Week 1 of the long distance relationship has gone by. And within this week we have had a few challenges. As my hubby ventured into an area which is purely dominated by me (the kitchen of course), familiarizing himself with where everything is kept became a task by itself. The first few days were filled with one minute calls on where do you keep this and where do you do keep that. And then, as he caught on to my logic (my way) of organizing kitchen stuff, he didn’t have to make calls any more.

As the week went by without any more calls for kitchen help, I realized that I have passed the basic test of being organized. The basic test consists of two simple questions to which if you answer yes, then you are all set and if you answer no, then you still have some work to do.

Two Questions of The Basic Test Of Being Organized

1. Can you guide someone else to get something from your house solely based on instructions? Do you know where everything is kept (not somewhere over there but exact location)
2. Is your stuff organized in a logical way; such that, on picking up your way of organizing things, people can get other related stuff on their own?

While the test does seem short and deceptively simple, to answer them positively, you will have to put to practice following principles –

• Mise En Place – A place for everything and everything in its place.

  Every item in your house should have a specific place so that after using it, you can keep it back to its allotted place. Moreover, the habit of keeping things back in the right place will have to be inculcated.

  When you put things back in the right place all the time, you automatically start getting feedback on your system of organizing things. If putting things back to the right place is difficult, then the logic with which you have allotted places needs to be revisited. If it is easy for you to get and put back each item, then there will be no reason for you to not follow this principle. Your goal is to organize things in such a manner that it is easier to follow this principle than to break it.

• Be A Minimalist – Keep only what’s truly needed.

  For every item in your house to have a place of its own, you need to have a limited number of items because the available space is only so much. As your possessions increase, so will your work to create space for it. You will know you own too much stuff when you face difficulty in allocating right place for it.

  Being a minimalist encourages you to think twice before buying – on whether you truly need what you are buying; it helps you to buy smart and be frugal. Being a minimalist will also ensure that you de-clutter your house often – Throw / sell / give away what’s not needed or not being used any more; it will ensure you don’t collect junk in your house for someday.

• Give Thought Before Allocating Space

  Every item to have a place of it’s own does not mean that you randomly assign any available place to it without giving proper thought. Your organized system will stay in its place with ease only if you have given thought before allocating a dedicated space to each item.

  As you start thinking in lines of ‘what is the best place for this item’, you will find yourself creating logical groups and assigning areas for those groups. These groups could be based on item type – bean group, spice group, most used utensils group, party items group, storage group etc. Based on quantity and volume, you will then be able to assign dedicated shelves/area to item groups and create dedicated areas if non existent – by boxing items together or creating new shelves/ cabinets etc.

While I took kitchen as an example, these principles apply everywhere – for instance your filing cabinet – are all your documents in order? What if, you go outstation and need a document to be faxed badly. Will you be able to guide someone else to get that document and other relating documents? Does your filing cabinet pass the basic test of being organized?

What about your computer or your inbox? As available space to store files and emails have increased, we have become more and more unorganized and cluttered. Is it possible for you to get what you want without searching and guessing? What about asking someone else to do it? Does your computer and inbox pass the basic test of being organized?

Where else can you think of applying the basic test of being organized? What are your tips to be organized?

photo courtesy of bast