Ok, so it’s fun to have matching yet colour coded bins holding perfectly lined up items so that when you open that cupboard you can see all of the colours of the rainbow…but you can still be organized without all that beauty!

When it comes to organizing your stuff after you have decluttered the space, you need to think function and ease of use rather than beauty. Function and ease of use actually matter so much more than perfectly stacking and matching containers! And sometimes, stacking containers actually makes it harder for you to put something away in the right spot after using it!

If you really want to get the most use out of your preferred items, then make sure you can access them easily, put them away easily, and that everyone knows where to find them!

This goes for everything that you want to keep. If you are burrying your stuff in some kind of deep storage, then you are really saying that you never need to get to it again. And, if that is the case, why not just get rid of it! You don’t really need to put anything in “deep” storage.

All of your stuff should be easy to grab and use!

So, if you are setting up your pantry, let’s say, you don’t need to actually colour coordinate bins or even the items going into the bins. You just need to make sure that you can get to any appliances or food that you are storing in your pantry! You don’t need to transfer your food into fancy jars just to end up with a bit extra from your Costco bag that you can’t even fit into the jar! What you do need is to make sure that you can access the food and that the food you’re storing is being used and cycled so as to use it before it expires!

If you’re setting up a craft area, don’t pack stuff onto your shelves so tightly that you can’t pull out something without 10 other things coming with it! Make sure you leave enough space around items so that you can quickly put something back where it belongs!

Function should take priority!

You can always upgrade to beauty as you declutter your stuff and refine your organizing systems and locations of where you keep stuff. When you’re ready for beauty, you should know for sure that your system will work successfully. Then, if both money and function still support the beauty upgrade, go for it!

Next time you have decluttered that kitchen drawer or the front hall closet, the matching bins or hangers don’t matter. You don’t need to go out and buy all kinds of new organizing tools!

What matters most is that you can use the stuff, AND, more importantly, that you can put it away easily when you are done with it!

Thanks for coming home!