Utilize the "Relatives and Work Colleagues Approach" for Stashing Miscellaneous Objects Lacking a Designated Space
If you've perused any of my organization-related posts lately, you've likely spotted that I'm an ardent supporter of the Organizational Pyramid's principles, such as grouping like items together and assigning a particular spot for everything you own. This approach streamlines organization and tidying up your living space. However, there's one drawback: what about items you only have one of, which serve a unique purpose and often don't have matched counterparts for storage? You need to alter your perspective.
Employ the "family members and work colleagues" approach
This technique hails from one of my favorite organization experts, iOrganize. Her name is Christen Fackler, and I appreciate her straightforward, no-nonsense advice, often involving a complete shift in perspective toward your surroundings. For instance, another of her suggestions I adore involves envisioning your home as a retail store, with storage and display areas, allowing you to keep essentials handy while maintaining structure in the background.
In this scenario, Fackler recommends viewing the things you own as either "family members" or "work colleagues." Let me explain with an example:
She considers "family members" as items that perform distinct functions although not identical, while "work colleagues" describe items that work with each other or belong in a specific location.
When does "family members and work colleagues" apply?
In her video, she employs scenarios like takeout menus, which can be stored with their "family members" (i.e., recipes). A pocket knife goes with its "work colleagues," such as other cutting tools. If you keep a pen in your kitchen for jotting down notes or creating a grocery list, but no other writing utensils are present in that room that could label as its "family members," it should group up with "work colleagues," like the notepad you write on.
This technique seeks to resolve the issue with storing similar items together, which involves having just one of an item or being uncertain where it belongs. While the Organizational Pyramid offers rigid guidelines, the "family members and work colleagues" approach grants you room to craft personalized guidelines, although it might be challenging. When you control the categories based on your personal preferences and needs, you must remain diligent in maintaining your guidelines. If certain items such as earplugs become hard to distinguish between "family members," like a headset, or "work colleagues," like an eye mask, the system becomes less practical. The objective of organization is, after all, to ensure ease of access to necessary items.
Perhaps creating a note in your phone, separated by room, and listing the placements of miscellaneous items would help until you acclimate to remembering their whereabouts. As ever, use labeled containers to store everything and always return containers to their original spots. With time, this method will become second nature, and you won't require your note anymore, allowing those bothersome miscellaneous items to finally have a permanent home, turning them from an organizational nuisance into an asset.
In applying the "family members and work colleagues" approach, you might organize your home by categorizing your pocket knife with other cutting tools as a "work colleague," while takeout menus are stored with their corresponding recipes, serving as "family members."
Cousins and coworkers can also benefit from this method, using it to organize shared spaces, ensuring that commonly used items are readily available while keeping everything tidy and structured.
