The Unsexy Organizing Advice That Actually Works

You really want to get organized or be organized. You really want your home to look nice, to be ready to have visitors pop in. And you really want your kids to put their damn shoes on the shoe rack!

Me too, folks. Me too.

I am lucky enough to be a professional organizer. And I’ve been doing workplace organization and optimization for 18 years. This week, I’m doing a list-icle instead of a story. Does it mean my week this life was boring? Or everything went smoothly so I have nothing to write about? Non, ma chère. It just means I wanted until the last possible minute of my ‘daycare’ time to craft this article, and I need something fast and dirty.

Here are my 5 favorite things to use or do as a professional organizer:

Peg boards → Shadow boards.

If you don’t have any peg boards in your life, first, I’m sorry. Second, you should get some. They let you make use of vertical space. In kitchens, playrooms, workshops, craft rooms. You can get very inexpensive sheets of pegboard material from a local home improvement store, slightly nicer versions at IKEA and The Container Store, and very nice ones from industrial supply stores like ULINE. I like cheap ones for kids (you can paint them, they hold up well, and if they get destroyed over time who cares!) and expensive ones for my tools, because I need them to hold some weight.

Okay, now the trick is, once you’ve laid everything out, picked your pegs and put your items on, trace AROUND your items with a permanent marker. Then, fill in the space with some plain, black paint (or any color paint, the world is your oyster, don’t let me put you in a black box). Finally, slap a label on that puppy… either a label maker, or use a metallic paint pen.

A peg board makes it visible → The shadow board makes it obvious.

Decant ONLY when the alternative is worse.

Every time I see a glass jar holding exactly a box of pasta, I die a little inside. Why? Why do you do this to yourself? So you can ‘see’ it? So it doesn’t get stale? Come on!

To decant or not is a tale as old as the profession of organizing itself. And there are times where it’s warranted, and times where it’s not. I only decant for a few, specific reasons.

The bag or container is fragile and once opened is a risk to contain the ingredients.

I buy spices in bulk, at my local Indian grocery store. Keeping them in the bags once I open them is a risk, and one that I’m not willing to take! So I have small glass jars that I keep my spices in once they’re open, and I keep anything leftover in the bag wrapped up tightly in a backstock location. Same goes for beans and lentils and half-used bags of pasta!

I bought a huge amount and the box/container is unwieldy.

I buy rice in 40 lb bags and I am not hauling that out every other day. So I decant about a months worth into a big jar and keep in my daily pantry. This also applies to things like flour, oats, oil into a squirt bottle, soy sauce - other pantry staples that are sometimes easier to manage in a smaller container. I also decant into portions for my kids to grab, so I don’t have to manage their snacks.

I need the remaining amount to be visible to everyone, and not just me.

I don’t want to count diapers and toilet paper - I want everyone to know what is left with a glance. So diapers are moved into a bin with a ‘minimum’ threshold. Toilet paper is placed in the bathroom cupboard above the toilet, and you can see all 6 → 5 → 4 rolls at once.

Everything else, essentially, stays in its packaging. The allure of decanting videos, re-stock videos, specialized containers for everything is just MARKETING. And, it’s a huge waste of time!

There are some things that you should never decant.

I don’t care how many videos you’ve seen of cute clear glass containers or acrylic drawers holding laundry pods and dishwasher pods. If you read last week’s article, you understand the danger lurking in our homes - and this display just makes these items look more like candy.

If I find out you’re decanting your dishwasher pods, I will slap your hands.

Time your activities

If you don’t know how long it takes to ‘run something upstairs’ or ‘empty the dishwasher’ your brain treats that unknown as ‘probably a long time.’

Once you know how long something actually takes, you can drop that task into periods of waiting.

Example, I know it takes me 90 seconds to switch laundry from my washer to my dryer. And it takes 90 seconds to heat water in my kettle. It takes me 3 minutes to walk dry laundry upstairs, and sort into my kids’ bins. It also takes 3 minutes to brew my tea.

Switch kettle on → switch clothes to dryer → pour water into mug → walk sorted laundry upstairs and put in girls bins → come downstairs and sit to enjoy my tea.

I’ve made tea AND moved the needle on laundry in under 5 minutes.

Decluttering is useless if you haven’t looked at your shopping with a critical eye

You can declutter every single day, but if you haven’t put up a dam to slow the flow of items into your home, it does not matter. Decluttering is another marketing lie. “Get rid of the stuff you don’t use, and then buy these products to organize what’s left!”

You’re smarter than this!

First, just delete the Amazon shopping app, and any other shopping apps, from your phone. If you need to buy something, sit at the computer. Add some friction.

Second, delete your ‘saved’ credit card information from your browser. If you have to get your credit card out to type in the number, you might have just enough time to think about what you’re doing.

Third, put in a mandatory 24 hour cooling off period for non-essentials. And really be critical about what is essential. You’re out of diapers? That’s essential. You spilled wine on your favorite white shirt? Well, that’s not essential my friends. That’s a want. You want a new white shirt.

Intentional friction is the name of the game!

Have a system for paper

Your desk is [probably] covered in paper. Your entry way probably has un-dealt with junk mail or even worse, real mail you need to take action on.

You don’t need one of those little entryway mail sorters. You don’t need a filing organizer for your desk. You only need a system.

Get a small recycling bin for the door next to where you enter the house with mail. Step across the threshold and drop in the recycling or trash. BONUS POINTS, keep a security roller on a string taped to this bin, so you can blank out sensitive information immediately.

Make sure you have time blocked to deal with paperwork. Every week. If you don’t do this, you’ll start drowning quickly. If you end up not needing the time slot, good on you. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Use your phone scan documents feature! Android phones have it built into the photos app. I’m sure iPhones have something similar (but as an iPhone avoider, I really don’t know). During your blocked time, scan things that are important, and save a digital copy, and immediately discard the physical copy. Don’t save it just in case. (Except tax documents, save those buggers).

None of these ideas are magic, in-and-of themselves. But like Jack’s magic beans, plant them, water them, and they might change your life. The common theme here - make the right decision easy, and the wrong decision hard.