I love easy-to-follow systems that let you organize anywhere. No two homes or businesses are the same, and over the years I’ve relied on the I CARE system to help clients get and stay organized. You can use it anywhere–homes, businesses–wherever there is stuff!
I CARE: Identify, Categorize, Assign Homes, Relationships, Ease of Maintenance.
Identify: What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Do you want to create more space by decluttering, or organize what you have?
Categorize: Sort through your items and decide whether to keep, donate, or (as a last resort) trash them.
Assign Homes: If an item doesn’t have a specific place to go back to when you’re done with it, it’s liable to float around the house. Assign each item a home so it can go back later!
Relationships: Ask yourself, “Do I use this often?” If the answer is yes, keep it within easy reach so you can access it with minimal effort. If the answer’s no, it’s okay to keep it in a more out-of-the way place. Not everything has to be (or even can be!) within arm’s reach all the time.
Ease of Maintenance: If it’s too hard, you won’t do it, so make it easy to maintain your organizational system! Don’t expect yourself to maintain an alphabetized spice cabinet. If all the spices are in one cabinet, that’s plenty! Keep your organization system as simple as you can get away with–if it keeps your home clutter-free and you can keep up with it, it’s a good system.
If you want help setting up business organizing systems, check out our business organizing course at BusinessOrganizingSystems.com!
This is such a solid organizing plan. I especially love the nudge about not giving something a ‘home’ if it really should go. And also, the advice about maintenance is terrific too. If it’s too hard to maintain, it won’t get done. So that becomes a clue for it being time to rethink the system.
Absolutely. If someone’s home becomes cluttered again, it’s doesn’t mean they’ve “failed”, it means the system wasn’t quite right for them.
Simple and smart! That “E” really is so important. I’m always amazed how easily I can be discouraged from putting something away, by a hurdle that is pretty small! For example, if I have to move one box off of a stack to access the one underneath, this feels like a lot of work and I’m liable to just stick the item nearby. Isn’t that crazy? Keeping systems easy to use really makes the difference in how well our system works!
It’s not crazy at all, Seana! We all want life to be as simple and easy as possible. Knowing what you will and won’t do in terms of maintenance is super important!
This is very clever and I’ve never seen this one before!
Thanks, Janet!
Your I CARE rubric is jaunty and memorable, making it easy for individuals to apply the concepts to their own lives. I especially love that you focus on the ease of maintenance, because that’s the crux of whether people will *stay* organized after they *get* organized.
Isn’t it? Maintenance is what keeps clutter from piling back up, but if it’s too complicated or not the right style, it’s just not going to work.
Identifying the basic principles of organizing is so helpful. Easy to follow steps.
Thanks, Janet! I’m happy that it’s easy to follow : )
I love this! Simple strategies are the easiest to implement.
Thanks, Diane! I try to keep it simple whenever possible : )