I’ve said it before, but we should be clear I’m not the organized type. I always thought because my personality types confirmed I’m a logical thinker, it meant I was a logical organizer. No. I’m quite the opposite. I know where most things are, but it’s usually in the midst of some big pile.
Recently I made 3 very small changes around the house that made a huge impact. I thought I might share for those of you who might be organizationally challenged too.
#1 Bookcases by Color
I ran into this article detailing 9 ways to organize your books through one of Holley Gerth’s posts last month. Maybe it shouldn’t have been, but it was revolutionary for me.
I love walking into a library—it feels GOOD to be around all the words organized correctly. I couldn’t ever get mine together in the same way that made me happy to see them. My system was just to simply shelve a book on the end of a shelf where there was space. It felt icky and I didn’t like that I didn’t enjoy my books.
I never realized until reading that article that it was ok to organize your house in a way that fit YOU. For me, bookcases are supposed to be shelved by genre and last name.
I’d seen the pretty pictures on Pinterest of books organized by color, but it never occurred to me that organizing books by color meant they were actually organized—just arranged.
Within 10 minutes of reading that article, I organized my (humble) shelves by color.
I’ve never been more happy with my books. I remember books by their spine color and know just where to go for the book and it’s pretty.
#2 Alphabetical Spices
This is Organization 101 but I have to share. It took me FIFTEEN years of marriage, but I finally alphabetically organized my spices.
I was looking for cumin Tuesday night to make my taco mix and realized for the hundredth time I was searching every single row for the cumin. Every. single. time.
Where could that cumin be?
Am I out of cumin?
Is it hiding behind the pepper?
Is it in a short container or big container?
Why couldn’t I just pick it off the shelf after a quick scan like I do in the grocery store?
So, as my meat browned for tacos, I had enough and organized my spices in about 3 minutes. AMAZING. WHYYY did it take me 15 years to do this?
#3 Unorganized Jeans
So, maybe this isn’t exactly an organizational tip but hear me out. I usually sit right in between two jean sizes. If I’m just a few pounds lighter, I wear one size. If I’m just a few pounds heavier, I wear one size larger. Right now, I’m in the larger size.
I would wear the larger size that fit until laundry needed done and I was out of the larger size. I would pull those smaller sizes out and squeeze into them. It made me feel TERRIBLE all day long. I was physically squeezed and mentally, I beat myself up for that muffin top I just created by squeezing into the wrong size.
I finally had the epiphany the other day I just needed to remove the smaller size from the hangers and set them aside.
BOOM.
I feel SO MUCH BETTER. I’m not tempted to wear the smaller size and I feel amazing in the larger size. I’m physically more comfortable and I don’t have a muffin top reminding me of the few extra pounds I need to lose.
My smaller sized jeans are now organized into a neat little pile in a different part of my closet. My hanging jeans now have much more room and my brain is happier.
While nothing here is revolutionary, these small changes made a big impact for me. Maybe you need to try one of them out?
I’m curious, do you organize your books or spices differently?
Everyone makes fun of me for my alphabetized spices, but I don’t know how anyone functions in the kitchen without it! I organize my books by subject matter, but I have absolutely no system for organizing kids books, and it shows… they are a mess! I love the clothes tip — I still have a lot of clothes that don’t fit well since I just had a baby a few months ago, so I’m sure getting them out of my closet would save me a lot of grief.
Sarah @ Beauty School Dropout recently posted…One Community: November
I know the spices will be one of those things that I’ll wonder how I got along without it!
My kids’ books are organized by size just because that’s the way they go for them (chapter books, etc).
Ah, being in and out of maternity sizes never make for a fun closet!
We have one of those pull out spice container drawers. It’s in our island and I HATE it. Whoever thought it would be helpful to have to pull out a drawer where you can only see half the items and only from the top was a moron.
I used to have a spice shelf like yours and alphabetized it. I loved it and miss it!
For books? I like to do them by series and/or category. But color would be pretty, too.
a
ohamanda recently posted…ohChristmas
Hm, that does seem like it would be hard! The only thing I don’t like about the shelf in our house is the small ones are so short they fall off the edges. The rack came with the house and clearly I’m too lazy to buy anything different. It does make me wonder what other options are out there.
I realized I don’t keep fiction long enough to even keep them by series! Most of the books I keep around are non-fiction in case I want to refer to them again. I rarely re-read any fiction!
Amy, you were one of the folks I was so hoping to meet at Allume, but just never figured out how to find! Yes, yes, and yes to each one of these ideas. The alphabetized spices was life changing for us. More so because I am the sous chef around here and do all of the hunting for spices. About those jeans… I exhaled FOR you when I got to the part about putting the smaller size away from the more comfortable sizes. Wisdom in the closet.
Missy recently posted…Wrecked Up Good
Missy, I saw you across the room a few times and I’m kicking myself for not making my way over to you. Maybe we’ll meet next year?
I try to organise my spices by the ones I use the most. I tried alphabetical for a while, but it quickly devolved into my current system. Because the back rows are a little harder to access. So basically, my baking spices and oregano, basil, and dill are in the front rows. Things like cumin, mustard, etc are in the back.
I organised my books by colour once and I loved it. Right now, they’re kind of generally categorised…vintage books, novels I love, and everything else.
Jo @ To a Pretty Life recently posted…Yellow vs. Grey vs. Mauve
I did that a little with my spices too…each level has 2 rows and I put the ones I used most often towards the front.
WHYYYYYY has it never occurred to me to alphabetize my spices? Me, who color codes the closets…spends forever looking for a particular spice jar.
Stacey recently posted…A little change…
Really? haha, well, I’m glad I blogged about this then and can’t wait to see what you think
I’ve loved it so far! And I also color code my closet (mostly).
I am not organized in the least, but I have my spices in a drawer in bead containers (see: http://www.vanderbiltwife.com/2008/10/works-for-me-wednesday-kitchen/) in alphabetical order. It is so helpful and it drives me nutso when they get out of order. I guess we all need control in some small areas, huh.
I just want MORE bookshelves. I keep paring down our collection but there are some places I can’t budge. And we really need just one more …
Vanderbilt Wife recently posted…Because He Asked.
Very cool idea!
As much as I love books and as much as I talked about them in this post, I do not keep a lot of books. Most of the books I have on my shelves are to-read or a few non-fiction books I like to return to like the 5 Love Languages. After going through 7 last year, I’ve started donating or giving the ones I’ve read instead of keeping them around. But still, I totally respect that some people do, in fact, read books several times and need lots more storage.