One morning last weekend, I worked with a client to clear out and reorganize the space under her back porch, which had been an eyesore and a point of frustration to her for several months. We donned work gloves and spent two hours crawling under the porch, sweeping out debris, hosing off the items that were stored there, and neatly putting everything back in place.

It was strenuous, messy work, but the results were great: the area not only looks cleaner and more orderly, but it's also more functional, and now even includes a private hideout for the client's dog.

As I was leaving, my client mentioned that she should spend some time that afternoon on another organizing project we've been working on. I encouraged her instead to spend the time enjoying the changes we'd made in the yard, especially since it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and she'd been working hard all week. I noted that if she felt she really wanted to do some additional organizing, she should simply take a cup of coffee and a stack of papers outside with her, have a seat in the yard, and do some leisurely sorting, allowing herself a snooze in the sun if she felt like it.

And I offer the same encouragement to you. Though I'll be the first to tell you that organizing can be an important, useful, and productive part of life, sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself, your family, and your space is simply take a break. Enjoy the results of what you've done and keep your organizing goals in mind, but give yourself the freedom to leave the piles and the sorting and the cleaning for a day or two.

You'll help prevent organizing burnout, will get the chance to devote yourself fully to other (hopefully more relaxing and fun) things, and will be able to return to your organizing tasks refreshed and ready to go.

My back porch client and I still have work to do, and I'm glad she's motivated to keep at it even when I'm not around, but I hope that last weekend she left the papers and boxes inside and instead sat in the sun, put her feet up, and took a much-needed break.