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Avoid Organizing Mistakes (Part 3 of 3)

Organizing is about what you do, not what you buy.

For the past two posts, I have been writing about how to avoid the most common organizing mistakes. 

The last and most common mistake of the three is trying to buy our way out of disorganization. 

Purge First, Buy Later

I strongly believe that organizing is about what you do, not what you buy. While it is tempting to head out to your nearest big box store when you are ready to get organized, hold off on buying new organizing tools until you are near the end of your journey. 

About 90% of my clients never need to buy any organizing products while we are working together. When you let go of the excess in your life, you no longer need so many containers to hold your stuff. 

Carolyn Anderson-Fermann is a public speaker, organizing expert and founder of Simply Organized Life. To receive a free copy of Carolyn's "Secrets of a Simply Organized Life"and a monthly subscription to the e-newsletter "Your Simply Organized Life" sign up here.

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Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
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Ted Fischer June 13, 2013 at 09:20 am
Is there any other way to vote besides Twitter, since I am not on that?
Julie Wilkinson June 6, 2013 at 08:20 am
I am so sorry to hear of Michelle's passing. She fought very bravely and always with a smile on herRead More face. I am proud to have been able to work on fund raisers with her and will continue to fund raise in her memory. My sympathies to the Mike and the kids. Michelle will be greatly missed.
Laura Jones June 3, 2013 at 10:07 am
Agreed!!
Wishful Thinking June 3, 2013 at 10:24 am
When the New and Improved Dexter Patch was introduced, the impetus that 'We,' decided it was needed.Read More It certainly wasn't the well read denizens of Dexter. It has the success of the introduction of the New Coke campaign. FAIL. Bring back the consummate reporter and editor Daniel Lai, who had journalism boots on the ground and through and through integrity.
Erin Paup June 3, 2013 at 10:56 am
The Dexter Patch has become completely unreadable and irrelevant. Starting with the removal ofRead More Daniel Lai, every change has been horrible. This used to be a good source for news. Now it's just a virtual community bulletin board half covered in ads.
Webster01 June 4, 2013 at 05:40 am
Are there actually 'photos' here? With the old Patch format, I used to get an arrow to scrollRead More through multiple photos. If there is more than one 'photo' here, I can't figure out how to see them.
Kimberly June 2, 2013 at 08:30 am
I agree, I look to this for local events and up to date news on things. If nothing else, at leastRead More make news in other communities be about our neighbors like Pinckney or Chelsea and Manchester.
Shawn Letwin June 2, 2013 at 10:02 am
Yes there was a "moving on" story about Daniel Lai (probably up for over a week). TheRead More Patch is "locals" posting "local" events. "We" are the reporters to provide the content for what "we" are looking to be informed about. If we want something different, we need to post it. Patch generates revenue from the content we provide and from the "clicks" we provide
BradP June 2, 2013 at 04:34 pm
I like reading about Chelsea, Pinckney and Manchester. But some of the recent lead stories reallyRead More have no personal factor for me. Probably what I mean by where's Daniel, is more where is the personal touch he added? Where's the local news written by a reporter? The announcements are good as far as they go, but it's hit or miss.
Meg Sharon June 2, 2013 at 08:55 am
Thanks, BradP! There are rational, safety-conscious drivers like yourself in this world too!
Shawn Letwin June 2, 2013 at 12:59 pm
An unfortunate event with no harm to anyone. Great that you saw that as a teachable moment..so inRead More some ways the other guy was on to something :) I have learned that when I point my one finger at someone else for doing something that I thought was wrong, I need to remember that I have 3 fingers pointing right back at me that make me check my part in the situation. The same being said that when I point at someone who I think has something better than me that I need to remind myself of what I should be grateful for. The other guy could have been a straight up jerk, or he has something going on in his life that you were not aware of...cause and effect are not always a straight line.
Meg Sharon June 2, 2013 at 03:33 pm
Perhaps you are right Shawn and she had something traumatic in her life to cause her to bothRead More physically react and scream out the car window at an 8 year old child. Hopefully, she will understand that she over-reacted and we will "bump" into each other again with better understanding, empathy and compassion. It was, as you can imagine, difficult for me to show restraint at such a bully.