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9 Steps to Start Organizing Your Life

I am sitting here pondering the opportunities to make day-to-day living better for myself and for others around me. That may seem a bit lofty, but actually it can be simple.  I used to “preach” the merits of living an organized lifestyle to anyone that would listen, in an effort to make them hear my important message, but with time and wisdom I have mellowed somewhat.  I still believe that my message is important, but I have come to understand that as with most things, we all have to be ready to hear the message before we embrace it.

So, as you sit here reading this, I will ask you – are you ready to embrace my message?

Let me say first of all, that being organized is not the same as being neat and tidy. Often someone will tell me that they are very organized, when the truth is, they cannot retrieve most things after putting them away a week or two before.  Be wary of people that want to change everything regardless of your wishes and that tell you that their way is the only way.  There are many ways to accomplish the same goal, and I hope that I can provide the inspiration and the kick in the rear to get you started.  

I am going to tell you the most important steps to follow – so you too can be organized!

START  HERE!

1. SORT – Starting anywhere – begin to sort - how can you organize what you don’t even know you have?
2. TOSS – Anything that is obviously trash
3. ANALYZE– The items that you keep in order to decide how much space will be required.
4. REMOVE –move each individual item into the room or area that will be its home.
5. TIME – Figure how much time you can and want to spend on this project today.
6. HELP – If the job seems to large to tackle at this point – hire a professional
7. EVALUATE – measure the items that will need containers before shopping
8. RETRAIN  – Retrain yourself to always be aware of that you are piling and stuffing again – remember, you are training others around you by your actions
9. ENJOY – enjoy your new lifestyle – with more time and freedom!

I admit that the steps above are pretty vague and need to be filled out, but I guarantee that if you only follow them as written you would be well on your way to living an organized life style..  I find that everything is a process and along the way the process changes.  As you become more organized you will probably change many of the ideas that you started with.  Notice-the key word is START!

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