Organization - One Space at a Time

When it comes to organizing things and getting rid of things, for me, the only way, is one space at a time. There is something so daunting about wanting to even do a full room, let alone a full house. I like to celebrate the little victories...they keep me moving to the next challenge.

By focusing on one space, you can organize and declutter with minimal time investment. If I get done with a space and I still have time, I can choose to move to the next challenge or be satisfied that I accomplished the task at hand.

This weekend, I decided to clean out the utensil and gadget drawer. It had been a while since I gave it a good once over. I decided that there were duplicate tools that I simply don't use because I find one to be easier than an other. I knew that there are only so many measuring cups that a person can use - even during the upcoming cookie season. The last time I had given it a thorough look was when I moved some of my more frequently used utensils to a tool organizer.

As I looked at the drawer, I wondered about how those spoons and spatulas that are in my tool organizer once resided in this drawer.

I started by emptying the drawer. I started pulling out things that I knew that I didn't use. I checked to make sure that things still worked. I had two sets of inserts for a Pampered Chef Cheese Grater - turns out that they must have resized and the old set didn't actually fit into the new one correctly. So, I got rid of those. I had extra sets of measuring cups, so I chose the two nicest sets and removed the rest.

As I was starting to put things back in the drawer, I recognized that a couple of organizing baskets would help out. I made a stop when I ran my errands and picked up a few. I wasn't sure which combination would work best, so I got more than I needed - knowing it would be easier to return than to try to run back out in order to complete the project.

I wound up using three of the five organizers that I bought and easily returned the others while running some errands the next day.

I was able to pull out a small box of stuff that I can donate and I feel like my drawer is back in control. It hold many awkwardly shaped items, so it still may look 'unorganized' but now there is (for the most part) only a single layer and I can find everything easily since things aren't buried.

Works for Me!

You can also see my post on organizing dresser drawers here.