Get your FREE printable of the 3 stages of decluttering here! FINALLY! Don't you just want to jump right to the step where you get to go buy cute matching containers when you are organizing a space? ME TOO! BUT every time I do that... it influences what I keep and how I store things instead of my THINGS influencing those decisions. (In the podcast I share how I figured that out as a professional organizer.) First, let's talk about what being organized means. For me it means: Everything has a place. I know where to find things. I do not spend time LOOKING for things.  I FEEL organized and put together. I can have friends over and feel great. My house looks good - not perfect - but good. I feel confident in my abilities. I don't have too little or too much. I have choices of how to spend my time. I am able to make forward progress on my goals and projects. Before I dive into the 5 steps to organizing I want to give you one caution... You will not get it 100% right the first time.  Yep, no matter what you are organizing, your goal is to get 80-90% better. The last 10% comes in step 3. Which I will cover next week. Ok, so you know how you will feel and are not going for perfection, let's dive in! 5 Steps to Organizing Get a big picture plan for the space. Combine like items. Match your items to the space. Buy organizers. Clean and finish. Organizing feels amazing! But after a while... you realize something is missing. The last 10% is Step 3 of organizing — Increased Productivity. Links to things mentioned in the podcast: Try one FREE week of the 100 Day Home Organization Program - now available inside The Productive Home Solution.