What you need to achieve a clutter-free environment is like being a winning contestant on Jeopardy! You need to ask the right questions.
In my role as a professional organizer, I ask clients a lot of questions. To me, the only bad question is the one you don’t ask. Asking questions during the initial needs assessment and throughout our sessions together helps me understand my clients’ needs and goals so that I can help them enjoy a successful organizing project.
What clients don’t realize, however, is that by asking certain questions of themselves, they can gain freedom from the clutter around them. Below I have shared some basic questions that you should ask yourself when deciding what to keep or discard. Answering them honestly will set you on a path toward organizing success.
“Where do I start?”
The answer to this question is easy: anywhere. When I work with clients, I like to use “the elephant joke” when they share that they didn’t start organizing their things because they were so overwhelmed by their stuff or the idea of getting started or both. The joke goes like this:
“How do you eat an elephant?”
“One bite at a time.” (Ba da bum!)
It doesn’t matter where you make your first bite – er, move. As long as you start somewhere, anywhere, the fact is that you’ve started. Celebrate it, then keep going.
“What condition is it in?”
One of the easiest solutions to getting rid of clutter is to inspect the items in question for potential damage. When you come across damaged items that are beyond repair, promptly throw them away or recycle them.
Don’t donate damaged items. Most organizations that accept used items (Goodwill, et al.) won’t take them anyway. If you’re still hedging on whether to donate a damaged item, put yourself in the position of someone who would be on the receiving end. If you wouldn’t want it, chances are that no one else would, either.
“Do I really need it?”
I have clients ask themselves if they need an item when they’re undecided on what to do with it. I prefer that they use “need” instead of “want” in their question because “need” elicits a response based on the function or purpose of the item, whereas “want” elicits a response based on the simple desire to have it.
More often than not, clients will respond with the following 1-2 punch: “I may want it, but I don’t necessarily need it.” The item then is discarded accordingly among the trash, recycling, and donation sections we have set up for the organizing session.
“When DID I use/wEAR it LAST?”
I advise my clients to use the one year rule. If you haven’t used or worn something in the past year, you’re more than likely not going to use or wear it anytime soon. Donate it so that it stays out of a landfill and someone else can enjoy it.
“Will I use/wear it?”
See the previous question for the same answer.
“What size is it?”
This question refers to clothing, and it’s an important question to ask because if the clothing in question doesn’t fit you anymore, there’s no reason to keep it. I don’t subscribe to the practice of keeping clothing a size or two larger or smaller than what you’re currently wearing, just in case you fluctuate in size. Life is one entire fluctuation, so keeping clothing that you may never need makes no sense.
I worked with a client who was looking to downsize her belongings, which included an overabundance of clothing. She had lost a considerable amount of weight and was very proud of her work to achieve the physique she now has. She was thrilled to bid farewell to the mounds of clothing that no longer fit her, and in doing so she freed up not only multiple bins that she could now repurpose but also ample space in her closet that she hadn’t had in years.
“Who is this for?”
One of the most interesting things that I have experienced as a professional organizer helping clients declutter is the frequency with which clients have unearthed items that they had planned to give to someone but never did.
And I’m not just talking about borrowed items, either. I’m talking birthday and holiday gifts with the price tags still attached. I’m talking hand-me-downs (like kids’ clothing) as well as family heirlooms that clients intended to give away but didn’t.
Giving away things intended for other people is a great way to reduce clutter. Just be sure to follow through and give the things away.
“How much do I need of (insert item)?”
There’s a bit more nuance to answering this question compared with the other questions in this blog, since the answer depends on a variety of factors, such as a person’s lifestyle, marital status, number of people in the home, the client’s occupation, and so much more.
The best way to answer this question – and this will seem like a sales pitch, but I promise it isn’t – is to work with a professional organizer who can ask unbiased follow-up questions about the items in question to get a better sense of how much of each item is actually needed.
For example, I’m working with a client whose home currently consists of items from his and his fiancée’s respective previous homes. They never consolidated before they moved, so they have two (or more) of almost everything and now want to fix that. I have another client, meanwhile, who’s downsizing into a smaller apartment and wants to enjoy a minimalist lifestyle and has little desire or ability to host people in her new place.
How I work with these clients in my role as their organizer has been and will be different. By asking my clients the right questions, I can help them get the answers they need to meet their organizing goals.
So, when you are ready to start taking a bite out of the elephant in the room that is literally your room (or rooms) to be organized, ask yourself the aforementioned questions. I promise the answers will make your organizing project quite satisfying and go much faster than you ever imagined.
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Tom Harper is owner of Tom’s Organizing Made Simple LLC, a Bethlehem-based company dedicated to helping people declutter and organize their space, stuff, time, and/or tasks. Follow TOM’S on Facebook or Instagram.