Smart Organizing

Routines—the Busy Person’s Secret Weapon

Strategies for achieving the most valuable results in life include “routinizing the routinizable.” Figure out the most efficient way of doing something that must be done regularly, and then do it that same way every time, and at the same time every day or week (or month or quarter).

Examples:

Laundry loads on certain day(s) of the week.
Grocery shopping on certain day(s) of the week.
Learn the layout of your primary supermarket and arrange shopping list accordingly to pick up all items without backtracking.
Bring mail into the house and sort for action later; discard junk mail immediately.

Benefits of routines:

No need to repeatedly decide how/when to do something (saves nervous energy).
Feeling that things are under control.
More energy available to deal with non-routine demands.

From William Oncken Jr.

Managing Management Time (Prentice Hall)

Monica Silver, Professional Organizer

Tucson, Arizona

There is a group of neat people who never seem to have a messy house or spend much time cleaning up messes. They maintain their homes on an even keel. How they do this puzzles those of us who tend to experience messes even though we constantly battle them. How do our friends do it? They are the epitome of a Bare Bones housekeeper, because they seem to put forth little effort and yet get maximum benefit.

When we testily feel the need to justify our own struggles in this area, we may mentally accuse them of being boring people who don’t deal with exciting experiences that pull them into disorder as we do. We agree, quietly and politely, of course, with the motto, “A clean house is a sign of a dull life.”

If we look carefully, their secret is readily revealed. They practice the fourth C—continue—which follows the preparatory three Cs—consolidate, containerize, condense. They do continuous incidental cleaning and straightening. Or to put it another way, they get the house in order and “continue” to follow habits that keep the house organized.

Some of us neglect maintenance. As a result, our houses tend to be in chronic disarray, or we set aside blocks of time (which we may or may not use) to “do housework.”

Staying on Top of Things

Those who practice incidental continuous cleaning and straightening as the backbone of their housekeeping enjoy a neat house pretty much all the time. Strangely enough, often they don’t recognize what they are doing. If you ask them, they will tell you they don’t spend much time on the house. They have better things to do. They don’t count their stay-on-top-of-things approach as a housekeeping method.

But it is. It really is. In truth, it is the most powerful maintenance method in existence.

Characteristics of Organized People

But how do they do it? How can they work so effortlessly and yet so successfully? Careful observation uncovers seven characteristics that organized people possess. They are visually sensitive, aware of needs, keep up with details, are organized for work, don’t procrastinate, have a consistent focus, and follow a routine. Build these seven characteristics into your life, and your house will always be maintained! That’s a promise!

Let’s look at them in a little more detail.

Consistently organized people have a visual sensitivity about what is out of place, and it bothers them. The less organized group either doesn’t notice or it doesn’t bother them very much. At least they try to ignore it.
Consistently organized people are aware of little things that need to be done. If they have a moment or two, they draw on that awareness and change the blown out lightbulb, vacuum the rug, or touch up their nails. The other group would be willing to do these things, but when they have a spare moment, they don’t remember that the bulb is out or their nails are ragged.
Consistently organized people don’t mind doing little jobs and piecemeal projects. Less organized folks are often philosophically committed to doing only big projects, so they ignore things needing to be done until the designated cleaning time for the area comes (if it ever does).
Consistently organized people have houses that are prepared for jobs. Their tools and products are readily accessible. The other group doesn’t quite recall where all of the cleaning products are located, and the vacuum, mop, bucket, and the like are too hard to retrieve for doing a job easily.
Consistently organized people don’t allow much time to pass between what needs doing and doing it. Others dawdle a little (or maybe more than a little) before getting to the tasks.

IN THE TRENCHES WITH SMART HOMEMAKERS

From Judy:
I have taken on the habit of cleaning my dishes NOW. It is really nice not to have them pile up. I really challenge keeping the sink clean. I am very proud of myself for doing this. My kids are even noticing it.

Consistently organized people keep a consistent focus. They have strong boundaries in their lives and time use. They know what they want and they don’t allow others to take over their goals or schedules. Others who are “flexible” drop their plans for some other opportunity or to help others.
Consistently organized people have a routine. Sometimes they don’t even realize it or call it a routine. To them it is just common sense to keep things moving forward in a regular pattern of behavior. Less organized folks make decisions on a case-by-case basis depending on how they feel, how much time they have, and the like.

