Getting Organized

When trying to organize closets, my biggest problem is that I get overwhelmed just looking at the large task at hand. I try to break the job up into smaller parts. These days it's really hard for me to get motivated. I have all these ideas of things I want to do, but even thinking about them exhausts me. I'd really like an organized house before the baby comes, because everyone knows that once the baby is there, it's hard to start a project!


Photo from RealSimple

Last week I saw a few shirts falling off hangers in my closet and I thought to myself 'Why do I even still have this? I haven't worn it in ages.' That jump started a mass closet clean out. I accumulated 2 large black lawn bags of clothing and shoes to take to Goodwill. This jump started a frenzy in me. I want to get everything organized everywhere in my home!

The main space I need to go through and organize is our garage. It became the dumping ground when we bought our house. Everything is mostly in totes and boxes stacked on shelves. The problem is, I couldn't tell you what is in all those totes and boxes. We've been here over 2 1/2 years, I think it's about time to get organized! I think I'll have to start with all the closets in the house and attempt to tackle the garage sometime this spring after Little Man is born.

For those that know me well, I'm the person everyone gives things to when they don't want them anymore. I'm the hand me down queen. Seeing a few episodes of Hoarders, I realized maybe I have a slight problem. I don't openly seek out things, though, which is good. I slowly accumulate and then I don't get rid of things. I'm pretty sentimental, so holding onto things that remind me of this or that has been a small problem for me. I have pretty much everything from high school through college sitting in totes under Ryan's parents house that I need to go through too! I'm just itching to finally get rid of things.



One of my big problems is trying to decide if I'm going to need something in the future. I know there is the old rule of thumb that if you haven't used something in the past X amount of months, chances are you can live without it. I realize Ryan and I have a lot of electronics and computer components, wires, and gadgets that are archaic and 99% of which we'll never use again, but we hold onto them regardless. I think it's time to really evaluate what needs to go! The downside is that Ryan is pretty sentimental like I am; so we both are sitting at Pack Rat status.

A tip I've learned is that if something means a lot to you, and it really has no use to you. You can take a picture of it and then get rid of it. That way you'll still have the memory of what it looked like without it taking up precious real estate in your home! I'm sure this won't work for the things that really mean a LOT to you, but for some things it would be fine. Now to start following my own advice. I want 2011 to be a year of personal growth, not material growth. For every new thing I bring home, I want to get rid of 2 or more. With the baby, that might be difficult as he needs his own things.

I have a feeling that I will be visiting the Goodwill store a lot in the coming weeks/months, and not as a shopper this time!