The basic rules of organization: organize your home series

If there’s one set of rules that governs the world of proper organization, it’s the following two guidelines:

1. Put each item in its proper place
2. Group like items together

Giving everything a proper, dedicated spot simply means finding a specific, designated place that is where a particular item always lives. When you don’t have a specific spot for an item, you will place that item wherever you find convenient. Over time, everything will be in random, various places, and it will be impossible to find specific items. Moreover, the whole house will be cluttered and disorderly. And it will take a long time to remember where you put the keys or where to find the colander.

Keeping like things together just makes sense logistically. When sorting through all your items, make sure to group like things together. Keep all the paperclips together, all the rubber bands together, and all the pens together. Then store items using these logical groupings and label containers as much as possible. In this scenario, it will be a cinch to find the stapler (it always lives with other office supplies in the top desk drawer) or the blue scarf (it always lives with other scarves on the scarf hanger in the master closet).

To view the rest of the posts in the Home Organization Series, please click here.

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