Organizing anytime, anywhere

Organizing can happen anywhere, anytime.  While you won't be able to organize your underwear drawer while you are sitting at a red light you certainly can take a few seconds to pick up the lunch wrappers sitting in the passenger's seat and put them in a bag to toss at your destination.  If you begin to think about organizing as a process that is always happening, you will see how it can fit in to all areas of your life.

You do not have to begin organizing yourself by tossing everything and starting over.  Organizing is about making small conscious decisions about the things we keep around us.  Over time the small decisions make it easier to automatically know how you will handle something.

For instance, you may not like that your kitchen counter is full of stuff.  If you begin by deciding that you want a clean counter and consciously thinking about each item that you add to the counter, it is likely that eventually the counter will be clean continuously.  However, many people sweep the counter clean, shove everything in a drawer or cupboard without thinking about where anything went.  In a few days a whole new batch of stuff is cluttered on the counter.

Instead, before you add something to the counter, ask yourself, "does this belong here?"  Are you putting it on the counter to remember to do something with it?  Will you pick it up and put it away later?  Will it take less than a minute to put it away, why not do it now?

You can also try using the time it takes to heat something, like tea, in the microwave to de-clutter the counter.  Choose a category and pick up those items.  Maybe there is junk mail all over the counter.  Choose the pieces that you aren't going to read or act on and toss them out.  You can do this with any item on the counter and repeat the process until all that is left are the items that you want on the counter.

Be careful, organizing can be come addictive.  Once you organize one area you will want to organize others.  Be addicted to your positive change.