Gretchen Rubin’s Suggestions: Group Utilizing What You Already Have

In Outer Order, Inside Calm, I write about how clearing litter and creating order could make us really feel lighter, happier, and extra centered. However getting organized doesn’t imply speeding out to purchase new bins or storage methods. Usually, the very best place to begin is by taking stock and determining the way to use what we have already got.

Really know what you’ve got

What number of instances have you ever purchased a brand new pocket book solely to discover a stack hiding in a drawer? Or picked up extra batteries since you weren’t certain should you had any at house? Earlier than bringing in something new, take stock. Open each drawer, look via each shelf, and be sure you know what you already personal.

Hold issues the place you utilize them

Group isn’t nearly tidiness—it’s about making life simpler. Probably the most helpful issues are those which are straightforward to seize once we want them. In case you’re at all times looking for scissors, don’t hold them in a desk drawer throughout the home—retailer a pair the place you really use them.

A number of straightforward changes:

• Retailer your keys by the door as an alternative of tossing them onto completely different surfaces.
• Hold a small basket of workplace provides the place you’re employed, quite than stashed in a deep drawer.
• Place a laundry basket within the rest room if that’s the place garments are likely to accumulate.

Like it, use it, or let it go

In case you don’t adore it and don’t use it, why hold it? I ask myself: “Do I want it? Do I take advantage of it? Do I adore it?” If not, I think about donating it.

To assist determine, ask your self:

• Have I used this within the final 12 months?
• Would I purchase this once more at present?
• Is that this taking on house that could possibly be higher used for one thing I really need?

Get artistic with what you have already got

When you’ve gone via these steps, you might discover you don’t want to purchase new organizers or storage options in any respect—you don’t have something that must be organized. Past that, you may repurpose on a regular basis objects to assist hold issues so as. You may even have fairly a little bit of enjoyable within the course of. For example:

• Flip a wall or whiteboard into a visible to-do checklist. Use washi tape and Submit-its to create a versatile, movable calendar or activity board. Jot down duties or appointments and transfer them round as plans shift—no fancy planner required.
• Repurpose jars and packing containers. Mason jars can maintain pens, kitchen utensils, or make-up brushes. A shoebox can turn out to be a drawer divider, and an outdated present field can retailer chargers and cords neatly.
• Use an outdated journal holder in new methods. Flip it on its facet to retailer reducing boards or foil and plastic wrap within the kitchen. Stand it upright to maintain notebooks or mail organized.
• Label with what you’ve got. As a substitute of shopping for new labels, use masking tape and a Sharpie or lower up an outdated cereal field into DIY tags for storage bins.
• Make a “put-away bin.” Designate a basket or tote bag as a house for stray objects that want to return to their locations—nice for tidying up shortly.

After we take inventory, declutter, and get artistic, we frequently notice we don’t want to purchase something new to really feel extra organized. We simply want to make use of what we have already got—extra deliberately.