Organizing Junkie

As a young community association manager I was responsible for the management of 14 community associations simultaneously. Subsequently, being organized was key to performing my job well because you had to know when each owner wanted to review their financials, remember the different contractors and vendors, and remember which association members were on each boards. So of course I just had to be the Queen of organization right??? WRONG! I was a mess. One day my boss came to my desk and asked a great question, “how do you find anything in there”, to which I answered, “I know where I put my things”. Well, I didn’t know where I put my things, or more accurately some of the items may have been moved due to the barrage of debris inhabiting my work space. Subsequently, this began my journey into putting everything “in it’s place”.

​Looking back on my youth I would say that my dear Aunt Myra first introduced me to organization, and I believe I took it for granted. She would often scold me about putting her comb back in its spot, or cleaning up the sink and moving items back to their designated locations as soon as I was completed. I did not really understand how important and how useful this process would be in my home and for my business. The ability to have a designated location creates a clean, less confusing space that increases our capacity to thrive.

Most times when you are tasked with cleaning, maybe a messy room after a party, or an especially cluttered kitchen after a holiday meal, one quickly becomes overwhelmed and unable to even know where to begin. On the contrary, if you have a clear plan for organizing your space even the grand task of cleaning can become as routine as preparing for your day. Furthermore, organizing doesn’t have to be an expensive process.

View our 5 common household items that you can use to organize your home.

1) Use Corkboards to hang earrings and jewlery – Or basically anything you can stick to the board. Corkboards, old nets and/or screens are great alternatives.  

2) Use your walls for extra shelving – Go to Lowes, Home Depot or maybe even Wal-mart and purchase shelf brackets for as little as $3 each. Then purchase a board for your shelf and you are good to go.  

​3) Shoe racks are not just for shoes – Those cloth, behind the door shoe racks are my absolute fav for storing my combs, brushes, and bric a brac. There are so many compartments that are perfect for holding a nice bit of materials.  ​

4) Candlestick holders work great for medals, bracelets, and necklaces – I find myself adding bracelets, anklets, my Black Girls Run Running Medals, chokers, watches, etc. around any candle stick holder I can find. Not only does it hold most of my jewlery, it also looks so darn cute!
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5) Be creative – There are a number of items that you can use to store things from empty cans of peanuts, water bottles, or empty spice containers. Use your old noggin. You can always come up with another use for your common household things.