A girl in ruby slippers taught us that there is no place like home, and she was right! However, a cluttered home is a recipe for stress, overwhelm, and over spending. How do we combat this feeling and once and for all begin to create a healthy, organized, functional home? Enter Stephanie Sikora and her home organization company, Sikora Solutions! She is Denver’s premier home organizer who can turn your life’s chaos into calm! Stephanie has a background in health care, which made her move into the health and wellness space of home organization a natural transition. I got to sit down with Stephanie and pick her brain for her best tips on how to begin the journey of organization and why it is so important for our health to have an organized space.
Why is home organization critical for all of us? When we look at our hierarchy of needs, our environment is the critical foundation. It is actually a major predictor of our health…the environment we surround ourselves in impacts not just our mental health but in turn our physical health, our financial health, and our relational health. While Stephanie knows as well as anyone that behavior change can be hard for everyone, she has some simple tips to get us started!
First, we must simplify! Focus on one small section of a room to begin: one drawer, one book shelf, your desk. Pull everything out, look at all of your stuff. Clear out and declutter in order to quiet the overwhelm and begin with a blank space. Forget all the bins and baskets, set a timer for 15 minutes and declutter that small space with a small trash bag and a box for donations. Keep it simple and focus on what’s easiest. Next, systematize your space. Be honest about your behaviors and how willing you are to change. You need to create systems that truly fit the way you use the space. Placing your things strategically in a space and in a way that fits the patterns of the people using the space dramatically increases the chances that the system will work for you. Creating a system allows for habits to form. Finally, once your space has been simplified and systems have been created, then your work becomes sustaining those systems. Think about comparing your home organization to your physical fitness routine. Each small step you take motivates the next small step and the healthier you get, the more motivated you become. So this new year, perhaps the best diet we can all start is a space diet; purge the clutter and focus on your health from inside your own home!
Visit Stephanie and her team at stephaniesikora.com and check out her best selling book, “Simplified: A Real Life Guide to Organizing Your Space and Saving Your Sanity”.
