HAPPY HOLIDAYS! It is rapidly coming up on the NEW YEAR… you have NEW clothes NEW toys NEW clutter…do any of you have NEW space to store everything? I did not think so! How in the heck do you get it all into the same closets you already had bursting at the seams?
Here are the four key steps to organizing your small storage spaces:
1. DUMP it all out on the floor. Not kidding. Take it ALL out of the closet, the drawer, the pantry, the fridge (this one I do one shelf at a time), the garage… you have to make a huge mess & start with a clean slate to get to the root of the problem. If you try to tidy around the current organizational problem, you won’t be able to do the next three steps appropriately. Whenever I am trying to get things into the garage in a hurry, for example, I’ll just shove that box up into the corner or stack it wherever it is off the ground. Guaranteed … inside is the one item I’ll never be able to find when I’m looking for it again in six months.
I have a favorite trick of dumping the pile onto a big tarp in the driveway if I am working on a garage, a big beach towel if I am working on a bathroom floor, a big blanket if I am working on a closet or drawer, etc. This keeps the mess contained into the one spot & will not expand all over the place. The next three steps come from that one pile & you will always know from which direction to which other spot you are working. ((You also keep that crazy bathroom drawer dust & makeup off your bathroom floor — simply pick up the beach towel when you are done & toss it in the hamper!))
2. CATEGORIZE all the items you find into piles. If we are in the bathroom, for example, get all that makeup into one pile, get all the nail stuff, the hair stuff, the lotions & potions, the bottles, jars, appliances, etc. all segregated. Now evaluate what is in each pile…do you need ALL 42 of those emory boards? Aren’t half of those nail polishes from the late 80’s?? That brings us to #3…
3. WEED out the nonsense! I can almost guarantee you that about half of the items in your sock drawer are not in use. If you go through your office desk drawers, you’ll probably find at least 7 different stashes of business cards — half of which are long out of date. GET RID OF THEM! With that newfangled internet, you could much more quickly google the contact info than find the old business card for that pet groomer you used 18 months ago!!
4. FIND A GOOD HOME for each of those categorized piles you have created. Assess the amount & type of space you will need for each prior to picking a spot for the stuff. For example, if you have over 30 hats, you cannot realistically keep them all on those two handy hat hooks you installed inside your closet. You might need a tupperware bin or a long high shelf at the top of your closet for this lid collection of yours. One might call me anal-retentive but when organizing clothing in a closet, it is very aesthetically pleasing to sort the clothing by color:
Go ahead & laugh but if you get your hangers coordinated (all plastic, all wood, all foam…whatever you like best) and your clothing hangs neatly by color, you won’t feel like cramming your dry cleaning up against the wall when it comes in! And putting away your laundry just got a whole lot less intimidating too…
If you are trying to keep your crafts organized in a closet or some drawers, the same applies: keep the like things together but also try to put them away in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.
HINT: Vertical works better than horizontal! I have noticed when my daughter has a basket in her closet for costumes or shoes for example, she’ll just continue to dump & dump & dump more stuff on top. A year might go by before she ever finds something at the bottom of that basket. I have learned to tip those sturdy wicker baskets up on their sides so that we can store the books, shoes, backpacks or purses within a confined space that has walls to hold the things together without being constantly filled on top, leaving everything underneath hidden from sight forever.
This also works well for your “In-Box” or current items in use on your desk. I always recommend to my clients who need help in organizing their lives to start keeping things in a vertical file. It is sitting right there, staring you in the face! You cannot lose that pertinent bill file if it is standing up vs. lying at the bottom of a heap… I can basically run a small business, coordinate my volunteer commitments & operate the family’s bill-paying from this one small set of vertical files & a two-drawer filing cabinet. When the mail is opened, each piece is either filed in the “To Pay” file, the “To File” pile or put into the trash. If there is something that needs immediate attention it sits at the front of the vertical files staring at me until I deal with it.
I want to thank you once again for taking a visit to Marmot Home Design’s website & blog. We will continue to do our best to inspire you to create a living environment that you & your family will love & enjoy every single day.
NEXT TIME on MHD.com: Creative & Unique ways to entertain children & adults both inside & outside your home!
