One of the reasons I became a professional organizer is that I hate waste.  Whether it’s waste of time, waste of money, waste of resources, waste of energy, waste of food, waste of stress, or waste of a life—waste really gets under my skin.  What I’ve discovered in my war on waste is that waste is a very relative thing.

I work with people who struggle with throwing things out.  This is what I commonly hear.  “That’s still perfectly good.”  “That needs to be recycled.”  “I need to get that repaired.”  “I could probably use that for something.” There may no personal value in these items for the individual, but because there is a theoretical value, there is a concern about waste.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about reduce, reuse, recycle, but there comes a time when you have to step back and look at the larger waste issues.  If you have a limit to how much stuff you can fit in your home, then you also probably have a limit to how much time, energy, and money you can devote to controlling it.  It’s all too easy to waste the precious resources of time, energy, and money on less vital waste issues, like recycle and repair.

Getting back to coupons.  I once had a client tell me he felt like he was throwing two dollars in the garbage.  He was actually contemplating a coupon for free ice cream cone in a town in Massachusetts that he had only passed through once and had no plan of returning to.  He was actually trying to adjust his plans so that he MIGHT go to that town again.  Finally, when he listed a dozen “ifs” he realized it was ridiculous.  It wasn’t two dollars.  It was a piece of paper he could never use.

So I realize that I am kind of doing the same thing with the Starbucks coupon.  I’m beating myself up because I have kept my coupon in a prominent place for four weeks, thinking I had until mid December to cash it in. Seemed like all the time in the world at Thanksgiving!  I have been in the habit of coming to Starbucks to focus on these blogs, so I really expected that I would use this coupon soon.  Other priorities have risen to the top of my to do list lately.  I realize now it would have been foolish to shift those priorities just so I can get a free Venti Caramel Macchiato.   I had been lamenting a wasted opportunity that I never had.  So on balance, it’s not a waste at all.

Furthermore I am resolved to not waste time stressing and replace it with a timely blog!

Typically, when one resolves to organize a cluttered basement or home office, there is a tendency to throw out not enough of what needs to go, too much of what shouldn’t go, and put the keepers into systems that won’t last.  All of this can be solved by good sorting practices.

The right tools.
Don’t rush out and buy plastic bins that may be too small or too big for your needs.  A ten-pack of banker boxes, however, can be used and reused many times during the sorting and because they are lidded, they can be stacked to open up work space during the sort.  Some gallon and quart size Ziploc bags are great for smaller categories and subcategories.  Finally, make temporary labels with Post-It’s and markers to keep it all straight.

General to specific.
Start by sorting with very general categories—office supplies, décor, keepsakes, clothes, loose paper—and sort very quickly.  You will address each category one at a time later, so don’t over-think it at this stage, just sort fast and generally. When you’ve got a lot of stuff to process, momentum is important to get you through it all.  So don’t dawdle on details!

Room to work.
As you sort, focus on carving out enough room to work.  Start by clearing off one wall to collect all the items you have sorted.  Then move toward the opposite wall to collect all the items you review and keep.  Clear room near the door to collect the trash, sell, and donates that are headed out.  Also, keep an “elsewhere” box by the door too collect items that need to go to other parts of your house.  If you don’t establish these clear zones, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can get confused about what’s already been decided and what hasn’t been decided.

Context drives decisions.
The reason it is always makes sense to start large organizing projects with the right sort is because it makes purging much easier.  With your stuff sorted, you are able to see it in context, which makes decisions significantly easier.  When you focus on just office supplies, for example, you are not distracted by other categories and you can see just how many empty binders you have, and will be easier to assign some to the donate bin.

Big categories last.
As you are sorting, the largest category will become obvious.  The biggest category, typically paper or clothes, will seem most urgent but resist and save it for last.  Clearing off the smaller categories first will give you the focus AND space you need for the biggest category.  Big categories require room for several subcategories.  If it’s clothes, for example, these might include donate, give to, keep-summer, keep-winter, laundry, dry clean, and tailor.

Quantity dictates systems.
Only after you have sorted and purged all the items in your room, will you be clear on the quantity you are keeping and NOW is the time to determine what plastic bins and other organizing systems you need to STAY organized.

