January In Jeneral Week 4 Recap: Zones
Just like that, our 4th week of January In Jeneral has officially come to a close. This past week we discussed one of my favorite topics, zones. Zones are ultimately areas where you store a category of items (ex. car essentials, kid’s toys, linens, office paperwork). Each day, we organized and built systems for a new zone. Gentle reminder, if you haven’t already started, it’s never too late. Take a peek at our getting started blog for everything you need to start. With that, keep reading for a roundup for all my details and tips when organizing different zones!
Day 22
We started the week strong by focussing on our cars. Cars are notorious for being chaotic and cluttered. It may be a challenge, but the outcome will be all the more rewarding. Start by pulling everything out of your car (including glove compartments and middle console). From here, sort items into 3 categories (this will vary based on your car’s inventore, so feel free to change the categories to make sense for you):
Stay in the car
Garage
Toss
I don’t know about you, but most of the items in my car (that don’t belong in my car) are leftover Starbucks receipts or items that are better suited for the garage. With that, if you are one to have straggling clothes or office paperwork, add a couple extra categories for closet and office. The next step, as you’d imagine, is vacuum, wipe, and clean. It’s time to give a good scrub and clean up all those small crevices of your car. Now that you are working with a clean slate, you’re ready to implement new organization systems. Here are a few of my car organization essentials. As for a budget-friendly storage hack, take a peek at my recent reel. As you start to restructure your car with new products and new systems, I will leave you with a few of my top tips:
Considering the glove compartment is small and compact, try to only store a few things in it. Some of the items I like to keep in my glove compartment are proof of insurance, critical medical info in case of an accident, emergency contact info, owners manual, vehicle maintenance log, and tire gauge.
Think through what you may need for your family and lifestyle. What you might need to store in the trunk will change from time-to-time.
Add organizers for the back of the seat (great for kids items and snacks)!
Add a trash bag and use it!
Take advantage of the visors. There are some great organizers for this.
Whenever you get gas, use that time to clean out all the trash #worksmarternotharder
Day 23
Now that we have made it to day 23, we are ready to tackle kid’s toys. This space can be overwhelming, but it’s also such a beautiful opportunity to build routine for children at a young age. I encourage you to go through this space with them, you can even let it be a game! Begin by gathering and sorting all toys (I, personally, like to sort by type of toy). Next, discard any toy that is broken or has missing pieces. As for any toys that are still intact, your little one(s) don’t play with, I encourage you to donate. It’s now time to incorporate new organization pieces to make sure you have a sustainable storage solution. Make sure to take a peek at how I love to organize puzzles and games. Also, here are a few of my favorite toy organization products:
Day 24
In honor of day 24, we shifted our attention towards linen closets (or linen zones). Whether you have an entire closet you can dedicate to linens, or just a cabinet that you can zone for linens, there are so many opportunities to bring a little organization to your linen space. Just like any other space, the first step is to remove all the contents and categorize/sort. Now that we have completed the initial steps, it’s time to fold. I think we can all agree that fitted sheets can be stubborn and frustrating to fold. Due to this, I have created a reel in a clean and simple way to fold a fitted sheet. Once you have your perfect folds, I love to contain my sheets, pillow cases, and towels (to preserve the fold). For a little inspiration, here are a few of my favorite linen closet transformations. I have also collected some of my must-have linen closet items:
Day 25 & 26
For the final two days of week 4, we tackle offices, specifically paperwork and drawers. This can be a big task, so I suggest splitting the steps into two days (paperwork the first day and drawers the second day). Beginning with paperwork, gather all your printed paperwork so it’s in one place. From here, separate your paperwork into 5 categories:
Action
Archive
Household
Recycle
Shred
Once you have sorted, go ahead and discard any of the papers you no longer need (do so based on their label. Ex: shred all that need to be shredded, recycle all that need to be recycled). Start to place paperwork back into a paper storage solution of your choice (I love a file box or a document case). Finally, make sure to label everything (trust me, this will save you so much time!
When it comes to office drawers, we will start the process the same as we do any space. Remove all contents and sort into categories. The categories will vary based on your personal inventory, but they will likely be some version of stickies (sticky notes, tabs), office tools (staple, staple remover, hole puncher), financial (checkbook, calculator, bill calendar), utensils (highlighters, pens, pencils, markers), mail (envelopes, stamps, address labels) and discard/donate. Now it’s time to throw out (or donate if items aren’t broken or damaged) any trash or items you no longer need. When it comes to storing your office essentials, I have collected all of my office organization must-haves here. Just as you did for paperwork, I highly suggest finishing by labeling everything. Especially when it comes to a workspace, you want everything as methodical and coherent as possible. For a little more detail on how to organize your office space, make sure to read my Home Organization 101 blog here.