Rachel Murphy of Simplify My Life tackles storage organization on a chilly spring day, advising warm attire or a heater, and underscores even professional organizers face clutter. She opts for durable yellow and black totes for a former goat barn, leveraging the elephant tracks app for inventory, and emphasizes efficient stacking for a tidy look. The decluttering process includes joyfulness evaluation of holiday decor, donating unneeded items, and transitioning to matching totes, culminating in a six-hour transformation into a structured, accessible area. This project, amidst her father’s passing and her mom’s move, significantly enhances space usability.

Here is the transcript of the video in case you would like to read along;

Hi guys, it’s Rachel Murphy with Simplify my life. Hey, today is kind of one of those colder spring days, which means it is a perfect day to work in your storage sheds or garages. You’re not gonna get overheated. You might want a little heater dress warm. spiders aren’t gonna be as active. So today is a really good day to do that and today actually going to do that in my own space. life happens, things get busy, just, just life kids, all the things.

So my mom and I today are going to refresh our storage area. So as a professional organizer, everybody always say that I have it all together and have all the things situated and you do. You can, but it doesn’t mean that life doesn’t happen. So we’re just gonna take some time to put our space back in order and let you follow along and hopefully inspire you to want to do the same to your space.

Now, one of the things that I’m going to suggest is that whatever you decide you get the same tote. Hello boys. So we’re gonna start with these yellow and black ones for this area and here’s my reasoning why. So the reason that I chose to use these yellow and black ones for this space is because we are outside. This is not a secure locked space. This is what used to be my, my goat barn.

So this is a place where a lot of our extra stuff goes. So we’re going to get those because they’re going to be heavy duty, they’re going to keep dust and pest out easier. mice, god forbid, are not going to be able to chew through them as easily. So the main thing is use the same kind of totes you want to do that because whether you’re using shelving or you’re stacking them, they’re going to stack nicely on top of each other or they’re gonna stack nicely on your shelving.

They’re gonna take up less space and then they’re gonna be uniform. So it’s just gonna give you that nice clean look. They’re going to fit my shelving better. And so normally I’m all about clear totes, clear totes, clear totes, clear totes. When you’re in a barn or storage room or garage like this, there are advantages to using the thicker, heavier locking totes.

And then the other thing that I’m going to do is I’m going to use ac, that’s called elephant tracks to be able to actually record on an app, everything that is going into those. So stay tuned for the before and afters and remember it’s not about perfection, it’s about progress. So watch as we make ours. So guys, when you’re doing that refresh right now is a very good time for me.

At least to go through all of my holiday decor because I put things together like most people in seasons. So I’m actually gonna go ahead and go through this stuff and decide what still serves me and what does not and what does not. I will donate to somebody and they can use it their home. So use this time to not just move totes around but to actually go through and kind of clear out and decide what still brings you joy. What did you replace?

What do you no longer use? What do you have that you didn’t put out because it really wasn’t your favorite. So I’m gonna do that as I am switching everything over to the new matching totes. Hey guys, Rachel here. So the space is finished. It took about six hours, but I think the results speak for themselves. Everything is labeled, some of this stuff is still gonna be leaving and everything is organized.

So one, so one of the things that we have decided is we are going to use all the same size totes. Now, the advantage of that. So guys here is my mess and it is quite, quite a lot. I mean, I can still get into the space and I can still find things but a refresh is just what this space needs and I’m going to start by changing out my totes. Hi, guys. It’s Rachel Murphy with simplify my life.

Hey, today is a kind of colder spring day and it is a perfect day for me to come and give my storage area a makeover. you know, people often think because I’m a professional organizer that everything stays perfect and everything is like great and honestly, a lot of things really do have a home but life happens, life happens to you. Life happens to me. We had my, my father passed away, my mom moved in, we have kids moving and so things kind of get a little messy and I want to show you my mess and then I’m going to show you the process that I’m going to use to take it back.