Podcast

20: Step 4: Designate a Home. A Place For Everything & Everything In Its Place

In this episode we dive into the importance of finding a home for all your items. We go deeper into Step 4 of our 7 Steps of Organizing *almost* Anything framework. Tune in to learn practical tips to help bring organization and flow back into your life!

In this episode we talk about:

Why having a designated home for items is important
Benefits of finding a home for your things
The difference between cleaning and organizing
The importance of finding a natural home for things.
Working with natural tendencies instead of forcing a certain way.
The seven steps of organizing and the importance of finding a home (step four)

Mentioned in this Episode:

Episode 1: 7 Steps to Organizing (almost) Anything

https://theorganizedflamingo.com/7-steps-to-organizing/

The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger. For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!

Review the Transcript:

Hello friends and welcome to another episode of organized and productive. Today we are going to be talking all about finding a home for your things and buy things. This also applies to digital files or digital content. So it can be physical items or digital things and finding a home is so important that it required its own episode. Plus, it is part of our seven steps of organizing almost anything. It is step number four. And one of the reasons why this episode would have been an episode, even if it wasn't part of our steps, is because one of the misconceptions that people have when they're disorganized, or frustrated about having too much stuff or being overwhelmed is that sometimes they think that they need to throw everything away, or they're just overwhelmed with stuff. And they think it's the amount of things that they have in their possession. Or if it's your digital items, right, like you can't find a file in a digital space.

So that is a misconception because it's not about the number of things that you have. That is the frustrating part. It is that you can't retrieve or find what you need when you need it. So let me say that again. It is not just the number of things in your possession that is overwhelming you because yes, that is in can be part of the frustration and the overwhelm. But most of the time for you know the regular person with an everyday life, it's really about the frustration that they need something and they just can't find it when they need it. And so that is why finding a home for your things is so important. Because when they have a home to go to you know where to put it back, so that when you need it again, you will be able to find it. So that is the episode that is the theme of the episode today. And that is what we're going to be talking about. So let's get started. Welcome to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity experts ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you. Yeah, well then let's go.

Okay, so for all of you who have been listening to our other episodes, or a part of our community, you know that we have a framework called the seven steps of organizing almost anything. And this framework, you can find over on one of our earlier episodes, and I will link it here in the show notes. So I would definitely start by going into the overview episode where we talk about all of these steps all in one episode, so you can kind of get a quick overview there. And then since then, we've had other episodes where we dig deeper into each of the episodes. And you can find all of those as well in our previous episode list. But as a very quick recap, steps one through seven all are individual steps, right. Step one is the assessed step, which should be started with no matter what. But then steps two through five can be interchanged in any order. So even though we're saying it's step four, technically, if your priority is to have an aesthetically pleasing space, then you probably are going to start with step number five, which we will talk about next, which is the container step. And that is picking your containers first, because for you your most important part of the organizing journey is that you want it to look aesthetically pleasing. So you need to start with that first. But for some of you, let's say you're downsizing, you're moving and your priority is to just get rid of stuff because you're trying to lighten the load of the items that you have in your possession, whether it's digital possession or your physical possession, then you will start with the decluttering step which we talked about right before this one. So steps two through five, you will want to interchange depending on what your priority is. But all steps should be at some point followed.

Right now we're talking about step number four, which is finding a home because conventionally it's done after you declutter. It's done after the sorting process. And that is why we're talking about it in this order. But again, just just to reinstate that. You can do them in any order. Just make sure you have a goal set in mind, like what are you trying to achieve with this organizing journey? Okay, so let's get started with our finding a home for everything. So let's talk about the importance of designing a home or designating a home for all your items. Number one, it's going to give you more efficiency and more organization visual organization. When items have a designated home it becomes easier to locate the items which is one of the biggest pride already here for you to be able to retrieve the items when you need them and access them when you need them. You know, it saves time. And it minimizes the frustration that comes with searching for misplaced items. So because of that, it gives you an improves the overall efficiency in the daily tasks and activities, where you're, you know, you're trying to retrieve the items. Okay, next on our list is the clutter reduction. So when there are clear boundaries of where things live, you then know that you have a set boundary like a set shelf. Or if you're we're talking digital items that you have a folder, and you have a size of amount of size that it can fit into. So you have boundaries, which help you with the clutter reduction.

