Declutter Workshop 101

Welcome To My Declutter Workshop



Photo Credits: By Rubbermaid Products  

I would like to begin by telling you a little information about myself. I am a registered nurse and I also earned by diploma in medical transcription.

I have several years of nursing experience and I even had the wonderful opportunity to write and teach a few online medical assisting courses on the college academic level.

However, I have always had a great passion for organizing my house. I studied many resources about home organization and decluttering a house. There is so much helpful information to learn. I decided to continue to pursue my interest in this field.

Now, I am very proud to tell you that I am a trained Professional Organizer. I successfully completed the program listed below and I enjoyed my training very much. 

We support the Institute for Professional Organizers™ Fast Track Method™ Training Self-Study Program developed by experienced organizers.

You can learn how to start your professional organizing business and how to organize. The program includes 8 hours of online videos, a comprehensive manual, and personal coaching. You can study from the comfort of your own home.

Click here to visit Institute for Professional Organizers. 

So, now you are a little more familiar with my training. We will get onto our topic of decluttering the house. I thought it would be fun and interesting to start with one of my favorite videos. As you get to know me, you will soon find out that I am a visual person and I truly enjoy many helpful videos regarding home organization.

Video Titled "How to Organize Your Home: Organizational Expert Alejandra Costello's House Tour" 

I hope you enjoyed our first video. I would like to emphasize that I do not believe there is just "one" successful method to organize and declutter your home. 

I think it is extremely important for you to educate yourself about home organization and decluttering the house and decide on specific organizing systems that will work well for your individual lifestyle and family. Always remember that good organizational habits can be learned.

I have a question for everyone reading my Declutter Workshop today. What is clutter?

• Clutter is anything in your home or office that does not serve a purpose or function in your life anymore.

• Clutter may include items in your home that are broken or nonfunctional.

• Clutter may be material items in your home that you do not need or love.

• Clutter could also include unnecessary duplicate items in your home.

• You may be surprised to realize that having too many storage containers that aren't actually be used in your home may add to your existing clutter problem. That is the main reason it may be suggested that you declutter your home "first." Then, it should be easy to figure out exactly how many storage boxes to buy and specific sizes you may need.

• Clutter could also consist of accumulated items of trash to be thrown away or removed in an appropriate manner. 

Now that we know what clutter is, why do you think our homes accumulate clutter?

• Clutter may be caused be delayed decisions.

• You haven't taken the time to decide on appropriate areas to keep your specific items in your home.

• Procrastination: maybe you feel overwhelmed about organizing or decluttering your house.

• You may be experiencing that frustrating "all or nothing" feeling about home organization. For example: you may think to yourself, "I will never have enough time to get my organizing projects done. There is just too much to do. So, why should I even start?"

• Maybe, you have a very busy family schedule and you haven't been using a good weekly/monthly planner for routine chores/tasks in the home.

• Possibly, the family doesn't realize your home organization goals and you may get easily distracted with many interruptions throughout the day. It may be very helpful for you to communicate your short-term and long-term organizing goals with your family. You may decide to have family members participate in your plan. This may be especially important in helping to keep your home maintained after you have everything set up the way you like it.

• You may have felt the lack of energy or motivation to complete organizing projects in the past.

• Often times, a major lifestyle change may cause a change in the normal flow of organization in your home. Here are a few examples: a birth or a death in the family, new marriage or a divorce, job relocation, or health problems.

How can clutter affect your life in a negative way?

• Clutter can take up lots of extra space in a home. Think of how much more additional space you may have available after you get rid of any unnecessary clutter.

• You may be using a lot of your valuable time to take care of all the material things in your house.

• You could be spending extra money for duplicate items that you have been purchasing because you haven't been able to find the things that you were looking for in your house.
  

• Many people say they lack energy because they are tired of maintaining all the material things they have accumulated over the years.

• They don't have enough time to take good care of themselves or to enjoy their favorite hobbies and outlets.

What are the positive benefits of home organization and decluttering your house?

• You will be able to focus on things that you enjoy, such as: exercise, hobbies, good nutrition, etc.

• You may find that you have more time to spend with family and friends.

• Hopefully, you won't have the need to purchase unnecessary items because you will have easy access to your items and be able to find everything when you need it. You will learn how to find "the right place for everything in your home."

• You may really enjoy the big bonus of having more space in your home once you get rid of your clutter.

• An organized house, free of clutter, may help you save time when you need to do your routine daily/weekly household chores.

• I find that I focus and concentrate better and feel more productive and less stress with work when my house and office are organized.

• You may increase your confidence to invite your friends over to your home again.

At this point in our Declutter Workshop, I think it is time to discuss how you can stop cluttering and how to begin organizing.

I think this may be a great time to introduce another one of my very favorite videos that demonstrates the important factors of home organization.



Video Titled "Organizing 101"

Next, I would like you to think of what area of your house has been causing you the most frustration?

