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OT: Decluttering and Organizational ideas

Paintcrisis's picture

Since I have downsized and moved from a 5 bedroom house to a 3 bedroom townhome, I need to purge things. I’m not doing a very good job so far.

I am also - for the first time ever - wildly unorganized. I lost a set of keys. I missed an appointment. Those sort of things.

Does anyone have any good resources or tips for those areas? I love reading and am desperate to get my life back on track.

Thanks a bunch, I feel I am drowning over here.

Comments

Acratopotes's picture

Start organizing....

unpack all that you need, the rest goes into storage, if the box is not opened with in a year it goes to donations without opening it, if you did not use it in 6 months you can live without it.

get a key hook, bowl what ever and make a point of putting your keys in there...
put reminders on your phone for appointments...

yes you are going to gorget small things, cause you are in a new house, new life and everything feel up side down, the sooner you make the house yours, and have simple basic things like a key bowl, the quicker you will get back to normal Wink

zerostepdrama's picture

If I don't LOVE something or NEED it I don't keep it. I also organize/purge a closet/area of my house every 2 weeks. I just go through a drawer or cabinet and clean it out. It helps to keep things cleaned and organized.

The initial purge though you just have to do it. Think of how much better things will look if everything is organized. Storage containers are your friend! (I wish I lived closer to you. I LOVE to organize!)

As far as being disorganized- how is it any different then before? Weren't you doing it all on your own for the kids and yourself? With little help? It's no different. Right now you just have a lot more on your plate.

I do my thinking for the day in the morning while I'm in the shower and getting ready. So if that means you have to wake up 15 minutes earlier to have that think time for yourself make sure you do that. And a calendar is my saving grace. I write everything down. Make notes. Make lists. Send myself emails.

I am VERY proud of you. Give it time and it will come together. Think how beautiful things will be without all the toxicity in your life.

(((HUGS)))

Paintcrisis's picture

I love your advice and have made a big initial purge. It does feel good.

I have that calendar, duplicated for one at home for everyone to see and one with me but I think I will try doing reminders on my phone. I’ve never tried that.

secret's picture

Clothes:
turn all the hangers facing one way. As you wear the item, turn the hanger facing the other way. After a while, whatever hasn't been work can be purged.

Kitchen:
make a 2 week meal plan...then make another one. All the pots and pans you will use, you keep - anything that is to be used once or twice a year, like a huge roaster, can be put in storage. I keep mine in my garage, with my deep fryer and lobster pot, on a shelving unit. My garage is clean though... I don't keep vehicles in there, it's more like an extra living room.

As far as cooking tools, take everything out - as you use it, put it away. Whatever is left after a month, you clearly don't need, or use once a year - put the rest away in storage. Take them out during those times of the year where you might cook different things... if you use them then, great, if you don't, buh bye.

Front entrance closet:
sweater organizers hold 2 pairs of shoes easily, per unit. I have 3 in my front closet.

Pantry:
put your stuff in containers... much easier to know how much of everything you have, and you're not lost among all the boxes, bags, and random cans you might have. Much easier to organize afterwards, too.

Linen closet:
once you've folded your sheets, put the matching set inside a pillow case, and fold the edge over. Everything is contained. Can also be kept on the shelf in the bedroom closet in the appropriate room.

Cleaning supplies - stick to basics, keep them all together in a basket... when you (deep) clean, you take the basket and go.

For losing things - you can't really lose a set of keys in the house unless there's a lot of stuff in the house to lose the keys in. If I misplaced my keys, there are many surfaces to look on... but the surfaces are clear, they're not cluttered with a lot of junk to have to move around and look under. I have a keyring in the front entrance, as well as a small table with a decorative bowl on it to dump stuff in.. I also have a few decorative bowls in the kitchen, and living room - stuff gets dumped in those all the time, from a random small toy to keys, coins, hairbands, lego... drives me nuts, but it drives me much LESS nuts than having all that crap on my coffee table or counter.

Organizing your time - your time is the most important thing - put it in your scheduler, phone, whatever system you use, as soon as you know it. Even if you're on the run, have kids in your arms, groceries in your hand - stop, and enter the information.

Before you go to bed at night, look over your to-do list for the next day, including any household things you might want to do, appointments, events, meal planning... and act accordingly. Take out the meat for the next day's meal, lay out your clothes for the next day, make any required brown bag lunches, set your coffee pot... whatever you need the next day, do it the night before.

