Archive for Organizing Strategies – Page 3

woman reading map. process goals are like a map to our outcome goals.

The Clutter-free Journey

Posted by Carolyn on
 November 25, 2019
woman reading map. process goals are like a map to our outcome goals.

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The Clutter-free Journey Begins

To be organized is like taking a clutter-free journey. When I first meet a new client, they frequently talk about “getting organized”.  Often, clients are looking for that perfect organized state that will never need any further work..

“What do I need to do to get organized?” they often ask. They look for that perfect tool or piece of furniture or perhaps the perfect filing system for their office. There is one organized way to set up a wardrobe or closet and if they could just figure out what it is, they would never again be disorganized.

My experience demonstrates that in fact, getting organized is a journey.  It’s not the perfect closet set up from the magazine or the perfectly labelled jars from a social media platform.  Labelled jars and beautiful closets might be a stage of the journey. 

Ebb and Flow of Your Clutter-free JourneyLooking for focus and productivity?

There is a natural ebb and flow of things throughout our life . Objects come into our life, they spend some time with us and us with them. Their role in our life is complete at some point. As a result, objects naturally move on to another life with another individual when we no longer need them.

For some that Journey is one that twists and turns with many hills, valley, mountains and bridges.  Objects vary in when they show up and how they are used. As a result, the  Journey is sometimes harder than other times. For example, some mothers have alot of trouble parting with their babies clothes or toys. Some individuals have more difficulty avoiding accumulation than others. Some individuals have more trouble parting with objects.  Even those living a minimlaist lifestyle have a Journey with twists and turns.  Sometimes the journey take alot of concentration and othertimes, hardly any attention at all.

Thoughts and Actions Can be Clutter-freewoman with back to camera sitting on yoga mat beside a body of water on a beach.

It isn’t just the objects that make up clutter. Our thoughts can have clutter. Our activities can have clutter. Ever get to the end of a busy, exhausting day and wonder why your top priority for the day didn’t get done? Hmmm, maybe some clutter got in the way on your To Do List! A Clutter-free Journey can include an action-oriented List. Get stuff done with an action-oriented To Do list.

More Information, Tips and Strategies

I invite you to come back and share your Clutterfree Journey. This blog provides resources to help you navigate it successfully. You can look forward to information, tips and strategies and some company on your Journey.

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organizing the living room

4 Steps to Organize the Living Room and Reclaim Some Adult Space

Posted by Carolyn on
 May 15, 2018

Wish you could organize the living room for adult space?

organize the living

Boxes and ottomans are great toy hiding spots that children can easily access.

Are you looking to organize the living room and reclaim  a little of the adult space  again?  Have you stepped on Barbie’s shoes one too many times and wish you could organize the living room into a adult rest and relax space for just one evening?

Reclaiming adult space is a common theme for many parents.  No matter how much they love their children, at there comes a time when many parents crave a lego-free zone, even for just a short period.

Organizing the living room by banning Barbie, her shoes and the lego altogether may not be possible, or even desirable, for your family and home.  The living room frequently serves as a multi-purpose space.  In the absence of a large recreation or family room, the living room is sometimes adult relax space, Barbie’s house and lego creation central all at the same time.

Here are 4 steps that you can use to organize the living room to help keep Barbie, the lego and any other toys in check so that when needed, the living room can be the rest and refresh space the adults in your household are looking for.

Step 1 – Identify Easily Accessible Storage Space

Look around and study where you might find storage for toys and other children’s items in the living room.  Storage space, which children can access, doesn’t have to be complicated.  Look for space under tables, a shelf on a book shelf, a shelf in an entertainment unit, storage in an ottoman.

organizing the living room

Here is an example of re-purposing a bureau in the living as a table. The drawers make for great toy storage.

Step 2 – Contain the Chaos

Gather up the toys and see what can be parked where.  Identify a new home for the items.  Larger items can go under tables.  Smaller items can be stowed in containers on shelves, under the coffee table or on a book shelf.

Step 3 – Source out Storage Containers Complimentary to your Living Room Decor

Sure, toy storage can be bright and cheerful and kid friendly.  It can also be adult and decor friendly.  While lego may need to be stored in some form of sorting container, the finished products can be displayed with pride on the bookshelves an entertainment unit.  Consider using a glass coffee table with a shelf and the finished lego items become decorations themselves.

