In this episode, the conversation shifts away from guilt and overwhelm and toward something far more practical: the gap between ideas and action. Drawing from real-life experiences both at home and while supporting a nonprofit project, this episode explores how items we genuinely love can quietly turn into clutter when ideas are never translated into clear decisions.
In This Episode, We Talk About
- Why loving something isn’t the problem
- Why ideas alone don’t create order
- The difference between having good intentions and having an organizing plan
- Why defining categories matters before decluttering or buying containers
- How unfinished ideas quietly take up space and energy over time
- A practical way to start organizing without pressure, perfection, or purging
Mentioned in This Episode
- The 7 Steps to Organizing Almost Anything framework
- Seasonal, holiday, and décor storage as real-life examples
- Organizing lessons learned from nonprofit and community projects
- Storage spaces as decision-holding areas, not failure zones
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
Review Transcript:
 Have you ever noticed how many things we keep? Not because we forgot about them, but because we really like them. They're cute, they're special. They feel like a good idea at the time to keep you feel like you could maybe pass them down to somebody you love, a neighbor, a school, a nonprofit, your children, or really just for yourself.
If you inherited all this stuff, you actually really like it. It's cute. But they don't really fit your decor or your lifestyle or where you are at. Maybe you don't have the space to display it all, and then they just end up in a bin on a shelf or in the basement corner. Quietly waiting for a version of life that hasn't shown up yet.
Because it's the what if it's the, oh, I wish I could, it's the, I really like it because at the time it was cute and it reminds you of the good memories and, and it's still kind of your color palette maybe inside, but that's where it stops. Well, this came up for me recently in two different occasions in places.
Around the same timeframe, which is fairly recent to me recording this episode. Now, just as a background, we do schedule or have themes for the podcast ahead of time so that I know what to prepare for and I can do my research and start coming up with a script. Okay? These are not ad-lib type of episodes, so I usually do have a theme, but once in a while, either coincidentally or because I'm just more alert.
The themes I'm about to talk about come up in my real life work or my own personal life, and this is one of those times. So let's get ready to talk about what happens when you love and you really think the stuff that you have inherited, you've acquired is really cute. You like it. There's something about it that melts your heart, warms yourself, but it doesn't really fit anywhere and you can't seem to bring it to life.
So it just gets stored in the basement or in wherever your storage unit is. Okay, so let's talk about it and here we go.
Welcome to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the organized Flamingo. I am your host Stephanie, your compassionate and efficient 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. So it was helping with a nonprofit project recently. They had limited space. It was a big mission, lots of enthusiasm.
I caught the bug and I was so excited for them and all their ideas and we were all just cheering them on and saying, absolutely. And we love that what you're doing and this is how I can support you. And you know, we were just all excited and at the same time, I was down in my own basement. Working through seasonal decor and holiday items.
Right. Every couple years especially I do like a big perch and stuff, and this is that big year and stuff is really accumulating down there, so I know that I have to go through it. So those two things are happening and events are happening at the same time. Different settings, but same pattern. There's a lot of ideas, but very little follow through.
With the nonprofit project that we did with these amazing colleagues, other organizer companies here in Colorado, in town, which I will post about. Um, I post about it every year. I do this like big project from a local, a local organizer puts together Anyway, so I'm one of the organizers and that helps and, and donates shelving or bins or materials to organize.
And in this case it was a. Foster household, like foster parents who have foster children, but they're also trying to help other foster parents and have, you know, clothes and toys available to them when they need 'em, as they need 'em. Sometimes they just, it's hard to go into the, um, thrift stores or to the shelters, or to the closets or hangers, like nonprofit.
So what they do is they just, obviously they're in touch with all the local communities, with foster parents, and if those foster parents need something sooner versus later, they have the ability to do that. They can go into their storage unit or their garage, and then they can quickly go and get the things that they need, right.
For the families, which is a lovely and amazing because you can't always plan out the events, especially in the foster care system. Um, sometimes you need something for the children right now. And so that's what they're, that's the gap that they're trying to fill, uh, which is a lovely, so what we did is we came in.
