Organizing: Streamlining or Unearthing Treasures
What’s organizing REALLY about? Working together with my clients I see two different ways we work. I also see the goals of our work in two different ways as well. Organizing while both strategies accomplish what my clients want, each process differs slightly. Here is my concept of organizing as letting go and organizing as unearthing treasures.
Organizing is streamlining and letting go.
You are overwhelmed with stuff. Your goal is to have less, organize it and then keep your space maintained. The first step in your organizing project is to review what you have. Then you assess it’s value. Do you use it or love it? If neither applies, it’s time to eliminate this item. As Marie Kondo says, “To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.” Working on having less is often the most motivating reason to get organized.
Organizing is unearthing treasures.
Your stuff is overwhelming you, but just culling out is not enough. Your goal is to keep what’s most valuable to you. Organizing can also be about finding and unearthing treasures. You can take the “treasure hunt” perspective where you sift through items to find what is most valuable to keep. In choosing what’s most valuable, only you can be the judge. It may be a long lost trinket or a check. Organizing can be unearthing items that have been buried in what’s not important.
We found this treasure while working together! What treasures have you found while organizing?
When you unearth treasures, whether it’s financial or sentimental, you find real value in organizing.
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I love this post! Such truth in finding lost treasures when you organize! I think this is a lesson my eight year old is learning. He has too much stuff. When I make him sort to eliminate or organize he ALWAYS finds something he’s been searching for!
It’s surprising how excited we get when we find these too! I am glad your son is getting started early on this!
I totally agree. I find that if you know what you love, you are more likely to figure out what you don’t care for. I created a challenge called “26 days of my favorite stuff challenge” a few years back and it really helped me figure out what I wanted to keep. And as a result, it helped me streamline my home too.
It’s true that our perspective makes all the difference!
Just saw a story on the news this morning about a man who inherited a home. In decluttering for sale, he came across 2 million dollars in gold bars that had been hidden all over the house (literally in the cookie jar kind of places.) Talk about unearthing treasure! Seek to find what is most important, let go of the rest.
What a find! I always find some money, even coins at times, but this is truly a treasure!