Breaking the Rules

Two basic organizing guidelines are:

1. Store like with like - all the vases, all the craft supplies, all the snack foods, all the garden tools, etc.

2. Eliminate duplicates. If you bought a great new can opener, get rid of the old annoying one. If you have ten pairs of black slacks, are three of them your favorites while the others never get worn? If so, let those unworn pairs find a new home.

But sometimes these two guidelines are trumped by another one: store frequently-used items where they will be used.

Gretchen at The Happiness Project writes about the perils of over-consolidating:

"I was always slightly annoyed by my need to run around the apartment getting this or that — a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, some Advil. Finally, light dawned, and I realized that as an expression of my love of clearing clutter, I was an over-consolidator.

I’d consolidated all the tools in the toolbox, all the scissors in the office-supply drawer, all the medicine in the medicine cabinet. Not a good idea. Some items SHOULD be spread around.

I put a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, and a bottle of Advil in the kitchen. I scattered scissors throughout the apartment. Etc."

My favorite personal example: I realized at one point that I needed two label makers - one for my office, and one for the car to take to client sites. Anything else made it too cumbersome to create my own files, or to be prepared for client visits. So I bought a second labeler, just like my first one. I've never regretted it.