We, um, organized their storage area. Um, it was just starting to get filled. I mean, everything was just shoved in into the storage unit. All the great and amazing donations and toys and clothes. It's just was amazing to see. But it was all just shoved in there, so it was hard to get to. I. As a group of organizers from different areas in Colorado came together by, um, our French.
She put together this group and then we, we organized their space. So in the process of all of all of that, the couple and just other people in the group were, we're giving ideas. And that's something that I see all the time. I see that in myself as well as I'm going through. Going through all this stuff that my parts of my, our families have given us, things that we've required our own holiday decor.
And it's just accumulating and accumulating. And a lot of this stuff is really cute and it is useful and I keep it because, I don't know, maybe in a couple years I'll use it. And so that is great and loving. Something isn't the problem, but the problem is what happens after the idea, which is in many cases is nothing.
Nothing happens, and I wanna talk about that issue today and what to do about it in actual actionable steps. What I have seen work for other people. Hopefully that will inspire you to take some kind of action momentum so that it doesn't happen to you, so that all of these ideas aren't literally piling up in the What If department, and then you do nothing about it, and none of those ideas and wonderful inspirations come to life.
Something that I see again and again with clients, organizations, and in my own home, is that ideas feel productive. It's a very well known psychological phenomenon concept, right? Because you feel like you're actually doing something about it. Storage feels responsible. So those two things are, are kind of working parallel, like ideas feel productive, storage feels responsible, but neither one actually moves things forward.
It just becomes stagnant. It just becomes a collection. So we tell ourselves things like, I'll use this someday. I just need to figure out how to do it or how to, and then fill in the blank. This will be great for future version of me, us, the project. And so the item stays there, not because we're avoiding it, but because we really just don't have what this idea could be because the idea never got translated into something concrete.
It just stayed there. It's not a mindset issue per se. It's an organizing issue in my opinion. Now, sometimes you do get stuck, especially if you're working with a mental health professional who is guiding you through all of this. There's a lot of trauma sometimes where you have an idea, but you're not able to pa move past it and break the barrier of whatever it is that is stopping you.
Usually some kind of reminder or trauma that you feel like you can't get through. So that's where. Therapy comes in, um, talk therapy comes in, right? So you can kind of, um, walk through the mindset with a professional. Most of the time, what I see is that that organizing issue comes into play. Um, this is where our seven steps of organizing almost anything comes in.
Okay. This isn't something I'm, I'm trying to just kind of sell. It's a concept I came up with many moons ago at this point, because I would see these patterns of. They would assess and come up with an idea. And then I started to break it down for people that there's seven steps of organizing almost anything.
And usually people would get stuck in the face too, which I'll walk you through in just a second, because that would depend on where they were in life. So we would talk about, okay, if you are in this part of life, then I would suggest that you go to step three or four or whatever. Okay. But it wasn't necessarily the mindset issue.
Unless again, you have a trauma or something that you need to, you know, walk through, but it was because he didn't know what to do next. Like the idea just never materialized because the plan just stayed stagnant. They didn't know how to take further action. And if you have someone like a loved one that is helping you declutter or organize, or you're helping someone else, vice versa.
It could be whichever order or whichever combination. But if they're not living through the same chapters of life, like if they're not going through a big divorce, let's say, or they didn't just have a baby, or they didn't just are going through grief of losing someone, losing a relationship or a job, then their path of how they decluttered is not the same.
So that organizing issue that they have, that they're trying to walk you through or help you with is sometimes doing more damage than good. So to bring us right back to the seven steps of organizing almost anything and how we can love something and enjoy it and think it's really cute, but have some kind of actionable plan that will fulfill both the appreciation that you have for it.
Keep that love and appreciation for the item. Keep the things that truly you will use because we have a plan, but also meeting somewhere in the middle with not keeping everything, because not everything can stay. Okay. So we're, we're trying to merge all those and we're trying to find a happy medium between all of them and maybe not a happy one, but, so this is where the seven steps of organizing, almost anything comes in.
We actually started this entire podcast, this whole series. We've been here for, you know, three years with this episode. It's episode one for a reason. Every pro organizing project, whether it's a nonprofit supply closet or your holiday decor, eventually runs through the these spaces, which is our seven steps, right?
