Parenting + Organizing

This photo is from MY house circa 2006. Devastating! But it looked very familiar to an organizing project I did years ago for a Mom of four children,

Down in the basement playroom, surrounded by all the usual suspects - Legos, board games, dress-up clothes, Playmobil, stuffed animals, school uniforms, lots of dirty socks, educational readers, books-galore, American Girl dolls, and superheroes - we were sorting, pitching, and chatting. This was the 3rd time working in the playroom, and my lovely client looked at me and said, "I just can't keep it organized!" 

I am very protective of my clients, so my mind rushed to defend her, and then I had an incredible ‘a-hah’ moment and I said, enthusiastically, "You do not have an organizational problem, you have a volume problem." And it came to me that all the bins in the world, all the handmade labels, all the tidying up schedules, all the encouraging talks to the children - none of it, NONE. OF. IT. would fix the problem that was simply, non-judgmentally, very commonly - too much stuff.

We can't solve too much stuff with bins, labels, encouraging talks, and tidying schedules. We must solve the volume problem by turning down the volume!

A lot of 'organizing' problems are volume problems in disguise. 

Problem: Always Late

Turn down the volume: Unstuff your calendar. Put margin in your day. If you need a refresher - read, Why Am I Always Late?

Problem: Kid Won’t Clean Up Their Room

Turn down the volume: Seriously, if you do one thing, do this. Edit your child’s room to just books, clothes, and stuffed animals. Move the toys, crafts, and memories to another space. Be sure that the amount of items they have in their room can be picked up in 20 minutes (or under). Alternatively, if you don't want to do this, please stop asking your kids to clean their rooms.

Problem: Procrastination

Turn down the volume: Make the task smaller, teeny tiny. How can you shuffle forward 1/2 of a baby step? Our brain will shut down if the task is too big. We need to sneak past our primitive brains in tiny, soft, quiet baby steps. Do you need to fill out the FAFSA (I feel you parents of high school seniors), do your taxes, or submit insurance claims? All too scary. Break it down into tasks you can do in ten minutes. Turn down the volume on your expectations on the task you are procrastinating on, and then you can sneak past your scaredy cat brain, one teeny tiny step at a time.

Need Support?

Join this month’s workshop on Parenting + Organizing for strategies, tips, and encouragement.

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