“Oh My God, Are You Kidding Me?”

That’s what Peter Walsh, Oprah’s organizing guru says when he sees all the junk in the garage of the Johnsons, the family he helps in “Make Over My Garage.” Frankly, it’s often what I think when I am faced with such a huge and daunting task. Organizing is HARD MENIAL LABOR, even more so if it’s your own and even worse if the junk has been collecting for decades.

Kelly and I recently completed such a task in our mom and dad’s basement and it was one of the most exhausting experiences of my life save childbirth. And when Walsh’s family finds a square carpet full of rat droppings, I was reminded of the mouse nest made out of old dryer lint that I almost touched. Ewwww! I still get the heebie jeebies when I think about it!!

While different personality types need different systems to maintain organization and storage — the way you go about going through the stuff is pretty universal. 

  1. Go Through The Stuff 
  2. Throw Lots of Stuff Away
  3. Organize the Keep Pile Into Like With Like
  4. Come up With a System That Will Work for Your type.
  5. Put Everything Away. 
  6. Keep Putting Everything Away….(and yeah, we know, easier said than done!)

Walsh actually makes sure the family puts NOTHING on the floor of their garage and I agree. All clean surfaces with something on them will eventually attract clutter no matter what your type. Like with like should also read: Like attracts like; junk attracts junk.

His five pointers listed below will work for all types. Just make sure the system you use makes sense for how you are able to maintain it, ie. make sure you don’t put stuff you need on a daily or weekly basis in the back of a closet, etc..

1. “Call in the troops.” This means YOU NEED HELP. If it’s a big mess that’s been festering for longer than one year, don’t do it alone. Seriously, it’s as dangerous as trying to save a drowning victim without a life preserver. Hire or ask for help!

2. “Rent a Dumpster.” Yes. Seriously. We didnt’ do that with mom, but she didn’t believe us when we told her how much was going to go out the door. She hired 1-800-GOT-JUNK. Which was great. I think it took two trucks.

3. “Know Your Zones.” This is a simple idea of separating a big utility room like a basement, loft, attics or garage into different uses. ie. Car Zone, Tool Zone, Storage Zone, Sports Zone, etc…

4. “Put It in Plastic.” Utility zones tend to attract rodents if things aren’t packed away in plastic. They like to make nests out of paper, fabric and, ugh, dryer lint. So if it’s deep storage and water soluble, pack it away.

5. “Think Vertical.” This is something that we’re still amazed our New York City clients don’t use as much as they should. But it’s great advice. Whatever you can stick on a wall, go on and stick it.

6. “Corral chemicals.” Yeah this is annoying because our local governments don’t make it easy to do this, but we really shouldn’t let it go to the regular dump. Contaminated groundwater and all that. They suggest visiting earth911.com for a list of collection sites.