Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Storage / Declutter Tip

The following is my favorite tip of all time having to do with storage.

It may seem like a trivial matter to some, but to those of us who struggle with clutter but want to be organized, ideas that really work are gold.

OK - here's what you do:

First, you'll need a set of index cards, a box in which to store the cards and a black marker.

1. As you put items into a storage box, write down the items on an index card.
2. Put a number on the top of that index card and circle it.
3. Take another index card and using the entire card, write that same number on it.
4. Tape the index card containing just the number to the box.
5. Store the other index card containing the list of items in a safe place.

Now when you need to find an item you won't have to rummage through all your boxes nor will you have to try to scan a list you've taped to the box. You just have to do a quick scan of your index cards in the comfort of your home, not the cold, dark garage!

Of course, it helps if you can put like items together - but even when I haven't been able to do this, this method has saved me hours of trying to find some wanted/needed item hiding in a box somewhere.

Now feel free to share your own tips!

1 comment:

Teresa said...

That is even better than the way I do it. I always wrote the contents on the outside, but still have to rummage the boxes around and read all the labels to find what I'm looking for. I will definitely use this method from now on. Thanks for sharing!