In this episode, we’re sharing a simple yet powerful organizing practice that helps prevent forgotten items, duplicate purchases, and long-term overwhelm: intentional labeling and list-making. This low-effort task is a great way to check in with what you’ve stored, bring awareness to what you’re holding onto, and set yourself up for smarter organizing decisions. We also share how this practice can be reflective, collaborative, and even AI-assisted — all while aligning with your values and vision for your home.
In This Episode We Talk About:
- Why labeling and listing your storage is an intentional act of self-care and clarity
- How to use this process as a reflection or journaling practice, not just a task
- Ways to stay out of the “planning trap” and move toward progress with intention
Mentioned in this Episode:
- The Pomodoro Method for short, focused organizing sessions
- Flow organizing and journaling techniques to support mindful decision-making
- Using AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to sort your list and uncover patterns
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
Review Transcript:
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Organize and Cherish the podcast where we bring compassion, clarity, and practicality to organizing this stuff that matters and the stuff that's been sitting in storage for way too long. If you're brand new. Hello, welcome. I'm so glad that you're here. If you're familiar, and for everyone, this is a reminder that we are doing a storage series this year where I talk about the stuff that's been sitting in your storage.
Either an outside of your property storage, the ones that you rent, or your garage, or your attic or your basement, wherever you, or whatever you consider to be storage, where you don't really go to that space very often. And now these are not closets necessarily. This is the stuff that you know, you put away for later.
This is the stuff that you inherited, maybe that you are hoping to give to your own children. Or it's memorabilia and you just closed the lid of that box to really not look at it for a long time. So that's this type of storage we're talking about in this series. And we've done a, a few of them. I'll put the, in the show notes, I'll put the past episode, but you can always do a search for storage series in our podcast.
And you can find, um, we've talked about the cost of storage, we've talked about how to take care of your staff, et cetera, et cetera. Today's episode is all about what to do when you have boxes, bins, or shelves that are filled with items that you haven't looked at in months or years. Right? And you might not even remember what's in them anymore.
What we're doing today is we're talking about the power of labeling and journaling, the process. If you are having a hard time. Figuring out where to start in your storage, decluttering, downsizing, just organizing. Maybe you don't want to get rid of anything, but you know that you have to take a look in there.
You know, you have to take inventory. Uh, and so this episode is all about my tips that I have for you, that I know have worked with our community, with my clients for myself, so that you can set up, be set up for success when it comes to taking some inventory, labeling correctly, and then journaling about it.
Because this whole process will allow you to be better informed about your stuff, what you have in there, and make informative decisions about your stuff. That is all today's episode. Let's get to it.
Welcome to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the organized flamingo. I am your host Stephanie, your compassionate and deficient professional organizer. Whether you are part of the sandwich generation helping a loved one declutter, or just trying to simplify life, this is the place for you. Together we will tackle those overwhelming piles of stuff, uncover purpose in what we keep, and let go with dignity and care, because it's not just about throwing everything away, it's about respecting memories and simplifying life.
Sound like a plan? Let's jump in and get organized. Okay, so let's talk a. All about a statistic. So according to the New York Times, there is this, uh, New York Times study article. Roughly one out of 10 Americans rent offsite storage units. And that's not even counting what we keep in our own homes. You know, the garages, the basements, and the attics.
And there was a separate study by UCLA center of everyday lives of families that found that the average American household has over 300 items in it. In my own experience of counting things for people, because we take inventory and we have in the past, that is a very real number. At first, it may seem shocking, but every one piece starts to add up after the other, after the other, after the other.
And then real. You then realize you have over a couple thousand a number of items. That's a's no wonder why we overwhelmed, so. The reason that I, I chose today's topic about labeling was because what I've noticed over the years is that those individuals that have those storage units or in property storage rooms and have that much stuff, there is this immediate overwhelm.
As soon as you open the doors to that room. Which is not always typical for everyday overwhelm in your everyday home because I mean, it's a similar feeling, but this one comes with the price of years and years and years of stuff that you know, you have to now address and uncover literally and physically, right, opening the boxes and there's just a lot of memories and life and past that comes with storage rooms.
