Based on my personal experience and over thirty years of helping clients get organized, I’ve learned a few things about what it means to be organized enough. That definition varies from person to person. What feels like being organized enough to me might be different for you. Guess what? That’s okay.

It's a journey to discover what helps you feel, be, and stay organized. I use the word ‘journey’ because getting organized isn’t a one-and-done event. As you go through life stages and changes, your organizing systems will likely need adjustments. Being organized helps make your life flow more smoothly. Being flexible and willing to tweak your systems as needed is part of the process.

Many strategies and products can work for your unique organizational needs. I’ve written hundreds of articles about this on the blog. However, today, I thought it would be fun to give you a behind-the-scenes look at some strategies and systems I use to stay organized with my things, thoughts, time, and space.

What Helps Me, a Professional Organizer, Stay Organized Enough?

Organized Things

Strategy: Create designated ‘homes’ for everything. This gives each possession a specific place to ‘live’ when it’s not in use and a spot to return after use.

Here are some ways I do that:

• Hooks next to the desk for my purse and bags

• Purse with compartments or mesh zipper bags inside larger totes

• Pen cup on the desk that holds only working pens

• Tray on the desk that holds frequently used office supplies like a stapler, tape dispenser, calculator, and paper clips

• Office supply cabinet with labeled drawers that organize similar items together

• Charging station and stands for my iPhone and iPad

• Drawer organizers, open bins, closed containers, and shelf dividers to house specific categories in the bathroom, kitchen, dining room, living room, and bedrooms

• Hook inside the door of a lower kitchen cabinet next to the stove to hang potholders

Organized Thoughts

Strategy: Use specific methods and tools to help clarify, record, and process thoughts. Some thoughts are personal, while others relate to my professional life. As a verbal processor, I find that writing and talking are effective ways to organize my thoughts.

Here are ways I do that:

• Write in my personal and meditation journals

• Log tasks and projects in my 2Do app, which can be scheduled for specific dates

• Place sticky notes and pens next to phones, beds, desk, kitchen and bathroom to jot quick notes, which get transferred or filed

• Keep an AquaNotes® waterproof paper pad and pencil in the shower to capture ideas

• Use a Word or Google Doc to organize ideas and projects

• File ideas into my blogging binder by category that I want to potentially write about

• Enlist help from a family member, friend, or professional to discuss and sort out my thoughts aloud.

“It’s a journey to discover what helps you feel, be, and stay organized.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

Organized Time

Strategy: Build systems you can fully trust. Use effective strategies and products that encourage intentionality and help you gain better control of your time. When possible, use one calendar along with a separate task app to manage your personal and professional life.

Here are ways I do this:

• 2Do app for scheduling appointments, tasks, birthday reminders, and lists such as ‘Books to Read’ or ‘Books Read’’

• Notes app on iPhone with shopping lists for specific stores, mileage log, and health notes

• Digital calendar with vertical weekly dated layout

• Color-coded calendar to see at a glance where my time is scheduled, the mix of categories, and the white space signifying unscheduled time

• Calendly app to schedule client and personal meetings

• Analog clocks in my office and kitchen to better visualize time

• Use timers to allow me to hyperfocus, remind me when to switch gears, get up and move, or wrap up what I’m doing

• I use different timers depending on the need:

  • Time Timer® , a visual timer for meetings, virtual organizing sessions, and workshops

  • Clock app alarm with auditory alert on my iPhone for switching gears, cooking, and notifying of upcoming meetings

  • Kitchen timer on the stove with auditory alert for cooking or cleaning something with timed instructions

• Only commit to something new after reviewing my current time commitments

• Respect my time and know when to say “yes” or “no”

• Have clear work and personal boundaries

Organized Space

Strategy: Define the purpose and designate zones for each room and area. Organize spaces to support their intended use, maximize the available area, and minimize clutter.

Here are some ways I do that:

• Guest bathroom with a in-wall magazine holder

• Kitchen with a hot beverage station

• Pantry with labeled Elfa drawers for storing gift wrapping supplies

• Laundry room with closets for storing extra cleaning products and paper goods

• Entryway with cushioned bench and open cubbies below to sit while taking shoes on and off and for storing most frequently worn shoes

• Office with a wall slot to fold up and discreetly store my folding screen when not in use

What Helps You Organize Your Things, Thoughts, Time, and Space?

Getting organized enough can help create more ease in your life. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by everything, focus on one category at a time to improve. Which area needs the most attention? Which category do you want to work on first? What helps you feel organized enough for your things, thoughts, time, and space?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Would you like support with getting organized? I’d love to help! Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – Local feel with a global reach.

