You are not reading the title wrong; this is a reflection that I, as a messy person, concluded based on my recent success story in tidying up my apartment during pandemic.
For years, I hated cleaning and organizing. My experience taught me that no matter how hard I try, the space will always end up messy in a few days. So naturally, I avoided organizing unless I must. The avoidance strategy worked until 2020 when local authority made stay-at-home order. We (my husband and I) faced challenges in storing supplies and setting up workstations in a 1-bedroom apartment. It took a while for me to realize staying at home for long periods of time was becoming a new norm and a cluttered home added more stress. I decided to make changes. I spent days learning and researching storage ideas and products, and testing what worked for us. It has been several months since I started the home organization project; our apartment is more organized and spacious (we are expecting to adopt a puppy soon). I want to share with you my reflections and I hope it will encourage you to give tidying up a try.
Set Expectation Evaluate the amount of effort you want to put into tidying up and your lifestyle. For me, a space is tidy when it is organized and functional. To incorporate tidiness into my lifestyle, the effort of maintaining tidy must be small.
Understand tidying up is a process Organizing is personal and it takes time. Make a list of the things that you want to tidy up in your current living situation. It can be something big, like cleaning the closet. Or something small, like sorting one drawer. When you have time, try to work through the list one item at a time. When you complete a task, praise yourself! Remember, never overwhelm, or exhaust yourself during the process. If you feel overwhelmed, try a different day.
Design the space by how often you use it Storing away household items that are not frequently used. This is super important especially if you are living in small space. Fewer items automatically make a space tidier. If you need ideas about creating more storage in small space, check this article. Organize items based on how frequent you use them. The most frequent used item should be the easiest to access.
Have magic boxes They are magic because any item you do not know how to deal with, you can throw it in! After a while, you will realize most space is organized, except a few boxes. Go through the boxes when you are ready and have a smaller magic box handy. Whenever you face an item that you do not know how to sort, place it in. Repeat this process. Ultimately, you should have a very small box.
Pause shopping for organization products until you have rough ideas about the space and items need to be stored I know it is very tempting to shop for cute organizers once you decide to organize. To increase your chance of purchasing the right products, I recommend you start sorting and knowing the measurements of the space first. I love shopping online for organization products as you can easily read buyers’ reviews and get product measurements. When you can, invest in quality. Also, try to upcycle. It is always great to repurpose the items you already own. Be creative!
This is my very first blog post. I hope you enjoy the content. Any comments and thoughts, feel free to share! I wish you best of luck!
