Decreasing your household mess also can reduce stress, according to
organizational expert Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, a health psychologist at the
University of New Hampshire.

“There is a connection between mess and
stress. Life is substantially more stressful when chaos reigns. You end up
taking longer to do the same amount of work,” Kendall-Tackett says. “When your
home is well ordered, people and things get to where they need to be, tasks get
done and family life is cherished. Organization allows you to have a
life.”

She is the author or editor of 15 books including The
Well-Ordered Home and The Well-Ordered Office.

Why is it so difficult to be organized? According to
Kendall-Tackett, our lives are quite different than they were a generation ago.
People simply have more to deal with.

“The amount of paper that comes
into our lives every day is staggering: Families now handle 6 times more than
families in the 1950s. On an average day, a person handles about 300 sheets of
paper. That’s 660 pounds of paper a year,” Kendall-Tackett says.

“In
addition, Americans have the longest work week of any industrialized nation.
With limited time at home, we are often forced to choose between time taking
care of families and sorting household debris. Household debris usually loses,”
she points out.

Finally, the size of American houses has increased. In
the 1950s, the average home was 900 square feet. In contrast, the average new
home is more than twice that size; some are even larger. “While more space can
be a plus, it’s also tempting to fill all that lovely space with more stuff,”
she says.

Kendall-Tackett offers the following tips for getting
organized.

Step 1: Have What You Need

Not having
what you need will slow you down and waste your time. For example, each room
should have a trash can and each floor a duster and spray cleaner. Keep a caddy
of cleaning supplies in each bathroom. Keep a small stash of office supplies
such as stamps, return address labels and envelopes where mail is sorted so mail
responses can be sent immediately.

Step 2: Use Active
Storage

Keep things that you use most often in the most
accessible places. So cutting boards, knives and colanders are kept near the
food prep area in the kitchen. Items used infrequently get stowed in the back of
cupboards. Same with your closet. Current clothing that fits and for the current
season goes in the middle of the closet and in drawers. Everything else goes to
the sides or back. Move seasonal clothing and outfits for special occasions out
of the active space.

Step 3: Get Rid of
Clutter

“Clutter is perhaps the single largest impediment to
becoming more organized. Unfortunately, clutter dramatically increases the time
you spend in any task,” she says.

But what should you get rid of? Before
chucking items, consider the following:

• If you put it in a handier place, would you use it?
• Are you missing something you need in order to use it? Can you get what you
  need?
• Is it obsolete for you? If so, could someone else use it?

“Going through what you own can be wonderfully freeing. If you notice that
you have made some unwise purchases (and we all have), become aware of that,
resolve to do better next time and then let it go. You’ll save time and be able
to share some of your abundance with others,” Kendall-Tackett says.

When
just beginning to organize, Kendall-Tackett suggests selecting an area of the
house that is used every day. “If you organize your kitchen or bedroom instead
of the attic or garage, the impact will be immediate, and you will know right
away that you are making progress,” she suggests.