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As promised this is part 2 of the organizing and decluttering blog, so let’s get started.

Determining the placement of things in your home requires some thought. Where are you going to put these items now that you’ve decluttered each closet or room. Thought must go now into where these items will be placed/stored. If not, it is called rearranged disorder.  Have you ever cleaned out a closet or garage, only to discover you still can’t find what you’re looking for?  One day my hubby decided to rearrange the pantry. To him it was disorganized, to me it was very organized. While I was away he reorganized the entire thing! I honestly could not find anything and had to spend a tremendous amount of time to even find commonly used items. When he was out one day, I organized it back to how it was. Now when I bake or cook, I have everything together. The pantry is once again a place of category, order, size, and ease of use. We will discuss these below.

If you have not read the previous blog post on Organizing and Decluttering, please do so as well. Once the Four Ts (previous blog post) have been implemented and you have discovered your Trash, Treasure, Toys and Tools, putting them away then in an organized and meaningful fashion helps you to determine not only WHERE to store them, but WHY.

Categorize:  Group items together that are “like” each other.

For instance baby’s clothes are a group of items, my clothes are another group, winter clothes another, hubby’s work clothes another… So clothing has “groups”.  Kitchens have “groups”.  Bathrooms have “groups”. 

 If cleaning out baby’s drawers/closet for instance , T-shirts, jammies, pants might be categorized with a half or full drawer for each.  Instead of throwing everything into one drawer,  categorize the items first. 

If cleaning out a linen closet, categories might be sheets, towels/washcloths (categorize by size), blankets, pillows.  Another subcategory could be “seasonal bedding”.  I use seasonal bedding and change it out every season, spring/summer, fall and winter.  It always is fun to redecorate and keep things fresh.  Then I buy “blanket bags” at the dollar store, they are a nice square zipup bag about $3 each.  Seasonal quilts or duvet sets, even cushions and pillows go into those bags and are stored under the bed or in the storage room.  These bags are designed to fit under your bed, which is great as a space saver! 

When organizing a garage, you would also categorize items for seasonal, lawn and garden care, motor/car wash/etcetera., fertilizers, etcetera etcetera.  Tools that are used often could be kept in one area, and preferably you have a small workbench or set of cupboards installed into your garage, super inexpensive at places like Restore Shops and yet are super for organizing.  I recently got an entire upper and lower set for only $25 online and what a difference it has made! 

Category not only includes the main category, but also subcategories.  Separating things out into “groups”.  For instance, I have all of my plant fertilizers in one cupboard.  I have large bags of lawn care i.e. extra seed, large bags of fertilizer, and spreader together in another area.  When I need them, I know exactly where they are.  Things commonly used together should be stored together.

Organizing a category includes creating subcategories based on a classification, and categorizing by type (color, shape, size, etcetera).  Whatever makes sense to you in the process.

Order:  Groups of items that should be placed in order within the category. 

For instance, garage… all socket wrenches in sets and organized by size, or organized in a large toolbox, together.  

Paints together (brushes and painting items nearby, types of paints or color by group).  Fishing rods together with tackle nearby.  Screws and nails organized in a drawer or storage container.  These are general principles, but how many times have you rummaged through your garage for a very long time to try to find one simple thing.  Lack of organization causes that.  Ordering in groups can be:

Ordering by size as in the case with my drawer of screws and nails.  Ordering by size may be in your closet, by size.  Or ordering your shoe closet by summer shoes/versus winter wear.  Winter wear at back, summer in front.  I actually store all winter boots into a bin, and keep summer out, and vice versa each season.  It keeps our boot closet tidy. 

Ordering from low to high or numerical, so that you can find something in the garage with the larger items to the back, smaller items to the front.  Or it could even be your spice cupboard, large bottles to the back, small to the front.  Or large containers on one shelf, small on bottom shelf.  However, as you can see about proximity and ease of use below you have to figure those in too!  So read on.

Ordering alphabetically. Great for books and filing cabinets. 

Proximity:  Frequently used items should be placed the closest.