During the sorting process, you will undoubtedly come across items that you will find very easy to assign or purge, but unless it is something you can do faster than dropping them in the sorting boxes, hold off.  If it easy to assign or purge now, it will be even easier to do so when you are reviewing sorted categories.

Before I start my rant—er, blog, I want to congratulate the St. Louis Cardinals on winning a very exciting World Series.  I read online this morning that in late August, St. Louis stood a .02% of making the playoffs.  The PLAYOFFS! Let alone the series.  Then down went the Phillies, down went the Brewers and finally down went Texas.  My good friend Blair is from Joplin, which was decimated by a tornado this year.  Missouri really needed a sweet victory after such a tough year and their home team delivered.

But before we can celebrate this meaningful moment, let’s dress the winners up in un-meaningful grey shirts and caps.  That bothers me because these garments are like late comers that just don’t belong in the moment.  I remember watching Hank Aaron hit his 714^th home run to beat Babe Ruth’s record and I remember feeling the same thing when a fan jumped on to the field to circle the bases with him.  That guy didn’t belong there!  This is Hank’s moment.

My feeling is dance with the once who brought you.  It is the Cardinal uniform that the fans saw all season, especially the home town uniform, that belongs in the photos and videos of this special occasion, not these late-comer shirts and caps.

These shirts and caps distract from the moment.   Part of the excitement of baseball is that the batter and pitcher must be very actively involved in the moment.  In a split second that strike pitch can turn to a ball pitch, if you’re not paying attention.  The burdens of the past are gone. The future is unknown.  Only the moment matters.  Many definitions of happiness are about living in the moment.  Organizing is about unloading the burdens from the past and setting up systems for the future, so that you can enjoy the now.  What doesn’t help is adding more junk!

As an organizer, I look at these shirts and caps and think EXCESS.  The players will be getting rings to commemorate the occasion of this victory.   They will keep and cherish these rings forever. Do they really need these shirts and caps too? Again, wouldn’t the actual uniform shirt and hat, be more valuable?

In my clients homes I see ton of t-shirts and caps, and many of them are just for showing up at family reunions and corporate outings.   They don’t actually represent an accomplishment.  So as I see it, these late-comer shirts and caps that the champs must don, kind of cheapen their incredible accomplishment.

You might argue that the Cardinals get to wear these t-shirts and caps because they DID actually accomplish something, but so can ANYone else who didn’t accomplish anything, by buying them.  So what makes them special?

That brings up my other problems with these shirts and caps, which is the blatant commercialism.   It’s someone saying, “Hey, let’s cash in on the moment.”  I don’t have a problem with a fan buying a shirt to commemorate the occasion, but I don’t like the idea of using this special occasion to push this product by using the champs as models.

Finally, I’m really bothered by the sheer waste that comes from this practice.  You know there had to be a ton of shirts and caps printed up for the 2011 World Series Champions Texas Rangers.  I’m sure these can’t be worn, which means they will go to waste, which I hate.

I suppose I could change my mind, if I learned that the proceeds from these shirts and caps went to a Joplin relief efforts or some other charity.  It might even help to learn that they were manufactured in the United States, but until I learn anything like that, every World Series, Super Bowl, and Stanley Cup celebration will be cheapened for me by this distraction gear.

Décor. Like most useful categories, this one is very general.  It can include everything from a framed picture to a Homer Simpson figurine.  They are items you would like to see on display, when you can find the space.

Keepsakes. A keepsake would be an item that brings back a good memory, but you don’t need to display it.  These can include photos, gift cards, and even that Homer Simpson toy.

Office Supplies. Don’t over think this one.  Everything from pens and pencils, to stationery and computer supplies would go in this box.  You can sub-sort them later, when you’ve cleared some room to work.  For now keep it together and keep going.

To File. Sorting is not the time to stop and file.  Keep a box to collect all documents you need to be to able find reliably, continue the sorting, and file that box later.

To Do. Uncovered a bill that you’ve just got to pay? Chuck it in the To-Do box and keep sorting. This may seem less important, but you will never finish the sorting if you leave at every distraction.

