Major disorder

[Smorton]

Greetings all,

First post here. Happy to find this forum.

I am struggling with organization and clutter in general and I had a question about labeling a number of Helmer Drawers (Ikea product).

In my home office I has twelve Helmer draws and on my back wall I have 36 Helmer drawers. I really like the Helmer Drawers but I have so many of them I can't seem to find things because of a lack of labeling the drawers and possibly having an excessive amount of them.

I think about alphabetizing the drawers and I have thought about numbering the drawers. 1-12 and 1-36.

I thought a would them made a searchable PDF with each numbered drawer and the general contents of the the drawer. Eg. No. 23-has office products, etc.

Does this make sense or is there a better way of organizing the drawers?

Thank you for any input.

Smorton

[happystuff]

Hello and welcome!

That's a lot of drawers!!! I looked up the drawers online and, personally, I would keep it simple and label the contents. i.e. bills, pens/pencils/paper, forms, etc. Whatever the specific items are in the drawer, just label the drawer to reflect what is inside.

[iris lilies]

This is an interesting question and it certainly points out the problem with drawers. On the one hand, they are so neat and tidy to have everything locked behind a drawer. On the other hand, you can’t see what’s in them.


I don’t have an answer because I don’t have any drawer units myself that go more than four drawers.But in one closet in my condo I will be probably using baskets to hold things on the shelves so I will have to probably label those baskets?Now you got me thinking about that problem.

[herbgeek]

I would sort like items and see how many categories I have. Just because you have all those drawers, doesn't mean you have to use them all. Then label as Happystuff mentioned. Make it easy on yourself. When you are looking for a pen, do you really want to pull up a spreadsheet?

[Smorton]

Thank you your thoughtful responses.

My take a ways-
keep it simple;
find categories,
Put like with like;
Label.

Thanks again.

SM

[Yppej]

And after a while you will have memorized your system and won't need the labels, so you could even use ones that can be easily pulled off.

[Smorton]

I wonder if I have too many Helmers for one room. There are so many makes me dizzy.

Thanks

SM

[ApatheticNoMore]

I suppose there are the clear plastic drawers. Nope they are nothing fancy and plastic ugh, and I'm not saying you need all new drawers, but I have a bunch I got from the thrift, that I will keep as long as they are useful (they are) and donate back if they aren't. I also have clear plastic boxes.

[Smorton]

I came up with an idea that may work.

I currently have a set of 12 drawers of Helmers to the left of my office desk and 36 behind the desk on a well.

I think I need to split these into units of 12. Categorize these. Looking at 36 drawers makes is too overwhelming.

I will use plastic drawer drivers inside the Helmers and label these

I use plastic totes for storage in other areas. I like the clean ones so you can see what is inside in addition to the Label.

Thanks.

SM

[JaneV2.0]

I'd be tempted to use simple graphics along with the labels, and group like objects together in clusters of drawers.

[nswef]

Sorting them by a dozen seems logical. Within the 12 you'd remember where everything is. I just looked at the 6 drawer one on casters and it does have a slot for a label. I would use color coding there.

[Teacher Terry]

My question is did you declutter the drawers so you know that you need that many? That sounds like a lot but maybe you need storage for hobbies that are taking up the drawers.

[Smorton]

I have never fully used them in any meaningful way. I don't think I have the need for all of these Helmers in one room. I do run a small business but if I am too overwhelmed what good is it. I have a workshop and other places they can go.

Thanks.

SM

[Smorton]

I didn't answer your question. No, I haven't decluttered the drawers.

Any resources on decluttering?

SM

[catherine]

We once bought a beautiful piece of antique furniture that we called our "Chinese filing cabinet" because it had Asian-style hardware and about a dozen very shallow drawers--like the kind architects use for filing drawings. It was a pain in the neck!! I'd hear my husband opening drawer after drawer looking for the spare set of car keys, cursing at every drawer he opened. So I feel your pain.

I also would label the drawers. We didn't do it because it was really a decorative piece we put right in our entryway, and the labels would have looked bad on it. But in your case, I agree with the labeling!! Color code or use simple graphics as Jane said. And don't overlabel--like pens in this drawer and pencils in another. Just general categories would make life easier also. Good luck!

[Smorton]

Thanks for all the help.

SM

[boss mare]

Look into Flylady www.flylady.net... Her outlook is " You cant organize clutter" Its a process and her other outlook is "you house didnt get this way overnight, it cant cant be cleaned overnight"

[Smorton]

Sounds like Flylady is right for me. Any other helpful books/you tubes, websites, resources that folks can recommend?

Input appreciated.

SM

[Teacher Terry]

I have read about 15 books on the subject but didn’t keep them as my work is now done. I would go on Amazon and see what books appeal to you.

[Smorton]

Would you mind indicating the top 3 from the Amazon books your purchased?

Thank you.

SM

[beckyliz]

I learned a lot from Organizing From the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern.

[herbgeek]

I learned a lot from Organizing From the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern.

I second this recommendation. I read a lot of organizing books back in the day, and they all had techniques that weren't optimal for me. Then I read Julie's book and a light bulb went on, and since then I've been organized and its easy to keep it organized.