Step 4 – Build tidy up time into play time

organize the living room.

Open containers that match the colour scheme of this living room make for perfect toy storage on the bottom of the book shel

Once each item has a home, and the home has been put into place, the next step is to teach the children to use those containers and return their toys, books and lego to their homes.  In my experience, children understand that they go home after playtime so the toys and books also need to go home after play time.  When we teach them that the toys need to go home to after playtime, clean up is done by the kids, not the adults.

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Letters to Clutter

Letters to Clutter: Tell it how you Really Feel!

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 5, 2017

The Clutter LettersSend me your letters to clutter.  Does this sound like you?

You’re standing in front of your desk, staring at the stacks of paper, frustrated and overwhelmed.  “Why are you still here?  Why can’t you find a file to climb into and make yourself available when I need you?  Somewhere in there is the invoice I’m trying to get paid for – how will I ever get paid if I can’t even find the invoice?”

You open the closet door and glare at the contents.  “I hate you and I love you.  Ugh, how am I ever supposed to make this closet work when a bunch of you don’t fit, some of you I don’t even like and I don’t even know what’s at the back?!”

Your youngster is finally in bed and hopefully soon asleep.  You return to the family room and flop into the chair realizing you can’t even walk on the floor any longer because of the piles and piles of toys.  “Just put yourselves away, why don’t you! [bctt tweet=”Can’t you find a nice basket or box and do the Mary Poppins thing – jumping right into them?” username=”@wellrich”]  And while you are at it, sort yourselves out and take the toys that no one has played with for the past 6 months to the donation centre.  I’m going to bed.”

If you’ve ever talked to your clutter, or think you might like to say something to it, I’d like to hear from you.  Consider writing a letter or letters to clutter and tell it how you really feel.

Why Letters to Clutter?

You letter or letters to clutter will be considered for inclusion in a project being published later this year.  Your letter doesn’t need to be long, 200 – 400 words is perfect although longer or shorter is also welcome.  Start your letter off with “Dear ________ (item or items of clutter i.e. Paper, Baby Clothes, Garden Tools), What am I going to do with you?” and tell the clutter what you are really thinking.

Types of Clutter

Your clutter might include one of the following items or you might have your own version of clutter.:

  • Costume jewelry
  • Inherited jewelry
  • Inherited dishes, flatware, glass/crystal
  • Paper
  • Sports equipment
  • Particular sports equipment e.g. A bag of balls, an old croquet set, a bag of hockey equipment
  • Clothes that don’t fit
  • Clothes that aren’t liked
  • Clothes in general
  • Childhood books
  • Memorabilia
  • Photographs
  • Someone else’s items e.g. a spouse’s sports gear, clothes or other items
  • Tools
  • Leftover renovation material e.g. tiles, paint, fabric
  • Craft goods

How and Where to Send you Letters to Clutter

Identify yourself only by your initials and your town of residence.  Individuals will not be identified in their submissions and any particular identifying information will be removed.

Send letters to me, Carolyn Caldwell at [email protected].

Looking forward to receiving your letter or letters to clutter and seeing what you have to say to those trinkets collecting dust on the shelf.

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organized Garden Shed

The Path to an Organized Garden Shed

Posted by Carolyn on
 May 10, 2016

Organized Garden Shed

Keep tools and supplies organized to make gardening fun and easy.

Spring has arrived in the northern hemisphere, and with it, the promise of brightly coloured flowers, overflowing planters and fragrant fruit trees.  If you have a piece of property, chances are you also have a garden of some size and complexity and likely a shed to house the tools.  So, along with turning the soil, top-soiling the grass and trimming the roses, why not set up for an organized garden shed as well?

No more fishing around for tools you thought you had, can’t remember if you lent out and need for trimming that Euonymus.  Here’s a step by step process to get you off on the right path.

Step 1 – Empty the Shed

Start by completely emptying the entire shed if feasible. Once it is empty, you will be able to start with a clean slate.  You will also be able to see what you have and inventory your tools and their condition.

Sweep out the cobwebs, mouse droppings and other debris.

Step 2 – Inventory and Assess Your Tools

Review all your tools, shovels, rakes and hoes. Are there any that are broken, rusted or beyond repair? Throw out the irreparable and fix what’s needed.  Are there any that are redundant, never used and could use a better home with someone else?  Keep only those tools that you know you will use.

