I recently inherited some stuff that has been lying around since the 1970s. Here are some tips that worked for me in sorting these out:
○ Throw away food items past their expiry date.
○ Take the opportunity to re-evaluate anything that might be unhealthy. For example, if you’re using a lot of plastic containers for food items, ask if glass or steel might be healthier. If so, throw away the plastic containers.
○ Throw away anything you have too much of and that occupies space, like 6 suitcases for one person1.
○ Throw away things that are broken or cracked or which you’d be embarrassed to have guests see.
○ Test things to see what’s no longer working. For example, I had an electric heater which not only not worked but caused the breaker for the entire house to trip.
○ Electronics are usually better to throw away and buy anew than repair.
○ If you want to throw away two things, but you’re not sure because you might need them later, throw one away today, and the rest some other time, when you’re sure. This is better than rushing and throwing away things you later turn out to need, which may cause you to keep everything just in case. This will cause your home reorganisation to grind to a halt. You don’t need to complete the re-organisation by some predetermined date, as long as you’re making steady progress.
○ If you’re not sure whether to throw away an electrical appliance, unplug it for a while and see if you miss it. For example, I have two fridges, and I unplugged the old one for a couple of months. I haven’t missed it, but I might. So I’m not throwing it away yet. I can wait months more, and throw it away when I’m fully convinced, which is better than hurrying and later regretting it.
Organising what you keep
○ Keep frequently used items readily accessible, and the rest in a store room. If you mix up frequently and infrequently used items, the former will be hard to find, causing a small amount of daily annoyance.
○ Sometimes we’re not sure what to put in your store room. For example, how many plates and of what sizes do you need in your kitchen for regular use? To answer this, put away all plates in the store room. All of them. Then, each time you need a plate, check if the plate you want is in the kitchen. If not, take it out of the store room and use it. Once you do, don’t put it back in the store room. After a while, the items that are in your kitchen are the ones you need in your kitchen.
○ Clean items before putting them away. They’ll be ready to use, and you don’t want shelves full of dirty things.
○ Use Ziploc bags. I have bags in different sizes, all the way up to 2.5 gallon / 17x15 inches:
Ziploc bags have many advantages:
They’re food grade, so when put your spoons in one, when you take them out later, they’ll be ready to use.
Unlike a rigid box, a Ziploc bag with fewer items in it takes proportionally less space.
Ziploc bags are transparent, which really helps when you’re looking for something. Otherwise, it can be a black box (literally), which is frustrating — your own things get hidden from you, inaccessible when you need them.
You can write on Ziploc bags to identify what’s in them.
You can also buy dozens of Ziploc bags, for several years in advance, unlike rigid containers, which would be bulky to store for years.
Ziploc bags are cheap. 12 of the biggest bags in the photo above cost only $5.
Ziploc bags are an innovation, a huge convenience in organising things. Innovation need not mean fancy things like ChatGPT.
○ Organise things logically, like all knives in one place, all medicines in one shelf, and kitchen appliances in one place. As another example, I’ve decided to put only personal items — clothes, accessories, deodorant, etc — in my bedroom. I found things that don’t fit this description (like a measuring tape) in my bedroom closet, so I moved them out. This makes it easy to find what I want later. If it’s a kitchen appliance, I know where they all are.
○ Label your bags with a permanent marker that describes their purpose:
This makes it easy to find what you want, and ensures that things are organised logically. For example, I’m not going to put a spoon along with potato mashers. Without labels, it becomes easy to mix things up.
○ Organising happens in iterations. Don’t try to get it all done in one go. It’s fine if you finished sorting your bedroom and kitchen and wait a few weeks before you sort the rest of the house. If you don’t have ideas on how to organise, or what to do next, don’t force yourself. Let it come naturally.
○ As long as you make some progress every month, you’re good. Don’t worry about the goal. It will take care of itself.
○ Be tolerant towards some messiness such as in one room till you’re done organising.
○ Once you’re done organising a room fully, don’t let junk in it. For example, I’ve finished organising my kitchen and bedroom, so I won’t put anything there that I’m not sure about, or temporarily while I think of where it belongs. A room once organised should stay organised.
○ Put things in closed places where they’ll stay clean. Close ziploc bags2 and cupboard doors fully, lest dust and bugs get in.
On the other hand, having 6 extra spoons is not a problem, and probably good!
Unless you’re careful, they’re easy to close almost but not fully, which lets air and insects in.
Very insightful article! Thanks for sharing these tips which are well organized as well.
Recently I moved into a small apartment so I had to be very mindful of how to utilize space. I use two main rules:
1. If I have not used something in a long time, I throw it away instead of convincing myself that I might need it in the future.
2. When I replace or upgrade something, I make sure to throw the old one. (Works especially with clothes!)