Ever wondered how they do it? How Professional organisers create the most organised spaces in no time and keep it that way? People generally end up with clutter because they either have too much stuff or not enough storage. See below some helpful advice used by the industry experts, mover and packers and home organisers Sydney, Mooving matters to help get you started and keep your home tidy and clean.
So let’s start on what the Top 3 things are that people leave around the home?
- Clothes
- Toys
- Papers
These items may get put away somewhere however are they needed still or organised properly? A main problem is created where the good and the bad get jumbled and lost together and each time these items are accessed is just causes more frustration! So let s discover the methods you should consider to get you on your way to a home organised and tidier home.
The 5 Piles
When sorting you should always create the mandatory 5 piles
- Move to another room or space
- Give to a certain person
- throw away
- Donate
- The Marinating Pile
The essential Marinating pile is where you place items in this pile into a labelled box that is dated to be opened within 6 months to a year for packing. If the box is not touched or open by the due date, you should be able to safely discard those items if they aren’t precious keep sakes.
Want to speed up the process?
Make some rules and boundaries on what your keeping and discarding and stick to it. For example when culling your wardrobe look to donate clothes that no longer fit or may need to be repaired. And for magazines look to only keep ones within a year old.
Prepare for organisation to take a little longer
Make time for sorting through personal papers as on average it will take 5 times as long than expected.
Does it really need a lid?
In all honesty lids just make it harder to put things away.. this includes laundry baskets, bins and various other containers. Clear storage boxes / containers however are great for holding everyday essentials from pantry items to your kids lego and toys. They fit in most shelving units and come in various volumes and you can always see clearly what is inside them.
Paperless?
The notion of a paperless society unfortunately has become a myth. The truth is people love things in hardcopy format and are often scared to part with it. It’s astonishing to know that 80 percent of the paper you get you don’t actually need. So to try and organise your paper chaos it’s important to sort out your collection of papers at least every week if not daily, including magazines, catalogues, mail, receipts, etc.
Your number one goal!
Is to remove the clutter not create more storage space. So don’t go off and buy more containers and baskets and hooks! Don’t work in reverse create your 5 piles and do a clean out first.
Are you just a little too sentimental?
Do you have something from the past that you cannot part with but is just being neglected in storage or gather dust in a cupboard? If possible try and pass it on to someone who will use and respect it. Take a photo of it for yourself to remember it. If you can’t bear to part with a family heirloom then make sure it is given pride of place in your home by placing it out on display.
So you are considering Ebay or Gumtree?
But do you have the time? If you are serious about finishing the organisation of you space don’t look to also start a career in ebay sales. Unless you are already a online seller and really need the cash, it is recommended just to donate it…remember also your time is money!
Keep an eye on those potential layout spaces…
Flat worktop and surfaces unfortunately quickly become easy spaces to park random objects and create clutter. Home organisers recommend for example with dining tables to places a floral arrangement or decorative centre piece or even place settings to stop clutter from starting. You don’t want your dinner table no longer being used for eating meals at.
Put it in your boot
If anything needs to go somewhere it should be in your car and not in your house.
Keep your vouchers or discount coupons placed in a clear folder so you have it on hand when needed. Get an errand basket to hold items that need to be returned. Buy some crates to store kids’ toys and various supplies or shopping. Also always have a car garbage bag for rubbish that always tends to accumulate on your car floor and under the seats.
Mark it in your diary
Or calendar, note all your important errands, exercise classes, cleaning tasks in it. Then make sure you prioritize the things that are most important to you. If it’s not on your schedule, it’s not in your life.
My biggest secret?
Don’t procrastinate. If you postpone things that take a few minutes, it adds up and suddenly you’re looking at several hours to clear your clutter. A home organisers motto is to always tackle immediate things in the minute, so open your mail right away, do dishes right after you use them, and put things away as soon as you’re done with them.
Do you keep looking through that same paper pile?
It’s a huge time waster. So try this, every time you look at a piece of paper, put a red dot on it. If you’re ending up with 10 dots on one piece of paper, you need a new system to deal with your paperwork.
