Zoning: Put Similar Things in the Same Place

If you have de-cluttered, you can start organizing. A basic way to do this is the create zones. Think big to begin with: give each room a purpose. It may not be the purpose it was made for, but it needs to be a purpose that works for you...dining room, office, craft room, toy room, bedroom, exercise room, laundry room, etc. Once you've come up with a purpose for each room, you'll need to come up with zones within each room. For example, in your garage you might have zones that look a bit like this: gardening supplies, sporting goods, holiday storage, automotive, food storage, and garbage. In your kitchen, you might have zones for baking, cooking, beverages, cleaning, mail, recycling & trash, food storage, and cookbooks. Or maybe the cleaning zone will be in the laundry room. Think about where you use the stuff most often, and put it there. Once you have your zones in place, and you have labeled everything (very important!), give your family a tour so they know where to find things, and where to put things away. For more ideas, read tip two on how to organize yourself. When you have really advanced, you will be able to have zones within your zones, but you'd probably have to be obsessed with organizing like I am. Don't stress yourself out trying to do too much! It takes time to get organized, and effort to stay organized.