Now that you have decided that you want to organize your space. What is the next step? Where to start?
First step in Organizing is actually Decluttering – remove/ give away/ donate what we do not need and create space for the useful stuff. Next step is to assign a place to everything. And by everything I mean each and every item you come across in your house. Just like each one of us need our own space, the items in our house deserves to be allotted a space too.
That brings us to the next question – how do I decide a place for an item?
Answer to that actually lies in another question – if I were to lose an item, which is the first place that I am going to look for it?
While talking to a friend Laurie Hunt , we got to discussing that the concept of organizing is not new. When she was eight years old, she had attended a session which taught her this very concept and the statement that has lived with her till date is ” A place for everything and everything in its place.” It is such a simple but strong statement.
Here is my bedside drawer which houses everything that I generally use when I retire to my bed. Being a super lazy person at night, I hate to leave the bed for anything after I have changed and washed my feet and face.
The categories in a house is endless. The wardrobe itself houses so many different items. Each item in your wardrobe should have a place – be it clothes, watches, scrunchies, glares, make-up, wallets, etc. There are so many other miscellaneous items as well in the house like the tool box, medicines, art and craft supplies, sewing kits, cleaning supplies, keys and so on. Decide on specific places for everything on the basis of frequency of use, need for ease of access and utility. Use baskets, containers and label them to make your task easy to house similar items.
Lots of people complain that they tidy up their house on a regular basis but it gets back to the messy state very soon. I tell them a very basic and simple rule – return the item back to its place once you are done using it. It takes 10 seconds to do that and makes a lot of difference in keeping the place tidy.
Another tip that I go by is if you are going to your bedroom from your drawing room, pick up and carry one thing that is lying in the living room and belongs in the bedroom. This is a very simple habit but goes a long way in keeping the place tidy.
The pros of having a place to everything:
all your family members know where exactly to look for particular items.
you spend less time searching for them.
you have a neat and tidy house.
you don’t have duplicates in your house because you couldn’t find them.
the tidy up task is super easy, fast and efficient.
So go ahead and plan your space and give, everything that you own, a house of itself and enjoy the peace, calm and order that follows.