We are now up to part 3 in our 3 part series on getting back in control of our homes after the holidays.  Last Friday, we talked about decluttering our spaces and on Tuesday we talked about organizing the spaces that we just decluttered.  You can find those articles here and here.  

Now that our spaces are organized, it's time to use these new organization systems to become more productive. 

Did you know that the average person spends 10 minutes a day looking for things?  That adds up to 2.5 days a year! That is a lot of wasted time. 

Today's post is all about using your new organization system, seeing how it works, making sure it works for you. 

Use Your New System

In our last post, we organized a space in our home. Let's say you organized the pantry and got individual labeled baskets for the kids' snacks. Using your system would mean to actually use these baskets.  Make sure that when you go shopping you actually put the snacks in the basket and throw out the original packaging. 

If you created a filing system for school papers and bills, start using it. Organizational systems don't actually work unless we use them.  So, start putting your new organizational tools to work!

Evaluate and Refine

After a few days or weeks, it's time to evaluate how the system is working for you. Let's say you organized your papers and you put some papers in files in a cabinet and others in binders on a shelf.  As you use your system,  you may notice that the binders are far easier to access than the files.  

If this is the case, you may want to switch what goes in a binder and what goes in a file so that the documents you need to access regularly are in binders and the less used documents and papers are in files. 

While systems are great, it's important to check in and see if the system is actually working for you.  What works for one, may not work for another.  It's important to take the time to assess and make changes so that you are making the best use of your time.  

Execute

Now that you have systems in place that work, use them.  If you got clear containers for the kids snacks so you can easily tell when you are running low on granola bars, make sure that you actually put the bars in there.  It might take a few extra seconds to dump the snacks into the bin, but now you can clearly see what you have. 

If you put a key basket on the table by the front door, create the habit of actually putting your keys there.  Having the basket but not using it won't help you find your keys when they are lost. Using your systems is the key to increasing productivity through organization. 

I used the word systems a lot in this post and I don't want that to intimidate you. I really just mean a way of doing something. It doesn't have to be some complicated process, it just has to work for you and your family. Dropping your keys in the basket when you come home is a system for organizing and locating your keys.  It can be as simple as that. 

I'd love to virtually walk through the steps of decluttering, organizing, and increasing productivity for a particular space in your home.  Leave a comment on a space you would like to get organized and I will write out the process for that space in a future post.  I may even do a video!

So let me know, what space in your home could use the most love?

Cheers,  

Emily