There's No Place Like Home

I have said before that the key to an organized space is for everything in your home to have a designated home. It is a simple concept but so hard for many of us to execute.

For some of us, our things have never before had a home so finding homes for literally everything is overwhelming. I get it. I really do. Just take it one item at a time and it will get easier the more you do. 

Some of you may say "My stuff has a home but it never seems to stay in it".  If that is happening, you need to do some thinking about why. The answer might be different depending on the item. 

It might be that you are not used to putting things away because they are easier to find if they are in sight. Be patient with yourself. Trust the organizing systems you are putting into place and give yourself time to develop the habit of automatically putting stuff away. 

The other possibility is that the item has a home, but it is not the right home.  We tend to put things where "they" say they should go or where "it makes sense" for them to be. 

But in reality we should store them where we use them. Or even where we tend to put them all the time. Even if that does not make sense to other people. 

I have trouble lifting anything over 10 pounds. It is not good for me. But I also don't leave the house without the bag that holds my nebulizer, epi pen and other emergency meds. 

So if I go shopping, it is a huge effort just to get this bag, my purse and the few shopping bags from my car, up the walk and into the house.   I am literally exhausted when I get in the door and just drop them in the entry way. Which quite frankly looks like crap. 

I have tried in vain to change this habit, getting angry with myself because I was not succeeding. I finally realized this was a limitation of my health and I needed to find a way to deal with it. So I did. 

This is the bin I got to hold my bags when I get home. The stuff still gets dumped right inside the door, but it is contained in a pretty bin so it looks better. And I don't feel so bad. 

It took running up against one of my physical limitations to make this clear to me, but this really applies to any item in your house. And since we are hoping the children in our lives grow up with good habits rather than learning them as adults, here is the bin to contain Paige's school stuff. It not only contains it, it makes it so she knows where to find it!  

So store stuff where you use it not where it "should" be stored and it will be much more likely to stay in its home. 

We actually store our cordless drill in the cabinet with our spices because it is used most often in the kitchen. Do you have items in your home that might need an unusual home based on where you use it?  

What are they and where do you use them?  Share with us!

Decluttering with Training Wheels

Do you remember what it felt like as a child to sit on your tricycle and watch the older kids fly by on their two wheelers?  Were you like me and sat there yearning to taste that freedom but with no idea how to get it?

And then came the miracle answer - training wheels. That wonderful thing that bridged the seemingly insurmountable gap between three wheels and two. 

Well for many of us, decluttering is like learning to ride a bike. Going from cluttered to organized is too big of a jump. We need training wheels. Don't be ashamed. Raise your hands up and say I use training wheels and I am proud of it!

And now let me introduce you to the declutterer's version of training wheels:  small sorting bins. 

Go out and get yourself two SMALL bins to use for sorting.  Don't let this photo fool you. This is not a laundry basket. It is small. The dimension are about 10" x 13" x 5". It needs to be small so you do not get overwhelmed. 

So how do you use these baskets?  Easy. Pick an area, any area. I do not reccommend starting with the area that completely overwhelms you to even think about. Instead chose a random area of clutter. We chose our kitchen table. 

Now fill up one of the bin with clutter that needs to be sorted or anything that does not have a home. Once the bin is full, stop!  Resist the urge to cram the bin untill it is over full.  It does not matter if there is still clutter in the area you picked. Ignore it. All you care about is what is in the bin. 

Now it is time to sort. 

Quickly go through the bin using the following steps:

1. Throw out anything that is obvious trash

2. If you know at first sight it is a donation, put it in a bag for donations

3.  If you want to keep it put it in the second bin. 

These should be quick instinctive decisions, don't labor over them. Your first instinct is usually correct. 

Once you do the initial sort, it is time to deal with what you decided to keep. These items will fall into just a few categories. 

1. Items that have a home but were left out - put them away - now. 

2.  Items you like but that you have no real use for - consider letting them go and put them in the donate bag - now. 

3. Sentimental stuff - put it aside to be sorted later after you get the rest of the clutter under control. 

4.  Items you want to keep but that do not have a "home". 

This is where decluttering usually gets derailed. "I want this but I don't know where to put it."  This leads to people putting the stuff right back where it was and giving up. 

But with training wheels you are not going to allow yourself to get sidetrack by these items.  Instead place them in a box which will now be known as the " needs a home" box.  All you are doing right now is deciding what is staying or leaving your home. 

Why does this step trip so many people up?  Because deciding what to keep is decluttering. Figuring out where something should live is organizing. They are not the same thing. And if you try to organize an area before you completely declutter it, you will fail. Trust me, I know. 

So use your training wheels. Keep the bins small to avoid getting overwhelmed and stick to decluttering. Organizing will come later. 

I am proud of using the training wheels my sister gave us to declutter our entire kitchen table over the course of a week. Won't you try it out?

If you do, post a photo of your progress. I would love to see them.