Seven Common Organizing Mistakes

There are many mistakes that can be made during the organizing process. You want to be efficient and productive, with the end result being a well-organized space that can be easily maintained.

Here are the seven biggest blunders people make:

Not planning. You can’t decide on a Thursday afternoon that you are going to jump into an organizing project, especially if you have somewhere to be in a few hours. Not planning will set you up for failure. Write down your priorities, mark your project on the calendar, set aside three hours, and limit your distractions. 

Placing things in a temporary spot. You will put something in a temporary spot and say you will get to it later. If you are great at procrastinating, this will never get done. Other things in the home will take priority, and this will get pushed aside. If you have something in your hand, decide where it should live and then develop a routine around putting it back once you’ve used it.

Bouncing around. Energy is wasted when you bounce around the home. People want to move from room to room, transferring items, and an hour later, they wonder why they are exhausted. Focus on the room you are in and limit your distractions. Keep a bin in the room with you and then transfer those items throughout the home when your project is complete.

Perfectionism. When you are in the process of decluttering, sorting and organizing, perfectionism has to take a back seat. For those of you that have OCD, this can be a difficult process and can be the reason why most of your organizing projects take longer than expected or never get finished. You’ll waste more time and energy focusing on if a shirt collar is tucked in and if it’s perfectly straight on the shelf, rather than actually placing it in the closet. You can tweak everything after the system is set in place.  

Thinking a product will fix the problem. So many people get excited to get organized, and they rush out to the store and spend hundreds of dollars on organizing products that do not work. You must think about how you want to function. Organize the space, measure the space, and then head to the store with measurements in hand. If the product doesn’t work, the system won’t work.

Having your friends help you. Your friends will tell you that they can help you organize your entire home but leave out the fact that they are going to organize it according to how they function. Your organizing systems must be designed around how you and your family function. Everybody functions differently, which is why there are so many variations on organizing systems.

Not letting others know about your system. Once you set up the organized system, you must get everybody on board in your home. Show them the system and how it’s going to work. Label everything, if you must, so everybody gets in the habit of putting items away.  

Avoid these mistakes and your project will take less time than you expected. You won’t be as stressed or as overwhelmed as you anticipated. You will be amazed at what you will accomplish.