I think most organized people have a secret:
Being unorganized drives them nuts.
They are either anal-retentive or hyper or very inflexible, but being unorganized or surrounded by clutter makes them antsy. Not being able to find something makes them angry. Looking at a messy room drives them to action immediately. They can’t not do something. They put things away immediately. If they have a few free minutes, they spend it straightening up, putting away things, doing dishes, … They don’t clean out their car by dumping everything on the garage floor because they just can’t do that.
I think the best way to get organized and stay organized is to have that mind set. Get to the point where you can’t sit still if your house is the slightest bit messy.
Once you have the mindset, then you can apply all the tools and techniques people have developed to help people be organized. But beware, none of those techniques will work in the long term if clutter doesn’t make you itch or make you feel sick and drive you to action!
Once you have the mindset, here are some articles and techniques:
- My book review of Organizing from the Inside Out,
- 7 Secrets of the Super Organized,
- Why You Should Stop Paying for Storage And Just Get Organized,
- An interview with Peter Walsh, author of It’s All Too Much, on Unclutterer.com.