If I had to name the most important consideration in setting up an organized workspace, or work flow, it would be efficiency.
When a system is efficient, that means the least amount of resources will be used to get the job done.
The resources you save can be:
- Time
- Money
- Raw materials
- Equipment life
- Energy – physical or fuel
- Range of motion
- Manufactured supplies
- Number of steps to completion
When you work efficiently, you are considered well-organized, good at your job, not wasteful, economical, proficient, competent, capable, professional, and ecologically aware. You sound pretty good, huh?
In the corporate world, efficiency equates to higher profit margins.
At home, efficiency means having more time and money to do the things you love.
Let me give you an example of efficiency from my adolescent years. As the oldest daughter, I was stuck doing dishes by hand for a family of 6. I soon learned there was an art to washing and stacking those dishes into a single dish drainer.
- First, scrape and rinse off the worst of the leftover food particles.
- Then, wash plates & bowls and stack compactly in drying rack slots.
- Next, wash glasses and utensils, finding nooks and crannies to stand them vertically to dry.
- Last, wash larger bowls and greasier pots and pans by size from smallest to largest in order to nest in succession. Then pray it all stays on top!
You see, I wanted to be done with dishes as soon as possible, with the least amount of energy expended. That meant no stopping to replenish dish water and no drying by hand to make room for more.
Only a person who never was the sole dishwasher, stacker, and putter-awayer (this person shall remain nameless) would wash greasy pots and pans first, then wonder why the drinking glasses felt greasy to the touch. Contrary to popular opinion, NO, Dawn does not take grease out of the way that well! Needless to say, the glasses have to be rewashed… a waste of time and resources.
I often say that organizing is not an end in itself, but a means of getting something else you want. That may be finding more time to do something fun, saving money to spend on a vacation or shopping spree, or simply eliminating the frustration of always searching for things.
When you develop an organizing system that is efficient, you will be saving precious resources that you can use in another way. Soon you will be rewarding yourself with the very thing you most desire, and looking doggone good at the same time!