If we wish to share in the success of consistently organized people, we will have to pick up some of their characteristics, which will lead us to maintain things the way they do and keep up with clutter as we go.

What You Really Want

Without taking time for serious thought, choose one or two statements from the four sentences below that best states your feelings about what you want.

___ I want to be a capable, can-do person who finally gets on top of the problem of clutter.

___ I want to be competent. Competent means “adequate” to do the job.

___ I want to be effective. That means I am able to accomplish the desired effect.

___ I want to be efficient—productive without waste. I want to get the job accomplished with the least effort possible.

All of these statements may seem desirable, but one or two will best state what you want. Once you are specific about your desires, you can hone your actions toward that goal and, more important, de-emphasize goals that are not truly important to you.

IN THE TRENCHES WITH SMART HOMEMAKERS

I’m so excited about progress—it seems to get better every day at our house. A couple of helps I have found:

Keep wastebaskets handy and empty often!
I invested in printer paper for the computer that has the holes punched in it—I don’t put computer info, emails, or ideas anywhere but my notebook. Then I highlight special ideas—at the end of the month I go back and ruthlessly remove much—keep important stuff in chronological order or by topic.
I like to make a project of disposing of ten things at a time. When I see a pile or messy area and the old panic feeling comes, I say out loud, “Pick up the top thing and put it where it belongs—preferably the trash!” As I do that one thing, the next one seems easier—Then I say “OK, only ten things this time,” then leave the area!
My husband and I have agreed to pay for one extra garbage can pickup per week until the house is clean! Keep on working and encouraging!

The Bare Bones Way Action Steps

You already have habits. If your house is still drifting into clutter, the habits you have aren’t moving you in the right direction. Assuming your house is reasonably organized and ready for maintenance, you need to replace the old habits by working the following three new habits slowly into your life.

Make a morning and an evening daily routine and follow them.
Introduce one new habit at a time.
Commit to a fifteen-minute cleaning routine once or twice daily.

The first action step is to develop a morning and an evening daily routine and follow them. Use the Four-Plus-Four Bare Bones Plan explained below.

Write down four things to do every morning. Include making the bed and getting fully dressed as two of the four.
Write down four things to do each night. Prepare for getting off to a good start in the morning by doing such things as making lunches, laying out clothes, and putting things you will need the next day by the door.
Post your plan in an easily visible spot. This simple plan will change your life.

IN THE TRENCHES WITH SMART HOMEMAKERS

The thing that has helped me stay on track is routines. I know it sounds dull and boring, but I have added a few things to my morning and evening routines and voila! I just do them without thinking. I follow Sandra’s list: get up, make up the bed, etc. After taking care of myself for a couple of months, I did another important thing: I helped my 4 yo DD [4-year-old dear daughter] make a list of her morning routine. I let her choose pictures (from a small selection) and wrote beside it what it was. We hung it inside the closet, and I have her look at it every morning. After we finished it, my husband said he thought it would be helpful for grown-ups, too. DD has had her list for 2 weeks and hardly refers to it but knows what to do. We’re going to make a night routine next.

We move to our new home in 4 weeks. I’ll do one for my husband then, too.

The next action step is to introduce one new habit at a time. You already live your life using many habits. Pro-crastinating is a habit. Walking away and leaving something on the counter is a habit. Doing only big jobs and ignoring small ones because they are not worthwhile is a habit.

We don’t break habits. What we do is replace them with new habits that are incompatible with the unproductive habits. Initially this is done solely by an act of the will. We feel uncomfortable when we first begin doing something different, but we keep it up because somewhere along the way we have realized that these old habits are interfering with the lives we have now determined we really want to live.

If we have a habit of shopping or going to garage sales and bringing home what becomes clutter in our homes, we need to replace that habit with some other activity, perhaps social get-togethers or a satisfying hobby of some other sort. Aristotle stated the fact well when he said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Let’s simplify, as we are inclined to do in the Bare Bones Way. Let’s narrow it down to only five habits, the most important ones that will bring the greatest reward, and focus on only one at a time. Choose one of these habits, post it in an obvious place, and begin to do it at every opportunity.

Do it only one day at a time. When the next day arrives, recommit to the same habit until it is more or less automatic. As that one habit becomes a part of your life, choose another one to work on.

