Organizing can be broken into many steps or just a few. I have created an easy way to remember the basic method of organizing called The 3 P’s to Organization. Every organizer seems to come up with their own mnemonic device to help their clients remember the process for organizing so that we can transfer our skills. I tried to keep mine short and sweet for ease of recall.
The first part of organizing that I will discuss on today’s blog is “Purge.” This can mean a lot of different things to different people and rightly so. Everyone has different levels of need for purging and different connections to their belongings.
Purging can be tackled on a small or large scale depending on your need and stamina for the process. If you have a space that causes you to want to turn tail and run out screaming because the idea of how to begin is just too daunting, don’t despair. Remember the expression,”How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” The same goes for purging.
To begin, you need to set up categories for the items in the room. I like the broad labels like keep, trash, donate, belongs elsewhere. Label a box with each category and then stop and visualize how you want this room to be used when all is said and done. That is your goal and in order to reach this goal you will have to make some tough decisions about which box to place your belongings. Keep asking yourself while you are purging and get stuck on what to do with something, “Is this something for the space that is useful, something that I love, or something that I think is beautiful?” If the answer is yes, put it in the keep pile, otherwise pass it on to someone else if it still usable. Remember to keep the visual of what you want for the space as your motivation.
Also, if the space is used by others it is usually a good idea to have them involved in this stage of the process so that the favorite, lucky bobble-head doesn’t go missing and start a feud. If all parties involved have the same vision for the room, those special keepsakes may not be so hard to part with. Another good strategy to keep you motivated through the process is to set small goals and rewards for each step. “Once I get the couch and end table cleared of clutter, I am going to actually enjoy sitting in one of them and put my feet up for 5 minutes.” Don’t stop for too long or you may lose momentum.
Once you have finished for the day you want to be sure that the trash gets out of the house and that donations get placed in the car immediately and dropped off as soon as possible. You don’t want there to be temptations or second guessing going on with all of those items sitting around the house in front of you.
Now, keep your goal in mind and your rewards coming and soon you will have the big pay off in the form of a new, more functional space to add joy rather than stress to your life!
