When the urge to get organized strikes, a common response is to pull everything out of whatever space has been overtaken by your stuff. The instinct to take everything out of an overfilled and disorganized space and restore a measure of order is understandable — whether it’s your closet, pantry or one of the many other places where clutter thrives.
This all-or-nothing approach to organizing has a name — “chaos decluttering” — and experts say it’s a method that most people should avoid.
A risk of being overwhelmed
Max Wilson, co-founder of Pocket Storage, defines chaos decluttering as taking everything out of a space before sorting through the items to decide what goes back in. “You are intentionally causing temporary chaos just to make sure that the existing clutter is impossible to ignore,” he says.
Jennifer Abrams Wang, a professional organizer and founder of Nest S.O.S., calls chaos decluttering “an all-in approach to organizing spaces.” She finds that it tends to leave people frustrated, especially those who are easily overwhelmed, and ill-suited to large-scale or emotionally charged organizing jobs.
Not ideal for all projects or people
When it comes to tackling large-scale projects, such as organizing closets, garages or basements, chaos decluttering can create more problems than it solves. “Realistically, removing everything is the easy part,” says Rachael Fahncke, a designer and the owner of Dayton Designer Closets. It’s what comes next that can turn into a headache: “You need to make sure you have some organizational ideas prior to the cleanout, otherwise you’ll lose steam mid-project and be left with a huge mess.”
Fahncke says type-A personalities typically have the hardest time with chaos decluttering because “they want everything perfect immediately. If they pull everything out and hit a roadblock mid-project, it could cause a meltdown.” People who are prone to anxiety, or who have hoarding tendencies, also should skip this method. “While it can be an efficient and effective way to organize large and small spaces, it’s definitely not for everyone,” Abrams Wang says.
Wilson agrees that chaos decluttering is likely to trigger anxiety, which can thwart progress because of emotional flooding. “I think the most major limitation is what happens once everything is out in front of you,” he says. “Seeing all your belongings together can be useful, but if you’re someone who is already feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in your home, emptying everything out can make the problem look much bigger.” Instead, he recommends starting with a small area, such as a junk drawer or coat closet, to gauge your response.
Potential to cause an even bigger mess
“While chaos decluttering can be useful for some seeking immediate order in their spaces, I’ve found that starting this way can be daunting for people,” Abrams Wang says. It carries the risk of creating a bigger problem than the one you started with, especially when the project requires more work than you have time for.
“Once you empty a space, you create a very obvious task that needs to be finished,” Wilson says. “It would be particularly difficult, and frankly annoying as well, if a storage space is empty and the belongings are sitting outside it.”
Fahncke says that in her experience, underestimating the scope of the work leads to burnout. “Suddenly, you have your entire pantry on your kitchen island, have to head out for a soccer game or work event, and come home to an even bigger mess without any motivation to do it,” she says.
Another risk, Wilson says, is rushed decisions in service of getting rid of the mess you made. “You don’t want to throw away something useful or sentimental because you’re tired of looking at it,” he says.
Works in small doses — and when there’s a plan
Fahncke says there are some benefits to this method: “You start with a completely empty canvas, you can see everything you have accumulated at once, and it’s an opportunity to clean spaces that tend to accumulate dust bunnies and crumbs.” But she recommends it for small organizing projects, such as junk drawers or hall closets, that can be tackled in a short time.
People with a tendency to accumulate duplicates or hold on to things just in case, or who are “out of sight, out of mind” types, might also benefit from this approach. “When you lay out everything in front of you, you get a visual picture,” Wilson says. It’s also well-suited to people who excel at quick decision-making, and, counterintuitively, it can also help those who struggle with indecision. “I like to think that this method also comes with a very vital life skill,” Wilson says, “which is learning to make a decision. Chaos decluttering quite literally forces you to compare items you own against each other.”
There are several ways to make chaos decluttering work, as well as the organizing jobs for which it works well.
Keep it small and simple. Abrams Wang recommends starting with discrete tasks, such as one drawer or shelf at a time. “Review each item, keep what you love and discard what no longer serves you.”
Empty the space with purpose. Since chaos decluttering starts with emptying everything out, Fahncke advises doing it with purpose. “You can begin deleting items and categorizing them in your cleanout.”
Have a sorting strategy. In addition to emptying with purpose, employing a sorting strategy from the start can make chaos decluttering more effective. “Have four piles,” Wilson says. “Keep, donate, [trash] and undecided. The undecided pile is useful because you’re not forcing yourself to make a decision on something you’re unsure about. Go back to it at the end, and if you’re still not using or missing the item, that’s often your answer.”
Categorize the chaos. Another way to bring a measure of order to chaos decluttering is to approach it by category rather than trying to tackle a whole room. “Bring things like shoes, coats, paperwork or seasonal decorations together so you can see how much you have before deciding where they should live. It’s much easier to spot duplicates when similar things are sitting together,” Wilson says.
The post All-or-nothing organizing can backfire. Here’s why. appeared first on Washington Post.
