So we are weeks into 2011 and you are determined to get organized – How are you doing?

Many people approach the goal of getting organized as taking inventory and making sure there is “a place for everything and everything is in its place”. Seriously? What if you have too much of everything and not enough place to put it?

Rather than being “organized” how about pursuing the art of purging? Purging allows us to be less cluttered. We could all use a little “out with the old” attitude especially after the holidays most likely brought in lots and lots of “new”. Besides, less clutter equals more brain power. More brain power will help you to focus on what’s important.

What’s in that closet?

You can start with the coat closet. Most likely you have winter coats and summer sweaters and jackets. Do you need all of them in there? Do you wear all of them? Ever? You can begin by putting winter coats on the left and summer on the right. That way you are taking as long to search for a certain item.

Next, where are all the hats, gloves and scarves kept? Do you use all of these? Do all the gloves have a mate? How many hats do you need? If you are asking me, I need them all and there is room for more. That’s because I wear hats all the time. But if you aren’t a hat person and have yet to utilize one (even on a bad hair day) then odds are you don’t need it. Ask yourself, “when was the last time I wore it?” The obvious next step is after you ask yourself these questions, you need to take a deep breath, grab a bag and start filling it with the items you never use. If you aren’t sure you’ll be able to part with them put the bag of possible discards in the garage or back porch and see if after a month you are missing any of them.

Now for the pantry

Canned goods, dried goods, oils, etc. You can get the kids involved in this one. Have them organize the shelves. Kids love to put like items together and they are closer to the ground so they can fill the lower shelves with ease. An added bonus is if the kids know where the pantry stuff goes, they will help unload groceries in the future.

The Linen closet…
How many towels do you need? Beach towels vs. bath towels. Kitchen vs. laundry and all those napkins, potholders, tablecloths and runners. Are the kitchen items together? They don’t have to be next to the linens you place on the tables. Finally you have the sheets and pillow cases. After they are folded you can ask yourself if perhaps they should be kept in the bedroom they belong in. If the Toy Story sheets only go on your son’s bed, maybe they can go on a shelf in his room. Just something to think about…

Do a little bit every day or on the weekend. The junk drawer(s) can be organized by your kids. Four Saturdays equals 4 closets. The game closet can be purged with the family. You can tackle under the bed and dressers with some music and a reward. Get two bags per room. Start with under the bed and gather outgrown shoes, etc. Next move onto the dressers. Finally load the car with the bags, go to the thrift store and then out to ice cream. You deserve a little reward.