Simple steps to organize useful items
Drawers act as compartments to store our smaller-sized items, including undergarments, tools, utensils, bath and beauty products, loose change, pens, pencils and more. Yet too often, the out-of-sight rule applies and we end up tossing things haphazardly into these space until things are ajumble and we can’t find what we need as they pile with random slips of paper, items from a variety of categories and things we don’t even use.We have the opportunity to revisit these spaces and see what’s in there and make decisions about these items.
When I work with client’s drawers, I like to take everything out so I can see what is going on. In clothing drawers, people will often have had a category started that has devolved over time where random clothing items end up in the mix and need separating. Often there are clothes that they haven’t worn, that are holey, and no longer serve their needs. These go away. When working with socks, make sure you keep only current paired items and randoms get tossed. Any undergarments whose elastic is overstretched, eliminate. Get drawer dividers so socks, undies and bras can be neatly sectioned into groups so you don’t have a pile of socks and other items buried atop the other and spend time looking over and over for a matching set.
When working in the kitchen, I often find the requisite “junk drawer,” a catchall that seems an accepted and expected drawer to own. These drawers often hold useful and important items that we need yet are mixed with packets of ketchup, soy sauce, sweeteners, matches, old receipts, take out menus, rubber bands and more. You can’t see what’s in there and you have to rifle through the junk to find what you need. Again, take everything out, wipe out the drawer and insert drawer dividers that contain the most vital and used items. Make it a rule that only those necessary items remain and nothing else gets dumped there. We don’t need to save soy sauce packets and multitudes of chopsticks from take out. Invest in a couple of nice pairs and toss the rest. Tell the take out you don’t want or need them. Keep items key to the kitchen area and move the rest to where it needs to live. If you can’t see it, you can’t use it. Other kitchen drawers can hold our silverware, our cooking utensils and other needed items. Limit the categories per drawer so it’s simple and easy to use and find what you need when you need it.
Drawers in the garage follow the same rule, where like tools such as hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches are grouped together and nuts, bolts and screws are in even smaller compartments or jars for easy and quick access.
The goal with drawers is not to stash and hide. These are functional spaces that hold the items and tools we need and use. When they are treated with the intention to know what’s in them and have access to their contents, then we avoid throwing random things into them because we don’t want to make a decision about them. If you should need help with your drawers or other areas in the home, please call 510.501.1213 and let’s get you organized for the New Year.