Getting organised in January

Getting organised in January

By Wendy Armstrong

9th Jan 2019

January is like Marmite- you either love it or you hate it. But we’re definitely in the love it camp; a whole new year filled with possibility, the chance the wipe the slate clean and fulfil your goals and resolutions. And with Tidying Up With Marie Kondo making its debut on Netflix, one of the biggest and best resolutions for 2019 is getting organised in your life and home. Here are some tips to get you started!

1) Seasonal storage wall. It might be 349 days until Christmas but trust us it’ll be here again before you know it. So instead of shoving Christmas items into random cupboards all over the house (and never being able to find them come December), start a new seasonal storage wall in your garage or utility room. Grab some of our Storage Boxes and fill with all things Christmas. Then unleash your inner Monica Geller and get labelling! A printed and laminated A4 sheet with the word ‘Christmas’ can go on the front of your box, and then you can move on to creating boxes for all others sorts of occasions like Halloween or Beach. We like the idea of keeping the font and size all the same on the box labels so you eventually have a visually pleasing seasonal storage wall of stacked and labelled boxes- but that could just be Monica talking!

2) Resolutions that stick. It’s great that you’ve made a decision to be more organised in 2019 but to make that decision achievable you’ve got to be more specific. What exactly are you going to be more organised with and how? Think about aspects of your life that could benefit from more organisation. Maybe it’s that you can never seem to manage to get out of the door on time in the morning, struggle to keep on top of things at work or find mealtimes an organisational disaster. When you’ve got your specific goal for the year, commit to it by writing it down in your diary or as a note on your phone- then you can start to think about the ‘how’ of achieving it.

3) Beat the bloat. It’s not just waistbands that are fit to burst this January, as the influx of new stuff over Christmas means our homes are looking a little fuller around the middle too. In Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, Marie suggests envisaging your intended result (such as a home that better empowers the life you want) and tidying across categories (clothing, books, paper, miscellaneous and sentimental items) rather than rooms but you can work in any way that fits you and your home best. You might not have many books for example, or might prefer the satisfaction of tackling a whole room at a time. January is a great time to donate items to charity, so book a charity collection and get rid of unnecessary items, and if you’re going with the Marie Kondo method, check out our great range of clothes storage products and easily adjustable shelves for your books, ideal for varying shapes and sizes.

4) Small task, big impact. Armed with your specific New Year organisational resolution, it’s time to add the ‘how’ you are going to achieve it. Go back to your diary or phone’s notebook and write in three things you are going to do to help you achieve your goal. For example, if you want to make the school run a breeze, your three small tasks could be creating an organised shoe area (a shoe rack could help!), a dedicated peg for each child with their coat and bag, and a set place for your keys. If organised mealtimes are your mission, determine to plan your meals for each week, clean out your cupboards and invest in some clear plastic organisers to store food items. Just three small tasks are all it could take for that goal to have a big tick next to it!

5) Plan for the year. January is also a great time to plan bigger home organisational tasks- things that are going to take a bit of research but that are definitely on your to-do list for the year. Ideas might be to set up a greenhouse in February, create your own She-Shed in April or tackle the conservatory for the summer. Set up Pinterest boards so you can start collecting images you like, and ideas for storage that will work, then when it comes to actually getting started you’ll already have a head start. Happy January organisation everyone!

Image Credit Photo by NORTHFOLK on Unsplash