Organization tips please

When my sister get married I had to mve downstairs intio a smaller room w/no closets!!!! Then when my FH moved into hi apt I gave him my furniture and took what had been my grandmothers. Years alter my stuff is STILL just piled up in rubbermaid bins all over my room with no rhyme or reason. I have a small wardrobe and the bottom is all filled with shoes and bags... I have a ton of bath and body stuff, I don't know if I should keep it, toss it, what, but I need some system for getting through this. I have ADD< so if I don't have a system, it's "keep, throwaway, keep...OOOH shiny!!!!"

I have to get through all of this now because we've got someoen coming in to paint. Plus I need to eliminate clutter. It's a fire hazard and bad feng shui

Any ideas?

Re: Organization tips please

definitely try to go through everything you have and see what you really need/dont need..I just did this.
Some clothes that just dont fit good anymore or look old or that i havent worn in 2 years i got rid of..
all my bath & body stuff i got rid of things that were almost empty or just tried to use them. Like use all the half empty ones first to get rid of them.
Shoes are still a problem for me and no matter how many times i make them look neat in my closet, they just get messy all over again-when i get home from work i just throw my shoes on top of the pile..

Just really think about what you need...Maybe make a separate box for things that you really dont want to part with and in a few months if you dont use it, get rid of it.

Re: Organization tips please

if it is a big mess of everything together I would seperate it into categories (shoes, purses, pants, tops, bath stuff) then throw out from there. If there is too much it becomes overwhelming.

Re: Organization tips please

Re: Organization tips please

I've been doing the opposite.


Keep v throw away, then it goes back into the box t be sorted at a later date that never comes.

Sorting FIRST is probably a better plan!


What do you use to sort into? cardboard boxes or something?

Re: Organization tips please

Jennifer, it might help to have someone go through stuff with you. I have a friend who lives far away and everytime I visit, we clean out her closet. It is easier for her to get rid of stuff when she has an objective person saying, "I don't care if you only wear that shirt underneath dresses, it is gross and has to go...."

I know sometimes people get attached to their stuff and don't realize how much energy it takes to maintain all that stuff in their house (I have these people in my family) One idea a friend of mine uses for clothes is that she puts all the clothes she thinks she doesn't wear in a box for a month or two. If she hasn't gone looking for any of the items during that time, she just gets rid of the box, doesn't even open it up again, it just goes out. If she is looking for a particular top or pants and pulls it out to wear, then she holds on to that item.

I do a swap with my friends occasionally where we bring all the stuff we want to get rid of that might be too good to throw out, that's where I bring all the bath/body stuff I don't use. Usually someone takes it. The trick there, though is to resist the temptation to take other people's junk. Whatever doesn't get taken goes to the Salvation Army, for the thrift store.

Message edited 6/7/2006 10:50:05 AM.

Re: Organization tips please

I just did this in my own room a couple weeks ago.... ....it took 2 days

I sorted and separated FIRST - shoes, clothes, bags, misc.

Got the most important stuff in the closet first - the clothes. Then the shoes, then the bags, then whatever room I had left was for the misc. crap.

I also separated winter from summer (shoes, bags, clothes). All the winter stuff went in a box together and went either under the bed, or on a remote top shelf of the closet. I felt MUCH less cluttered when I got the winter stuff out of the way.

Have fun!

Re: Organization tips please

Having someone with you is helpful for the ADD. I I used to spend entiore summers cleaning my room & my brother would always tell me I was lying when I said I was claeaning my room, b/c if I cleaned it so much, how could I never be done!

I would get so distracted & start reading my entire diary from the 6th grade, or old school reports, etc. Now it is easier, with DH, b/c we are working together so it is harder fpr me to get wrapped up in my own thoughts. And if I start off on a tangent he always says, " I thougth were working on ..... now?", which pulls me back.

Time limits are helpful too. My mother was always big on that. If someone checks in with you in an hour, say, that is a good motivation to have something to show them.

I would actually do it the way you started & purge before sorting, otherwise you are wasting time sorting things you are going to trash.

Message edited 6/7/2006 12:04:51 PM.

Re: Organization tips please

You're so right about reading the 6th grade diary, or looking at pictures. I get cuaght up in something completely different. I actually did well sorthing through a box while I was on LIF. It gave me 2 things to do at once, which helped.

Re: Organization tips please

Thanks so much. I really need these tips to keep in mind because it is just something that is SOOO difficult for me to do. I get overwhelmed and relaly distracted. I'll be sitting on the floor goign through stuff, then start working on a photoalbum, with the stuff still alla round me and I have no concept that I was supposed to be cleaning...then I'll find an old school report to read and I'll forget about the photo album and the cleaning


ETA: I think I'm going to go to staples and buy boxes and just write on them n big letters "SHOES" "BOOKS" "DONATE" "BAGS" etc, so it's just like baby steps for me. haha

Message edited 6/7/2006 12:06:00 PM.

Re: Organization tips please

Message edited 6/7/2006 12:08:49 PM.

Re: Organization tips please

I think you can purge stuff while you sort. I always use those big black trash bags to throw stuff away, and once it's in there, it's in there. Not being able to see through it really helps to keep my mind off of what's in there. And when I lived at home and had all my old stuff from school, I would make a pile of stuff that I wanted to sit and look through later on. I used it as my "reward" for sorting through everything else. and once I was all sorted, I would read through old diaries, look at pictures, etc. Then I would pack them all up in a box and put them in the attic or somewhere out of the way. GOOD LUCK!

Re: Organization tips please

Go through what you use, don't use and toss away. I always get multiple bath and body products, get rid of what you don't use.

Re: Organization tips please

maybe use fh to help you? i know i can't do any cleaning/throwing out without him. he helps me realize i really don't need certain things.

Re: Organization tips please

if you havent used it in one year or worn it in one year throw it out