There's also a lot of fear. Emotional fear. Yes, family fear, all of that. But also just if you have like a phobia of tiny little critters, um, spiders, you know, all the little things that you're like shivering about. There's that immediate fear, which we don't always have in a typical everyday untidy, unorganized situation in your home, like you can have a really messy mud room or laundry room pantry, and you are probably not so much afraid of it unless of course you have critters and that's an or a hoarding situation.
Clinical or mental hoarding situation. That's an entirely different episode. We've done episodes on that. I'm talking about your everyday mess or your everyday unfolding of your laundry that is just sitting in the middle of your bed. You're probably not afraid of tackling it because there is something hiding in there or something has nested in there, right?
So that's the fear that makes you just have like these little goosebumps. So we probably don't have that. So when we are opening up these other storage units and spaces, there is that fear and so that. Gives you this immediate halt to not want to go in there. What I have noticed is that when we go in there and just take a tour, just go in, let's take inventory, it starts to reduce the anxiety that comes with the fear, that comes with the overwhelm of having to tackle years upon years of life that you have decided to store in there.
And so when we start, it's not a start slow, it's more of a, an intentional move and an intentional action towards actually taking some action. Because if you're familiar with our strategies here, we talk a a lot about how planning is a very important part of your organizing journey. I mean, so much so that in our own process, like that is the number one.
Let's have a plan. Let's come up with a goal. But if you get stuck in that position, you will never take action. And now you're in this perpetual planning and Pinterest board imagery and never actually doing anything about it. And we don't wanna get stuck there, but this is a low effort. Low fear exercise that can get you in that momentum and actually take action.
And the key here is journaling about it, is really going back to what you just wrote down in the list, which is what we're gonna talk about today. Or I'll give you some practical tips and then at the end we're gonna do an exercise that I think will help first writing things down really does work. And why does that work?
We're focusing on writing things instead of just looking through a storage and eyeballing it. Instead of you going in there and just like, just looking around, you are actually going to go in and write what you see. You can do it in a form, like a format of a list, like a, like almost like a grocery list, right?
Just write down what you see. If you're much faster at typing, great. Um, the exercise really calls for you to do it manually. To hand write it. But in today's age and with today's technology, I have not seen that much of a difference when people text it to themselves or just write it in their notes section or do a voice to text situation, like almost in audio recording and then submit that recording to, if you're now using AI or something like that, it can transcribe it for you.
Um, your favorite transcriber tool. If you are used to using those tools, let's do that. Let's be efficient. But, but I also don't want you to introduce a new technology and get overwhelmed with that. So use what you're most comfortable with. And in the name of the game here is to write down what you're looking at and what you're seeing.
Fun little fact. According to research from Princeton Diversity and UCLA, writing by hand does improve your memory retention and cognitive processing. And we've actually have studied this quite a bit and talked about this for years and years. It makes that, um, hand to mind. Connection. That's really important.
But it also, what I have seen is if you're a much slower writer, then it kind of does the opposite. It just slows you down. You get frustrated, you get tired. So again, use the tool that makes more sense to you now because writing it down and recording it is so important that there's such a strong connection and gives you that momentum.
That is why I'm giving you this tool and this reminder that this is a perfectly acceptable way to start, as long as meaning, archiving it, making a list, going in there and taking inventory of your stuff as long as you have a plan of action to tackle it afterwards. But today's episode, we are focused on the power of writing it down, the power of taking inventory, the power of making that list, and then what to do about it so that you do take action and don't get stuck.
For some people it's going to be in label format, uh, labeling what's in there for other people. You're more of a sticky note person. You're more of an inventory spreadsheet person. Whatever way. Here's what this is, like the, the key, whatever way you best remember things and or is easiest to find when you're searching for it.
So I've talked about our definition of organizing, which is the easiest, most convenient, fastest way for you to look, for you to find something when you're looking for it. So let's say you remember, you know, there's a conversation and within FR with friends and someone said, oh, I remember. I think I have a, you know, some boots like that.
And then you remember, oh my gosh, that's right. My mom had some boots like this in the forties, fifties, sixties. They're somewhere in storage though. Oh my gosh. You know, I don't even know where they are, but I know I have them. If you were to go look for those boots in your storage area. You could go find it within a couple of steps, meaning you go in, you open the storage area and you know exactly the area where to look.
