Use the “cousins and Colleagues” Method to Store Miscellaneous Items That Don’t Have a Home
If you’ve read any of my organizing posts in recent weeks, you’ll almost certainly have noticed that I’m a big proponent of the organizational triangle principles of keeping like items together and making sure everything you have has a specific purpose. space – this simplifies the process of organizing and tidying up your home. But there’s one drawback to this strategy: what do you do with those items you only have one of, things that serve a purpose and don’t necessarily have duplicates to store? You rethink your opinion of them.
Use the “cousins and colleagues” technique.
This method comes from one of my favorite organization gurus, iOrganize . Her name is Kristen Fackler, and I respect her straightforward, no-nonsense advice, which usually involves reconsidering your entire way of thinking. For example, another one of her tips that I really like is to think of your home as a retail space , with inventory and display space so you can keep the things you need available in the moment without sacrificing structure behind the scenes.
This time, she suggests thinking of the things you own as cousins or co-workers. Here, look:
Fackler describes “cousins” as those things that are “similar in function but not exactly the same,” while “colleagues,” on the other hand, describe “what they work with or where they work.”
When are the words “cousins and colleagues” used?
She uses several examples in her video, such as takeout menus, which can be stored alongside their cousins: recipes. A pocket knife is combined with its “brothers” – other cutting tools. If you keep a pen in the kitchen to take notes or write a shopping list, but there are no other writing utensils in the room that could be its “cousins,” it might fit “colleagues” like the notepad you use. write further.
This method solves the main problem of storing similar items together: sometimes you only have one specific item or you are not sure where it should go. However, where there are rigid rules in the organizational triangle, Cousins and Peers gives you the ability to create your own rules, which can be a little tricky. When you are in charge of categorizing everything according to your standards and needs, you really need to stay on top of your own methodology. If you find that you can’t remember whether you stored your earplugs with “cousins” like a headset, or with “cousins” like an eye mask, the usefulness will drop off pretty quickly. After all, the purpose of organization is to make everything available to you when you need it.
It can be helpful to create a room-by-room note on your phone and list the locations of different items until you can remember where they are. As always, use labeled containers to store everything and always place containers in the same place. Over time, your method will become second nature and you won’t have to refer to your notes, plus you’ll finally have a permanent place for those pesky miscellaneous things that otherwise bog down your organizational system.