It can feel so frustrating when you want your house to be organized and tidy, but your family member isn’t willing to put in the effort. Here are some strategies for dealing with this situation:
*If family members think the state of the room is fine and they don’t see a problem, then perhaps they need a vision for how things could be better. Show them images of organized spaces and point out the features that add value to the space. For example in a garage, you could show your partner images of organized garages that utilize pegboard so it’s easier for them to find their things and put things away.
*Along these same lines, you could take your reluctant family member to the store so they can see new organizing products in person. For example, maybe your spouse would enjoy browsing tool boxes and tool chests. Seeing those items in person might motivate your partner to make some changes in their space so there’s room for these new products.
*If your partner feels that getting organized would be too hard or would take too long, hire a professional organizer to help them. Make sure your partner is involved in the choosing and interviewing of the organizer so they feel comfortable working alongside this person.
*Maybe your reluctant partner is concerned that getting organized means spending a lot of money. It doesn’t have to! Sorting, categorizing and paring down items by yourself costs nothing. Paring down what you own means you can typically reuse the organizing products you already have on hand. If you want to use a professional organizer, you can simply pay the organizer to come in for one session in order to learn the process of organizing and get some ideas. Then you can complete the rest of the sessions on your own.
*If it’s your kids you are trying to inspire, maybe a little bribery would help! Maybe your child has had their eye on a new toy, new bedding, or other new addition to their room. Make a deal with your child that if they are willing to pare down a certain amount of stuff in their room (and I recommend you be specific about how much stuff you are talking about!), then you will buy them that new item.
*Sometimes you can inspire kids to let go of things by helping them to have a garage sale and letting them keep the money from the things that they sell. Wrong time of year for a garage sale? You can help them sell their things on Buy Nothing or NextDoor. And some local consignment shops will let you consign items under an account set up in the child’s name.
*Organize your own space. Sometimes this inspires family members to want to organize their own space when they see how nice and inviting your newly organized space is. They see that getting organized isn’t so hard and painful after all, and it yields great results.
*When none of these ideas work, sometimes you just have to agree that your partner gets to keep their space in whatever state they want, so long as they agree to keep shared spaces tidy.
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