The Six Step Organizing Process Worksheets

Transcription

1 The Six Step Organizing Process Worksheets

2 Organizing Connection has designed the following worksheets as a tool to aid you in your organizing journey. The worksheets are designed to help you capture your thoughts, dreams, and visions on paper and support you in reaching your organizing goals. We suggest that you use the worksheets with the corresponding videos and ebooks to cover all your particular learning styles. The worksheets will walk you through a six step process. This process will help you break down the large and often overwhelming task of taking on a new organizing project and approach it in smaller manageable steps. Depending on the size of your project, you will decide how much time is needed to be allotted for each step and set up a schedule to complete the whole process. The six steps that you will go through in the work sheets are as follows: 1. The Dream How do you envision your new dream space? 2. The Plan What steps will you take to make the dream come true? 3. The Sort Sort through everything, putting like with like, into categories. 4. The Purge Deciding what to keep and what to let go of. 5. The Re-Organization Put what you are keeping back, making sure everything has a home. 6. Maintenance It s an evolving journey, how to stay organized! Well, what are you waiting for? Let s get started, and remember if you ever get stuck, overwhelmed, or just want to bounce your ideas off of someone else, come join us at OrganizingConnection.com. We are here to make your organizing dilemmas a thing of the past. You can find all your organizing answers at

3 Mudroom The Dream This is where you get to jot down the things that are not working in your mudroom and exchange them for what you do want your dream space to look like. Don't know where to start? Can't see past what's currently happening? Look through magazines. Browse websites. Note what your friends and family do in their mudroom that seems to work well. And talk to others. Start with the forums on the Organizing Connection website, but talk to your family members and your friends. They struggle with the same issues every day too. Maybe one has figured out how to organize hockey equipment so that you're not scrambling at 5:30am the day of the big tournament looking for that missing glove. Your Current Reality (The Now) In this column list everything about the situation as it is now. Include both the good and bad points. Your New Reality (The Dream) In this column list the elements of your dream, laid out just the way you want it. Keep this sheet as you'll need it after you finish re-organizing.

4 Mudroom The Dream The Dream (or what my mudroom looks and feels like when I am finished):

5 Mudroom The Plan Now that you know what to do, it's time to get it done. At this point most people dive in thinking enthusiasm will carry them through to the end. But it doesn't. Halfway through you're burnt out and things end up worse than before. Spread out your tasks so that you achieve little victories one at a time. Start with the five main actions that will accomplish your goal and set the "Date done by" for each one at least one day apart from the previous. 1 Action Date done by: People doing it: Remember as well to include others. You do not need to do this alone! If the five actions above are still too overwhelming, repeat this exercise by making each action a Dream and create new sub-actions to reach each one. Remember everyone gets to their destination at their own pace. Here's an example to get you started: The Built-in Closet solution Let's look at a hypothetical situation, let's call our main character Jan. Now, Jan has a big closet in her mudroom, but it's a disaster with no shelving. Here are the five actions she's going to take. Action Date done by: People doing it: Sort out everything in the closet. This weekend Jan & husband Purge what's not necessary. Next weekend Whole family Get a quote on custom installation. The next week Jan & husband Have closet system installed (or buy To be decided Closet company & install DIY depending on quote). The following or Jan and friend Reorganize using labels.set up the weekend Whole family center and enjoy the time savings

6 Mudroom The Sort The mudroom is full of many things coats, boots, sports equipment, bags, etc The best way to sort out this room is in a big space. If it's warm enough, why not do it in the garage or in the family room? Wherever you choose, just make sure you give yourself enough space to spread it all out. Use bins when sorting and make sure they are clearly labeled with categories you've come up with before you start sorting. The bins will be especially helpful for the purge you can do it in stages, one bin at a time, and for giving yourself some breathing space bins will hold your categories in a portable format until you get your new system set up. To get you started here are some categories that we've found when working in mudrooms. Remember to use as few categories as possible and using words and divisions everyone understands and agrees upon. If you live in a two climate area you will have two bins for each category, one for winter and the other for summer. Or if you live in eastern Canada; it is winter, winter and a few things for the week between winter and winter. Categories: Coats Hats Winter wear like mittens Sunscreen and bug spray Shoes, boots and other footwear Sporting goods sorted by activity and by size/shape.

