Decluttering vs Organizing: Where do you start?

Whether or not they know it, everyone wants an organized home. And by organized I don’t mean completely organized to the max where everything has a bin with a label where you don’t touch so it doesn’t get messed up.

 

I’m talking about organized to a point that if someone asked you where a particular item was, you could tell them exactly where to find it. And most of all, it would be there.

There is place or home for every single item in your home, big or small.

That every item has some purpose. Life would be so much easier if we could find exactly what we were looking for every single time.

 

What exactly is organizing?

Merriam-Webster has the definition of organizing as: to arrange or order things so that they can be found or used easily and quickly : to put things into a particular arrangement or order.

I used to organize by taking everything I had in particular section, throw it in a bin, and call it good. Because from the outside, it was pretty. The bin/box/container was pretty. It didn’t matter that the inside was not functional at all.

Now, what I’ve started doing is really think about functionality of the inside in addition to how it looks from the outside. Because inside is where it all is. It’s where it all starts.

If I have to dig around, then I’m still getting frustrated. I still can’t find what I’m looking for. Nothing has changed.

Ask yourself this question when you start organizing a space:

“Can I easily find and access this later?”

 

What is clutter?

The definition of clutter per Merriam-Webster is a crowded or confused mass or collection. To fill or cover with scattered or disordered things that impede movement or reduce effectiveness

We get and maintain clutter because we don’t or can’t make a decision on what to do with an item so it just sits there waiting for us to keep it and put it away or get rid of it.

Decluttering, to me, is finally making the decision whether or not to keep it and actually putting it away.

I think to think of clutter like gaining weight and then trying to lose weight. It’s so easy to get but a lot harder to get rid of. You are eating more than you should or not exercising enough so the weight just adds on. With clutter, you aren’t making the decisions at the time that item comes in, so it just adds on.

It takes a lot of time and energy to changing your eating habits and exercising to finally get back into shape. To declutter, you have to take time and energy to sit down and make those decisions.

But when you are able to accomplish either scenario, you feel lighter. It feels like a ton of emotional weight has been lifted off your shoulders, right?

Do you have to declutter before you organize?

I think that most of the time, yes. You should declutter by removing things that you don’t want or need or most importantly love before you organize. There is no point in creating a system filled with junk.

BUT just because something is messy, doesn’t mean that all the items are clutter and they need to be tossed. They are just needing to be put back in their homes.

I recently posted this picture on Instagram of my kitchen counter. Oh my gosh it was a mess.

 

There were dishes piled up and toys all over. I was trying to make lunch for myself and it was completely overwhelmed just to do that with all the stuff in the way.

The counter top may look like a cluttered mess, but, the items are not necessarily clutter to me. They just need to be put where they belong.

Ask yourself these questions when you start decluttering:

Do I need it?

Do I want it?

Does it serve a purpose?

Do I love it?

Is there a spot for it? 

Where do you start to create an organized home?

Here are some things to think about to help guide you when you are just starting out:

1. It starts before it comes into the house.

When you are at the store or shopping online, really think through those decluttering questions. Do you need it? Do you want it? Will it serve a purpose? Do you love it? Is there a spot for it? I think if there is a NO to one of those questions, put it down and walk away.

2. Get granular.

Organizing starts with one thing and that gets built upon. Like one pencil. Then you group all pencils together. After that its all writing utensils. They are all together in one drawer in your desk. So if someone were to ask  you where they could find a pencil, you know exactly where to tell them.

Drawer in your desk

Writing utensils

All pencils

1 pencil

3. Organize by category and store by where the categories make the most sense.

This seems very obvious but may not be common practice. We keep a lot of things not where they make sense but where it may be convenient at the time. Really think through if it could work day in and day out.

4. Don’t buy containers/bins until you are done with the space.

I love buying containers and bins. But you don’t know what you really need until the space is complete. Maybe you don’t even need a bin for the space. Save your time and money until the project is done.

5. Start with one.

The only way to get an organized home is to start. It will get messier before it gets better. Choose one room to start with and then pick one area of that room and work your way around.

 

 ‘“When you surround yourself with possessions that spark joy, you’ll create a home and a life you love.” – Marie Kondo

Are you organizing your house? Let’s chat below!