[ROCK YOUR CLOSET CHALLENGE] DAY 1 - Determine Your Defining Elements

Published: Wed, 01/01/20

January 1, 2020

Aloha ,

Thanks for joining our January 2020 "Rock Your Closet" challenge!

Every morning this month around 7AM Hawaii time you will receive an email with the sub-section of your closet to review and organize that day.

Doing it this way, you'll be able to tackle the project incrementally in only 5-15 minutes a day.

Some days, you may not have any project at all if you don't own that particular type of item. YAY for you!

At the bottom of every email, you'll have as a reminder a proven strategy for tackling organizing projects big and small. It's the "SPACE Formula" by popular author and professional organizer Julie Morgenstern.

Here is today's challenge!

Determining your defining elements

What does this mean?

In her insightful (oldie but goodie) book “Let Go of Clutter,” professional organizer Harriet Schechter shares a helpful practice which makes it much easier to keep clutter at bay. (See pages 150-153 in her book for more details.)

Determining your defining elements means figuring out the following for each category of “stuff” you have:

The things you really LIKE
The things that work well
The things that AREN’T clutter

Then look at these particular items and determine WHAT specifically you like about them.

Moving forward, don’t buy anything that doesn’t fit your “Defining Elements” criteria.

Here’s an example from Schechter’s book where she shares her own “Defining Elements” in various categories.

If you take the time to figure out your “Defining Elements” in key categories of your possessions, you will ultimately SAVE so much time and money.

You’ll buy what you actually love and use and you’ll be more efficient in the buying process.

Take 10 minutes today to consider and write down your OWN "Defining Elements" for your wardrobe which you will apply to your closet organizing efforts this month!

Here's to your organized 2020 with less stress, more time, greater JOY!

Nancy Nino

Organizer + Realtor Associate = Home Life Specialist

Aloha Organizers

Julie Morgenstern's "SPACE Formula" as applied to closet organizing

Sort

Purge

Assign a home

Containerize

Equalize

SORT

Pull out all designated items of the day and sort them by traits that are meaningful to you (e.g. size, color, texture, etc.).

PURGE
Discard or donate items that you no longer wear, that you consider out of style, or are ripped or stained beyond repair.

ASSIGN A HOME

Put items back in an area that is consistent with their frequency of use. Put "hot" items that are used all the time in the front and center sections of your closet. Put "cold" items that are used infrequently up high or down low, those harder to reach areas.

CONTAINERIZE

If you have a variety of items in the same drawer, separate them by containers (boxes, bins, or baskets) so everything does not bleed together.

EQUALIZE

After you've "lived" with your new set-up for a few days, you'll notice things that need to be "tweaked" just a bit to suit you better. The equalize step is that fine tuning that takes place after the system has been in place for a little while.