(This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive a commission, if you purchase an item through a link, at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Genuine recommendations only.)
How Can Organizing Physical Items Improve Quality of Life?
Organizing physical items to improve quality of life is act of self-care for several reasons. It provides a sense of control, accomplishment, calm, and safety.
Provides a Sense of Control
As special needs parents, it can often feel as if there is much in our lives outside of our circle of control. However, we can gain a sense of control through caring for our physical surroundings.
Provides a Sense of Accomplishment
Lots of time and effort goes into caring for our children. Therapies can take time to show improvements. Tantrums and difficult times can also feel like big steps backwards. When we take time to cultivate our physical space, it can provide an almost immediate sense of accomplishment.
Provides a Sense of Calm
A messy environment makes relaxation difficult! When you can look around your home and it is in order (even if it is just your own personal space) this can increase your sense of calm.
For more information, read our article Creating a Calmer Home for Special Needs Families.
Provides a Measure of Safety
Knowing where our items are and storing them safely, especially sharp items and medicines, promotes our overall safety.
Five Areas to Declutter or Remove to Improve Quality of Life
- Clothing
- Paperwork
- Fragile Items
- Unsafe Items
- Broken Items
Let’s Take a Closer Look at Organizing Physical Items to Improve Quality of Life
Don’t worry if this list seems broad or just too big. Let’s look at each area one at a time. In addition, action steps to get you started are included along the way.
Remember these items didn’t come into your life all at once, you don’t need to tackle them all at once either. Start small and enjoy the small feelings of accomplishment along the way!
Clothing
This is a great area to begin organizing your physical items to improve your quality of life. Even if your children handle all their own laundry, laundry is a lot of work! Also, if we have excess clothes we may be making excess work for ourselves
Additionally, the stats on how few of our clothes we actually wear are pretty staggering. So, let’s make space for the clothes you enjoy. If you feel good in your clothes it can help boost your overall mood.
Hanging on to “when I can fit into it” and “when I go to somewhere fancy enough” items can be a bummer. When you glance at them in the closet they tend to scream “I still don’t fit” or “not going out tonight!“ Could you find these clothes another home? Giving to a friend or donating to a charity can quiet the negative talk in your closet and may brighten someone else’s s day.
Do you have an outfit that you feel frumpy in? Say goodbye.
I am not saying dump all your clothes and go on a shopping spree. You may actually be holding on to some of these clothes because life is not allowing you the time or financial resources to add new items to your wardrobe. Go through your clothes and find the items you feel best in and move them to the forefront of your closet.
Children’s clothes can be handled in this category as well. For example, does your child only wear one type of pants? Try going online and getting them in multiple colors. You can also put away or donate the clothes that won’t be worn. Also, my child has bitten or ripped through several shirts. I held on to them longer than I should have, thinking I could sew them (too much damage) when I had the time (I didn’t). That led to a double whammy of guilt that I had to let go of along with the shirt.
Action Step: Decluttering and minimizing items can be difficult. Start with the sock drawer! I like to use all the same socks so they all match. If you have different socks, match them and if you don’t find a sock’s match in a week then use it as a rag or say goodbye.
Action Step: So, if you need help deciding what to keep and what to get rid of, try hanging all the clothes backwards. Then, as you wear them and wash them, hang them normally. At the end of a few months, the clothes still facing backwards are good candidates for donation. But, if you don’t hang your clothes you could put all your clothes in a basket or a different drawer and put away in their usual space as you wear them.
Paperwork
Paperwork can pile up! But, you can help yourself keep organized by creating a system for it all.
Testing, IEP, and school documents are long and can easily become disorganized. However, one thing I have found helpful is using a storage box with hanging folders to be a great place to house those long term papers (birth certificates, taxes, car info, etc.).
A two binder system has also been helpful. The first I use for older documents that I want to keep on hand. Old IEPs and older testing can go here. The second binder is for the most current info. This is helpful to have on hand in its own binder.
Action Step: As you organize your paperwork, you may find draft IEPs, duplicates, or notes that do not need to be saved anymore. Get rid of them so that you can better access what you need.
Action Step: Next, moving forward put incoming documents right into their designated areas. Also, don’t hold on to drafts and duplicates, you only need the final copy.
