Top 7 Mistakes To Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project
EPISODE 11
by Dianne Jimenez
This article takes 16 minutes to read
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Well hello there my friend! How are you doing today? It’s that beautiful time of the year again, or at the time of this recording, it’s riiight around the corner and it’s typically THE prompt for thousands and thousands of people across the country, to do that ‘thing’ at this time of year: Spring Cleaning!
And unlike the word ‘cleaning’ in Spring Cleaning, this activity often goes far beyond washing, airing out and sweeping up the cobwebs. It also involves organizing and reorganizing too!
Now since the Pandemic started, we’ve all had a chance to take a step back and look within our own space and surroundings. Some have completely revamped their homes, while others are going at it step by step. Nevertheless in the last 2 years, the concept of ‘spring cleaning’ has gone from the beginning of spring to early summer TO an all-year event!
Tell me of someone who hasn’t cleared out or organized a space in their home, office, car, even relationships… in the last 2 years. OK the last one is not part of the traditional sense of Spring Cleaning but this is a time of year to start fresh!
So in today’s episode, and in the spirit of starting fresh, I’m SO excited to share with you my Top 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project. Ready? Let’s start! Number 1
- Buying all the organizing tools and latest gadgets
I know – there are SO many cool videos you see on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram Reels with these time-saving, space saving gadgets. I must admit, I get caught up on them too!
I actually saw one the other day, where you have a circular, plastic basket with holes at the bottom, kind of like a colander? Well it hooks onto the base of the faucet of your kitchen sink. Anyway, you use this to catch the peel when you’re peeling veggies. When you’re done, toss the scraps in the food bin and rinse this perforated basket out. This also doubles as a holder or storage solution for your sponge, scouring pad and brush right by your kitchen sink! They had another gadget that mashes garlic in seconds! It was mesmerizing to watch!
Now, although many of the gadgets are cool and functional – I like those. But the one like the garlic masher or the container to hold bananas or half an onion?
They can be just gimmicky and take more space than they need to vs just using what you have, achieving the same results as they advertise AND not taking up MORE space than needed.
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#2 of ‘Mistakes to Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project’
- Hiring a pro solely based on price
Great! You’re ready to hire someone to help you with your home organizing project. That’s awesome!
But you’re comparing 1 organizer from all others based on price alone. You may want the least dent on your budget, I get that. Or you may believe that the more expensive equates to the best out there or the one with more experience. It doesn’t. Basing things on price is the wrong approach to go by when searching for the right professional organizer for your home. There’s SO much more to look deeper into when comparing one organizer to another. And price ain’t it.
Hiring anyone to do anything for you, or WITH you, requires a certain budget and you want to make sure your dollars are being carefully considered.
Advice
Get on a few consultation calls with the organizers that fit your needs. Get to KNOW THEM as a person, get a feel of their vibe and definitely look within: how do they make you feel? And this isn’t just it. There’s a LOT to think about and consider before you hire someone so that’s why I’ve created this cheat sheet for you that I’ll link in the show notes. Or, you can head to DianneJimenez.com/pocheatsheet. It will help you organize your thoughts and put it out there on paper so you’re ready for those consults.
Where do you find organizers?
Maybe you know friends or family who’ve used professional organizing services before or read a few posts from different Facebook Groups. A good place to start is with a recognized association like the Professional Organizers in Canada or NAPO, National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals, in the US. There’s also, APDO, Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers. You can find a list of all organizers registered with them, their specialties and location. Many have websites and/or on social media so you get an idea of their work, what they’re about and get a glimpse of their personality sometimes.
Listen to Episode 7: Things You Need To Know Before Hiring A Professional Organizer or go to DianneJimenez.com/podcast7 . I go through lots of details to help guide you through the process of what you should know and what to look out for. I’ll link it at the end of this episode.
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#3 of ‘Mistakes to Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project’
- Starting with 1 big room vs a small space
You know the saying “biting off more than you can chew”? Well it’s the same for organizing a space. When you tackle a big room or a more complex room to organize, understand that it takes A LOT of time and planning. Sometimes it takes MORE than 1 person to help tackle the monster projects.
If you’re new to organizing, haven’t organized much or at all, or just -feel motivated to organize a big space… I have a few words of advice for you to avoid the overwhelm, frustrations and feelings of defeat:
Advice
Start with a smaller, less complex space. What do I mean? Spaces that have quick-wins and can be accomplished in a short period of time, maybe 1 or 2 hours maximum.
