My other half is a hoarder I think!! Please help with organization tips!

[fallingwater]

Oh I love these threads. I am a OCD organization freak! I blame my mother. A chronic disorganized person. A hoarder is someone that become emotionally attached to personal belongings whether it be a valuable item or just plain garbage. A chronically disorganized person lacks the skills to organize.

Here are some suggestions. If you live in a small space it takes effort to find a place for things. The items you own are things you really need but lack a place for them. My mother has a very tiny place, only 700 sft but I helped her get her place into shape. I agree, you have to figure out a system you will actually use otherwise its worthless.

Pots and pans take up a lot of room in a kitchen and even more of a burden if cupboard space is limited. If you have space on a wall or maybe an open area where you can hang a pot rack, its a good solution. My mother has really nice looking cookware. Her kitchen is 8 x 8. Its a very tight space. But she does have 2 larger walls that have room. We purchased a really nice wall pot rack and she hangs all her cookware. Since the cookware is attractive, it looks really nice. Also she doesnt have to take out 5 pots from a cabinet to get to the one she needs.

IKEA is a great place to find organizational stuff for little money. They sell kitchen systems that fit wall spaces between cabinets and the counter. I installed several of these for my mother and she hangs all of her cooking utensils. She has about 3 feet of counter space so filling up this space with utensil jars is not really an option. If you have a lot of spices, invest in a wall spice rack.

My mother loves to hang crap on her fridge. Its always a mess and things get knocked off. I encouraged her to splurge on the Pottery Barn wall system. It wasnt cheap but its really nice looking and all of her bills, coupons and other stuff like that goes into it. It has a calendar, chalkboard, bill holders, key holders etc. You pick the items you want in the wall system.

Utilize bookshelves. They are attractive in a room and hold a lot of stuff. I can not stress enough on utilizing wall space! IKEA sells attractive baskets and boxes to hold things.

My mother loves to cook and often saves magazines with recipes. It ends up getting out of control. We purchased 3 ring binders at the office store and a package of plastic inserts. When she finds a recipe she likes, she now tears out that page and slides into the plastic sleeve in the binder. Basically she is making her own cookbooks. Those binders then go on the bookshelves.

Invest in a nice trash can in the foyer or where ever you look at your mail. When junk mail arrives, toss it. Don't lay it down on the counters or kitchen table. It will pile up and it becomes a mess. Everyone has a junk drawer. Once a month go through it and toss out what you don't need.

You basically need to train yourself to keep things organized but use a system that is comfortable and that you will use.

[margarets1]

a little late, but may be helpful for closets.

i am the packrat of the family....i might be able to re-cycle it later or even have something else in mind for item but no time at the moment to re-cycle/conversion, is my thinking. within the last few years i have had some successes.

we have very little closet space in an old home. although mbr had 2 closets, neither could hold a hanger. i had the closets torn down and re-built to fit hangers. also, since i have more clothes than i prolly should have, i converted the smallest br into a diy custom closet (purchased online). the closet was truly custom, based on how many shirts, skirts, shoes, etc. it needed to hold. i used every bit of available space including the 'cant hold a hanger' closet which i put in simple shelves. for br closet, i put in the closet organizers (again knowing typically how many shirts, shoes, etc. i 'really' needed to house. i purchased one of the organizers from ikea (they still sell them, but collectively (by the time all the pieces purchased) it was not as inexpensive as one would think for an ikea item). i'm also back on organizing, and have finally come to terms that i will no longer drop in size and just need to give up most of the suits in the off-season large closet. being the re-cycler i am, wanted to donate much of the better stuff to a worthy cause (dress for success org, etc.). now 18 months later, i still have the items to donate. items on hangers with plastic protectors, etc. just last week, i had enough and gave bags of things to a contractor to donate to their church. sometimes when the iron is hot, i have to strike!

another area was the basement. there wasn't even a clear path to the front of basement. it became the junk room for anything that didn't have a home (someone mentioned in their post about everything having a home). it took me a very long 18 months to sort and toss all the items, meaning every single screwdriver, houseplant pots, etc. since it's a full size basement, i created zones - home improvement zone, hobby zone (real purpose of organizing basement), and house storage things like window a/c, old original stained trim, holiday decor, etc. i added a work table, closed closets for hold electrical tools, and electrical outlets in home improvement zone so we didn't have to remove some tools; the table has come in very handy....and we can find the tools when we need them!

now if i can just get a handle on the kitchen organization. although i've thrown out every storage container that didn't have a lid, these things still take up too much space. one day i will have the kitchen reno'd with a different layout and first thing i'll do is take pencil to paper and create a list of every single item that will need to be stored in the kitchen. i took this approach before ordering bathroom cabinetry to ensure everything had a home. it worked out great and a few years later, everything is in it's home. dh would just say -- now what about some handles/knobs on cabinetry? lol

[california-jewel]

What you have not seen in a while, you probably will not miss. There are all kinds of gadgets out there for organization. Your local Home Depot, Lowes, and many online sites cater to this exact problem, check them out. There are storage bins for your garage, cabinets, drawers, office, etc. But if you don't use it you don't need it. Bills and important documents should be in a file or some sort.

