Tips for easy organizing

Easy peasey, take your time, one day at a time.

Start in one room, categorize items by your needs:

Make piles for each:

1) Trash-Includes Old 1/2 used deoderants/shampoos etc. that are expired or over 1 yr. old. For your kitchen, check expiration dates and toss expired items.

2) Curbside items too good for the trash but you want to give away

3) Recyclables

4) Potential Garage sale items: Small Appliances that you don't use but work EG: Blender, etc.

5) Donation Items: Items that someone could use such as silverware, dishes/pots/clothing etc. Any Items you haven't used in a year and don't plan to (Don't keep any clothing that doesn't fit and hasn't been worn in a long time)

6)) Keepers: Items you use on a regular basis and you use very often

Expect that you will need to do this in about 4 phases.

Phase 1: go through very quickly, set a time limit, and take out the stuff that is "no brainer" discards. Trash, worn out items and things you really have no attachment to.

Phase 2: set another time limit, repeat phase 1 but be a little more critical.

Phase 3: This one gets a little trickier. In this phase you only keep your favorites. Be extremely critical. Ask yourself, "Do I really LOVE this item?" If the answer is no, but.... Then ask yourself "If I have to move half way across the country, would it be worth keeping?"

At this point, you will likely find that organizing has become second nature and almost cathartic. After some time has past, enter phase 4.

Phase 4: Look at the favorites that you have kept. Are you still attached or can you let go of some more.

Just remember the 80/20 principle. It holds true in nearly all aspects of life. We use 20% of our belongings 80% of the time. You won't miss your discards and life will be much less stressful.

Make three containers: trash, donate, keep. If you haven't worn it in he last 18 months, don't keep it. Doesn't fit? It's gone. Eliminate doo-dads. Artwork you don't love? Old costume jewelry. Yard sell. Broken gold/silver: sell it At a jewelry store. Too old to use yard work equipment? Get rid judiciousply. Add shelving, baskets for neat storage of what you keep.

browse through others projects. https://www.hometalk.com/categories/organize

After Hurricane Harvey and a flooded house, I quickly realized I too, had WAY too much stuff....its easy to acquire things when you are raising a family and are busy! I broke the task into several smaller tasks. I took closets one by one, donating all old clothes and shoes and bed linens. This frees up SO much space. In the past, I have also sold some of my clothes, shoes and purses on an app called Poshmark. Easy to use and can print postage at home & ship the package from your mailbox if it fits! One other tip I heard a long time ago is to start cleaning at the back of the house and work your way to the front. This helps me when I want to just throw everything in a back room and close the door. LOL.

Kitchen - I bought 2 baskets for my counter top. Our daily mail goes in one and odds and ends in the other. It keeps the counters from being cluttered. I try and go thru them on the weekend and eliminate anything we don't need.