Families Who Organize Together STAY Organized by @TheJoyfulOrg

Getting organized is really just the first step. Now that you have done the hard work of decluttering your space and getting rid of excess, you need an organization system to maintain it. Because as much as you would like to think that things will magically stay neat and tidy, life happens.

Before you know it, toys are on the floor, clothes are in piles, and the cabinets are jammed. All your hard work in clearing out your space seems to be for nothing because you are right back at square one. So how do you prevent all this from happening? How to you get organized and STAY organized?

How to Get Organized and STAY Organized (as a Family)

1.  Give everyone a “tour” of your work. Show them where items now belong. Explain why you designed the system the way you did. Sometimes when people don’t participate in the system, they simply don’t understand how it works.

2. Label everything. For kids who cannot read yet, use pictures. They can draw them, or you can use printed photos. With things labeled, it is hard to make excuses for not putting things away.

3.  Tell your family how hard you worked. Tell them about the investment you made to make your home better. If possible, get them involved in the organizing process. Ask them what problems they would like to solve.

4.  Set aside time to put things away. Kids, adults, everyone in the house can participate in a ten minute tidy every day. This doesn’t seem like much, but with an “all hands on deck” mentality, you can get a lot accomplished.

5.  Know that your home won’t go back to perfect every day.  However, once you have a system in place, it is easy to put things right when you do have a few minutes. Also, when items have a home, you put them away with no trouble. Just like you empty the dishwasher,you know where the items go and can put them away with no struggle.

6.  Reward yourselves. Take the family out to dinner or a movie, or have a game night. Reward yourself for keeping your organizational systems in place.

Determine what works for your family.  However, the key is to to be firm and form the proper habits. Kids will follow your lead so set a good example and keep a happy attitude about organizing and cleaning up.