1. If you get it out, put it away. Or to expand on this habit a bit further: Put away what you get out as soon as you are finished with it. If there is one habit and only one that you could embrace for an orderly life, this would be it.

I was talking to Jeff, a young man whose wife is an invalid. He works full-time, cooks, cleans, cares for his wife, does the yard work, is active in church ministry, and has a reputation for keeping an immaculate and orderly home. As he stood behind a table handing out brochures related to his church, I asked him to think about what secret he had for his orderly home and get back to me when he had thought of one, but he didn’t have to ponder his answer. He was so intent on what he was saying that he leaned across the table to make sure I could hear clearly in the hubbub of the room. “Always put back immediately what you get out” was his word to me.

Profound insight? No. Powerful information? Yes.

His wife calls this continually moving things back to where they belong “the process of elimination.” It definitely eliminates clutter.

Putting things away as soon as you finish with them is the key. Don’t do it some time in the future. Do it in a timely fashion. Planning to put the item away later does not substitute for actually doing it. Don’t put it close to where it should be. Deposit it exactly where it came from. This one habit, consistently followed, will revolutionize many households.

2. Apply the thirty-second rule. If it takes thirty seconds or less to do something, do it immediately. Put packages where they belong. Hang up clothes. Pick up the towels and put dirty clothes in the bathroom hamper. Return the garbage can to the backyard. Clear the table. Gather and throw away trash from the car.

3. Follow the camping rule. Leave the area in the condition you found it or better. When you leave an area or room, look back and focus on seeing what you have left behind.

4. Look, really look, at your surroundings. Naturally organized people are visually astute. If it’s not second nature for you, train yourself to tune in to how the house looks. You will be surprised at what you see that before did not catch your attention. As you declutter so that there are more clear spaces, things that are out of place will become more obvious.

5. Use spare minutes. Whenever you have a minute or two, do a little something. Dust, pick up something and put it away, file a paper, replace a burned out lightbulb. These are things that can be done in a jiffy. When you walk through a room, look for anything out of place and make a quick alteration. Make this habit a part of your overall program and the house will stay orderly as if by magic.

The final action step is to commit to a simple fifteen-minute cleaning routine once or twice daily. If you follow the Four-Plus-Four Plan and slowly change your habits, you are well on the way toward having the house you want without a lot of work. But even when these two action steps are followed, things ooze out and need to be caught up on a regular basis.

To remedy the situation, set aside fifteen minutes by the timer in the morning and in the evening to maintain your home. This should keep it looking nice, according to the Bare Bones Way. Be sure to include your family in this endeavor.

You may think this is impossible. Maybe, but don’t knock it till you try it. Many, many women (and probably guys too) into whose well-kept houses you go spend fifteen or so minutes in the morning to clean up and fifteen in the evening to straighten up. Then they call it quits. This does not include meal preparation time, laundry, or paperwork, like bill paying. But for having an orderly house, this approach will do the trick.

Of course, if your standards are high or your house is large, you may need more than fifteen minutes twice a day. If necessary, add a bit more time to keep things the way you want them.

IN THE TRENCHES WITH SMART HOMEMAKERS

Isn’t it amazing how quickly things can be done if we make up our mind to do them? I find that the 15 min. slots take care of several things in a row. If anyone had told me when I started to really deep clean my house what could be done in 5 min., I’d have thought they were daffy.

We let things get bigger in our mind than they really are. We think, Oh I can’t start on that now. It’d take too long. And then when we get to it, we find it wasn’t the monster we thought. It has made keeping the house in order and organized so much easier. I’d have never started if I hadn’t have tried the timer. After that it was so easy just to keep going.

Now, some deep down hard cleaning jobs do take longer. We all know that. Like washing down the walls or shampooing the carpet, big jobs take longer but we know that, so we schedule them for when we know we will have the time to finish, once we start.

But I am so thankful Sandra discovered the time limit way. I think it’s one thing that has kept people on the road to recovery.

Enjoy your trip to recovery and don’t rush. You want to do it right the first time, the deep down decluttering and getting rid of stuff. But you will come back and do some areas again and each time it’s easier and quicker to let go of stuff we thought we just had to keep.

