Sign Up To Receive a Tip Every Tuesday in Your Inbox

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Tip Tuesday – One In, One Out

Shiny new mug, old mug

One organizing mantra that you’ll find everywhere is “One IN, One OUT,” and I could not agree more with this principle! In fact, I suggest my clients try to do “TWO for ONE,” and discard two items for every one they bring into their homes. 

Keeping to this mantra is easy, so long as you set limits and keep to them. For example, I have a client who recently purchased 50 new, sunshine-yellow plastic hangers. Now she limits the number of hanging clothes in her closet to just 50 garments. If she gets a fun new blouse then something else must GO to make room for it.

Similarly, if you’re having trouble fitting all your coffee mugs in one cabinet, then you must switch out the old company mug for the new. 

And your in-out system doesn’t always need to be “item” based; your discards can be “group” based too. So if you’re starting a new crafts hobby like knitting, then it’s time to let go of ALL the scrapbook-making supplies you haven’t touched since the ’90s.  Exchanging one group for the other will make plenty of room for your lovely new yarn!  

The key principle here is that for everything you ADD, you must SUBTRACT the close equivalent. Follow this basic guideline and achieve greater balance in your home and life!