January Organising Challenge ~ Part 2 ~ Inspiration

Posted On January 21, 2012

During the week I wrote about IDENTIFYING a space in your home that needed some organisation and love. In particular that little place that your sheets and towels call home! That my friends is the easy part! Now, with your brave hat on, have a really good look at the area and….. IDENTIFY what is the problem? That’s right I forgot to tell you that Step 1 has 2 parts to it!

Does it just need tidying?

Is it over full and you are in need of more space?

Is it a disaster zone that hasn’t been touched in years that needs sorting, culling AND reorganising?

For me my linen and towel cupboards have three problems;

1. It just looks generally messy as nothing has been folded properly or organised into piles. (FOLDING/SORTING)

2. It starts off looking ok but quickly disolves into a mess as I am never sure which size sheets are which (LABELLING)

3. The kids towels get a bit crazy as they get into them and just grab from the too high pile spilling the rest of them all over the floor! (SORTING and SYSTEMS)

Now that I have IDENTIFIED the problems, I can start thinking about some possible solutions. The most common problems are;

Space. Do you really NEED everything that is in the cupboard? Could some towels and sheets be relegated to the bin pile? Does everything have to be in this cupboard? Maybe there are some items that could find a home elsewhere?

Folding/Sorting. If you only do one thing, sort. Well actually sort and fold. Put like items together. Fold them so they are a similar shape and size so they look neat and tidy. This little tidy makes all the difference to your space.

Storage. Although folding and sorting helps sometimes there is just soo much stuff that you need the assistance of baskets, dividers or containers to keep everything in it’s place. Storage could also mean storing rarely used items like winter bedding into containers and moving them to another location like an attic, ceiling cavity or garage.

Labelling. If your cupboard starts off tidy but never lasts that way maybe you need labels. Label the shleves, baskets anything to help your sheets return to their right space and find that items you are looking for without going through everything!

Systems. There is no method to the madness! You need to establish some systems when it comes to the space. For me it is separating the towels so that adults and children’s towels are in different places. I am also going to move the children’s towels and washers to a lower space where they can grab them easily without rummaging through the whole pile!

Now that I have thought about all of that I need some INSPIRATION! My favourite part!

Step 2. Inspiration.

I use Pinterest to search for solutions to my organising problems. I simply type in problem in the search engine and reveal a wealth of images that may help solve my problem!