229 | But I Don’t Know Where to Start Organizing My House…

[00:00:00] Have you heard a phrase that similar to something like starting is the hardest part? Don’t let that be. The reason that your home stays cluttered and messy and not picked up. And in that state of needing to be organized, starting, doesn’t have to be the most difficult part. And in this episode of the intentional edit podcast, I’m going to share with you one of the thing that needs to be done first, when home organization is your ultimate goal. It’s Tuesday. And that means I am answering a question from a listener, just like you. If you want me to use a question that you submit on a future Tuesday episode, all you have to do is go to intentional. edit.com. That’s the website www.intentionaledit.com. And a little record. Now button pops up and will either show up on the bottom of your screen or this side, it says record.

Now you click on that [00:02:00] and it walks you through a couple of steps so that you can easily like super, super easily. Leave me a question or leave me a message or something that you are struggling with and you would like a solution for, or you want my input on and I will be happy to use whatever you submit on a future Tuesday episode where I answer listener. Listener questions, whatever you are submitting or whatever you are struggling with.

Those are the topics that I choose to do episodes about really all the episodes. But I specifically answer the questions on a Tuesday because I want to make sure that the content that we’re sharing here is serving you and helping you to get from that cluttered, chaotic space in your life. And. Make it so that you can get to that simplified home that you’re looking for. Everyone has heard the phrase that starting is the most difficult parts or some version of that phrase. And of course starting can be the most difficult part when we are tackling something new. Anytime we’re doing something different than what we’re currently doing, or we’re trying to make a change that first step, the beginning point, the starting place, when you have to make the change and actually do the things that get you the results. That really can be the hardest part. If you will feel stuck and like, you don’t know where to start or you’re having a hard time taking that first step it’s because of this phrase or this scenario we’re starting is the hardest part because. When you’re in the place where you have to make a change, you have to move forward and do something different than what you have probably been doing for your entire life.

If not for a very, very, very long time, the starting point is often what prevents us from having a chance to ever meet that goal or ever complete this new task or break this record, or do the thing that we’re trying to do. That’s different. I’m answering a listener question that is onto this very [00:04:00] topic today. That question that came in, says I’ve been stuck on how to organize my house because I look around and see that everywhere needs something or could have organizing and better use of the spot. What should I do first to organize when there is so much in every room to do, we are not overly messy, but being organized would help a lot.

And it’s something I’ve been wanting to get around to, but don’t know what to do first. So it’s. Never something I get around to starting, even though I think about this every day. Okay. Great question. And I know that most of the listeners can relate to being in this scenario right now, or possibly. At one time before you started your journey with decluttering and home organization. If I told you the amount of times that this question comes up, you may not believe it because it is all the time. It’s probably the most common question or it’s something that is just repetitive with people that they say they can’t start, or they feel like they can’t start because this idea is preventing them from beginning a organizing project, or it’s be from beginning the decluttering process of home organization. When you want to get organized, it’s always going to start with decluttering.

That’s going to be the first step. You have to remove the excess. Those forgotten items that are taking up space that you don’t use anymore or something that was broken or stayed or ruined, and you thought you could fix it or you would fix it, but you haven’t fixed it. Or it could be the thing is that you bought and you never used, you know, you’re never going to use them, but you’re feeling guilty about not using them or you’re feeling guilty because it was a waste of money that you purchased them.

So you’re just keeping them, they’re just taking up space. Face, whether it’s out of sight and a harder reach [00:06:00] drawer or a high-up shelf, or maybe it is. In the quarter someplace and it’s actually adding to that visual clutter, whatever is happening, your starting point. For the purging and the home organization. You have to remove everything.

This starting point is removing everything that you no longer need, that you no longer use that you no longer want to have in your home. Now there’s a second point to this because purging happens before organizing. Yes, one, but another thing is how do you pick that exact location picking the specific spot that you’re going to start for?

Your house is specific to you. It’s going to be very specific. It’s going to be an intentional decision that you are going to make for your house and what you need to organize first. First of all, if you are short on time, a small space or a small little area, like one drawer or one shelf, that is a great starting point.

If you are in a position where you are completely overwhelmed, your entire home needs to be organized. Or more specifically, your entire kitchen needs to be organized and you’re thinking, do I organize the kitchen first? Do I start with the playroom first? Do I start in my messy closet or my kid’s bedroom or the basement storage room? If you’re thinking of things, room by room, it is an overwhelming task when you have too much stuff and everything needs to be gone through sorted through. Purged, and then you’re going to move on to that.

