8. Sort
Try on what you’re not sure of
Donate what you don’t wear/love
Move items that don’t belong here
Put off-season in storage bags or bins
Make neat stacks by type of garment
When will you repair it? Will you really?
No more than 3 items on probation
Hi. It’s a pleasure to be here this morning.I am from right over in Souderton, and I have been a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers since 2006. I WASN’T BORN ORGANIZED! Put myself through college, lived and taught adults in Switzerland, worked in pharmaceutical industry in quality department. As owner of An Extra Hand Organizing, I am called by frantic, frustrated people who feel stuck. They are late for work because they can’t find keys or cell phone, they misplace things, miss deadlines, can’t can’tcan’t. Can’t eat on the dining table, can’t have guests in the guest room, and can’t park the car in the garage. They usually realize they need help managing their space, and while that is true, I also see problems with managing their time, and their energy, and they are not paying enough attention to how they use their money. Which prompted me to write a book that emphasizes paying attention to all four resources. So what can I do to help them? I start by using some very basic organizing skills.
What I do for my clients is to create a user-friendly environment that is uniquely adapted to their needs. Got six children? Home office? Six cats and a parakeet? Is the person left handed or right handed? Food allergies? All of these will play a part in the final product. But the goal is to have a simple, smart environment that supports their needs. Some basics apply to all…Here’s an exercise we can do to demonstrate one. It’s visual observation, so I will ask everyone to raise a hand.
This is a typical closet. How would you describe it? Jumble? Messy? Hard to see what’s going on. A lot of this is here by default.
HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE A CLOSET THAT SEEMS CROWDED? Before you tackle your closet, decide which type of clothing you wear most (Pants and tops? Suits? Dresses?) and know your best colors!
This includes setting aside enough time and energy to work on it. It ALWAYS saves time and energy if you take a couple of minutes to get set up. And always leave clean up time at the end!
Once you get started, you want to stay focused, so have everything you need right there before you begin. What are these things for? SET YOUR TIMER! DON’T LEAVE THE ROOM TILL IT’S ALL DONE!
To do a good purge, you need to be able to see each garment. Same for cleaning out your handbag – you need to dump it out to get the objectivity you need to really sort it out.
Take the time to go step by step.
Use the same sorting technique.
If you love it, but it doesn’t match anything, wear it shopping so you can match the color. BE REALISTIC!
The clothes can breathe, you can see what’s there. Look at pant lengths. Hang Bermuda's or capris straight down, long pants folded once. Makes it easier to get dressed!
Put your common ones on the top row! If you have lots of shoes you don’t only wear for special occasions, consider getting a shoe organizer you can slide under your bed.
Before and after pictures are a great way to motivate and remind yourself of your progress! THIS IS A USER FRIENDLY CLOSET.
