Organization "hacks" that worked for you?

[lifeisbeautiful]

Similar to the frugality thread… what are some things you do to help keep your house (or any other part of your life if you would like to share something else) organized (decluttered, etc)? I was going to ask in the frugality thread because I do feel that in different ways these two can be related, but I didn’t want to go off on a tangent there.

 

[Xantippe]

Similar to the frugality thread… what are some things you do to help keep your house (or any other part of your life if you would like to share something else) organized (decluttered, etc)? I was going to ask in the frugality thread because I do feel that in different ways these two can be related, but I didn’t want to go off on a tangent there.

Yeah, I do think it needs its own thread.

I really like hooks near doorways when there’s not a nearby entry closet.

It’s especially nice for school backpacks, sunhats, etc.

We are just about to get an IKEA shoe storage thingy, as shoes are starting to get out of control in the small hallway near our garage. Here’s a small one:

ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70178170/

 

[pensmama87]

Get rid of everything you don’t use!!! That’s my #1.

I store linens under beds. My hall closet stores extra toiletries and seldom used but still handy pans and kitchen gadgets. (Who cares if it’s not actually in the kitchen, if I’m only using it 3-4 times per year?)

I keep a milk crate with reusable bags in the car. That way they’re there, but not sprawled all over the place. I know one lady who uses old laundry baskets to pack groceries in.

 

[bitterhope]

See through containers. That way you know what’s inside before you open them.

 

[Xantippe]

See through containers. That way you know what’s inside before you open them.

Yes.

For long term storage (for example, of baby stuff that I want to keep dust off), I like clear plastic bags. Opaque bags keep the dust off, too, but then you’re left with a bunch of mystery bags.

 

[faithsmind]

I’m a scatterbrain and have a large family full time mom, also have to work. A few tricks have helped me:

Drinking cups: everyone has a labeled spot on the counter that they keep theirs. (Labeled cups are always carried off and lost)

Boys and girl groups alternate between dinner dishes and kitchen cleanup every other night. Meals are always eaten together to stop grazing and constant cleanups. Saturday’s: kids do bathrooms, dusting and floors.

Shoes are all kept in the plastic shoe organizer (those hanging plastic ones that you can store that have about 30 small pockets) in the garage entrance hallway that I drilled into the wall. Goal is to remove shoes and put in that immediately, and hang backpacks on opposite wall hooks, and place lunch box on counter in kitchen to be packed after dinner.

Laundry: large plastic dresser with large drawer bins are located in laundry room. Each person has one of these drawers which their folded laundry is placed in. Most of the dressing is done in the laundry room, especially for the younger ones. Uniforms are all hung on the rack. One large basket contains all the socks. I buy a ton of all the same white socks L and S for everyone and throw all the printed and colored socks out.

Sports organization: all uniforms and paraphernalia cleats knee pads are kept in the plastic shoepocket hanger on the back of the door in the laundry room. Huge sports calendar is also hung in hallway.

CDs and DVDsare removed from cases and placed in binder.

Constantly, at least every season change, I am throwing out or donating in each room. I have a large box in garage for give-away to cousins/friends and one for giveaway to StVDP.

 

[Xantippe]

I’m a scatterbrain and have a large family full time mom, also have to work. A few tricks have helped me:

Drinking cups: everyone has a labeled spot on the counter that they keep theirs. (Labeled cups are always carried off and lost)

Boys and girl groups alternate between dinner dishes and kitchen cleanup every other night. Meals are always eaten together to stop grazing and constant cleanups. Saturday’s: kids do bathrooms, dusting and floors.

Shoes are all kept in the plastic shoe organizer (those hanging plastic ones that you can store that have about 30 small pockets) in the garage entrance hallway that I drilled into the wall. Goal is to remove shoes and put in that immediately, and hang backpacks on opposite wall hooks, and place lunch box on counter in kitchen to be packed after dinner.

Laundry: large plastic dresser with large drawer bins are located in laundry room. Each person has one of these drawers which their folded laundry is placed in. Most of the dressing is done in the laundry room, especially for the younger ones. Uniforms are all hung on the rack. One large basket contains all the socks.** I buy a ton of all the same white socks L and S for everyone and throw all the printed and colored socks out.**

Sports organization: all uniforms and paraphernalia cleats knee pads are kept in the plastic shoepocket hanger on the back of the door in the laundry room. Huge sports calendar is also hung in hallway.

CDs and DVDsare removed from cases and placed in binder.

Constantly, at least every season change, I am throwing out or donating in each room. I have a large box in garage for give-away to cousins/friends and one for giveaway to StVDP.

Yeah. I almost never buy fewer than half a dozen socks of the same type, and it’s almost always either white or black.

