I recommend that you have these categories when you are decluttering a room:
Flat (papers, picture frames, office supplies, books, magazines–anything that can be stacked rather easily)
Keep: you know you will keep, but either need to find a home or has a home. If something is breakable, take some soft stuff and wrap it up. If it is large, and needs to be put into another room–set it aside–in the corner of the room if possible. Put it where it goes as soon as possible.
Give (you will probably need to sort this later depending on where things need to be given away). if you are short on boxes, put in trash bag
Undecided: This is perhaps one of the most important categories. Recycling can go in here for sorting later. All this stuff are things you just can’t make your mind up about.
Soft stuff–clothes, pillows, sheets etc. You can even pile this instead of put into a box if you are short on big boxes. Later you can put into a plastic bag for sorting later.
Trash: You can put a trash bag in a big box–if you think you will have a lot.
Set up for sorting:
clear away a bed, or couch or something that is really easy to clear so you can set the boxes in one place.
Label the boxes with the above categories, and place them in the sorting area.
If there is anything that you need to put away immediately (after the sorting session) place in a shallow box so you can see everything.
Sort everything
Put things away that need to be put away immediately
Take boxes to a staging area (some room that you do not use that much), or if no staging area is available–leave in this area until one can be created.
Just know that you will be sorting the boxes in the future, but for now you have a clear space.
You will also be decluttering closets, drawers and shelves so that you will have places to put everything. If you start putting things away now, it will be difficult.
Sorting Flat Stuff
Here is a system for sorting flat stuff. I recommend that you wait until all the flat stuff is combined. However, if you feel inclined to start sorting the flat stuff soon, here is the system:
Get boxes that you will use over and over again-labeled and ready:
Some will not be filled–once they are filled, close up and make a new box with that label
Sort the flat stuff into these categories:
*Undecided Papers: magazines, junk mail, bills, receipts, etc.
*keep/file: Papers you know for sure you need to keep (you can figure out a filing system later if you don’t have one)
*shred/process: Papers that need to be shredded, or the labels removed so you can recycle
trash/recycle
*non-paper: (deal with later)
