I first read Organizing from the Inside Out about eight years ago. As a mother of three little boys, I was desperate to find a system that would help me keep our house in order. And I will say that except for the toys, the areas I organized with her plan are still fairly organized eight years later. I think it’s because we really thought out what we wanted and needed in those spaces, and we labeled them.
Morgenstern believes that clutter can be caused by technical errors, external realities, and psychological obstacles. Technical errors are things like items having no home, or storage being inconvenient or confusing. External realities are things like unrealistic workloads, new babies, and uncooperative partners. Psychological obstacles are things like the need for abundance, the need for distraction, and fear of success and failure.
Morgenstern bases her system on the “Kindergarten Model of Organization”. Think about a kindergarten classroom, and how it’s divided into activity zones like art, reading, or dress up. Morgenstern advises that we plan our homes the same way. To start, you define your zones by making a list of all the activities you want to be able to do in the room. You then decide what supplies you need for the activity, and what would be a good storage place for those items. For example, a reading nook needs books, and maybe a comfy chair or a pillow. It would need a source or light, and maybe a blanket for cuddling. The books could be stored in a bookcase, the pillow and blanket might belong in the chair, or on the lower shelf.
To get the spaces clean, Morgenstern suggest the “SPACE” method, standing for Sort, Purge, Assign a home, Containerize, and Equalize. Everything has a place, and equalizing just means returning everything to the rightful place at the end of day. She has chapters with suggestions on what to keep, what to toss, and how to organize and store it all for every room of the house including home offices and paperwork. I’m ready to do a few more areas in our house!
Also See:
Organizing Craft Supplies
Organizing a Cluttered Bookshelf