Please, get rid of that hired storage unit.
Stop wasting your money. The truth is you could buy all the stuff that’s in there for the price of the annual rental fee and that doesn’t include the cost of the moving truck and your time. The contents you have stored is usually never really worth what you think it is and you are better off losing it.
Want a roomier kitchen?
- Adjust the heights of shelves in your kitchen cabinets or try and add more to create more space.
- Remove unused kitchen gadgets as the bread maker and popcorn machine from your counter tops if you don’t use them weekly. Store miscellaneous appliances in cupboards or in a store room and only bring them out when you need to use them.
- Do really need all those plastic container? keep the ones frequently used and donate the ones you rarely use or throw out the ones that are old.
Our favourite little kitchen tip:
Try to always load the dishwasher in an organised manner by grouping the same utensils and crockery types together. It will make it easier and faster when unloading and placing items back in the drawers and cupboards that they came from.
Get in your closet.
Open your wardrobe and do yourself a favour and hang everything backwards on the rod. Once you have worn it place it back the normal way. Within 6 months if you still have items still facing backwards then look to get rid of them or if out of season place in storage bags and out of hanging space.
Transform your closet
It’s as simple as converting to 1 type of hanger! Using the one type allows clothes to sit at the same height and to see everything better. Velvet covered ones also ensure clothes don’t fall off them as easily.
Get more out or into your closet
Just by putting in an extra tension rod so you can hang shirts on top and skirts on the bottom, and always add hooks to hang jewellery and scarves if you have extra wall space. You can even put a chest of drawers in there if you have the room.
The hanging shoe bag
These storage creation aren’t just handy for shoes, they can be used for all those little items and accessories as gloves and hats in winter and for sunblock, sunglasses and goggles in summer, and even for crafts, toiletries and makeup.
Don’t keep cardboard boxes
Cardboard storage boxes are a great hiding spot and home for bugs and roaches. So once you have moved or renovated recycle or dispose or those cardboard boxes and if you need boxes invest in clear plastic storage boxes.
Don’t feel guilty
If you have kids the last thing you want to do is throw away their artwork creations. A good idea is to purchase an album to place these in or storage picture frame such as a Li’l Davinci Art Cabinet which can store up to 50 pieces inside that can be rotated for display. Your kids when they are grown up will also be grateful if you label and store special mile stone keepsakes.
In summary you don’t need to be neat freak to get your household organised. And being organised doesn’t mean everything is in its place; it means everything has a place and can easily go back in its place every time. A rule of thumb is if you can get your house ready for a surprise visitor in under 30 minutes, then you’re organised. And its ok to have not only one, but a couple of random item junk drawers in your kitchen! Your biggest motivator for getting organised will be the more freedom and time to have fun and do the things you really want to do on your days off.
The top 5 mistakes professional organisers always notice that you may miss
To help you make the most of your decluttering and organising goals we thought it best to share the most common top five mistakes we notice with our clients when they fail at organising, and to help us come up with actionable solutions that ensure we will never relapse into a giant disorganised mess again.
Do you think you’re making organisational mistakes that are keeping you from truly getting your clutter under control? Understanding the following may help you achieve better organisation of your home.
Mistake 1: Not decluttering before organising
Attempting to organise your belongings before thoroughly editing them will probably leave you feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. Remember, organised clutter is still clutter! Firstly weed out outdated, damaged and unused items before starting to organise where they will go.
And if you get stuck, ask yourself the following 4 simple questions:
- Would I pay full price for this item today?
- Would I miss not having this item in my day to day life?
- Is this item really worth the space it’s taking up in my home?
- Does this item add any value to my life right now?