Some examples:

• Is it your cluttered kitchen or bathroom cabinets?

• Could it be your desk with piles of papers?

• Maybe your family room is not being used for it's fullest potential because clutter is taking up a lot of space.

• Can you relax in your bedroom area, or do you have disorganization with clothes and books lying around?

• Do you have unfolded clothes in laundry baskets sitting in your family room on the couch?

• Is it taking you too long to cook and prepare family meals because you can't find what you need inside of your disorganized, cluttered kitchen cabinets?

• Do you get frustrated just thinking about cleaning and maintaining the bathroom every week because you haven't figured out the appropriate storage for that area?

• Do you dislike walking into your basement because you have been storing so much of what you have accumulated throughout the years in boxes downstairs?

• Can you park your cars in your garage, or do you use that area to store extra boxes of items that you need to sort through?

• Does it look nice around the entrance of your front or back door, or do you have shoes, mail, magazines, or pet supplies lying around?

I think you probably get the picture. I believe that you will begin to easily see a huge positive difference in even one small area in your home that you declutter. Hopefully, this will get you motivated to continue with your future home organizational plans!

After reading many of my examples, you any decide to start in the one area of your home that causes you the most frustration.

You will want to begin by planning your organizing or decluttering project.

Plan an appropriate amount of time for your individual projects. Four hours may be a great amount of time, but even if you have an hour or 30 minutes, you may accomplish a decent amount of work. 

After you become accustomed to decluttering and organizing your house, you may easily find that even 15 minutes a day may be helpful if you are busy.

Get your supplies ready, such as: garbage bags, boxes for sorting, labels, etc. You will want to wait until you declutter to buy specific storage containers that you will need to use on a long-term basis.

It is helpful to decide in advance what you want to do with any items that you definitely decide to get rid of for sure. Some examples: local charity, local consignment store, junk removal service, or a future yard sale. 

It is helpful to have items removed quickly after your organizing project is completed. It is always a good idea to completely finish one project before you begin another.

Remember to stick with one area that you are working on and do not jump into other rooms at the same time. Focus on one project at time to increase your efficiency.

Some people enjoy working with an accountable friend and they find that method to be motivating.

Others may have a need or desire to hire a Professional Organizer to help them develop specific organizing systems and storage solutions.

Here are a few stumbling blocks or excuses that people may commonly use when deciding on what to get rid of in their homes.

• People sometimes want to hold onto things because they think "they may need those items someday."  I am a strong believer that it actually becomes much easier and quicker to access items in your home after you get rid of what you don't use or want anymore.

• Many times, people just do not know what to keep, such as paperwork. I am planning on developing my Paper Management Workshop in the future to discuss this separate topic. For now, here are a few examples of purposes for keeping paper: taxes, legal certificates/proof, property documents, legal agreements, receipts/claims.

• You may feel guilty about getting rid of an item that was given to you originally as a gift. However, it is important to remember that the "act of giving" is the factor involved. If you definitely do not like the item or need it, please don't feel guilty.

• We often save certain objects for sentimental reasons. An item may be associated with an familiar memory. You can decide to even take a picture of the object and keep that to help preserve the memory. One big excuse that people use to hold onto their "stuff" is because they paid decent money for an item. Please decide if the item is useful for your life today. You may decide to have a yard sale or even use a local consignment shop as an option.

Here are some excellent organizing principles for you.

• When you purchase a new item in a certain category, you may decide to donate or sell another item that you already have in that category. This is sometimes referred to as "the one in - one out" principle. So, you won't have a tendency to accumulate too much again in the future.

• Before you decide to buy a new item for your home, try to visualize where it will " live" or be placed in your home. If you can't figure that out, it may be better to hold off on the purchase at this time, if possible. 

• Buy containers after you declutter, so you know exactly how many you will need and the correct sizes.

• You can label your containers with name of the contents, so you and your family will be able to quickly find your items when needed.

• Focus on one specific area when you are organizing your home. If you happen to find certain items that belong in another room, you can collect them in a separate box and put them back where they belong when you are finished with your organizing project. This will save you some time and keep you from getting distracted.

• Finally, make sure you have a maintenance plan to keep your house organized.

I thought a very nice way to conclude our Declutter Workshop would be to present a few more of my favorite organizing videos for everyone.



Video Titled "Pantry Organization Tips"



Video Titled "Food Storage Organizing Tips"

Video Titled "Organizing Your Closet"

Video Titled "The Four Pile Organization Principle"



Video Titled "Making Your Move"



Video Titled "Tips for Unpacking"



Video Titled "5 P's of Organizing"



Video Titled "Getting Started" 

Hopefully, you will have the confidence and motivation to plan and begin your own organizing and decluttering projects at your house. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to visit my Declutter Workshop. Maybe, you might also enjoy my Time Management Workshop and my Paper Management Workshop that I will complete in the near future.