In recent blog posts I’ve written about the five simple steps I use with organizing projects. Here are some additional ideas about Step 2:
What remains, categorize.
Another way of saying it is, “put like with like.” That’s the positive way to state the concept. The negative way would be, “don’t mix things.”
Recently I was working with a client and she showed me a shoebox full of items and said, “These are just miscellaneous things.” I asked her if I might give her some input about what she was defining as miscellaneous. She consented and I took one item at a time out of the box and defined a possible category for it, saying “This looks like it might fit in with home office supplies.” and “This looks like it might belong in the garage; and perhaps the laundry room for this item?” We were able to sort out her items one by one, and pretty soon she got the hang of putting things in categories – putting like with like. If you can grasp this idea and begin to make a habit of it, you’ll become more organized.
To learn to put items into categories, start to pay attention to the group in which your belongings would “live” most effectively. And if you find that you don’t yet have a spot (area or container) for similar items, create one. What I find most often is that various items are mixed together and there’s no dedicated spot for specific categories, once they are separated.
For example, when you create one drawer or shelf (or part of one) for hats, or gym clothes, it makes it easy to find these items, as they are now all grouped together. It also makes it easy to know where to put them. And it makes it easy to enlist the help of others in that process as well – many hands make light work ! as they say. It’s especially nice when little hands help make light work. Training your kids to be organized when they’re young is a wonderful gift to give them.
And one last thought: when you begin to group items into categories and create new “homes” for them, you will definitely want to acquaint your family (or roommates) with the changes you’ve made – if it will affect them.