What professional organizers really mean by "creating systems"

If you follow me on social media, you’ve likely heard me mention the phrase “creating systems” when talking about client projects. While this might sound like a buzzword thrown around by professional organizers, I promise there’s way more to it than that!

When you decide to organize your space, whether on your own or with the help of a professional, you want the project to result in three main things:

1. The space should be functional
2. The space should make your life easier
3. The space should be simple to maintain

Yes, the space will hopefully look nicer, too, but ensuring the space serves you properly is the number one priority! That’s why I highly recommend systematizing your life wherever you can, and one of those places is certainly in your home. With that said, let’s break things down a little further.

The space should be functional

I tend to get called into an organizing job when a client realizes that things don’t seem to be functioning properly. A lot of times I hear something along the lines of “it just doesn’t make any sense in here.”

If this sounds like your situation, I’m happy to report that you can change it! You just have to ask yourself a few questions to get started:

• Who is using this space?
• How are they using this space?
• How often are they using the space?
• What in the space are they accessing the most and least?

Thinking about this day-to-day workflow in your home can drastically help with functionality. Let’s say you’re married and a mom of two kids, ages 3 and 7. You’ve noticed that your pantry is not working in your favor right now. Addressing those questions when you organize it will help you achieve a functional result!

For example, if your 7-year-old is self-sufficient enough to get her own after-school snack, make sure it’s within her reach so she actually can get her own after-school snack. You’ll start to notice the impact in no time.

The space should make your life easier

Okay, raise your hand if you hate making decisions. (For what it’s worth, my hand is raised as high as it can possibly go rn).

I. FEEL. YOU.

There’s so much pressure when it comes to decision-making, so I try to work around it as best I can. One way of doing this is by…you guessed, it systematizing my life!

When professional organizers create systems in your home, it helps you cut down on certain decision-making during the day. Here are a few examples of what I mean:

• Not having to spend time in the morning figuring out what to wear – when you can see it all nicely organized in front of you, you can put an outfit together quickly rather than staring at your closet or digging around for that oooone shirt
• Not having to determine what to buy at the grocery store – when you see that your “Snacks” bin is running low, you know you have hit the chip aisle this time around
• Not having to figure out where to put your kids’ toys – when everything has a home, clean-up takes just a few minutes…and if you implement the right systems, your kids can even help!

Do you see what I mean? Having an organized space can either help make decision-making way easier, or eliminate the need for it at all. You don’t have to think twice about things, increasing your day-to-day efficiency and in turn making your life way easier.

The space should be simple to maintain

You (or your professional organizer) can organize alllllllllll the rooms in your home, but maintaining them is a whole other game. Don’t let all that hard work go down the drain!

Since you organized in a way that accounted for your household’s daily workflow, things should be pretty easy to maintain. The biggest suggestion I have to ensure you keep up with things is by labeling.

Labeling serves as accountability for everyone in your home. For whatever reason, without labels, you’re willing to just throw the bread in the “Snacks” bin when you’re in a rush. But with labels, I swear, you’d never even think of doing it! It’s a wild mind game, but it works, and you’ll thank yourself later for it.

I highly recommend the PTouch Cube Plus for an affordable and easy-to-use label maker, but fear not – painters’ tape and Sharpies work, too! And if you’ve got little ones, try to label with images or colors so they can help maintain those amazing systems you’ve worked so hard to implement.

I hope this gave you a little more clarification on what we professional organizers mean when we talk about creating systems and systematizing your life. I’ve seen the impact in my own home, and I want you all to experience it, too!

Need help nailing down those systems? I offer both virtual and in-person packages and am always happy to assist. Submit my contact form today for your free strategy call!