Principles of Clutter Clearing 2: Store Like Things Together

Okay. This one is easy.

It just makes sense to store your batteries with your other batteries, or your light bulbs with your other light bulbs. It makes sense to store your candles all in one place, or your hardware together in a certain area (sorted by type and easy to find.)

Then when you need whatever it is, you know exactly where to look.

But a lot of folks, in their rush to get through their days, just put things away "wherever", and then later can't remember where on earth they stashed them.

"Oh, I wondered what happened to that," or, "How did that get in there?" or, "Is THAT where I put them?" or, "I just bought more, and then I find the missing ones," ---these are the sorts of comments I hear all the time.

In a recent job, my client lived in an area that has frequent power outages. She kept a lot of candles, which I found all over the place. There were some mixed in with stationary and envelopes (which were also stored in several places), some in with her Christmas decorations (also scattered), and some, strangely, in with her hammers and nails.

Eventually, we got all of her candles in one location, along with her matches, candle holders, and flashlights. Now, the next time the power goes out she has everything she needs all in one place.

We also dug out lots of batteries, many of them expired. We settled on one place where they will now be kept, and now she knows just where to look when she needs batteries. (For those who need help remembering where you put things, there are apps for that, like Sortly, which has a free home version.) She also now knows how many of which kind of batteries she has; (all expired ones have been discarded).

We found a coffee can full of mixed hardware. We also found many baggies of screws, bolts, nuts, tacks, S-hooks, eye-screws, drapery hooks, etc. All of these separate little containers are now sorted into labeled drawers in one hardware unit. It is now easy to put things away with other like things, and easy to find a specific item when needed.

Save yourself time and money by keeping like things together in one place. You can do it!

And by the way, if you "can't" do it, you are not alone. Life has only so many hours, and many people don't leap into organizing things the first free minute they get.  That is why there are professional organizers like Moore Magic Organizers to support and accompany you through the process. You can have the better home you desire without the tedium. Give yourself the gift of organization.

Principles of Clutter-Clearing 1

Principles of Clutter Clearing 3