Information To Enter. For all those scraps of paper you’ve been meaning to enter into your address book or database, don’t do it now, but do collect it in one place.  A gallon Ziploc works great.

Ask [insert spouse name here]. Got an urge to call your spouse over a certain item? Don’t.  There will be more such items, so collect them all in one place and ask all your questions later.

Elsewhere. Before you run that coffee cup back to the kitchen, stop and establish an “elsewhere” container near the door.  When you’ve finished sorting, you can then distribute the contents to their appropriate rooms.

Giveaway. If you find an item that you no longer want and would like to give to someone you know, collect it in a “giveaway” box.  This is different from a “donate” box, because you have someone specific in mind and you need to make a point of getting it to him or her.  It matters less who gets the “donate” box.

Slow Review. I hesitate to include this category and caution against overusing it, but sometimes a hasty decision is stressful. If there is a large document that you may not need, but must carefully review to make sure, put it in a “slow review” box.  It is more important to keep the momentum going with the sorting process. Nothing will slow this momentum faster than regret.

All these sorting categories are very general, because otherwise you will run out of space to work.  You can easily get more specific with your sorting in the next round.  One category that is TOO general and unhelpful is “keep.”  A “keep” pile does NOT help you move forward, because you are not addressing why you are keeping these items.   You will not be inspired to return to the “keep” pile, because it is too much like the original area you sorted.  Not much progress.  If, however, your next stage is reviewing just the keepsakes, for example, then it is much easier to find a focus and see your progress.

Instead of trying to free up some space INSIDE your file cabinet, get the files OUT and sort them on a clear open surface.  This way is much easier to see whether you have only statements from 2011 or whether you’ve also got statements from 2010 (or earlier) that could be archived more remotely.  It is much easier to see if you have your current insurance policies easily findable, so that you can safely toss the old ones.  Inside a packed file cabinet it is difficult to see what you have and difficult to get perspective.

Perhaps you are saying you have no clear surface to work on.  In my experience that is usually because there are a lot of files out on the surface that don’t actually require action, but just require finding reliably.  In other words, they should be STORED IN the file cabinet.  If the contents of the file cabinet have been properly sorted and edited, the files from your cluttered surface should have plenty of room and should be easy to find.

A clear work surface is your most important organizing tool because it gives you room for processing, which includes sorting.  The more you STORE OUT on a clear surface, the more you are forced to SORT IN a storage cabinet.  In these circumstances it is impossible to stay organized.

Another example is organizing a cluttered closet.  It’s not enough to grab a couple of junky things to throw out.  You need to sort, like you need to think:  OUTside the box.  Get it all out and start fresh. For one thing, you will be amazed at how much you have been packing into this little space.  Also it’s often the items in the very back that are the quickest wins. Closets are valuable when the contents are visible, findable, and accessible.  Reconsider the awkward items that compromise that and reconsider excessive items.  For further closet tips, see my closet series.

Finally, if you want to organize an entire room, SORT OUT the contents in another room (if you can).  It’s easier to rethink how you are using things in a space if you start with a clean slate.  Also, it is easier to be more objective with the contents of that space if you are reconsidering them OUTside the context of that space.   For example, does it really make sense to devote so much surface space to framed photos and tchtchkes in my home office, when I’m trying to get work done there?

So if you really need to get organized and you don’t know where to start, start with this.  Sort out. Store in.

To truly understand why these two things are incompatible, it is first important to recognize the difference between getting organized and staying organized.  It’s not unlike the difference between cooking a meal and eating it.   It just works better to eat a meal after it is fully cooked  than to start eating the plain spaghetti while the tomato sauce burns on the stove.

OK, this isn’t a perfect analogy.  The reason it is more tempting to skip ahead from getting organized to addressing action items is because we are afraid of forgetting a to-do, once we have discovered it.  If we don’t take care of this uncovered bill now, we feel like we will forget it (AGAIN!)  I get it.  That’s completely understandable because I see this in almost every home I work in.  The way around it is the To-Do Box Promise.