You s So that's, that's where we are, that that's the idea. Assess or you plan or you brain dump. Like this is your, this is what I have and this is what I like to do with it. I think this is kind of my plan. Step number one. Then you'll sort and declutter, not necessarily in this order. Okay, so sort declutter.
You'll designate and contain. So sort and declutter. Self-explanatory. You sort through things, you declutter you, and then you designate a space which is find a, it's another way of saying find a home for this stuff, and you will contain the things, right? You, you will then have them be boundaries, in other words, or, or where, where they will live.
And then at the end you evaluate and maintain steps two through four, which is sort, declutter, designate, and contain. They can be done in any order, depending on where you are in life. So if you love this stuff, and let's say, let's talk about one specific thing. The jars. Jars are huge for people. They think they're really cute.
Um, they love them, they wash them, or they acquired them because they can be vases, they can be multifunctional. Why throw them away? Right? And they're, they are, I have tons of them. I love them. So I get it. So we're gonna come up with a plan. Okay? What do, what do I see happening in this area where I, it's overflowing with jars.
Well, then you start to understand where you are in life. If you have to do a big move soon, then for you, you probably need to declutter a little more than someone who plans on staying in that space for over a year or two. If you have to move in the next couple of weeks or couple of months, then your goal is to probably to declutter.
So you'll start with decluttering first and or you'll sort and then declutter. You need to probably move less boxes as possible because the more boxes you have, the more costly it is, right? Or it just, it just takes a lot more time. So you're trying to declutter. If you don't have a plan to move, then you don't necessarily need to declutter as the number one priority.
It will be one of the priorities. It's just not the first one. For you, you might need to talk about your boundaries. Like that's actually my case. We have the party holiday decor room in our basement area, and I am limited to that area. I don't want to go and overflow to other parts of the house. I want everything to stay within that room.
So for me, it is containing, it's using that space. And so for me, that's the number one priority. Followed by, and then if things don't, don't fit in that room, in those spaces, in those bins, then they have to go and I'll have to make really hard decisions. So for me though, it's containing and designating first, then I sort, then I declutter at the end.
They all have to happen. It's just a matter of which one comes first, depending on what your priority is. Then after that, you kind of evaluate, see if it's working, and then you maintain it going forward, and then you kind of redo this again. Every however often, you need to revisit that space of the things that you love.
What I see a lot is that people skip or rush. Certain parts of those, like they just completely, um, ignore the part where they need to declutter, which is a big part of what needs to happen in order for new ideas and new stuff to enter your home and your space. If not, you will just perpetually accumulate and collect, and I don't think that's what you want.
If you're listening to this podcast, that's probably not what you want. So that's where ideas are supposed to become decisions. Where you have an idea, put it as part of your plan and assess, you know, and come up with your. What you're thinking you want to do with that space, with those stuff, that stuff that you love.
You think it's really cute, you think maybe it could be part of a room someday. You love to incorporate it as part of a room, part of one of like your library, your dream library. But have a really, really clear plan as to what you think you want to do with it. And then from there, start to take action based on your plan.
When that doesn't happen, items get stuck in limbo. 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 let's talk about the idea. Pile problem because that idea pile isn't messy in the traditional sense. It's often, you know, neatly boxed. It's like the brainstorm.
It's, I mean, you, we need that part in order for us to live a life that feels good to us, that that visually you can see that fits into your lifestyle. That's how great ideas come into play. We need that, that the idea pile is a problem solver, but when it grows. And every time that you find something cute.
So in this particular, very specific episode, you know, we're talking about the i, the things that you love and you want to keep because it reminds you of whatever. Uh, it just looks pretty, sometimes it doesn't even have to be this emotional item, sentiment. Sometimes it's just really cute. You just keep it because it's cute, it's small, you know, we see that a lot with cute little things.
Pens, pencils, stickers, you name it. You know, they're, they're cute. Uh, and so you keep it so it doesn't have to be that deep. Not always. Every time you find something cute, meaningful, or full of potential, it joins that pile. But the idea pile isn't the problem, per se. It's, it's that it's competing for space without being prioritized.
