8 Biggest Organizing Mistakes People Make

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Alt. tag: A messy office

Why do people often fail to organize their environment? The lack of time is the most usual excuse, but as it turns out, people who do not have too many obligations are often the ones with organizing issues. What can we do to become better planners and keep everything around us in order? Avoiding the biggest organizing mistakes is a good starting point, so let’s discuss them further.

#1 Waiting for the right moment to start organizing

There is no time like the present – this is true for pretty much every obligation we have. Postponing cleaning and rearranging will only make a bigger mess in your home or office. Don’t wait for a Monday to start organizing your stuff – today is the best day for it. The only time of year that is not really the best choice for starting things is during holidays.

Not knowing where to start is also an issue for many people. The bigger the mess, the harder it is to begin creating an order. But, whenever you feel discouraged by the amount of work, you should remember that you will feel better as soon as you start organizing.

Take one step at a time. If you are not ready to sacrifice your weekends to declutter, you can spend half an hour getting your home in order on weeknights. Or, you can give yourself some smaller tasks to accomplish. For instance, organize a drawer in your closet every day, or clean one shelf in your pantry every night. It will work, trust us!

#2 Not labeling

You can have all sorts of boxes, bins, separators, and pretty much everything that’s in store, but if you don’t know how to use the stuff properly, it won’t do you much good. Bear in mind that you might forget which box holds which items unless they are clearly marked. You can either number your boxes and make a list of contents that can easily be browsed, or you can write a short list of contents on each container. Nowadays, you can find various styles of labels, so you might even start to like them.

Caption: Color coding is great, but labeling is even better.

Alt. tag: Color-coded files on shelves.

#3 Holding on to the unnecessary

Almost all of us are guilty of holding on to the unnecessary stuff. Keeping certain items just because you might need them one day (in most cases, not true) is wrong on so many levels. The golden rule is to throw away any item that you haven’t used for a year. Give yourself even a more extended period (two years max.), but stick to your decision when the due day comes.

#4 Not doing it efficiently

A neat pantry or perfectly organized kitchen cabinets will not serve their purpose unless they are practical. You should group the items according to their mutual purpose rather than put similar ones together. For instance, if you make muffins on a regular basis, it is more practical to keep your paper liners, chocolate chips, and sprinkles together with your muffin baking trays or molds.

Practical tip: Try to keep the items where you use them most often, whenever that’s possible. Juicers, blenders, coffee makers deserve their room on your kitchen countertop rather than above the fridge or in the pantry. You will save yourself so much time, and the items will always be in place.

#5 Hiding clutter

Again, all of us do it, and there is nothing wrong with hiding our mess from the occasional guests. But, hiding it regularly is one of the typical organizing mistakes people make. It becomes a habit, and as such, it isn’t easy to deal with. Make sure you clean or put in order whatever it is that you have hidden as soon as your guests leave, so that next time you will have nothing to be ashamed of.

Caption: Hiding your mess in a storage unit is one of the organizing mistakes people make.

Alt. tag: Storage units.

Renting a storage unit for the stuff you do not need at the moment is a great idea, but using it for storing things you don’t know what to do with is an organizing mistake you should avoid making. For example, if it is summer and you have some skiing equipment and a storage unit, try to get everything in there in an organized way, and you will avoid clutter in your home. On the other hand, if you have stored your old garage door just because you don’t want to sell it or throw it away, you are not doing yourself a favor. Before you know it, your storage unit will become messy too.

#6 Getting organizing supplies first

Stores offer a variety of organizing solutions, and every single one of them can be practical. But, if you haven’t already thought of their purpose, they might end up unused. Instead of doing that, make a list of the bins, boxes, and other organizing supplies you might need before you hit the shops – that is one of the best organizing tips you can get! One more thing – measure everything. Buying a container that cannot accommodate what you planned to put inside will discourage you instantly.

#7 Including/not including others in the organizing process

There is no use organizing the home you share with a partner and/or kids if they are not ready to get their possessions in order. And you need to follow the same organizing pattern – if you fold your kitchen towels one way and your partner does it differently, the pile will not be neat, that is for sure.

Also, choosing the wrong crew for decluttering and organizing can be a huge mistake. You don’t need people asking you: How can you throw that away? – every single time you decide that you no longer need something.

#8 Failing to maintain what’s been done

Keeping your home or office desk neat might be even more difficult than getting it in order in the first place. You should put everything back in its spot after use, or at least at the end of the day, which some people find too tiring. But, maintaining what’s been done right once can prolong the period between two organizing sessions and save you so much time and energy.

Caption: Learn to put everything back where it belongs.

Alt. tag: Person putting something back in place in their kitchen.

Now that you have a clearer idea of what you have been doing wrong and some of the organizing mistakes people make, we hope you might try harder to do better. Remember, changing your daily habits is not easy, but introducing small changes every day can get you there.

Photos used:

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