Organize a room in 5 simple steps

Maybe it’s that pile of papers sitting on the dining room table or the jumble of stuff sitting on the kitchen counter or the closet that is jam-packed with clothes. Most people have an area of their home that is asking for a little more organization, but where to start? How about by making some SPACE?

SPACE is the acronym for an organizational approach coined by organizing guru Julie Morgenstern. It stands for Sort, Purge, Assign a home, Containerize and Equalize. As a professional organizer, I use the SPACE approach with each and every one of my clients because it is simple, straightforward and successful.

The first step in organizing a space is to sort like with like. That means pulling everything out of your closet, desk or room and sorting them into piles. This will allow you to get a clear idea of what you have and how much. I often work with clients who are shocked at just how much of one thing or another they have because they have never seen it all out and sorted. As you sort you will find it is a great time to go ahead and start weeding out the items you obviously longer want or need. Remember to label each pile with a piece of paper or sticky note so you can be sure that you keep putting similar items together. The categories for sorting should also include donate, sell and trash.

You need to take a close look at what you have sorted and decide if it really belongs in your space. I encourage my clients to ask themselves three all-important questions:

Do I need it? (For example, your tax returns going back seven years.)

Do I use it? (Your toaster, let’s say.)

Do I love it? (Well, that’s pretty self-explanatory.)

If you cannot say “yes” to any of questions, then the item simply does not belong in your home any longer.

Clients will often say “but someone gave it to me” as an explanation for why they are holding onto something they do not need, use or love. My philosophy is that when someone cares enough for us to give us a gift, they have no intention of giving us something that is burden in our lives, so we should never hold onto a gift out of a sense of guilt.

This is the time in which you decide whether the item should stay in the room or find another, better suited place to be. For example, you might expect a French-English dictionary belongs in an upstairs home office but when you think about who uses it and how often, you realize that it is better kept it near the dining room where your child does his homework each day. Accessibility is key as you want the organizational system to be easy to use and maintain so that it will not just get organized — it will stay organized.

This is the area in which I find quite a few clients making the same mistake. People go out and buy baskets, plastic containers and decorative boxes before the organizing process even begins in the hope that the containers will help them to get organized. Please, please, please save yourself wasted dollars and wait to purchase containers, furniture, etc. until after you have completed the first three steps of SPACE. You can only really decide what storage pieces you need when you can see what you actually have left to put away.

Morgenstern calls this final step Equalize but I prefer to refer to it as Everyday. The key to continued organization is maintenance. You’ve sorted, purged, assigned and containerized — don’t waste all that hard work by slipping back into old habits. Instead, continue to purge whenever possible and keep putting to-keep items in their assigned home. Finding it hard to stay organized? Make sure you have the system that works best for you. Ask yourself: are the containers are easy to use, are they located in an accessible area, and, of course, do you really need the item? If you haven’t set up the organizational system in a way that works for you, you will find it difficult to sustain.

For many people, the hardest thing about getting organized is just getting started. The key is to take one step at a time and make SPACE in your home.

A little while ago I was interviewed by a journalist who was approaching her story on organization from the perspective that organizing takes more time than it actually saves. I noted that having some organization in your life isn’t just about saving time — it’s the quality of that time that can really make a difference in our homes. My take on organizing goes something like this: It can take me 20 minutes to make my children’s lunches and pack their school bags whether I do it in the evening before school or the next morning. If I do it in the evening I can do it in my own time, without rush or too many interruptions — so I say that’s a positive 20 minutes. If I wait until the morning, I am dealing with squabbling children, hasty breakfast preparations, and a tight pre-school timeline — all in all, a pretty stressful, negative way to spend my 20 minutes. So, given the option, I choose the positive 20 minutes the night before. How about you?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines organized as “arranged in a systematic way.” What is that systematic way? As a professional organizer I have one answer — whatever works for you and your household. I can implement a system that makes sense to me, but if it doesn’t make sense to you, you will not be able to maintain it. For example, in a home office one person might file their house insurance policy under “house” while for another individual it might be “insurance” while for yet another it might be filed under the renewal date (and some may not even opt for a filing system.) The key to organizing success is to make sure that whatever system you implement makes sense to the people who will be using it.

Heather Cameron operates Edited Interiors, an Ottawa-area business that offers professional organizing, home staging, and interior decorating/redecorating services. You can contact her at 613 831-6398 or visit www.editedinteriors.com.

