Think like an organizer: Tackling the project

In my last post, I shared what I think about before starting an organization project. I walked through my general process but the main takeaway was this: in order to have a successful project, you should do as much planning and strategizing as you can before getting started. But, you’ll have to eventually take a deep breath and just dive in. So what do you need to think about when you’re ready to organize? I don’t have a rigid checklist of what must be done and in what order because every client is different, but I do have some general guidelines that I follow. How can you think like an organizer when you’re tackling your own organization project?  Here’s a glimpse into my thought process:

Measure & Buy Supplies

In my opinion, organizing is an art and science so for many projects, the best first step is to measure the space you’re working with and purchase the supplies. Measuring everything helps me visualize the space and think about how I want to store items while feeling confident everything will fit. You may decide you want everything in baskets so you don’t have to keep things pristine or, conversely, you want everything in clear bins because you want to form better habits. Or a blend of products! Whatever you gravitate towards - as long as it fits.

My only disclaimer is sometimes I wait to get supplies until after I go through everything because the volume of stuff may change after the purging process. In those cases, I’ll likely buy some supplies that I know I’ll need and then head back to the store mid-project.

Empty It Out

Once I’m ready to get hands on, I take everything out of the space so I can get a sense for the overall volume and quantity of similar items. When I see the whole picture, I get a sense for what is the challenge and what might be the solution(s). For example, if a pantry is bursting at the seams because there are giant boxes of unopened snacks, I may suggest moving back stock items to another spot in the house to increase the usable space. The coachable moment here is to encourage my client to adopt better shopping habits to reduce waste and save space. I’m not against buying in bulk, especially given grocery costs these days, but you aren’t saving money if you don’t actually need or use something.

Group Items

When everything is out of the space, I group the items. The default is to group like items together, but you can use whatever system makes sense to your project (e.g. commonly used, color, size). This helps me see what should be stored together or near each other and what we no longer need. In a recent playroom project, I spent two hours going through art supplies putting together the markers, crayons, scissors, tape, crafts, jewelry kits, paper, craft paper - you get the idea. When the supplies were in piles for the client to review, they immediately laughed and said, “I think we have too many art supplies.” So from there, we culled through the piles to keep items the kiddos love and then put the rest aside to donate. The client felt good about giving things away and I felt confident about where and how to store the remaining art supplies.

Find Homes

Once we know what we’re keeping, we need to find homes for everything. In many cases, the items go back in the same area but sometimes we may need to rethink the entire space. In those cases, I like to draw a map of where everything will live to guide the project. If I don’t have time to sketch something, I use post-its to mark where things are going in the space. This also helps me coach the client about where things will live and the reasoning behind the decision. My job is to make my client’s home work better for them, so I need to bring them along on the journey so they can be successful after I finish the project.

The final touches

Finally, once everything is in the right spot, I put the final touches on everything. I love labeling items so that it’s easy to find everything going forward and it helps to reinforce good habits. I also like to go through the containers and bins to make sure everything is easy to see and access. There’s no point in putting things in a container if all it is is a contained pile! I typically like to organize items either by color-coding (a la the Home Edit) or by size, but my goal is to make it all look visually appealing.

So there you have it, you can now think like an organizer, too. As a NAPO professional organizer, I believe making the space look better with the right products and nice labels will empower you to keep the space organized. It’s similar to the work-out clothes principle: you are more likely to work-out when you love what you’re wearing. Pick things that will make you feel happy when entering the space. And if you need guidance or inspiration, I would be happy to help.

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