And there's this famous saying, right when everything's important, nothing is important. And that's kind of the same con concept here. Because then you don't question it. You don't really go deeper into, well, are you just shopping, kind of like, you know, window shopping like you do when you go to the mall or you go online and you're scrolling for cute things, but you don't necessarily buy everything.
You don't get everything. Sometimes you just think it's cute in that moment where you are, where you are in life, but that doesn't mean you're going to buy it. And that's kind of the, a similar concept here. You're not needing to keep it just because you think it's cute. And over time the pile doesn't inspire you anymore because now everything has the same value system and it starts to hover and you see it and then you add something else next to it and it just keeps adding from there.
So here's a shift that that I want you to try, and this is where the aha. Sometimes lands for people. Um, so I'm gonna share this, but it could be any combinations, any combination of what I'm about to say. Sometimes you just have to tailor it to your specific instance. And like I mentioned in the seven steps of organizing almost anything, if you are, if your priority right now is you have to declutter because you're moving or you're downsizing, and for you this inspiration idea might look a little different.
So just. Just a heads up that I do need you to also look within your own plans and that this isn't like a one size fits all, but it's an idea starter. Okay? So stop asking whether you like something and start asking where it belongs in your life right now. Okay? Not, don't have a lot of emotion to it or anything deeper.
Just kind of ask yourself, where does it belong in my life, like right now? In my basement, for instance, as an example. This meant realizing that I didn't actually have, I didn't really want to put a lot of holiday decor out. Anyway, it gave me a really important, um, realization for me that I needed to put.
The different themes, like, uh, let's, I'm just gonna give you a very super specific, okay. So again, these are ideas, but, um, this worked for me, but this, so use a variation of this instead of having just a holiday decor bins that I have, like 10 of them, I'm not going to put 10 bins worth of stuff every holiday.
It's just, it's a lot of work. It's now who I am. Anyway, if you are, that's awesome. Amazing. Go for it. It's just not who I am. But what I like to do is I like having options. So I started to categorize and organize them based on themes. So there's one bo bin, just one of each of these themes. So for example, I have a winter and snowman like snowflakes, snowflakes, snowman, snow people, snow women, cute little family of snow, snow stuff.
Santa Santa, Mrs. Claus, Mr. Claus, Santa Red, white, um, very kind of that traditional Santa stuff. I have another one for gingerbread houses, gingerbread little stuff that's that, and a Nutcracker, so that kind of lives in its own. Then I have more children, um, for my kiddo, like for Christmas children themed.
Then I have another one for the day of the three Kings. We do celebrate the, uh, like the three kings day. So we have one for that. And so I started to categorize it in that way instead of just one big random 10 bins worth of stuff that I didn't even know I had. And so every holiday I can decide, okay, this holiday I wanna do more, more snow feel like more winter feel of the snowmen, snow people, snow village, um, snow globe type.
And I'm not really into the Santa theme this year, you know? And so I can pick it from those categories. That is an example of. I have a vision, I have a plan. I do need to declutter, but I have boundaries. So for me, it's, remember how I said my priority in my own home decor area, in seasonal decor area is that this, I'm limited to that space.
I want to be limited to that space. I am not a catering, decorating, professional decorating company. I don't need more than this. I don't need a warehouse. So I'm limiting it to this, and I have 10 bins for my holiday decor, so how am I going to do it? For me, it's okay. That's my vision. So my number one priority is to contain it.
So those are my boundaries and from, and then I work backwards from there, or forward, I should say backwards forward from there, then I will declutter anything that doesn't fit in any of those bins. And if it doesn't, then something needs to go, something needs to shift, and then the process continues from there.
For me, once I saw that organizing became clearer, not easier, but just more clear now for this nonprofit group that we were just with, they realized, so we ended up taking a, a lot of the stuff at the end of the day to some of the other nonprofits that they work with because they had an immediate need for it and the weight off of their shoulders that you could see that they weren't have being to perpetually move things around because the clutter, like at some point, I mean, just.
Just spacing 1 0 1, like that storage unit was filled to the very top and to the very end. And spacing 1 0 1 right there. Unless you're decluttering, you are not making more room. We're not making more room disappear. That's not how that works unless you go and rent a bigger unit. And then that becomes a bigger problem, right?
