Today I want to touch base on the second step of the PROCESS. That would be REMOVE. What does this mean exactly? Trust me the easiest and fastest way to tackle any project is empty the space you are trying to organize and do your sort/purge from ideally a different room alltogether or, if you have to, the middle of the room you are organizing. The important thing is to get things off shelves, out of drawers, off tabetops, off the floor, out of closets, etc.. Why? Removing items from where they have previously been stored will give you a fresh perspective on the space you want organized. It will enable you to re-evaluate how you want the space to look. You can’t do this when it is cluttered up with stuff. It is also tough to rearrange furniture when the clutter still exists in the space. Get it out! Has your furniture always been in the exact same spot? Don’t be afraid to try something new and change things up a little or a lot. Start with a clean slate and have fun with it!

Doing your sort/purge outside of the space also lets you objectively look at each item and determine whether or not you want to keep it. Often if this step happens in the space being organized people will keep something just because they have the room for it. While there isn’t anything wrong with this, if it isn’t something you have any intention of using don’t keep it just because. Get rid of it! Please re-visit my purging post for more help in getting rid of your clutter.

Sort items into piles and there are many different ways to do this. Grad yourself some boxes and label them ~ donate, toss, sell, keep, re-locate. The purpose here is to organize “like with like”. All similar items together. This way it will become clear to you what you own in over abundance that maybe you didn’t even realize because it was scattered all over the place before. One lonely little box of envelopes doesn’t look like much but when you match it up with the other 50 boxes you have well all of a sudden it is clear there is a problem.

The remove/sort/purge process is an important one. Don’t take it lightly. The more you purge the less you have to find a home for. Only bring back into your space what you truly want to keep. Don’t bring it back in to think about later. Deal with it before it goes back into the space. Make a decision and move on. Don’t second guess yourself, it will only slow down the process. Stay true to the purpose of your space!!

Also don’t even think about the containerizing stage (oh ya, baby!) until you’ve completed your sort/purge. You might not end up needing as much as you thought you did!