Stay Organized With These 15 Minute a Day Tips
Spring is right around the corner so it is a great time to think about decluttering, purging and organizing. When we embark on a seasonal clean-up, it is one thing to scrub your home from top to bottom and make goodwill runs, however, it is another to maintain a newly minted organizational system for the long haul. How many of us have worked on organizing our home in May only to have it crash and burn by Labor Day? Jenny Morin, author of Get Organized Quick:15 Minutes a Day to Organize Your Life, offers great advice for getting your house in tip top shape and ways for the whole family to keep up with systems into the future. Jenny Morin has been helping families and businesses with keeping spaces tidy since launching Efficient Spaces in 2008.
Not only does Jenny add author to her repertoire of accomplishments, she is also a speaker, time management coach and of course business owner. Throughout her years helping others, she has discovered that many people need both physical assistance with organization as well as time management guidance. Thinking about organizing your cluttered space could be overwhelming. In her book, she talks about breaking down projects into 15 minute chunks of time which is an attainable time commitment. Since busy lives are an obstacle, having actionable tips that can be completed in short spurts of time is something we can all envision in our schedule.
Jenny was encouraged by her husband, author of 12 fantasy books, to share her extensive knowledge by writing her book. She took hubby’s advice and we all get to benefit from her fabulous advice. Let’s take a look at just a few of Jenny’s many tips to organize your space and find a sense of calm in no other place than home sweet home.
Ruthless NOT Reckless: Jenny tells us to be firm and discard items that you are not using on a regular basis but don’t just throw away an entire box without quickly checking its contents. She worked with a client who wanted to throw out an entire bin only for her to search it and find he had a $350 uncashed check from his grandmother.
Buy in is key for chaos to calm: Jenny tells the story about a single mom whose house was completely out of control. It was disorganized and even dirty. The key to her success was her “buy in” to putting organizational processes in place, not just going through the motions of a one time clean-up. She was so proud of her rejuvenated home that she threw a party! That would have been unthinkable before getting order back in the home.
Cleaning is cathartic: Listen to music for motivation, open windows, allow energy to flow in your room or invite a friend over to talk with you while you organize. You can even try on clothes and she can help you decide if it is a keeper or not.
Family Tour: Once you get your house organized, label your cabinets and compartments then give your family a tour. Once your family is part of the process, they will respect the process and adhere to the system
Work with your rhythm: Work with your own rhythm by picking the best time of day where you are most focused and ready to attack a home project. If you are a cup of coffee and “make it happen” type of person, plan on a morning schedule and avoid later hours when you feel more sluggish.
Create a maintenance plan: Commit to a schedule to maintain your newly organized home. Put time on your calendar each week or month to ensure your new home order doesn’t fall apart.
Avoid flat space pileup: Hang organizers on the walls and cabinets to create a home for your items. Resist the urge to create piles on flat spaces for mail, invitations or electronics or other random household things by instal
Find a safe space: Dedicate an asset free space such as a space for old photos, family documents and family heirlooms.
Be decisive: There are a lot of emotions tied in purging. Jenny suggests making a quick decision. If her client immediately says “I love it” then it is a keeper. If there is a pause, it is probably an item
Jenny’s 2 top tips: If you are deciding to keep or purge an item, make the decision as you are holding it. If you put it aside for a future decision, it could be an easy way out of deciding. Make sure you have a home for everything. If you want to attain true home organization, every item must have a consistent place for it to go. Labeling is recommended so your family can help with keeping everyone on the same page.
Get Organized Quick: 15 Minutes a Day to Organize Your Life was a #1 Hot New Read on Amazon in February and ranked #2 on Amazon in the Interior design reference category. Jenny Morin also offers virtual services for organizing, and time coaching. Go to Efficient Spaces to schedule an appointment with her.
Professional Organizer Jenny Morin has helped many home and business owners get organized through her creative and simple approach to decluttering.
Jenny is also a certified time coach, helping clients reach their goals, manage their schedule and have time for a rewarding life.
Growing up on a small farm in Maine taught Jenny the value of hard work. There, she learned how to milk a cow, and got woken early up every morning by the family’s loud, roaming ducks. Jenny now lives in southern Oregon with her husband, novelist Frank Morin, and their four children.To her delight, she now is duck-free. Her pets include a golden doodle, Bella, who is convinced she’s queen of the world and a whoodle, Toby, who is a goofball. As a family, they love to golf, swim, ski and visit the redwood forest and the gorgeous Oregon coast.
Jenny has been a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers since 2008, the year she started her organizing business in Vermont.
Writing a book has been Jenny’s dream for a long time; she is gratified to see it happen. Many thanks go to her husband Frank and her daughter Kathryn for their work and for cheering her on!
You can also check out Jenny on her YouTube Channel or check out her Facebook Page.