ORGANIZING - how to get started! by Laura Leigh Way and Melanie Lalonde of Gadget Girrrls As a personal organizer, the most common question I get is: Where do I begin? Organizing can be a daunting task and it is quite time consuming. Whether you are organizing your desk, a room in your home or your entire house, getting started is often the hardest part. It is very common for individuals to look at a disorganized space and feel helpless. One of the most important things you need to remember when getting started is that it goes much faster when you divide the larger task into smaller parts.

For example, you have a table full of a combination of bills, phone messages, magazines/newspapers and some dishes, don’t look at it as one big mess, think of it as four smaller chores. Start with the least your least favourite task, because then all the others tasks will feel easier and easier. Give yourself permission to take a break after each task; have a treat, relax for a while or get some fresh air. This can be your reward for having completed a challenging task.

When I go into someone’s home, I look at the space as a whole. The questions I ask are: Does the person already have pre-assigned places for things? Do items have an assigned space? If so, do they use them? If not, then maybe the space isn’t accessible or it isn’t the best use of space. It is important to be able to access your most frequently used items. Here are three important tips for getting started:

1) Before you even begin to organize think about what you want for the space. Is your kitchen table really meant to be full or papers or should it be a space to share and enjoy food with family and friends? When you get mail, take 2 minutes and decide is this important or is it junk. Then recycle what you don’t need and file the essentials. Be REALISTIC…..are you really going to read that flyer about state of the housing market? If not recycle it!!!!!!

2) Baby steps: Don’t try and take on the whole thing at once. This just leads you to feel overwhelmed, anxious and stressed. If you give yourself permission to do a small chunk of it at a time, it feels more rewarding when you’re done each piece. Taking baby steps will get you farther ahead then trying to take a gigantic leap forward. When you take baby steps your less likely to fall or in this case give up.

3) Don’t feel ashamed to ask for help. Hire a Personal Organizer or enlist friend who is willing to help out. Having additional support is often the key to getting you started. Someone else can look at the space from a different point of view and give you a fresh perspective. Make sure that you find someone who is safe for you. By this I mean someone who can motivate you in the way you need to be motivated. Some people need a person to come in, take control of the situation and say, “Okay, you need to do A-B then C”. Other people need someone more sensitive who says, “I can see you need some help, what can I do?”

ORGANIZING – how it's good for you and the environment by Laura Leigh Way and Melanie Lalonde of Gadget Girrrls In recent months, I’ve been coming up with solutions to make my home a more relaxing place. There is a freedom that comes with getting rid of clutter and getting rid of “stuff”. I’ve donated clothes to shelters, sold items online and turned my academic papers into notepads. As a personal organizer, I’ve come to realize that being more organized can play a significant part in reducing both your environmental impact and your spending. All of us, at one time or another, have frantically searched through junk drawers looking for that BBQ lighter, the extra birthday candles or some spare batteries.

If, after a while, you can’t find what you’re looking for, you get frustrated and decide, “Ah it’s hopeless, I’ll just pick up a new one.” A few hours, days or even weeks later, you are looking for something else, and there is that BBQ lighter or the batteries you needed. But you already picked up new ones, which adds to the growing “stuff” pile that makes it difficult to keep a home organized. Does this sound familiar? Replacing things we already have means we are consuming things we don’t need. The more we consume, the more waste we create: the more waste we create, the more stuff we eventually dump in our landfills.

Being organized saves you time, money, and mental energy, you also save other household members the time and headaches that come with those agonizing, seemingly futile searches. If items are consistently put back in the same spot, then no one wonders who lost the BBQ lighter again. The bonus? You’re being environmentally friendly and consuming only what you need.

How can you achieve this? Organize junk drawers so that you know what is in them.

1. Have designated areas in your home for things so they can be located easily.
2. Keep similarly sized items together so small things don’t get lost in larger piles.
3. Organize your papers well so you know where they are when you need them.
4. Get containers for organizing and label them so they are easy to identify.

Remember, we the Gadget Girrrls are here if you need some structured guidance. I do understand, sometimes that new kitchen, office or workshop tool is just too hard to resist. Well if this is the case, don’t throw out the old one. Donate your old items to charity. There is always someone out there who is starting anew and needs more than they can afford to buy. Your donation could mean a lot to someone who is on a low budget. The best part is that the item doesn’t end up in a landfill before it’s time.

Also, remember not everything that you perceive as garbage is actually garbage. Check your community listings to see if someone is looking for free household items. Post your unwanted items on Full Circles/Free Cycle (a community group aiming to keep useful items out of landfills). There are a lot of people who can make your trash their treasure. Look for community environmental groups who will re-use or recycle old household items for their projects.

For example, Habitat for Humanity – Re-store; “Habitat for Humanity ReStores are building supply stores that accept and resell quality new and used building materials. They generate funds to support Habitat's building programs, while reducing the amount of used materials that are headed for overflowing landfills!” (http://habitat.ca/restoresc648.php) That said, if the item doesn’t work or isn’t repairable, it may be time to junk it. Best not to donate something that’s clearly at the end of its days. Gadget Girrls