Don't Just Organize: STAY Organized!

I'm not just trying to get organized with my Crafty Space Makeover Challenge.

I'm trying to figure out a system that works for me so that I can STAY organized.

I don't want to do an entire crafty makeover every few years, where I spend weeks reorganizing my space and vow to keep it tidy again. I want to create a way of organizing that will STICK. All too often, I'll spend a great deal of time cleaning up a room and feeling pretty darned good about myself for about three weeks until the room begins to fall back into its normal state again.

Not this time.

This time, I'm really thinking hard about how I work and the types of storage that works for me.

For me, putting things in boxes with lids on them will prevent me from using them. This is not the place to store items that I use very frequently. Those items, if they have any hope of being put away regularly, need to be stored in very easy reach in a highly visible spot. And all my tools and supplies need to have a very clearly defined "home" or they'll end up creating puddles of clutter here and there.

This is not to say that I can't have cute storage boxes with lids -- the items stored there just have to be things that I don't use all the time or they have to be items that I am willing to go and get if I need them.

For me, this is the difference between storing the envelopes that I use ALL THE TIME in a special "Shipping and Mailing" kit and the other envelopes that I have, in various sizes and colors, which can be put away in a less convenient location.

I am not naturally a tidy person, so any system that works for me will have to be extremely simple and almost effortless.

I was surfing around the web for some tips and came across this article. These great tips really ring true to me and are things that have been simmering in my brain for some time now:

Don't Just Get Organized, Stay Organized!
Seven Concepts that Stick

Great stuff!

A sampling: Give everything a parking spot, Assume laziness is the norm, Batch up your tasks... all these are things that I've pretty much concluded on my own during this experiment, but it's really nice to have my ideas validated like this.

Enjoy!

Hope you enjoy!