I guess.
Thankfully organization is a tool we can use to help us navigate all these changes. It’s our secret weapon to combat clutter and chaos and kick it to the curb. Not once or even twice, but regularly, over and over again.
Decreasing Your Frustration When It Comes to Organizing Your Home
When it comes to organizing your home here’s a what you need to know:
Decrease Frustration and Find Freedom by Following the Fluctuating Flow of Change in your Home
The needs of our homes are constantly changing and that can be hard to keep up with if we only decide to “get organized” once a year. For instance, if every January you work hard to organize your home and then for 11 months after that you ignore it, clutter and chaos will surely step right in and and take right over. It’s what it does and that’s super frustrating! Instead if we follow the fluctuating flow of how our home functions and tackle the clutter and chaos as it occurs, we’ll see so much less frustration seeping in. Let’s get in to some examples from my own life.
Recently we purchased a new oven because our old one was 16 years old and on it’s last legs. This is the first oven my husband and I have ever purchased. All our stoves in the three homes we’ve owned have come with the house. Well it turns out that big storage drawers at the bottom of ovens isn’t really a thing any more. At least not in the ones we looked at in our (not so high) price range. This was a problem for me because previously we were able to store not only all our pots but all our frying pans as well all in our stove’s one drawer. Now I was only going to be able to fit my frying pans in the new stove drawer. Where to put the pots? Every cupboard was already full.
I could have shoved them into any cupboard and just lived with the frustration that comes with an overstuffed space. Instead I took 15 minutes to create the space I needed.
Obviously pots are a priority so they needed to be front and center in the cupboard and close to the stove as well. I only had one cupboard that fit that bill. So I emptied it. I determined what things could stay and was honest about what what we hadn’t used in awhile and could let go of to make room. Donations included an extra pizza pan, a big stand up potato peeler, a large stock pot and some other stuff. I then relocated some other things that we less frequently to my basement appliance cabinet. I just kept going until I had room for the pots. It honestly didn’t take long.
A new stove flowed in requiring other things to flow out. I followed that flow to make space. I’m sorry I neglected to take a before picture for you but here’s how it looks now. Just imagine the top shelf full of all sorts of other things :).
In another situation, I’ve been loving all the pretty tulips lately. As a result I’ve purchased some new vases to showcase these lovely beauties.
I could have shoved my new vases into the cupboard above the fridge where I currently have them stored. But I took a minute and asked myself what it is about this situation that makes me crazy? I didn’t like how inaccessible they were. I had to get a chair to reach them and that cupboard is hard to open. What could I do differently? Well I could store them where I had more access to them. Okay where? What could I move into that space above the fridge that I didn’t need to access frequently?
In my dining room hutch I found what I was looking for in the two bottom cabinets.
I had four shoe boxes of napkins and napkin rings stored there, two being Christmas related. We aren’t hosting anyone right now for obvious reasons and probably won’t be for awhile. I did a little switch around, shuffled a few things here and there and now have almost an entire shelf devoted to the vases that are bringing me great joy right now.
These four shoe boxes moved to above the fridge.
The vases moved down to in my hutch. Here’s how the left side looks now.
And the right hand side.
I also recently switched out my decor in the house from winter to spring. Yes I know it’s a little early, we probably still have two months of winter to go. But I was feeling claustrophobic and so followed the flow of how I was feeling and went ahead with the switch. I purged many more things and added spring decor and now my house feels lighter and clean! Nothing like rearranging things to force myself to finally dust :).
Showcasing my Crazy Daisy dishes makes me so happy!
If you are feeling stuck or buried in clutter, pay attention to this. Don’t dismiss it. Don’t underestimate the power of little tweaks that really take a short amount of time to tackle. Organizing tweaks will help you to adapt to the fluctuating flow of change in your house. Not once a year but regularly as the need arises. As something new comes in, as a new annoyance presents itself, as your needs change, recognize it for what it is. What can you do about it right now? So many people put something off thinking it will take hours. It can, but often it won’t. Of course it depends on fast you can make decisions but I promise it gets easier over time. Here’s how to become a power purger! Remember, don’t strive for perfection, just strive for it to be better than what it was. That’s progress!
But Laura, you love organizing so this is easy for you. True but what I love most about organizing is what it does for me. Not the process in itself so much but the simplicity it brings as a result. The peace of mind, the time saved and the preparedness it provides. Over time I’ve have learned to love the process though because what’s on the other side is oh so worth it.
Life is constantly fluctuating. If we flow with these fluctuations by organizing and purging accordingly we’ll decrease frustration and finally be free of the clutter that weighs us down. Organization, you see, is the gateway to living with less clutter and chaos giving us more peace and order to our lives. And that makes organizing your home my friends, a very beautiful thing.
Cathy Vowles says
Well done. This was an excellent post and I like how you used your own real life examples
Gail says
Never thought about following the “flow”. Good idea. Thanks for sharing
Laura Wittmann says
You’re welcome Gail!
Laura
Renee Wolfe says
You are so correct. As I’ve advanced in my age, organization became, it seemed a bit more difficult. As I read your post I realize that you currently are taking the steps I took in my younger years. Thank you for reminding me that I just have to return to how I once was!
You are amazing and right on the mark. Everyone should follow you for the easy way to organize. We really don’t need to do it all at one time… too exhausting! Thank you again, from a new reader! My home & my body thanks you!
Laura Wittmann says
Such a nice comment Renee, thank you for stopping by 🙂
Laura
Marcia (OrganisingQueen) says
Love this post, Laura. So true to tweak regularly. And it’s much easier than waiting for a once a year binge.
Eg I bought new towels this weekend to celebrate our new bathroom. I’d already donated some to force me to actually get them done but have also used this to look at each item – do I want this bath mat? what about this hand towel? etc. Feels so good to have an orderly and lovely space.
Laura Wittmann says
A new bathroom sounds very exciting!!!