The cold winter weather provides an opportunity to go through stuff located in places that get too hot to work in during the summer such as crawl-spaces, attics, and other little used spaces. Even though it is probably too cold to do much work, just surveying what’s there and making note of it for future planning, will give you the sense of something being in your control instead of feeling overwhelmed.

What organizing actions could you do best by yourself? When do other people add to the confusion and drain your energy?

What activities would you appreciate help with? Sometimes another person can act as a “body double” who merely hands you items and asks what you would like to do with them. It helps you to focus and finish one thing before going on to something else.

Would you consider hiring some help?

• Someone who can fetch items from hard to reach spaces
• someone who can load things into your vehicle or take away things in their vehicle
• junk collectors who will clean up around the yard
• an appraiser who can evaluate what the value is of something you want to sell

When you begin to go through your stuff and make decisions, first you need a staging area such as an unused bedroom where you can bring the collections of items you want to go through.

As you sort you need to make clear distinctions between what is trash and what is to be donated or sold. Use black bags for trash only. Use large, clear or white bags for the items that are not trash. If you use boxes use white bankers boxes for important things – your keepers or your important files etc. Use recycled boxes for your give-aways or yard sale items.

Once you have some sorted items you need a holding area. This could be in a garage, a porch, or the trunk of your car.

You need to know where you can take your trash and your donated items. If your town has a recycling center what will it take? Does it have a “swap-shop” for the free exchange of items? Do you know its hours of operation? Is there a Good Will store near you? There again you need to know its hours of operation and what items it will and will not accept. There are many charitable organizations that will gladly receive usable clothing and household items. If you want a tax deduction for the items you donate there are websites that compute the value for you.