Chaos to Clarity: Organizing by Mastering the Dining Room Table
When your home is overrun by stuff, it's hard to figure out where to start when you're ready to start organizing. You can get overwhelmed with where to put things. It's hard to clear off a shelf to refine its contents when there isn't a spare hard surface to place anything. If you need help figuring out where to start to organize, I have the answer for you. Start with your dining room table.
The Workhorse Of Your Home
The dining room table provides many uses in your home. The obvious one is the gathering place for your meals. It's where your family gathers to dine while downloading about the day's events and conceiving future plans. For some, it may be the place they work. For others, it could be the place they create and craft. Depending on the layout of your home, the dining room table is also a place to greet guests into your home.
It's also a catch-all for items coming into your home. A common occupier of the table is the latest stack of mail. It holds items that you don't quite know what to do with. It will be important that once you clear your table, you create a system for these items to find a different home quickly. But first things first, organize the stuff currently on the table.
Organizing the Clutter
On your table, three broad categories of items exist: trash, paperwork (including mail), and items that require rehoming.
Start with an easy victory first and pick up all the discernable trash off the table. While you may only find some of the garbage if the piles are large, you'll create room to process everything else.
Now, separate the paperwork from everything else. Now that the paperwork is out of the way start to identify the items you know have a home. Organize these items by room and place them back in their homes. The pile has now been reduced, making it easier to mentally process the remainder of the items.
Here are a few questions to ask to help you determine where they go:
Do I actually need this?
What do I use this for?
What room am I likely to use this item in?
Where are items that are related to this use stored?
You don't have to have the perfect answer. If there are other places in your home you plan to organize, then placing the item near something of a similar category will work just fine. When you later organize that space, the item will be near something it will likely be stored with.
Once those items have found their new home, it's time to work on that paperwork!
Tackling the Paperwork
At this point, you reduced the clutter on the table to just paperwork. This can include bills to be paid, mail to sort through, and reference materials. If you don't already have a paper organizing plan, then a meticulous sort may not be helpful at this stage.
Start with separating out bills, contracts, and other documents that need action soon. Set them aside so you don't lose them and can take action promptly.
Then, separate out the junk mail you didn't grab during your initial search for the trash on the table and throw it out.
Paperwork is time-consuming to organize, and that's because it accumulates quickly, and each piece needs contemplation for need. Some papers need clear answers about how long to keep, such as financial documentation and bills. So, your following actions for how to proceed depend on what systems you already have in place. After all, the goal is to get the table cleared off. If you don't have files already created, it would prolong this process to sort the paperwork into categories, determine what those categories are, and then set up a place to store them. You want to get the paperwork out of the way quickly. At the same time, you want to avoid creating more clutter in another area of your home if it's easy to put the papers in a designated file. So use your discretion with these next steps.
Suppose you have no filing system and are the only person handling the paperwork. In that case, you can throw it in a box and place it in the room that holds your other paperwork, like an office. This may seem counter-intuitive for our efforts, but if you have more paperwork throughout the home waiting to be combed through, it's best to batch all the paper organizing and leave that as a project for another day.
If you share your home with others, you can separate the paperwork they need to handle before boxing up your paperwork. They may have reference materials or information they want to keep, but you wouldn't recognize it as significant. Hand each person's pile to them to take action on. Emphasize that their piles are not to go back on the table. You want to communicate to your household that your goal is to have the table clear so anyone can utilize it to its full potential.
If you have a filing system already in place, then instead of boxing up the paper, process that pile so it can go in their designated file.
Finally, place those bills and other timely paperwork where you will see them and take action. This could be on your computer, in an action folder, or in a purse or briefcase.
A Clear Table At Last
Celebrate your win! How rewarding is it to see your dining room table clear? Not only will you be able to eat, entertain, and work at your table again, you can use it for your organizing efforts! As you sort through your things, you'll need a flat surface to hold the categorized piles while you decide where to home them. However, remember that the table should be used only as a temporary holding ground. Keep these things from taking permanent residence!
You'll find that a clear table will set a positive tone for your organizing journey. The rewards will be immediate and bring many possibilities of what you can do in your home.