Is There a Pattern to Your Piles?

kconcha via Pixabay

Last fall, I wrote about piles as a system for those of us with an I need to see it personal style, and lately, I've been thinking more about what's in those piles. Once I started paying attention, it didn't take long before I realized that there's definitely a pattern to the things I pile up. Papers that are actionable or need filing and homeless items top the list, which led me to the next question.

Why?

When it comes to papers, I pile them instead of putting them away because I'm afraid of losing or forgetting something. I often make notes about new ways to do things, especially in my classes, and leaving the paper out and visible keeps the new approach in the forefront of my mind. When it comes to bills and other time-sensitive items, I leave those out so I won't forget to pay them and/or miss a deadline. Something about the bill staring up at me is more effective than marking a date on a calendar.

Last night, as part of the "make room" portion of my Christmas planning and decorating, I sorted through a pile of things that had taken up residence on the mail counter in my kitchen. This pile annoyed me greatly every time I saw it because that area is one I'm usually very good at keeping uncluttered. 

The pile contained the usual suspects -- papers to file, time-sensitive ads, envelopes for Christmas cards we've already received that I kept so I could check the addresses against my book -- along with
a plethora of one homeless item in particular.

Magazines.

I stopped my subscriptions to most magazines ages ago because they have a tendency to pile up before I have time to read them, but somehow, a few have crept back into the rotation. One is, unfortunately, a weekly publication.

I don't stand a chance.

By the end of the evening, I'd sorted the pile, written out about half of my Christmas cards (I need to buy another box), filed a few things and left a pile of magazines in my wake.

As I typed this, a potential home for those magazines popped into my head so, this evening, I know just what sorting task lies ahead -- clearing out the old and making room for the new. In this new home, the magazines will be slightly out of sight, but not entirely so, a compromise solution that will eliminate the pile and jog my memory, albeit to a lesser extent. In addition, I'll need to winnow the most recent and most interesting issues from the rest because there's no point in keeping issues I'm unlikely to read.

Finally, I need to consider these magazines a "maybe" pile, and mark them accordingly, topping the pile with a sticky note with today's date and an expiration date on it. If I haven't read them by the time I go back to teaching next semester, those magazines need to go in the recycling bin, or at least be resorted so the pile is more realistic. Not only will they be outdated by then, but my leisure reading time will all but disappear, making them clutter instead of reading material.

In organizing, as in life, I'm always happiest when I have a plan. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one works, but I'm even more excited to transform those miscellaneous piles into an actual stack of reading material.

Now all I need to do is add "time to read" to my Christmas list.

From So-So to Spectacular

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Yesterday's post left me with a lingering question:

What other storage habits do I need to reconsider? 

Unless you've recently moved, renovated or redecorated, you probably haven't updated your organizational set-up recently. Like the squeaky wheel, organizational systems typically get attention only when they aren't working.

Still, as my flag storage plan reminded me, we sometimes settle for "good enough" when one small change could make a big difference. And, we sometimes don't even know we're doing it.

Often, the first sign that we need to make a change is that things aren't getting retrieved or put away in a timely manner. While we often point to ourselves (or someone else in the house) as the problem, there's often a deeper issue at work. Three simple questions can be the key to turning so-so systems into storage solutions.

• Is the system easy to use? An overly complicated storage system is sometimes as bad as none at all. When putting things away is difficult, we choose the path of least resistance, putting things down instead of away (drop and run organizers), putting them wherever there is space (I know I put it somewhere organizers) or stuffing them somewhere (cram and jammers). When we do this, we exacerbate the problem, creating a retrieval issue. Drop and run organizers must retrace their steps and dig through piles. I know I put it somewhere organizers race around frantically trying to remember which safe place they put the necessary item in and cram and jammers attempt to retrieve things from overstuffed spaces, hoping the thing they're searching for won't be crumpled, torn or broken when they find it. In the process, we waste time, frustrate ourselves and often create chaos. Often, however, it's this process that reveals the answer to the questions behind this problem: what's stopping me from using this system and how can I fix that?

