ORGANIZing STEPS for Busy PARENTS.

Taking organizing steps to create some balance in your life is not a luxury. Getting, being and staying organized will free up your time. Parents who are dealing with bullying or any other serious issue with their child have limited time. I hope these Steps make your life a bit easier to manage.

BEFORE YOU START

First we start with motivation. These Steps may be quick and easy but still need to start off on the right foot.

Before you Start:

1) Set your goals and post them where you can see them.

2) Take a before and after picture

3) Make it fun

4) Get a buddy to help

Organizing STEP #1

Analyze

What is working?

Look around each space that is cluttered. What has it’s own place. What do you find useful and easy to access? Do you love a shelf or a beautiful wicker basket?

Then proceed onto: What is not working?

Finish these sentences:

I can never find…

I have no place to put…

There’s no room for…

I am tired of…

I can’t… because of the clutter

I’m loosing a lot of money on…

Disorganization makes me feel…

When people visit I…

Answer these questions:

What items are most essential to you?

Why do you want to get organized?

What is causing the problems?

What is the clutter costing you?

What will success look and feel like?

How will getting organized change your life ?

Brainstorm for answers in each space you want to get organized.

Organizing Step#2

Step #2 Create a Plan

Define the activities that occur in this space, the supplies required for these activities and the storage currently available or that you might need

Create a chart to track your strategy.

Activity Supplies Storage

AVOID THE COMMON MISTAKE OF GOING OUT AND BUYING EVERY COOL BASKET, BIN, SHELF or NEAT LOOKING STORAGE DEVICE...first figure out what needs to be stored...then determine how to store it.

1) Define a zone for each activity

2) Map out the space

3) Re-arrange the furniture

4) Estimate the time IE: average office: Sort 5 hours, Purge 2 hours, Assign a home 1 hour, Put everything away 4 hours, and maintain (5-20 Min)

ORGANIZING STEP #3

PURGE:

Put everything in a seperate spot to : Keep, Garbage, Sell, Give Away, OR store somewhere else

**IF you get stuck consider the questions in the analyze process

ORGANIZING STEP #4

Assign a Place for Everything

1) Match and size number of items (then determine size/style of container) and match.

2) Don’t mix categories(when possible)

3) Place things according to your own pattern of use and associations that make sense to you

4) Make it easy to retrieve and put away frequently used items

5) Consider safety of children and yourself

Organizing Step #5

Put Everything Away. I find this step one of the hardest.

Now you have everything torn apart and in piles everywhere....time to get results. Don't give up just as you may benefit.

Everything has a place…containers assist you in maintaining and cleaning your space

And limits the number of things you collect

Containers should be appealing to your eye, be sturdy, be manageable (when full of stuff) and be the right size

Prepare your shopping list…measure the space, the items and the containers

No piles higher than 12”

Re-assess what needs to happen if things don’t quite fit…more analyzing? More purging? More sorting? Divide or combine categories

**LABEL: special note…the nicer the label the neater the project and the more you will be motivated to use your system. Also assists others in your space to know where things go…

Organizing Step #6

Now the easy step: Simply Maintain

Depending on the space 5min to 30 min to tidy and put things in their place

Two weeks after your system has been operating…re-assess what is and what is not working and adjust

1 or 2 times a year do a tune up if necessary

KEEPING ORGANIZED

I know good parenting means you are busy. Your list of things to-do keeps you going...all day- everyday. Sometimes though we need to slow down and take advantage of these steps and get ourselves into a more sorted place so we can balance work, family and life better.

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