in 3 Simple Steps!
It's that time of year! I picture Oprah saying you get a gift .... and you... but instead IT'S TIME TO DECLUTTER! Yes, I actually get that excited about it but the gift is time, space, beauty, efficiency- all the things! You can watch me get this excited on this episode of the podcast here.
WHY?
Less time looking for things
Less time cleaning
Less time re-organizing
More time DOING- living
When your space is cluttered, weather it's your desk, your room, your kitchen or your closet makes it just harder to do whatever it is you do there. So let's tidy up, get rid of things that no longer serve us and DECLUTTER!
When we suffer from having too much stuff, as most Americans do, our clutter and over consumption becomes psychological baggage. But don't worry- I'm here to help with 3 simple steps!
Step 1
Decide what you are going to declutter and take EVERYTHING out!
As Nicole, founder of Plantize says, "We have to clutter to declutter!" and I couldn't agree more! If you are someone who is not very organized it may be most impactful to take a top down approach. For example, if you are attempting to declutter your bedroom but your drawers are not organized it will be impossible for you look at all of your T-shirts and "declutter" if you only look at one drawer. Why? Because ALL of your T-shirts are not in there, so you will continuously find more outside of the drawer you just decluttered. If you know for a fact that all of your T-shirts are in one drawer that overflowing congratulations, we know we need to declutter the T-shirt drawer and we have accomplished a less cluttered t-shirt life. But if you are new to this and you want to truly declutter your kitchen, or bedroom or whatever the space is you must be prepared to remove very single item from the room. (Sans furniture unless you have too much of that too)
Step 2
Group ALL like things TOGETHER. Do not decide on staying or going simply group.
This part is always pretty fun, especially when you are uncovering and decluttering a space for the first time or if it's been a very long time. It can be amazing to see how many of one item you may have. Or it may be rather shocking. Listen, we can't admit we have a problem until we know we do so you are on your way.
Some examples of this would be if you are decluttering your kitchen, you put all the silverware together, all the plates, all the cups, all the knives, all can openers, all the baking supplies. Whatever you come across you group it with its own kind.
This allows you to see all of the inventory you are working with all at once. Then you can see how much space you will need later when we get to organizing.
Step 3
Now is the actual decluttering part. We can't declutter if we do not part ways with things. That would just be organizing, and I promise from personal experience if you organize without letting go- you will be organizing A LOT! When deciding what stays and what goes, in my opinion, you should only have three options.
Yes. No. Maybe.
I like to ask myself this question. Does it spark joy? Don't take more than about 5 seconds or less to answer. You can always repeat the process later if you have too many yesses but typically you know if you like something or not. Remember, just because it's a no doesn't mean it goes in the trash. It's just a no- for me, right now.
And if it's a maybe you put it aside and come back to it. And if you don't come back to it, congratulations you've got yourself some more no's!
You can also factor in some other questions.
Would I buy it now?
Is it functional?
Can you purchase it again if you absolutely needed to?
Do you. have room for it?
How often do you use it?
If you are the type of person who has a difficulty letting go of things...
(I am you, I am a recovering pack rat and everything had sentimental value to me when I was younger. I am still a work in progress!) I found thanking the item very therapeutic. I know it sounds crazy but it's like this. Hey sunglasses I wore to the fair in third grade. You helped block the sun out of my eyes. I'm grateful. But the style and size no longer serve me. Right now, you're just sitting here like Toy Story, sitting in a box where you will never be worn. Now go! Off to the donation where someone who likes you will wear you over and over!
Yes, I'm that dramatic. So yeah we can thank the thing for its purpose. We need to re-write the stories we tell ourselves about our stuff.
Organizing
So now you can look at how much of the item you have, how much space it takes up, how often you use it, and put it back in a place that suits those needs. So for example for me - I rarely bake, so I put the baking items in a container, and put them on the top shelf because I don't need them very accessible. Where as other kitchen items I need daily I keep on the lower shelves and I only have as many as will fit in the space I have.
If you want more help on creating an efficient flow of your home, or space reach out to Nicole at planetize OR send me or Nicole a message on Instagram.
Here are a few tips I use to STAY Organized:
give everything a home. If the home becomes to tight of a space you need get rid of things
I keep my counters tidy with a "catch all" like a basket or bowl ion the counter for things like keys, receipts, mail so that you can easily take the basket or bowl and put things were they need to go.
Use repurposed amazon boxes/ or baskets to keep items together, especially if it is up high so you can easily grab what you need without riffling through on the shelf (you can upcycle a box with some glue and pretty paper too!)
hooks
bins
When you know what is going (all the no's) you can use this After Declutter Guide to mindfully dispose of your no longer wanted items which can be
Donate
Regift
Sell
Responsibly Dispose/ Recycle
I am going to be doing a Facebook LIVE in my group with you all in person. I would love for you Join!
Sources:
Stuff in Storage
Storage deep dive
Marie kondo
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