Put That Away! Tackling Organized Chaos & Link-Up

Do you follow any specific method(s) when staying or getting organized? Are you disciplined with regular routines that keep clutter to a minimum or is the thought of tackling your chaos simply just too overwhelming?

If you’re at all like me, it’s not laziness that’s holding you back. More likely, it’s a combination of emotions, habits, and a lack of motivation which are the bigger challenges. Whether it’s sentimental attachment, a fear of regret, or even not knowing where to start, there are lots of options for moving forward.

Today’s post is not about promoting a specific method or selling any associated storage items. It’s about me and how I’m dealing with my own organizing demons. Harkening back to my list of 25 Fresh Goals And Bold Plans for this year, regular readers may recall that there were, not one, but two related to decluttering and organizing.  The first is to declutter/purge at least 25 personal items every month and the second is to spend 25 minutes daily on cleaning/ organizing.

As I shared in that blog post, I won’t be publishing monthly progress posts for the goals/plans. Instead, I intend to use each goal/plan (or in this case two of them) as a topic for future blog posts. Most people feel like they could use some more organization in their lives so let’s explore this subject.

Despite there being two organize-related goals/plans, my life is not in disarray. Like most of you, I’m sure, nearly everything in my home has a designated place it belongs. While there may be some surface clutter, it’s generally easy to find items in drawers, cabinets, and closets. Whether it’s in the kitchen, bathrooms, home office, or bedrooms, my focus is more on achieving balance rather than perfection. I would find having every aspect of life meticulously arranged, categorized, or planned too rigid and overly structured.

Being an organized person is more about the mindset and skills that help you stay productive, reduce stress, and focus on what matters. It’s adaptable and realistic.

On the other hand, having everything in your life perfectly organized can be exhausting and often detract from enjoyment, creativity, or spontaneity. When every aspect of life is meticulously arranged, categorized, or planned, it can be difficult to sustain long-term. This level of organization is often difficult to achieve or sustain long-term. It can become an obsession, a source of stress when things inevitably don’t go according to plan.

A better path is to develop habits, systems, and a mindset for staying on top of things. Prioritizing tasks, developing systems that work “well enough”, and adapting as plans help you stay productive, reduce stress, and focus on what matters. The specifics of the method are less important than its adaptability to your needs.

Speaking of methods, I’m sure you’ve all heard of Marie Kondo’s KonMari Method and its infamous “spark joy” catchphrase that gained widespread notoriety about 10 years ago. Her advocacy for minimalist living and decluttering prompted devotees to rethink their relationship with their possessions. Her Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, sparked a massive wave of decluttering with donation centers reporting increases in drop-offs as viewers adopted her method.

Though perhaps a bit less popular now, her method continues to influence home organization trends and conversations about mindful consumption. For me, however, minimalism isn’t my end goal. Of course, I intend to keep the possessions that “spark joy” but I acknowledge that many could be better enjoyed by someone else. Besides the KonMari Method, how else might one approach this task? In my research, I’ve found several organizational methods worthy of considering.

One you will likely recognize if not by name but by aesthetic is called “The Home Edit”. It combines decluttering with the use of clear bins, rainbow color-coding, and labels to create visually appealing organization systems. Think of the photo-perfect pantries, laundry rooms, closets, and even refrigerators you’ve seen on social media and you’ll get the gist of this method.

While “The Home Edit” puts a lot of focus on the look, others like “FlyLady System” and “Bullet Journaling for Home Organization” target building habits to address clutter and maintain order with daily routines. “Swedish Death Cleaning” is a more reflective and deliberate process focusing on decluttering your belongings so others won’t have to after you’re gone. If your goal is primarily to declutter, then the “Four-Box Method” (keep, donate, trash, sell/relocate) is a quick and simple means of achieving it.

The “One In, One Out Rule” is fairly self-explanatory and is useful for avoiding future clutter. Each future purchase becomes much more mindful is the item’s “cost” includes getting rid of an item you already have. The theory behind this method is that it prevents undesired accumulations.

The “Clutterbug Method” is the organization method I find most intriguing. Created by professional organizer Cassandra Aarssen, this approach is about tailoring organization systems to fit your preferences for both storing items (visible vs. hidden) and categorizing them (detailed vs. broad). On the website, there’s a “personality” type test to determine which of four Clutterbug types best fits your organizing style. I found it insightful when comparing my results with my husband’s as we have differing, and sometimes opposing, organizing styles.

So what has my progress on my two organization-related goals/plans been so far? I’m glad you asked.

I started the year strong, tackling my monthly declutter/purge/organize on New Year’s Day. Due to a lack of drawers in our bathroom, my make-up lives on top of a rolling storage cart.  I don’t mind because I tend to be more of a visual organizer who likes to see their everyday used items out in the open.

Big box shoppers may recognize that I’m using a produce box to contain my makeup. There’s an acrylic organizer tray inside that box. However, it was all in quite a sorry state and many products were old, well past their “safe use” age. The items I used regularly were on top and I’d forgotten I had some of the ones hidden underneath. When I was done,  far more than 25 items had been purged, and I found a new location for the hand-held mirror which was a view blocker. Nearly a month later, the tray still looks like this so I’d say that this was a job well done

Being organized is a tool to make life easier and less stressful, but overdoing it can have the opposite effect. The key is to find a balance between structure and flexibility. An organized life should enhance your ability to live freely—not become a full-time job or a source of stress. How do you tackle the organizational chaos in your life?

Stay well and let’s keep in touch! Subscribe, follow, friend, pin … all options are available. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Photo credit: MMPerez

Note: This is an unsponsored post; however, some or all of the links to clothing items are associated with an affiliate program where I earned a few cents for each click.

Now, onto the Fine-Whatever link-up. Contributed by Kellyann, who you can find over at This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, featured from last week’s link-up is her Dress Better in 2025 – Part One post. In it, Kellyann covers six tips to help you dress better, with less clutter and more focus!