Organizing Small Spaces: How to Organize Small Spaces

So you’re interested in organizing small spaces? That’s wonderful, since we’re going to talk about how to organize small spaces today.

We’re going to get right to it since this is a very long discussion…

The first thing I should mention is the advantage of living in a small place is that small spaces can force you to recognize how much you allow your wants to precede your needs.

And on the other end, the disadvantage of living in a large space is that larger spaces tend to disguise and instigate materialism a bit more.

If you live in a large place, naturally you’ll want to fill it up. It is no different than a home of any size. However, the effort it takes to fill up a large space is a bit more work in comparison to filling up a home of a much smaller size.

So, in the end although some homes may be larger, they can end up just as cluttered as small homes. The only difference is a larger place can take a lot more clutter than a smaller place before it becomes obvious that you have too much stuff.

In short, a large space can hold a larger pile of junk.

So clutter isn’t just something people face in small spaces. It’s just more obvious in small spaces. Small spaces don’t allow you to kid yourself about how much stuff you have for too long.

Culprits That May Keep You from
Organizing Small Spaces

A few reasons why you may be having difficulty organizing small spaces are likely common sense reasons. Usually it boils down to at least one of the following…

You have too much stuff
You’re disorganized
You’re too busy or too lazy

Whatever the case, it still doesn’t stop the fact that you’re interested in organizing small spaces, right?

So, although the reasons you might be having trouble organizing small spaces are common sense, it’s not always as easy to figure out how to fix the problem.

So that’s what we’re going to address today… the culprits that are keeping you from organizing small spaces and how to fix them.

Organizing Small Spaces – Culprit One: Hoarding

Hoarding can be a major hinderance that can keep you from organizing small spaces. And to take it a step further, it is usually associated with overorganizing.

I know that sounds funny, but some people actually do have trouble with overorganizing their home. Instead of just letting go of what they no longer need, they use organizers to cover up the hoarding problem that lies beneath the surface.

Yes, some of us have the pack-rat syndrome. But the question is how do you undo this problem?

Well one way to address it is to remember that almost everything has a proper balance to it. Almost everything can be overdone in a way in which it ends up having the reverse effect intended.

In short, too much of a good thing is not always good, right?

When you step over the balance-boundaries you tend to get imbalanced results. Well, organization isn’t immune to the same cause and effect, which makes it possible to overorganize to the point in which your home is a mess.

I like to call this sort of situation “The Container Crises” because it usually starts with the simple desire to use containers or organizers to organize items that don’t really need to be organized in the first place.

Things kept in large quantities like…

shoes
clothes
food
tupperware
silverware
knickknacks
toilet paper
and the list goes on…

Stop and Think…

Instead of storing things in a few places, it’s like the entire home becomes one big lid to contain the junkyard going on behind closed doors.

In situations like this there’s a point in which you have to realize something has got to give. But the question is how do you handle it?

Well, to start with I recommend no more than 10-20% of the items in your home be placed in storage, and any more than that cleaned up and cleared out.

I know sometimes it’s easier said than done. But it can be achieved. It just takes a little patience and question asking.

Are You Living in the Land of Reality or Make Believe?

Often enough, hoarding is simply a mental crutch based on the what-if scenario rather than what-is scenario so it’ll take a little time to work through.

To be brutally honest, hoarders are either over-indulgers or they live in just-in-case land:

“I’m keeping that just in case…”
“Uhh, don’t get rid of that, you’ll never know when you’ll need it…”

And there’s nothing wrong with that up to a certain point, but hoarders go overboard. They don’t know where to draw the line. Caution becomes an addiction.

They’re always preparing for the worst.

And as a result it becomes their demise. But there’s a point when you have to compromise and live according to reality.

Whenever issues like this arise, a quick-fix-it way to break bad hoarding habits and to address your needs directly is to ask yourself several a few detail-oriented questions that will bring you back down to earth.

I guarantee if you make a good habit out of doing this then you’ll find yourself holding on to the right things as well as getting rid of things you no longer need.

Ask yourself…

If you’re living in what-is land or what-if land.

Are you living in reality or are you currently taking a vacation on fantasy island?
How you will manage if it turns out you need it and you don’t have it.

If it’s going to be some major trouble to get it and it’s gone, then you’ve got your answer. Chances are good you should keep it. But if it’s easy to replace with a few bucks and a few minutes of your time, then chances are good you can get rid of it (donate it or sell it) without any trouble.
How long you’ve currently had it and not used it.

