The Top 5 Organizing Mistakes to Avoid

Imagine your home as a tidy, peaceful haven. Every item has a home, your family knows where to find and put things back, and the systems you put in place flow seamlessly. Sounds lovely, right?

Unfortunately, there are some common hurdles that people come across when attempting to get to this point. Luckily, we've seen it all and are here to prevent you from faltering on your journey. Today I am sharing the top 5 common mistakes to avoid when attempting to get organized.

Mistake #1: Waiting for the Perfect Time & Place to Get Started

Let's face it, there will never be a perfect time to start on your organizing journey. You're not going to wake up one day with nothing else on your to-do list, loads of energy, and hours upon hours to focus solely on decluttering your stuff. Therefore, there's no better time to get started than now. Your future self will thank you! 

You don't need a large chunk of time to make progress. Yes, it will be slower, but the last thing you want is to pull apart your entire kitchen, right before your kids arrive home to start touching it all and demanding dinner. Start with a smaller category, like all water bottles, the junk drawer, or all makeup products. Progress will add up over time.

If you want a quicker change, our team has the time and energy to transform entire spaces in only 1-2 days. A kitchen, for example, can be completed usually in a day with 2-3 organizers. Do you have 18 hours in a row to organize your kitchen? Not a chance! But our team of 3 organizers for a 6-hour day does! 

That includes us bringing all the best products and taking away any donations for you. Your kitchen will be completely transformed while your kids are at school, and you don't have to dread decluttering it little by little.

People often think they have to wait for the perfect time to contact us and that we're going to come in like an overwhelming whirlwind. We cater our schedule to your needs and can go as fast or slow as you want. Does one session every other week sound more manageable? Great! Do you want us to unpack your move in 1-2 days and start as the movers bring in boxes? Also great!

Every client, home, and situation is unique, and we're here to do what's best for you. You're not just a name on a paper that we want to get over with as quickly as possible. We're in this with you and can take as long as you need!

Learn more about our organizing process here.

Mistake #2: Shopping for Supplies Before Sorting & Organizing

When people have the urge to get organized, their first instinct is often to buy a bunch of baskets, totes, and drawer organizers. That's a good effort, but unfortunately, could actually harm the process instead of helping it. When you purchase products first you have more stuff in the way, most of it probably won't fit your drawers or shelves perfectly, and you'll have items to return after. 

The best first step is always to declutter and purge excess items. The truth is that almost everyone has too much stuff. It's not your fault- it's just the consumerist society we live in! We're bombarded with ads, stores, and holidays where we're supposed to give and receive gifts; it's never-ending. Items keep coming in, but we're too busy and stressed out to decide what can go out. 

Decision fatigue is very real. We combat it with our clients by doing all the sorting ourselves first, then bringing clients in to make some decluttering decisions with us, and then we finish the organizing. Having someone there to help you declutter is beyond helpful. We're like your coach- keeping you focused and on track. We're also your hype (wo)man by encouraging you to be brave and let go of items you no longer use or need. 

Once you declutter and see what you have left to organize, you can decide what size and solution works best for the space for products. 

When you work with Hello Simplified, we construct a product list with our expert recommendations for you to approve. We bring all products with many to spare since we like to overbuy and problem-solve to find that perfect solution. We take away and return whatever products we don't use, so you don't have that hassle. Finally, we invoice you only for the products we ended up using in your space. All products will fit and function well in your unique situation.

Mistake #3: Keeping the Donate Pile

When we declutter with clients, we take away up to a car full of donations per visit and send you the donation slip. We take donations so that you don't have bags in your trunk for months and you don't have to make a special trip to Goodwill. Your home is instantly lighter after we leave.

We also take donations so that you don't have the urge to second-guess all the hard work you did decluttering. The last thing we want is for you to take a second or third pass on donation decisions and change your mind. Then you're keeping originally discarded items that you really don't need. We don't want to lose all that amazing progress and growth! You decided to let it go, so let it go for good. 

If you're decluttering solo, try to put items in your car to donate immediately. Decide immediately where and when you'll be dropping off donations. Try not to put a bunch of stuff aside, assuring that you'll see if your neighbor, cousin, or friend wants any of it. Everyone already has too much stuff, remember? Saving it for someone else is a delay tactic.

If you absolutely need to, text that friend a photo or set up a time for them to see it ASAP. Like, "Hey, I have these bags of clothes that I'm donating tomorrrow. Did you want to take a look first? If not, no worries!"

A recent client's donations we took for them.

Mistake #4: Using Mostly Horizontal & Stacking Storage Solutions

We only have so much wall space in every room to store and organize items on the floor. One of the top mistakes we see people make is not utilizing the vertical space in their homes.

It's common in playrooms for small cars or toys to be piled against walls or in small baskets on the floor. If there aren't many toys that's fine, but once the baskets overflow, there is nowhere else to go but up. We love adding cubes or other shelves to use all vertical space and create 4-5 times as much storage space.

Under bathroom sinks, we love tiered drawers to double or triple the layers of storage. Shoe racks can allow many pairs of shoes to be organized in an accessible way, rather than a giant, tripping hazard pile blocking your entryway.

When using vertical space, you want to avoid simply stacking or piling items on top of each other. We see potential clients who attempted to organize their basement, garage, or attic with storage totes, but then make giant towering piles of stacked bins. It's too much effort to get to the bottom bins, so stuff just piles up on the floor around the bins.

It's way better to use sturdy storage shelves (which we can bring and put together for you). This way you can safely find and pull whatever bin you need off the shelf. It also looks much neater!

Mistake #5: Planning for the Here & Now, Not for the Future

You finally made the time to organize your closet. It took up your whole Saturday. You have to admit, clothes are pretty tightly jammed in there, but overall it looks much better. Then you realize you have three loads of laundry piled in the laundry room. Oh no! There's no way it's going to all fit. Sound familiar?

A common mistake is to jam-pack every storage area to the brim so there's no room to add anything else. It's not your fault- remember when we talked about how we all have too much stuff? You don't need it all and you need to declutter first!

Declutter enough that there's some breathing room. Not only is this better for your stuff to get some air circulation, but it makes it easy to find what you need, and there's wiggle room if you stock up on sale pantry items. 

You don't need to keep entire shelves empty (although major props if you do), but leaving some white space in your pantry bins, kitchen cabinets, or closet rods will allow you to move items around. You'll be able to add any new stuff that will inevitably make its way into your home (hello Christmas, birthdays, and random Target runs).

We've organized homes professionally since 2017 and learned our clients' quirks and common mistakes so you don't have to. No need to experiment and spend your most valuable asset, time, trying to organize your home. Bring in the Hello Simplified team instead! We offer complimentary consultations and would love to chat. 

And if you aren't quite ready to take the leap, download our organizing guide to learn more about our process!

Warmly,
Sandi