Let’s talk. I’m easy to reach.

• Schedule a Discovery Call

• Email me at linda@ohsorganized.com or

• Call 914-271-5673

Getting organized is possible, especially with support.

What do tea bags, Elfa drawers, and virtual organizing have in common? The tea bags represent what needs organizing. The Elfa drawers embody an organizing solution. Virtual organizing is the bridge that transports you from where you are to where you want to be.

One benefit of the ‘bridge’ (virtual organizing) is the traveling-the-road aspect. In the time it takes to move from one place to another, you get to:

• Rethink what’s working and what isn’t

• Clarify your goal

• Open your mind to alternate solutions

• Think creatively

• Discover alternate possibilities

• Identify what’s holding you back

• Mentally prepare to take action

• Brainstorm with a professional who is 100% focused on your success

In essence, virtual organizing affords you the time and space to think through your organizational challenges and solutions. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong about diving into the action piece. However, designating time to discuss, reflect, and clarify can enrich and empower your organizing outcomes.

Virtual Organizing Benefits in Real Life (IRL)

For example, a client might need one or more sessions to discuss their challenges with letting go of sentimental or aspirational clothing. It’s valuable to tease out the thought patterns and potential obstacles. They take time to consider and sit with those ideas before taking action.

Sometimes, they move forward on their own. Yet, often, they find it helpful to devote some virtual organizing sessions to work with me on active editing, decision-making, and letting go. That means we’re not only talking about it, but they are doing the physical work as I support them through the process.

Releasing Stuck Energy

I’ve observed something fascinating for myself and my clients. When you begin editing, letting go, and clearing a space, it creates a path for new solutions and ideas. When things remain status quo, the energy in a space and your thinking can get stuck. But once you stir the pot, incredible changes happen.

“Virtual organizing is the bridge that transports you from where you are to where you want to be.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

An Unexpected Project Outcome

One of the recent projects I’ve been working on is redoing our guest bedroom, which was our daughters’ bedroom. Renovating it has been on my ‘want to do’ list for many years. Finally, its time arrived. I will share more about that exciting transformation in the coming weeks.

However, for now, I’ll tell you about an unexpected outcome. One of the unanticipated side benefits came when we emptied the room to prepare for painting it. I removed the small Elfa drawer unit and temporarily placed it in the pantry. I wasn’t sure if we’d put it back into the bedroom post-renovation. After a few days of observing the cabinet in this other location, I decided to make it pantry-worthy.

I removed the games and playing cards and repurposed the cabinet for tea, spices, and food-related items. I also found these fabulous Container Store Elfa drawer dividers, which keep the items in the drawers organized and in place. It makes me giggle whenever I open the drawer and see those dividers. I love the reimagined cabinet!

If I hadn’t been willing to disrupt one space, I might not have improved another. Like my clients, I gave myself time and the opportunity to think through my organizing systems, get creative, and try something new.

Disrupting a space has value, as does having a thought and accountability partner to help you navigate to the other side of the bridge.

Virtual Organizing is an Empowering Path

What have you disrupted lately? What benefit have you received from your virtual organizing sessions? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Do you want help getting unstuck, planning, or creating new organizing systems? If so, I’m ready to help. Please email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or schedule a Discovery Call. Moving forward is possible, especially with support.

Are there things in your life that just aren’t working? Maybe you have organizing systems, but they are cumbersome or impossible to maintain. Perhaps your spaces include what you use but aren’t set up in accessible ways. Or maybe your calendars are so packed with appointments and commitments that you don’t have time to rest and recharge. These are significant. Figuring them out and letting go can feel challenging.

Not all challenges are tricky. You might experience less complex issues that aren’t working. For example, you often:

• Misplace your eyeglasses or keys

• Can’t find a working pen when you need one

• Search for the flashlight you had just the other day

• Run out of milk

• Move the same pile of papers from your desk to the floor.

Because these seem like insignificant challenges, you ignore them. You experience a slight annoyance here and feel bothered by something there. It’s enough to notice but not enough to do anything about it.

Enough Already

Doing something to remedy the situation can take months, years, or decades. You tolerate the inconvenience until one day, you say, “Enough is enough!” When that day comes, you are ready to let go of what’s not working to make way for what does.