Do you use it at all? Or is it just pretty to look at? Are you keeping it because it just “feels good” to know you have it? Have days, months, or years gone by since you’ve last used it? If it’s only been a few months, and you suspect it might be very necessary to keep it, then stow it away and return in several months and go through the same question asking process.

Give It a Mental Grace Period…

Take a mental inventory of an item you’re not sure you need and put it on a 3 month probation. Once 3 months goes by, you can say “yae” or “nae” about whether to keep it or not (by going over the questions above and considering things carefully).

If once you’ve gone over everything and you’re still not sure, give it another 3 months probation. Once that time has gone by, ask yourself the same questions if you’re still not sure. However, usually it’s safe to get rid of something, if you haven’t used it or needed it, once half a year has passed by.

It’s really just the simple task of living in reality one step at a time.

You have to reroute your caution.

Instead of being cautious about what you get rid of, it’s much easier to be cautious about what you allow in your home to begin with.

Store what you need and get rid of what isn’t relevant. You don’t have to be religious about it. Allow yourself a little leeway but not too much.

Think of it like shedding skin. You’re going through a simple life-cycle phase of “quantity-in” and “quantity-out…”

…which actually leads us to culprit two…

Organizing Small Spaces – Culprit Two: Upgrading

The upgrade process is also another culprit that could be keeping you from organizing small spaces. Before I go on, you should know that generally upgrading itself isn’t the problem.

The issue is that once you upgrade you don’t downgrade to keep the balance. To keep the balance it helps to think of the Yin-Yang philosophy…

For every force there’s an equal and opposite force.

Which means if there’s a “quanty-in” there should also be “quantity-out.”

In short, to start organzing small spaces if there’s a lot of “quantity in” there needs to be an equal amount of “quantity out” to maintain a steady flow.

Otherwise, it’s like constantly filling a balloon up with air and not expecting it to eventually pop.

So, to tackle the upgrade culprit it helps to put some guidelines in place so that you can maintain the flow of organization. To do this take some time out and create these guidelines for yourself.

An example of setting guidelines would be…

Disciplining yourself by allowing only a certain amount of items to enter your home at one time. But keep in mind, the reign doesn’t have to be so tight that you feel like you have a noose around your neck.

It’s just the simple act of creating a “quantity-in” and “quantity-out” flow based around your individual needs so that you have something to work with.

Because let’s face it, organization doesn’t happen on its own. Behind every organized home lies a set of invisible guidelines that help maintain that organized flow on a continuous basis.

A good example of this is when parents tell their children to clean up behind themselves.

That’s a guideline.

Usually a time-specific one at that. Many parents don’t let their children do anything else, like go out and play, until they’ve cleaned up the mess they’ve made.

So along the same lines, your home needs a set of guidelines so that the items will not take over…

To do that. Try asking yourself two questions:

What will I and won’t I allow in my home?
What is the designated allotment of a specific type of item that is allowed in my home (quantity-in) before it’s time to replace that allotment (quantity-out)?

Let’s use my lifestyle as an example…

I like to watch movies like everyone else. But I don’t like too many movies in my home at once. I feel that allowing only a certain amount of movies will help me maintain organization in my home.

So in order to keep the balance, I only allow myself to have about 5-7 DVDs in my home at once. However, my maximum allotment is 10.

Once I reach my 5-7 quantity-in limit and I’ve grown bored with watching the same movies over and over again, I sell them and buy new titles in place of the old movies. I may sell one at a time as I grow bored with it or all of them at once.

It depends.

So, I never end up with too many movies that sit around unnecessarily.

And to keep myself happy, out of that allotment of movies, I generally purchase one…

Cartoon
Suspense
Adventure
Sci-fi (or fantasy)
Comedy

…in order to fulfill my taste for variety.

Let me also mention that I rarely ever purchase a movie I haven’t seen before. The reason why is because, out of a good portion of movies I’ve seen I rarely want to see most of them again.

If I’m in the mood for anything new or some other variety I’ll make it a point to check them out from the library first. Or rent them from a local video store as my second option.

This buy-then-recycle phase keeps me happy while keeping clutter and expenses down to a minimum. In the process it helps me indirectly keep my TV viewing habits down too (since I don’t have cable or an antenna).

Another example is books…

Although my books now sit on a bookcase I still use this method to keep books down to a minimum.

I use a “box” method.

The box method is simply using one medium or large sized box to take count of how many books I will allow in my home. I will allow as many books that fit in one medium or large sized box. This has worked out wonderfully for me and I’ve had no problems exceeding those expectations (and I’m a book lover).

