top of page

The Power of Habit in Organizing Your Home

Writer's picture: Susan McCarthySusan McCarthy

Getting organized isn't a one-and-done activity. Instead, it's a lifelong practice which can benefit and support other areas of your life.


Closeup of hands putting away folded clothing into a tidy drawer.

I’m sure that you can think of many areas of your life that you’d like to improve … diet, fitness, sleep, relationships, productivity, finances, time for hobbies, and more. So, why focus on home related habits? 


Home habits can be keystone habits, which are behaviors that create a ripple effect leading to the development of other positive habits in your life.


How can tidying your home expand to other areas of your life?


You start and end your day in your home. Your first and final thoughts and feelings about the day occur in your home. 


Even though you may leave your home to go to work, the gym, and stores; even though you engage with the communities you are a part of outside of your home, home is where you - 


  • prepare yourself for the day (grooming and dressing for how you want to present yourself to the world),

  • consume at least some of the meals that nourish you and help you work at achieving or maintaining your health goals,

  • enrich your life by spending time on hobbies and interests,

  • interact with the people closest to you,

  • expand your circle by inviting others into your home,

  • keep the stuff you use, display, and cherish.


Strengthening your habits at home creates a foundation for how you think, act, and feel in other areas of your life. By creating the habits that bring calm and control to your home, and therefore, life, you create opportunities for the change and growth experience you’re ready for. 


If you build habits that support your home, then your home is there to support you. 


How Home Habits Transfer to Other Areas of Your Life

Choosing habits and then crafting them so they work for you, not only helps you organize your home and keep it organized but along the way also helps you develop other life skills that you can apply to other areas of your, well, life.


  • You develop the skill of starting tasks instead of diverting your energy to procrastination. 

  • You strengthen your working memory, keeping track of the details of tasks you’re engaged in (remembering the laundry in the washing machine!).

  • You practice giving attention to tasks instead of being pulled in multiple directions by life’s inevitable distractions. 

  • You improve your ability to go with the flow when the day’s demands disrupt your routines. 

  • By figuring out how to fit habits into your day, you develop your planning and prioritizing skills.

  • Decluttering shows you how you use, and don’t use, items you’ve purchased which encourages you to control impulse spending. 


Of course, these skills develop over time with practice. So, you not only develop the habits you’re working on, but your persistence also helps you grow life skills as well. 


Cover of the free downloadable guide, Clear the Clutter and Keep It from Returning.

Closeup of hands placing clothing into a tidy drawer.

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page