When taking on an organizing project it can be difficult to determine what to do first. Should you buy organizing products or declutter first? The short answer is to declutter first. Here are the reasons why.
Know What You Have
The process of decluttering and organizing is an opportunity to see what you have. Pulling items out of cabinets, closets, and bins makes a big mess but it’s essential to the process. You begin to see categories form, you can put like items together and you can see how much you have of one item.
When I work with my clients and we put all their stuff in one place they really begin to understand themselves better. They are often surprised to see that they have duplicates and they see items they didn’t know they had. They also discover the immense volume of stuff they own and realize they don’t need so much stuff!
As a result when you know what you have you know what you need to contain.
Like With Like
When your items are all out in front of you it becomes the game of Match. You begin to see how your items relate and go together. For example, you’ll begin to see craft supplies and you can begin to gather all the supplies together. You may begin to see subcategories like knitting supplies, oil painting supplies or sewing supplies. When you are certain you have everything in one category together you now have a better idea of how to contain the items. You’ll know the size of the container you need.
Measuring
Measuring is so important when finding the right organizing products. You need to know the volume of a category you have in order to get the appropriate-sized bin to store items. You also need to know cabinet dimensions, shelf dimensions, cubby dimensions, etc. Once items are sorted I suggest stacking items in each category, or laying items together to get an overall, general size for the bin you’ll need. It also matters where the items will be stored and the size of the space the container is going in. Bring measurements to the store with you so you never have to guess. There is nothing worse than having to make a second trip to return items. Oh and always get a bin that’s slightly larger when possible. You’ll want room for growth.
Get A Cohesive Look
When you know the volume of items you have in a category you can better decide where to store them in your home. When items are grouped together and sorted you’ll see how many subcategories you have. You can count how many bins you need and create a cohesive look for your space. When bins coordinate, and/or stack together it can make your space look really well organized and finished.
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