I Promise You’ll Regret Throwing That Out

As a Professional Organizer, if I had a penny for every time someone told me that their idea of sorting was to simply throw everything out and start again, I would be independently wealthy. I promise that if you do this you will regret throwing that out!

Being organised is about being able to find things when we need them, it is not about being neat.

Sorting is exactly that, sorting through the items you have and deciding what is vital and needed in your life. You do need things to live. ‘Things’ are not bad. What can happen when we feel overwhelmed and out of control, is to blame the things in our lives. Because we want immediate gratification and we are fed up with feeling terrible, we throw everything out expecting to feel better. But the negative feelings we have is not the fault of the ‘things’ themselves. There is something personal going on for us. So, yes, you can throw your things out and start again but I promise that you will soon have just as many things in your home as before and you will still be feeling dissatisfied.

Take a deep breath and resist the urge to throw everything out because I have another way to get organized. It does involve effort but you’re ready for a challenge, right?

Read over my articles on Decluttering Basics and Choosing The Right Equipment. Now that you have chosen the first room you wish to organize and you have the right equipment to complete the job, let’s get decluttering.

Start from one wall or corner and work the room all the way around. Keep sorting into your five sections/containers and stick with it until the area is tackled and conquered. Don’t run off to another area even if it’s to take something there to put away. Stay in that one area and complete your sorting.

Once your sorting is complete, remove from the room the four containers that have things that do not belong in the room. You will only keep the container that holds the items you want to stay in the room.

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