Guest Post: Organize

I love being organized. Don't you? 

Even those of you that aren't organized, you like being organized but won't admit it. You think it's too much of a hassle and too time consuming. It's not, actually it can save tons of time. 

Lets get started....begin by getting/finding/organizing 5 boxes/garbage bags/piles. 

One: is for keep

 Two: give to charity

Three: put away in another room

Four: just plain toss

Five: give to a friend/relative. 

Now for those of you who are super organize minded down to the last detail, begin on the right wall and go in a clockwise fashion. The rest of us just pick a wall. Touch each individual item, pick it up, look at it and decide if you love it. The trick is to look at it and decide if you love it, not your aunt Martha, or your mother, but you. Does it have meaning, does it add beauty, do you have to dust/clean it often, do you have time to enjoy it. If not, get rid of it. Now if Aunt Martha gave it to you on your wedding day 25 years ago, has she been by to see if you still have it? Probably not. Does it bring back good childhood memories? I have a turkey platter that my Grandmother used at holiday time and it brings back wonderful memories of huge holiday dinners. Unfortunately it broke, but I glued it and it hangs as a decoration on my wall, reminding me of the love, family and fun we had. As for the object Aunt Martha gave you, can you pass it on to a friend? Over the years I have been given several things that made me raise my eyebrows....come on you have been given those gifts too...I displayed them for quite a while and while they were being displayed people would look at it and make a comment. Some like that object. So after a while I would give it to them and when the person that gave it to me as a gift asked about it I would tell them the truth, that I enjoyed it very much and that my friend really fell in love with it and it was more his/her taste so I gave it to them because I knew they would enjoy it so much more. 

Now those of you who love the teeny tiny details of doing this, each item will be easy to pick up and put in the proper bin. Everyone else (me included) you will take one glance and make a decision. That's okay, you are on your way to becoming organized. 

After you have gone through each item, on each wall and have placed them in the proper bins, its time to rehang, paint, and redecorate with what you have left over. That would be only......ahem, I mean ONLY...maybe I should underline it...ONLY from the keep pile. 

The "put away in another room" pile means just that, put it away! Don't stick it in the middle of the room and say. "I will put it away when I organize this room." No, because every time you walk by that room, you will see the work that needs to be done and you will get tired before you begin. Put it away! 

The toss bag, toss it out. If its a huge pile take it to the dump. 

The give to charity pile, take it right away and give it to charity. Don't think about doing a garage sale later with all the other stuff, because what usually happens is you remember something and end up pulling it out of the give away pile and there's the clutter all over again. 

Now the fun part. Once you have organized things, it is much easier to put it away right after you are done using it than it is to have to hunt for it later. I know, I know, that could be a topic for another time. 

In the meantime, Happy organizing.