The Advantage of a Captive Audience – Organizing During the Lockdown

The spread of Covid-19 throughout the world has forced many families to stay at home. Millions of Canadians now live, go to school, work, and entertain themselves, all within the same space. And while this may not seem ideal, it certainly has created opportunities not experienced before. 

It turns out there are many advantages to ‘captivity’ and spending a copious amount of time together as a family. For instance, forging familial bonds has many benefits such as getting to know your family members better, and helping your children to learn, grow, and build confidence. For many, these beautiful “lockdown” memories will last a lifetime.

This ‘captivity’ may also be providing an opportunity for Canadians to get to know their residences better as well. But spending all day, every day within your home can be challenging, no matter how much you love it. After all, even something as beautiful as the sun, can become unpleasant if you stare at it for too long. 

For many people, the extended time spent indoors has made the clutter and disorganization in the many nooks and crannies, very apparent. “During the normal routine, we leave the house and go to work, and we all stuff things in closets and don’t remember they’re there. Now everyone is home”. What is the silver lining in all of this? The pandemic has provided a prompt to declutter.

Organizing during lockdown – the urge to purge:

Covid-19 has disrupted routines, schedules and the lives of many people. The uncertainty of the timeline, when life will return to a sense of normalcy, can create a feeling of unease. This can leave you grappling for a sense of control over anything, including your time and your possessions. Filling your day with a worthwhile task puts you in charge, improves your environment, and creates order. Decluttering and organizing your closets, pantries, family rooms, basements and garages, “can give you a sense of control, when life feels out of control”.

“Clutter and disorganization bring stress into your life because you don’t know where things are”. This loss of control can be eradicated simply by creating a home for every item. Organization is all about knowing where everything is; “being clutter-free means having things at your fingertips”. As well, the excess visual stimuli associated with the piles of mail, laundry, dirty dishes, and toys, are all reminders of uncompleted tasks. What is the bottom line? Organizing during lockdown can give you a sense of calm, and in this time of uncertainty and unease, any boost to your mental health is welcome.

Organizing during lockdown – spending time as a family:

For many families, the ‘captivity’ is a great opportunity to create new organizational solutions. Involving children, both young and old, can be a great way to teach them the importance of daily decluttering and organizing routines. When normal life resumes, these new practices will pave the way to less stress and a better work/life balance. What can families do now to ease the transition later?

• Start by working with your child’s schedule, rather than against If your children are babies or toddlers, tackle projects such as a small closet or drawer, either while they are asleep or occupied in a highchair. Seeing results quickly will help to keep you motivated.

• Involve older children in the decluttering and organizing.
  
  
• Make the organizing a game. Give each child a basket and see who can fill theirs first. Keep the game interesting by requesting only stuffed animals or cars etc. This can also clear out any unwanted toys while creating groups of organized items.
• Provide the children with a large piece of paper and ask them to try out every marker and pen to weed out the duds.
• Teach everyone, including your children, to be mindful of what comes into the home going forward. Shopping with purpose will prevent further clutter and disorganization. Begin a practice of being conscious of where the new items will go, and how much you as a family actually need.

Organizing during lockdown – the advantage of a captive audience:

By asking Canadians to stay home, Covid-19 has also created thousands, if not millions, of captive audiences. By definition, a captive audience is “a person or group of people stuck in one place, who listen and pay attention”. Now is the perfect time to reach out to a Professional Organizer. This ‘captivity’ is a fantastic opportunity to marry your family’s awareness of your home’s disorganization, with your ‘inability’ to leave. 

Here is a chance to utilize an Organizer’s ability to provide solutions that will fit both your current and future lifestyles. Although the ‘hand’ they will be extending is virtual, its power is not diminished. They are in a fantastic position to offer guidance to individuals, couples, and parents of young children.

For Professional Organizers, the lockdown presents an opportunity to reach out and provide guidance and expertise. Thanks to Covid-19, many families now have the time to tackle clutter and disorganization and are looking for some advice. This is a perfect time to offer services virtually. 

By connecting with families via Zoom, Skype or Facetime, they can provide consultations that are detailed, interactive, and informative. Their services can help families gain control at a time when it is most needed. By helping clients to declutter and organize during this lockdown, they can improve both a family’s environment and their lives.

Although Covid-19 has created a sense of ‘captivity’, there are many advantages to spending extended periods of time at home. Getting to know both your family members and your residence better, allows you to create memories, and to become aware of the clutter and disorganization lurking in the corners. Purging un-needed items, as well as finding a home for each possession, creates a sense of calm, as well as new organizational routines and solutions. 

Every cloud has a silver lining; the pandemic’s is the many opportunities provided by its sense of ‘captivity’.