Are you sorting out your drawers regularly?

China
February 24, 2009 9:40am CST
In my house, we have lots of drawers, drawers for clothing, for documents, for stationeries, for odds and ends, etc. I sort out my belongings about twice a year when we change seasons. But still there are times I have to spend a long time looking for something urgently needed. What tips you can give to have a clean and well organized order for our ever increasing belongings?
6 responses
@bluishrose (2289)
• Philippines
26 Feb 09
I sort my things out whenever I have the time or when I feel like im missing some things already. I try to be organize and sorting out is done on a weekly basis. It helps to avoid disappearance of important stuff.
@maximax8 (31055)
• United Kingdom
26 Feb 09
I usually sort of my drawers and cupboards around four times a year. I like to do that as part of my clutter clearing. I have a plan to have a place for everything and have everything in its place. I have too many things and frequently I have trouble finding something that I need. I like to store disks in boxes, postcards and photos in albums and paper in an in-tray. Things collect dust and then I sneeze.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
24 Feb 09
I used to do it every summer and then have a yard sale! Now in an apt, I can't do that so I just clean and then don't buy! That age old saying "if you haven't used it in a year...toss it". I am not one for "sayings" but this one is a good one..tried and true! I moved out of a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apt and had the Disable Vets come take load after load...most ofwhat I han't used in a year or more!
@lynnemg (4529)
• United States
24 Feb 09
I am pretty good about keeping things organized, as long as it isn't my clothes! That is the one area where I am really trying to improve. it isn't that I don't know where they are, it's that I don't get rid of them often enough. If you are organizing your desk, you should give everythinga c ertain place and at least once a week, go through and throw out all the trash. Use a filing cabinat if you have a lot of papers to organize. I have a system on my desk that helps me. I have two paper bins on the left of my monitor and four on the right. The two on the left are for things I do each day. I put things I have to tend to in the top bin, and when they are finished,I place them in the botome. On the right side, my kids put anything I need to see from school in the top one, and the bottome three are there bins, where they pick up the papers to return to school. I have a cup for my pens and pencils. a shelf for my printer supplies, and a drawer that holds important papers in color-coded folders. For me, the key is to make things easily accessible and to have them near the area they are used the most. I try not to collect too many things. If I don't use it, I get rid of it. No need in keeping things that are just going to remain useless to me. The less clutter I have, the easier it is for me to stay organized. Another thing I do is to be sure to use the old stuff before buying new. It is alwasy nice to have a little extra around, but there is a limit. I helped a couple of people clean out and organize their homes, and I found that one of the biggest problems is having too many things in excess. For instance, one lady and I cleaned out her bathroom, and she had bunches and bunches of make-up products and perfumes and hair products. Some of it, she had so long she forgot all about it! She didn't want to get rid of most of it, so I challenged her to use all she had before buying anymore. It worked for her! She now has only what she needs and her bathrrom is a lot more organized. Another woman had cupboards just full of cups and dishes she didn't use. She and I went through them and got rid of what she no longer needed. Her drawers were full of old papers and receipts. I showed her that if she would throw things away when she no longer needed them rather than stuffing them in a drawer, she would hve less lying around and more room for what she really did need. I think that if you regularly get rid of things that are not important or that you do not use, it really does help.
@moneymommy (3418)
• United States
24 Feb 09
I only do it about twice a year. When I change out winter to summer clothes and vice versa.
@bubbletush (1332)
• Philippines
25 Feb 09
most of the time, the drawers at home are well sorted out especially the drawers where important documents are kept. I have them kept in separate expandable folders with labels. I could not say the same though for the clothes for home use. But the clothes that we wear for work and outdoors are well sorted out, all ironed out and are in hangers.