Decluttering vs Organizing
What is the difference between decluttering and organizing?
This is a question that comes up quite often. It’s easy to misunderstand the difference between these two processes, and you’ll often notice that people use the terms “decluttering” and “organizing” interchangeably.
"Decluttering requires you to spend time deciding on what to keep, donate or throw away in a given area.
Organizing is making an area simple and functional for your lifestyle."
Fern McGahey, Professional Home Organizer
While both decluttering and organizing are equally important, understanding what they mean can empower you by guiding you on where to start. Find out more about each of these terms below to better understand what your home needs and how you can achieve these goals.
Decluttering
When forming your plans to calm your space, decluttering is where you start first.
Decluttering is achieved by eliminating the excess in a room or area in your home/office. After decluttering, everything remaining should only be items you use and enjoy having in your space.
To do this, you take some time to assess each item in the space you’re working in and ask yourself:
It’s a big task, especially if it’s your first time. If you’re feeling overwhelmed working through these steps, consider working with a professional to guide you through these steps (and encourage you to keep going!).
When you’re satisfied with your chosen belongings, it’s time to move onto organizing. The secret to organizing your space well is having less to organize, so remember to declutter as much as possible. It frees up your mind to be able to create function and order with the items you’ve chosen to keep.
Organizing
Without decluttering first, you’re at risk of organizing too many things, and it is much less likely to be functional or sustainable long term.
This phase of your home project requires you to understand what is going to make your home as user-friendly as possible. With the right organizational systems in place throughout your home or office, everything has a place and is easy enough to get to.
This is often achieved through the appropriate use of storage containers, which can be any combination of boxes, bins, baskets, jars, etc that will work with what you have.
Before you rush out to buy storage containers in bulk, ask yourself:
Organizing is creating a user-friendly system to store items. The things you need daily should be easy to access and grouped together for convenience. When your home is well organized, your whole family can enjoy every room of the house.
Working with a professional home organizer, you have the added advantage of a fresh perspective on how your space can be utilized and how your things are stored. There might be opportunities to maximize on space or storage techniques you might not have considered using.
What does your home need?
Whatever your personal needs are, hopefully this article has provided some guidance on where you can start. Ultimately, you’ll always need a mix of the two for sustainable results in the long term.
Through decluttering, establish what is important for you to have in your space. Through organizing, establish how and where your items are stored to best fit your lifestyle.
Take advantage of resources such as my SPACE Method - a downloadable resource that will guide you through a comprehensive five step process to a calm environment. By downloading the guide, you also receive a discount of AED100 on your first session.
What is the difference between decluttering and organizing?
This is a question that comes up quite often. It’s easy to misunderstand the difference between these two processes, and you’ll often notice that people use the terms “decluttering” and “organizing” interchangeably.
"Decluttering requires you to spend time deciding on what to keep, donate or throw away in a given area.
Organizing is making an area simple and functional for your lifestyle."
Fern McGahey, Professional Home Organizer
While both decluttering and organizing are equally important, understanding what they mean can empower you by guiding you on where to start. Find out more about each of these terms below to better understand what your home needs and how you can achieve these goals.
Decluttering
When forming your plans to calm your space, decluttering is where you start first.
Decluttering is achieved by eliminating the excess in a room or area in your home/office. After decluttering, everything remaining should only be items you use and enjoy having in your space.
To do this, you take some time to assess each item in the space you’re working in and ask yourself:
It’s a big task, especially if it’s your first time. If you’re feeling overwhelmed working through these steps, consider working with a professional to guide you through these steps (and encourage you to keep going!).
When you’re satisfied with your chosen belongings, it’s time to move onto organizing. The secret to organizing your space well is having less to organize, so remember to declutter as much as possible. It frees up your mind to be able to create function and order with the items you’ve chosen to keep.
Organizing
Without decluttering first, you’re at risk of organizing too many things, and it is much less likely to be functional or sustainable long term.
This phase of your home project requires you to understand what is going to make your home as user-friendly as possible. With the right organizational systems in place throughout your home or office, everything has a place and is easy enough to get to.
This is often achieved through the appropriate use of storage containers, which can be any combination of boxes, bins, baskets, jars, etc that will work with what you have.
Before you rush out to buy storage containers in bulk, ask yourself:
Organizing is creating a user-friendly system to store items. The things you need daily should be easy to access and grouped together for convenience. When your home is well organized, your whole family can enjoy every room of the house.
Working with a professional home organizer, you have the added advantage of a fresh perspective on how your space can be utilized and how your things are stored. There might be opportunities to maximize on space or storage techniques you might not have considered using.
What does your home need?
Whatever your personal needs are, hopefully this article has provided some guidance on where you can start. Ultimately, you’ll always need a mix of the two for sustainable results in the long term.
Through decluttering, establish what is important for you to have in your space. Through organizing, establish how and where your items are stored to best fit your lifestyle.
Take advantage of resources such as my SPACE Method - a downloadable resource that will guide you through a comprehensive five step process to a calm environment. By downloading the guide, you also receive a discount of AED100 on your first session.
