These five post it notes saved a move

Adding to my photo collection of me in crawlspaces, here's a pic from when my sister and I went down to South Carolina last weekend to help our aunt downsize for a pending move (this coming week!). The great thing about organizing with your sister is you can send her in at the sight of a Palmetto Bug... I don't have to be so fearless with family.

We had two days to help our aunt process 30 years worth of things. She was pleasantly not stressed, bless her, but there was a fair amount to do... The first thing we did was create the five sticky note categories you see here.

It didn't necessarily make quick work of it, but suddenly our work became crystal clear; we walked her through room by room and labeled everything in sight. We all marveled at how everything fell under these five categories. ("Marje" was for items she is moving with her.) Folks have continued to help her since we left, so we wanted to leave behind a system that anyone could pick up.  If you're facing a move or any other looming large sorting project, see if you can "sum in all up" with just a handful of categories like we did here. Have you used a similar labeling system? Please share in the comments.