Whether it’s time for spring cleaning or just time for cleaning period, organizing your belongings can be a daunting task. The good news is there are lots of tips and techniques for simplifying the process of categorically classifying your life. Here are some clutter free favorites.
Technique! Technique! Technique!
- Organize Pet Peeves First! Identify the disorganization that bothers you the most? Make a list (no you cannot include your spouse or children) and then arrange your list by order of pet peeve. Start by organizing the things that stress you out the most to get the most reward from your efforts. Be careful of becomming addicted to the relief that comes with a job well tidied.
- Hot crossed t-shirt buns! If you are a t-shirt folder and stacker, it’s time to change your technique. Rolling your t-shirts and vertically stacking them in your drawers leaves all of the designs and patterns visible so that you can find just the right shirt in no time. If you really want to get organized, you can separate your rolled t-shirt colors using drawer dividers.
- Wear someone else’s shoes! Think like your family thinks. Maybe your daughter loses her keys like it’s her job, but she is attracted to anything that glitters…could it be time to invest in a glittered key rack? If you can make organizing fun for the whole family then maybe, just maybe, things will stay where they belong in the first place.
- It’s a date! You wouldn’t cancel a date or a coffee meeting with a friend if you put it on the calendar would you? So why would you cancel on your rearranging rendezvous? Put a date on the calendar for your organization projects and commit to not taking a rain check.
Organizational Whatchamacallits
- Divide and conquer! As much as we’d all like to dream about completely throwing away the junk drawer, we all realistically know that, like mold, it has a tendency to grow back. Draw dividers are an affordable and easy way to turn your junk drawer into a thing of beauty. Maybe we can’t control the stray belongings, but at least we can keep the writing utensils with the writing utensils and the paperclips with the other fasteners with some fun and colorful drawer dividers. Don’t forget to measure your drawers before you go out and buy.
- Roll out! While deep closet space can be a treasure, having to dive into the depths for your own belongings isn’t exactly a party. Try installing rolling shelves so that you can simply roll everything into arms reach.
- The “Put-Away Box”! If you’ve ever worked in a department store you know exactly what I’m talking about. It can be any box, but the box in itself is a magical thing. Whenever you organize a room, you put anything that does not belong in that room in the box. Before you know it, you’ve cleaned the entire room because you haven’t left the room once to put something away in another room, and then decide you would like to make a ham sandwich instead.
- An app to help you organize? Important documents and receipts can pile up into formidable mountains before you know it. The cool thing is there is an app for that. Look into a document scanning app such as Genius PDF, Evernote, or Shoeboxed. All of these apps have great organizational options that let you turn that old box of receipts, bills and invoices just waiting to become a fire hazard into beautifully organized electronic files. Make sure you don’t scan any documents with important information like banking or social security numbers. Be smart when using internet assistance apps to organize.
The Holy Grail of Organizing Secrets (Shhhhhh)
Organize your closet. Ok, admittedly Oprah publicly advertised this idea, but it truly is the best-kept secret to an organized closet. Turn your hangers around. Yup, it’s that easy. Turn every single one of your hangers the other way. After you wear an item and wash it, turn the hanger to the normal direction again. After about six months you will have a very clear vision of what items you are not using and are ready to be donated to someone who could provide them with a little more love.
Getting your home and life organized can be scary, but it can also be amazingly therapeutic. Just think of how much better you will feel each time you cross one of your organizing items off of your well scheduled list. Happy consolidating!