Cleaning & Organizing
charitylynne_1979
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Reorganizing and Decluttering
I am a lurker who has finally made an appearance. Ever since we got started planning and got married in 2008, everything in the apt has gotten neglected and piled up. My step daughters room is both my office and their bedroom. That is the worst place right now. I know that I need to get boxes out of there and reorganize and declutter. I am on that being the priority this winter. When I get started in there, I get overwhelmed and stop. How do I get past this and does anyone have any tips for reorganzing stuff, how to do it, etc.? I am up for any advice. That is the priority room and then I am going to move onto the next rooms. But I need to tackle this one first.
Re: Reorganizing and Decluttering
First and foremost, I think you need to get your office out of their room. They should have a room that's all theirs. Do you really want them to feel like a guest in their room (b/c IMO that's what having your office in there sounds like to me). I'm not flaming, but I'm talking as a step-daughter that never felt welcomed by my s-mother and that's a HUGE reason we have zero contact with that side of the family.
As far as decluttering, get rid of as many things as possible. Thing about every item you come across and ask yourself when was the last time you used it, is it necessary, when do you see yourself using it again, if you didn't have it would you miss it, and would you feel the need to buy it again. Other than tax papers, you really don't need to keep anything, you can scan important papers in, but most can be tossed. Not sure if you do this, but don't stockpile stuff over the top (as in, you don't need 10 packs of black pens, 5 boxes of staples, 10 rolls of scotch tape). Once you know what you want to keep and what you wan to get rid of, get bins, and totes to keep everything together. GL.
I'm not a stepchild, so my thoughts may not be welcomed or appropriate. If they aren't there very often, you could probably keep your office in there if it's a small corner of the room, and you keep it organized once you get to that point.
Is the room decorated in a specific style or colors? If so, you should coordinate your office with that, so it doesn't stick out. If you don't have a style or color, the next time your sds visit, sit down with them and let them pick out how they'd like the room decorated. You can work from that and buy storage items and a few accessories that match.
In the meantime, you should start small. If you know they won't visit for awhile, you can probably spread out and use the room to sort things out but be prepared to clean it up quickly if they visit. When you organize, have a paper shredder, garbage bags and two boxes handy. Label one box 'donate' and the other 'keep.' As you sort, put items in the correct spot. Once you're done with that, handle those piles (shred your paper, take out the trash, put the donate box in your car). Then just work from the keep pile and get that organized however it works best for you.
It can be overwhelming, can't it?
Does it get overwhelming because of the emotional attachments to things? Or does it get overwhelming because of the size of the job?
I agree with the other ppl in regards to shredding papers, sorting into piles of "keep," "donate," and "toss." This has been the most efficient system for me when I'm tacking a larger project (like an entire room).
Start small. Don't tell yourself you're going to de-clutter the entire room, because then it becomes a a monumental task that will overwhelm you too easily. Tell yourself you're going to de-clutter a drawer or two, then take a break. If you feel like continuing, do another drawer. It's easier to feel successful when you see your progress, and for me, that comes from doing small areas first.
I think an office can be the hardest room to de-clutter, simply because of all the PAPERS!!
That's why I save the papers for last when I need to re-organize/de-clutter-- they're the most time-consuming.
Hope this helps!
Thank you for the tips.
Thanks! It's overwhelming because of the task. There is just so much in there and boxes that are just empty and piling up. And having to go through all the boxes, paperwork and stuff in boxes. I know for sure I am going through my cd collection and am going to get rid of a lot of those.
One thing that helps me to declutter is saying (borrowed from Peter Walsh) "What do you envision for this room?" Meaning, what do you want in the end?
Once you have that in your mind, it is easy to let go of things. For example, we have a playroom downstairs that is (was, but getting better!) filled with kids' toys. I had a hard time giving up the toys, since my kids played with them, had memories, etc.
But, my VISION for the room is a place where my kids can play with their friends on playdates, etc., and some of those toys just don't fit there.
Also helpful mantras:
"Give it away. It will come back to you if you need it," (from a friend)
"Make room for more in your life." (from Oprah).
Flylady is great for decluttering and getting organized. One of her key words are BABY STEPS...just a little bit at a time. She also says, "Progress, not perfection." She recommends setting a timer for 15 minutes or even 7 minutes. If you do join up with her, don't get overwhelmed by everything - start slowly!