Pixie Principles 4-7: A Guide

In case you missed the last post, the Pixie Principles are some core beliefs that we have regarding home (and life) organization. There are seven of them, and we went through the first three in the last posting. They were, respectively, ‘Know and Accept Who You Are’, ‘Purge It Your Way’ and ‘Formalize Your Natural Organizational Tendencies’. We will be explaining and elaborating on the next four principles in this posting, but if you’d like to see them written out cohesively, buy our book, Organize Your Way: Simple Strategies for Every Personality, and that way you’ll have a handy reference tool when stuck in an organizational bind. Keep in mind that although these core beliefs are meant to be applied to home organization, some can also be applied to general life management (of which organization plays a huge part).

As well, keep in mind that these principles are to be followed in addition to figuring out your specific personality type (which you can do by taking the Pixie Personality Quiz — also available in the book and online). After all, the first principle is ‘Know and Accept Who You Are’, which inherently means for you to take the quiz and figure out which personality type fits you best so that you can learn how to best get and stay organized!

The Fourth Principle: It’s All About Retrieval

This is perhaps one of our most groundbreaking principles, for the reason that it blows all other home organization ‘beliefs’ — that you might have gleaned from reading the latest ‘House Beautiful’ — out of the water. The premise is this: If you are able to consistently locate things because you always know where they are (which means putting them back in the same place consistently), you have reached the ‘organized’ level of the game. Like we say in the book, “The basic aim of organization is to know where things are and to be able to retrieve these things with minimal to no fuss.”

What???

We thought being organized was having all of your ducks in a row and balancing all of the balls of your life perfectly 100 percent of the time! We thought ‘organized’ meant “Martha Stewart” or the inside of Oprah’s house. We thought that organized meant ‘perfect’.

We are here to bash that myth with a vengeance. For that is not what organization means at all. Those are just labels and pretty pictures and imaginings. To really be organized means to function easily, without unmanageability that comes with, say, not being able to find your keys at the last minute, or running late for an important appointment. The quicker you can retrieve something, the better. So make sure when you put something away that you are consistent about it. If you do this, you will be organized. We promise.

The Fifth Principle: Reduce Organization Procedures to As Close to One Step As Possible

Fewer steps mean better organization. We use examples of removing the top of your clothes hamper if you’re the type to throw dirty clothes on the floor. It takes the same amount of arm power to throw them into the hamper as it does to throw them onto the floor, so why not just do the latter? Another example is from the kitchen: If you cook frequently, make sure your spices are easily at hand via a lazy Susan or a similarly easy to access place. (We are picturing having to reach back into a shelf of spices every  time you need some cumin or garlic powder — ugh!)

Have them on a rack on the counter or, if you’re a Classic type and like things to be hidden, keep them in a lazy Susan cabinet. Narrowing tasks down to a couple or to just one step can save both time and hassle — and is another indication of top notch organization.

The Sixth Principle: Proudly Use Unconventional Organizational Solutions if They Work Well for You

So this one goes along with the No Shame, No Blame motto that we Pixies like to throw around (a lot). Whatever works to help you get and stay organized is what works for us! So say you need to write things on your hand to remember them because unless you write it RIGHT in that moment, you’ll forget it, and there isn’t a pad of paper around (because you’re not the type to carry one of THOSE around with you!) — this is A-OK with us, as long as the method helps you stay organized. We know some highly successful people who have employed this same tactic, and simply explained it as the way their brains work best. That is the crux of our personality typing + organizational solutions combo. We don’t want to swoop in and organize your life for you — we want to figure out the best way you yourself organize things and which methods work most efficiently. If it means doing ten jumping jacks before sitting down and purging your home office, by all means, go right ahead. If it means writing your shopping list on your hand, do it. It’s all about finding out what works best for YOU.

The Seventh Principle: Accept that There Isn’t One Best Organizational Solution to Every Problem

Space. Money. Personality Type. These are all variable and consequently, there is no one ‘right way’ to do anything. There is just a right way for you. Again, pardon us for sounding like a broken record, but we are overfed perfectly manicured pictures in the media of perfectly manicured celebrity homes, and that’s just not reality for most of us. We’ve got the laundry to do from last week, the kids to pick up and cart from place to place, that doctor’s appointment that keeps being put off, taking the dog to the vet for his shots, and etc., etc. Most of us don’t look at ourselves as people with extra time to sit around and make pretty labels to stick onto toile-wrapped containers for our home office (in fact, don’t mention our home office — it’s a sty!).

All of the three things mentioned above (space, money, personality type) play a huge role in how we individually will manage our lives. If getting organized is a goal, buy our book and email us at pixiesdidit.com and you’ll be entered to win a free organizational consultation with both of us (valued at $200!). If you don’t win, you’ll at least have the book and of course, access to our online blog, filled with tips and tricks. All of this said, being organized does not look like one thing. There is no Single Solution to getting and staying organized — that’s why we use the personality typing! So that we can figure out the ways you organize best.