I have talked a lot about ways to organize items that seem logical to organize, like clothing or linens.  But what do you do when you have to organize those miscellaneous items just floating around?  How do you organize, sort, and store them?

I am talking home decor items, cleaning supplies, pretty much everything in the garage, tools, office supplies, crafting supplies… you get the idea!

My fool-proof method for getting everything organized for good always starts with collecting everything in that category.  I always suggest organizing based on categories, as I have found that things stay organized when you have completely purged items that you might have duplicates of.

To organize the category of miscellaneous items, I break it down even further.  In my ebook How To Organize Your Life With Kids, I break down how to specifically organize this category, based on client work I have done!

So I would start with office supplies.  Then go into cleaning supplies, tools, crafting supplies, home decor items, and finally the garage/outdoor items.

Collect

When I say collect, I mean find every last item in that category.  So grab all your office supplies, for example (pencils, pens, notepad).  Find every single one.  Like those hiding in the kitchen, or your purse!  I know it sounds crazy to grab all the pencils you have in your entire house/car/purse, but it will totally make a difference once you start editing and storing your items.

Edit

Go through every item you just collected.  Check every pen and make sure it still works.  Sharpen pencils that need to be sharpened.  Throw away any writing utensils that don’t work, or broken paper clips that are just lying around. Clearing the clutter is a huge part of organizing your miscellaneous items.

Sort

Now group all the items into subcategories.  Put all pencils together.  All pens together.

I always recommend doing this so you can visually see what you have, so you can make any additional edits if needed.  Sometimes you might have double or triple one particular item that doesn’t need to be duplicated.

Store

When organizing and storing miscellaneous items, I always recommend to store them together. So all tools should go together. The reasoning behind this is because you will limit the number of duplicate items you will collect, saving you from excess clutter and money!

For things like tools, I have created a tool station in our basement bathroom.  My husband puts the tools he needs for projects in his tool bag. When they’re not in use, we put the tools back in the drawers.

Crafting supplies should all be stored together, preferably somewhere the wrapping paper is stored. This way you can use your crafting supplies for embellishments on the gift wrapping.

Some of my favorite storage bins:

Upkeep

The most important step to keeping your miscellaneous items organized is maintaining your organizational system.  Whenever you use something from one grouping, quickly assess what you have.  Is there a vase you never use?  Are there broken tools you haven’t gotten around to fixing?  Assess the category and declutter as you go.  This way, you will never have to do a major organizational overhaul again!!

So get to work organizing all those random items you have lying around the house!

And for more organizational support, check out How To Organize Your Life With Kids E-Book!!