The 3 P’s To Organization- Step 2

If you read about the first step of my 3 P’s To Organization in my last blog then you already know that the first “P” stands for Purge.  The second “P” stands for Pair.  This is very simple to understand, it simply means to pair like items, or items of like purpose, together. 

This may seem really obvious if you are reading this and you may be thinking, “Who doesn’t know that?”  Well, think about your garage, kitchen, office desk, gift wrapping supplies, basement workshop.  Do all of the areas in your home have everything together so when the time comes to use the space you aren’t making trips all over the house to collect the needed supplies? 

Does this scenario sound familiar?   Do you drop your mail on the kitchen counter, open the mail somewhere else and then leave it there.  Then when it comes time to pay the bill, if you can find it, you go to another room to get a pen, then have to find the stamps buried in the junk drawer and you know those return labels are somewhere on the desk but since you can’t find them you will just write out your address yourself.  If this sounds like a lot of wasted time, it is!  To illustrate how pairing items with a similar purpose helps save time when you are doing bills, having the file for incoming mail, checkbook, stamps, return labels, envelopes and pens all in the same location makes it a snap to get this chore done in a much more efficient manner. 

Try looking at other areas of your home to determine how you can make them more efficient by pairing like items, or items of similar purpose, together.  You will save yourself more time and aggravation if you take these preventive measures now.  Remember though, that any organizing system is only useful if you maintain it.  That means putting everything that you use back in its place.  Don’t simply put something down when it may only take 2 extra seconds of effort to put it away in its proper home.

The 3 P’s To Organization – Step 1

Organizing can be broken into many steps or just a few.  I have created an easy way to remember the basic method of organizing called The 3 P’s to Organization.  Every organizer seems to come up with their own mnemonic device to help their clients remember the process for organizing so that we can transfer our skills.  I tried to keep mine short and sweet for ease of recall.

The first part of organizing that I will discuss on today’s blog is “Purge.”  This can mean a lot of different things to different people and rightly so.  Everyone has different levels of need for purging and different connections to their belongings. 

Purging can be tackled on a small or large scale depending on your need and stamina for the process.  If you have a space that causes you to want to turn tail and run out screaming because the idea of how to begin is just too daunting, don’t despair.  Remember the expression,”How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.”  The same goes for purging. 

To begin, you need to set up categories for the items in the room.  I like the broad labels like keep, trash, donate, belongs elsewhere.  Label a box with each category and then stop and visualize how you want this room to be used when all is said and done.  That is your goal and in order to reach this goal you will have to make some tough decisions about which box to place your belongings.  Keep asking yourself while you are purging and get stuck on what to do with something, “Is this something for the space that is useful, something that I love, or something that I think is beautiful?”  If the answer is yes, put it in the keep pile, otherwise pass it on to someone else if it still usable.  Remember to keep the visual of what you want for the space as your motivation.

Also, if the space is used by others it is usually a good idea to have them involved in this stage of the process so that the favorite, lucky bobble-head doesn’t go missing and start a feud.  If all parties involved have the same vision for the room, those special keepsakes may not be so hard to part with.  Another good strategy to keep you motivated through the process is to set small goals and rewards for each step.  “Once I get the couch and end table cleared of clutter, I am going to actually enjoy sitting in one of them and put my feet up for 5 minutes.”  Don’t stop for too long or you may lose momentum. 

Once you have finished for the day you want to be sure that the trash gets out of the house and that donations get placed in the car immediately and dropped off as soon as possible.  You don’t want there to be temptations or second guessing going on with all of those items sitting around the house in front of you. 

Now, keep your goal in mind and your rewards coming and soon you will have the big pay off in the form of a new, more functional space to add joy rather than stress to your life!

Organizing Donation Resources

Organizing in Ashburn is easy because we have so many resources for eliminating all of those precious things that we just had to buy but rarely, if ever, used and are now collecting dust and adding clutter to our sanctuaries.

Some of the resources that are convenient because they pick up your no longer loved but still useful items are organizations like: Am Vets, 1-800-526-8387; National Children’s Center, 1-800-296-1122; and The Lupus Foundation of America, 1-888-448787.  The added benefit of these organizations is that you don’t have to drive anywhere or even be home when they pick-up.  Just leave the items outside labeled for the driver and they will leave a tax receipt.  Easy!

Another wonderful, and local, organization in Leesburg is Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice.  They collect cell phones for battered women.  The organization has them refurbished and distributes them to women in shelters to use for emergencies.  So next time you upgrade that cell phone, consider donating the old one to this great cause and of course you will get a tax receipt here too!

Another easy way to rid yourself of perfectly usable items when you may just have a few is, www.freecycle.com.  You can get rid of just about anything here and meet the person somewhere for the exchange or simply leave it on your porch for pick up.  This is the perfect site for when you are using the rule: one in, one out rule for new purchases.

The obvious other solutions for eliminating unwanted goods, and making a little money too, would be to have a yard sale or post on Craig’s List and/or eBay.  Yard sales can be fairly fruitful especially when it is done when your community is hosting one and doing the advertising for you.  Craig’s List and eBay are a bit more work but if you have a couple of fairly good quality items then you may do well here.

Now get to all of that dust collecting stuff in your basement and garage and donate, donate, donate, or sell,sell, sell!

Organizing Kitchens In Ashburn

Organizing Kitchens in Ashburn is no different than anywhere else.  But, kitchen organizing is a big undertaking so be sure you set aside enough time and possibly enlist the help of a professional organizer or friend.  Eliminate all possible distractions or interruptions if at all possible because the last thing you want is to stop that momentum to deal with something else and then walk back into your kitchen with everything spread out all over the place.  You may scream, turn and high tail it out of there once you see how your belongings magically multiplied!  Don’t panic, now is the time to roll up your sleeves, blast some upbeat music and dig in.