So they knew that they had to make decisions, but once they saw the stuff being packed in the car and on its way to its next destination, and the room getting clearer and clearer, you could see that their ideas, the other ideas that they have were coming to fruition. Like they were just getting that instant.
Wave of inspiration that I can move forward with all the ideas I have and other families I can help. 'cause I've already helped these, they're on their way to their next destination, to the other nonprofits, to the other families. And now when the families call us to get whatever you know they need immediately, they can actually find it and we can solve that problem.
And we are able to help more families. Start thinking about the other ideas that we have in a more clear way so you can, you can see how one will help the other, like a dominant effect, right? For our action of the week, I want you to think about not necessarily organizing everything. I mean, if you have the time and you're ready, let's go.
Do not stop yourself, but. If you are trying to get some momentum going and get in inspired first, because you just don't seem to, to get, you just don't feel, you don't feel like it, for lack of a better word. You just don't feel like it. Um, but you do need, you, you do need to do something about it. You know, you have to do something about it.
So let's define some categories. That's what I want you to work on. If there's one thing you can do to gain that momentum this week, it's to start defining your categories. If you're working in a storage area, a closet, basement, even a drawer, whatever, a storage area you're working on, what are the sections you actually want this space to support?
What are the categories? There's no one size fits all. I have another episode where we talk about different category ideas. If the categories can be endless, you can do categories and then subcategories. I recommend you don't go too deep into the sub subcategories. No more than three subcategories. And what I mean by that is, you know, like the file folder system, I wouldn't go three deep in because then you start getting into the meta and getting so particular that it'll be really hard for you to find things long term because storage areas.
Are the type of place that you're not visiting very often. So unless you know what the nine like subcategory, sub, sub, sub, sub folder is, you probably won't be able to find it. I see this all the time. So I would do a, a main category. I mean, it could be whatever category. Again, we have a whole, a whole episode on that.
Um, I gave you ideas like categorizing it by, by season, by month, by alphabet, by color, by weather patterns. Okay, clothes, that's a big one. Weather patterns, cold items. Um, clothing for hot weather. Clothing for cool weather. You know, we can go on and on. So because there are so many categories though, I want you to hone them down.
That is a big, big problem that people have because then they change their mind. Write 'em down, say them out loud, test them. It usually takes a few passes to get categories that actually work. If you're neurodivergent, easily distracted or prone to shiny object thinking, I see you. This step can feel slow.
But this is the part that keeps you organized. Long term categories are what allows you to stick with systems instead of constantly redoing them. And that's why you're here, right? This is why you're listening to the podcast. We want to be able to sustain that. Eventually those categories become second nature, and when you're out shopping or when you're needing to make decisions.
Your categories have worked for you so well that if the, the action of acquiring more stuff does not fit within those categories, you are able to make faster decisions that feel good, that are intentional, and that you again, feel really good about that you're not second guessing. Um, so if all of a sudden, you know, uh, a loved one is giving you another box of stuff that you may or may not want.
Instead of it being piled with the rest of the stuff because you're not sure, once you have your categories honed in, you know if any of the stuff that's in there will fit into one of the categories of your life. And if it doesn't, it's time to let them go. A little bit of, um, reminders as we close off this week in the, in this podcast, we have our organized and cherish chats on the third Wednesday of the month at 10:00 AM just log in to Zoom.
How can you get that Zoom link? You sign up for our newsletter, which is in the link here in the show notes, and I sent a weekly on Wednesdays Organize and Cherish Weekly newsletter. All you have to do is reply and say, yep, I'd like to join the next Organize and Cherish chat. I just send you a Zoom link and you're in.
That's it. No, it's, it's no sales. Anything. We just for an hour talk through your stuff, what to do about it. Let's come up with a plan. If you're just looking for some, uh, accountability, that's a great hour as well. We can, you can be decluttering in the background while you listen to me talk or other people talk.
Okay? So great moment to take action on third Wednesday of the month organized and cherish chats. Come join us at that point. Okay? Until next week, happy organizing and have a great week. 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.