3 Actionable Tips for Organizing Anything

[Updated June 17, 2020] Is clutter control always at the top of your list, whether a New Year’s Resolution list or a Spring Cleaning list? These 3 Actionable Tips for Organizing Anything will help you get started any time of year.

Organizing is an endless challenge with new “stuff” arriving every day: stuff via email, stuff via snail mail, stuff from your child’s school, stuff from work, stuff that we purchase, stuff we get as gifts, stuff we inherit from family and loved ones.

Stuff, stuff, stuff!

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Dealing with all the stuff cluttering our lives takes away from our precious life hours, don’t you agree? I mean, how often have you spent, over your lifetime, looking for those keys you’ve misplaced? You thought you put them back in your purse, but lo’ and behold, they are nowhere to be found!

Personally, throughout my life, I can probably safely confess to misplacing keys at least 100 times! If I take a minute to analyze that, I’ve probably spent 10 to 15 minutes each time looking for those darn keys. Factor that into the 100 times I’ve done this and it’s safe to say that I’ve probably spent somewhere between 16 and 25 hours of my life looking for keys.

Sobering thought…

Here’s a story of losing precious time looking for stuff:

As a lifestyle blogger with a heavy emphasis on food blogging, I don’t (at least not often) work on crafts. But, in the summer of 2013 (see, I told you I don’t do many crafts!), I was having a party and decided to make several things for my party and post them on this blog.

All went according to plan.

Fast forward to the present day, I decided to tackle another craft project for another party, again to post the results on this blog. For this project, I needed my glue gun. I looked high and low for my glue gun because, of course, in my haste to finish those projects in 2013, I didn’t put it back where I usually store it!

It probably took me more than an hour, but I found it. Here’s a picture:

The red arrow is pointing to the cord of the glue gun.  Stuffed, buried, and hidden in a beautiful basket full of leftover stuff from the party.  Not organized even a little! It’s a wonder I ever found it!  The glue sticks in the bag in the left lower corner gave it away! Whew – I escaped a trip to the craft store to buy another glue gun and leave with $200 more of stuff that I didn’t need!

So with organizational challenges like these bombarding us daily, how does one keep up? Here are 3 actionable tips for organizing anything:

Tip #1 for Organizing Anything

Use the 2-minute rule. This has become my all-time favorite “rule.” I read this on another blogger’s site, so I didn’t invent it. Rita at Blog Genie’s post, The 4 Productivity Hacks that Transformed My Business, really resonated with me. Notably, her item number 2: if it takes 2 minutes, do it now.

Think about this a moment. How many times have you walked past something that could easily be put away, probably in less than 2 minutes? After reading this and having my “aha” moment, I’ve used this tactic ever since.

And, it works.

No more piles of “stuff” around my house. If I can do something with it in less than 2 minutes, I do it now. If I’d used this 2-minute rule in 2013, I wouldn’t have wasted an hour looking for my glue gun! Thank you, Rita! You are the bomb!

Tip #2 for Organizing Anything

Have you heard this one before:

Do you open a kitchen drawer, rummage around, and can’t find what you are looking for?  So, you open another drawer and do the same? Rinse; repeat.

Do you open a closet door and think, “I really need to clean this out”, but the thought is so overwhelming that you close the door and walk away?

How about your garage, playroom, craft room, laundry room?  The thought of tackling these projects is so overwhelming that you just don’t?

Instead of closing the proverbial “elephant” drawer, door, or garage and walking away, set a timer, and work on that overwhelming project for 10 minutes a day.  Limiting it to 10 minutes a day does a couple of things:

• You can usually carve out 10 minutes somewhere in your 24 hours.
• By setting the timer and walking away after 10 minutes, you free yourself from becoming overwhelmed by a large project and risk not completing it at all.

And, you WILL complete it even if it takes several months of 10-minute days—one bite at a time.

Here’s a good “elephant” tip I read about so long ago that I don’t remember who to credit:

1. To clean out kitchen drawers effectively, empty the contents of one (or all) drawer(s) into a cardboard box and put that box in a closet near your kitchen (for example, your pantry if you have one).
2. When you need an item, go to your box and find the item.
3. Once you’ve used the item, put it back in the now empty drawer.
4. After 6 months of doing this, donate any items left in the cardboard box to charity. If you didn’t need those items for 6 months, chances are you aren’t going to need them in a year.

Tip #3 for Organizing Anything

Now that you are in the mood to organize that stuff, don’t run to the store and buy more stuff to store your stuff! Think outside the box and look around your home and search for items that can be repurposed, recycled, upcycled, or reused. Here are some examples…

Do you have a collection of baskets that you only use once in a blue moon? For example, baskets to serve bread or baskets that came as part of a gift package – too pretty to give away, but just taking up valuable space in your garage or closet? Think of ways that you can put them to work: toys, games, crafts and hobbies, pantry storage, garage storage – all good examples of reusing that basket purposefully.

Do you have an over-the-door shoe organizer you are no longer using to store your shoes? Repurpose it by hanging it in the hall closet to store umbrellas, flashlights, pet leases, spare keys, sunglasses, etc. Or, hang it in your laundry room, pantry, or garage and use it to store cleaning products. Hang it in your craft room and use it to organize your yarn or other craft supplies.

Do you look at packaging products you throw away every day and think, “I wish I had a way to recycle some of this instead of adding to the landfills”? Look at those glass jars of pickles, jams, dressings in new ways. Use them to organize craft supplies, office supplies, and small tools. Because they are clear, you’ll spend less time looking for what you need when you can readily see it.

By using one or all of these 3 actionable tips for organizing anything, before you know it, you’ll be one step closer to a more organized life. And, instead of spending precious life hours organizing, managing, and dealing with your stuff, instead, you’ll spend more time with family and friends, having fun, or simply lounging around your neat, clutter-free room enjoying your beautiful home.

Craving more organizing tips?  Well, you are in luck!  I’ve written three ebooks on the topics of organizing, cleaning, and decluttering:  5 Tips for a More Organized Life (organizing), Everyday Habits for Keeping a Neat & Tidy Home (cleaning), and Clutter Busters Bootcamp: A Guide to Rightsizing Your Home.  You can get one or all three here:  cleaning and organizing bundle.

And, if you need tips to clean your home, check out this post:  How the Clean a Messy House Like a Total Boss.

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Tootles,

RELATED POSTS FROM TOOT SWEET 4 TWO’S ARCHIVES:

Cleaning and Organizing eBooks

How to Clean a Messy House Fast Like a Total Boss

Why a Clean Home Influences a Healthy Mind and Body

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

30 Clever Ways to Organize with Magazine Holders from Lindsay at Organization Obsessed

How to Organize Every Room of the House with Storage Bins from Abby at Abby Lawson

Getting Organized with Trash from Erin at Lemons, Lavender, and Laundry