Recently, I was on a podcast (what up The Nerd Expansion! Episode coming soon!) and was asked what the first 3 things I would tell someone who wanted to organize their home. Tough question, right? I was immediately brought back to the idea of inventory. When you first think of the idea of inventory you envision someone in the back stock room counting items for a retail store. This is essentially, still the case in your home but it’s more than just counting your stuff. For me you can divide the idea of inventory into 3 categories: your life, your space and the finally your stuff.
Inventory your life!
This is the first step you should take when you’re ready to organize a space. Why? Well, this will inform you more about what stuff you need to keep and what you can declutter or pass on. Let’s break it down. The first thing you need to do is take a real deep and honest look at your life. Are you someone who does their make-up every day? Do you go camping once a year? Do you wear leggings and a t-shirt 90% of the time?
Once you look at your life you can determine the amount of items that correlate with your activities and lifestyle. If you’re not someone that wears make-up regularly, or even likes to do it for special occasions, then you might not need a ton of make-up. Adversely, if you are a make-up guru then you might want to have a larger inventory. If you love camping and go regularly (you get to decide what “regularly” means!) then you can make room for the tent etc. in your space. If not, maybe look at renting equipment when you’d like to use it. If you wear leggings 90% of the time, your closet should reflect that with about 90% of your pants being leggings. Make space for them and look at the rest of your wardrobe to pair down. Are you smelling what I’m steppin’ in? Bottom-line, let your life inform your stuff- not the other way around.
Inventory your space!
I feel like this is the inventory that is often forgotten. But it is the thing that makes the most impact on your organizational journey. Think about it- if you have a single cabinet for a pantry your inventory of food is going to be very different than someone who has a full on walk in pantry. So, now that you’ve taken inventory of your life you know how much of each category you want to keep around you can look at your space and check out the limitations (or lack of) that your space provides. Be honest about what you can realistically fit in your space.
Inventory your stuff!
Ok, here’s the part you know and love (maybe slash hate?). This is the culmination of the first two inventories of life and space combined with the physical items you own. You know what percentage of your life you dedicate to each activity and lifestyle. You know how much space you have in your home. Now you have to take a hard look at your stuff and how it fits into your first 2 inventories.
Declutter time!! Let’s use and example to go through this process: kitchen utensils. Let’s say you’ve inventoried your lifestyle and determined you are not the best cook but love to bake. Even better you’ve identified that you cook 50% of the time and bake a cake every weekend. You’ve looked at the inventory of space in your kitchen and you know you have 2 drawers you can dedicate for this category of your life. Now lay out all of your kitchen utensils. You have 5 spatulas and 10 icing pipe ends. Now you get to ask yourself: What do I use? If this were me, I’d downsize to 2 spatulas and keep all my piping materials. This is reflective of the lifestyle that you’ve identified and can fit within the space you currently have.
Freedom!!!
If you apply this strategy you can effectively let go of items that no longer serve you in a way that releases you of the guilt that we often feel when decluttering. You are armed with knowledge! It is so much easier to declutter an item when you have the research you’ve done that tells you, it’s time to pass it on. I can tell you from experience that once you’ve decluttered your life, you’ll find so much freedom. You’re time cleaning and looking for items will be significantly reduced giving you more time to live your life!!