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Due West/Due East magazine, a publication of Coyle Publishing Inc.


organizing, decorating and home staging solutions

	Making SPACE How to Organize a Room in Five Simple Steps By Heather Cameron Maybe it’s that pile of papers sitting on the dining room table or the jumble of stuff sitting on the kitchen counter or the closet that is jam-packed with clothes. Most people have an area of their home that is asking for a little more organization, but where to start? How about by making some SPACE? SPACE is the acronym for an organizational approach coined by organizing guru Julie Morgenstern. It stands for Sort, Purge, Assign a home, Containerize and Equalize. As a professional organizer, I use the SPACE approach with each and every one of my clients because it is simple, straightforward and successful. STEP 1 - SORT The first step in organizing a space is to sort like with like. That means pulling everything out of your closet, desk or room and sorting them into piles. This will allow you to get a clear idea of what you have and how much. I often work with clients who are shocked at just how much of one thing or another they have because they have never seen it all out and sorted. As you sort you will find it is a great time to go ahead and start weeding out the items you obviously longer want or need. Remember to label each pile with a piece of paper or sticky note so you can be sure that you keep putting similar items together. The categories for sorting should also include donate, sell and trash. STEP 2 - PURGE You need to take a close look at what you have sorted and decide if it really belongs in your space. I encourage my clients to ask themselves three all-important questions: Do I need it? (For example, your tax returns going back seven years.) Do I use it? (Your toaster, let’s say.) Do I love it? (Well, that’s pretty self-explanatory.) If you cannot say “yes” to any of questions, then the item simply does not belong in your home any longer. Clients will often say “but someone gave it to me” as an explanation for why they are holding onto something they do not need, use or love. My philosophy is that when someone cares enough for us to give us a gift, they have no intention of giving us something that is burden in our lives, so we should never hold onto a gift out of a sense of guilt. STEP 3 - ASSIGN A HOME This is the time in which you decide whether the item should stay in the room or find another, better suited place to be. For example, you might expect a French-English dictionary belongs in an upstairs home office but when you think about who uses it and how often, you realize that it is better kept it near the dining room where your child does his homework each day. Accessibility is key as you want the organizational system to be easy to use and maintain so that it will not just get organized — it will stay organized. STEP 4 - CONTAINERIZE This is the area in which I find quite a few clients making the same mistake. People go out and buy baskets, plastic containers and decorative boxes before the organizing process even begins in the hope that the containers will help them to get organized. Please, please, please save yourself wasted dollars and wait to purchase containers, furniture, etc. until after you have completed the first three steps of SPACE. You can only really decide what storage pieces you need when you can see what you actually have left to put away. STEP 5 - EQUALIZE Morgenstern calls this final step Equalize but I prefer to refer to it as Everyday. The key to continued organization is maintenance. You’ve sorted, purged, assigned and containerized — don’t waste all that hard work by slipping back into old habits. Instead, continue to purge whenever possible and keep putting to-keep items in their assigned home. Finding it hard to stay organized? Make sure you have the system that works best for you. Ask yourself: are the containers are easy to use, are they located in an accessible area, and, of course, do you really need the item? If you haven’t set up the organizational system in a way that works for you, you will find it difficult to sustain. For many people, the hardest thing about getting organized is just getting started. The key is to take one step at a time and make SPACE in your home. The Organized Advantage A little while ago I was interviewed by a journalist who was approaching her story on organization from the perspective that organizing takes more time than it actually saves. I noted that having some organization in your life isn’t just about saving time — it’s the quality of that time that can really make a difference in our homes. My take on organizing goes something like this: It can take me 20 minutes to make my children’s lunches and pack their school bags whether I do it in the evening before school or the next morning. If I do it in the evening I can do it in my own time, without rush or too many interruptions — so I say that’s a positive 20 minutes. If I wait until the morning, I am dealing with squabbling children, hasty breakfast preparations, and a tight pre-school timeline — all in all, a pretty stressful, negative way to spend my 20 minutes. So, given the option, I choose the positive 20 minutes the night before. How about you? Defining Organization The Oxford English Dictionary defines organized as “arranged in a systematic way.” What is that systematic way? As a professional organizer I have one answer — whatever works for you and your household. I can implement a system that makes sense to me, but if it doesn’t make sense to you, you will not be able to maintain it. For example, in a home office one person might file their house insurance policy under “house” while for another individual it might be “insurance” while for yet another it might be filed under the renewal date (and some may not even opt for a filing system.) The key to organizing success is to make sure that whatever system you implement makes sense to the people who will be using it. Heather Cameron operates Edited Interiors, an Ottawa-area business that offers professional organizing, home staging, and interior decorating/redecorating services. You can contact her at 613 831-6398 or visit www.editedinteriors.com. This article originally appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Due West/Due East magazine, a publication of Coyle Publishing Inc. home \| about \| professional organizing \| interior decorating \| home staging \| portfolio \| articles \| tips \| contact
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