This has been simplified also because I use the local libraries to check out and return books frequently.

These days when I’m considering a book I also make it a point to ask myself if I actually plan to make use of the book I want to buy in the immediate future. Because a large culprit behind book overflow (for me) is simply that I purchase a lot of books I want at the time but don’t end up using.

Most of them just sit on the shelf collecting dust because I want them and have “idealized” that I will use them.

These guidelines may sound a bit extreme to you, but the point is that you don’t have to live by the rules I’ve created for myself. These guidelines and examples were brought up to show you how I use them to create an organized quantity-in and quantity-out plan for myself.

You can simply use the initial set of guidelines to create a plan for yourself around your own desires and needs and adjust it accordingly.

Organizing Small Spaces – Culprit Three: Quality-Time

The quality-time culprit deals with you on an emotional level and how you live your life on a daily basis—the “quality” of your life and how you effectively manage your time.

Earlier we were speaking about quantity which had to do with the external part of your life. How much you allowed in your home versus how much you took out.

Now we’re going to talk a bit about quality which deals with the internal part of your life.

The quality-time culprits are emotional triggers that may be behind some of the disorganization in your home.

What you do from day to day is very important in terms of how much you achieve in your lifetime. As well as what activities you invest in on a daily basis that lead you up to achieving or not achieving your goals.

So an unhealthy lifestyle can also be a vital reason behind why you’re having trouble organizing small spaces in your home.

If you are spending too much time doing the wrong things you won’t have time to do much of the right ones.

So examining your daily habits is just as important as incorporating some guidelines in your life that lead to organization.

Though it may be difficult for some people to believe that your spiritual self affects your physical environment, it doesn’t mean the issue doesn’t exist.

If you’re not taking care of your spirit, frequently the results come out in other ways.

Take watching too many movies or too much TV for example…

The avid couch potato may also love collecting movies on DVD and watching movies everyday. Indirectly this cannot only lead to having an excessive amount of movies in your home but it can also lead to disorganization due to poor time management.

If you watch a lot of TV, it means you have less time to apply yourself toward more productive things. Whether it’s spending quality time with your family, volunteering, exercising, or cleaning up around your home.

Let me repeat myself, but more extensively this time.

Instead of creating a positive surrounding for yourself by doing those things, you may find yourself…

spending less time with your family
establishing and feeding an addiction
overeating and gaining weight
letting the dishes go
delaying on doing the laundry
allowing the house to get dirty

…which will inevitably create a negative surrounding.

Other similar, yet distracting habits that may lead to a consumption of items in the home and/or wasted time include…

Playing too many games
Shopping addictions
Computer/Internet addiction

So, disorganization isn’t always just an external factor. Many times people live emotionally imbalanced lives and it starts with their “quality in” and “quality out” lifestyle.

As I said, they spend too much time in front of the TV, playing games or surfing the web and not enough time at the park, exercising at the gym, or just going out with friends and family.

The home gets neglected, friends and family get neglected and even they neglect themselves.

Believe me. I know. I have been guilty of many of the things mentioned above. But the good news is that it’s never too late to change. Spend time taking care of you and others around you.

The quality of your life affects how much you achieve. From big goals like winning a marathon to small goals like keeping your home organized and cleaned.

The more emotional junk you get rid of, the more time you’ll have to put toward getting rid of the “real” junk in your home.

If you’re harboring things in your home that you don’t use or need you’re simply wasting money. Not only that, you’re wasting valuable space in your home that you could use for other things. You’re also harboring things that other people could use in a much better context than you do.

So understanding the benefits of organizing your home isn’t hard to see when you think in terms of “losing out” by holding on. How so?

Well let’s go over the reasons again, so it’s clear…

You could be making extra money in your spare time.
You’re losing out on free space that could be used for better purposes.
You’re wasting extra time cleaning your home or working around these things simply because your home isn’t organized.
You’re not growing spiritually by loving your neighbor as yourself and allowing someone else to use the item in a much better context than you do.

It’s easy enough to get lost in the “quick-fix” of the moment but in the long run that wastes a lot more of your time. And that’s the major problem with disorganization.

Let me repeat myself (again) in other words to make it clear.

Disorganization is a “right now” short-term solution. It deals with your life at the very moment you are dealing with it, but in the long run it wastes a lot of your valuable time because you have to deal with it repeatedly.

Catching up takes much longer than keeping up. Organization is a long-term solution.

It is the wise plan-ahead option because it deals with your life in the present and future.