7 Mudroom The Purge In this instance, the purge is a family affair. There's footwear, sportswear and outerwear to try on. Sportswear needs to be examined and tested. And that soccer ball you think your daughter doesn't play with anymore? It might just be a prized (and final) present from the old man who used to live next door. I think his name was Pele. A family purge can easily get out of control so we've provided below some questions that you can prepare for each member of the family. Is this mine or another family member's? When was the last time I used this? How often do I use it? Can I store it somewhere else? If I don't use it, will someone else in the family use it? Can it be donated or recycled? Does it have to go in the trash? Although working together is usually the most productive way, sometimes everyone's schedule will not match up, or working all together might create a warzone instead of a purge-zone. If this is the case, have each member of the family take the time to go through everything sorting out what they want to keep. Of course this means that you'll have to repeat the process with everyone, but with each repetition the pile will get smaller. This is also a great time to make list of necessary equipment that needs to be purchased or replaced for you and your family members activities. There are usually a series of things that are needed (e.g., baseball, bat, glove, shoes, uniform). As you decide what to keep: 1. Make note of anything that needs replacing 2. Create a checklist of equipment for each activity 3. Print out and laminate the list 4. Either hang all the lists by the door, or put each list with its related equipment. This will provide you with an easy way to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be (and not in a bedroom, or in the trunk of the car stewing up toxic odors), and that when you're out the door at 5:30am for a hockey tournament, you don't have to remember what you're supposed to be taking with you.

8 Mudroom The Re-organization Organizing a Mudroom usually will require some sort of installation of a new system, whether it's a few extra hooks, some shelves bought from a DIY store or a custom built solution by a professional closet company or contractor. During the planning phase, you probably already decided how complicated you want the system to be. Now is the time to review that decision. Perhaps you've purged so much you don't need to spend the money on a custom-built solution, or maybe you've gotten rid of less than you thought of and your idea of just adding a few hooks won't work. And remember when creating that system make it work for everyone: keep kids' storage low make categories simple use an umbrella stand for long things like hockey sticks and baseball bats people resent being told what to do, so encourage participation in the creation of the system (but remember that ultimately one person usually has to make the final decision). Once you're done, use this worksheet to compare your desired reality (the Dream) with what you've actually come up with (the Reality Check). The actual doesn't need to match the dream exactly. The comparison is just to highlight details that might have escaped your notice during the sorting, purging, and reorganizing. The Dream Vision of What You Want What was that again..if you don t remember check back on the Dream worksheet. The Reality Check The Actual Outcome Walk through your space and note everything you've changed, or left as is.

9 Mudroom Maintenance The mudroom is a common space everyone uses it so everyone needs to be responsible for keeping it up. Do not, however, expect perfection. It s a home a living breathing environment with people and things. As people begin to form the maintenance habit, reward and praise everyone for the good work even if it is a small change it is a change. Positive reinforcement works wonders in motivating the troops. Use this worksheet to determine how well you're doing with the maintenance. When 21 days have passed from the original reorganization, examine your space or activity again to see what works and what needs to be tweaked. 21 Day Check Up Fine Tuning In this column list everything about the space or Note here what needs to change to make the system activity as it is now (positive and negative). better.

10 Mudroom Bonus Sample Equipment List What Goes In Your Hockey Bag: Skates Socks Shin pads Hockey pants Jock Hockey shirt Shoulder pads Elbow pads Gloves Wrist guards Helmet Neck guard Mouthguard Drink Money - $4.50 To Be Washed Daily: Socks Jock Hockey Shirt To Be Aired Out Daily: Skates Shin pads Hockey pants Shoulder pads Elbow pads Gloves Wrist guards Helmet Neck guard Mouthguard