https://www.bin-store.com/blog

Looking at your calendar for home organization, how many tasks for 2016 have you completed? How many do you have left to tackle? How many did you plan to have done by now, which you haven’t yet touched? How far behind are you slipping?

There are a lot of myths about organization which we use to try and console ourselves when we are not meeting our goals, but one of the most common ones is this:

“Getting organized can wait. I can catch up on this task tomorrow—or next week—or next month.”

The problem with this is that next week quickly becomes next month, and all too often next month turns into next year. Before you know it, another year is gone and you haven’t completed more than a handful of tasks on your home organizing checklist. Organizing cannot wait indefinitely. Eventually, you have to do the next task on your list.

The question of course becomes, “How do I actually do that? How do keep moving forward when I am already slipping behind?”

My top suggestion would be to take a look back over your home organizing schedule. Try and pinpoint why you are not getting things done.

• Are you setting an unrealistic timeline? If you originally planned to do a month’s worth of tasks within a week, it is no wonder you keep finding excuses to put off organizing. You are overwhelmed for good reason! The solution is to rework your task list so that it is achievable.

• Did you already drain yourself doing a few huge tasks at the start of the year? This is one of the most common home organizing mistakes. It may seem like a great idea to get as much out of the way at the beginning as you can, but this has a depleting effect on your self-discipline. Then you end up slacking off the rest of the year and the mess builds right back up. Organize in smaller, more manageable chunks of time, and you will maintain your discipline levels. Once the habit becomes ingrained, you will also need less discipline in the future to stick with it.

• Were you missing home organizing supplies? Stock up on what you need so you will no longer have this excuse available! If you just purchase some clear plastic containers with lids, you will find that they can fulfill a variety of roles around the house. Oftentimes that is all you need. They are cheap too—organizing does not have to be expensive.

It is tempting to think that you organizing can wait, but usually when we push off tasks until tomorrow, we have no real intention of following through. Deep down, we know that tomorrow means “probably never.” So make this the year that you make the big push to stop putting off organization. All you really need is 15 minutes a day. If you can commit to that, you will turn your life around sooner than you think.