A plan for organizing

Interior of a nice apartment with living room furniture and an exterior balcony.

Thanks to Cindy Bernstein of Aim4Order for this month’s Tips from the Pros about creating a plan to organize.

The struggle is real. Organizing your home can be an enormous job and because of this, it can be hard to even get started. Setting a plan can help. Once you figure out what you want to do, it becomes easier to execute. Having less clutter around the house makes cleaning and maintaining your living space much easier.

Visualize

Think about how you want your home to look. Consider homes you have seen in magazines and how much space there is in them. Think about everything being put away or gone and how nice the room will be. Visualization works!

Get supplies together

You’ll need trash bags, boxes or bags for donating items, a face mask if things are very dusty and maybe latex gloves. Cleaning supplies and a broom are also recommended. After the organizing you will want to clean the area. Once you have the supplies together you’ll be ready to start.

Begin in your worst clutter spot

Pick the area of clutter that stresses you the most. Tackle that closet that is stuffed to the gills or the room where everything gets tossed. It’s up to you, only you know where your trouble area is.

One spot at a time

Start in one location and don’t move along until that spot is organized. You’ll be so happy when you see the progress you’ve made, you’ll want to continue in the next area.

Don’t get sentimental

If you have things you never use, get rid of them because they are taking up your valuable space. Even if you have brand new things, they are of no use to you if they become obstacles you have to avoid. Think about getting a nice deduction for donating the items.

Stop bringing in new stuff

As you are working on reducing clutter, adding new things is only going to throw roadblocks in your path. Think about reducing and not adding for a while.

Everything has its own place

Everything you own should have a place where you can put it away. If not, you need to either get rid of it or get rid of something else to make space.

Be kind to yourself

Don’t beat yourself up over clutter. Instead, feel happy that you are striving to make a positive change. Make it a “no guilt zone.” Don’t feel badly about getting rid of a gift, especially if it is gathering dust and serving no other purpose.

Ask for help

We all need help from time to time. You might get started and realize this is a lot more work than you anticipated. We can help with organizing, donating your unwanted items and even selling things on eBay. Contact me if you can’t or don’t want to do it alone.