A Home for Everything

It’s a fundamental law of organizing. Maybe the fundamental law of organizing. Therefore, it bears repeating.  Having a designated home for everything means that you know where to find things when you want and need them. Putting things in their designated home means that you are able to maintain a general sense of order. 

Sure, it may be faster and easier to just leave things where you use them, but to what end? Consider this example: You hang a picture on your wall, leave the hammer and level on the nearest table and walk away. What's wrong with this? Well, the next time you find yourself gathering up a handful of papers or searching for a resting place for a new purchase, you’ll likely put it on the table, next to the hammer and level. There's already something there . . . you're in a hurry . . . you'll put it all away tomorrow. Maybe . . .

Clutter attracts clutter. . .

Fast forward three months. You purchase a fab mirror, and can’t wait to hang it in your bedroom. Problem: you can’t find your hammer or level. It’s buried under a pile of miscellaneous everything. You can’t see it on the table, close to the last picture you hung. You checked in your toolbox. Nothing. Now you're ticked! You’re 20 minutes in to what should have been a 10 minute job, and all you have to show for it is elevated blood pressure!

What happened here? A quick job became an insurmountable task. You wasted time searching, then wasted more time and money when you went out to purchase a new level and hammer. And that mirror? Don’t worry; it made it onto the wall about a month later, after you tripped over it no less than a dozen times.  

Everyone has experienced this. Maybe not with a level; maybe you spent time looking for stamps or a glue stick. The point is, every single thing you own needs a home. Absolutely everything. Your nail file, scissors, hammer, thimble -- you name it -- all need to be returned to their own storage place, so that you'll know where to find them, the next time you need them. It'll save you time, frustration and money. Sounds like a worthwhile venture to me.

So, how do we determine the ideal home for our things? Here are some tips that may help.
 

If you use it often, keep it close at hand. Something you use daily or weekly should be easy to get at.  Try to avoid putting frequent-use items in a stack, or at the back of a cupboard.

If it’s heavy, keep it low. Only lightweight and easy-to-handle items should be stored on upper shelves.

Keep like with like. Wouldn’t it be easier to decorate for the holidays if all your Christmas decorations were kept together? Just because there is the perfect amount of space for that handful of ornaments in the bin labeled Bike stuff, doesn’t mean you should put the ornaments in there.

It’s time to turn off the auto pilot feature that we all often rely on, and give some thought to how and when you use your things. This is how you will begin to choose the ideal home for each of your belongings.