Today’s tip: Do one thing today, a small thing
If you look around your house and your heart beats fast and your breath gets short and your world starts to close in…step back and BREATHE. Life is not going to come to an end if your house does not run like clockwork. Keep reading and let’s learn how to slowly begin the process of building a more efficient home and a more calm serene you.
The best thing to do is to start small, start with ONE drawer. Sure, you can dive right into that walk in closet but you will most likely run out of steam very quickly without a game plan.
We at Genius Organizing are HUGE fans of the organized drawer. Why, because its one small thing that can be accomplished in under 20 minutes. In the overwhelming world of organizing your home, you must have victories along the way or else you will never see the forest for the trees.
Once you organize that ONE drawer and really create a designated place for everything that should go in that drawer, it is infinitely easier to keep it maintained.
For this example we are going to use your sock drawer. Why? Because everyone has one and it almost always contains the same ingredients. There are three ways you can go about organizing a drawer.
1. LABEL it, just a little bit: This is the part where we are going to talk about labels again. In the theater, a prop master will often create a table covered with butcher paper divided with tape lines to create boxes like a large grid. Then each box will have the name of the designated prop written in. You can do the same thing in the bottom of a drawer.
2. DIVIDE and conquer: Purchase a divider, either one that creates the little boxes for you or one that creates long lines or a diamond shape for little things. You can’t go wrong with one of these items but MAKE SURE you measure your drawer before purchasing anything or else that divider will find its way to the “someday I’ll return this pile”.
Here's a before and after drawer as well as different divider options.
3. RE-PURPOSE, reuse, and recycle: Take those old shoe boxes and gift boxes you have and configure them inside the drawer any way you like. Again, you will need to write the items that go in each box on the bottom of the box, but it also gives you a chance to try out one configuration and then another easily. OR take the “socks box” with you over to the sofa while you are folding laundry and watching the telly. Then you can easily pop the “socks box” right back into the drawer!!
Just a reminder, TONIGHT, come see us live at Solas Bar for a FREE "Meet Up" Organizing Workshop. Hope to see you there!
Also, check out our ad in The "L" Magazine:
Nicole & Julia
yay! love the blog. love the one small thing per day thing.
ReplyDeletetoday:
i started small. bought a quart of the paint i needed to finish the trim in my foyer. turns out Ralph Lauren doesn't make that color anymore after ten years -- go figure--so i bought something similar.
also turns out that it doesn't quite match the original, but ...
tonight:
i washed, sanded and taped off the one side of the foyer and painted first coat. took approximately a half hour
tomorrow:
second coat, first coat on the other side.
later: try to match up the rest of the stuff already painted with a third coat and then it's gonna have to be good enough.
i figure it's a foyer. an entry way, exit way. folks breeze in and out of there and it's generally too dark to see the minor difference in paint. if they do, they need to get a life.
one small thing a day.
thanks, genius organizing!