For example: The bathroom cabinet or a few drawers at a time, the linen closet, a junk drawer, the food container drawer or cabinet, a small kitchen pantry, or even the hallway closet that’s not being used as much.
When you start seeing little areas in your home organized, it changes your perspective and feelings in your home.
You start WANTING the rest of the house to look and feel like that: put together, structured, systemized, beautiful to see and easy to access your things. It’s a great feeling and an awesome time saver!
#4 of ‘Mistakes to Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project’
- Starting with the wrong small space
We have every intention of organizing our spaces – 1 small space at a time. And it’s a good strategy to go with!
But when you start with the wrong space though, like: going through a small box of old pictures and letters, or sentimental stuff – especially if you’re going in without a plan or any guidelines set for yourself….
Oh! Dealing with stuff that takes you to another place in time, will derail you, set you back even FURTHER, or just completely remove you from the whole project and it’s… case closed.
Who knows when you’ll be going back to it again? In a few weeks? A few months? It can even be in several YEARS!
Advice
Instead, just like the previous example when you start with a big, complex room vs. a smaller one: Start small and in this case, in a neutral space. The examples I used before are great. Basically it’s a space that doesn’t involve a lot of emotions or take you to another time and place. Best thing to get your momentum going is the easy small spaces.
For me, it’s the kids’ books, their toys, and even organizing their clothes, 1 bin or drawer at a time.
My Secret Sauce for setting the kids up for success
Ok let me clarify here –
I did get emotional when the kids moved from 1 baby size to the next and especially when they moved into the toddler and kid stages.
I had to say ‘goodbye’ to their baby clothes and to that stage we were no longer in.
It was emotional and I gave myself that time and space. But I didn’t let it linger for too long. I had a goal and that was to declutter and remove what we were no longer needing. And at that point in our lives, we were done with having kids. We were entering a new stage in our lives. I had to start cutting out some stuff and only keep very few special things.
One way that helped me a lot was to capture the images of the clothes. Yep! You know the saying? “Take a picture, it’ll last longer”? That’s what I did.
I laid out the outfits I liked and snapped 1-2 pictures of them. And that helped me “keep those clothes with me” to say ‘thank you’ and physically let them go. If you’ve ever watched Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up series on Netflix – you’ll know what I mean and why. It’s closure for me. So getting rid of the big bins of clothing was also motivating because now we were creating more space, literally. So when it comes to organizing a small space, pick a neutral, easy space
If you know it’ll trigger you, like it did me, make sure you have a plan; which brings me to..
#5 of ‘Mistakes to Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project’
- Not having a plan
Have you ever started something out on a whim and after some time, sometimes LATE into the night – you realize you’re overwhelmed and in a deeper mess than when you first started?
Results
You’re frustrated with yourself. So then you either get rid of everything – also known as rage purging. Then feel really bad later on when you realize you shouldn’t have gotten rid of certain things so quickly and based on frustration. Or maybe you end up just LEAVING everything there and coming back to it some other time.
Then ‘some other time‘ becomes, ‘I don’t have time’.
I can imagine this being annoying to constantly have in the back of your mind: another thing to add on the already long “to do” list.
Advice
Instead, start small or with an easy project, as mentioned before. But if your project is more complex, or bigger – and the thought of this is already overwhelming, it might be time or a good idea to consult with a pro organizer who specializes in the space or project you have.
Not all organizers do moves or downsizing. Just like not all organizers deal with digital clutter or family settings. So shop around. Maybe you know friends or family who’ve used professional organizing services before or read a few posts from different Facebook Groups.
Like I mentioned in #2, a good place to start your search is with a recognized association like the Professional Organizers in Canada, NAPO or ADPO. I’ll link these in the show notes.
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#6 of ‘Mistakes to Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project’
- Organizing other people’s things for them without their consent
Oh mama! The things we see in our home that annoy us, want to improve OR believe that we’re doing a good thing for others, like our partner or older kids.
It’s hard to resist. I know and can totally understand. But this is a TEST of our strength, our will, patience and… character.
A couple of years ago, when I was looking for a tool in the furnace room of our house, I called my husband.
Now, if you know me, I like to do things on my own and figure things out. So I have no problem asking for help but in this case – I just wanted to get the thing I wanted to do: DONE. But I couldn’t find what I was looking for. So I picked up my cell and made the call – frustrated of course.
Later on, when we both found ourselves in the garage, I asked if I could organize the tools and I sensed some rigidity right away. Here I am in his space, with his tools and probably annoying him. I did mention labeling things and how it would be easier for people to find things, etc.
