Where to Start Organizing When Your Mountainous Mess is Threatening to Crush You
If that's not a title that will save lives, I don't know what is.
The good ol' mess! The bane of your existence and reason that it's hard to get out of bed in the morning. You are not our friend. But guess what? There's hope. I promise there's hope because there always is! So let's turn that hope into reality and conquer that bad boy for once and for all.
.............Now what?
Glad you asked! Here are some beginning steps to take. The Tidy Pregame, as I like to call it.
1) Make your bed. Always make your bed (if it's not already made. Sigh.) at the beginning of a tidying attempt. It's an easy way to get the ball rolling and bring you one step further from your mess.
2) Write down small, concrete and attainable goals. If you attempt to "organize your house," you're gonna be *super overwhelmed*. So take some time to jot down organizing goals and make them simple. For example, "clear out night table drawer" or "purge shoe collection and get rid of anything beaten down." Once the list is done, you can stare at it and decide which task you want to complete first. How fun!?
3) Throw away any obvious trash. Another easy tidying task that will give you big results and instant gratification. Grab a trash bag and throw away anything that you know needs to go. NOW.
4) Take everything out/off/away. If you decided to start with that crusty shelf at the top of your closet, remove all of the items from it. Take 'em all out and put them on the floor.
5) Go through the pile one by one, deciding who stays and who goes. Yes, no, yes, no, no, no. Make two piles and place the "no"s directly into a trash bag (or tote for donation!). Look at the "yes"es and make sure they're all good enough to make the cut.
6) Put it all back! If the items are going back where they came from, do this now so your mound doesn't get huge. If not, place them aside and move on to the next shelf.
7) Rinse and repeat. Systematically work through the areas of the room, getting rid of everything that doesn't go and holding on to the items that do.
8) Put things away like a Tidy Boss. As you put everything away, categorize and keep like-items together. Also, think about how often you use them and store accordingly. If something is seasonal or you don't need it all of the time, place it high up and out of reach. If we're talking to your favorite blouse, front and center.
9) Reward yourself. Go watch a TV show, eat a pint of ice cream, give yourself a gold star. Whatever you do, don't make any more purchases for now. We're minimizing so that mountain doesn't have a chance to grow again.
Hope that helps! If not, send me a sad email and I'll send it back with some virtual words of encouragement. Seriously.