Organizing the thought is overwhelming. So break it down. If we’re going to focus on the kitchen for this example, then let’s think about the kitchen. Your entire kitchen is messy. You have too much stuff that’s out and about too much stuff that you see too much stuff in the cabinets and the drawers. You know that there’s excess, you know, that there’s things that don’t belong and that you don’t [00:08:00]want, but the thought of going through it all is overwhelming.

You know, you don’t have the time, you don’t have a full weekend or a significant amount of time to tackle an entire kitchen, kitchen decluttering session. So you’re going to break these down into small manageable tasks. You’re going to start with something like one drawer or one cabinet or one shelf or focused on one specific items.

If something that frustrates you a couple of times a day is the coffee mug collection that has gotten out of hand. And there’s not enough space to put the mugs back then your going to start with that. Give yourself 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes to work on this, pull all the kitchen mugs out of the place where they’re supposed to go.

And all of the kitchen mugs that have been shoved in other places. Get them all to one central location. So you can see everything on the counter, you start sorting through it, and you’re only going to keep the ones that you actually use. That you like that you enjoy, that you want to have, and you’re going to donate the rest.

You’re going to put them in a box or a bag, and you’re going to donate them. The ones that you want to keep that you’re using as for your family, put those back in an orderly fashion. And that’s the beginning of how you’re organizing the kitchen. That’s the first project. That is the first of many projects. At a different time, maybe it’s tomorrow, maybe it’s next week or. In a couple of days, move on to the next spot.

If the silver word drawer is so full, that you’re having trouble closing it and it’s getting jammed all the time. That might be the second location that you go to tackle that problem. You are solving the problems that are causing you, stress that are causing you to be frustrated and irritable and overwhelmed, solve those problems in little baby steps. And then maybe you move on to a shelf in the pantry and so on.

And you’re going [00:10:00] to identify these spots that are driving you crazy. Break it down. It’s not the entire kitchen. It’s this one problem. It’s the coffee mugs or it’s the silverware drawer. And that’s how you’re going to move through the house in these manageable projects using, I guess I should say with the manageable projects that are going to make it so that you’re decluttering and purging unwanted items, and then organizing after that.

Now when your time is limited, I always advise starting small because you can do a lot in a little chunk of time. If you stay focused on that one thing. And having the results of a completed task, where you are completing what you started, you’re completing the sorting and the decluttering and the putting away of the coffee mugs from start to finish.

You’re not leaving in the middle of that project. That should take you 15 to 30 minutes. In one session, get it done. And then you can choose what you’re going to do next based on what you’re most irritated with. Then at that time where you find yourself annoyed, move on to that. If it’s the kitchen like we’re talking about here, then. You know, start with the kitchen.

If it’s not, if the toys that are taking over your living room are driving you insane. Start with one basket of toys or one shelf in a cabinet. Or one corner in your home that has collected a junk. It has piles of stuff that are never touched, but it’s just the go-to place to pile up the stuff that you don’t want to deal with.

Start with that. Start with a. Significant section of that pile, give yourself 20 or 30 minutes. And dedicate going through that, putting it back where it goes, discarding, the things that you don’t need throwing away the trash. And move on to the next, you get to decide where you are beginning this project, where your starting point is based on what’s causing you [00:12:00] frustration over and over and over again.

And that is always a good starting point. And then you break it down into a small, manageable step that takes about 15 to 30 minutes. You can stay focused, you can stay on track and you can get the benefits of completing the task. And the cool thing about this is once you. You see the success in your living with the success of now, you can find the coffee mug that you want.

There’s always room to put them away. You have what you need, and it’s organized that success is going to help motivate you and keep you moving forward because you feel good about that. You reap the benefits of that. So you move on then to the next area. And then the next area. Now you have to, that’s complete, these two spots are done and that helps motivate you to move on to the third one.

And so on. You keep. Keep going and you keep moving through the house. You’re eliminating clutter while this happens. So your stress level should be reducing. And you’re living with the benefits of being organized and having less clutter in your space.

If you are not beginning because you say, I don’t know where to start.

I don’t know what the first thing is to do. And you’re hung up on this starting point. My suggestion for you is to begin by picking an area that is the most annoying to you and starting small designate a chunk of time to tackle that project. And then move on to the second project a couple of days later or a week later, and keep going until you have decluttered. And organized everything that you want to in your home. Thank you for submitting the question today.

If you are listening to this and you want me to answer a specific question of something that is struggling in your home or your life, and you need help go to intentional edit.com. Click on the record now button, and I will answer your question that you submit on a future Tuesday episode of the intentional [00:14:00] edit podcast.

Thank you for being here again today. I will meet you back here for the next episode, and just a couple of days.