Popular New Year’s Resolutions: Celebrate National Get Organized Month

Clutter happens, often for good reasons, such as a new baby, a death in the family, a move or any other event that throws life out of balance. The New Year is a good time to hit the reset button, and since January is National Get Organized Month why not learn how to organize and simplify your home? Anyone can appreciate a place to rejuvenate after a long day, and without the distraction of clutter all around.

It turns out, that getting organized is one of the top five New Year’s resolutions made by people just like you every January 1st. Additionally, there is a growing trend to reduce, reuse, recycle, and declutter. In order to satiate our desire to simplify, the professional organizing industry created Get Organized Month (GO Month). It not only raises awareness about the benefits of getting organized, but it also helps people locate and hire professional home organization experts.

Let’s face it; we can’t all be as clever as HGTV’s Property Brothers, or the Queen of Home Organization, Marie Kondo. Nevertheless, there are compelling reasons to jump on the home organization bandwagon. For example, people who live in micro-apartments or micro-housing have no choice but to master the art of home organization.

Five Reasons to Get Organized

1. Reduce stress so you can relax more
2. Greater productivity at work and home
3. Increase usable space
4. Elevate your style
5. Eliminate duplicate purchases

There is often a fine line between deciding what to keep and what to toss. After casually mentioning to a friend that I still had a few cheerleading outfits from high school, she looked at me in disbelief. Why would I allow sentimental things to take up valuable real estate in my closet? While I take pride in decluttering my home frequently, the idea of getting rid of these outfits, one of which was hand-sewn by my mom, never occurred to me.

Everyone knows a Sentimental Sally or Hoarding Harry who hangs on to things like bags of Beanie Babies, sixth-grade book reports, or boxes of sweaters from college that no longer fit. If clutter is overwhelming your life, it might be time to hire a professional home organization expert to offer guidance on learning how to let go.

One home organizer advises her clients to throw everything she recommends they get rid of into a large, clean bin. At the end of the week, if they can remember what is in the bin, they can keep it. The value of being organized far outweighs living in chaos, which can become nerve-wracking and unproductive over time.

However, if the idea of sorting through a massive amount of clutter induces panic-like symptoms, it may be the reason clutter is there in the first place. In other words, clutter often has a psychological component involved. No doubt there are valid reasons to keep sentimental belongings but frequently there are other factors that we can’t control, yet we don’t want to be forced to get rid of things.

As a result, professional organizers often walk a fine line between creating order and being a therapist; they help identify what to keep, things to store offsite, and how to create a serene environment and maintain it over the long-term.

As for my cheerleading outfits? I think they will find a new home framed and hanging on the wall in my brother’s sports-themed man cave. Otherwise, all but one would have gone into the bin.