here's how to declutter and organize any area of your home or office in seven easy steps I'm gonna
declutter and organize this drawer which has got into a right old mess so I'm assuming that you've
already decided where you're going to start if you're stuck around that you just don't know
where to begin I've put some links below to other videos I've made to help you around that okay so
here are the seven steps step one is to take a before photo why because after you've declutter
don't organize an area the new way it looks will very quickly come to seem normal to you honestly
it never ceases to amaze me how effective this is every time i declutter an area whether an area of
my own home or a client's going back to the before photo at the end is astounding without it sure you
can see that the area looks better but I guarantee you will already forgotten just how cluttered it
was before you started a before photo is essential for appreciating how much you've achieved which
in turn is essential for keeping your motivation and energy up step to get yourself into the right
frame of mind take a moment to relax if you're feeling tense and remind yourself while you're
doing this what might come into your life once you let go of your clutter step 3 is to set yourself
up physically so I'm gonna do this draw today now it's the floors already covered in clutter
and I want to take everything out and put it on the floor I'm not gonna be able to do that
so I'm gonna move everything that's on the floor elsewhere to make myself space in which to work
now if that means piling unsorted clutter from the floor on top of unsorted stuff elsewhere so
be it for now I'm gonna get to that another time for this session I'm going to concentrate just
on the contents of this drawer and I'm gonna make space for me to do that if you're going through a
lot of stuff assemble containers to sort your stuff into if it's not too much you might be
able to sort simply into piles but if you're past that stuff get large they can start to get messy
and overlap and you might lose track of what category you've sorted out and then do don't
go out and buy new containers I'm sure you've got plenty of boxes and bags around your home
that you can use you're going to need at least six containers and I'll explain in a moment why
that is what containers you use will depend on what your decluttering so for example if you're
sorting out your wardrobe and the chances are that you're going to take in some stuff to the
charity shop you might want to use some dust in sacks or some strong carrier bags whereas
I'm sorting this straw and it's got most two kind of officee stuff in it so I'm going to use boxes
and tops the reason I said you'd need six boxes or bags is that you're going to sort your stuff
into six categories here is categories category one this stays here I'm keeping it and I'm going
to return it to this shelf this draw this couple of that I'm decluttering at the moment category
two action I need to do something in relation to this all clutter is either at a third decision
or an incomplete task so as you go through your stuff you will inevitably find things that you
need to do perhaps the item belongs to someone else and you need to return it or you're going
to give it away or it needs fixing put anything that's waiting for something to be done or that
you can't declutter until you've done something about into your action container category three
belongs somewhere else and keeping it but it belongs elsewhere in my home the point of this
container is to stop you getting destructed instead of continually walking away from the
area your decluttering to put stuff away and then spotting other things that need doing and getting
caught up in them you wait until the end of the session to put stuff away elsewhere in
your home category for recycling category five general rubbish the stuff you sent to landfill
or incineration and the final category category six and this is a really important category is
I'm not sure whether or not I want to keep this the purpose of this category is to stop your
getting hung up and stopped by a particular item that you just can't make a decision about if you
think you have to make a firm decision about every item immediately it's easy to get stuck
these notebooks I don't really use notebooks very much anymore but they're quite pretty and I'm not
gonna imagine I might use them if I get rid of them and then I wish I got a notebook and then
you're sitting there for a long time unable to work out what to do you might be making
decisions about items you haven't seen for a long time possibly things you've forgotten you had you
need time to reacquaint yourself with these before you can decide what to do about them but you don't
want to spend so much time reacquainting yourself that it takes you ages to decide about every item
having a not sure category allowing yourself to be unsure enables you to keep moving while your
brain works in the background without you even noticing on the items you're not sure about so
those are the six categories I recommend you use now that's not to say you can't amend them to fit
the type of stuff you're decluttering for example if you think you're going to send a lot of stuff
to a charity shop or a thrift store you might want to container specifically for that in the UK a
charity shops will take bags of clothing that's too worn to be resold as clothing itself for
recycling so if you're decluttering and organizing your wardrobe you might specifically want a bag
that you label rags but the six categories I've listed here are a basic set that you can use in
any area of your home or office if you like you to struggle to remember which container is which
label them right the category on the box or to a piece of paper and stick it to the Container but
make sure you attach the label firmly don't stick post-it notes on plastic bags because I guarantee
you during your decluttering session they'll fall off and just create more clutter which is the last
thing you want that for is to clear out and clean the area your decluttering getting everything out
of the area and then going through it ensures that you don't overlook anything plus it enables you to
