One of the big mistakes I see is the idea that if you just get organized, life can run smoothly. But, if you have too much stuff or too many commitments it doesn’t matter how organized you are. You will still feel not enough and stressed.

You can have the most organized basement even though it’s piled high with boxes. All the boxes take time to keep organized. Plus you still have to find what you are looking for among many, many boxes.

You might have the most organized scheduled – things written down for each 15 minutes. But, you can still feel stressed, especially when real life happens and your schedule falls off.

A room full of magazines ordered by magazine title and date, is still a lot of magazines to go through to find what you want.

A full binder or recipes may be organized, but overwhelming when you are trying to decide what to make for dinner.

Your closet may be organized by color and type, but if it’s stuffed it’s still hard to find what to wear.

Simplifying makes things more manageable quicker than organizing can. What if you only had what you love and what fits in your closet based on a few colors so most things match each other? Would that make it easier to get dressed in the morning?

You can have a menu plan of two weeks worth of recipes you can re-use then a simple file folder with a few recipes you want to try based on how many new recipes you usually use in a few months time.

You can recycle those magazines only clipping a few articles to implement while letting the rest go. No big pile of looming projects you probably won’t get to.

Your schedule would be easier to maintain if you cut some things out of it based on you and your family’s priorities. You could have a simple list of things to do morning, afternoon and evening instead of being tightly scheduled.

If your home is filled more with things you use on a regular basis and love rather than crammed with stuff from the past or things you “might need someday” you can take care of your home easier.

What are you trying to organize into manageability in your life? What needs simplifying instead?