When working on an organizational project, the first steps are to sort and purge. Take all items that are related and put them together. When organizing and cleaning my workshop, I took all painting materials and put them in one pile. I put all yard maintenance material together. All household tools are in a pile and all items stored for outdoor entertaining are grouped together. Sports items are together. All items being held for electronic recycling are grouped together. One of the big advantages of grouping the like items together is that you see where you have duplicates or items that are no longer being used. I somehow ended up with 3 ladders. I need 2 because they are different heights but 2 of the ladders are very similar in heights so I am purging the shortest one. I ended up with about 5 drop clothes- 2 were purged. I had 2 pruners- one not very sharp so it went. Purging means the item goes away. It does not necessarily mean it is thrown away. Of my purged items, some were thrown away, some were given away, and some simply really belonged in the house. Now it is easy to determine the different zones in my workshop and to return all items to the proper place.
Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer
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