The Importance of Organizational "Zoning" Method
A gold-standard practice of good organizing involves the practice of zoning. Zoning is where you group and store things together based on what they are or how they are used. For example, in your kitchen you can create a "baking zone" where you keep all of your baking supplies. Or, in the context of your entire home, you can have a "reading zone," a "crafting zone," or, if you have kids, a "toy zone."
I think zoning is highly effective because it is fairly simple and straight forward. And better than that, it doesn't cost a thing. But that doesn't make it necessarily easy. What makes zoning the most successful and efficient is a good strong sense of intention. You really need to take the time to think through how you use your "stuff" and where you use it most naturally.
For example, say you like to knit as a hobby. And you find that you do most of your knitting at night while watching the tv. Well, then I think a good idea would be to set up a small knitting "zone" with at least your most frequently needed knitting supplies within easy reach.
Zoning can be an especially fun way to introduce organized living to small children. Teaching them how to classify and categorize their toys and other belongings in a way that encourages them to not spread them all throughout the house, or even better, want to put them away, will lay a solid foundation for tidy living.
When I moved into my husband's home, he was living much the bachelor life, and his house reflected it. The example we still laugh about to this day, is, he was storing batteries in the silverware drawer! He likes to claim that they were in their proper "zone," but seeing the rest of the house with it's random piles of clutter through out, I knew this was more of a symptom, and not a solution.
Thankfully, he appreciated my passion for organizing and through many years of hard work and communication, together, we have sorted and tidied our way to a very functional home. While there are no longer batteries in the silverware drawer, he still has autonomy over a few zones in the house which I really try my best to leave alone.
Zoning works so well because it saves time and energy. It creates a boundary and structure for all your "stuff" that if left without such guidelines, might just float throughout your home in random chaos. This chaos is what causes disorganization and stress. It’s what leads to the frantic search for the car keys, or an extra 20 minutes gathering up all the cleaning supplies needed to clean the bathroom.
We all say that we wish we had more time. Zoning can give you back some of that precious time. And it also might just help you keep batteries out of your silverware drawer. That is unless your silverware is battery operated. :)
Simply-Sort Post Prompt: Think about one activity in your home that you do fairly routinely that you either love, or you dread. It has to be an extreme of either one or the other. No mushy-middle ground. Now, take a couple minutes and write down everything you need to complete that task. Lastly, look to see if you have those supplies gathered in a specific zone in the vicinity of where you do that activity.
Think about my knitting example above. Or, if you are like me, and you loath doing laundry, look to see if you have all of your laundry supplies organized on or near the washing machine. Gather whatever supplies you need to complete your task and make sure they are in their proper “zone.” Then live with it for a while. Assess how it feels. The goal is to feel more productive and less stressed. Even doing something you hate like laundry shouldn’t be harder because you can’t find the stupid laundry detergent!
