Organized Spaces and Lives don’t all look the same

Being organized to me means that everything has a home. You know where something is when you need it. And it get’s put back into it’s home when it’s ready to be stored.

But I think people get caught up in the aesthetic of an organized space. For me, organization is 95% function and 5% form.

An organized pantry doesn’t mean that I spend hundreds of dollars and precious hours of my life decanting everything into matching containers. Having pull out wire bins with large categories and keeping your inventory of opened items small will go a long way in achieving the function of an organized pantry.

An organized closet doesn’t mean that everything has to be color coded and on beautiful, matching wood hangers. To me, I focus on reducing the number of items in my closet so it’s easy to find everything.

There are some instances where I do think form matters.

For example, if a storage solution is on display (think containers on an open shelf) it is important to me that they are matching and/or pleasing to look at.

In my storage room, I invested in uniform, high-quality clear bins. Since these bins are out in the open, some measure of uniformity (both in size, material and brand) is calming and pleasing to my eyes.

So overall, I recommend focusing on function and letting the form be an afterthought. It is much easier to upgrade an organized space with a beatiful bin than to create function with beautiful bins.