How to be Organized in 2009: Day 6 – Home

The 12 Days of New Year’s Resolutions

This is Day 6 of The 12 Days of New Year’s Resolutions for Better Personal Organization

I’m spending 12 days posting ideas for new year’s resolutions you might like to choose for yourself. Each day focuses on a different life area.

Remember: go for progress, not perfection.

Following is an edited extract from the introduction to Module 6: My Home in Life & Goal Organizer. 

Day 6: Organize your Home

Are you always making excuses for not inviting people in? Postponing dinner parties? Dropping your kids’ friends home to avoid parents at your door?

You don’t have to live that way anymore. Your home may never feature in decorator magazines, but there’s no reason it can’t be a welcoming, comfortable place you’re happy to share with others.

Seeing your home as one big project that has to go from pit to perfect overnight is a sure way to create overwhelm and send yourself running for the ice cream. A better way is to take it slowly, one room at a time.

It’s also important to focus on what you want your home to be, not on some external notion that doesn’t resonate with you. Whether you want your home to echo love, or sanctuary, or clean lines, be guided by your own vision and values.

You’ll be much happier in the space you create.

Creating a home you love

• Your values and sense of style
  Before creating a home you love, it helps to clarify your values. Minimalism? Warmth? Comfort? As you enter the year, ponder how your home will reflect your values.
• Living room
  Get organized to create a relaxing, inviting living room and to remove the mood-spoilers. Um, dead plant alert!
• Kitchen
  Target surfaces, storage, appliances, drawers, shelves, pantry and fridge to create a well organized, pleasure-to-cook-in kitchen.
• Home office
  Keep most-needed items close by, file away less-needed papers and ditch everything un-needed. Clear those work surfaces!
• Kids’ rooms
  Make this the year you organize – and help kids learn to organize – toys, dirty clothes, playtime clean-up and storage.
• Your bedroom
  Create a bedroom-sanctuary. Check bed, linen, furniture, window dressings and mood killers. Uh – is that dog medicine on the bed?
• Bathroom
  Organize your towels, accessories, cabinets and surfaces. Clean out medicines. Refresh your toiletries. Spa-ify your bathroom!
• Garden
  Sort out junk, watering, weeds, garden care, plantings and furniture to help create a garden you love.

Clearing clutter

• Visual clarity
  What grabs the eye when you look around your home? Increase calm with visual order. Target displayed items, books and magazines, cleared surfaces and storage solutions.
• Moving stuff out
  Get rid of all those items you need to bid farewell – donate, discard or sell.

Household systems & paperwork

• Household systems
  Household management out of control? Restore some order with shopping lists, birthday gift planning, auto-bill paying and a family calendar for events, reminders and important information.
• Paperwork
  Organize yourself to minimize the paper you bring in, streamline your paperwork processing and file papers you (really!) need for reference.

Simplifying your home and your life

• Letting go of stuff
  Want to clear the clutter but find you’re fighting your own excuses? Explore and overcome sources of resistance, and remind yourself of the benefits of moving past them.
• Streamlining your home
  Ready for some home streamlining? Clear out unused stuff and cancel unread subscriptions. Then set yourself up for an ongoing system of regular donation/discarding/recycling.

Question: What area of your Home will you work on in 2009?

Note for users of My Home Wizard and Get Organized Wizard for Smart Women

Your Wizard contains guided worksheets for each one of these items, plus others, as well as additional prompts, ideas and suggestions to help you organize each one.

Tomorrow – Day 7: Personal Presentation

Picture adapted from image by Aldon.

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