I can remember having this conversation with Rhonda from time to time over the years. We spend so much time helping other people get organized, that sometimes we have to be very deliberate about putting on our “organizing cap” and looking at our own space with a critical eye. It is easy to just do things the way you have always done them and not experiment with new options or think creatively and outside the box.
It is spring and here are a few thoughts to get your creative ideas flowing! Would some of them work for you in your home?
Do you have dozens of odd socks hanging around?
Have they been without mates longer than you can even remember? I give you permission to give one last attempt at pairing them up and whatever is left over can be chucked! If this leaves you running short on socks then I suggest you buy a bunch of the same style and same colour so that matching up isn’t such a puzzle. Imagine if you have a couple of children about the same age and they all have the same socks, then it doesn’t matter whose are in whose drawers. It is simpler and more efficient on wash days. I acknowledge that there is a cost involved in getting rid of a bunch of socks and replacing them with new ones, but maybe it is worth that cost to you to not have the ongoing headache of mismatched socks here there and everywhere around your house.
Do you receive return address stickers from various charities and wonder what to do with them all?
Think about keeping a set in your purse so you have them handy to stick on forms or contests that require your mailing address. Use extras to identify things that you take places such as your crockpot, tupperware containers, planner, cell phone, camera etc. Keep one set in your drawer for the purpose that it is intended and then recycle the rest.
You don’t have to store things where you have always stored them.
Maybe you have empty space in your dining room buffet. Who says you couldn’t store extra linens in there?
Maybe you could store personal lingerie in the linen closet so it is handy for after your shower and store bed linens in your bedroom.
Is your bathroom small and there never seems to be enough space for hanging towels to dry? Maybe it would make sense to have a towel bar on the back of each person’s bedroom door. That way they take their wet towel there to dry and bring it back to the bathroom with them when it is needed.
While we are talking bathroom storage, consider mounting a 2nd shower rod in your bathtub area. This allows for more towels to be hung to dry.
I have a small house so I need to be creative with storage space. When we moved in I decided that I would repurpose the wardrobe that I was bringing along from my old house. I got Murray on board and he added a few extra shelves for me. I decided exactly what I needed to store in the wardrobe (that is now in my living room) and I had him help me get the shelves in to make best advantage of the space. That wardrobe had always been used in the same way to store the same things (at my old house) for many years, but when we moved, I needed to look at things with a fresh eye and I repurposed it to be used in a more efficient way.
It’s Spring and time for a fresh focus! Don’t do things the way you have always done them. Shake it up a bit and look for ideas outside the box!
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