Step 1: Prepare Sorting Labels

You can create Sorting Labels yourself with 3x5 notecards or any paper you have on hand. Color coding is very helpful. You can use colored paper or colored markers.

Grouping all donations by pink label makes things fast and easy to gather and remove from your home. More importantly, it helps separate the items you want to keep from the items you plan to sell or throw away. Include the date and contents on each card if you are putting items into storage. This will save you tremendous time and frustration when you need to find stored items.

Create separate labels for each category.

·            Keep

·            Undecided

·            Sell

·            Donate

·            Recycle

·            Trash

Step 2: Declutter

Unnecessary household inventory is also known as clutter. Go on a trash, donation, and recycling collecting mission. If you have already made up your mind to get rid of specific items, this will reduce your workload by reducing your inventory. Look for items you can easily part with today. Take the time to get rid of those items to open up space. This is the best place to start any organization project.

Organizing is about progress, not perfection. Start by eliminating excess and unused items in each category before you try to organize or set up finished rooms. Once that’s done, put items together in labeled bins, on shelves, or in dedicated closets. You can then sort and eliminate more items. With everything in its place, you can easily move items around as you determine room uses.

Minimalism might be trendy, but most of us enjoy our stuff. Where many of us fail is that we don’t part with things that no longer serve a purpose. If you haven’t worn a T-shirt for two years, it doesn’t serve a purpose for you. But, it can serve a purpose for someone else.

These items are fairly easy to declutter. Start with the easiest items first to enjoy immediate results.

Family heirlooms

·            Broken furniture in the basement, garage, or attic

·            Old photographs that sit in a box

·            Can you photograph any items?

·            Check with family members before parting with family treasures.

·            Antiques may have a high value. Look for things that are broken and worn for now.

Cleaning supplies

·            Old cleaners

·            Cleaners that didn’t work well

·            Old mops, brushes, vacuums

·            Old rags

·            Excess buckets, brushes, etc.

Entertainment

·            Books

·            CD’s

·            DVD’s

·            Magazine subscriptions - digital or print

·            Photographs

Holiday decorations

·            Items you no longer use

·            Old, worn out, or outgrown items

Home decor

·            Items not in use

·            Consider relocating or refurbishing

Pet supplies

·            Items no longer in use

·            Old, damaged toys

·            Items that didn’t work well for your pet

School projects and supplies

·            Photograph special items

·            Donate/sell musical equipment

·            Donate/sell textbooks

·            Create a scrapbook or photo book

Tools

·            Old or broken power tools

·            Old or broken hand tools

·            Old paint supplies

Yard and Gardening

·            Broken shovels, rakes etc.

·            Unused hand tools

·            Excess or broken planters

Toys

Sorting toys can get a little complicated because there are so many different types of items and age ranges. But sorting by category first and then by condition will make the job much simpler because you can evaluate one small group at a time. After they are grouped, you can easily store like with like, which makes it easier for your children to find their favorite items and put them away.

Step 1: Gather and Sort by Category

·            Action figures

·            Books

·            Cars, trucks etc.

·            Dolls

·            Stuffed animals

·            Electronics

Step 2: Sort by Condition

·            New (keep)

·            Favorite or special (keep)

·            Outgrown (donate, sell, trash)

·            Missing parts or broken (trash)

Step 3: Select a Method for the Day

After you have decluttered and you are ready to begin organizing, choose a method. How do you want to approach the day? Do you want to tackle a big project or tidy up one or two kitchen drawers? Try different methods and see which one works best for you.

Go big: Choose a room that will give you a big impact fast, such as the garage. Be prepared for all the detail work. Be sure to label incomplete bins and boxes as Undecided so you know where you left off last time. Anytime you tackle a large project, the detailed work may need to be finished later.

Easy does it: Choose a simple project to complete. Mark it off your checklist when finished. This will give you more checkmarks on your checklist faster and easier. This may be the way to go if you are suffering from low motivation or feeling overwhelmed. Perhaps you just want to sort books today.

Get it together: Go on a mission to put like with like. Gather items and place them in a designated area to be sorted later.

Step 4: Gather

Do you remember how fun treasure hunts were when you were a kid? If you have small children, you can turn their help into a game. Select an item, such as books, and see how many they can bring to you.

Step 5: Sort

1.          Prepare. Make sorting labels and tape them onto bins or boxes. Create the following labels: Keep, Undecided, Donate, Sell, Recycle, Trash. The following steps will keep your work organized, making sorting easier.

2.          Gather like with like. Focus on one grouping at a time. For instance, lay out all of your black dress shoes. Do you wear all of them? Has it been a while?

3.          Put your favorite items back into the closet or into a storage bin labeled Keep. Date and write the contents on the label. When you want to find items later, this will save you considerable time.

4.          Remove the items you no longer want or use. Put them in the Trash, Donate, or Sell bins. After this step, you should see the results of your effort!

5.          Address the remaining items. Sorting can be very tedious. Take breaks. Come back to sorting when you are fresher. If you have had enough, put items in a box or bin labeled Undecided and sort the items later.

Step 6: Dealing with Indecision

You have made great progress! You chose your favorite items, put them where they will used, or stored them in a bin labeled Keep. You are already making decisions. The first task is to simply acknowledge that you are making progress and to stay positive! Staying motivated, especially when you are just starting out, is its own task.

Now, you are faced with the Undecided group of items, which are the most difficult to sort. You likely have mixed thoughts or feelings about this group. This group of items takes the longest to sort because it is not clear what you should do with them. The following questions may help you make decisions about Undecided items: Do I use this item? How often? Do I have similar items I use more often? Do I still want, need, or enjoy it? Is this an “I might use it someday” item? Did I buy it on sale? Do I really like it, or was it a bargain?

Lastly, wait it out. Store things and come back to them later. Include the date and contents on the label then place the bin in storage. If a year goes by and you don’t miss the items, chances are you don’t really want or need them.

Step 7: Focus on Function

Your household items need to be perfectly placed, NOT perfectly put away. Focus on function first rather than the appearance of your storage system. Beautiful baskets may look amazing, but what do you do if they do not hold enough items? Try to place items where they are used first then make decisions about storage. If possible, try to get through as many of your household items first before you go out and buy storage bins or baskets. You may already have items you can use. In addition, you may decide that room uses are not working well together. If you decide to move the video game console to the basement, you open up space in the family room for other items.

Consider your storage carefully. I tried the cute little labeled jar concept for my kitchen and quickly abandoned it. It takes time to maintain, and I didn’t find it helpful. Instead of having one jar of rice, I had a jar of rice that was almost gone and a box of rice waiting for the jar to become empty. I don’t want to mix old and new food items. Of course, I also felt the need to wash the jar once it was empty. Then, I had to wait for it to be completely dry…. My engineering mind went crazy over all of the “necessary” tasks to store rice. What a waste of time and energy! Yes, I can and do laugh at myself.

Step 8: Reflect on Time

You are likely thinking, “I don’t have time for all of this!” That is absolutely true, in a way. But you also don’t have time to waste. You will save time and energy if everyone knows where things belong! Keep the big picture in mind while you are working. Your home has limited space. Why store things that have little or no value? If it isn’t being used, it is clutter. Maintaining clutter creates more work, less space, more disorganization and provides little to no benefit. Remember, for every area of your home that stays neat and organized, you save time and energy every week. A dirty home takes time to clean. A dirty and disorganized home takes far more time and energy to clean every week.

Do The Math!

If you save just 1 hour every week, you save 52 hours over the course of a year. If you save 2 hours a week, you save 104 hours. Consider that 104 hours is equal to 13 eight-hour workdays! What could you do for yourself with those extra hours?