As a professional organizer for more than 10 years, I believe that there are two major components that define an organized life:

• The amount of stuff we have in our living spaces.
• The amount of stuff that’s in our mind, thoughts & emotions.

An organized life is not meant to be rigid and uncomfortable. However, there should be a degree of routine & predictability. Our lives are not meant to be perfect, nor should we expect them to be, but there should be some semblance of peace, harmony, and Divine Order.

“Life is like an ocean, always moving, changing, developing and we need to be like a well-seasoned captain of our vessel.”  CSRoth

We must invest some time and thoughts into our future by determining how we will achieve an organized life, an uncluttered mind and an uncluttered space. It is very difficult to change something, without understanding our current state and our desired outcome. It is not always how the situation looks, it is how we look at the situation. In order to minimize the chaos and cultivate an organized life, we must learn to plan for, and manage change in ourselves and our environment. 

Over the years, I have found that some people want change, but most people are used to doing things the same way. We don’t always have to make change happen, we simply must allow it to happen and not resist it!  Otherwise, major changes in our lives will cause an inordinate amount of stress and anxiety, for example, new house, new job, new baby, etc.  All of these situations should allow us to assess our life as it is and consider making slight adjustments, as we prepare for our next season.

• We want life to be flexible and spontaneous.
• We want life to be simple and not too stressful.
• We want some control, but not utter chaos
• We want to have fun and enjoy life at its fullest, every day!

All of these things require some degree of organization… So, how do we get there?

Here are a few suggestions that will help:

1. Jot down some notes on how our lives and atmosphere look and feel today.
2. Take a look at those things that we would like to see changed in our surroundings, big and small.
3. Ask yourself whether clutter of any kind, will have a negative impact on those changes?  
   • For example, we may think we just need a bigger house, but we might be amazed at how much more room we already have when we simply unclutter and organize our living spaces.  

Although there may not be just one answer, an organized life will look different to different people, but we all must start somewhere. So, let’s take one step at a time, one day at a time…