How do you declutter when you have too much stuff in your house? Forget the “touch it once rule”

do you have too much stuff in your home and need  to declutter today i am debunking the myth that   you should only handle an item once and try  to make a quick decision i'll also take you   behind the scenes of tv's hoarders and show  you when and why the strategy did not work   hi i'm professional organizer katherine lawrence i  help you live a life with less clutter so you can   have space for the things that truly matter i'm  one of the organizers working behind the scenes   on tv's hoarders the touch it once strategy  is when you pick up an item in a space that   you are clearing you make a decision quickly to  keep or toss and then you move to the next item   today i'll explain the pitfalls of the strategy  and show you a better method you can use this   method at home by yourself when going through  piles of stuff or you can use this technique with   a client if you work as a professional organizer  it can be overwhelming to declutter a home   have you tried to clear out a garage attic  or just a cluttered bedroom for yourself   or someone else only to hit a wall emotionally way  before the job is done that is when you or your   client are experiencing decision fatigue it's too  many decisions about too many random things for   our minds to process every new object you handle  sparks a lot of questions will i ever need this   does it fit should i sell it donate it fix it give  it to a friend i start a session it's typically   with a new client and they immediately want to  jump in and make decisions about the first item   that they see then the wheels and their  brain start turning and after a few minutes   i can understand why they are not making any  progress in clearing the space what i'll do in   that moment is tell them take a deep breath go get  a cup of tea or coffee that gives me some time to   do some pre-sorting now you can do this yourself  at home you don't need to hire an organizer to do   it it's just so important and will help your brain  stay focused for longer when you make decisions   about categories of things versus individual  items so what does this look like instead of   picking up a pencil or a mug or an umbrella  and asking yourself do i want to keep this   you'll first gather all the pencils and then only  pick a few that you love and need and then give   the rest away and you're going to work through  your entire home like this going category by   category other time that i get caught working with  a client before things are categorized is when i'm   working on tv's hoarders i always set up a staging  area to sort things and a cleanup crew goes in   the home and then brings me items that look like  they are still in okay condition or may have value   like paperwork photos keys antiques and so on  i'll start sorting and breaking things down but   then the crew decides they want the home member  to come over and go through stuff at that moment   and it's about a 50 50 chance if i've had time  to categorize things first but when things are   nicely sorted into categories the decision process  is 80 percent faster even with a hoarder otherwise   if things are not sorted it can take an hour for  them to make decisions about things on one table   so how can you use the strategy to clear your  own space you'll set aside a few hours to work   on a space and use the first hour to categorize  and group like items then the next hour to make   decisions and then next to put away the items  you want to keep now i know you're thinking but   it would take me days to categorize everything  in my house and it probably would but ultimately   you're going to have to do it anyway because  that's how you set up an organized space that   everything is categorized and has a home so just  focus on a few categories at a time so in a large   space like a garage only organize the lawn and  garden supplies this weekend and focus on sporting   equipment next weekend same thing for your kitchen  organize your baking and cooking supplies today   and then organize spices and food storage next  week and trust me eventually your entire home   will get organized if you'd like to work with  me virtually grab my coaching starter package   i'll put a link to that in the description of this  video or click the link in my instagram bio as a   bonus you'll get checklist of all the categories  of things in your home to streamline the process   so what areas in your home need  decluttering and what is holding you back   let me know in the comments below and please like  and subscribe for more videos on decluttering   downsizing and the business of organizing  thanks for watching and i'll see you next time

Channel: Katherine Lawrence

Views: 15,125

Keywords: Professional Organizing, katherine lawrence, professional organizer, free professional organizer training, tvs hoarders, hoarders tv show, hoarders tv, hoarders tv series, declutter motivation, declutter 2022, decluttering and organizing, too much stuff in my house, touch it once rule, overwhelmed with too much stuff, overwhelmed by clutter where do i start

Id: YfwYQjuoALI

Length: 5min 24sec (324 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 23 2022