Organizing: Bringing Functionality and Joy into Your Life

If you haven’t read our post about decluttering, please do that first. Then come back here after 🙂

A couple of rules we have learned after decluttering and organizing since 2012:

• Rule #1: DO NOT START AN ORGANIZING PROJECT WITHOUT DOING A DECLUTTERING SESSION FIRST.
• Rule #2: DO NOT BUY ANY ORGANZINIG PRODUCTS YET. IT’S A MUST KNOWING YOUR SPECIFIC NEEDS AND MEASUREMENTS.

This is the list included in our decluttering post, we will follow the same steps to get started with our organizing project:

Discovery Session

Defining your goal. Be specific. What is your desired outcome? What do you want the space to look like? What activities would you like to do? What do you love and what do you hate the most?

Picking a space

It’s very powerful to be able to start and finish one space for you to experience a functional and inviting space. What Space is going to bring you the most Joy.

Get others involved

If you are living with others, please make sure to get them involved. No one will support you if they don’t feel a part of the process.

Get help

Yes getting help makes the process so much faster and fun!

Scheduling the right amount of time

Be realistic.

Before and after photos

It’s very nice to see them once you are done.

After the decluttering part is done you will know for sure what items can stay in the space. It’s time to decide what the best system would be to make your space inviting and functional.

“If you skip the decluttering part you will end up organizing and finding “homes” for items that don’t belong there. Most likely the result won’t be as inviting and functional as expected”

Most times you may able to use products and storage solutions that you already have. You may not be aware of everything you own until you finish touching every item. That’s why we encourage you not to buy anything yet.

These are the steps that we normally follow when organizing:

1. Make sure that all the items that belong in the space that is to be organized are there.
2. Try to picture how you are going to use the space. What activities you are planning on doing, what items you will use more often.
3. Make sure to place items where everybody using them can have access. (example: placing items within kid’s reach, placing heavy objects lower..)
4. Try to set up stations. Every activity will require specific items. Try to group them together. Make it easy to put items away when you are done using them.
5. Try to make work what you already own if possible.
6. Do all the items fit in your space? Sometimes the space is not big enough to fit everything. Be realistic. Go back to step 1 and reassess the situation. Remember: you are looking for functionality and joy. If space is too crowded and items are difficult to access most likely you won’t enjoy using it.
7. If you require additional organizing or storage solutions make sure to measure your space and measure what you need to store first. Measuring is the only way to find the perfect fit for your needs.
8. Add personal touches to make your space inviting. Display items that will bring you joy.
9. Test the end result and don’t be shy to tweak it if anything doesn’t work perfectly for you. (It may take a few tweaks to consider your project finished).