The Essence of Organizing
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! It is rapidly coming up on the NEW YEAR… you have NEW clothes NEW toys NEW clutter…do any of you have NEW space to store everything? I did not think so! How in the heck do you get it all into the same closets you already had bursting at the seams?
Here are the four key steps to organizing your small storage spaces:
1. DUMP it all out on the floor. Not kidding. Take it ALL out of the closet, the drawer, the pantry, the fridge (this one I do one shelf at a time), the garage… you have to make a huge mess & start with a clean slate to get to the root of the problem. If you try to tidy around the current organizational problem, you won’t be able to do the next three steps appropriately. Whenever I am trying to get things into the garage in a hurry, for example, I’ll just shove that box up into the corner or stack it wherever it is off the ground. Guaranteed … inside is the one item I’ll never be able to find when I’m looking for it again in six months.
I have a favorite trick of dumping the pile onto a big tarp in the driveway if I am working on a garage, a big beach towel if I am working on a bathroom floor, a big blanket if I am working on a closet or drawer, etc. This keeps the mess contained into the one spot & will not expand all over the place. The next three steps come from that one pile & you will always know from which direction to which other spot you are working. ((You also keep that crazy bathroom drawer dust & makeup off your bathroom floor — simply pick up the beach towel when you are done & toss it in the hamper!))
2. CATEGORIZE all the items you find into piles. If we are in the bathroom, for example, get all that makeup into one pile, get all the nail stuff, the hair stuff, the lotions & potions, the bottles, jars, appliances, etc. all segregated. Now evaluate what is in each pile…do you need ALL 42 of those emory boards? Aren’t half of those nail polishes from the late 80’s?? That brings us to #3…
3. WEED out the nonsense! I can almost guarantee you that about half of the items in your sock drawer are not in use. If you go through your office desk drawers, you’ll probably find at least 7 different stashes of business cards — half of which are long out of date. GET RID OF THEM! With that newfangled internet, you could much more quickly google the contact info than find the old business card for that pet groomer you used 18 months ago!!
4. FIND A GOOD HOME for each of those categorized piles you have created. Assess the amount & type of space you will need for each prior to picking a spot for the stuff. For example, if you have over 30 hats, you cannot realistically keep them all on those two handy hat hooks you installed inside your closet. You might need a tupperware bin or a long high shelf at the top of your closet for this lid collection of yours. One might call me anal-retentive but when organizing clothing in a closet, it is very aesthetically pleasing to sort the clothing by color:
Go ahead & laugh but if you get your hangers coordinated (all plastic, all wood, all foam…whatever you like best) and your clothing hangs neatly by color, you won’t feel like cramming your dry cleaning up against the wall when it comes in! And putting away your laundry just got a whole lot less intimidating too…
If you are trying to keep your crafts organized in a closet or some drawers, the same applies: keep the like things together but also try to put them away in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.
HINT: Vertical works better than horizontal! I have noticed when my daughter has a basket in her closet for costumes or shoes for example, she’ll just continue to dump & dump & dump more stuff on top. A year might go by before she ever finds something at the bottom of that basket. I have learned to tip those sturdy wicker baskets up on their sides
so that we can store the books, shoes, backpacks or purses within a confined space that has walls to hold the things together without being constantly filled on top, leaving everything underneath hidden from sight forever.
This also works well for your “In-Box” or current items in use on your desk. I always recommend to my clients who need help in organizing their lives to start keeping things in a vertical file. It is sitting right there, staring you in the face! You cannot lose that pertinent bill file if it is standing up vs. lying at the bottom of a heap…
I can basically run a small business, coordinate my volunteer commitments & operate the family’s bill-paying from this one small set of vertical files & a two-drawer filing cabinet. When the mail is opened, each piece is either filed in the “To Pay” file, the “To File” pile or put into the trash. If there is something that needs immediate attention it sits at the front of the vertical files staring at me until I deal with it.
I want to thank you once again for taking a visit to Marmot Home Design’s website & blog. We will continue to do our best to inspire you to create a living environment that you & your family will love & enjoy every single day.
NEXT TIME on MHD.com: Creative & Unique ways to entertain children & adults both inside & outside your home!