Organizing problem: you have too many organizing tools

Fact: if you need an organizing system for your organizational tools, you’re bordering on too many organizational products.

How this happens: A well meaning individual who want to get organized heads to the stores and scoops up organizational products without a plan.

What happens next: The well meaning individual from above gets home and now has a pile of bins, file folders, kitchen containers, and hanging closet racks with no rhyme or reason.

The end result: The well meaning individual now has two organizational issues – getting the house organized, and figuring out what to do with all this stuff they just bought. The job just got twice as hard.

Instead:

• Before you ever buy a bin, file folder, or hanger, have a plan.
• Jot down your organizing goals in order of importance. I.e. Closets, kitchen, garage.
• Jot down your organizing needs for each space. AFTER you purge the clutter. Don’t make a plan until you sort and get rid of stuff in each space you don’t need. It’s a waste of time and money to buy extra bins for a crowded space, when in reality you could just lose some stuff.

Before heading to the store:

Measure and estimate. It’s all good and fine to buy bins for that shelf in the garage but not bins that won’t fit. Measure first and attempt to estimate how much bin space, file folders, what have you, that you’ll need for a project.

Plan for aesthetics. Plastic bins are ok for a garage, but do you really want to look at rows of plastic in your dining area? No you don’t. Plan your organizing products on a room by room decor basis.

Color coordinate. Unless you go with clear bins, aim for containers that jog your memory by color. I.e a pink bin can hold Easter decor, while red works good for Christmas. Clear bins work best for items like clothing that you want to locate fast.

Take a list and stick to it. If you made plans don’t detour. It’s easy to get to the stores and feel overwhelmed. But trust me, if you knew you needed about 50 file folder when you were planning at home, you don’t magically now need 100 just because the store carries more. More is almost never better when it comes to organizational tools. “Just what you need” is a better motto.