Step 3 – Look for Creative Storage and Give Everything a Home

Think vertical and you will find lots more fresh storage space that you may not have realized existed. The rakes, hoes, shovels can be stored on hooks or nails on the walls. This will get them out of the way and make them readily available when you are ready to rake.  If you have the funds, many garden or home supply stores sell mountable devices specifically designed for hanging gardening tools such as rakes.  If you are looking to organize using limited or no funds, use straight nails for hanging rakes, hoes, shovels and almost everything in the shed.  Have some fun seeing how many tools you can actually hang for storage.

Hang one shopping bag on another hook or nail to hold your digging and planting tools and a separate one for your garden gloves. Cloth grocery bags, made from recycled plastic bags and readily available in stores, are a great storage tool. Label with a permanent marker or bright fabric paint.  An alternative to hanging gloves and hand tools is to repurpose a wooden wind rack as a tool rack.

Items that are used on a daily basis or frequently during the week can be stored near the door on easy hooks or readily accessible shelves.  Think secateurs for deadheading roses, trowel for pulling or upending weeds.  Keep your garden gloves on the same shelf or hook beside – your tools are easy to grab for a quick 10 minutes of deadheading flowers each day.

Step 4 – Hide the Seeds from Wannabe Snackers!

Rodents and small animals would be delighted if you would just leave all those seeds out where they can help themselves.  Let the squirrels find their own nuts and pack up the seeds to limit their scent and make it hard for animals to get access.  Seeds that are stored in a plaster or metal box will be out of temptation’s way if rodents are a regular visitor to your shed. This is especially true of grass seed.

Step 5 – Keep Solutions Legal and Out of Reach

Organized Garden Shed

Daily maintenance of the garden is easier if your tools are readily available.

Review your solution bottles and know your pesticide by-laws. Many, if not all, jurisdictions have outlawed the use of pesticides. Check with your municipality to see where you can take the pesticides for disposal. Then check out your local garden centre to find an environmentally friendly alternative.

Even environmentally friendly products must be kept out of reach of children.  Make sure your organized garden shed includes shelves high enough that curious children can’t get into solutions, anti-fungal products and plant food.  Garden shed shelves, like tool hanging devices, can be expensive and fancy or inexpensive and simple.  Most home supply stores carry industrial shelving of various sizes and strengths.  Make sure to check the weight capacity, usually listed on packaging by individual shelf.  If your shed is metal or plastic, you may be limited to commercial standalone shelves.  With a wood shed, simple shelves can be constructed between the joists.

Step 6 – Use your Organized Garden Shed

An organized garden shed is easy to use and supports your interests in the garden.  Try taking your shed for a test run.  Can you easily find the tools you need?  Can you just as easily put them away?  Arp – e your daily use tools where you can get at them?  Are the seeds safely sealed away from intruders?  Have you kept only what you use and what you need?

Last step – as always, enjoy the fruits of your labours and the bounty of your garden.

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Organize Taxes – Time Tamer Tuesday

Posted by Carolyn on
 March 16, 2016

organize taxes ahead of deadline

Three principles will help you organize taxes before the deadline.

It’s that time again.  Time to organize taxes. Yup.  Funny how it comes around every year at the same time.

And since it’s so predictable you’ve anticipated tax season and have everything ready.  Right?

Ok if you answered yes, feel free to leave now and come back next Tuesday or next blog post, whichever comes first.  For the rest of us, stick around and let’s see if we can help you with a couple of strategies to save some time, and maybe some money, on your income tax preparation.

Now, let me be clear – I am NOT an accountant.  I am not offering any advise that might actually impact or have bearing on your tax submission.  You will need someone with a CGA or CA after their name to help with that.  But, with a CPO after my name, I can say i know something about getting things ready to organize taxes each year.

Many of my clients need help with this task.  Some are running a small business and while creative, are not very organized.  But they are clever and have hired me as a professional organizer to help.  To organize taxes we use 3  simple principles.

File When it Arrives

organize taxes

Sort files both paper and electronic as they arrive to organize taxes ahead of the deadline.

As soon as those receipts and invoices show up, get them filed.  Leaving receipts and invoices lying around, whether paper or electronic, is asking for them to start wandering around.  And they do.  Ever noticed how those chiropractor receipts managed to wander from the bag your were carrying when you got your last adjustment to the stack of paper on the table?  The e-receipt from your last product purchase?  Might still be buried in your email. File it as soon as you see the email to help organize taxes ahead of tax season.

