How to organise a new home so it stays organised
Moving into a new place gives you a rare thing, which is a house where nothing has settled into a bad habit yet, and the way you set it up in the first few weekends is pretty much the way it will run for the next few years. Tidying up and getting organised are two different jobs, and the difference is that tidying moves the mess and organising gives every item a place it goes back to on its own.
Start by getting rid, not by storing
There is no point building storage for things you are never going to use, so the first pass is deciding what actually earns a spot in the house. Three piles, keep, give away and bin, and be honest about anything that has not been touched in a year, because a box you carried through a house move without opening is telling you something.
Do it in small blocks rather than trying to do the whole place in one Saturday. A drawer, a cupboard, one corner of the garage. Whole house days sound efficient and they end with everything spread across the lounge room floor at 6pm.
Give everything a place it goes back to
This is the whole thing, really. If the screwdriver lives on a hook and the hook is empty, you know where the screwdriver is, and you know it before you have opened a single drawer. Half an hour looking for a tool twice a week is a full day of your life gone over a year, and the reason nobody counts it is that it never happens all at once.
Hooks, shelf brackets and a bit of wall are usually cheaper and faster than another plastic tub, because anything hanging on a wall is visible, off the floor and back in its spot in one movement. Pegboard is worth knowing about for a garage or a laundry wall, since you can move the hooks around as you work out where things actually want to live.
The one touch rule
When you pick something up, it goes to its final home, not to the nearest flat surface. That is it. Piles of clothes that migrate from the bed to the chair to the floor and back are all one touch rule away from not existing, and it works on paperwork and tools and kids' school gear just as well.
Zone it, then label it
Decide what each area is for before you start filling it. Garden gear in one spot, tools in another, car and trailer bits in a third, and anything seasonal up high where it is out of the way until you want it. Then label the containers and the shelves, because labelling feels excessive right up until somebody who is not you needs to find the spare fuses.
A label and a marker cost almost nothing and they are the difference between a system you can hand over and a system only you can run.
Review it with the seasons
Set aside an hour every few months to walk around and see where clutter has crept back, because it always does, and that is not a failure of the setup. Rotate the seasonal stuff, pull out anything that is no longer earning its shelf, and get the rest of the household involved so the system is not sitting in your head alone.
Shop related products
- Shouldered Cup Hook 51mm, White. For hanging the everyday gear where you can see it.
- Stayed Bracket Heavy Duty 250 x 200mm. Galvanised, and rated for shelving that has to carry real weight.
- Macsim Spring Toggle 3mm x 75mm. What you use when there is no stud behind the plasterboard.
- Macsim Butterfly Toggle Wall Anchor 19mm. For lighter hooks and rails in a hollow wall.
Did you know we also stock pegboard sheets, melamine shelving by the length, white shelf brackets in 250mm and 300mm, storage bins, plastic tool boxes, drawer organisers, and labels and markers, all in the shop. Most of that is not on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.
The fixings are in our fasteners and fixings collection and the rest sits under hardware. If you are buying shelving or sheet material and it will not go in the car, we deliver for $5 around Strathalbyn and $10 on the regional run, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
My own shed is a work in progress, and I fully expect it to still be a work in progress next year.
Cheers,
Candeece
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