Reverse Decluttering

Reverse decluttering is a process wherein you remove everything from a space, or wipe all of your bric-a-brac off of a surface, like a clean sweep. Once everything is cleared,  you put back only the things you want to be stored there. If there are items which belong somewhere else, you find them a different, permanent home. And that’s it! It’s not as weird or hard as it sounds.

 One thing that may be difficult to remember when you’re reverse decluttering is to be thoughtful during that middle phase, when your space is clear. For example, if you’re cleaning out your t-shirt drawer, before you put t-shirts back, think about how many t-shirts feels like enough for you. Or for coffee mugs: How many coffee mugs does your family need to have on the shelf?

Then be mindful of how the space looks and feels as you’re putting things back. Maybe you love all 30 of your coffee mugs and all 46 of your t-shirts. Who doesn’t? But once you have placed 12 coffee mugs on the shelf it looks and feels like enough. And there comes a point where you have to fight to squeeze any more t-shirts into one drawer. This is when you have to decide: do you really want to have 2 drawers only for t-shirts? 

To me, this is the sticking point of this method. I’ve worked with a lot of people who have many different ways of choosing what to keep. If you tend to over-keep and over-justify your over-keeping then you really have to focus on how the space looks and feels. Put your favorites back first and once it’s full, it’s full.

Organizing is exactly like getting in shape. A person isn’t organized because they’ve decluttered once. It’s never over, and because of the infinite nature of the task it’s imperative that you have to find what method works best for you. Maybe you don’t like going to the gym. So you figure out another physical activity and do that for a while. How you exercise is no big deal, and you are still getting in shape. No one size fits all; and the same goes for organizing. Some people prefer to work a little bit at a time, some people prefer a big spring-cleaning-style sweep. 

Don’t be fooled by tricky titles, any method of organizing requires work. 

Similar to exercising, many people use a trainer to help them stay on task. Professional organizers are like trainers for the stuff in your life, and you lose weight a lot faster! We often walk out of a client’s house with 100 lbs of stuff. Imagine how good that feels!

Call Get Organized Already! today and we’ll help you try reverse decluttering an area that’s bugging you.

323.230.0297

Thanks for reading, 

Nonnahs