10 organizing pitfalls to avoid

We all want to be organized, but it takes some planning, scheduling and purging. Avoid the following organizing pitfalls that may cause your progress to grind to a halt.

You don’t have a plan

It is important to have some kind of a plan of action before you get started. The plan doesn’t have to be complicated, but it needs to be in place. If you go into the process with no idea how to proceed, it can cause you to stop before you get too far.

Buying products before you need them

You probably don’t need to buy anything. We all have containers, baskets and boxes that can be used creatively to help you organize your belongings. If you continuously need more storage products, you probably have more things than you really need.

No disposal plan

When you purge items from your home, you need to have a way to get rid of them. You don’t want these things hanging around once you make the decision to say goodbye. Figure out to which non-profits you will make donations ahead of time and schedule a pickup before you get started.

Putting things in a temporary location

This pitfall goes to the disposal plan. A temporary location can easily become a permanent one. You don’t want to simply move things from one spot in your home to another. That defeats the purpose of organizing.

Organizing before decluttering

Decluttering has to come first. You don’t want to put things away only to go through them and purge some belongings afterward. This will create extra work you don’t need to do.

Keeping things you might need one day

This is a classic. Maybe it comes from our parents or grandparents being a product of the depression. People don’t want to give away or otherwise purge things that might be useful. Don’t hold onto something for sentimental reasons, like it was a gift from a treasured friend. If you don’t use it, need it or love it — it needs to go.

Letting clutter accumulate

Try to stop clutter before it gets a chance to become a problem. Putting things away after you use them, opening mail by the recycling bin and keeping up with dishes and laundry will help keep clutter from becoming a problem in the first place.

Put it on the calendar

Organizing takes time. If you don’t have large chunks of time to devote to the project, try breaking big jobs into smaller parts. Do something every day, even if it’s just organizing one drawer.

Forgetting to return things

Did you borrow a drill from a neighbor? Did you get a blender from a friend? Did someone bring over a meal and you never returned the plate? Return all of the things that belong to someone else and get rid of some of your clutter.

Overwhelm

Organizing can be an overwhelming experience for a lot of people. Just thinking about how to get started might be a problem. If this is how you feel, I can help. Contact me and we’ll come up with a plan to help you and avoid these organizing pitfalls.