The Secret to Staying Organized After You Start
So you got organized…. now what?
So you carved out a Saturday afternoon to stay home and purge through your closet. You filled donation bags with those too tight skinny jeans that you held on to hoping they would trend back around at some point & (fortunately) never did. You covered your bedroom floor in a sea of stuff you didn't even know you had, and faced not one, not two, but damn near three mental breakdowns trying to piece it all back together. Which you do in fact, manage to maintain for all of a few months until you wake up one day and realize that same closet that brought you peace of mind for awhile once again looks like a bomb went off.
So how do you create lasting change long after the purge?
Many of us are able to organize for an afternoon, but so few of us have monthly, weekly or even daily systems in place that will create a more functional lifestyle over all.
Here are my top 5 tips for staying organized 6-12 months after your reset:
Zone Everything!
Everything needs a home within your home. Whether it’s your baking ingredients, your workout clothes, to your mail…there should be a designated place for everything that comes into your space.
When we’re able to group like items together and create appropriate zones, we eliminate the possibilities of creating dumping sites or black holes, A.K.A the infamous junk drawer. Even the junk drawer itself can be broken into zones with the help of a few clear drawer containers!
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Keep your zones close to where you use things. You wouldn’t use your power tools in the kitchen, so don’t keep them there. Even if your space is small, trying to group items in categories that make the most sense for where they’re being used is a great way to avoid $h!t everywhere!
Put it Away IMMEDIATELY!
The difference between a messy home and an organized one is usually about 10 seconds of effort. When you can get into the habit of putting something back into its zone after using it, you will be able to maintain that initial purge for much longer.
Don’t think of it as cleaning, just completing the task.
Your jacket on the back of the chair, that pile of mail, the hot sauce on the counter, put it away!
Future you doesn’t want your little pile of “I’ll deal with it later.”
Purge Regularly!
Ever since I was a child, my mom coined the month of January as “Clean Your Closet Month” and two decades later, every new year rolls around and I honor the sentiment.
The reality is, stuff builds up whether you notice it or not. So making a purge feel doable 1-2 times a year helps you stay organized and allows you to let go of things you don’t really use. (and honestly, what better time than when you’re trapped in your house in chilly January anyway?)
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Focus on a high impact area: your closet, garage or kitchen and once you get going, you might surprise yourself and end up on a roll that lasts the entire month.
Create a Reset System:
We’ve all seen the Tik Toks & IG reels of some influencer doing their “Sunday Reset” where they scrub their home top to bottom in under 6o seconds and you’re left feeling like damn.. am I a lazy piece of $h!t???
No. No you are not. But this does seem to be the missing link for many people. Staying organized isn’t about doing one big reset, it’s about small, consistent ones. Break it into levels:
- Weekly Reset (10-20 minutes): A quick tidy, put things back into zones.
- Monthly Check In: What’s piling up? What’s slipping? What areas have I let go?
Make it feel light, not intense.
Throw on some music, do it before the week starts & keep it quick.
Build Systems for your Real Life!
Stop organizing for your ideal self. Your systems should match your habits, not fight them. You always take your shoes off by the door? Create a shoe zone there. Laundry piles up in one spot? That’s your laundry system trying to tell you something. If something is really annoying to get to or put away? It needs a better zone.
So often we are trying to set unattainable standards that we end up forgoing the plan entirely. You don't have to overcomplicate it. Your home should work for you & the things inside of your home should be stored in a functional way that makes sense for your lifestyle. If it doesn’t work on your busiest day, it’s not a good system.
The bottom line on staying organized
Organizing isn’t about having a perfect home. It’s about creating a space that’s easy to maintain even when life gets busy. By implementing these small changes into your lifestyle, you not only will be able to preserve the time between those big purges, but you will create more peace in your every day life & who doesn’t want that?!
Sam helps clients across Chicago and the North Shore — from Evanston and Wilmette to Winnetka, Glenview, Highland Park and Lake Forest — build systems that last long after the purge.
How to stay organized after decluttering, answered
How do you stay organized after decluttering?
Give everything a zone, put things away immediately, purge once or twice a year, keep a short weekly reset and a monthly check-in, and build systems around the way you actually live.
How often should I declutter my home?
Sam recommends a purge one to two times a year — January is a natural time — starting with a high-impact area like a closet, garage or kitchen.
Can a professional organizer set up systems that last?
Yes. Sam works with clients across Chicago and the North Shore to create zones and systems that match their real habits, so the space stays organized long after the first session.
Do you work outside the city, on the North Shore?
Yes. Sam works with clients throughout Chicago and across the North Shore, including Evanston, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Glenview, Northbrook, Highland Park and Lake Forest.
Sam is a professional organizer and home stylist serving Chicago and the North Shore. She cares about beauty and function — and helping people find that balance in the spaces they live in.