So if you know that you only have this space to designate for the items, then it can't really or shouldn't, or it can't really overflow past that, because then it starts infringing upon other parts of your house or your space. So therefore, it just reduces clutter naturally, then we have the visual appeal, designing homes for items that will contribute to the visual appeal of a space. So when everything has a designated place or a home, that space will feel more streamlined, and it'll look more visually pleasing. This again, this also applies to your digital space, your folders will will look a little neater and nicer, it'll give a look a little bit more flow and feel like things are fitting into place. It eliminates the visual chaos, that also comes with having things scattered everywhere. It just gives it a more visual representation of where things should be. Okay, let's talk about the stress reduction here. You know, reducing the stress when things have a home to go back to you know, you don't have to think about where does this fit, or oh, I don't have a box for this or a bin for this or it just kind of floats in the middle of the room right or in the middle of your desktop. This is incredibly important. For this part about the stress reduction for digital items.

How many of you have the your desktop just filled with files, you know, when you first open your computer, they're just on your desktop, probably not the best place for it to be your that home that that desktop space or that middle of the room feel creates a lot of stress. And of course, we are trying to avoid the stress that comes with not with things being everywhere and not having a home to go back to. So now that we talked about the importance of finding a home for everything, and for all your things. Let's talk a little bit about the creative part of it, which is once you find a home, what how can it be visually pleasing? Like what what is the next step. So naturally, the next step is to find storage solutions within this space. But I don't want to go too deep into this part of it because it's actually step number five, which we will talk about in the next episode of this series. But in the finding a home comes first. Usually, unless like I said at the beginning of the episode it for you aesthetically pleasing is the goal is for you for it to be aesthetically pleasing. Then for you you already found the type of bins or baskets or the whole look first, and then you're having to you're going to be fitting everything into the look. But if you haven't started that process and for you, it is you're trying to find Okay, where does it fit better? Is it?

Do I want it to be closer to you know, if it's in your kitchen?

Like do you want it to be closer to where you cook? And how you cook? If it's your bathroom? Is it where you get out of the shower like that is? That is what finding a home means like where is it naturally going to flow with the usage of the item and the retrieval of the item. Because yes, you can put things away all day long. But that's not what organizing really is. That just means you're tidying things up. That just means you're cleaning things which is very separate and very different from organizing, organizing is the retrieval of it as well that you're able to get something when you need it. So getting creative with how you naturally operate in that area. How you move, how you utilize the things is going to come in really handy in this step because that will help you design or design or designate where things will be going. A very important distinction between finding a home for everything and then finding the right storage solution or the right container, which again we'll talk about in another episode is that our home, the home the place where it will live the place where the item will now be its designated home. It doesn't have to be contained. That's a different. That's the next step. So just when you find a home that is It doesn't necessarily need to have a basket or a bin. A great example is open items like your keys and whatnot.

Sometimes, yes, it is very helpful to have them in a tray, or a place where you hang things very nicely. But technically, you don't need that extra container, technically, the location of where you put things is the home. So I just want to draw a distinction between the two. Okay, so finding a home to suit your unique need, and style is going to be very important. And I mean, like very, very, very important to think about your natural tendencies and natural flow of how you go about your life and movements. If you always put your shoes next to the front door, find solutions that align with that. So the home will then be somewhere close to where you first enter your mudroom or your front door or your garage door or whatever entryway it is. Yes, you can also start creating new habits. So whether that's the right place for it or not, that's a different discussion. That is a type of change that is different. And it requires a mindset shift, which we don't address in the seven steps of organizing almost anything framework. Because the seven steps of organizing almost anything is taking into account that you just want to place you just want to get organized right now, not necessarily creating new habits. Now, when you follow our seven steps of organizing almost anything, naturally, your habits will start to change, you will uncover new and different habits, we'll be creating healthy and sustainable habits by just the natural way of you going about all these steps. But it is a different journey.