Here’s the funny thing. When you get to the it’s-enough-already-point, that’s when the magic happens. You are ready to:

• Let go of being irritated

• Be mindful of what’s going on

• Have room in your brain to problem-solve

• Change the status quo

The Lamp

Some of you may know I’m short, under five feet tall. We had a lamp in our bedroom that sat on the dresser for years. It was a colorful glass lamp with a purple shade. I liked it except for one thing. Because of the tall dresser, the placement of the switch high up on the lamp, and my height, it was difficult for me to turn the light on and off.

Each time I pushed the switch, I would stretch by standing on my tippy toes to reach it. Was it awkward and slightly annoying? Yes! Did I do this for a lot of years? Yes! Why? Because I ignored the irritation and my agency to change what wasn’t working.

As we were preparing our house for guests, my husband and I worked on various projects. Something about working on those projects activated my thoughts. I had an “Enough is enough” moment. An idea popped into my head. Why not replace the lamp with one that isn’t as tall? Or, more specifically, change it to one I could easily reach. What a simple solution!

Within a few days, I bought a new lamp, a black base with a white shade. While I like how it looks, I love that I can reach it…easily! No more tippy toes are required. And each time I turn the switch, I can’t help but smile. Honestly, a few times, I’ve squealed with delight.

“Are you ready to let go of what’s not working to make way for what does?”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

Why Let Go?

It’s easy to keep doing what you’ve always done, even if it’s annoying. But when you’re willing to let go of what’s not working, you make room for what is. And when that happens, joy and happiness will follow.

I don’t have to stretch anymore to reach the lamp. Instead, I will learn to ‘stretch’ in other ways. What else is possible? What else can I improve?

How about you? Are you ready to thrive? What becomes possible when you let go of what’s not working? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

Do you want help letting go of those things, habits, or situations that no longer serve you? If so, reach out anytime. Please email me, Linda, at linda@ohsorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or schedule a Discovery Call. Letting go is possible, especially with support.

Is it only me, or has your plate also become fuller since the start of the fall season? After returning from our last trip of the summer, reality hit.

There were workshops to create and make progress on. Interactions with new, returning, and potential organizing clients ramped up, and volunteer activities went into full gear. Add to these the holidays, upcoming conference travel, and my new Mindful Organizing workshop launching this week. These make my to-do list more intense than usual. This burst of activity pulses through my mind and body.

While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with having a full plate, I am reminded of a mindfulness meditation practice I worked with a while ago. Using the Insight Timer app, I listened to Justin Francisco’s meditation, Drop Your To-Do List and Just Be. It was a message I needed to hear. After meditating, I added a note to my to-do list about using this idea for a future blog post. The irony wasn’t lost on me.

It was also helpful to understand the difference between Justin’s Just Be List and my To-Don’t List, which I’ve written about before.

Justin makes the case about the benefits of taking time to just be and do nothing. This seems more viable when we’re on vacation or have less going on. I get that. I am internally driven to accomplish and be productive, but I sometimes struggle to reconcile how much I need those deep pauses. However, I have experienced the value of stopping, even briefly, and recognize the tremendous benefits of taking do-nothing breaks.

What are you in the thick of?

• Are you overwhelmed with the clutter in your home?

• Are you frustrated with your organizing systems?

• Is your schedule overflowing?

• Are you trying to create a better balance between work and personal time?

• Are you working on new projects, which make it difficult to focus on anything else?

• Is your to-do list so extensive that you can’t decide what to do next?

“There are tremendous benefits to taking do-nothing breaks.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

Just Be List

When you have a lot going on, it may feel like the obvious first step is to take action and work more. While those will be essential to move forward, consider this alternative. When your mind is racing and you’re stressed, it’s more challenging to focus. This is an excellent time to pause and do nothing. You’ll return refreshed after your do-nothing break. You can mindfully. . . 

• Stare out of the window.

• Step outside to feel the sun and cool fall breeze on your skin.

• Sit and close your eyes for a few moments.

• Lay down with a cozy blanket and take a short nap.

• Plop onto the couch and stare at the ceiling.

• Notice the inhale and exhale movements of your breath.

• Listen to the sounds around you.

• Watch the flames flicker as you smell the scent of your favorite candle.

While doing nothing, do only that. No scrolling, list-making, or thinking about what you’ll do next. If doing nothing feels too challenging, set a timer. Give yourself 10, 15, or 20 minutes to disengage. When the buzzer dings, return to your to-list and select one small thing to focus on.

Notice how that felt. In which ways was your pause beneficial? After your break, did you feel refreshed? Were you more motivated? Could you more easily select and engage in that next small action step? How will you experiment again with just being?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.