In my old age, I can finally admit that my hobby is to tidy. Just like people love to garden, bake or knit, I love to pull everything out of my pantry and clean and organize it. I know a tidy space will help me feel relaxed and curb my anxiety, plus I am much calmer and happier when not surrounded by a mess.
While I love to clean and organize, it’s not necessarily the process I love – it’s the final result. Focusing on the end goal and what the space will look like (and how it will feel when it’s
done!) is what helps me push through.
2023 is your year to get organized! Whether it’s a single drawer, closet or the full house, it can be done. While the process of decluttering and organizing may feel daunting, it helps to break it up into smaller and more manageable pieces.
Getting started is the hardest part. Below are 10 tips and pieces of advice that may help you break through that mental block:
1. Declutter
I know, it’s the most repeated advice – that’s because it works. All the organization books and videos and bins will do you no good if you’re drowning in clutter. Knowing you need to get rid of stuff is easy, but actually parting with the stuff is hard! Sometimes, I just don’t have the mental energy to make hard decisions. On those days, I just focus on the easy stuff. I can go through a room and just throw away the garbage, or put all the books in a pile, or gather all the office supplies. Pick large categories and sort that way!
2. Go Room By Room
If you want to tackle your whole house, set a schedule to go room by room. Just focus on one space per week—or per month—to stop from feeling overwhelmed. For May, just focus on your bathroom. In June, you can tackle your bedroom. Give yourself permission to take your time. It took years for the space to become a mess, and it’s okay to take months or a year to get it into shape.
3. Never Leave Empty-Handed
A good way to slowly tidy is to never leave a room emptyhanded. If I am walking out of my bedroom and I see my daughter’s hairbrush on the dresser, I grab it and put it in the bathroom when passing by. It can be something as small as a candy wrapper or drinking glass. Every time you leave a room just do a quick look around to figure out what you can grab and relocate to its “home.”
4. YouTube It
There are a lot of decluttering and organizing videos on YouTube. These helpful “clean with me” or “organize with me” videos are great to get you in the mood to organize. You might find it helpful to have those playing in the background while you’re organizing so it feels like you’re not alone in your task.
5. Little Wins Are Still Wins
There is no requirement or rule that you have to do an entire space at once. Want to tackle your bathroom, but it’s too overwhelming? Just do one drawer. That’s it! Don’t worry about the rest of the bathroom. Just get one drawer done. You might find that little “win” motivates you to tackle more of the space that day or maybe you continue with another drawer the next day.
6. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Have you ever tried to tackle a space, but your partner isn’t as inspired? I’ve been there. Thankfully, my spouse doesn’t really concern himself with how I organize or declutter. But occasionally, I have things that require his input. Once, I had about 50 books that needed to be sorted, so I arranged them face up on the ground and he just pointed to the ones I could give away. Maybe your partner has an old t-shirt collection or box of electronics that you need them to sort through—making it as easy as possible on them can help with that mental block.
7. Use What You’ve Got
Don’t go buy a bunch of expensive organizing stuff. While it may feel good and motivating at first, you know it’s just going to sit in the pile of other organizing clutter. It’s best to declutter and clean first. Use random shoe boxes or old Amazon shipping boxes for organizing until you have the space set up exactly as you want (and know that is how you’d like it maintained). Sometimes, what seems good in theory does not work in practice.
8. Phone a Friend
Ask a friend to be your support! We all have those spaces in our house that are a mess (even me, an openly admitted organization geek). Ask a friend to come over and sit with you, drink tea or coffee, and chat while you sort through those boxes of old photos and art projects.
9. Ask Yourself What’s Good Enough
“Perfection is the enemy of progress.” Don’t let your desire to have a flawless organized pantry stop you from having an organized pantry. Maybe having a “Pinterest-worthy” pantry is your ultimate goal, but in the meantime, you can do small things like throw out expired food or donate items you know your family won’t eat.
10. Rule of Four
If you want to tackle a big area at once, put the things in four piles:
- Trash
- Donate
- Keep in this area. Don’t worry about organizing or where it will go yet – just put it in a pile of “staying in this space.”
- Move to a different area. Fill a box or bag with items that belong in a different room or space. That is all the mental energy you need to expend on these items—just put them in the box and you can deal with them later. When the box is full, take it to the room where the items belong. Don’t worry about putting them away! Stick to your organization schedule—you can deal with that box when you tackle that room.
None of these tips are new or revolutionary; but maybe there’s one that resonates with you and is the final piece of encouragement you need to SPRING into organization. Remember, it’s okay (and recommended) to just start small so you don’t get overwhelmed and give in to the clutter.
“The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t.” — Marie Kondo
Chelsea Musick is a Central Park resident.
