5 Steps to Start Clearing Your Space.
These days, home is central to every aspect of life from work to play. With all the activity happening, it's no wonder if our standards for maintaining our spaces are slipping. We all need to go easy on ourselves (and our housemates) as we juggle the new challenges imposed by social distancing. But what if the state of our home is making our lives more chaotic? Then it's time to take charge.
Here are 5 steps that will help you transform any space from chaotic to neat, even when time is tight:
1. Narrow in on one high-impact space to transform. It may be a storage unit that you know could be used more efficiently, a room that you want to make more functional for your current lifestyle, or a collection of things you want to sort and edit. Approach the space with purpose, around a clear vision for how you want to use it and stay focused on seeing it through. (For example: if your kitchen is in heavy use and the counters always feel cluttered, you may want to reorganize your cabinets.)
2. Identify categories of things that are important to keep there and group them together. You can use existing space more efficiently when you store similar things together. It's also helpful to see an entire category together to ensure it warrants the space it's taking up. Start with one sub-category, clearing out your primary place for it and grabbing that type of item from anywhere else the odd one may have migrated to. (E.g. If you’re reorganizing your kitchen, choose a category like drinkware, taking them all out to take stock of what you have and clearing out any clutter surrounding them.)
3. Edit unnecessarily large categories down to the things that are worth your time and space. Review each category as a whole and ask yourself if all items are equally useful to you. Keep the useful items handy and consider donating less frequently used items. If it's something important that you use infrequently, you can always remove it from your prime area and store it out of the way with seasonal or specialty items. (E.g. If you have more mugs than you can ever use, let go of what you don’t actually use to make room for emerging categories that are cluttering the counter and need a proper place.)
4. Tackle the clutter. Dispose of any obvious garbage or recycling, return anything that doesn't belong there to its designated place, and pull aside anything you had forgotten about that is no longer useful to donate or sell. You’ll likely find a pile of miscellaneous items that you don’t know what to do with. Rather than shove them back in the cupboard, ask yourself what use they will serve in the future—often we need to look at these things with fresh eyes and reclassify them. Here are some common examples:
It’s sentimental: use it decoratively, document it with a photo, or save in a sentimental box.
It just needs repair: take the time to do a quick repair, or move it somewhere that will help you get to it when you have time; you may just accept you won’t repair it yourself but can find someone else willing to.
The material is valuable: store it with other crafts or supplies so it’s handy when you’re feeling inspired.
5. Fit your newly edited categories to the available space and storage solutions. Adjust shelves as needed to maximize space and repurpose existing baskets or bins. In a shared space, make labels for the categories so the new organization sticks and everything is easy to find.
By taking a step-by-step approach, you can you can transform any space and bring your vision to reality.
For more inspiration, read about our specific example of organizing cosmetics on the blog: Stop. Drop. & Makeup.
Give yourself a clean slate and decide which essentials are truly useful to you.