Space Out: a Lazy Person’s Guide to Organizing

Take a lazy, rainy Sunday to clear your space and make a fresh start for the New Year.

1. Focus on only one area. You might start by organizing a bookshelf or a closet – instead of an entire room.

2. Set a timer and give yourself an hour to start. Promise yourself you won’t dig through old photos or read love letters from high school. It’s tough, but you can do it. The purpose of the hour is to organize – not to walk down memory lane.

3. How much space do you have? Be realistic about how much space you have compared to how much stuff. You should, of course, have an equal space to stuff ratio.

4. Find containers that fit the space. A “container” could mean a photo album for photos or a plastic bin for summer clothes. Get some colorful boxes (IKEA has cheap ones) to make the space look more attractive and hide your piles. Just keep in mind that the everything should fit into the space like a puzzle piece.

5. Organize your stuff into categories - and then put the categories in containers: put CDs in one box and old birthday cards in another. Label each box with a black Sharpie so there’s never any mystery about what’s inside. If you can’t think of a category for something, put it in a box marked “miscellaneous.”

6. Definitely create a pile in the recycling bin (if you know what I mean) and take lots of stuff to Goodwill. If you can’t decide whether to get rid of something, set it aside in a “maybe” pile.

7. When you’re finished, the puzzle should be complete… and everything else should be in a truck headed for a thrift store. Put the “maybe” pile in storage for a month and write the date on the outside of the box. In February, if you haven’t missed anything in the box, you will know that you can live without it.

If you need any help, drop me a line: mary@missorganizer.com.

Clothes Encounter

Someone beat me to the punch with Miss. Organizer on twitter. Dang! What a bummer. I’m stuck with @missorganize. How incomplete.

Although @missorganizer only has 3 tweets. Maybe she wants to give the name to me. Hmm. I wonder how much an twitter account is worth these days?

One of her tweets had an interesting link: www.swapstyle.com. I’ve never heard of it before… and I’m not quite sure how I feel about swapping clothes with strangers online. Not that I have a problem giving my stuff away . It would just have to be pretty seriously wowed in order to swap for something I can’t take to a dressing room.

In fact, I’ve always encouraged clients and friends to donate and recycle stuff that they don’t use any more. You know, the whole “one man’s trash…” concept. I strongly believe in getting rid of as much crap as you can through selling on ebay, donating to thrift stores – or giving as gifts at White Elephant parties. Also, I love the concept of the Naked Lady gathering – where friends get together and swap old clothes for new-er ones. http://www.getcrafty.com/home_nakedlady.php. It’s great to feel like a philanthropist – while selfishly freeing up closet space for new goodies. It’s quite the Zen Capitalism experience.

Swapstyle, however, I will have to spend more time on before I can develop and well-informed opinion. I’ve never been the type to buy clothes on ebay – even though I have friends who swear by it. For me, it’s hard enough to clothes that fit right when I can try them on in a dressing room. I’d rather not collect more shirts that “would be perfect if tailored” or pants that “will fit better when I start kickboxing.”

I like to keep my closet filled with only clothes that I love. Everything else – should find a better home.

So maybe I’ll upload some of my unwanted items to the Swapstyle and just say “Take me – I’m free. Give your junk to someone who wants it.”