Check out flylady.net. It's amazing to get you started when you don't know where to start.

moeilijk's picture

Flylady.net
Best advice: make routines of 1-2-3 activities for everything; only start what you can finish in 15 minutes; make sure you take care of your body too.
Good luck!

Paintcrisis's picture

Great, she must be good, someone else recommended her too. I’ve never heard of her.

AshMar654's picture

I recently moved and I purged like everything. I got rid of so much stuff and chucked so much it was not even funny. Truth is I can purge even more if I wanted to. Any the biggest thing is going through everything as you pack and make a box for stuff that you do not need and take it to the salvation army.

I go through stuff about once a year and things i notice I have not touched in a long time i throw out. I have the mind set if I really need it again I will borrow it from a friend or I will just go buy it again. I can honestly say I have not bought something again that I have chucked.

It is all about the mindset of living with what you need. When you get that you realize how little you need day to day. I have no toaster right now cause my old one was pretty bad and just done. I still have not gotten a new one. I miss it sometimes but truth is you can make toast in a frying pan on the stove. I live without it.

Tuff Noogies's picture

O/T here, but ashmar - may i make a suggestion? i know you seem great at purging and going through stuff regularly - i need to do better with that myself. however... i could NOT live without my toaster oven. it goes way beyond just toast, and we use FAR more often our regular oven, especially with just three people in the household. it totally saves on electricity too, plus it can bake on convection! the only thing we turn the full-size oven on for is a large casserole or roast - those types of things. the 12" sheet pan that came with the toaster is plenty enough to roast or bake most stuff for just the three of us.

just sharing my own personal experience, something you might consider Smile

witch.hazel's picture

You can get a big decorative bowl for your counter, table, or whatever is closest to you when you walk in and throw everything important in there (keys, wallet, etc) each and every time you get home.

I have major (currently untreated) ADD, and that's the only thing that keeps me from losing important things every day.

I also keep four huge bins in the garage, and when things get cluttered I take one inside and just fill it up with whatever item I find on the floor or where it shouldn't be. Then it goes back into the garage until I have time to put everything back in it's place. When that time comes I find that much of it can go to the garbage or charity.

Whenever the kids are out of the house, get rid of everything they won't miss that is cluttering up the space. They are constantly accumulating things, and we have to make room for more of their junk....

I like the tip about getting rid of clothing you haven't worn. I recently finally donated all of my "skinny clothes" which I'd been waiting to fit into for five years and are way out of style now anyway.

Paintcrisis's picture

I bought a farmhouse table and am going to put a chicken feeder in the middle as decoration and to hold all my ‘stuff’ like that.

Thanks for the tips, they are great.

BethAnne's picture

I recently took a whole week to sort out our apartment a little more, we have been here almost 3 years and there was (and still is ) lots of stuff that hasn’t been sorted since we moved. So don’t feel bad if you don't get everything sorted right away, most of us live in our disorganized ways.

I would say to start small and start with one room. Go through the things in there, donate or trash stuff and things that need to go then if you need some extra storage get it so that the room is organized and you can find what you need in there. Just focus on one room and then enjoy that room being organized.

The other thing that I did in my week long organizing that I regret not doing earlier was taking time to put up all of the paintings and pictures and putting up photographs too. I found some photo frames at the dollar tree and painted some photos at Walgreens and for less than $15 we had family photos up on the wall. Now the house looks a lot more welcoming and most of the paintings that were clogging up our spare room now look great on the walls.

Paintcrisis's picture

Yes, I would like to get my hanging decor done ASAP. It will be a big help to my mindset, I think.

Paintcrisis's picture

Thanks so much for the responses. They’ve helped motivate me. Thursday and Friday will be big afternoons of organizing.

Acratopotes's picture

and no one gave you the following advice... and we call ourselves friends...gmpf

Invite a couple of single friends over, they all have to bring a bottle of wine and a snack platter/bag of crisps.... the more hands and ideas the quicker it will be done and it will be loads and loads of laughter and fun....

Thursday you are on your own and do the breakables and pack away clothing... Friday it's the friends thing, hanging of wall decorations, moving furniture around, fluffing pillows, simply having fun sorting out with friends