10 Simple Summer Organizing Tips: Lisa Suchesk

It’s a balmy summer evening.  Friends are on the way to your home for a barbecue.  The carne asada is grill-ready, and the sangria is chilled.  Any last minute preparations? Ah—good thing you just remembered to lock the office door. There’s really no need for your guests to catch sight of your towering paper piles, abandoned craft projects, and you’re-not-even-sure-what-else.

Sound familiar?

As a professional organizer, I help small business owners and other individuals make better use of their time and space.  Though virtually everyone has resolved to get organized at some point in their lives, many people find themselves bogged down by so much excess, that they don’t know where to start.  And so they don’t.  Overwhelm = inertia = clutter with staying power.  Fortunately, organization is a skill that can be learned.  And, as with most skills, practice makes for positive results (not perfection—avoid aiming for that unattainable goal.)

Thanks to our mellow Southern California seasons, spring cleaning may not be an entrenched ritual in your household.  For some people—especially those with school aged children—summer is the preferred time to tackle that list of organizing projects, from closets, garages, file cabinets, and every drawer and cubbyhole in between. 

Does spending the rest of August clearing out clutter sound enticing?  Probably not, but the results are well worth your efforts.  There’s something incredibly invigorating about an organized, functional space.  Imagine greeting September with a streamlined home or office, where anything can be found within minutes.  Wouldn’t you say that’s worth giving up a few beach days?

Here are ten tips to get you started: 

1. Write down your organizing goals.  Visualize the end result.  How does the space look?  How does it make you feel?
2. If My Entire House tops your organizing to-do list, break down the tasks room by room.
3. Identify any technical or fix-it issues: broken closet light, sticky file drawer etc.  If you can't fix it, hire someone who can.
4. Schedule organizing sessions in your calendar.  Really commit to a date: when I feel like it doesn’t count.
5. Find an accountability buddy:  "I'm going to clean out my office on Sunday; please call me to make sure I've started!"
6. Gather all the supplies that you'll need for your session beforehand.  This reduces the chance of getting sidetracked. 
7. Prepare to part with some of your belongings.  If this is difficult for you, ask for help.  Remember, organization will remain a lifelong challenge if you continually add, but never subtract.
8. Schedule time for clean-up.
9. Finish the job, no matter how many sessions it takes.
10. To accomplish multiple organizing goals on a busy schedule, aim to finish one project per month.

So, what organizing projects do you have on deck this month? I'd love to hear about them...and if you have any questions related to organization or productivity, ask away!