If you find that you keep organizing the same items over and over again, you are not alone. Many people, including professional organizers, find themselves organizing the same areas many times over in order to optimize a given space. But if you feel that you’ve made little to no progress organizing despite doing so much of it, it might be because you’re simply organizing clutter.
Yes, organizing clutter seems like a good thing. And frankly, it sounds better than dealing with clutter that’s disorganized. But organizing clutter from the get go can be a great waste of our time and effort.
Why? Much of our clutter is meant to be removed, not made to look pretty. Since clutter is usually comprised of things we neither want nor need, organizing clutter is much like organizing the deck chairs on the Titanic. It might look nice for a while, but what’s the point if those chairs end up at the bottom of the sea?
The overwhelming need to re-organize might be caused by the fact that you’re still living with clutter that has no business in your space. It doesn’t matter how much you organize when the stuff you use and love is interspersed with the stuff you couldn’t care less about. You’ll still take forever looking for the clothes you want to wear in your closet. You’ll still waste time feeling guilty about the things you never use or the things you feel you ought to use though no real need or desire exists.
If you feel that you’ve made little to no progress organizing despite doing so much of it, it might be because you’re simply organizing clutter.
That being said, the best thing to do with a cluttered space—predictably enough—is to declutter! Decluttering essentially means disposing or giving away (whether for free or a fee) the items we don’t need or want. This is decidedly different from merely organizing (see: rearranging) our clutter.
Rearranged clutter is, in most cases, still clutter, so maximize your time and effort by decluttering first, then organizing second.