File by Expense Type

Simple right? For some people, yes.  They likely aren’t still reading.  For the rest of us, resisting the temptation to drop all files into one folder, paper or electronic, that says “Income Tax”, is a tough job.

You know what your expense categories are unless our are filing income tax for the first time, as a young new employee or new business owner, and therefore have to organize taxes for the first time.  By taking that one extra step to file the material according to the expense type, you will be saving yourself time and effort down the road.  Depending on the role your book keeper and/accountant plays for you, you could also be saving yourself some money.  Their time is precious and usually expensive.  Especially around tax time.

Match Paper and E-Files

organize taxes

Match up your paper files and electronic file categories to reduce the work for organizing taxes.

Although more and more paper files are becoming less and less of our lives and businesses, the reality is we are not yet free of the paper.  So, you are likely to still have some paper and some e-files for your accountant.  An accordion file works well for paper files.  Most office supply stores carry accordion files with anywhere from 6 to 26 (alphabetized) pockets.  Use the one that best matches the number of expense categories you use.  I keep my categories lean so I use the 13 pocket style.

On the electronic side, set up an Income Tax folder with subfolders of the same categories.  The result?  Your brain only has to remember one set of categories and you will get used to using the folders, paper and e-files, the same way.

Can you feel your brain relaxing yet?

We organize taxes every single year.  These three principles will help make it easier for you to be prepared.  And might save you some money in book keeping and accounting fees.  No more running around at the last minute looking for the telephone receipts.

Business Organizing Organizing Challenges Organizing Strategies Time Tamer Tuesday
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organizing footwear

3 Steps to Your Best Foot Forward

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 12, 2016

organizing footwear

I’ve always had an eye for shoes but not perhaps the way most footwear aficionados do.  I see organizing footwear as including presenting yourself with your best foot forward;  its more than just finding the perfect shoes and shoe storage.

People notice our footwear and its big business.  According to Transparency Market Research’s new market report titled “Global Footwear Market –  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 – 2020,” the Global Footwear Market was valued at USD 19,8782.9 million in terms of value and 9990.7 million in terms of volume in 2014, which is expected to reach USD 220227.9 million and 10,974.0 million in terms of value and volume respectively by 2020. Footwear  can impact your success in a job interview or the amount of respect earned at the office.  Take these three steps to make sure you have your footwear organized for your best foot forward.

Step 1 – Keep Only the Footwear you can Store

The temptation to continuously add to our footwear collection is tough to beat.  It is, however, important to make sure that shoes are stored in a manner that will keep them dry, dust free and easily accessible.  Too often I sort through closets with clients only to find shoes that are so badly damaged due to mold and dust they are beyond salvation.  Ultimately we end up throwing away hundreds of dollars of footwear.  Whether the shoes are stored in the latest, most expensive see-thru container or the shoe box they arrived in is less important than that they are  protected.  Use a storage system that gives you the opportunity to identify the shoes when you need them while keeping the shoes free from damp and dusty conditions.

Step 2 – Review and Sort Your Footwear Twice a Year

This is pretty easy for those of us who live in four season climates.  At least twice a year we sort clothes and put away warm weather clothes in favour of cold weather ones.  Weather your climate changes or not, use a twice yearly schedule for organizing footwear.  This gives you a chance to inspect each pair’s repair status, whether they are still fashionable, need a polish or some repair.  It is also a good opportunity to assess whether the footwear still fits, is relevant to your wardrobe and lifestyle or is due for replacement.

Step 3 – Find a Local Shoe Repair

Check shoes for any that need repair or polish.

Organizing footwear includes checking regularly for repairs and polish.

In today’s throw away culture, a shoe repair can sometimes be hard to find.  A good one that is reliable and easily accessible can be as helpful to organizing footwear as your shoe boxes.  Your budget will go further when soles are replaced instead of the entire pair of shoes, heels are reinforced, polish is reapplied and boots are protected from the winter elements.

Treat your footwear with some respect and it will be there when you need it.  Three simple steps will help you put your best foot forward and keep your footwear organized.

 

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Organizing with our ears involves using what we hear to help us organize.

Organizing with our Ears – Auditory Processing Modality

Posted by Carolyn on
 October 14, 2015

Organizing with our ears involves using what we hear to help us organize.

