The fine art of personal organization is a skill that some of us have, and some of us don't. Those of you who are, shall we say, challenged in this area know who you are and it's time to admit it! Aren't you tired of never knowing where anything is? Or thinking you do, but when you go there, it isn't? It may seem trivial to some but being disorganized wastes a LOT of time. I think that we can all agree that life is too short to spend it crawling around on the closet floor looking for a particular pair of shoes or ransacking the upper shelves in the laundry room looking for whatever. There are so many other things that we need to be doing, am I right? Of course I am! However, never fear! There is hope. Changing a lifetime of bad organizational habits won't be easy, but the good news is, it CAN be done, and here is a checklist of guidelines to help you jumpstart the process.
*The first step in getting organized is to take small steps. Don't try to do the whole house in one day. Take one room at a time and if it's a big job, (kitchen, walk in pantry, etc.) break it down into two or more days.
*Then, go through each room or area that you have chosen to tackle and PURGE. That means: get rid of (sell, consign, donate, give away, throw away, etc.) any item(s) that you do not use or want, or even think you might use or want someday. After all, this vague might and someday stuff is what got us into organizational trouble in the first place, isn't it?
*Getting rid of all the stuff that you thought you wanted and needed but actually didn't gives you the opportunity to thoroughly dust, clean and otherwise prepare (maybe even paint if it needs it?) the area that you are getting ready to organize. Now would be a good time to re-evaluate the area itself. Is it the right size for what you're storing? Are you wasting space? In the case of closets or pantries is there room for, and could some new or possibly differently configured shelving give you even more storage space?
Even the smallest closet can benefit from all the great products that are out there that are specifically designed to help make the most of the space you have. Freestanding shelves stacking shelves, hanging fabric organizers, stacking plastic drawers and bins can double or even triple the amount of room you thought you had. Depending on how much space you have you can create a wall of customized shelving within your closet using mesh stacking shelves for about five dollars each.
For instance, those of us who are shoeophiles sometimes have a difficult time keeping our prized collections under control, especially if you live in an area that has seasonal weather changes. Basically we're taking up space in the closet with shoes that won't be worn for months. In that case, under the bed storage bags are a good way to store those shoes and gets them out of the closet until you switch them out next season. If you've got room, freestanding revolving tiered racks can hold up to 30 pairs of shoes and get them off the floor of the closet. If your closet isn't roomy enough for revolving racks, there are many other options, including hanging rod containers, over the door storage and more traditional wooden or plastic racks; some that can be stacked on top of each other. When storing shoes, contrary to popular belief, color and style are not as important as which shoes you wear the most. If you're a corporate type and live in suits and pumps, it doesn't make sense to have those pumps on the same rack as your boots and sandals, merely because they're the same color. Likewise, if you're a stay at home mom, you are more apt to slide into something more casual each day and those shoes should be the most accessible in your closet.
Once you've gotten a grip on the closets it's time to begin in another area of the house. As we all know, kitchens are not just for cooking anymore, but have become the hub of the modern home. And, because so much more activity goes on there these days it stands to reason that even more of the family stuff ends up in the kitchen somehow. No matter how hard we try to keep it all organized, the countertops are crowded and the drawers are overflowing. Every kitchen has that one particular drawer that is affectionately known as the junk drawer. As much as we all say we don't need or want one, inevitably it happens. One drawer somehow ends up filled with a weird collection of tacks, string, batteries, tape measures, paper clips, index cards, you name it. The contents might not be the same in each kitchen, but you get the idea. Relax, it's okay. As long as we can admit that we all have one, we're in this together, right? As with anything else, as long as there is some semblance of order to it, it will be more functional. Yes, organized junk is better than disorganized junk any day.
The key to organizational success in any junk drawer is to keep all the junk as separated as possible. There are many different types of drawer organizers available but an inexpensive way to keep all these unrelated items in some sort of order is to use an ordinary kitchen cutlery tray. The compartments keep things separated, and depending on the size and similarity of shapes, certain items can be grouped together. (Think pencils, pens, chopsticks, etc.) These same cutlery trays can be used anywhere you need storage of this type. (Bathroom, garage, etc.) The coated wire ones are easy to keep clean as any accumulated dust and dirt falls through to the drawer itself which can then be cleaned.
Everybody loves having a pantry. It gives us a place for all those things in the kitchen that would otherwise fill every drawer, shelf, cabinet and counter. Whether you have an elaborate designer kitchen with an enormous walk in pantry or a modest little closet we all appreciate the extra storage space. When it comes to what storage components you choose for your pantry there are many. By now you know that you can buy an almost endless selection of storage options: shelving, drawers, bags, bins, and containers of every size and shape. However, there are times when you might want to think outside the proverbial organizing box.
Instead of the usual plastic, how about some great looking baskets? It's a fact that root vegetables, (onions, potatoes, etc.) should be stored and keep fresh longer outside of refrigeration and exposed to air. Baskets provide just such an environment and look pretty at the same time. Your pantry will take on the aesthetics of an outdoor Tuscan market, right there in your own kitchen! Besides vegetables, those same baskets could hold wine, oils and vinegars, bagged chips, the list goes on and on. Rectangular shaped baskets will take up less space on shelves, but the more decoratively shaped ones could also be incorporated here and there, depending on how much room you have.
So, now you have a few ideas on where to start and how to master the Fine Art of Organization. Of course, you realize, that for all your earnest efforts and hard work getting organized to actually work it must become a lifestyle change. In other words, a full time thing. You must be diligent! When you have that overwhelming urge to open the closet door and blindly throw whatever is in your hand in there, to wherever it may land, you must stop and say to yourself: never again! If you do this each and every time you feel like reverting back to your disorganized ways you will gradually wean yourself away from that organizationally challenged bunch we first discussed at the beginning of this article. I promise. Now get out there and organize something!