Organizing a closet can be an uplifting experience that boosts productivity and eases your stress load.
Many times, we gain momentum and excitement over the prospect of freeing up some much needed space that we get ahead of ourselves.
Unfortunately, missing important mistakes and making some of these common mistakes can eliminate all of the benefits we were hoping to achieve.
1 - Failing To Separate Items From The Closet By Use Regardless of what space you look at, every item in it will fall into one of three categories -- currently in use, used occasionally, and rarely or never used.
When you fail to sort things out in this manner, you end up mixing the three categories together in the organizational system.
Digging through the items you don't use is inconvenient, time consuming, and takes up space needed for the items you do use regularly.
2 - Not Using All Of The Available Space When you can see the back of the cabinet, you still have space.
Items should still be easy to access and return to their place.
Selecting the right closet systems and features solves this problem.
Vertical and drawer dividers, pullout shelves, and baskets can help significantly.
In the bedroom, short dual rods at different heights are more effective than one long single rod.
3 - Overfilling A Basket Or Drawer Just as bad as under using the space, filling areas too full just recreates the same problem you were trying to solve with organization.
While failing to sort your items often causes this issue, sometimes you really do have too many items for the space.
To solve the problem, divide the items into two areas or pare down the items you are attempting to store by eliminating duplicates or items that can go elsewhere.
4- Storing Commonly Used Items In An Inconvenient Space If you have to stand on a chair, kneel on the floor, or reach deep into a cabinet to get the items you use all the time, you will find that you try to avoid getting these items out or putting them back.
You may even have difficulty finding items to start with.
Eliminate this problem by storing commonly used items in the closet at a height no lower than your waist and no higher than the top of your head.
Things you rarely use can fill the rest of the space.
5- Relocating The Mess While you will have to move items from one spot to another and one room to another, it is important not to relocate the mess.
You are better off to get rid of what you can right from the start and try to have a storage solution ready.
When you're done, you won't have another mess to deal with in a different space.
Whether you are dealing with a closet in Chicago or a full storage room in Minneapolis, organization can help you in so many ways.
You just need to watch that you don't work against yourself.
Avoiding these commonly made mistakes will make the job easier and will produce far better results.
Many times, we gain momentum and excitement over the prospect of freeing up some much needed space that we get ahead of ourselves.
Unfortunately, missing important mistakes and making some of these common mistakes can eliminate all of the benefits we were hoping to achieve.
1 - Failing To Separate Items From The Closet By Use Regardless of what space you look at, every item in it will fall into one of three categories -- currently in use, used occasionally, and rarely or never used.
When you fail to sort things out in this manner, you end up mixing the three categories together in the organizational system.
Digging through the items you don't use is inconvenient, time consuming, and takes up space needed for the items you do use regularly.
2 - Not Using All Of The Available Space When you can see the back of the cabinet, you still have space.
Items should still be easy to access and return to their place.
Selecting the right closet systems and features solves this problem.
Vertical and drawer dividers, pullout shelves, and baskets can help significantly.
In the bedroom, short dual rods at different heights are more effective than one long single rod.
3 - Overfilling A Basket Or Drawer Just as bad as under using the space, filling areas too full just recreates the same problem you were trying to solve with organization.
While failing to sort your items often causes this issue, sometimes you really do have too many items for the space.
To solve the problem, divide the items into two areas or pare down the items you are attempting to store by eliminating duplicates or items that can go elsewhere.
4- Storing Commonly Used Items In An Inconvenient Space If you have to stand on a chair, kneel on the floor, or reach deep into a cabinet to get the items you use all the time, you will find that you try to avoid getting these items out or putting them back.
You may even have difficulty finding items to start with.
Eliminate this problem by storing commonly used items in the closet at a height no lower than your waist and no higher than the top of your head.
Things you rarely use can fill the rest of the space.
5- Relocating The Mess While you will have to move items from one spot to another and one room to another, it is important not to relocate the mess.
You are better off to get rid of what you can right from the start and try to have a storage solution ready.
When you're done, you won't have another mess to deal with in a different space.
Whether you are dealing with a closet in Chicago or a full storage room in Minneapolis, organization can help you in so many ways.
You just need to watch that you don't work against yourself.
Avoiding these commonly made mistakes will make the job easier and will produce far better results.
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