Organizing with our Ears – Auditory Processing Modality

Organizing with our Ears is the second in a series on organizing using one’s processing modalities.  In 2010, Denslow Brown of Coach Approach for Organizers and Organizer Coach published The Processing Modalities Guide.  This is the second of nine modalities that Denslow addresses in the guide.  Auditory processing involves what we hear.  It includes sounds around us as well as what we say.

Organizing with our Ears – Strength and Sensitivity

Like visual processing, auditory processing modality can be described on a strength continuum as weak, competent or gifted. Someone who is gifted might have perfect pitch or be able to identify sophisticated meaning from sound.  Someone who is auditorily weak does not rely primarily on their hearing to understand, learn or interface with the world (that’s me).  Organizing with our ears can also be identified as hypo or hyper sensitive.  Someone who is hypersensitive might become overwhelmed or irritated when there are too many sounds at one time such as in a crowded party room (me again).

Organizing with our Ears – Organizing Strategies

Professional organizers and those trained in processing modalities, understand that using one’s dominant processing modality to organize, increases the ability to stay organized and maintain an organized environment.  Most of us use more than one modality to interface and learn from the environment.  In fact we likely use several.  A few will be stronger, more dominant, than the others, and therefore most useful in staying organized.

If you are auditorily sensitive, many different sounds may be irritating, annoying or exhausting.  Simple, soothing sounds may be pleasing and help with focus. Try the following strategies:

  • Use soothing background music to drown out or distract your ears from a noisy room or street below your window.
  • Use pleasant background music to help you focus on a task.

If you are auditorily strong, you remember items by their sound or a sound associated with them.  Words and tones are meaningful to you.  Try these strategies to keep you organized:

  • Label file folders by names that first come to mind when you think of the contents e.g. “Family Pictures I Would Keep Forever” rather than “Family Pictures” . 
  • Use sounds on your watch to help you keep track of time.
  • Use a timed playlist on your phone or digital music player to help you keep track of time spent on a particular project or task.
  • Talk yourself through the steps of an organizing project.  Write them down and say them out loud while you work your way through each step.

If you are naturally attuned to sounds – and like to play with sounds and words – use that skill and strength to your advantage when organizing.  Next post in the series will look at the kinesthetic processing modality.

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We can organize using our eyes if we are competent in our visual processing modality.

Organizing with our Eyes – Visual Processing Modality

Posted by Carolyn on
 October 14, 2015

Organizing with our eyes allows us to use our visual strength to get and stay organized.

Organizing with our Eyes – Visual Processing Modality

Organizing with our Eyes is the first in a series on organizing using one’s processing modalities.  In 2010, Denslow Brown of Coach Approach for Organizers and Organizer Coach published The Processing Modalities Guide.  This is the first of nine modalities that Denslow addresses in the guide.

Organizing with our Eyes – Strength & Sensitivity

We can have little or lots of strength in how we perceive the world with our eyes.   Lots of strength would make us gifted while little strength is referred to as weak.  If we are strong, organizing with our eyes would be natural, easy and help make staying organized easier.  We can also be hypo or hyper sensitive in using our eyes.  Sensitive means we are bothered by, perhaps agitated and likely exhausted by too much or the wrong visual stimulation.

Organizing with your Eyes – Organizing Strategies

Professional organizers and coaches with training in processing modalities understand that the degree of strength and the degree of sensitivity can be used to help a client get organized and stay organized.

If you are visually sensitive then lots of colour might be irritating while one or minimal colour might be soothing.  Try these strategies:

  • Use storage containers that are all one colour, size or shape if they will be used in one place.  Even just one colour will make a difference.
  • Use containers of similar, complementary or minimal colour to contain items that might otherwise look messy or haphazard.
  • Place things in an orderly fashion by size, shape or colour to minimize visual stimulation.

If you are visually strong you remember items by sight.  You can easily identify the visual difference in items.  Try these organizing techniques to take advantage of this strength:

  • use clear containers to help identify their contents
  • label storage containers to identify their contents
  • use colour on file labels or the files themselves to distinguish between different groups of subjects.  For example, client files might be green while marketing files might be red.
  • use visual cues such as symbols, single words or a sketch to remind yourself to do a particular task.

Use your natural and existing strengths to help you get organized.  Organizing with your eyes is just one way.  Organizing with our ears is next.

