Stage 1: Decluttering

Oct 3, 2015
3 min read

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

This is my favorite stage of organizing. I love to fill up a trash bag of junk. I love dropping of my donations knowing that all of my things aren't going to waste. I imagine someone else enjoying our things just like we did.

To start off, I suggest getting two plastic trash bags, one black "Hefty" for donations, and one white kitchen bag if you have those for trash. Otherwise, just get two containers that look different so you can differentiate what is trash and what is for used for donations. You will also like to have a laundry basket or something similar that you can use to store the items you wish to sell at a garage sale, or sell online.

Warning: Things will get messy before they get clean and organized. Be sure to be realistic about your time for tackling this job. If you only have 30 minutes start in a smaller area that you can begin and end without leaving too much of a mess. For instance, your shoes.

1. Get rid of all trash, broken items and food - I think this step is self explanatory.

2. Bag up any items that you wish to donate - I want to take the time here to break down the best way to do this. In order to take a REAL and healthy inventory of your items, you must completely remove them from the space that they are in. If you are cleaning out a toy basket, dump it all out! Then sort through the items. You will only see all that you have if you look at it in one big pile. You will see the repeats that you own. If you are cleaning out your clothes (first, check your time frame. Don't empty out your entire closet if you don't have time to put it all back. Start with just your shirts, for example). You will only know how many black t-shirts you have you see them all laid out on your bed or floor. Then you will have the correct frame of mind about which ones to trash or donate.

3. Sell or consign anything of value that you want to sell - Be realistic here. Ask yourself if you are really going to do this task in the two to three days after cleaning things out. If your consignment/sell box of items will sit in the garage and stare at you overtime you walk past it, I would suggest to just donate the items. To make yourself accountable for this task, put it on your to do list on your calendar. Or set a reminder on your phone that pops up everyday until you get the task done.

4. Collect anything that belongs in another room and then deliver it there - I know that that room that we are putting things in will look messy before it's clean will bother you. But, keep in mind our focus is the area we are working on now. You will clean out and organize that next room at a later time. Be patient with yourself!

5. Make a list of any organizing items you need/want to purchase (make sure you measure your space) - Before you go shopping for all of those cute items look around your house first to see if there are any containers that you can use. Let's always try to keep our costs down. Some storage bins should be clear if you want to see the items stored in them. You can also create a color coded storage system. For example, red and green for winter holidays, pink or purple for spring, green for summer items, orange or black for fall item. MAKE LABELS FOR YOUR STORAGE BOXES! This will save you so much time in the long run. You won't have to pull down each bin to see what is inside. Also, it will help you organize your things back into the boxes when you put things away.