The To-Do Box Promise is a link between your need to sort-and-purge and your need to take action.  To purge the excess clutter in your home, I recommend first sorting like with like into boxed categories.  One of these boxes is “To-Do.”  These are items that you want to MAKE A POINT OF ACTING ON.   Some of these to-do’s are more urgent than others and when they come up, my clients often urge me NOT to put them in the to-do box, for fear of forgetting.  That’s when I make the To-Do Box Promise.

The promise is this.  If you stay focused on sorting and purging the (admittedly) less important items we have before us, I promise we will prioritize your to-do box before I leave.  This is particularly important because we are usually not able to review EVERY box at the end of the session, but the To-Do box is special.

Every item that comes into our lives demands just one of two imperatives:
1. Make a point of acting on it or
2. Find it reliably
Action items usually fits into just one box, the rest can wait.  We can safely leave the find-it-reliably’s for now, but we really need to address the next phase with the box of to-do’s, so we always do.  Knowing that we have promised to address the to-do’s, allows the client to make the leap of faith that the to-do’s can be set aside while focus on finishing the much larger sort-and-purge.

After we finish the basic sorting and focus on JUST the to-do’s, it is much easier to sub-sort them between “urgent,” “soon,” and “eventually,” because we are seeing them in context.  Suddenly you are much more in control.  ALL categories have been sorted.  ALL to-do’s have been extracted and the urgent ones have been isolated.  NOW is the time to take action.

This is the approach I take when working with a client, but the same discipline works when you are getting organized on your own.  Promise yourself you will prioritize the to-do box when you are done, but FIRST finish the basic sort and purge FAST.

I always respond by saying, “just because someone gives you something, doesn’t mean you have to keep it.”  It’s the thought that counts, which is an old saying but it’s true.  The gift itself is less important.  Friends, family, and other loved ones want you to know you are remembered and appreciated on special occasions.  In most cases they don’t want you to be burdened with a gift after that occasion. (More on that later.)

If you don’t use a system like Amazon’s Wish List, it’s hard to get gifts that people actually want.  Maybe your friend mentioned that she was amused by Sponge Bob Squarepants and you know she likes candy, so you put two and two together and get her a Sponge Bob candy dish.  Perfect! I don’t actually know that such a product exists, but I’m sure you’ve seen this train of thought with some of the gifts you’ve received.

Of course we are obligated to say “Thank you so much!” no matter what we think of a gift, leaving the giver to think “Hey, I done good!” Thus, the misfires continue.

I don’t see the truth as being an effective tool in this situation, but there’s no reason to be burdened with a gift that’s not your cup of tea.  In most cases you can donate it to Goodwill, where someone might actually appreciate it.   The space you have created in your home from this donated item is a precious gift to yourself.

Now I realize there are some unloved gifts that you cannot get rid of.  After my wedding there were a lot of them, some very expensive.  I kept a couple boxes of these hidden and when a wedding guest would visit, my wife or I would pull their gift out and put it on display.  Crazy, but I know the reality is there are some friend that DON’T care if you are burdened with a gift you wouldn’t choose.   That was almost 17 years ago and no one visits much, so those gifts have gradually found their way out of our home.

One final caveat, hand-crafted gifts.  If someone knits you a sweater, no matter how ugly, ill-fitting, and scratchy, that’s love.  Maybe you don’t want to clog up your closet shelf with it, but I’d say it at least merits a plastic tub and mothballs.

What’s your approach to gifts you don’t love?  I’d love to hear from you.

Reassurance. Please tell me I’m not the worst.

Owning it. Let’s get this out of the way. I know it’s bad.  Can you help me or should we not bother continuing?

Strange pride. I need to be number one at something.

It’s never the worst.  I got that out of the way early in my career in a hoarder’s apartment. Strangely, he didn’t ask if this was the worst I’d ever seen. There were piles up to my shoulder and only a tiny path between them. It was a lot of hard, frustrating work, but it did give the ability to truthfully answer “No, this is not the worst I’ve ever seen?” for the rest of my career.

After I reassure a new client that “No, this is not the worst I’ve ever seen?” I re-assure her with this: “It’s our job to make space, not judgments.” Judgments would be inappropriate and unhelpful, especially because there are usually some GOOD reasons for this BAD situation:

Family. If you have kids with many activities and maybe you’ve even got a full time job to boot, you’ve got more important priorities and getting organized just has to take a back seat.

