Organising Space

There is just so much going on in our modern-day lives! Work deadlines, professional duties and social commitments. Family obligations. Those domestic tasks that are irritatingly necessary (groceries, cleaning the laundry). Our attention is needed everywhere. On top of all that we have the general admin of living, including monthly bills, filling out tax forms, and preparing for retirement.

It can be challenging to keep track of everything, and this internal chaos easily translates to our living environment. It can be glimpsed in the piles of papers accumulating on every surface. In that drawer or bowl that contains all the things that we have no idea where to put. In the cabinet in our study which we’re scared to open because it houses decades of paperwork that we haven’t sorted through. In turn, this external chaos usually compounds whatever stress or anxiety we are managing.

The relationship between our external and internal environments is well documented. It’s a topic in vogue at the moment, with organising gurus such as Gretchen Rubin or Marie Kondo helping us to create spaces that reflect order rather than chaos.

Some of you may already have reached this desirable state of outer and inner order (gasp!). If so, please email us your tips, methods, and thoughts on the process! For the rest of us mere mortals, here are some easy steps you can take towards creating external order, which should hopefully translate into inner serenity.

Don’t forget, organisation is your tool to gain power over your own life: When you know where everything is, you are the boss of your own space.

A Place for Everything, and Everything in its Place

If we’re going to keep items organised, we need purposeful spaces to keep them in. Categorise your accumulations of papers, nick-nacks, gadgets and gizmos, select a location to store them, and use an appropriate organisational feature. This could be a drawer, a shelf, a box, a desk organiser, a binder—whatever you have at hand!

Categorisation, Location, Organisation.

Papers on the kitchen table? Sort them into categories (as loosely or stringently as you desire), identify where you should be doing your paperwork, and store them there. I personally use the kitchen table for paperwork rather than eating, so I keep my binders and pens there, which is probably a terrible practice.

The same principle applies to any of your work surfaces. If things are ending up on top of the surface because of how frequently you need them, make sure you keep them easy to access and your organisation easy to maintain. If some things are on display which you haven’t looked at or used in months, boo you! Sort them into categories and decide which drawer or shelf you’ll put them in. This process might require an exploration of drawers or shelves around the house—what a shame.

Not all clutter can be dealt with in such small organisation spaces. Those winter clothes in the bag at the bottom of your closet. The Christmas decorations. The pile for donating to the local charity shop or refuge. Things your kids might like when they move into their own place. Memorabilia. We’re going to need to pull out the big guns for these!

I recommend large stackable boxes. You’ll first need to identify where you can keep these boxes so that you know which size to choose. The loft, attic, or basement are good choices if you have that space; otherwise, on top of cupboards, at the bottom of the wardrobe, or under the bed are excellent options. Make sure to keep the boxes you’ll access more frequently within easier reach than those which can be forgotten about until next year.

Books are easy. Books belong on bookshelves. If you’ve got books that are not on bookshelves, you either have too many books or too few bookshelves. The choice is yours, but act on it swiftly to make sure all books are in their correct place, and you can continue on your journey to inner peace.

Organisation and storage should extend to your clothes as well: t-shirts with t-shirts, socks with socks, and so on. Additionally, items you wear regularly should be within easy reach. Most of us combine a dresser for folded clothes with a wardrobe for pieces we prefer to hang. I also like to organise my clothes by ‘occasion’: When do I wear these items?

Bathrooms, Kitchens, and Laundry/Mud Rooms

These rooms are special places, possibly the most used rooms in any household. Incidentally, they are usually the most chaotic, from that ‘containers’ drawer or shelf in the kitchen that drives everyone mad, to the ‘shoe accessories and misc’ basket in the mudroom. Trying to impose order on these rebels might seem daunting. Still, I promise it’s just as easy as the rest: Categorisation, Location, Organisation.

In each room, make sure everything the items you use regularly are easier to access. Keep your organisation easy to maintain by keeping stacking to a minimum as far as possible. Stacking is the first organisational feature to go when life takes over, and stacking anything deeper than three or four becomes unmanageable very quickly. Rather than stack, try to keep fewer items, and store them in a shallow, wide and long drawer or box. Use this as an excuse to cut back on those plastic containers, and opt for reusable beeswax wraps, which are easier to store and help keep food fresh for longer.

If you don’t own many organisational features and spending money on them feels like a waste of resources, there are myriad DIY methods of organising space. YouTube is an excellent place to start for tutorials and inspiration.

If DIY is not your thing, discount stores, charity shops, and online shopping are places where you can find what you’re looking for at very reasonable prices. Even better, reduce your belongings until you don’t need any storage space other than what is already available to you!

Label Everything

Now for your next trick: remembering where everything belongs. I found that labelling boxes, drawers, cupboards, shelves, and surface organisers helps me remember where to find things, and where to put them away. If anyone borrows anything or helps to tidy up, they also know where everything goes. It might feel a little foolish to label your home in this way, but I promise the rewards, peace of mind and confidence, are worth it. Visitors will also be so impressed! (Or amused.)

Make yourself a promise and keep it.

This is a critical part of the process. You started on this journey to create inner calm by tidying your outer world, and only you have the power to see it through. Now that you’ve made it so easy for yourself to remember where things go, make yourself a promise that everything will be put away where it belongs. No more loose papers here and there, no more messy bags of stuff hanging around, no more disordered surfaces—only calm, clear, and organised spaces, reflecting your mindscape.

You can have fun with this part of the process! Keep yourself accountable in whatever way works best for you. Sign a contract with yourself, reward yourself every time you put something away in the correct place, have an accountability buddy. The options are limited only by your imagination!

Less is More

You’ll probably find that, as you work your way through the various rooms, drawers, shelves, and piles, you’ll come across items that you realise you don’t need or haven’t used in years. Get rid of them—donate them, sell them, recycle them. If they’re not contributing positively to your external environment, they definitely will not help towards your inner calm. Additionally, the fewer things you have, the less trouble you’ll have keeping your spaces organised.

Once you perceive the magic of reducing clutter through organisation and merciless (but grateful) clearing out, I guarantee the habit will worm itself into your routines and thought patterns. Here are some ways in which you can help it take hold:

One in, one out.

Every time you buy something new, whether it’s an item of clothing, a pen, a pot, some bedsheets, try to find an equivalent that you can throw out. This will help you to think more about what you buy and spend money on, as well as help to keep your spaces organised and prevent the accumulation of clutter.

Go Paperless

Wherever you can, switch to online statements and reports, reducing the amount of paper clutter in your house (and reducing the amount of sorting and organising of that clutter you need to do). You’ll also save the environment one bank statement at a time.

Make it easy for yourself.

Try to reduce the amount of energy required to keep clutter at bay by storing daily items in open-top containers (no need to open/close the lid!) at eye level. This may sound irrelevant, but I promise that a closed lid quickly becomes an obstacle to organisation.