Life-changing Tips for Editing & Organizing

May 26, 2024 by Karen 61 Comments

11 Shares

In January I performed organizational open heart surgery on my house. I'm happy to report we both survived the calamity of decluttering. I'm now so organized Philip wags his tail in alphabetical order. This is how I did it.

Let's get one thing straight from the get-go. When I say this edit & organize was life changing, I mean it.

I also mean it when I say that about Butter Pecan ice cream.

But in this case I mean it even more. Organizing and getting rid of stuff, even stuff I loved and used, changed my life. Yes, for the better.

I didn't even really have that much stuff. But I had more stuff than I had space. I also had a psychotic amount of vases.

Table of Contents

How it Happened

Any home improvement project starts with a good SNAP. One tiny thing after another tiny thing eventually adds up to you coyote-screaming in your living room. Within 8 hours of that scream, you'll be taking action on whatever caused your snapshow.

It didn't involve drywall or pry bars but getting rid of stuff with abandon was one of my favourite and most impactful home improvement projects to date.

Editing & organizing is like adding a room to your house and an hour to your day.

That was my experience anyway. I did a similar thing 15 years ago when I got rid of almost everything I owned and started new.

What I did

First Edit then Organize

This isn't a guide to having a Home Edit look with matching baskets holding 2 decanted bottles of laundry detergent. It's a guide to getting rid of shit that's annoying you and making your life easier.

I went through every drawer, closet, cabinet and shelf in the house getting rid of everything I didn't need. Like what? Like multiple sets of dishes, decorations, VASES, art, kitchen appliances, clothing, electronics, lamps and on and on. Everything. You can read about the main process I went through here.
Got rid of a 2nd laundry basket. I had one laundry basket in the bathroom and one in my bedroom. I never did laundry until they were both full. Cutting down to 1 laundry basket (right beside the washing machine) keeps me on track because SOMETIMES instead of throwing my laundry in the basket I PUT IT RIGHT IN THE WASHING MACHINE.
I evicted things I liked or loved, but couldn't justify their space. I would look at something and if the thought of storing it for the next 20 years gave me tingling toe anxiety, I got rid of it. Which is in keeping with my motto, get rid of anything that sparks anxiety.

Sold my Eames Chair and ottoman. Anyone who knows the back story of this chair knows the significance of me getting rid of it. I loved it but the thought of having to walk around that ottoman for another 20 years made me itch.
Got rid of hundreds of CDs, and cassettes I worked as a music reporter for a few years and accumulated pretty much every CD ever made during those years. I already use Spotify and love it, so I saved my favourite albums there and created playlists. I kept my vinyl and got rid of all my CDs except for a few that are rare.
Made a Google Sheet of my Christmas Card list. This to replace my previous system of ripping the return addresses off the Christmas cards I received and then dropping those ripped shreds into random drawers around the house.
All new bras, socks and underwear. This is something I've wanted to do for years and organizing gave me an excuse to do it. Multiple pairs of plain white and plain black sport socks that I like to wear instead of slippers. No more worrying about matching socks. In terms of casual socks they all match now.

Remember when I said that purging is as good as adding an entire room onto your house? This is what I mean. This is one corner of things that I edited away from my home. Imagine gaining all the space getting rid of this amount of stuff creates.

That space is what makes life easier. It's easier to find what you need, easier to put it away and therefore easier to stay organized.

I didn't just make things neater; I got rid of stuff. No more Jenga junkpiles. Everything is easy to access and labelled.
I took a month off. It's not how most people want to spend their vacation but a block of time off helps. Getting rid of stuff, especially stuff you like, is easier if you do it all at once because you're perpetually in a "get rid of it" frame of mind.
Once it's out, it's out. Don't second guess yourself & don't bring it back in.

THIS ISN'T AN EXCUSE TO REPLACE THE OTHER STUFF WITH FUN ORGANIZATIONAL STUFF.

I bought a few things that I knew would help save me time, money and coyote-screams but I didn't buy a lot. Next week I'll post everything I bought for organizing and making life easier.

Bonus Tip: Even if something is huge and ridiculous you might decide to keep it. That's O.K. For me it was my candy floss machine.

Life Changing Benefits

I put things away now because it isn't hard. Nothing topples over in the medicine cabinet when I take out the toothbrush, I don't need a vice to crank my pajama drawer closed.
I have a dedicated snack drawer now. I have to share it with a dog, but it's a fun thing to have regardless.

I'm less frantic because I have so much more time. I genuinely feel like I've gained an hour a day.
I get my prescriptions refilled before I run out instead of days or maybe weeks later because I have time and my mind isn't filled with a jumbled mess. Apparently my mood mirrors my home's interior.
When you aren't overwhelmed with stuff it's easy to stay organized.
My seedlings have never looked better.
My basement has NEVER been more functional.

I always said hours of my life was taken up with finding things and trying to put them away. I didn't realize just how true that was.

EVERYTHING from making dinner to doing laundry is easier now. Everything has a place that it easily fits into and out of which makes grabbing my drill to fix something easier. LIFE CHANGING.

Grabbing a pan and utensils to make dinner is easier. Tidying up the house quickly is simple because now there's a place for everything to go.

Picking a vase for flowers is definitely easier.

When in doubt always go with the Plantasaurus Rex obviously.

Maintenance Tips

I keep these few tips in my head at all times because I am now rather militant about maintaining this newfound hour a day.

Don't put it down, put it away.
If it's going to take less than 30 seconds to do, just do it.
Keep it up. Decluttering is an ongoing thing.

I've sat in front of my laptop for half an hour trying to think of the perfect way to convey to you how helpful organizing has been and the best thing I can come up with is an example that happened the other night.

I was taking the garbage out and couldn't open the gate I hide my garbage cans behind because the step to my potting shed had shifted and was blocking the gate.

Normally this would have prompted me to smash the gate open with a sledgehammer because that would be faster and easier than fixing the problem.

Instead I lifted the offending step, moved the gravel underneath of it, reset the step and opened the gate. There was no swearing, rushing, crying or coyote sounds.

I just did it.

My motivational advice to you? Set a date and just do it.