Gretchen Rubin’s Tips on Organizing: Use What You Already Have

In Outer Order, Inside Calm, I write about how clearing muddle and creating order could make us really feel lighter, happier, and extra centered. However getting organized doesn’t imply dashing out to purchase new bins or storage methods. Typically, one of the best place to begin is by taking stock and determining learn how to use what we have already got.

Really know what you will have

What number of occasions have you ever purchased a brand new pocket book solely to discover a stack hiding in a drawer? Or picked up extra batteries since you weren’t positive when you had any at house? Earlier than bringing in something new, take stock. Open each drawer, look via each shelf, and be sure you know what you already personal.

Preserve issues the place you employ them

Group isn’t nearly tidiness—it’s about making life simpler. Probably the most helpful issues are those which are simple to seize after we want them. Should you’re at all times attempting to find scissors, don’t preserve them in a desk drawer throughout the home—retailer a pair the place you truly use them.

A couple of simple changes:

• Retailer your keys by the door as an alternative of tossing them onto totally different surfaces.
• Preserve a small basket of workplace provides the place you’re employed, fairly than stashed in a deep drawer.
• Place a laundry basket within the toilet if that’s the place garments are likely to accumulate.

Find it irresistible, use it, or let it go

Should you don’t find it irresistible and don’t use it, why preserve it? I ask myself: “Do I want it? Do I exploit it? Do I find it irresistible?” If not, I think about donating it.

To assist resolve, ask your self:

• Have I used this within the final yr?
• Would I purchase this once more in the present day?
• Is that this taking over house that might be higher used for one thing I really need?

Get inventive with what you have already got

When you’ve gone via these steps, it’s possible you’ll discover you don’t want to purchase new organizers or storage options in any respect—you don’t have something that must be organized. Past that, you may repurpose on a regular basis gadgets to assist preserve issues so as. You may even have fairly a little bit of enjoyable within the course of. For example:

• Flip a wall or whiteboard into a visible to-do listing. Use washi tape and Submit-its to create a versatile, movable calendar or activity board. Jot down duties or appointments and transfer them round as plans shift—no fancy planner required.
• Repurpose jars and containers. Mason jars can maintain pens, kitchen utensils, or make-up brushes. A shoebox can change into a drawer divider, and an outdated present field can retailer chargers and cords neatly.
• Use an outdated journal holder in new methods. Flip it on its facet to retailer slicing boards or foil and plastic wrap within the kitchen. Stand it upright to maintain notebooks or mail organized.
• Label with what you will have. As an alternative of shopping for new labels, use masking tape and a Sharpie or minimize up an outdated cereal field into DIY tags for storage bins.
• Make a “put-away bin.” Designate a basket or tote bag as a house for stray gadgets that want to return to their locations—nice for tidying up rapidly.

Once we take inventory, declutter, and get inventive, we frequently notice we don’t want to purchase something new to really feel extra organized. We simply want to make use of what we have already got—extra deliberately.