How Organizing Strategies Could Actually Cause More Clutter
In the spring, I usually come across quite a few media requests asking about how to deal with clutter. This past spring was no different. Here was one journalist’s inquiry:
“I am looking for interior designers or home organization experts to share ways that intended organizational strategies could actually cause more clutter.”
Whether you’re thinking about decluttering your home or office this fall, you might be interested in the advice I shared with her:
There are books, blogs and videos that espouse organizing hacks, but as your query implies, some of those can bog people down. Here are three examples:
Label makers – Labels, of course, not only help people remember where to put things back, but they’re also clean and streamlined, making an area look even tidier. Problem: If labels are added ad-hoc to an area, and the ribbon or ink has run out or the same type of ribbon as the older labels is no longer available, not only will folks not make a new label, but they’ll let the items they’d wanted to organize just sit in a holding pattern. Then their clutter cycle starts all over again. In situations like this, it’s better to handwrite your labels or keep an extra roll of the same color tape so that you never run out.
Lids – Lids make containers look neater, more in control of the objects they hold. But if these are objects that need to go in and/or out on a daily basis, those lids actually get in the way. The lids turn into a shelf to set items on until you have the few extra seconds to open the lid with two hands and place the object inside. Examples of this are office supplies containers, laundry hampers, kitchen trash cans, shoe boxes in the closet, snack bins in the pantry…you get the picture. If this container will hold daily items, allow it to go topless! Nix the lid.
Folding or rolling small pieces of clothing – Don’t drawers look gorgeous when each sock and undergarment is perfectly folded or rolled? But when you’ve got a ton of things to do, you don’t necessarily have the time to do that with every load of laundry. So, what might start out as a photo shoot-ready drawer might turn into a jumbled mess or – worse – a pile of “I’ll get to those later” clothes camping out on a nearby chair or the floor. Instead, keep using those drawer dividers or containers as category separators, but just toss the undergarments in their corrals, instead of pressuring yourself to meticulously fold or roll every single one.
Life often gets in the way of keeping our homes and offices camera-ready. If there are too many steps or materials involved, that can easily cause a bottleneck in your busy life. What’s the easiest way for you to remember where to put your items and the easiest way to get them placed there or retrieved? That should be your organizational hack for any system.
Happy decluttering!
For tips on getting your office organized, take a peek at The Inefficiency Assassin: Time Management Tactics for Working Smarter, Not Longer.