[mtneer]

I went through this before I moved. The rule of thumb is throw away anything you haven't used in past two months unless of course its something used seasonally. Get rid of bookcase & shelf clutter knick knacks and if you have more than one kind of the same tool or gadget get rid of the extras. Donate to Goodwill, sell on Ebay or give to family, friend or neighbor that seriously needs it...just don't add to their clutter.

It was hard to toss out stuff initially but I let go of some old attachments to things especially collectible crap that I never touched and old records, cassettes and vhs tape collections. It became oddly gratifying to get rid of this stuff bogging me down as if a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders. I'm still getting rid of more stuff after I've moved. Really nice I'd suggest it to just about everyone.

[mtneer]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

Oh I love these threads. I am a OCD organization freak!

OCD organizers drive me crazy as a chronic clutter person. But OCD'ers are the absolute best for when you are trying to move or reorder a house gone mad. I think that's why God made them. Just grab an OCD'er and let them in the front door. You don't even have to pay them...if the clutter is that bad it will drive them so crazy looking at it that they will rearrange and clean it for free. I say this in jest but it was an OCD freak that got my old place **** and span clean and helped me get rid of clutter. It was a week of hell but now life is much simpler for me at least. And I learned a few things from them. My mom was OCD so I think that's why I'm a clutterer. You couldn't eat dinner without her picking up your plate and wiping the table every time a crumb fell.

[South Jersey Styx]

I have recently moved into a new house and dragged a bunch of crap with me because I didn't have time to clear out the old house. That said, I'm glad to see the suggestions from previous posters and applaud their responses. Here's a few more tips:

* Get rid of extras. Everything ... no more mis-matched plates, glasses, pots, etc. I donated everything and bought 1 set of white plates, etc. (setting for 8). I have 1 other set (a 4-piece bistro set) and that's it. Same with the glasses and pots and pans.

* Get rid/use up extra cleaning supplies and equipment. You don't need that many cleaning agents, maybe 2-3. Also, no need for extra brooms, mops, Swifters, wood-floor mops, etc. I have 1 broom, 1 mop, 1 microfiber broom for hardwood floors, 1 dustpan and broom set.

* Mount a wooden or metal wine glass holder inside your cabinets.

* Use the inside of your cabinet doors to tape up notes or hang a cork board. Out of sight but useful when you need directions, a special phone number, a commonly-used recipe, etc.

* Use baskets for the "miscellaneous things" around the kitchen such as bananas, snacks, etc. You could even designate a basket for miscellaneous "stuff" everyone leaves in the kitchen that gets emptied at the end of the week.

* Use see-thru/clear containers. Tall glass ones that line up and/or stack for rice, beans, cereals, etc. I even save the plastic containers when I take-home dessert from a restaurant. I put everything from nails and thumbtacks to candy, etc. I always use the same kind, same size since they also stack.

* Same thing with tupperware stuff. Got rid of the old stuff and only use one (1) type in 2 sizes (sml and large). Everything looks the same and stacks in the fridge and when not in use, stacks in the cupboards.

* Clear off the front of the fridge. You'll see the difference in the nice open space on the front of your fridge. If you want to hang a few notes or photos, keep them on the side. Keep magnets in a clear container and rotate your favorites.

* Hang hooks behind every door or get the over-the-door type. Trust me, you will definitely use them. We have a big two-tiered decorative one in the foyer and another one of the inside of the coat closet.

* Put things on wheels if you need to. Example: I have an old/historic home and some of the closets are really bony, skinny closets (12" depth). Not even wide enough for a standard hanger. For one closet, I bought a stackable shelf set (Walmart) that also had separate accessories (i.e., a door, drawer, divider shelves). It was about 3' wide but only 11" deep. I bought casters from Home Depot and installed them on the bottom. Since I stacked 4-5 units, I got some good rubber (not plastic) casters, the kind that rotates 360 degrees not just forward/backward. This enables me to slide the unit in and out, side to side. Since there's a little bit of space on each side of the unit I hang long items there that I seldom use, like dresses or gowns for special occasions.

* Find a storage area and use that for seldom used items in the kitchen. If you need shelves, buy them! (even 2-3 tall shelves). We have a basement but there's a potato room/root cellar in the back.We put all the "party supply" stuff in there (i.e., the punch bowl, tableclothes, lights, candles). I also put extra vases, storing them in boxes from the liquor store. You can also use these boxes for extra glass ware since they have the cardboard dividers. Make sure everything is labeled.

* Go to Borders or other bookstores and check out magazine and books on organization. You'll get some fabulous ideas, especially using what you already have around the house. There's all kinds of ideas for things like storing shoes, organizing mail for each person in the house, etc. There are also low-budget ideas (i.e., getting wooden wine crates and stacking them). The Container Store is fine for ideas but I think they're pricey and am always looking for creative solutions, esp if I can recycle something in the process.

* Don't tackle everything at once. You'll get overwhelmed and give up. Instead, do small things--example: dedicate 1 weekend for the foyer closet. You'll have to take everything out, sort, and then organize so it's ALOT of work.

* Good luck! And have fun!

[mtneer]

There's a woman called Fly Lady who specializes in cleaning clutter. She advises throwing away 28 things per day if you are feeling overwhelmed by junk and don't know how to tackle it.