Creativity. You are an intelligent person with lots of different interests and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to finish all the projects you start, let alone get organized.

Health. You have been focusing on getting well and don’t have the strength to keep all the stuff that piles up under control.

Ultimately “is this the worst you’ve ever seen?” is not a constructive question, but I often follow it up with a question that is constructive:  “If you could wave a magic wand, what would you like to see in your space?” It’s only then that the magic can start to happen.

The question a new prospect most commonly asks me is “what do you charge?,” but the question a new client most commonly asks is “what should I buy?”  The hope seems to be that I can recommend some magical containers, that will solve the organizing challenges at hand.

Effective organizing begins with subtraction, not addition.

Recently I have been taking different approaches to the same message: organizing is about taking the less important stuff out of the way so that you can get to the most important stuff.

I have been fortunate to see the great sculptures of Michelangelo, including his David in Florence.   Like most tourists, I had come a long way to see Michelangelo’s David, so I wasn’t going to leave without spending some time studying the sculpture and trying to understand what all the hubbub was about.  What was the artist’s vision?

First and foremost, the dude is nude.  I don’t exactly think he’s ready to do combat with a giant just yet.  He does, however, look poised and confident, despite the vulnerabilities of his nudity and youth.  Maybe this nude warrior thing is just part of the Renaissance artist’s love for classicism.  Maybe David is just looking in a mirror and trying on the sling for looks.  I don’t know.  What I do know is, this is not your typical warrior.   Why? Because Michelangelo has chipped away a layer of armor and even a layer of clothes that he might have seen in that block of marble.

What’s your vision for your home office? If you want to bring clients in, do you want them to see a huge collection of framed photos and tchotchkes on your desk surface?  If not, chip away at that collection.  Do you feel overwhelmed by those piles of paper everywhere? If so, chip away at those piles.  Do those rows of reference books feel necessary, now that you can get so much information online?  If so, chip away at the excess books.  When you’re done chipping away, you should be left with the productive office space you envisioned.

At the opening I said that sculpting is MORE like sculpting than painting (not EXACTLY like).  That is because this is not a perfect analogy.  After you have sculpted down to the essentials in your home office, you may need to ADD certain containers and structures to stay organized, but it is not possible to choose the appropriate structures until you have arrived at the appropriate quantity first.  If you’re serious about getting organized, grab yourself a chisel!

In keeping with this theme, let’s get the bad stuff about Mr. Ramsay out of the way first.  Yes, he yells.  He yells A LOT. He comes off as arrogant.  He plays up the drama for the cameras.  He has the benefit of extensive editing, which makes him look good.  Finally, and most distressing to my wife, on the British version of Kitchen Nightmares, he finds any opportunity he can to change into his chef’s jacket, exposing his bare chest (and it ain’t that good).

What I find compelling about Gordon Ramsay, however, is his ability to recognize the nonsense, cut through it, find the solution, stick with it, and be right.  The nonsense may take the form of meaningless tradition, overly-fussy food, and my favorite, blind delusion.  All of these things are unimportant. What’s most important is that these owners are not only in danger of losing their restaurants but their homes as well.

Chef Ramsay always manages to put this in perspective for the owners and chefs before he can help them.  He will tell them what to cook, how to cook it, how to serve, and how to market their restaurant, but first- ALWAYS- he has to remove what’s not working.  This includes filthy kitchens, spoiled food (“it’s rotTEN!”), cluttered décor, and overly ambitious menus.  The bewildered restaurant owner may be unclear about what to do with all this stuff.  Ramsay is not.  “GET IT IN THE BIN!”

Only then can Gordon Ramsay work his magic with the restaurant and the result: food is “simple, fresh, VIBRANT,” décor is “warm, relaxing,” and staff is “friendly, knowledgeable!” Most importantly there’s “real money in the till.”

Yelling is not my style. Never will be, but I do agree with Chef Ramsay’s overall approach.  You need to give up less important conventions, so that you can see your way clear to simple solutions that will address your most important needs.