Action Step: Go digital! Start by asking the school or therapist if you can have an electronic copy of documents during meetings. Also, I scanned all of my papers one weekend and have a digital backup. Finding a fax machine during a crisis may be difficult. Emailing needed info let me focus on the bigger picture when one of my children was hospitalize.
Digital scanners are valuable for backing up important paperwork and reducing the need to save hard copies of less important documents that you do not want to completely get rid of. Paper shredders can also help protect information while in the process of reducing paperwork.
Fragile Items
Like paperwork, I am not suggesting you remove it all. However, if your child is in a stage of more physical tantrums and these items can be thrown or broken, now is a good time to deal with them.
Firstly, start with fragile items that you don’t have attachment to. This provides a great time and reason to get them out of your home.
However, keep items that are important to you. We all have items with sentimental value. I am suggesting you protect them as needed. For example, one of my children went through a ripping phase. I put all my special books and adult coloring books in my closet. They were safe, I had easy access to them, and it made the space a “me zone.”
Action Steps: Walk around your home and identify items that could easily be broken. Firstly, ask yourself how likely they are to be broken. Then, if needed, find a safer place for the items. You may end up with a fancy closet like me!
Unsafe Items
Scissors, heavy objects, medicines, knives can be unsafe in several situations. However, we need these items in our homes. But, we do not need them to decrease safety for our children and ourselves.
As in initial phases of parenthood, you may also need to do a safety audit of your home to ensure everyone is at optimal safety.
Decreasing the number of these items to what is necessary is a help. Having one pair of scissors and only one or two kitchen knives kept out of reach or in an area known only to adults can be a big step towards overall safety.
Workbenches with keys or small lock boxes can be very helpful for keeping tools and other items safely. Another option is try smaller lock boxes for things like medicines.
Furthermore, locking cleaners away can help children with pica.
Also, consider easily thrown heavy objects. Do they need to be in the room? Can you remove them quickly if needed?
Action Steps: Start with the obvious areas that have given you recent difficulty. If something was recently thrown – find it a new home.
Action Steps: Focus on the kitchen and bathrooms. Store items in these areas in a way that keeps everyone safe.
Broken Items
Despite our best efforts, it is likely items will break.
When this happens, take a breath. It can be hard to have items that we use for daily life, or that have meaning to us, or that we worked really hard for be broken or ruined.
In the moment, it is very difficult to take these items as learning opportunities. Give it some time and then analyze.
One of my children poured all my new perfume down the drain. That was a bummer. Afterwards, I stored all my make up in a different way and have not lost any more perfume to the drain.
If the items can easily be repaired – great!
However, often these items will need to be trashed. If this was a sentimental item or an expensive item – this can be painful.
Keeping them around can be a constant reminder of the event that caused it to become broken and just reminds you of negative feelings. So, it is often best to let these items go. Acknowledge your feelings of frustration or disappointment or whatever you may be feeling. Try to release these feelings along with the broken item.
Action Step: Do you have an item that is broken that makes you cringe when you see it? Ask yourself if it is time to let it go.
Action Step: Now, I am not trying to sell you a warranty, but as you bring items into your life you may consider if they need some sort of protection. Does your new phone come with a warranty that you may need? Can you put a protective case on your phone or tablet? Think through the potentials and ways to prevent damages.
Organizing Physical Items to Improve Quality of Life: Summary
So we have covered five large areas today. In summary, we have considered clothing, paperwork, unsafe items, fragile items, and broken items.
Taking care of your physical space can help you gain a greater sense of control, accomplishment, calm, and safety.
Remember this is a process!
Your needs in each of these five areas will ebb and flow. So revisit them every few months or as needed during or after a crisis or before an upcoming change.
Another resource on managing a special need home is our article Creating a Calmer Home for Special Needs Families.
You may also want to Declutter Your Digital Life.
Share with us in the comments an area you have targeted and how it has impacted your life. Motivate and encourage others to take these steps toward self-care!
Ready to focus on another area of self-care? Check out What is Self-Care? A Guide for Special Needs Parents.
Interested in more ways to improve your self-care? Sign up for the newsletter and receive a free self-care printable!
(This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive a commission, if you purchase an item through a link, at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Genuine recommendations only.)