clean the area it might be the only time you get to wipe all the dust off a shelf or vacuum all
the bits out of a drawer now cleaning might not seem like it's part of decluttering but the thing
is when an area is cluttered it's really hard to get it clean so either you don't clean it at all
or you kind of clean a bit around the staff and never really get it properly clean so when you
take everything out of the area you'll probably find a fair bit of dust and bits of dirt so run
the vacuum cleaner around it all robert down with a damp cloth and get it clean Stage five is where
you're actually starting to make decisions go through each and every item systematically
and the important word here is systematically considered each and everything one at a time and
decide which of your six boxes and bags it belongs in to help you decide ask yourself three questions
to determine whether or not you want to keep it and if you are keeping it think about where to
keep it so with each item ask yourself one do I need the for legal reasons if I get rid of this
can I get into trouble legally or financially - am i realistically likely to use it and the key
word here is realistically we're not talking about a teeny tiny chance that you might just
find a use for it one day in the diamond distant future especially if it's something that's easily
replaceable if you're unsure how realistic is that you'll use something consider might even
use it in the last 12 months now it's not like you have to get rid of anything you haven't used
within a year but it can help you to get real about how likely you are to use something 3 do
I love it so I find it beautiful does it just make me happy having it around perhaps it's a
sentimental object or a remind you of someone or someplace or some event that you loved if
the answer to all three questions is knows you can say can you let the item go on the other hand if
the answer to at least one is yes so you decide to keep the item ask yourself where's the best
place to keep it is it here or is it elsewhere in my home think about where you're likely to be
when you want to use the item think about how often you use it it is not often you might be
happy to store it in a less accessible place once you've answered those questions you should know
which it categories the item belongs in so put it into one of your containers two more things to say
about the sorting stage first don't cut corners if you find out a box of papers or a container
full of little bits and pieces don't just put it in the keeping here or keeping elsewhere
container without looking through it go through the contents systematically and second don't spend
more than about 30 seconds deciding on an item don't forget you've got the northshore category
if you can't decide after 30 seconds don't try to push through and force yourself to make it
vision that can tip you into paralysis or panic and lead you to make decisions that you later
regret instead allow yourself to be unsure and put the item in the northshore box or bag and move on
to another item so that's step 5 and by the time you've completed it you'll have sorted through
every item in the area you're working on and put it in one of your six containers now you can move
on to step 6 which is to deal with the contents of each box or bag starting with the northshore
box or bag when you first saw the items that have gone into that not sure box or bag you might not
have seen them for a long time you might even have forgotten that you owned them but in the time that
you've gone on working through the pile of stuff you've been decluttering your brains had time to
process thoughts and feelings associated with them so you might find that actually now you can make
a decision about them so go through each item in your not sure box or bag again once more not
spending more than about 30 seconds on each item and move each thing into one of the other boxes
or bags I often find that when my clients and I go back to the not sure box our bag my clients
are surprised at what's in it they're like you know what I can definitely look like oh what's
it thinking I totally want to keep that or you might still be unsure in which case keep the item
put it in the keeping here or keeping elsewhere container it's really fine I bet you've got rid
of plenty of other stuff and it's best to keep things unless you're certain you no longer want
them then you can make a new decision about that item in the future whereas if you throw it out
when you're not sure there's no recovering it if you change your mind once you've entered the not
sure box or bag return the items you're keeping in this area to the area then put items that belong
elsewhere in your home in an appropriate place next bag up the rubbish and recycling ready to
leave your home and then crucially go through the items in the action container I can't stress
enough how important it is to make sure you get the actions done remember all clutter is either
a deferred decision or an incomplete task until you get the job done the clutter will remain if
you can take any actions quickly and easily do them straight away otherwise schedule them decide
when you're going to do each action or showed you the time to do all the actions together and
put that time in your diary or calendar work out how and when you're going to return items
that belong to other people to their rightful owners how and when you're going to sell stuff
how and when you're going to take stuff to the charity shop or give it to a friend or relative
make sure all your actions are done or scheduled all right finally step 7 is the fun bit grab your
phone again taken after photo compare it to your before shot and take a moment to appreciate what
you've achieved this is so important we're all great at noticing when we haven't done as well
as we might we're less good at acknowledging what we do get done so take a moment to see
the difference you've made not least because that will help you with the motivation to keep going
so there you go you can use my seven step process to declutter and organize absolutely anything and
I'd love to hear how you get on with it so please comment below and I'll see you in the next video