Tag: seasonal organizing

An Organized Person… Knows There Are Seasons for Our Stuff

An organized person… knows there are seasons for our stuff.  Which, to me, is quite a relief.

If there are seasons for our stuff, we don’t have to look at ALL OF OUR STUFF ALL OF THE TIME.  Thank goodness, because that sounds exhausting.

In my Clear the Clutter Class just last night, we talked about seasonal items and things around our homes that are exceptions to our rule.  The things that we need, sure, but maybe we don’t need right now. Or not even for a few months.

When we’re feeling a little overwhelmed by our stuff, It can be quite soothing to put things away for the next few seasons and breathe a sigh of relief by the clear spaces and sense of calm their absence leaves behind.

Snow blower for lawn mower.

Iced tea pitcher for favorite cold weather / hot tea bags.

Hockey for baseball gear.

Winter gloves and scarves for baseball caps and sunscreen.

Snow shovels for gardening tools.

Heavy sweaters for light.

Boots for sandals.

Flannel bed sheets for cotton.

Soup pot for grill basket.

I’m not suggesting that you need to get rid of these colder weather items.  They don’t have to leave our homes completely, but perhaps they can move to the back of the garage, or the top shelf of the kitchen cabinets, or the bottom shelf of the linen closet.  It’s time to make some space for today and this season, and ease last week’s and last season’s items to their off season-resting place for now!

And if, as you transition your belongings for the season, you decide to purge some no longer needed or used clothes or winter accessories or old bedding, then you will have even more open space and breathing room!

9 Questions to Ask Yourself In Your Closet This Week

I spend a lot of time in people’s closets.  I love saying that, it is quite the conversation starter!  But it’s true!  I spent an hour, just an hour, in a closet last week with a client, and we made great progress in reclaiming her space!Image

(1)   What is already designated to leave?

Remove it! 

Often when I arrive to help a client clean out his or her closet, there is already a pile of “donations” started.  And perhaps a bag of items to go to the cleaners or the tailor, or a pile of shoes that need repaired.  Or maybe it’s just the overflowing laundry hamper (though I personally would not put dirty laundry in a closet with my clean clothes).

Remove those bags / piles / baskets first, and put them in your car to be dropped off later.  Or take the dirty laundry to your laundry room and start a load.  See, the closet looks better already.

(2)   What will I absolutely not wear again before next Fall?

Put it away for the season. 

There are clothes in your closet from the winter that you will probably not wear again, no matter how cold it gets again this Spring (I know, I live in Chicago).  Perhaps they are Fall colors, or for specific events that won’t roll around again until October.  Items like formal pieces, heavy sweaters and scarves, boots, etc. can probably go away.  Make sure they are clean, and then put them in a container tucked on a shelf or under the bed until Fall. Image

(3)   What will I absolutely never wear again, period?

Let it go.  For good.

Come on, you know the pieces.  The ones that you look at, and you get the furrow between your eyebrows, trying to determine…

(4)   Why on earth did I buy that item? (Maybe it was on sale?)

(5)   What was my loved one thinking when they bought it for me? (And remember the gesture, not the fact that they are not paying attention!)

(6)   When will I ever wear that thing again?  (You probably won’t.)

If you can’t come up with good answers to these questions, it is time to ease out the offending items.  Sell them, donate them, give them to a friend who would look better in them.  Just move them out of your space for good.

And ask yourself a couple more questions, to move along those questionable “Maybe’s”:

(7)   If I was in a store right now, would I buy this item again? (thanks Tamika!)

(8)   Does this item really reflect who I am, and will it ever?

If the answers to these are “No”, the items has to go.  Now.  Trust me.

(9)   What would be better stored somewhere else in my house?

Put it there.

Very often, we run across things in a clothes closet that would be better stored somewhere else.  Papers, Christmas Decorations, furniture, reusable shopping bags, you name it – it may even have a home somewhere else in your house already, and you just need to spend the 5 minutes and put it away.

Wow, 9 simple questions and a little time spent in your closet, and your clothes and space are looking better already!  Way to Go!