 

[faithsmind]

Yeah. I almost never buy fewer than half a dozen socks of the same type, and it’s almost always either white or black.

It’s great, right? Looking fw to hearing others ideas. And believe me, I am by no means organized all the time. Some of my tricks have just helped to cut back on the shoveling a bit.

 

[Irishmom2]

i have found that when trying to purge a closet or a bookcase or a room, it works better if everything is removed from the space, and only the things that are being kept go back in. If you leave things hanging or sitting on a shelf, it is easy to ignore and keep them there.

If I need to clean a room of clutter, I remove everything that does not belong in that room first. If it is only a couple of things, I put them where they belong. If it a bunch of things, I place them in a basket or box and move it out of the room.

I am also a fan of removing DVDs from their boxes. I bought sleeves that allow me to keep the paper from the box and the DVD. A 2 foot stack of DVDs is now 6" high. If you have a lot of DVDs, it can really cut down on storage space needed. Get rid of the cases, lol!

Pensmama, I started storing linens under their beds too. Wow, wish I had thought of that 20 years ago, lol!

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

I am getting to the point where storage space is < than items I want to store (9 person family also affects this)… so I am trying to find ways to draw the line on what to keep and what to get rid of.

Great ideas on here, I am going to keep track of all of these, thank you!

Faith, our laundry room is a hallway from the garage to the hall to the rooms/ kitchen, and we have hooks for backpacks in that hallway so it is already a little narrower than I would like. I do love your ideas though! We have laundry baskets for each kid’s clean clothes, and a sock bucket, but we haven’t managed to get it all under control (the laundry) unless we put away immediately when taking out of dryer. We don’t have anywhere to put the baskets with clothes in them.

 

[Exiled_Child]

Oh, I’ve got the most perfect answer for this thread! Check out Marie Kondo’s books. Trust me, this lady rules. Her ideas are legitimately life changing, and if they can help me, they can help anybody. If you don’t want to risk buying books that you’re not completely positive will be useful, maybe you can obtain them through your local library system. They’re worth their weight in gold though, in my opinion.

This video might convince you:

youtube.com/watch?v=w1-HMMX_NR8

And too maybe you could find them in a bookstore, and then have a chance to examine and evaluate them before spending money.

amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing/dp/1607747308/ref=sr_1_1/141-1331375-6008113?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502740380&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27%3AMarie+Kondo

amazon.com/Spark-Joy-Illustrated-Organizing-Tidying/dp/1607749726

 

[faithsmind]

I am getting to the point where storage space is < than items I want to store (9 person family also affects this)… so I am trying to find ways to draw the line on what to keep and what to get rid of.

Great ideas on here, I am going to keep track of all of these, thank you!

Faith, our laundry room is a hallway from the garage to the hall to the rooms/ kitchen, and we have hooks for backpacks in that hallway so it is already a little narrower than I would like. I do love your ideas though! We have laundry baskets for each kid’s clean clothes, and a sock bucket, but we haven’t managed to get it all under control (the laundry) unless we put away immediately when taking out of dryer. We don’t have anywhere to put the baskets with clothes in them.

I just snapped a quick pic, and obviously there are still shoes smoothed around the edges. What can I say, I like to glam it up. I think I’m going to hang another one. It utilizes the space height well.

I agree, the sheets under the bed idea is fantastic, I’m going to use that idea too. Thanks pensm.

Thanks for the links EC, that looks awesome! Will definitely check it out.

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

Oh, I’ve got the most perfect answer for this thread! Check out Marie Kondo’s books. Trust me, this lady rules. Her ideas are legitimately life changing, and if they can help me, they can help anybody. If you don’t want to risk buying books that you’re not completely positive will be useful, maybe you can obtain them through your local library system. They’re worth their weight in gold though, in my opinion.

This video might convince you:

youtube.com/watch?v=w1-HMMX_NR8

And too maybe you could find them in a bookstore, and then have a chance to examine and evaluate them before spending money.

amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing/dp/1607747308/ref=sr_1_1/141-1331375-6008113?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502740380&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27%3AMarie+Kondo

amazon.com/Spark-Joy-Illustrated-Organizing-Tidying/dp/1607749726

ΑΞΙΟΝ ΕΣΤΙ: Μαΐου 2011

I got rid of about 2/3 of my closet after reading one of her books I guess I may need to reread it and try to employ it again. Getting rid of my stuff is easier than getting rid of other people’s things! I am trying to balance not being wasteful, saving things so I don’t have to purchase later, with decluttering!

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

I just snapped a quick pic, and obviously there are still shoes smoothed around the edges. What can I say, I like to glam it up. I think I’m going to hang another one. It utilizes the space height well.

