HEALTH + WELLNESS: Sarah Dunn shows how to get home organizing done

HEALTH AND WELLNESS | SPRING CLEANING Spring

Cleaning

Story & Photos by Sarah Dunn

With summer right around the corner, you might be itching to do some spring cleaning… or to finally get organized once and for all. I’m here to tell you, getting organized is not as hard as you might think. With a little patience and by following the steps below, you too can restore the order in your home.

I always tell my clients that there are two rules to getting organized. If you stick to these rules, you’ll never suffer from a disorganized, chaotic house again. Ready? 1) Group “like with like”: Create groupings of similar items. All hair products together, all paper goods together, all office supplies together, all cleaning supplies together. 2) Assign one home for each grouping of items. Spaces begin to feel cluttered when you find the same item strewn about in different areas. Rather than having hair products in your bathroom and your bedroom, try to keep them all in your bathroom. Allocate one area for each grouping and you’ll always know where to find what you’re looking for. (There’s one exception to the rule, and this is when it comes to backstock. If you like to buy in bulk, give yourself one area – perhaps in your garage or laundry room – to house all of your backstock.)

Now that we have the two rules out

of the way, let’s break down the process Seasonal purges are imperative to keeping

playrooms free of clutter and outgrown toys.

of getting organized. As a professional organizer, creating space is the highlight of my job. So when you’re having trouble remembering the steps of organizing, think SPACE. This acronym, coined by professional organizer Julie Morgenstern, allows us to remember the five steps of organizing.

S = Sort.

The first step of organizing is to sort all of your belongings from the space in question. If you want to organize your kitchen, pull everything out from the drawers and cabinets. Begin creating broad groupings of items: all silverware together, all appliances together, all specialty tools together. Have you checked all the places? Make sure you don’t have any kitchen gadgets hiding in your dining room or the wet bar. When we sort, we want to be sure we have all the items together because it allows us to see the excess. (Admittedly, when I did this process in my own home, I found out we owned four can openers. In what world would I ever need more than one can opener at one time? Hint: not this one!)

P = Purge.

The second step is to purge the excess. This is the step my clients seem to need the most help with – whether it’s just the accountability of having someone there while they make decisions about what to keep and what to let go of, or more often, having someone tell them how much is too much. I hate to break it to you, but you’ll need to define excess for yourself. My general rule of thumb is to keep things you love and keep things you use in your current lifestyle. Hanging on to things because you “might need them one day” comes from a scarcity mindset and I believe it’s better to operate from an abundance mindset. But in case you need to hear it from someone else: if your closets, drawers, and cabinets are overflowing, you probably have too much. Work within the constraints of your space.

Color-coding, cohesive hangers, and matching baskets elevates the look of this primary closet.

In this garage, we gave everything a home in labeled bins, making it super easy to locate what's needed.

A = Assign a home.

After purging, you’re left with an edited amount of things you plan on keeping. Now you need to decide where you’ll house these items. Consider where you use the items when determining where they’ll live. Does it make sense to house your vitamins in your bathroom when you take them with your morning coffee?

Grouping food by categories in matching hyacinth bins restored the order in this pantry.

Teenagers can maintain organization when they're taught to group "like with like" and assign one home for each grouping.

Probably not. Whenever possible, house your items in the same room that you use them in.

C = Containerize.

Now that you’ve determined where your items will live, you’ll need to figure out what type of container they will live in. The mistake many aspiring organizers make is buying containers before they purge, thinking this will solve their clutter problems. It won’t. I strongly encourage you to wait until after you declutter to purchase containers, so you’ll know exactly what size and style to get. When considering style, when in doubt go with a cohesive look. Whether it’s the same product in different sizes or multiple containers in the same color, a cohesive look will make a space feel polished and look more organized.

E = Equalize.

Equalizing is the act of assessing whether the system you’ve just created works for you in the long run. After you’ve completed steps S, P, A and C, set a reminder for a month from now to evaluate whether everything’s working out. Organizing is not a one-and-done process. Daily tidy sessions are key to success. And seasonal purges will ensure you’re never overfilling the space you’ve just created.

If you remember one thing, remember that being organized isn’t an end state. It’s a continuous practice that enables you to create space for what matters most in your life.

• Sarah Dunn is a professional organizer based in San Diego and San Francisco who love turning chaos into order. The possibility of transformation is her inspiration. For more information, visit her website, getitdunn.co.