Before you dig in, you do need to prepare by gathering some essential tools.  The most important tool is the multipurpose trash bag.  You may need some extra boxes for donations, and a box labeled “elsewhere” for all of those things that mysteriously land on the kitchen counter but have no business being there!  You will also want some cleaning supplies since while you already have everything out you may as well clean it too. 

Now to begin, designate a place for those “must keep” items that will go back in the kitchen.  Start pulling things out of those cabinets and begin making decisions immediately about whether to place in in your must keep pile, donate pile, or the trash if it doesn’t even work.  Work your way through every single cabinet, even the ones you think are pretty organized because once everything is sorted out you may realize the kitchen is not as organized and as efficient as you thought.  Trust me, everything out.  Pretend you are on a treasure hunt to discover the most rare and forgotten kitchen item.

Be really honest when deciding on all of those gadgets and gizmo’s, special pots with only one purpose and counter-top appliances.  When was the last time you used the item if ever?  If you haven’t used it, or haven’t used it in the past 6 months or more, donate it.  Yes, you spent good money on it but that doesn’t mean you need to keep it where it will just continue to clutter up you utensil drawer, cabinet or countertop making it hard to find the things that you actually use. 

When placing everything back into the cabinets and drawers think of the kitchen as having zones for different tasks.  Place items together that have like purposes.  For instance, set up the coffee, tea, sugar and creamer in the cabinet above the coffee maker.   A food prep zone would make sense near the sink where you can wash, cut and dispose of waste in the same location.  Keep your knives and cutting boards near this zone.  Keep your spices near your prep and cooking areas.  If you are a big baker create a baking zone with all of the frequently used items together. 

A good general rule of thumb when placing any item into each zone is to keep the most frequently used items within arms reach in each zone (whenever possible).  Then the less frequently used items should be kept further out of reach based on the amount of use.  Seasonal items should not be sitting with your day to day supplies.  They need to be stored either in the basement with your seasonal decorations, or in those crazy little cabinets above the fridge that can only be reached by standing on the counter if you are like me and are vertically challenged. 

If you have limited cabinet space you may want to consider buying special racks for stacking dishes above each other.  This is a great way to maximize wasted space.  Also, that awkward space under the kitchen sink has a special shelf that can be configured around the pipes in order to utilize that vertical wasted space.  Both items can be found at kitchen supply stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and Linens And Things.

Now get in that kitchen and set it up so it works for you!!  If you think you need hands on help from a professional organizer contact Maria White at: WWW.ENNUFFWITHTHESTUFF.COM.

Article written by:

Maria White

ENUFF WITH THE STUFF

Sort, Stow & Let It Go!

Organize To Sell

Clutter, What Clutter?

Is your home sitting on the market but nobody seems interested?  Have you taken a cold, hard look at how your house really looks to an outsider?

Sure that quilt that Aunt Martha made for your wedding is sentimental and beautiful, to you; but is it going to take people’s attention away from the size of the room, will they notice the lovely crown molding and chair rail?  The plain truth is that you have to accept when you put your home on the market, it no longer belongs to you.  You have to let go of the feeling that it is your home because now it is just your temporary housing until it becomes someone else’s home.  If you want potential buyers to see your house as their new home then you will have to get real about the clutter.  That means Aunt Martha’s quilt should be packed away along with all of your family photos, nick nacks, and vacation mementos.  The kitchen walls and refrigerator should be void of anything made using glue, crayons or glitter!  In other words, blank walls and fridge allow the new homeowners to envision themselves in that space.  If you also have a great deal of ethnic artwork throughout the house tone it down by selecting just a few pieces to keep out. 

Built-in book shelves are a big asset to a home, if they can be seen!  Try eliminating 40-50% of the books and knick-knacks.  I don’t mean that you should leave empty shelves, you just need to spread things out now and place them in a more visually pleasing manner to draw attention to the shelves themselves.  And won’t home shoppers be impressed with all of the available space still on the shelves? 

This may sound like a big task to tackle, especially if you have been in the home for a long time, but you will benefit in several ways if you get your home decluttered.  First, you may actually sell your home faster and not have to drop your asking price, that means more money in your pocket.  By decluttering you will have less to pack and fewer boxes to pay the movers to move, again more money in your pocket.  After decluttering, you will have less stuff to unpack in your new home which will also make it easier to keep organized!!

This whole process is essentially a pre-move weeding out.  Begin with 3 boxes well labeled with: KEEP, DONATE, & TRASH.

The first category should be obvious but isn’t to everyone so I’ll spell it out.  If it is broken, missing pieces, worn out or you don’t know what it is, then it is considered trash.

The second category is where people have a tougher time.  Remember, you are going to pay someone a lot of money to move your possessions so make sure they are really worth keeping.  The general rule of thumb most professional organizers use is to only keep things that you find useful, beautiful or that you truly love.  Also ask yourself when in doubt, what is the worst thing that can happen if i get rid of it?  Can I replace it or get the information in the future?

The last category is donation.  All of those items that passed the trash test but didn’t pass the keep test should get donated.  The great thing is that when you donate your things to a charity there is someone else out there who will use it, love it or think it is beautiful and you will be preventing perfectly usable items from filling the landfills.  Two good deeds with one act of honesty with yourself, how great is that?   If you want to add another good deed to the process involve your kids with searching for a children’s charity where they can donate and help deliver their long forgotten and unused toys.

Now put the trash out at the curb, put your donations in the car and tape up that box of “keep” items and you are well on your way to selling that house and moving into your new home!  Congratulations.

Written by:

Maria White

ENUFF WITH THE STUFF

Sort, Stow & Let It Go!