I agree, the sheets under the bed idea is fantastic, I’m going to use that idea too. Thanks pensm.

Thanks for the links EC, that looks awesome! Will definitely check it out.

I hadn’t even thought of using those somewhere that is not behind a door, that is creative thinking! I like ideas like that. Backpacks hanging at the entrance of our garage door have saved us from many headaches (the ones we had before having the hooks lol).

 

[Exiled_Child]

I got rid of about 2/3 of my closet after reading one of her books I guess I may need to reread it and try to employ it again. Getting rid of my stuff is easier than getting rid of other people’s things! I am trying to balance not being wasteful, saving things so I don’t have to purchase later, with decluttering!

Yeah, that sounds pretty much the same as me. In my case, I sometimes tend to get overwhelmed with the enormity of what I’m attempting to declutter, and then I just freeze up and procrastinate like an idiot. Marie Kondo helped enormously, but even still it’s often a struggle to get started.

Don’t know if you like Mr. Brainwash or not, but some of his stuff is pretty great. I posted this once before for another CAF member, but since it’s your exact user name…

 

[Mary_Estelle]

Watching “Cleaning My Messy house” on UTUBE or “Hoarders-buried Alive” on TV makes me move a little faster. Today I have been going through old mail-before I clicked on here. Hate old mail accumulating. Peace.

 

[Irishmom2]

Oh, I’ve got the most perfect answer for this thread! Check out Marie Kondo’s books. Trust me, this lady rules. Her ideas are legitimately life changing, and if they can help me, they can help anybody. If you don’t want to risk buying books that you’re not completely positive will be useful, maybe you can obtain them through your local library system. They’re worth their weight in gold though, in my opinion.

This video might convince you:

youtube.com/watch?v=w1-HMMX_NR8

And too maybe you could find them in a bookstore, and then have a chance to examine and evaluate them before spending money.

amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing/dp/1607747308/ref=sr_1_1/141-1331375-6008113?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502740380&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27%3AMarie+Kondo

amazon.com/Spark-Joy-Illustrated-Organizing-Tidying/dp/1607749726

I read her book. I found some useful things and ideas in it, some others, not so much.
I do agree with her whirlwind approach to purging. All at one, not 10 minutes at a time. It’s worth reading, but not owning her book to me, lol!

 

[Exiled_Child]

I read her book. I found some useful things and ideas in it, some others, not so much.
I do agree with her whirlwind approach to purging. All at one, not 10 minutes at a time. It’s worth reading, but not owning her book to me, lol!

For me, that insight was actually a huge breakthrough. I’m not sure if it’s an obvious insight, but it had definitely never occurred to me, and I used to go about it in the exact opposite way. I’d start cleaning and sorting one specific space, and then I’d be left with a mountain of disarray twenty times worse than when I started. I don’t know, these kinds of things might be pathetic little obstacles for some people, but for me they were these staggering hurdles that I found impossibly difficult to get past. But then, of course, I am kind of clueless.

 

[Irishmom2]

I took every book I had piled up on a tall bookcase and piled them up on the floor. Piles. All over. Went through, sorted out what No longer “brought me joy.”

When I was done, I was able to fit what I had on the shelves, including some decorative items.

Once you feel the joy of a success like that of your own, it will make you want to continue on.

Peter Walsh, who appeared on Oprah and the show “Clean Sweep” used to ask people if they were honoring their relative by piling up their things in the attic or not using them. Sometimes, he told people to take a picture of it, and let it go. If you insist on keeping something, honor it. Frame it, put it in a shadow box, use it, or else, it is just clutter.

 

[bitterhope]

I took every book I had piled up on a tall bookcase and piled them up on the floor. Piles. All over. Went through, sorted out what No longer “brought me joy.”

When I was done, I was able to fit what I had on the shelves, including some decorative items.

Once you feel the joy of a success like that of your own, it will make you want to continue on.

Peter Walsh, who appeared on Oprah and the show “Clean Sweep” used to ask people if they were honoring their relative by piling up their things in the attic or not using them. Sometimes, he told people to take a picture of it, and let it go. If you insist on keeping something, honor it. Frame it, put it in a shadow box, use it, or else, it is just clutter.

That is very good advice. It’s quite a bit like what I do. Pretend you’re moving. If you would move it for real you probably should keep it. If you wouldn’t move it with you, go on and get rid of it.

Im not a naturally organized person as anyone can tell when they see my house, but we keep it manageable by reducing what we don’t need. If our house gets way out of hand due to living and we can’t completely clean it in a couple hours tops, we have too much stuff. Thankfully I’m finding as my kids get older and older, some of them are very naturally organized so I can task them with some organizational things. I’m capable of keeping it up, just not able to come up with the system myself.