How I Use a Tote in My Closet to Organize and Avoid Stress
The vast majority of decluttering tips and techniques require you to take the time, settle in, and make the hard choice to keep or get rid of every item in your closet, drawer, or room. Sometimes being productive requires a little urgency , but I’ve always believed that too much tension causes stress. In fact, I tend to procrastinate if I know I’ll have to sit down and go through all my to-dos, making quick decisions about what stays and what goes. What has helped me the most is an alternative method: I just use a bag and get organized over time.
All you need is a trash bag
Of all the cleaning and organizing techniques I’ve written about, I believe in jerk cleaning the most. My job is to write about cleaning. I also really hate cleaning, so I have a good understanding of what methods work best for people like me. There are people who love to declutter, mop, mop, and organize, but they don’t need my articles!
It’s difficult to perform a task you don’t enjoy for a long period of time, and even if you manage to do it for hours, the quality of your work will likely deteriorate as you go. Working in quick 15-minute bursts generally takes longer as you won’t see results for at least a few days, but it keeps your motivation high and your results effective. It’s probably best to use a schedule and do these bursts in some sort of structured daily schedule, but sometimes I just clear out when the mood strikes me. If I’m sitting on the couch and notice that a shelf is a mess, I go over and spend 15 minutes fixing it. My bathroom, my kitchen – nothing is immune from sudden bursts of inspiration and motivation.
This worked great for me, but always left a noticeable gap in my results. I didn’t really put things in order, since I didn’t intend to take a single shirt to the donor center every day. So I started keeping a garbage bag in my closet. When I come across something I can give as a gift while cleaning, I just throw it in my bag. When the bag is full, I scan it to make sure it’s clear of trash and then donate the rest.
Why does this approach to decluttering work?
This works for me because I find it much easier to evaluate items one at a time rather than all at once. If I sit down to actively organize my drawer, I start making excuses for why I should keep certain things that I come across. I get burned out, overwhelmed, and irritable—and end up not throwing away things that really need to be thrown away. But if I come across something during a normal day or cleaning cycle, I can objectively analyze it without any stress. Most often I get rid of it.
The bag is especially handy when it comes to clothes, so I recommend keeping it in your closet. When getting ready, I try on all sorts of outfits and usually find at least one thing that doesn’t even fit me anymore. It’s ideal to have a special bag where I can throw these things. If I were actively organizing my closet, I probably wouldn’t try on every item, so I’d skip a lot of clothes that don’t fit and probably keep them. When I put them on with the intention of wearing them, I can throw them away as soon as I realize they don’t fit. Most of the time, my decluttering bag consists of mostly clothes, with a few more household items thrown in when I come across one that needs to get rid of.
I recommend keeping the bag handy until it’s full. You can set a schedule if you like, dropping it off at the donation center every two weeks or so, but it will fill up on its own at its own pace, so it’s best to just commit to getting it to the drop-off location as soon as possible. when it’s ready. The longer you do this, the more attention you will be able to give to what would normally be thrown away and you will be able to store your bag in a place that is convenient for you. Mine stays in my closet for now since that’s where most of my donation items come from, but if I notice there will be more kitchen items in there over time, I might move them to a cabinet under the sink, for example.