One of the most important principles of organization involves having what is needed (or liked, or used) the most the closest.  How near some­thing is depends on its value to you, perhaps it is used most often, or you want to keep it the handiest.  For instance, I have a junk drawer that contains basic tools.  Its handy to me.  I have cookbooks on the shelves, but my favorite cookbooks are always first in the lineup, because I use them the most.  In my coat closet, I keep the coats I wear most to the front of the rack, less worn farther back.   In the garage, I keep snow shovels and salts close to the garage door, with lawnmowers and fertilizers stored farther back.  Proximity.  Once you categorize your items, understand the order in which they should be stored, then proximity is key.  There is no sense categorizing and ordering your items and then putting them somewhere where they are not handy, with least handy being stored somewhere else or eliminated if not needed.  This is where a lot of people fail in organizing.  They are great at decluttering, and grouping, but then don’t place things where they should be for ease of use. 

For instance, baby’s room would be disastrous if the items needed for changing diapers were far, far away from the change table.  Proximity keeps diapers, wipes, lotions, and a garbage bin close by.  It also creates ease of use.

In the kitchen, the most used pots and pans are top of my pot cupboard and bottom cupboard are those I use far less.  The same applies for dishes.  Used most on first shelf, not so much higher up.  Or in my cup/glasses cupboard, I use a shelf for mugs and a shelf for glasses.  However, I use half of each. One shelf contains half space for mugs/other half for common everyday glasses.  Next shelf up, more mugs that are used less often and more glasses, that are also used less often (more fragile).  Top shelf is seasonal mugs with my very special glasses, used on special occasions.  Our wine glass cabinet is categorized, ordered and stored in proximity.  For instance, margarita glasses, wine glasses, port glasses, champagne glasses. Most often we would use wine glasses.   I have wine glasses organized by size and style, grouped together.  They go on one shelf grouped together by size; tall to back in their group, smaller to front.  Next shelf is port glasses and champagne glasses because we use those less often.  Next shelf is specialty glasses like margarita glasses, along with the shaker.  That way we know where it is. 

If you are a book enthusiast for example, The books you use most frequently should be placed the closest to you. If you are a student and use reference books, keep them on a shelf or on your desk closest to you. Children’s study areas should also be set up by categorizing and proximity.  Ease of use then comes naturally.

By now you begin to understand that just decluttering is more than meets the eye IF You want to have a functioning home or space afterwards.  To declutter is not enough. 

Organizing will bring all of the above benefits we talked about in the first blog when done properly.

Ease of Use: Items should be placed to be used easily.

We’ve talked a bit about this already, but some things are not so obvious. 

This Christmas I tried forever to find the extension cord I like to use for our tree.  Normally  I have it stored in the box with the tree lights.  It was time consuming trying to find it.  Eventually I did and when the tree was taken down I made sure it was stored again with the tree lights.  If you have to lug a heavy mixer over to an electrical outlet every time you want to use it, it is probably not placed well in your kitchen.   A kitchen appliance used frequently but stored in the top cupboard is also in the wrong spot.  Proximity is key for frequently used items.

Tip:  The things you use the most should be easy to find and used without hassle.  They should also be put back in their place once done with them.  “Everything has a place and everything goes back in its place”.   

There are so many ways to store things nowadays, clear bins, color coded bins, large bins, small bins, stackable bins.  It’s great.  Go searching for bins that you could use.  

Tip:  If you have a wooden storage unit or metal unit in your garage or storage room, measure the depth, height and width of the shelving.  Find bins that perfectly fit into those shelves and reorganize things on it.  If you have a mess of tools, find cabinets you can install or peg boards for tools you use the most. 

Organizing your home, your child’s room, your office, your storage area, garage, your closets is actually very fun once you start.  Remember to use the Four Ts, determine what is trash and throw it out, determine what could be recycled and take it to a second-hand store. 

Determine what is a treasure or trash to you, something dear to your heart, or it might be of value like the diamond ring you inherited.  Find a place that is safe and a way to store it or to display it if you want it displayed. 

Determine what is a toy, including whether or not some of the kid’s toys need to be recycled now, or perhaps you collect something that you’d like to pass along now like video games or an old TV or record player, or perhaps you have expensive toys you need to let go of.   

Decide what items are tools, whether it be for the office, the garage, the kitchen or craft room.   Let go of any tools you no longer need or want.  Speaking of which, I have a box of fabric I need to donate.  There again, it was a tool to complete a project at one time, but is no longer a useful tool to me so I can pass it along. 

I hope this has helped you.  I know it’s lengthy, but I wanted to give you examples of this so it makes sense. 

Organizing your home will cause you to make a huge sigh of relief, as well as anyone in the same household.  Maybe someone down the road will find your used items at a thrift store, something that will help them., and that feels good too. Organizing increases productivity and leaves you with a sense of well being. Get started and have fun!