Our lives are filled with changes.
If you generally consider yourself an organized person, there still may be times when you are overwhelmed by chaos and can’t seem to think how you got there, let alone how you are going to get out of it.
Why do you feel disorganized now when you didn’t before?
The reason is simple: whatever worked before to keep you organized is no longer working.
Many things can throw us into organizational chaos.
Living at home is very different than living alone in an apartment or even with roommates who do not have the organizational tendencies that you do. Being faced with someone else’s standard of organization can be a challenge – whether you are more casual or they are.
And what happens when you get married? Have kids? Add pets to the mix? Get a new job? Lose a job? The kids move out? You need to downsize? The kids move back in with their kids after you’ve downsized?!
Major illness in the family, retirement, moving to a new house, new city, new state, all of these things can put you in a state of chaos.
How do you get out of chaos and get back on track?
Admit You May Need Help
Don’t be afraid to admit that you may need help whether from a trusted friend, a mentor, or a Professional Organizer. This can be extremely difficult especially if you are the one who has been keeping things organized and find yourself unable to do so.
Sometimes you just need someone else to help guide the way back and let you know that it will be all right.
Face Your New Reality
Step back and take a look at your new reality. Be honest with yourself.
Before you lived alone and organized in a certain way, now you have a husband, children, pets, in-laws, and a guest living with you.
What’s different? What would being organized look like in your new situation?
Assume this new reality is not changing any time soon. How did your home look and feel before the change? How would you like your home to look and feel now?
Focus on the Daily
Start with your daily routine.
Physically walk through the house as you mentally go through your average day. Do you have access to what you need when you need it? (for more information about what that looks like, read How to Define “Being Organized”)
You will be able to face life more easily if you can get dressed in the morning, cook healthy meals, and have a place to sit without moving a stack of stuff. It’s the little things that do make a difference.
One of the first things I did when we moved into our new home was set up the coffee center in the kitchen. Nothing else in the kitchen was unpacked but my husband and I could have coffee in the morning before we started tackling anything else.
Assuming that at one time you did feel organized, look to see what changed in your daily routine. How can you put into place some of the routines you had before the change?
Be Kind to Yourself and Others Involved
Be kind to yourself and others around you.
Living in chaos is stressful and affects everyone differently.
Start with you and what you can do to make life easier for yourself. As you begin to be more peaceful, that will flow to the others living in your home.
Be Creative!
If what you did before is no longer working, you will have to start adjusting how you organize.
Maybe before it worked for you to leave something out that now needs to be put away out of a toddler’s reach.
Maybe before you had time to roll socks into pretty balls and line them up in the drawer by color and now you are happy if you can find two clean socks. Hint: Buy one color and toss in drawer – boring, maybe, but easy to find and match.
Maybe before you had more energy to do all the things to keep the house always perfect in your eyes. You may have to simplify the things you did before or stop doing them all together.
Don’t make it hard; make it fun! Experiment with different ways of being organized in your new circumstances.
Being organized allows you to do the things you were made to do. Even through the changes that come at us during our lives.