Like Items Together - Day 10 of 30 - Things That Make My Life Easier

I'm Jaren, a neurodivergent Mom of neurodivergent kids going back to school in my 40's. In this series, I'll be posting about things that make my life easier.

Today's is about organizing in a way that makes sense for all the brains living under my roof. Except the dog's. She has a single cell floating around somewhere between her ears. Sometimes she uses it.

Like Things Together in ONE Space...where possible

Remember when Marie Kondo's show Tidying Up on Netflix came out in 2019? Oh man, I do. I had published my book about transitioning to zero waste, and in the process, had downsized the amount of stuff in my apartment considerably. But I wasn't very organized. I needed help.

In the show, Marie suggests to put all like things together for sorting. So, if you want to organize school supplies, for example, the idea is to put all the school supplies (pens, pencils, scissors, etc.) into one room of the house to go through.

I did just that. I went through all the rooms and all the junk drawers, all the nooks and crannies of my little apartment and guess how many pairs of scissors I found?

16. 16!!!

And about 300 pens and pencils. This girl was shook.

I went through the entire pile, removed what was broken or no longer worked, sorted the rest by category, and then threw them all into an organizer bin. I decided to keep all of the supplies in one area of the house so everyone knew where to go. But the rule was simple: take ONLY what you need. I don't want stuff scattered around the house like before.

Believe it or not, the system works - even for my kids.

It's been 7 years since I first sorted my office supplies and the kids and I still use the same method. In fact, each year when the school year is over, we (but mostly me), go through the old supplies and add what works back to our master stock of school supplies so we know what inventory we have for the next school year. I'm not buying another damn pack of markers.

So put like things together wherever you can. It seems very simple. Makeup, beauty, pantry, tools, school supplies... Have a central area for each category and not only will it make putting things away easier (my kids never ask "where do the pens go?"), but it'll keep your space more organized and clutter-free. In my experience, anyway. Look at me projecting.

-Jaren