Organizing System

This weekend I took down our Valentine’s decorations so I thought it would be the perfect time to show the system I use to organize our stored items!

Many moons ago my mom went to an organization seminar (pre pinterest and googling everything) and came home with a really good idea for organizing your storage bins or moving boxes. I think almost every one of my sisters has used it at some point in their lives when moving and I still utilize it in the storage area of our basement. 

It’s a color and number system. You have several different colors of paper and each color designates a particular category. If you are moving it could be that each color designates a room: red = kitchen, green = garage, blue = master bedroom……etc.

If it’s more for storage then it could look like this: red = kid items, orange = décor……etc.

Within each color it is then sub-divided by number so red 1 is kids clothing size 12-18 months, red 2 is kids clothing size 18-24 months, red 3 is kids shoes…….

orange 1 is living room Christmas tree ornaments, orange 2 is Christmas nativity, stockings, stocking hooks……..

I make a simple number sheet that I print off on colors of paper I have a category for. The numbers get cut out and taped onto the right hand side of each corner of the storage bin/moving box with clear packing tape.  The boxes are arranged in our basement in their color groups.

In a binder I keep an itemized record of what is in each box so when I’m looking for something I can quickly reference the notebook and find what I am wanting.  It is so simple, cheap to do and really helps to keep things organized for us while being completely customizable to our storage needs at the time.

I write everything in pencil so if items in a particular box change I can easily erase, edit or add things in. But that does make it hard to get a good picture – sorry!! The folder, a pencil, a roll of packing tape and some extra numbers and scissors all stay in the storage area so I can keep up with the system easily and my supplies are readily available.