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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

My Two Favorite Words

Consolidate and Condense: Common Organizing Verbs

Television shows and mainstream books have informed the public of common organizing processes such as sorting, categorizing, labeling, purging and containerizing. Of course these are helpful but I definitely think they have left out two very important concepts I often speak about and use while organizing each and every day. They are consolidate and condense. In every closet, kitchen cabinet, crendeza, or bookshelf, space and organized contents is the goal, so naturally we are working at consolidating and condensing. Wasting space isn’t an option especially in condos, apartments and townhomes. Many families are also choosing to stay in a smaller home instead of moving to a larger one because of the economy we’re in. 

So how do we consolidate? Here’s the official definition. Consolidate: To join together into one whole. As we use items in our home or office, things get spread out, mixed up, misplaced, and jumbled up. It happens in every home and office, even a professional organizer’s home. Nothing stays perfectly organized unless it’s never used, touched or accessed. So for starters, we need to get items back together with other like items. And if items are spread out, we want to join them together as our definition states. Common examples are comestic and tolietry bottles spread out on linen closet shelves or office supplies mixed up or lying about on shelves or in many drawers.  

Now for condensing. Our definition for this word is Condense: To make more compact. As we make our stuff or collections compact, we’re making them smaller, fewer and that means getting rid of excess and unnecessary items. I prefer to allow the space we have determine what we’re allowed to keep. If we follow that simple rule, we have clear boundaries and standards which makes it easier to make decisions. 

What have you recently consolidated or condensed? Why not try your purse or wallet? Start with something small and see how well you do. 

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