It takes some time in the beginning to work out the kinks but in the long run it saves you a lot of valuable time because you deal with it once and after that it’s just simply a matter of upkeep and consistency.

Ways to Begin Organizing Small Spaces

Think of the items in your home as a way to make extra money in your spare time. Do a major clean up about every 3-6 months. Once you do your major clean up it’s a matter of upkeep every 3 months or so.

But let’s go over some ideas on what you can do from start to finish…

The first thing you’ll want to do is sit down and assess which culprits may be affecting your home (and life). Whether it’s a culprit mentioned here today or another culprit that is individually your own.

Create an outline for quality-in and quality-out flow—that is, spend some time thinking about how your emotional life can be improved for the better. Whether that’s by spending less time watching TV, surfing the web or something else altogether.

Create a goal list for the things you want to achieve on a daily basis. A simple Sunday through Saturday outline. Excel is a wonderful program to do this in. Or you can use Open Office, a free alternative if you don’t have Excel.

Mind you, you won’t always achieve each daily goal but trying is what counts. If it doesn’t get accomplished one day simply move it over to the next day until you get it done.

Maybe you want to include a small portion of time for TV viewing each day? If you watch 2 hours a day maybe you’ll want to challenge yourself and reduce it to an hour a day? And as time goes by you may want to reduce it even more and replace it with an activity that’s equally satifying to you.

Also pick a specific day for the day you want to house clean, do laundry, grocery shop, etc. and stick to it. And lastly, consider cleaning the dishes as you use them (if you don’t use a dish washer).

Create an outline for quantity-in and quantity-out flow. This will be the outline you live by on a day to day basis. Ask yourself what items you would like to allow in your home and how much of each item. This outline can be a mental outline in which you don’t write it down or, if you so choose, you could actually put it down on paper.

When you’re ready to buy a new item for your home it’s time to consider your quantity-in and quantity-out flow. Have you reached your maximum allotment? Are you ready to sell another item before you buy the new item so you can use some of that money to pay for your new item?

Do a major clean up (quantity-out) every 3-6 months. Once you do your first major clean-up, a routine clean-up is recommended at least every 2-3 months.

You have some options on how to make a few bucks on the things you decide to get rid of.

Some options may be obvious to you but others may not.

So let’s go over the list now…

Have a Yard sale, Garage Sale, or Indoor House Sale

The yard sale is the most obvious option for getting rid of things you don’t want. Yet, although it may be the most obvious option, many times it’s the most inconvenient. It’s a wonderful idea only if you have a lot of stuff and actually live in a house or know someone that does.

The wonderful thing is that it’s easy to get customers but the downside is that sometimes you can get more money for some items through other venues.

Also yard sales are mainly seasonal so if it’s winter time, then it’s a bit more difficult but it doesn’t stop you from having an indoor house sale or even perhaps a garage sale. Customers are also often cheap and even if you price an item at a more than fair amount some of them still want to barter.

So, if you have plenty of items to sell, a house to live in, and want to do a yard sale, it’s a great way to get some money for the things you want to get rid of.

But I recommend a yard sale as the last step. Consider using the other approaches below first and then sell what is left locally through a yard sale. That way you aren’t getting stiffed in the process.

Sell Your Items through eBay.com

eBay is the next obvious option. It has many of the same pros and cons as a yard sale with the exception that it’s convenient and you can sell items any time. The seasons don’t get in your way. Large items such as couches, however, are usually best to sell locally (through eBay) because shipping will be too high. But the exposure you get is much more massive.

The customers may be cheap because it’s a price-oriented site.

But just because the customers want a deal doesn’t mean the item will sell for a cheap price. Also even if the item is a couch it doesn’t mean someone won’t travel a fair distance to pick it up or won’t use a bidding service like Uship.com to have it shipped to them. eBay is like having an internet yard sale for those who want to avoid the real thing.

Sell Your Items at Amazon.com

A great place to sell many used items. They offer auctions too. But for myself I consider Amazon the perfect place to sell the books, DVDs, and even CDs that I don’t want anymore. It’s where I also buy them.

Used items like software can also be sold but I won’t pretend to know too much about selling those things there since media items are the only things I’ve sold through Amazon.

If you want to get rid of used books and similar media, Amazon is one of the places to go.

A simple way to do it is…

Go to Amazon.com
Type the title or the ISBN of the item you want to sell in the search box (above) to find it.
Check out the sales rank traffic (for books). If it’s under 100,000 it will probably take awhile to sell it. Then check out how much the items are selling at used. Check out the prices and the feedback of the sellers you view as competition. Do they have positive feedback of 95% or higher? (see note below).