We don't want to overcomplicate the seven steps of organizing anything, we don't all of a sudden want to change the way that we are the way that we live. Because like I said, that's a mindset shift. That is changing your your natural tendencies, which is in should require rightfully so, a different path that is not is more thoughtful, if you will. Okay, so now that you've thought about how you naturally go about your life and your habits just naturally, again, not trying to recreate the wheel. That is when you start to be more observant of where you put things down. This is really important when you're living with other people, whether it's family members, partners, children, or roommates. This comes in really handy like when you find a home for something you can observe how other people where people are leaving things behind. If they're always coming in through the door and they put their bags in a certain place.

Maybe that is not its natural home. Even if it's not as deadly pleasing, right now you can start making it aesthetically pleasing. Same thing with where you're putting away your groceries, for instance, you probably have a natural tendency of where when you get your groceries out and you put them on the calendar or they just kind of like there's a flow that you always adhere to. So instead of you trying to recreate the wheel and trying to be do it the quote unquote right way, find a home that is already close to where you're naturally putting things down. Same thing with your digital spaces, if you are clicking if if naturally, you're always going looking to your left or your right, or you need more space in the computer screen, then put your files or your buttons in a place where it's not getting in the way. And so that's what I'm talking about when you're just naturally looking for places for things for files that are already part of your ecosystem. But now you're making it a bit more permanent and you're going to be working on aesthetically pleasing it putting that area that new home into an aesthetically pleasing way so that now it lives in a place that you didn't have to make a lot of change.

All you did was clear clean it up a little bit designated as a home and then we're on to the next step which is finding the containing the container system which will pretty it up and put the ribbon right you know tie the ribbons are just looks much nicer. Okay the last part of this conversation is the importance of the consistency and maintenance of this new found home or the home that you are now designated for your items. So let's take the example of the keys. You're always losing your keys and because you're always losing your keys you're always late same thing with a wallet or your phone. So you're going to now find a home for it where do you naturally put it when you first enter your house so that is now going to be its home again at the next step of your will find the right container for it and whatnot. But for now, let's say the the home is you know the first counterspace that you have as soon as you come in through the door If that is the natural home for it, and you are now designated that as as your key like the home for your keys.

Now, it is all about consistency and creating the habit that going forward no matter what that is where you're going to put it in till it becomes second nature, I always like to say that you need to live in the area in that in that movement of the of the item being placed in that home for a little while before you commit to permanently making that its home forever. So find the finding a home is okay, you have a hunch, and you're like, Okay, I think this is where it should go. And you now designated it as a home. But do that activity for a little while, you know, for a good month before you commit to it before because what might happen is now that you're being more conscientious and more observant to this new found home for this item, then you will start creating new habits. And then this is where you can decide you know what I do like this, this is where it should live, or you will find another home for it, or give it a try. Live in the moment in that flow of that home for a little while before you make anything permanent.

Okay, so that's what finding a home for everything means. I'm sure you have seen concepts about this over you know, different parts of social media, maybe you read a book about it. But finding a home is a very important piece of the whole organizing journey. Finding a home for everything is one of the most important parts because it's ultimately what will help you find the things. So that's why we have this step as a standalone. And why it's very important to talk about so it doesn't have to look pristine. That's not what this means, you know, doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be beautiful, that's a different step. This is just about finding a place where items will always go back to so that you can retrieve them find them when you need them as you need them. So I'll leave you with an exercise now that we finished this episode.

A very small exercise for you to do at home in that is just become more observant of how and where you leave things naturally. Don't push a new way of doing something. So when you come in the door, where do you put your purse? Where do you put your keys? Where do you put your wallet? Same thing with your digital items. Naturally, when you save something when somebody sends you something and you download it? Where do you naturally put it? Does it go into the download folder? Like what are the natural ways that you're doing something? And then start to think about how you can just enhance that home? Can you just do one quick small step? Nothing that is changing your entire habit, your entire life? Is there a small step that you could be doing so that that home is now a little bit more more organized, maybe more aesthetically pleasing as we lead into the next step.

Thank you for listening to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here are full show notes and resources head on over to the organized flamingo.com/podcast Happy organizing.