But I could still feel something brewing between us that wasn’t going to end well.
Now if you know us, as a couple – we barely argue. And IF we do, or when we have, it’s always been about something we misunderstood or didn’t put on the calendar! But in this case, it was different. So I stopped pressing and said to myself:
I’ll come back to it later’ and I walked away.
Because we’re both doers and problem-solvers by nature, the space I created – the actual physical and mental space- by stopping and walking away, helped us think things through a little more.
When we don’t listen to understand THEIR perspective, it causes ill feelings and resentment for years and years… oftentimes – without us even knowing that it affected the other person deeply. Is that a kind of underlying feeling to live with?
Advice
When wanting to organize another person’s space – you pause, do some self-reflection and get real honest with yourself: Is organizing this space for me or for them? Is this something I THINK they need or something I want?
So, after some time and space, we came back to it and agreed the room needed to be organized a little better. We agreed that more than 1 person will sometimes use the space, even if one of us uses it more than the other, it still has to be clear for the untrained eye. And that labeling things wasn’t a need here. And that was OK.
We read somewhere, and let me go off into a tangent here for a moment, that compromising doesn’t mean 1 person loses and the other person wins.
Compromise means coming up with a solution or a path to be on together. Both gain and no one loses.
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#7 of ‘Mistakes to Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project
- Investing in bins, containers and baskets
I know this is the fun part and it’s hard NOT to go out and buy stuff because it’s a sign that changes are about to be made and you’re excited! I get it and I LOVE your motivation. But hold up until you and the rest of the household has gotten used to the change in structure and new systems.
Advice
I often tell my clients to use what you have right now, or maybe get inexpensive containers so you have a structure. But you might have to tweak and re-tweak down the road which might mean a different kind of organizing solution!
So investing in something that might not work, will not only put a dent in your wallet, but now you have find some storage space for your pretty storage solutions or have to waste time and energy dealing with returning it all. Keep it simple, get fancy and invest later.
So there you have it: My 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting An Organizing Project.
Let’s do a recap but for you to REALLY avoid potential frustration, wasted time and overwhelm I’m going to do the recap by adding the word ‘DON’T’:
- Don’t Buy all the organizing tools and latest gadgets – without first measuring or understanding WHY you’re buying it for: Does it save space? Is it more maintenance when you have this new, cool thing? Is it only used for 1 thing only?
- Don’t hire a pro solely based on price. There’s SO MUCH more to us than that. Get on social media, talk to friends and scour Facebook groups. See what we’re like from personal experiences. Grab my cheat sheet to help you organize your thoughts. The link is in this episode’s show notes.
- Don’t start with a big room first. I love your enthusiasm and motivation but taking on more than we bargain for is usually a recipe for disaster.
- Don’t start with the wrong small space: like anything that triggers you to get into another time or space or emotional state. Stay away from these for now. Go easy and organize a neutral, emotion-free space.
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5. Don’t NOT have a plan. In other words, HAVE a plan of action whenever you have an organizing project in mind. It’s important to know what will derail you, what will help you stay motivated? Where do you start? Listen to Episode 7: Things You Need To Know Before Hiring A Professional Organizer if a pro is the way to go.
6. Don’t organize other people’s things for them without their consent. I know it’s tough to resist but I encourage you to have the talk and follow up conversation with them. Is this something you want or something you THINK they need? The 2 are hardly ever the same.
7. Don’t invest in bins, containers and baskets – just yet! Work with what you have so the system has a structure and it’s not such a dent financially when you have to tweak and reorganize. Get everyone used to the changes and the way things work. Allow for it all to sink in, then get the right containers, bins and beautiful baskets later. There are tons of places you can get these things at and ANYTIME. Amazon will not close in 6 months!
Boom! DONE – I hope this episode got you thinking on how to approach your next organizing project or maybe even got to reflect a little more on your tendencies when it comes to starting an organizing project.
If you found this episode to be at all helpful, maybe there’s another friend who would think so too and they’re struggling with starting an organizing project. Do them a HUGE favor and be so kind to share the link of this episode. I’d be SO grateful to you.
My mission is to help as many parents out there struggling to get organized.
So your help is truly needed and appreciated!
THANK YOU so much for listening and spending some time with me today! Have a great week, friend. See you next time!
Referenced in this episode
- Things you need to know before hiring a professional organizer- CHEATSHEET
- Professional Organizers in Canada
- NAPO, National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals
- APDO, Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers
- Podcast #7: Things You Need To Know Before Hiring A Professional Organizer
- Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up series on Netflix
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