Not to brag but we're pretty good at organizing. So good, that whenever we visit family they typically ask for a bit of assistance helping tackle their own clutter.

Recently when helping to clean up a laundry room we realized we missed a big part of the tidying up process. We were organizing and then calling it a day.

But this turned out to be hard to sustain and the next time we were in town the mess was back. It wasn't because we did a bad job at organizing but we forgot to cover a pretty major part...eliminating.

When it comes to organizing, you need to eliminate somewhere in the process. All the organizing in the world will only get you so far.

They go hand in hand. Organizing isn't complete until you eliminated unnecessary clutter.

So next time you're failing at organizing, or having trouble keeping up with it, take the time to get rid of unwanted junk. By adding in a step for elimination, you'll take your organization from blah to heck yea!

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We're not going to write a super long post but instead just try to "keep it simple stupid". We're here to make one main point and one point only.

If you are organizing, you need to include a step for elimination or you're doomed to fail. It might seem dramatic but it's true.

We've seen it time and time again. Both with our family but also in our own home.

Why you need to Eliminate

Limit to Organization

Even for the pros, there's a limit to organizing. It's simple math when you think about it.

Organizing means each object has its own location that is distinct from the surroundings. You need a certain amount of space to not only fit the belongings but room to separate.

With all of this in mind, it makes sense organizing in a small space can only get you so far. You may be limited with the available room and so the option left is to eliminate.

By eliminating while organizing you get more "space" for a clutter-free look. Just remember that fewer items give you the needed openness.

Sustainability

If the first step of organizing is putting everything in its place, the second step is to stay consistent. You have to put everything back when you are done using it and repeat it for the rest of forever.

It's hard enough to form a new habit of staying organized but it's almost impossible when you have too much junk. Keeping a space organized is way easier when there's room to do it.

Looks Better

There's another reason to eliminate when organizing and that's because it simply looks better. Not that looks are everything, but if you are taking the time to organize you probably want it to appear photo-ready.

Organizing helps, but getting rid of unneeded clutter takes it from looking bad to fab real quick. And even if you aren't organizing for your sanity, your Instagram posts will benefit from eliminating while organizing.

What Happens if you Organize Without Eliminating

Just in case you still need more convincing, let's paint a picture where you try to organize without any eliminating. You spend hours and put in all this work ready to marvel at the finished product.

But guess what, the finished product looks a mess. Everything might be in its "place" but it still looks cluttered.

Shelves are packed full, bins are overflowing and you can't even put anything thing else away because there's just no room.

We're not saying all the efforts were in vain. You still took the time to straighten up and for that, we're very proud. But if you're going to spend the time, you might as well do it right.

If you feel like organizing just isn't working, it might be because you skipped the crucial step of eliminating. Next time you organize, just try getting rid of at least one unnecessary item and see how it goes.