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Re-used Bags and Kon Mari’d Socks

Posted by Carolyn on
 August 21, 2015

Take a pile of socks....

Take a pile of socks….

I’ve read Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up; I’ve helped clients find joy and packed up non-joyful items in my own home.  Since I am usually spending my organizing time with clients taking items – lots of them – out of their homes, I am reluctant to try any new method of organizing that requires the purchasing of new gadgets or tools.  Recently, however, I had the chance to try out a KonMari Method technique and was pleasantly surprised at the results.

My client and I were sorting through several drawers of socks, stockings and pantyhose.  The pile of non-joy-inspiring items was growing into two bags headed for Goodwill while the cherished, comfy, favourites awaited return to the drawer.

... use scissors and a clothing store bag....

… use scissors and a clothing store bag….

I remembered Kondo’s guidance about socks, rolling rather than turning down the tops on each other, and wondered if we might try the strategy.  We had previously liberated a dozen or more better clothing store, rigid bags which I retrieved from their home.  Using scissors, I cut down the bags to just shy of the height of the drawers and inserted several into each drawer.  The shortened bags fit perfectly into the drawer and were narrow enough that we had enough for each colour grouping of socks.

You can see the result in the drawer.

...and voila. A joyful, organized sock drawer.

…and voila. A joyful, organized sock drawer.

Unfortunately you can’t see how pleased my client was to be able to see her socks, laid out by colour, making her dressing experience easier.  The technique worked very well in this application and I like to think the socks were happy too.

 

Organizing Challenges Organizing Strategies
desk with chair and bookshelf

Your Organizing Personality

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 5, 2014

What is your Organizing Personality?4 pictures collaged together including sissors, sewing notions stuck in a tomato cushion, tools on a peg board and files in a file cabinet.

Back in 2008, one of the first posts on this blog discussed the concept of individuals having a unique organizing personality.  Through nine years or working with clients,  understanding the individual organizing personality has become even more important to the success of my work with clients.

Processing Modality Traits

The organizing personality includes many traits.  Those most frequently discussed amongst organizers are the processing modalities  or sensory modalities that one uses to process information and learn from stimulus in the environment.  In her book Processing Modalities Guide: Identify and Use Specific Strengths for Better Functioning … for Organizers, Coaches – and Those Who Want to Live with More Ease and Effectiveness – and Less Frustration, Denslow Brown provides a full discussion of the difference between how sensitive we are to stimuli (you become irritable in a noisy room) and how competent we are (you learn best through hearing new information).  Some organize best by seeing, some by hearing or talking to themselves and some by actually moving objects around or touching them.

Piler, Filer, Tosser, Dropper TraitsPiles of paper and filed on a desk top.

Other traits include how you like to put objects together.  Some like to file while other prefer to toss.  Are you a tosser who like to “toss” items into a storage bin/basket/file/drawer?  Children are frequently in what I call the “toss and drop” stage of their lives and would be most organized with open bins to toss and drop their belongings into.  The pilers, prefer a collection of piles and are very adept at remembering what is in each pile of objects.  This is frequently seen in the office setting and a common way of handling large amounts of paper.  Early on in my organizing career I identified the filer when working with a client in the editorial industry.  Their preference was to file as much as possible – not just the paper –  into a filing cabinet by alpha order.

The Tool Maven

Some individuals find that time is a key sorting or organizing tool.  These individuals will often have their files, to-do lists and projects organized by date due, date received, age or some other sense of time.  Others prefer grouping, sorting and containing by another common element such as size, to whom an object relates or the special meaning of an object.

Why Does it Matter? What Does it Mean?

By understanding one’s organizing personality, one is able to develop organizing systems that more closely meet their  natural organizing tendencies and will more likely be successful and sustainable.  A mismatch will lead to systems which don’t get used and processes which fall apart with the resulting disorganization and frustration that ensues.

How do I Know What is my Organizing Personality?orderly clothes closet

To determine your personality, take note of how you sort, contain and retrieve items. Do you talk out loud (auditory)? Do you like to sort your files by colour (visual)? So you like to sort by date? Do you prefer all your surfaces to be clear but don’t care about the inside of your drawers or cupboards? Maybe you need everything out where you can see it (visual). Or would you rather get up and file or toss things in your office (kinetic)?  Would you put everything you could into a filing cabinet?  See if you can identify your own traits and then gradually modify your organizing strategies to match these traits.

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