You open the box and it's there. Like, that's the level of convenience and, and way that, you know, I want you to go and find and look for your stuff. That's like where we want to be. That is the definition what of how I'm saying for you to come up with your list, whether, for some of you, you're just such a spreadsheet person, like I'm a spreadsheet person.
Most importantly, I'm a go to the search button of my files, of my Google files, of my Apple files, and if I need to look for something, I can type the idea or the shape and it'll very quickly find it. For some of you, you are more of a lis and categories person. For some of you, you need the colored labels.
So whatever way is most easiest and most efficient for you to find, you know com usually. We'll, when you do these exercises, that's the way that I want you to, to kind of label an organize. Okay, so let's talk about the storage trap and how to avoid it. Putting something in a box means that the decision is done.
That is where it starts to get a little bit dangerous when you're like, okay, that's it. You know, just it's out of sight, out of mind, and it is to a certain degree for the moment. But I want you to remember that everything that you do put away eventually has to be uncovered by you or family or somewhere, someone else in the middle, right there, right?
In reality, it's just really a delayed decision. And sometimes that's okay. We've talked about, we have a whole storage discussion, se in the series where I talk about that not all storage is bad. Sometimes you just have to put it away for whatever, for your own emotional comfort, for your sanity. You know, sometimes that's just the way life is and we're not going to feel bad about it.
It is still a delayed decision, okay? And at some point, someone somehow is going to have to deal with it. And over time, these delayed decisions can turn into heavy mental weight, and that's what we wanna avoid. When we don't see it, we don't feel it. Our stress levels and our, and our avoidance behaviors get worse, even our wallets, right?
Because you do have to pay storage. Right now, I think there was a, as of when we're recording this, in the summer of 2025, the average, according to neighbor.com, I think was $180 a month. On offsite storage, that's over $2,000 a year to year to store what we often forget what we have. So you could have rented this stuff for that much money.
You know, if you have holiday stuff, you could have gone to your local rental shop and rented some, a couple of. Decorations for a couple hundred dollars every year, and it's not sitting there collecting dust. So put that into perspective. Hi, cherish friends. Life can get overwhelming, especially when you're juggling caregiving, clutter and everything in between.
That's why I created the Organizing Cherish Weekly email that goes out every Wednesday straight to your inbox. To help you keep the momentum inspiration going with tips and reminders of our upcoming events, all you have to do is head on over to organize and cherish.com and sign up for the email newsletter.
It's free and you can up subscribe whenever you'd like. It's my way of helping you simplify your life and respecting memories along the way. Now, back to our show. So this is where the, that intentional labeling and list making comes in. So write, start by writing down what's in each bit. So this is the usual way that I would start you with.
It's not the only way very important if I'm working with you or you're working with someone else, or your friend, or your assistant, your neighbor, your family member that's helping you make sure that you are true to yourself and that they ask you and or you tell them what the best way to do this list would be for you.
But again, I'm just doing a very what, conventionally, how I conventionally would start, but it doesn't mean this is the only way. So write down what's in each bin, one sticky note or notebook entry at a time. And it's not about judgment, it just is. It's about clarity. So don't be afraid. Don't get caught in the, oh, I just found something in here that I haven't seen in years.
And then you go and dig, dig deep, like this exercise is all about action taking and you're focused, focus, focus, focus. It's about clarity. No judgment. Some people treat this as a journal entry as well, so it's like, uh, so they'll answer the questions of what's in here? Why did I keep it? And would I choose to keep it today?
So those are some, some of the three most popular questions People like, they're easy to answer in the moment, so you could do that as well. So go through every box. If it's too heavy, then either get quick help. If not, then label it too heavy. I did not, or was not able to open it. Be really clear of the action if you did not open it.
Okay? We do not want miscellaneous boxes. Not for this exercise and not for your storage items. Please, please, please, because most likely, uh, the boxes in your storage area are dark or cardboard. Hopefully, you know, not cardboard for long term, but I also understand that that's how life is. I only say that we have an episode about this, but cardboard boxes or any non protective boxes or well ventilated boxes, depending on what you have, can start to ruin your, your things.
But I also get that sometimes that's what you inherited and you're not going to be spending $10 a bin on new boxes in bed. So I totally get it. But anyway, that's neither here or there. The. Boxes that you can't see inside of and you don't want to get into, especially those storage bins that are shoved in and there's stuff in the back.
