My Personal Organizing Journey

There was a time when I held onto everything. As a child and into my early adult years, I found value in each thing that I owned. The little knick-knack a friend gave me from a recent trip they took, cheap, plastic prizes I won at a carnival, or clothing that no longer really fit or interested me but I received as a gift. I was extremely adept at finding a reason to keep it all. If I put my mind to it, I could make anything sentimental. I recall how my room looked like an explosion of stuff with items not only on my shelves, but my TV stand or tucked into drawers of a big, bulky desk. It would take me forever to clean my room as I was constantly getting distracted by my things. I was reluctant to get rid of anything because I was worried that one day I would need it and I thought it better to have it and not use it than need it and not have it. As a result, I held onto things that really served no purpose and, surprise, surprise, were never actually needed. I went through the trouble of packing up all these “just in case” items and moved into my first apartment with them. All that trouble, and I still never used those things.

That first apartment, the one I shared with my now husband, had more of a college frat vibe than I’d like to admit. Naturally, as a young couple just starting out, we had the smattering of odd, mismatched furniture that is often the result of yard sale finds and well-meaning relatives but that wasn’t the issue. It was all the stuff, my stuff that did not have a place, that I felt I just had to keep despite having it since childhood and still not having a reason to use it. It was difficult to focus and really relax in that apartment and it took me a while to realize why that was. I was constantly being inundated with visual noise. It was after we decided to move to a new apartment that I had finally had enough of toting around my burden of stuff. Something just sort of switched over in my brain and as we packed, I found myself purging. A collection of yarn that I swore I was going to use for something, given to a friend who actually knits. Craft supplies that I never even opened, donated. Odds and ends that had no real function, trashed. Once I started, I realized how much better, how much lighter I felt.

That move was a turning point for me and I started to really contemplate my relationship to material items. When I was able to look at something and say, this is no longer serving a purpose in my life or the trouble to maintain this thing is not worth it for its use, I was able to remove the guilt of getting rid of it. Finding donation centers and charitable organizations that took the things I was no longer using gave me a sense of satisfaction knowing that it would get used and perhaps add value to someone else’s life.

When I began working as a production manager in a warehouse and I was tasked with organizing the space for efficiency, I discovered a true passion for organization. I loved the challenge of figuring out the best way to store things and arrange them so that operations were able to flow in a way that made sense. I derived a lot of satisfaction from having a space that had a clear system of categorization. I enjoyed this so much that I decided to apply this to my own home. Section by section, I went through and decluttered each room of our apartment and reset it in a way that made sense. Items in the kitchen that we didn’t use as frequently, went onto higher shelves that we didn’t need to access regularly. The medicine cabinet was divided into “his” and “hers” sections as well as a shelf dedicated to “mutual items”. Clothes in dresser drawers were refolded to look uniform and fit nicer. The result of all this work was a space that I could truly relax in. Cleaning took less time as I just had less to worry about. There was less visual noise and I found myself less distracted when I was trying to write or watch a show.

Now, decluttering and organizing is a routine part of my life. I’m not precious about my items, except the things that are actually meaningful to me. If it no longer serves me, it doesn’t stay. If I want to bring something new into our home, I think about where it will live, first and if I can’t think of a reasonable place to store it than I reconsider if it’s something I actually need. I want my home to be a place of comfort and tranquility and I’ve found that organization and evaluating the value of my belongings has helped me achieve that. I’m certain it can help you, too.