Organizing, Redesign & Staging

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Make One Giant Pile

Let's say you have a messy room, or cluttered space, that seems overwhelming to tackle. Here's a technique to attack that mess -- a technique that will allow you to handle it in steps if you wish, or all at once.


For every category, make one pile. For instance, get all the clothing that can be found spread throughout the room, and put it in one giant pile. Gather up papers and put them into a laundry basket or holding bin. So you're sorting, but in major sweeping passes -- not determining whether something stays or goes, what it is, any decisions about the item.

Once this is done, you can either choose to tackle the piles or stop. The advantage of this technique is that now when you do dive into the piles, the items contained within are of the same category and can be handled easier. You can make quicker decisions related to the one type of item or move the whole pile to where it goes. The other benefit is that you have made progress from the chaotic scattered mess to one that has been 'organized' somewhat into more manageable groupings. When you are ready and willing to handle the paperwork, for example, it is all in one place.

Hopefully you can use this method to gain back some space and sanity if clutter is overwhelming.