Keep Calm & Stay Organized
The biggest challenge my clients face is staying organized once I have finished the job, and have left them to fend for themselves. Once the organizing has been done, they feel they have regained control of their surroundings and, they have hope that it will last.
Sometimes, I have the opportunity to return to the areas where I've worked with my clients to get organized. And, in some cases I can see where it will be an ongoing challenge for them to stay organized. Usually, it isn't the client who hired me that has trouble staying organized, but those that they live with who cannot seem to keep things in order.
In almost every home, you will find some family members who are concerned about their surroundings, and then there are those who are oblivious. They are either not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around them. Then, there are those who seem to feel more comfort when they are surrounded by things; lots of things, too many things.
Despite family differences, everyone tries to get along with each other. Sometimes that means that those who do care about order and cleanliness turn a blind eye just to keep the peace. They get into the practice of carefully choosing their battles, at least until they can no longer ignore what is happening around them. Then the battle is on. Whatever it takes the clutter must go, and the house must get organized again and again.
At first, after the home has been decluttered and organized, the whole family enjoys the new order so much that they are really good at maintaining its state of organization. But, as time goes on the new wears off and the home gradually gets back to its disorganized and cluttered state. For the person or persons who are not oblivious to their surroundings, and who want things to be neat and orderly, this can be extremely frustrating. What can they do to get everyone to continue keeping things organized? This is where the true challenge comes. We cannot change others. We can only change how we respond to them.
The best advice that I can give is to keep calm and from the very beginning set boundaries. In order to get others to stay on the same page there must be a rewards and consequences system in place. From the start, set the rules and take action as rules are broken. Just as importantly, reward the family when they consitently stay on track. Nagging doesn't work, it just causes more frustration on the nagger because the naggees become more resistant.
To stay organized, the whole family has to work together. Everyone needs to take pride in their surroundings and everyone must share the responsibility. One person cannot and should not try to do it on his or her own.
Household rules should be simple, realistic, and achievable. Clean up behind yourelf in common areas, pick up behind yourself in your personal space at least once a day, clean your personal space at least once a week, and share the chores in common areas every day.
Rewards for consistency could include an allowance, a night out, something new for the personal space, a spend the night party, a new set of curtains, something that says, "good job," or just a pat on the back and verbal praise. Be creative, but keep it simple so that you don't go broke rewarding people for what they should be doing anyway.
If things start to pile up in a cluttered mess again, the consequences could include the loss of the things left to the clutter pile. In my opinion, if some of your family does not know what they have because their things have been burried under trash or other things, they do not need those things. If a pile is forming, and clutter is taking over, then consider the probability that they do not truly care about those items and will probably not miss them if they were to disappear. If they did actually care about those things and you did purge them from your home, they will probably learn to put things where the belong.
If you cannot bring yourself to get rid of the things that get left on the floor or that become a part of a clutter mountain, then there are some less drastic consequences to consider. For example, no television until things are cleaned up, or adding extra chores which should include cleaning up the mess that they have made.
Staying organized doesn't have to be that hard. Family teamwork is essential. Once everyone gets in the habit of cleaning up behind themselves and helping with the household chores the rest will fall into place.