Looking for quick and easy way to organize your home or office better? Improve your efficiency by following these tips!

Image source: flickr

The good news is we already know these tips but it seems so insignificant and so small that we forget to use it in our daily lives. One day I was attending a talk on Operations Management and the professor shared the Japanese code to their success and how they achieve high quality in their products. 

This mantra was also used by Sir Henry Ford in his Ford Motor Company before Japanese figured it out. I then realized that the same tips could be practiced in our day to day life to make it more organized and to enhance its quality. 

Getting restless? Ok enough of the background story. The Japanese or Sir Henry Ford believed in the theory of 5S. 5S is the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. 

The definition on wikipedia says: "It describes how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order." 

Too many 'S'. Lets find out what it is. 

seiri means Sort: This means all the useless and unnecessary items must be removed and disposed off from the workplace. The same goes for our home as well. Most of the time we get emotionally attached to our stuffs so much that we keep them for years even if we don’t use them. Figure out ways to dispose off such unwanted items from your home. I will give few examples here.

1. Clothes that didn’t fit you in the last few years, chance are it will never fit you. Plus the fashion may also get obsolete. Donate those.
2. All your past college books, the book on computer networking or Java that you learnt during your computer course all are obsolete now. Every day the technology changes and so does the course curriculum. Sell off those books to the junk dealer and make some money also.
3. Never opt for any printed phone bill, internet bill, bank statement etc. It just increases the junk in your home. Go paperless as much as possible.
4. Non working chargers, wires, old telephones, old mouse, etc. Do you have a lot of such electronic waste lying in your house? Look for ecycling companies in your area and give it for recycling. This way you will contribute to the greener environment also.
5. Any other good condition and working item in your home and you can’t just get rid of it then sell it online.

seiton or set in order/straighten: That means arranging all the items at the workplace so that they are easily visible and identifiable. This rule reduced workers time in looking and searching for their tools in Japanese automobile industry. How we apply this to our home? Let’s start from our kitchen. Label and all containers and boxes and organize all the utensils properly. You will be amazed how effective and fast you will become in your cooking. Then you can slowly start organizing other areas in your house like wardrobes, keeping all the tools at one place, dirty clothes in laundry bag only; organize your books as per the topic. You can also go one step further and start organizing the invisible and least used areas like the under the bed storage, store rooms. Also maintain an inventory list of your items kept in less used storage areas so that whenever you need it, you don’t have to waste time searching it. Another idea is to label all the door keys and keep them on one place, when in hurry this will come very handy. 

seiso or Shine: It implied that the factory workers must clean their workplace completely. Most of the employees volunteer to come half an hour early in Japan to spend time cleaning their workplace. So needless to say, Ladies and Gentlemen, please keep your house clean. Don’t always rely on your maid.  One small tip, just follow one rule and rest all will fall in place - keep everything back in its place. Small acts of cleanliness can go far in keeping your house always clean. It just doesn’t take any time. Teach the same to your kids and spouse. Everyone should be responsible for their own items.

 

seiketsu or standardize: Revisit the first three S and make sure it is followed. Standardize the best practices. Maintain everything in order. Make sure everything has a place - A place for everything and everything in its place. 

shitsuke or sustain: Keep to the rules and continue following it. Practice and preach and teach the same to all the family members. Figure out what works best for your home and continue to improve on that.

The buzz word in Corporate today is lean organization; try to keep our homes also as lean as possible by reducing the clutter and organizing everything.

Sometimes we need to be our own devil's advocate and focus on minute details rather than the bigger picture. If everything is in order and set, it will keep your mind happy, calm and stress free. 

Don't believe me? Try it out.