Quarantine + Organizing! How to organize your spaces and spend $0.
DISCLAIMER: It's perfectly acceptable to not spend any of your time during the Coronavirus doing something even remotely productive. Take care of your mental health, whatever that means to you. I love you!
PULL EVERYTHING OUT OF THE SPACE
Whether it's a drawer, shelf, closet, or car trunk, pull everything out and start fresh. Wipe down the empty surfaces before putting anything back.
Assess whether the items belong in the space (or in your home) as you pull them out.
SORTING
Have four boxes or bags available while you sort your items into categories.
1. Trash
2. Donation (Goodwill, Humane Society, etc)
3. Give to someone (Family, Friends)
4. Belongs in another room
It's much easier to continue with the sorting process once unrelated/unwanted items are removed. Dont skip dealing with the "Belongs in another room" category. It's easy to just say you'll do it later...but like, will you, though? Do it now.
O-H-I-O RULE
O Only H Handle I It O Once
When sorting your items, resist the urge to put something down in place "for now". You're booby trapping your future self by creating more piles and, therefore, more work later down the road. This rule will also help you to decrease clutter in your home: When you get undressed, put your clothes directly in the hamper and not on the floor. Use a dish, wash the dish.
You get it.
CONTAIN BY CATEGORY
Avoid throwing miscellaneous items into a drawer or bin. Instead, sort items based on category or by how you'd look for them. If you have a bunch of cords and lesser used electronics, bin them all together in a "Tech" bin. Paper plates, cups, napkins and cutlery can be binned as "Party Supplies", and yeah, throw in those random loose balloons, too. Birthday candles rolling around in your junk drawer can be placed in a baggie and stored in your "Baking" section in your pantry.
USE WHAT YOU HAVE
Channel your inner Marie Kondo and utilize old jewelry and iPhone boxes to organize in your drawers. You can use cardboard boxes or Tupperware without lids in your closets/pantries/freezers to collect small items by category. (See the first photos in the blog for another example!)
MAKE A HOME FOR ITEMS IN PLACES YOU USE THEM
Don't fight your nature. If you naturally drop your bag and keys in a certain place daily, create a space to allow for that.
We don't have a mudroom (and our coat closet is a cruel joke), so we usually drop our stuff near the living room. We set up two chairs and baskets to hold our daily bags and accessories (see photos below).
Similarly, Just because a space exists for an intention, doesn't mean you have to use it as such. Rules don't matter. Nothing matters. #quaratine2020
SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS GOING FORWARD
Set yourself up for success after the organizing session by setting realistic expectations for you and your family to follow. If you know your front hall fills up with a mountain of shoes, set a threshold for quantity of shoes per family member. If your mail overflows in your inbox, set at least one day a week to sort through it and knock it out. If you need to, reward yourself for sticking to it.
If you're like me, you'll end up rewarding yourself for doing absolutely nothing because you are a kwwwwweeeeeeeeeennnnn.
IF YOU ARE FEELING OVERWHELMED...
Start by throwing away obvious trash/recycling/shredding (candy wrappers, old documents) and wipe down the surfaces.
Use the O-H-I-O Rule to accomplish a few tasks. Fill up a basket with a few items that all go to the same room/drawer and put them away immediately. Even if you don't do that for the entire space, you've at least accomplished something!
Feel free to text or call me (if you've got those digits, son!) or email me at fourthwallorganizing@gmail.com if you need more guidance on a specific project!