Packing Stuff

So I wanna start clearing up stuff in my house, things are getting WAY to messy and with #2 coming, I'm gonna need A LOT more space. Here are some useful tips I picked up:

• Plan time for organizing; even 15 minutes a day can help you reach your goal.
• Develop good habits; put things away daily.
• Prevent whatever you can from coming into your space; don't let junk mail into your home.
• Shop less; bring home only what you need. Many times, you can use what you already own. This will get better the more you are organized
• Buy only quality stuff
• Upgrade and GET RID of upgraded stuff
• Adopt a favorite charity. You benefit as well as others. It's easier to donate if you know someone else can use it.
• Create monthly or quarterly donation dates on your calendar. That will remind you to go through your possessions regularly.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started. 

1. Write down the top 5 activities you do regularly in your home. 
1. Play with kids
2. Eat
3. Play with computer
4. Bathe/Sleep/Self Maintain
5. Entertain
2. Find a large room to clear out in your house (I am partial to living rooms for this). 
3. Make 8 zones in the room (1 for each of the top 5 activities, 1 for storage, 1 for other, and 1 for trash/donate/give away). 
4. Before you start touching anything, go into each room in your house (or distinct area if you subdivide space like a family room that connects to the dining area). Look at the space and decide how it will be used, especially if it is appropriate for the "home" for 1 of the top 5 activities. Write down what each room is for on 1 sheet of paper per room/area.
5. Go back to the room set up with the sorting zones. Put the papers you made in step 4 where you can easily access them. Here is where you can decide where each of the items you will organize will "live". For each of the 5 activities and the storage zones, decide on home areas/rooms and write that zone on the sheet of paper for the room you choose. Don't worry about how or how much yet.
6. Now, to work. Use the zones to sort all the items from 1 room at a time into the "zone" room. For places that are purpose built (i.e. bathroom, workshop, kitchen), only collect the items that obviously do not belong OR have not been used in 1 year (i.e. when is the last time you really used that huge serving platter, when is the last time you used that universal remote, do you even like this brand of soap, etc.).
7. When a room is stripped down to furniture, this is a good time to clean well. Since most people really live in about 5 rooms of their homes, you probably then have 1 of the "homes" now available. Good. Wait.
8. The general idea is to get all of the rooms stripped down to furniture and stuff that belongs (either because it is the only place for the item, like a toilet bowl brush OR because it will reside there post big bang), creating a room that allows you to see all of the "stuff" you have for what you really spend your time on. If you find the items can't move (i.e. too big, too heavy, etc.), write the item down on a notecard and put it into the right zone AND where is currently resides). 
9. Here is where you will get the effect you want. You now can make a bunch of decisions. Remember that each zone is for a particular purpose. Do you need it? Can you sell it if you don't need it? Can you donate it for money/tax credit? Is it trash? If you want to keep it, why? This is your chance to purge that activity down to what works. An example: You like to ski, you put all of the skis, jackets, gloves, screw kits, goggles, ski resort paperwork, crutches, ski luggage, etc. in zone 1. After having stripped 1/2 of the house, you notice that you have 3 goggles in the pile. 1 is your preferred set, 1 doesn't really fit you and 1 was a gift (never used). You now can get rid of the 2 you don't need. You also realize that you don't need the lift ticket on your jacket nor the reservations for your ski trip from 2 years ago. Okay, fast forward a day or two or maybe a month. You now know that you only have what you want for zone 1 (skiing) and that it will reside in your basement. You look at the pile and compare the pile to the available furniture in the basement (maybe also other pieces from other rooms). You choose a big plastic wardrobe that you have to move into the basement.
10. Move the top5 activity stuff to their homes after setting up the proper type of storage for those items. Don't worry about if you get more stuff for that activity. That is much easier to deal with later as you at least have a start on a "home" now.
11. Take the zone for "other" and make some choices here. A. Why is it here? B. Is this thing/activity still wanted or necessary? C. Can this be sold/donated for cash? D. Is this memoribilia that needs to be displayed/protected? 
12. Use the now open 5 zones to sort out the "other" zone. Keep going through the process of sift, sort, and segregate until you have 3 piles left. Sell, donate, and trash. You know what to do with them, I hope.

