How Organization Saves You Time and Money
We all want to be more organized. Do you dream of that clean, beautiful kitchen to show off to our friends. We want to lose the stack of mail on the counter and create a filing system that will make us feel on top of things, all the time. We drool over Pinterest posts of tidy closets and gleaming home offices. Is it all a dream? How many of us really achieve the organized life we seek?
To learn more about how organization can save you time and money, keep reading, or listen to Jennifer expand on this topic in her recent KTRS interview!
As Life Gets Busier, Organization Gets More Important
For many of us, September is the busiest month of the year. A new urgency comes into our lives, whether it’s because of the start of a new school year, or the looming final quarter of a business year. Plus, with cooler weather comes one holiday after another: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas … Wouldn’t life be easier if we had a few more hours in the day and a few extra dollars in our pockets?
Being Disorganized Can Cost You
Being disorganized doesn’t just cause unnecessary stress. It can also cost you. Have you ever had to pay a late fee because of misplaced mail? Have you ever thrown out perfectly good vegetables because you left them in the back of the refrigerator? How many times have you bought a new pair of socks or sunglasses, just because you couldn’t find a pair in your closet?
If you can keep your things organized, you won’t panic when you can’t find your keys or when you need an insurance form ASAP. There’s nothing worse than digging through a stack of papers to find something critical. In short, organization isn’t just about appearance. It’s necessary to help you save money and be more productive in your life.
3 Areas of Your Home that can Benefit from Cost-Cutting Organization
Your Home Office
If you’re like many of us, you keep important documents in a desk or home office closet. Disorganization in this space can lead to:
- Lost papers and misplaced bills that cause added stress.
- Missed deadlines or invoices, and the tax consequences that go with them.
- Late fees and the potential for worsening credit.
The key to becoming more organized in this space is to create a system and stick to it. You can use a filing cabinet or drawer with labeled folders for tax information, medical bills, etc. Or, label bins or boxes for storing important items, if you prefer. Taking the time to regularly sort and file things where you can access them easily will help you be better prepared for emergencies and better able to meet deadlines as they come up.
If you have a habit of paying bills late and dealing with subsequent late fees, it may help to use a wall-mounted bill organizer, sorted by due date. Another tip we suggest to clients? Invest in a paper shredder and shred junk mail as it comes in. The goal is to open or get rid of mail on a daily or weekly basis so that it doesn’t accumulate. That way you’ll never have to sort through a pile of junk to find what you need.
Your Closet
Strange, isn’t it? The more clothes you buy, the fewer you can actually find! When you have an important event coming up, you don’t want to dig around in your master closet for a matching scarf or pair of pumps. Nor do you want to waste money on duplicate items of clothing if you don’t have to. Disorganization in this space and cause:
- Money spent on clothing items you already have.
- Hidden bags, blouses, or pieces of jewelry you can’t find.
- A constant mess of accessories in your closet.
Organizing this space often takes a purge. Take everything out of your closet, get rid of multiples (unless you simply have to have 5 pairs of the same black blouse), and take a good, long look at your shoe collection. Once you’ve donated things you don’t need, you can begin to envision a better closet system. Trust us on this: a closet system in which everything as its place can change your life for the better.
If you’d like help with this gargantuan task, our designers can provide a free in-home consultation. Our consultations take less than an hour, and our designers work around your schedule. We come to you, take all the measurements we need, and send you a custom design. You don’t even have to clean up for us. There’s no pressure to make a decision right away, so it’s a stress-free option if you’re looking for ways to better organize spaces in your home.
Your Kitchen
Kitchens are the modern-day hearths of the home – the place where everyone seems to gather. Wouldn’t you feel calmer and happier if this essential place was cleaner and tidier? Disorganization in this area can cost you:
- Expired food, which is really grocery dollars down the drain.
- Longer food preparation times when you can’t find the items you need in the pantry.
- Money spent on appliances that are all too often crammed into a cabinet and never used again.
We recommend starting with your kitchen pantry and designating spaces for different categories of food. Make labels for storage containers. This will save you some time and make unloading groceries easier for the family.
Tackling your kitchen is a big job! We don’t recommend doing it all in one day. Try going through the “junk drawer” one day, and organizing your lower kitchen cabinets another. Once you go through what you have, you may actually enjoy cooking new recipes with your family!
Reap the Benefits of an Organized Life
Once you begin practicing organization – and it does take practice – you begin to see the benefits. You’ll stop paying late fees and your morning routine will get a little quicker.
At Saint Louis Closet Co., we like to think of ourselves as gurus of organization. From laundry rooms to utility closets, we can design systems that will make organization a breeze for you and your family. Let us know how we can help you streamline your routine (and save a little money in the process).
