Since I am currently working on organizing my home. I know I will need to purchase things in order to really organize, but I cannot purchase these items until I know what it is and where I am going to put it. I think every Friday until my home is complete I will give another update and some pointers that have worked for me. Here we go my first step to organization..... Decluttering
Did anyone else hear the scary music..ok maybe just me. Anyways... This means going through every nook and cranny. Every box and every bin, every shelf and cabinet, and asking yourself a few questions.
Do I really need this? Believe me that is a hard one for me. I am way too sentimental. I found the blood pressure cuff they used on Emma when she was born. They took her to the nursery and used that BP cuff, and since they were just going to throw it away the nurse asked my husband if we wanted to keep it, so we still have it. This is the kind of thing I find in my house. I have learned with some sentimental items if you take a picture, sometimes it is easier to give it away.
Do I REALLY need this? I know we just asked this question, but for decluttering purposes it needs to be asked again.
Where am I going to put it? This is the next question if the answer to the first question was "yes." Common sense tells us to put it where it is going to be used the most. If we cannot seem to find a place for it, then maybe we need to ask ourselves the first question again. Usually when I think of getting rid of it, I can figure out where it will go (or realize I do not need it after all).
Is there anything else that goes with it? This is usually the last question. It makes sense to have like things together. All of my son's dinosaurs are in the same bin, all of the baby clothes are in the same place. I have separate bins based on gender and age, but there is not need to keep like things spread all over.
If you have determined that the item must go then there are other questions to ask:
Trash? Throw it away and never look back.
Donate? If you plan on donating it. The best thing to do is be prepared to donate it that day. You can either set a time to be finished by and take your load to the donation center or if your donation center allows it schedule a pick up time. This way it is not sitting around allowing you to rethink or cluttering up your home.
Sell? If you are planning on selling the item then I would recommend putting in a box and taping it closed, writing sell on it and putting away until you are ready for the garage sale. If you are planning on selling it on ebay go ahead and box it up to be ready to be shipped as soon as it is sold.
Warning about selling things on ebay- make sure you are aware of how many of your items are already for sale on the site, how much they are going for, and how fast they are selling. I have a few things I would love to sell, but people are not buy, so I have donated them. I need my sanity more that a few extra dollars.
This is the stage I am at and hoping to be moving to more of the organization stage next.