It's just too heavy. You can't get to the back. I want you to be so clear about that action in your note taking or your label that says, I could not get to the back of this section of the storage. Therefore, I don't know what is in there. That's how specific I want you to get. We'll talk about why in a minute.
If this feels overwhelming though, you can use a couple of timing methods. The Pomodora method is a big popular one. We prefer that one. Here at the organized swimming go, we just see the, the people that, uh, we work with work really well with Pomodora method, and that's the 25 minute work sessions followed by short break.
So it's usually five minutes. So 25 work, five break. There's kind of different variations, but it's like that's the main one, okay? You do that for a few rounds and then you take a longer break and then continue to do that. What I do want you to focus on, and if you can, is to do this exercise to have very intentional sections or just get it done all in one day because you're not lifting any, you shouldn't be lifting too much.
Maybe you will lift a couple things, yes, or a lot of things, and open the boxes. There's some physical aspect to it. The whole goal is for you to have a comprehensive list and taking inventory of that room and storage area in one sitting, because if you do it in separate sittings, you will forget what you, how you were feeling, what you said.
It's just hard to start and stop this exercise. So if you can do it all at once, that is ideal. Okay, so now we have the why. Writing things down or taking inventory, why it works. Psychologically, scientifically and practically when what I have seen. Right. Second section, we talked about the storage trap and how to avoid it.
So how to not get stuck in just writing down a list that makes no sense. Starting and stopping and it giving you a headache really, you know, we want to move forward. So now let's talk about how to stay out of the planning trap, because the most important part here is we talked about like taking action.
So once you, what do you do when you have this list? Okay, great. I, I'm taking the list. I'm doing the list. I'm creating the label. Now what? Because some of us just love a good planning session. I know our community, I know myself too, to be honest. The list, the label's, a color coded spreadsheet, it feels productive, but it can be a false start.
And planning without action is a common organizing stall. I've seen it over and over for over 20 years. You know, even high like it, I'm not even talking. You know, if you feel like you're a one-off because you, you don't practice organizing. You weren't born with it, you know, which we, that is not the case.
Nobody's born being organized. You practice it. But I'm talking high level CEOs of Fortune 500 companies who I have worked with for years. Okay. I've talked about all types of people, all walks of life, so you're not alone. And I've seen it this part be the stalling part of the process. No matter where you are in life, what gender, what cultural background you have, it seems like this is just the part you get stuck in because of that false start feeling.
'cause of that dopamine, right? Like there's this, um, you know, Harvard Business Review menu reviews, but one of them is that reward chemical. The dopamine, just by setting a goal or creating a plan like that gets released. So immediately you feel productive. Like, oh, I've got some dopamine. Your body is feeling energized.
Great. And that's why making a list can feel like progress, even if nothing changes. So, so how do we keep this from being another stalled out session though? Here's a couple tips. Commit to the action. Of course, even if it's small, set a goal for one category. So for example, sample, you can do something. I gave you the prompts, the organizing, uh, excuse me, the journaling prompts.
Like, why, why do I have this prompts? Would I use it again? You can use that, but also you can do a, like, an example of this is I will list everything in the seasonal decorations bin. So if you don't have a journaling prompt or you're using AI to help you with a journaling prompt, then you can go to your, like the categories that you have, because without knowing you, right now, as I'm talking on this podcast, I'm overgeneralizing because some of you tend to collect a.
Specific things like for instance, seasonal stuff or clothing, fashion fabrics, home decor tools, materials like the what If I need this piece of cardboard for later materials, I can repurpose this material. Okay, so commit to that section if you're feeling overwhelmed. So create the inventory of the section that you most ha, you mostly have or can categorize.
Limit the time. Very important. Don't let it sprawl. Use timers or do it when one sitting to maintain focus. That is the preferred method. You have and be honest about it or make the time. So I again, would recommend just doing it all in one sitting. Bring the snacks, bring the water, refresh, bring the music, the motivation, the friends to come in and check in on you.
Do the body doubling. Um, this is the supposed to be a low physical activity. Remember that? Okay. I don't want you to get. In the momentum of, okay, I'm here. Let's start opening boxes and decluttering. No, this exercise is all about taking inventory. I don't want you to do the heavy lifting. Okay? So limit the time.
