How many organizing products do I need?

New clients often ask me what should they purchase to get organized. My answer - NOTHING! Well, at least in the beginning. The problem is that you don't really know what you're going to end up with to actually organize/containerize because you need to go through all of the "pre-organizing" steps first.  You know - sort (figure out what belongs here vs donate vs move to another space) and remove (take out garbage, take donated items to charity and move things you're keeping to other places they belong).

Once you know what you have left, you can assess what makes sense to buy.  I don't necessarily have any specific products that I always use. Each home or business is unique in what they have chosen to keep. However, I do have some suggestions that I think help just about everyone as they organize.

1. Use what you have. Get creative! Maybe you have an old dresser that you can refinish and re-purpose for living room or dining room storage. Did you get a gift set in a basket or decorative box? Use those to organize small things in the bathroom, or use as a remote caddy in the kitchen.
2. Go vertical. We often overlook all the wall space we have. Using inexpensive shelves can open up a floor plan and provide storage space for books and other items.
3. Create places for mail and paperwork. My clients struggle with keeping tabletops free of mail and other paperwork. The best solution is to have a specific place for them. For mail (I've written this before)  - go through it right away so that junk mail gets tossed and other mail gets filed appropriately. By the way, this is where most of our "paperwork" comes from. Get an office in a box if you don't have space for a filing cabinet.
4. If you have a tendency to throw things in baskets just to tidy up - get rid of the baskets, or label them so that they only contain specific categories of things. This will help you stay on track with putting everything in it's appropriate place.
5. Lastly - if you're out of space, stop trying to shove things in. Lack of space does not mean buying more containers or extra shelves. It means you need to let go! If you have 35 t-shirts, you probably have too many... Do another purge to get the number down to what fits in the container (dresser, closet shelves, etc) you have.

My number one piece of advice - know what you need to organize before you buy anything. Have a specific purpose for that storage bin, basket or shelf before you purchase it. That way, you don't end up with an organizing solution that doesn't work for your organizing problems.​