Decluttering vs Organizing…What’s the difference?

We get this question all of the time. By the time a prospective client calls us they are frustrated and overwhelmed. They have tried everything but the stuff keeps piling up. Please help us!! Honestly most of the time it is just too much stuff. We have been conditioned to buy in bulk, that we need all the kitchen gadgets in order to prepare delicious meals, that we may need that item that we haven’t touched in a decade as soon as we let it go. When we say declutter to our clients sometimes we get yes please take it all away! But a lot of the time we get resistance. They need everything in that space they just need us to make it neat for them so they can find things. That makes it tricky to set up systems to keep their spaces organized, junk free and working for them long term. You can only fit what the space allows for right? So what is the difference and why does it matter?

Declutter means, according to the Cambridge dictionary, “to remove things you do not need from a place, in order to make it more pleasant and more useful.” And that’s exactly what we do. It can look different depending on the client and the situation. Say we have a client who needs their entryway closet worked on, the first thing we do is ask what NEEDS to live here? We pull everything out and make those decisions WITH the client based on questions we ask. At that point we find out if the item is something they use but is better off stored elsewhere or if they can part with it. So we have first decluttered the closet but we have have also opened them up to freeing or decluttering their homes of things they don’t use at all. Not just stuff shuffling from one place to the next. Great we organized your entryway but now your basement is filled with things you aren’t using.

After deciding what they need to stay in the entryway closet we then talk about organizing. And what’s the definition of organize? Simply put “to do or arrange something according to a particular system.” This is where we ask more questions about their daily habits, who is using the closet, expectations on aesthetics etc. This is vey important because if for instance you want your closet to have shelves for everyones shoes, but 3/4 people using that closet won’t take the time to put them neatly on a shelf and instead kick them off right in front of the shelves, that method , or system, will not work. It will be a source of stress, wasted money and labor on installing shelves etc. Open baskets to keep the space looking neat but still organized would be a better, more manageable system for that household in the long run. Systems are about working with our natural tendencies not against them. If it’s too hard to put away it will never get put away. Leading right back to the clutter piling up.

I think a lot of people hear the word system when it comes to organizing and get really confused. Like it should be this crazy off the wall concept that will finally work to get you organized. Not true. Always losing your keys? Add a hook inside the door. System. Paper clutter everywhere? Designate a drawer or basket for your papers. Sort through them once a day. Take action on them, file or recycle/shred. System.

And don’t force something. Just because a certain aesthetic is “in” doesn’t mean it’s the best system for you. You waste time and money on this sure. But you will also get frustrated and think something is wrong with you. How can you be this unorganized!!!??? You aren’t I promise. You just organize different. If you can and will color code your fridge have at it by all means. I will stare at your fridge and say how pretty it is all day long for sure, but I certainly won’t be doing that in my own kitchen. It won’t work for me or my family. It doesn’t mean that I’m a mess.

Decluttering can and should be a daily habit as well. If you take care of your papers and mail as they come in each day you won’t have paper clutter. If you clean out your fridge and pantry when you shop you won’t have as much wasted food because you won’t be shoving old things to the back to make way for new. If you make decluttering a habit and not a project it will get easier and be less of a hassle.

One of my favorite things I hear from clients is that they learned these habits from working with us. They send us pictures of them or their family using systems we have implemented for them or they say they channeled us and tackled a space by themselves. We LOVE that We don’t want to set you up to fail. We want to show you how simple tweaks to your daily habits can and will stop the clutter from building up. Ready to start? Give us a call anytime!