Celebrate Bare-January
Seven Tips to Help You Get Organized
During This Month of Minimalism
Call me crazy, and I know you will, but I kind of love January. After the abundance of December and the pervasiveness of holiday décor, I particularly love the bareness that comes with this first month of the year. It’s like a celebration of minimalism. For me, that feeds my love for organization and streamlining. I get an urge to clean out every drawer, closet and cabinet in the house, and I tackle them one at a time.
A lot of us here at Union Furniture & Flooring feel the same way, so I polled my colleagues to ask for some organizing tips and tricks to share with you, because this skill is not one that comes naturally to everyone. Professional organizers will tell you this, but sadly, a lot of people actually feel shame over their lack of organizing skill. That’s not right, so we want to help, even if only a little bit. Here’s a list of the little ways we stay organized:
1. Keep an empty shopping bag or box in your clothes closet. The next time you’re getting dressed and notice that an item doesn’t fit right anymore or that you just don’t like to wear anymore, for whatever reason, put it in the bag/box. Once the bag/box is filled, take it to a donation center. This also is a way to get a piece off a hanger, but not out of your house, just yet. Which means you have a chance to reconsider.
2. If you are someone who has an extensive wardrobe or space is a commodity in your closet, when you buy a new piece of clothing, consider taking a piece out of your closet. The bag/box system works for this too.
3. Do the same thing with home décor. If buy something new, consider getting rid of something. And with seasonal décor (like Christmas!), take stock of your collection at the end of each season and donate those pieces that don’t bring you joy any more.
4. If you get the urge to organize a cabinet, closet or drawer, start by going through all of the contents and creating piles of things you definitely want to keep, things to toss and things to donate. Then make or buy the right organizing containers that fit your space (take measurements!) and also fit the way you want to group the items you’re keeping.
Professional organizers say one mistake a lot of people make is buying a bunch of containers first and then trying to make them fit their items and spaces. Another mistake is not streamlining their stuff before they start organizing. Why bother keeping, much less organizing, stuff you don’t need or want.
5. Whoever said paper is dead didn’t have an elementary school child. The amount of paper that comes home with a single student can be overwhelming, and a lot of it you will need to hold on to at least for a while, if not until the end of the school year. And then there’s those art projects and creative writing pieces that you will WANT to keep forever. Consider buying a file box where you can keep all of your student’s special grade school keepsakes, organizing keepsakes from each school year into a separate hanging file.
6. Go through your mail in the moment and sort it into piles — keep, shred, recycle. You can have containers for the shred and recycle items, waiting to take care of them at the end of the week or whenever they get full.
7. If a move is in your future, take advantage of this opportunity to sort through all of your things and donate or get rid of anything that you don’t need or doesn’t bring you joy anymore. Why would you pack up and use energy to physically move things you don’t really like?
If you have a tip you’d like to share, let us know. Or send us feedback on our tips, especially if they help! Or, if you’re looking to really kick your organizing into high gear, check out our 30-Day Declutter Challenge originally posted in 2021.
