Trust me, we all have them. You know what I mean…the places where we “stuff” things until we find the time or place to put them away properly….

Paper Stuff: Maybe your filing system, bill paying area, mail sorting place, etc is too far away or inconvenient to get to quickly. Or it may be full because you haven’t had time to edit it and so it’s impossible to put anything in it. So it’s quicker and easier to pile the papers/mail/receipts, etc up for a later date….STUFF ZONE

Clothes Stuff: Is it hard to find a hanger for your clothes so they pile up on a chair or somewhere else? Or are your drawers so full that adding one more t shirt or pair of whatever is just too painful? In your kids rooms, is putting away their clothing not convenient for them because the dressers or closet areas are hard to get to? So the clothes pile up and soon you have a STUFF ZONE….

Project Zone Stuff: You’ve started a project and collected most of the things you need to complete something, but maybe you still have a couple of things to buy, or there’s something you need to retrieve from the garage or another place in the house…the project might be a little more complicated than you anticipated so it stays un-done until you finish it, so the parts of the project stay where they are, and now you have a project STUFF ZONE…

Stuff Zones can Pop up anywhere in your house, garage, or office, they seem to multiply.

So, what to do with STUFF ZONES and maybe help them not take over your home? Start small..look at the areas that are the “stuffest” and ask yourself if they can be tweaked a little to make them easier to navigate? Changes don’t have to be big to be significant. Maybe moving a few things around will even make it easier. Asking a friend or family member to add a separate set of eyes on the area for a fresh perspective sometimes is valuable too, maybe another idea that you never even thought of would be helpful.

Like any organizing project it’s all about creating a system. If you are one of my clients you have heard me tell you “organizing is not about making things neat and tidy. That’s the RESULT of organizing. Organizing is all about retrieval. Knowing where to find things and where to put them back.

Small steps can lead to big results. I'd love to hear from you and see before and after photos of how you tackled your stuff zones. And if you need help, give us a call. We love Stuff Zones.

Organizing is a process, not a destination. It's not about the stuff.