Consider This…

If the seller who has the lowest price has positive feedback percentage of about 95% or higher I generally price my books slightly lower than the lowest priced book on the list so it’s at the top.

If the positive feedback of the seller with the lowest priced book is 94% or lower I will generally sell my book a bit higher because buyers usually will go for a higher priced book from a seller that has 99-100% positive feedback.

They feel a bit more confident about purchasing from a seller with such a positive response history, so it’s easier to price it a bit higher and get more of a profit. However, I don’t usually price my book more than $1.00 higher than the other seller.

One other thing to note is if the item is selling for less than $3.00 at the lowest price and I have to under-cut that price I don’t generally sell it at Amazon since it’s nearly a waste of money to sell it when I include Amazon’s commission in the equation.
When that happens I lay it aside and consider the other options below or if I don’t like the other options below I wait several months for prices to change if I feel they’ll change for the better (in my favor of receiving a better profit).
Once you’ve observed the competition then select “Sell Yours Here” and follow each step until your item is listed. You may also need to set up your bank account in order to receive your money via direct deposit once an item sells.

Sell Your Items through Half.com

When I choose not to list a book (or other media) on Amazon I sometimes check out Half.com or compare the prices for what the item is selling for on each site. Yet most of the time Amazon is the best place to list concerning how much you can sell the book for.

Half.com is just another option if you want to consider it.

Sell Your Items to Music Stores or Half Priced Books

When I choose not to list a book or other item on Amazon I put it in my “Half Priced Books” box. When I collect enough of them I take them to the (local) bookstore and sell the books (CDs and DVDs that wouldn’t sell for much) to them. I don’t get much if it’s not a lot of books but I don’t expect much.

They take them off of my hands and I don’t have to make the effort to ship them. To me the deal is more than fair. I get a couple of bucks in return. For gas or joy money.

Half Priced Books also takes software off my hands that won’t sell for much online. I got rid of my voice recognition software because I no longer needed it (MS Word offers it). So I included it with a couple of books I no longer wanted and got $15 in return.

That was good for me. I no longer had to stare at that annoying red box in my closet and I got money in return.

Also, keep in mind if you have CDs you can also go to music stores that will take them off your hands. I know CDs sound ancient these days with all of the new technology and downloadable options on the internet, but they’re still out there and people still buy them.

So why not head there and see what they’ll offer you for your used CDs?

Sell Your Items to (or through) Consignment or Pawn Shops

Sell your furniture to consignment shops or take it to a consignment shop that will let it sit in their store for a good portion of time and take a percentage of the sale if it sells.

Sell your clothing or your children’s clothing.

Consigment shops like “Plato’s Closet” takes teen clothing and “New Uses General Store” takes furniture and other appliances.

Remember, if one consignment shop won’t accept an item it doesn’t mean another one won’t. Sometimes it’s also a matter of season or time.

So, if something won’t sell, hold on to it for a bit and try selling it to a few shops again a little later on in the year or the year after.

Sometimes patience pays off in the end.

Sell, Trade or Donate Your Items
through Classifieds or Community Groups

In case you haven’t heard of Craigslist, it is a popular classified ads website. Just about anything is listed there. From jobs to wanted furniture.

This site offers great free exposure for all to see. Consider posting to the site and selling your furniture there. They also have a giveaway section in case you don’t want to sell it but simply want to offer it free to someone who might want it.

Need to Know…

Remember it’s free to put up a listing so what harm could it do?

Two other places to consider are PaperBackSwap.com and TitleTrader.com. Paper Back Swap allows you to trade books whereas Title Trader also allows you to trade things, such as VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs and more.

There’s also another great website called FreeCycle.org where you post all of your unwanted items on a local message board for people who want your items to come and pick them up. So if you’ve got some giveaways you can join the FreeCycle Community to find a new home for your unwanted items.

Donate Your Items to Libraries, Churches, Thrift Stores, Friends, Co-workers or Neighbors

The obvious give away option when you’ve gone through all the above steps and you can’t sell the stuff you have is to take it to a church that takes donations, the Goodwill, or Salvation Army and give it to them. For books and other small items, consider donating them to the library.

Or you could ask around and see if someone you know at work needs a certain item you have if you have friends that don’t want it. Sometimes people hear things through the grapevine about someone who is having a hard time and in major need so a little asking around can really go a long way.

Also if you’re chummy with any of your neighbors consider asking them. If you can’t make money from it, the least you can do is pay it forward, right?