• Is it in the right place? Similarly, if we have to climb ladders, move piles or take a cupboard apart to find something we use with any degree of frequency, it's in the wrong place. While it makes sense to store things we use only occasionally in out-of-the-way locations (especially when space is an issue), the things we use more often need to be easier to access. Store it where it's used, store frequently used items in easy-to-access places and store similar items together.

• Do I like it? Although this might not affect how well the system works, it can affect how likely we are to use it. If it's fantabulously functional (a worn accordion file with just the right number of labeled sections, for example), we might not care how it looks, especially if we tuck it away in a drawer or closet. But, if you're taking your system from so-so to spectacular, the aesthetics of containers and systems are worth considering.

In the best of all possible circumstances, a simple change in location makes a big difference, as it did for my garden flags. Other times, some shopping, sorting and re-organizing is required, but if these steps create a more efficient system, the time to put it all together is time well spent. Not only will it reduce your clutter, as sorting often does, but it will also save you time.

Best of all, you'll be too busy taking pride in your new system to have time to point the finger of blame at anyone, including yourself.

Alexas Fotos via Pixabay

3 Keys Thursday: 3 New Ways to Look at Tried-and-True Clothing Organizers

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Nothing like ending one day's post with a promise for more to inspire me to tackle my closet.

Actually, it was the unfinished nature of my organizational decisions, combined with some unexpected time to myself that got me going. That, and a little more time on Pinterest.

So, clearly, I can't take full credit for today's ideas. Inspired by this pin that I posted to my "Shoe Organizers: Not Just for Shoes" board last week, I set out to tame my leggings (easy -- I don't have that many) and their matching sweaters significantly more challenging). Along the way, I tried (and discovered) some ways to repurpose organizers to solve the organizational issues I was facing.

Target.com

For leggings: A hanging, see-through shoe organizer. This is the pin that started it all. Unfortunately, most of the closets at my house have bifold doors, so I don't have anywhere to hang these wondrous problem-solvers. I thought about going to the dollar store to see if I could find the smaller ones meant for kids' closets, but in the meantime, we took our weekly trip to Target and I found this....

For leggings: A scarf holder. Since I (currently) have fewer than a dozen pairs of leggings, the lovely collection of circles at right allows me to store my leggings with my hanging clothes, while also staggering them so the holder doesn't get too bulky and take up too much hanging space.

Photo: Ask Anna

For sweaters: A shoe bin. Not only did this idea (left) solve my sweater storage problem, but it also allowed me to utilize the shoe bin we bought for my daughter for college -- the one that came home with us because she didn't have room for it. This idea works better for thin sweaters than their bulkier wintry counterparts, but it allowed me to get my burgeoning sweater collection under control. Well, that and the one in, one out rule. (When you buy something new, get rid of something old).


If you're on Pinterest, check out my boards. I'm working on updating the one on Organization Posts so you can find all of my posts from this blog on Pinterest as well, but I'm always adding to my boards on office spaces, closets and drawers, and organization in general, and creating new boards as I find new pins.

That Which is Acquired Must Also be Stored

MabelAmber via Pixabay

I have a general rule of fashion: if I was old enough to wear it the first time it was in style, I'm too old to wear it when it (inevitably) comes back around.

Recently, however, I caved in and broke that rule for an article of clothing that got me through the 80s: leggings.

I didn't break my rule lightly. I spent more than a year taking in the various incarnations of leggings, jeggings, yoga pants and sweats that are ubiquitous on a college campus (where I work), determining what sort of fashion statement I did (or didn't) want to make. I'm at least thirty years older than these young adults, and the combinations that looked youthful and vibrant on them would look out of place (to say the least) on me. Not only that, but I no longer possess the twenty-something body of a college student or the yoga-toned body of some of my peers. Coverage would be key.

