The Outdoor Method Can Help Even the Most Organized People Get Organized
What are you doing this weekend? Don’t know? Now you’re doing it: you’re going to declutter and declutter your home using the open-air method. This method is useful if you have a cluttered space, live in a relatively tidy home, or even if you’re hyper-organized. Here’s what you need to do.
What is the “open” method?
This decluttering and organization technique, like many others , comes from home decluttering guru Minimalists . Essentially, you’re pulling everything out of the space you’re trying to organize, whether it’s a closet, cupboard, or junk drawer. That’s right, take it all out and put it in a pile. Minimalists say this approach is the opposite of one of their other methods, the ” packing party ,” which involves putting everything from a specific room or space into categorized boxes as if you were moving, and then living out of those boxes for three weeks, pulling out only what you really need. After three weeks of packing, you get rid of what you didn’t use and put the rest away. However, being “in the open air” you do not have the luxury of a normal life for three weeks; With all your belongings in a big pile, cleaning and organizing them becomes a necessity if you want to move freely around your space again.
So here’s what you do. Once everything is pushed out of its usual place, you will truly feel the scope of what you have. You have to organize it because it’s in your way. This creates some urgency by helping you deal with all that clutter that’s been hidden away. After that, you just need to follow your preferred decluttering technique as usual, sorting into piles, throwing out, donating, and selling before putting away what you keep and getting rid of the rest as you see fit.
Why the openness rule works so well
This is actually one of the best methods because it works well for everyone, even—hell, especially—people who are already pretty organized. I often recommend following the rules of the organization triangle to keep your home organized, especially the rules that say like items should be kept together and that everything needs a designated place. All of my favorite organization methods require the use of containers, storage shelves, boxes, and other special storage tools to keep everything organized while it’s tucked away in closets or closets. This is why I always talk about the best storage bins and divided shelving units . The goal here is to keep everything organized and out of sight, but that can be its own challenge. Even if you strictly follow all the storage and organization rules, when everything is out of sight and out of mind and your home looks presentable, you can still accumulate too much unnecessary stuff in those closets, cupboards and drawers. You may not even think that this is a problem since at least everything is organized.
By periodically pulling it all out and creating the very mess you’re usually trying to avoid, you’ll have to confront it all. I do this to my closets and dressers quite regularly, every two or three months, so that I can reduce the amount of clothes that I no longer wear, need or fit. It’s also a great idea for junk drawers, spice and medicine cabinets (or anything filled with food that may be about to expire), garages or sheds, shoe storage, and even living room shelving. As annoying as it can be to temporarily have a huge mess on your hands, it’s worth holding on to only what still serves you and letting go of what’s taking up too much organizational space.