Sorting and Reducing is hard work. Placing is a bit more fun. Using is the reward.
In my previous post, Sorting and Reducing, we imagined the enclosed back porch of your home, used only for storage for the five years you have lived here.
Your vision is to enjoy your beautiful, enclosed porch, and you have hired a professional organizer to help make it happen.
The first step is to sort things into categories: Keep, Sell, Donate, Recycle, or Trash.
And as you sort, reduce, reduce, reduce down to those things you really need, want, or use.
These are your belongings, accumulated over time, and while the organizer can help you sort, only you can decide what to keep.
The time it takes to do this work is directly correlated to how quickly you make decisions.
It takes time and sometimes can feel overwhelming.
I helped a young couple reorganize their kitchen to help prepare for a coming baby.
In the middle of sorting through pantry contents – with everything strewn across the kitchen table, the counter, and their toddler’s play table – the husband’s eyes caught mine and he his eyes were like saucers.
He looked terrified. I could tell what he was thinking.
Everything from their cupboards was sitting out in their kitchen. What if we ran out of time and I just left it like that?
The temporary chaos was just too much.
I reassured him that this was the middle of the mess and that we were about to the turn the corner.
I asked him to trust the process.
So he took a breath, kept going, and sure enough it all came together like a puzzle shortly thereafter.
The process is to sort and reduce, and sort and reduce. Trust that if you do this it will all come together. It always does.
Back in your enclosed porch project, after all that work sorting and reducing, your belongings are now sorted into three categories:
The things you want to Keep remain in the space.
Things were Sold or Donated to others.
Remaining items went to the recycling center or into a dumpster.
If the only remaining items are those you want to keep, "Placing" is easy, right?
The truth is that the 4 steps - Sort, Reduce, Place, Use - can be cyclical.
It is not a one-and-done. Sometimes you have to go back. And that is okay.
You sort a category of items – say, flowerpots – and get rid of several of them.
But when you go to place those flowerpots on your available shelving, not all of them fit.
Do you go out and buy more shelves? Or get rid of a few more flowerpots?
Don't purchase more things to put things in.
Marie Kondo says in her book The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, “Storage experts are hoarders. . . Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problems have been solved.”
Sometimes you don’t need a new storage solution for your flowerpots.
Sometimes what you need is fewer flowerpots.
The four steps of sorting, reducing, placing, and using can lead to further projects.
A few years ago we started organizing the garage.
Once that was done, the laundry room attached to the garage looked cluttered.
So, we cleared that out, and so on.
This is how we organized our garage, laundry room, sunroom, home office, and attic in the summer and fall of 2020.
Storing the items you decide to keep often falls into place easily because you have already done the hard work of deciding to keep the item.
Available storage can be used first, and additional shelves, bins, racks, or other built-for-purpose items can be purchased, but one of my frequent recommendations to clients it to not go shopping for storage solutions.
Don't go shopping for more shelves or bins when what you really need is fewer items to put on the shelves and in the bins you already have.
You can always upgrade to better products. Now is not the time to go shopping because what you buy may not work, and worse, make you think you can't be organized.
The Place step can also morph into redecorating.
A fresh coat of paint can do wonders to brighten a space. Maybe some new rugs would make it more inviting. You may discover that installing a set of French doors will enhance your enclosed porch with easier access to the deck outdoors.
All of these costs should be prioritized and they don’t all have to be done right away.
They all set the stage for the payoff.
Now you get to Use. Enjoy the space!
You have worked hard to get here and now enjoying it is your reward. Congratulations!
It does need to be maintained. You did all this work; it would be awful to have it slide back to what it was.
What can you do to ensure you don’t slide back? Find the answer here.
For now, just enjoy the end of your project. Look at the beautiful, enclosed porch. Your vision, realized! Go get a cup of coffee, sit down, and enjoy it. You've earned it!
When you're ready to tackle your tough organization project, I am here to help you learn how.
Let's RETHINK organization together.
For more information, visit the RETHINK website today.
Mandy Thomas is a professional organizer fulfilling her lifelong passion for creating order out of chaos. She finds joy in helping people tackle their most overwhelming spaces and collections to create the optimal living space and enjoy their homes.
RETHINK organization is on a mission to help you develop long-term patterns of organization that you can maintain and feel good about long after our work together is done.
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