An email arrived today from a reader, in the email she shared how excited she was to get started on her organizing project. She outlined her plan, first on her list- she was heading to the local Target store to buy a bunch of bins, baskets and containers.
I quickly replied with my suggestion to put her shopping trip on the back burner. Why?
Well for three reasons:
One she had no idea what size or how many bins she even needs. It is important to clear the space and measure, really. I can’t tell you how may people tell me they bought a bin that was almost the right size. That requires wasting time returning the item.
Two chances are she’d find containers during the organizing process that she could re-use instead of buying new.I’m a fan of saving time, money and the environment every chance I get.
Three shopping for stuff is the fun part, which in part is why we have so much clutter. It is always better to hold off doing the fun part until you tackle some of the less fun stuff, then use the fun task as a sort of reward for having done the other part.
I heard back from the reader who thanked me for suggesting she hold off on her shopping trip. She told me she spent an hour make choices about the stuff in her hall closet and she’d made a tremendous amount of progress in the same time it would have taken her to get in the car, drive to the store, shop, check out and drive home.