Find Your Personal Balance

You alone determine the level you want to maintain. Obviously, there is a reasonable balance. You don’t want dirt or clutter to be a problem. You want things to look good and work well, but you don’t need perfection. Settle on a range that is acceptable to you. Once you do that, don’t settle for less.

Maintenance becomes a way of life built on a package of alert attitudes and actions. Keeping on top of things regularly is an integral part of long-term success. An interesting public safety department study was done by Goldstein concerning community quality of life. The conclusions were discussed earlier and are mentioned here in relation to details in maintenance. He found that when order in the community was allowed to deteriorate even a little, it continued to unravel badly.

Another study by Wilson and Kelling called “Broken Windows” in a 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly, says, “At the community level, disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence. Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken.” It goes downhill from there. Crime soon follows.

I don’t think we need to worry about the crime part of the study occurring in our houses, but isn’t it interesting what a bad effect disorder had? The study goes on to say: “One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares.”

You need to keep a certain level of order in your home or you signal to yourself and others in the house that nobody cares. In a maintenance situation, a few things out of place say that it’s okay to be messy, and from that point clutter gets worse. However, when you keep the house in order, you are saying that order is important. This message perpetuates more order.

IN THE TRENCHES WITH SMART HOMEMAKERS

From Doreen:
I’ve used the timer method pretty effectively. I call it the 21/7 method. I belong to a book club and often feel guilty if I’m reading a book instead of cleaning/picking up. If I’m cleaning/ picking up, I feel guilty that I’m not doing something I enjoy like reading. The 21/7 method is the compromise. I set the stove timer for 21 minutes and read. Then I set the time for 7 minutes and clean/pick up. When I’m overwhelmed, this method really works!! It helps with my reading too. Depending on the book, I tend to get sleepy if I read too long. The 7 minutes that I’m cleaning is a good break and gives me opportunity to ponder/digest what I just read.

From Jennifer:

The neatest thing has been to be able to maintain a clean area. Once I spent a few hours on it. The kitchen is clean, dishes are washed shortly after meals, laundry is washed in a timely fashion, the stairway to the 2nd floor is cleared of “stuff,” the sofa can be used for sitting (not piles), horizontal areas are free to gather dust (not piles) if I choose to let them (!!) and etc. Maintaining takes only a FRACTION of the time compared with decluttering and deep-cleaning (not the dirt kind, the “stuff” kind).

It is so freeing that I have no desire to gloat about it or show it off; I am just enjoying the freedom immensely!

Someday you may be the person mentioned at the beginning of the chapter who doesn’t seem to do much but always has a lovely home. The way the house looks makes you happy to walk out into the living room in the morning. It makes you happy to come home at night. You love to invite people in. Your heart leaps up because your home fits your tastes, and it comforts your soul and body.

Now you know the “secret” of successful housekeepers. Be consistent with continuous and incremental maintenance, good habits, a regular routine, and two fifteen-minute daily obligations, one in the morning and one in the evening. Nobody can do for you what you can do for yourself when you use the Bare Bones maintenance method. After a while it will be automatic to you, and you will not even realize why your house stays so nice.

Tips for Maintaining Order

Here are some ideas on how to maintain your home in the condition you love:

Make a deal with a friend, who is also working on maintaining order, that you will drop over once a week between certain hours on an undetermined day. And she will do the same for you. She will show you around the house. Perhaps you two can have a checklist of important areas you are maintaining or working on. You can discuss habit changes. Knowing someone may drop in does wonders for motivation and focus. Use your computer calendar to remind you of your routine.
Post the habit you are working on. Teach it to the family. Sing it; draw pictures of it. In short, really spotlight it.

Decision Time—Choose Your Top 20 Percent

This chapter deals with the heart of maintenance— consistency.

Choose one of the five new habits (1. If you get it out, put it away; 2. Apply the thirty-second rule; 3. Follow the camping rule; 4. Look, really look, at your surroundings; 5. Use spare minutes). Which of the five habits would make the biggest difference in your life?

After the first habit is chosen, in what order would you want to approach the other habits? List them in order here:

Consider the Four-Plus-Four Plan (committing yourself to doing four things every morning and four things every evening). If you were to put this into effect, what four things would you do in the morning?

What four would you do at night?

Do you have a timer or some way to time fifteen-minute blocks? (Some people call it the Fifteen-Minute Frenzy.) Will you begin this practice?