Set Up Storage

Organizational – Activity: Set Up Storage

After decluttering, the next step in getting organized is setting up storage for the things you want to keep.

1.Choose the area of your home that bothers you the most to begin:

• Living Room
• Kitchen
• Bedrooms
• Office
• Bathrooms
• Basement
• Garage
• Closets
• Storage areas

2. Group like items together, and set up zones to keep them near where they will be used. Designate prime space for most frequently used items.

3. Find containers that fit the items and the space where they will be stored. Browse stores that specialize in organizing containers for ideas. Consider options such as baskets, bins, hooks and shelves, furniture with built in storage, materials that are easy to care for and maintain. The more attractive and convenient it is, the better it will work. Decide if color will help to organize, and if the storage should conceal items or be easily visible.

4. Purchase and install, clearly labeling.

5. Make an inventory list of items kept in each storage area. See Home Inventory at lovetoknowinsurance.

Ideas for groups of objects that are especially challenging to organize:

• Photos: go digital, display them.
• Memorabilia: group in shadowboxes, make scrapbooks.
• Recipes: Make an index with the name of the recipe, the cookbook it’s from and the page number.
• Shoes: tilt-out shoe organizer or shoe boxes.
• Clothes: group by season, by type (business, casual, evening: pants, shirts, skirts) and by color. Hang hook backwards and turn as the item is worn to easily tell items you are not using.
• Magazines and catalogs: limit to a certain amount and keep in magazine files. Subscribe only to favorites.
• Books: use the library more. Group fiction by author, non-fiction by subjects.
• Music: go digital, eliminate old formats.
• Movies: same as music, borrow or rent rather than buy.
• Toys: plastic bins on shelves.
• Games and Computer software and manuals: use plastic sealable bags in a bin.
• Tools: outline around tools arranged on pegboard.

More Reading:

• Resources at Home Helpers – a favorite is Kathy Waddill’s Nine Strategies from The Organizing Sourcebook
• 52 Weeks of Organizing from Organizing Junkie

This is one of the weekly activities for a Year of Personal Development.

About dailyplanit

I seek to create order from the chaos of complex information. Join me at the Daily PlanIt to gain insights, inspiration, and information to increase skills for a better life. I unlock the power of teaching reading with phonics in the pursuit of literacy at www.phonicspow.com. In my spare time I explore books and movies, often choosing titles available on both screen and page.