Get focused on that. And add a reflection checkpoint. So once you've listed or labeled, a good exercise is to take some reflective moments so that you, because you probably won't remember later. So after you go through a couple sections at a time, ask yourself what stands out, what might be ready to let go.
Don't take action on it. What we want to do is re be reflective on it. Ask yourself as you're walking through each aisle, each box. So this is an inventory, remember like little recap. It's an inventory exercise, but it's about recon, reconnecting with your stored items, with intention and not obligation.
Okay? So then what do we do with this list? Okay, great. I've got it. I will make the list. I've done the list, or I've done this before. Many of you were listening and saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've done this before. It's never worked. Or for somebody else, here are some things that I want you to do with the list to set you up for success.
You can feed the list into an AI tool. Sure. Uh, like GPT, Gemini, Claude, or any digital assistant, and ask it to sort by room, category or usage. If you are in that phase of life, have at it. You might discover patterns like duplicates, expired products or items with emotional weight that you didn't realize were still active in your mental space if you're, whether you use technology or not, or a virtual assistant, digital assistant, or not.
You might notice this as you are writing this down. See this part of the exercise of the actual list building. I don't want you to delegate that to a digital assistant. Even if you work with someone else, if they're doing the taking notes for you, you still should be reading it yourself. Okay? I don't want you to have someone else do it, because then it defeats the purpose of you absorbing the information and absorbing the feelings.
I want you to feel it. I want you to see it, touch it, touch the list. You know, go through that part. As you're going through this, you might, you know, discover patterns, so sure the digital assistants might help you with that, but you might be noticing those on your own. This is a great moment where you can call and help.
Um, sure. An organizer like myself, a certified organizer, a pro organizer, a detail oriented friend, um, a virtual assistant who can help you categorize and prioritize what's next. I. If you're not in a place where you're really trusting or wanting to use AI tools or digital assistants, um, you can use a virtual assistant and have them help you with it, right?
And you can do like a transcription and a voice note, send it to them, and then they can work their magic. So what we're gonna do really with this part of the exercise is that you're not stopping at the list. Let the list inform you on your next step. Notice some patterns. Put it together in a way that will make sense to you in a category way.
Label it, make sense of it. We're making sense of the information. And then after, this is where we are going to take action, but remember, like this part is all about this is, this is an action. Like doing this list itself is in action of an in of itself. But I mean, you're not going to be taking any physical action right now, but after you're done with this list.
The goal is to now make sense of this information and create a plan that makes sense for you because now we will see what you have. You will see that some, some boxes, some sections might be harder than others. You might start to reflect in your journal entry. Uh, and, and you might be saying in there, this section is too hard for me right now.
I will address it at another time. Please remind me. In five years, like now we're starting to take action based on what you're feeling, what you took note of what you saw. There's some stuff that may be broken, some stuff that may be in not good quality, like it needs to go. And you can write at the end of your journal, this whole list making journal.
Process, you're going to do like a brain dump of what you saw, viewed, very reflective over the things that you noticed and took note of. That is what the whole goal, so that it can guide you with the actual physical action part of it, which would come next. So here's your reminder. This is not about doing things perfectly.
It's all about making conscientious choices about your belonging. Labeling and list making can be a gentle bridge between procrastination and clarity, and it's a low physical effort. High impact, especially if you've been avoiding a storage area for a long time. And this is information that you can give to your helper, organizer, professional, neighbor, friend, whoever is helping you.
It's also something that you can do with a friend together. You, you know, yes, you can delegate it after, but this with a sibling or family member, you all can go through it. Before you go buy more bins, let's take this first step list what you have, label it clearly and reflect on what it means because in storage it doesn't.
Just take up space, like physical space. It holds stories which are beautiful, but it can be really heavy. So let's release some of that and you get to decide which ones continue, which, which of the stories continue, which ones get released. Hope this episode was helpful. Thanks for joining us today. If this helped you think differently about your storage strategy, please let us know or share it with someone who might be in the same season of life.
Until next week, happy organizing. Thank you for listening to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the Organized Flamingo. If you enjoy today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you left a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps others discover our show. For full show notes, resources, and more organizing inspiration, visit www.theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast.
Until next time, happy organizing.