But I feel like I need to say a thing.
I was posting about all of her tips YEARS AGO.
I'm not bitter about it, because she's helping an entire nation declutter the crap they don't need. In fact I am cheering her on. But as I was using her tips and enthusiasm for myself at the beginning of 2019, I felt compelled to re-write some of my greatest organizing tips, which seem to be a healthy mixture of Marie-Kondo and Emily Ley.
Marie Kondo + Emily Ley = Mollie Boersma
So here they are:
Tackle one room at a time, one drawer at a time, working systematically through the entire house. It's so easy to get side-tracked when organizing...you realize there are batteries mixed in with cotton balls in the same drawer in the bathroom, and suddenly you're in the kitchen organizing the junk drawer because you were returning the batteries to their rightful place. Fight this urge. It means there will be a monumental mess for a few days while you're working, but it makes everything so much easier in the long run. As you make your way through the house, you arrive at the next room/drawer/closet, ready to work because you've been collecting things to organize once you reach that place.
Make multiple, detailed lists as you work through each space. Keep your phone or notebook with you so you can be adding random items to your Wal-Mart/Target list; making a list of things you need from Lowe's; or adding unfinished projects to your goals for the year. By the end of my week I had a full cart in my Wal-Mart Pickup app...things like Chlorox Wipes, Command Strips, hand soap, diaper wipes, printer paper, and pens. Stuff that tends to be forgotten week after week, but stuff you actually really need. It felt so good to start the year off this way.
Don't try and deep clean + declutter at the same time. This will just set you up for complete failure. Instead, as you're organizing, make a deep cleaning list to revisit in the spring when you've designated a week (or weeks) to your Amazing Spring Cleaning Week of 2019. I like to get hyped and buy special cleaning gloves and make detailed lists of every single little thing I plan to clean (ie: sweep floors, dust floors, mop floors...lots of things mean lots of checking off, which equal lots of motivation!). I keep the week's schedule empty, grab extra-fun snacks for Mav, and plan on a lot of TV time if that's what's necessary to accomplish a good spring cleaning. I do one room at a time, one day at a time and it involves things like taking a Q-tip to the tiny crevices on the stovetop. Make sure you have a good book on Audible and your fave podcasts locked and loaded.
When the organizing mood hits, take full advantage of it...even if it's midnight on a Wednesday. For me, this always happens in the first few weeks of the new year. I'm stuck in limbo between wanting to keep Christmas up and the new toys out while we laze-our days away...vs. snap into organizing and cleaning and list-making to ring in the new year. This year I opted for a mixture of the two. I felt better about taking Christmas down when our drawers and closets were in order and all the new toys had found a home. It actually went so much faster this way...and I did it when I was in the mood, even though I didn't wake up planning to start the organizing overhaul. When it hits, go with it.
Just suck it up and do it all. Organize the apps on your phone, delete unnecessary stuff, clear your homescreen. Make the pile to donate and then PUT THE BAG IN YOUR CAR AND TAKE IT THERE RIGHT AWAY. Go through the disgusting stuff at the bottom of your purse. That thing you've been putting off because it's annoying and gross and not fun (for me this was hauling old light fixture boxes from our renovation that we'd saved, outside and then to the burn pile), do it all and you will FEEL SO GOOD IT'S DONE.
Don't buy any totes/tools/bins/baskets until you've organized everything and taken an inventory of what you might actually need. This is a cardinal rule for Emily Ley, and it's one of the hardest for me...because I'm no rookie to the decluttering scene. I generally know when I need another tote or two for storing Mav's clothes or to corral the stuff I added to my Christmas collection...part of me likes to START the project with everything I need to accomplish it. BUT it's good to dive in, get the momentum started instead of blindly going to the store and buying cute drawer dividers and totes without knowing what you need.
Final rule: NEED, USE, LOVE. If it doesn't fall into one of those categories, it's SELL, TRASH, DONATE.
And in case you find yourself needing more motivation, for your reading pleasure from the archives:
It's not like there's anything else to do when it's this cold outside so we might as well have clean and organized houses, since this is where we will be trapped for another month.
MmB
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