So, your house is disorganized and you are ready to get your act together. The first problem you realize is that you are unsure of where to start or what needs to be organized. Here is an activity that will help you create an organizing project list…
Put on a New Pair of Eyes
I suggest putting on new pair of eyes. I know that sounds a bit weird, but this is an activity you can have fun with. I want you to pretend you are a neighbor and you just got invited over by yourself for the first time. Oh, and guess what, you are a REALLY Nosy Neighbor. For the next hour or two forget this is your house, forget the overwhelm of getting organized, forget your to do’s and for once pretend you are a stranger to your house.
Start at the Front Door
You are now a Nosy Neighbor with a notebook in hand. You are nosy and have nothing better to do so you are going to start poking around. You walk in the front door and immediately trip over a shoe and think, “Wow were these people raised in a barn? I would at least put a basket next to the door to corral the shoes.”
It is Time to be Critical
As you walk through the house write down organization problems you notice and possible solutions that YOU would implement IF you were the one living there. Remember you are just a REALLY Nosy Neighbor. Be critical.
Work Your Way Through the House
Next you notice there are clothes waiting to be folded strewn over a chair. You make a note to check out the laundry room, maybe the folding could happen in there. You open cabinet after cabinet and find things a little disarray, mostly stuff these people probably don’t even use, you know you wouldn’t. After all you are just a REALLY Nosy Neighbor that has no emotional attachment to this stuff.
Next you swing by the pantry and notice that it is cluttered with some odd varieties of junk food, you think to yourself, “Maybe that is why my neighbor has put on a few pounds lately. She would really feel so much better if she didn’t eat this junk.” After all you are just a REALLY Nosy Neighbor that doesn’t crave those types of things.
Think of Creative Solutions
As you walk through the house the list grows quite lengthy and you have come up with quite a few solutions. Your view is unbiased, you are not thinking about how long organizing will take or how to get started you are just being a REALLY Nosy Neighbor doing what nosy neighbors do. Picking issues apart and solving them in your head.
Get the Kids Involved
Now if you really want to have some fun have your Nosy kids play along as well, but beware of the REALLY honest views they will give you. Only ask if you are ready to hear what they REALLY think about their house.
By the time this activity is complete you will have a list of every room and every organizational challenge you want to tackle as well as a few great solutions without the fuss, or the overwhelm. Allow yourself to take a look at your situation through another person’s eyes.
So how about it Nosy Neighbor, go take a look right inside the front door, what is the first thing you notice?
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Now that is a great idea! Become your nosy neighbor! That takes away the pressure of where do I start and what do I do. I tell my clients that as long as they are taking action and moving forward, the solutions will come to light.
Great List! I’m helping my mother do this right now! It’s tough for her but she’s loving the extra storage space and rediscovering items she forgot she had.
I do this from time to time. I’ll look at something in my house, usually the dust bunnies, and wonder what others would think if they saw that. I read somewhere that you should go outside the house, and just take a peek in. What would someone see just from looking in from the outside?
Great post!!! I love, love, love it!!!! Going to ‘try’ it today!
Good tip! I’ve also found that taking pictures lets me see my house in it’s real state. It’s easy for me to see all the areas that need work in photos of my home, where as in person I’m rather blind to them. Weird, but true.
Maybe I’ll look at the pics from a nosy neighbor viewpoint!
When I first read the title I thought you were going to suggest having a friend come over and poke around… but I like your idea way better!
LOL! I do think a very close friend can be very helpful when it comes down to the actual organizing. However I do believe we are our greatest critics and this activity would be very helpful to a lot of people if they can allow themselves to step away from that overwhelm and those emotions for just a few hours.
As a professional organizer part of my job is to come into a home and be those outside eyes. I would find it very helpful if someone had made a list like this before I came in and we could compare notes!
I love it! What a great post.
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