I have found that gradual change (1 room at a time) only works if you know why you have the room in the first place. A room may be built as a bedroom, but if you want to use it as an art studio, you have an art studio to equip, clean and maintain. A big bang to set up the room (as I described) is messy, aggravating and time consuming. But it is the only way to make sure your room fits your need. When you let "stuff" build up from other activities, you are actually saying that the room no longer fits your need, maybe because life is busy or maybe your needs have changed. You are not looking to right your ship, you are looking to build a new ship. You want to get rid of stuff that doesn't help you and then take a look at what is left BEFORE trying to store it. You can't do that if the keeper items are spread around and if you don't know where they will live long term. Once you do this, you have a much better idea of what to store, where to store it, and how much space it will take. As for choosing the size of containers, ping me and I will help you with the basics...

1. Pick one room to start with. Try one that has a medium to small number of piles first, but make sure it's a room that you use regularly, so you'll be able to enjoy the progress you make.
2. Go to the first pile and separate out objects into categories: all the magazines go in a pile, all the pens go in a pile, etc. Do this with each pile in the room until you are left with categorized piles. (If your piles are already like with like, skip this).
3. Okay, now look at each categorized pile and ask: do I use these things in this room, or did they land here after I used them somewhere else? If you use them in this room (let's call these Type 1), they need to have a place to live in this room. If you use them somewhere else in your house (Type 2), that's where they need to live. And if you use them out of the house (Type 3), you need to have a landing place (bins, baskets, shelves, or hooks) near where you enter and leave the house for those objects to live in. If you don't use it or don't want it, it's Type 4: toss it.
4. Take the Type 2 objects from the room you're working on to the rooms where they live, the Type 3 objects to the place you think will be your "landing place," and Type 4 to the trash or recycle, and then come back right away. Don't worry about finding homes for Type 2 and Type 3 things yet—stay focused on the first room.
5. Back in the room you're working on, now you can find homes for the Type 1 stuff. I'm going to pretend that these things you mentioned are all Type 1 stuff for this room. This is what would work for me (what works for you might be different):
   1. Electronics project stuff, e.g. breadboards, jumper cables, resistors and all that stuff
   2. Tools, e.g. screwdrivers etc
   3. Video game console accessories
   4. Tons of cables for various electronics.
   Okay, if you're like me and you need to see your things, here's what you do with these things: stuff for projects goes in a big clear bin that has three sections. Big things go in one part, medium size things go in another, and small things go in the last part. That way, when you're clearing off your workspace, you only have to decide what size it is. Tools go on hooks on a pegboard over the workspace, with their outline drawn with a sharpie so their home is easy to spot, and they're easy to retrieve. Game console accessories get either the pegboard and sharpie treatment or a clear bin for each console. Cables get put in labeled ziploc bags, and then thrown together in a bin.
6. Once you've found a home for everything in that room, don't panic about moving on to the next one yet. Enjoy room one for an afternoon or an evening. Before the end of the day decide which room you're going to do next, and when you'll get to it (it's totally okay to have a week or more between rooms—this stuff takes time!).

Main Types of Things

• Running
• Music
• Guitar
• Saxophone
• Diving
• Badminton
• Table Tennis
• Roller Blades
• Photography
• Soft toys
• AV stuff
• DVDs
• Console
• Equipment
• Collectibles
• Computer hardware
• DIY maintenance
• Board games
• KL toys
• Aquarium

Rooms and Activities

• MBR
• Sleep
• Light surfing
• Reading
• Study
• Entertain
• Heavy gaming
• Hobbies
• KL room
• Play
• Kid maintenance
• Living Room
• Entertain