Mistake 2: Not categorising your items
Are you having issue finding things in your home? Could it be because your belongings haven’t been grouped and stored together by both type and usage? Think to how a supermarket is set up in categories such as fresh produce, dairy, confectionary etc it a wise idea to apply the same organisational methodology to your home. Setting up stations is another way to look at it. For example a “bill-pay station” which is stocked with envelopes, stamps, cheque books, and pens; or a “gift-wrapping station” containing wrapping paper, tissue, ribbon, gift tags, scissors, cards, and tape. It’s also really helpful to create a designated space for all household utility essentials such as light bulbs, batteries and tools.
By consolidating your own household belongings by type and usage, and making sure to create one centralised zone or “home” for each category will make your life a lot more stream lined and stress free.
Mistake 3: Not creating a plan before buying storage containers
The more storage you have does not mean the more organised you will be unfortunately. It’s one of the greatest misconception professional organisers have to deal with, with their clients. So don’t fall for buying all the new nifty container from your local home wares store. Before you head out to make such purchases make sure you have made a specific list of items you actually need to store your actual belongings. It is essential to measure the size of the storage area you are going to place the new boxes so they fit functionally. Otherwise all those great looking bins and baskets you bought will only become useless and add to clutter.
Mistake 4: Not answering the vital questions
Mooving Matters believes you should ask yourself if each item you own sparks “happiness” however there is still more to this when overcoming the clutter factor. If you goal is to truly have less clutter in your home, but you feel overwhelmed or resistant to parting with your stuff, you may simply be focusing on the wrong questions as you assess each item. Questions like, “Could this be useful one day?” “Did someone give this to me?” “Did I pay a lot of money for this item?” stem from in guilt and fear – and basically give you the justification to not let go of anything and hold on to everything.
Professional home organisers recommend that you focus on the following constructive questions. Such questions will help keep you on track in creating a space that supports your current goals and lifestyle. You don’t want to be careless and turf everything but try to remain on the goal on keeping things that are truly meaningful or still functional.
- Does this item support my current values and priorities?
- Does this item fit in with the vision I have for my ideal home?
- Does this item still important and meaningful to me?
- Could this item be more useful or helpful for another person?
Mistake #5: No vision of the final outcome
Stop feeling like organisation should be a daunting and draining task. To alleviate this emotional toil start with a clear vision in mind. The clients who have the best and quickest successes, are those who have clearly defined their motivation for wanting to make a change. So what is your goal? Do you want to make space for a nursery for a new baby? Or do you want to declutter so you can rent your home out and travel? Or do you just want to feel comfortable entertaining and hosting friends and family in your home without feeling embarrassed. Today is the first step so take the time to clearly define your personal reasons for wanting to transform your living spaces. You may get stuck at some point in your journey but don’t get disheartened, simply remind yourself of what you are trying to create. If you keep the goal at hand, the mission of decluttering will fly by and be stress free.
So Why Hire Professional Decluttering Experts?
The 3 main reasons you need Mooving Matters
- Decluttering services experts will get you around to It
You work full time, you juggle a couple of kids and really you have other things that need to be done first. Unfortunately we all get busy and there is always something else to side track you. You may not be able to jump into organising your home yourself but its still your goal you have been endeavouring to “get around to it” for some time. At Mooving Matters our team helps you achieve your goal without you having to be hands on. As professional decluttering experts we will get you there and provide you strategies to maintain your newly organised home.
- Decluttering services experts will help you see the reality of the situation
Stop wasting time and thinking about what you are going to do with your stuff!. Our team will assist in providing a fresh perspective and share our expert knowledge, that helps you “get real” about your time, information, space, and ‘stuff’.
- Decluttering services experts will give the head start you need
Our expert team has been there and done that numerous times. We are experienced and understand the best known methods for your decluttering situation, as well as your quickly understanding your learning style, brain type, and personality. We will give you a customised assessment and create a realistic ‘real world’ plan to your budget and time frame.
Are you needing a team of trusted and caring Professional Organisers and Movers and packers in Sydney? To arrange a complementary on-site inspection of your property by Mooving Matters, your home organiser Sydney or to simply discuss our ‘Ultimate full service packing + moving’ experience call (02) 93375333 or visit us at moovingmatters.com.au.
