Organize Your Stuff was originally published in The Block magazine (print edition).

Step One: Take Inventory

Soon you will experience them: the fresh air, bright spaces, movement and activity you so fondly associate with springtime. This is, until you dive into your garage or basement searching for your bicycle and gardening supplies. That’s when it’ll hit you, that overwhelming feeling of anxiety in your chest, having to deal with all those piles that you have deferred to ‘later’ over the winter, the fall, the summer, the spring (okay, it’s really been years).

You may not be dealing with a mountain of possessions. And it may very simply be one room – your pantry or your spare room – but the anxiety in having to look for something amidst a mess is not less intense. How many of you find it easier to just go out and re-purchase something you know you already have? Take for instance, light bulbs, batteries or yet another flat of tomato paste.

Where and how to begin tackling your piles of clutter chaos, and creating that organized calm, is often the most common of spring-cleaning dilemmas. You may see in a magazine or on TV a room that looks in perfect order, and think, “If only I had that certain product, I too would be organized.” Maybe you have those beautiful sea grass containers still in their shopping bags, unused, or shelving still in boxes, unassembled. Stop wasting your time and your money! Take the time to prepare your home for the right solution by following these steps to create some order in your chaos.

S.P.A.C.E. Principle*

Sort through everything that you have. Yes a daunting task, but necessary in order to determine exactly what needs to be organized.

Purge what is no longer of value or use in your life right now. If you have all the space in the world, keep everything, but when space is limited, choices must be made.

Assign categories of similar items and look at each pile in terms of how frequently you need access. (Taxes you keep for seven years, but certainly not on your bookshelf.)

Contain your information and possessions in products that are conducive to your frequency of access. (Note: products are the fourth step in the process, not the first.)

Enhance your space for function first, then form. Get things to work, then concentrate on the pretty when your budget allows.

Plain and simple, if you do not know what you have, in terms of volume and how frequently you must access the information or possession, you can not make wise decisions on what and how much to buy in order to contain it. (Doing so out of order will not only waste your money, but your time spent on returning purchases.)

Spend time, also, considering giving your excess things to a charity that resonates with your values and beliefs. Knowing that something is being passed on to someone who will cherish your once-beloved possessions makes it easier to let it go from your life.

Now you are prepared. Dive into your winter chaos and spring out refreshed and calmed.

To learn more about how to organize your stuff, contact Linda Chu.

 

*The S.P.A.C.E. principle was originally developed by Julie Morgenstern in her book Organizing from the Inside Out.