Step 1: Analyze
Before I start with what Step 1 is, I will start with what it is not. The first thing to do is NOT is to go buy a bunch of organizing supplies. Ever. I totally realize that this is the fun part of organizing and everyone wants to jump right into this step. Unfortunately, if you jump in and start buying organizing supplies, there is a big chance you are going to end up giving up on the project because your containers don’t fit what you need them to, and you don’t want to go back to the store to return or exchange them. That’s the main reason people end up with cluttered closets full of unused organizing supplies. It’s ironic, I know.
As is the case with any project meant to improve function or efficiency, it’s best to start off knowing what the problems are. Nine times out of ten when I have worked with clients, one of the biggest reasons they have clutter is because they have no clue how much stuff they have. That’s why the first step I recommend for any organizing project is to pull everything OUT of its storage space and start sorting like items together. Often times, items get purchased or brought into the home, and older items get pushed to the back of the closet or cupboard and forgotten. It’s not until we empty out those storage spaces that we can truly start to analyze what we own.
I helped a busy mom organize her closet recently. She was a stay-at-home mom after having a career where she needed to dress professionally every day. When I had finished sorting all the clothes she had in her closet into piles of like items, I asked her how many of each item she thought she needed. When I asked her how many white button up shirts she needed, she replied that three or four was probably sufficient since she was no longer working outside the home. She was floored to find out she had almost 20 white button up shirts currently in her stash. That’s 15 white button up shirts alone that were able to be donated, but only because she was able to see all those extra shirts all in one place.
This step is the most daunting, but the most important, so please do not skip it. By putting all your like items together outside of the storage space, you’ll be able to think more clearly on the decisions that need to be made in the next steps.