Last fall, after dusting off one pair of leggings that had survived the purge of BC (before child) clothing, I began acquiring new leggings and, along with them, sweaters that offered appropriate coverage. Fashion-wise, a hit. Storage-wise, a challenge.

The leggings were easy -- at least at first. They fold flat, don't wrinkle and can even be stuffed into small spaces if necessary. The long blouses that accompanied them in the fall were easy to accommodate as well; they are the stuff for which hangers were made.

target.com

It was the sweaters. Thick, long and unable to be hung without stretching in all the wrong places, they challenged my existing (full) clothing storage. They took up more than their fair share of space in the closet or any drawer in my bedroom. Honestly, I've yet to come up with an answer that thrills me, but, in the meantime, the less bulky ones are folded over hangers in my closet (the kind with the hooks that allow vertical hanging) and the two bulky ones have appropriated the better part of a drawer, necessitating a different storage solution for the lightweight cardigans that had been there to begin with (more vertical hanging storage). They'd be perfect on a shelf....if only I had a shelf that was unaccounted for. A bit more purging and rearranging may yet yield a perfect, STYLE-based solution, but, for now, I'm happy they're put away.

The success story, though is the leggings, for which I did find a solution I love. Tune in tomorrow to see what inspired me (thank you, Pinterest) and where I ended up.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Key Ideas for I Know I Put it Somewhere Organizers

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Ah, the I know I put it somewhere organizer. So Type A organizer on the outside, yet so lost at times when it comes to finding those things he or she put in a "safe place."

One theory psychologists use to explain the memory process is a three step model: encoding, storage, retrieval. In order for us to successfully retrieve something from memory (remember it), it has to have been properly encoded (entered) and stored (put somewhere it can be accessed).

That same theory can be applied to the organizational process, particularly for the I know I put it somewhere organizer. Since all available storage space is created equal in the mind of the I know I put it somewhere organizer, these folks need to limit their options so they aren't tearing the house apart looking for one thing. For them, the key to successful retrieval lies in successful storage or finding homes that make sense.

freepik.com

• Location rule #1: Store items where they are used. Storing an item close to where it's used (e.g., oven mitts near the oven) not only makes sense, but it also makes it easier to remember where we put things and, therefore, to find them when we need them. If we know our "somewhere" is limited to the storage spaces in the area where the item is typically used, we reduce our search parameters from "it could be anywhere" to "it's somewhere in this drawer." Quite a substantial reduction -- and one that requires much less time and energy when we need to find something, even if that something is (still) just stuffed in a drawer.

• Location rule #2: Store like items together. This key combines storage and retrieval. If we use Location rule #1 and store an item in a place that makes sense, we're more likely to remember where we put it, which makes it easier to retrieve it. Storing like items together piggybacks on Location rule #1, making it easier to find things because of the associations we make  (e.g. I'm putting the oven mitts in the drawer with the cookbooks). These associations provide visual cues which act as retrieval cues. In other words, making a connection between, say, the cookbooks and the oven mitts, helps the I know I put it somewhere organizer remember which somewhere is the one he or she chose for both items.

• Use retrieval cues. Some things can be used in a variety of spaces, making Location rule #1 challenging. And while opening the drawer and seeing the cookbooks can provide the "aha" moment that reminds us where we stored the oven mitts, it's even better if we can figure out which drawer to open in the first place. To do this, the I know I put it somewhere organizer can benefit from taking a page out of the I need to see it organizer's book, and using strategies like labeling, color-coding and see-through storage. Unlike the I need to see it organizer, the I know I put it somewhere organizer can put these see-through, labeled or color-coded containers behind closed doors (because out of sight isn't out of mind for I know I put it somewhere folks), or they can simply use these strategies and containers in the first place. Clear plastic bins come in many sizes and colors and can be incredibly helpful in revealing those "safe" storage places to I know I put it somewhere organizers. 

Really Useful Boxes
staples.com

If you're an I know I put it somewhere organizer, what are the key ideas you swear by? Share in the comments below!

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