Filed under: Storage & Cleaning, Storage & Organization, Cleaning
Neat freak? Live in a big house? I bet you still have drawers jammed with so much stuff that it's hard to close them. Here's why our drawers get full, how to organize them, and ultimately, break the cycle.Open a drawer, any drawer, and it begins: the futile sorting of a vast sea of mate-less socks, or the sight in a kitchen drawer of not one, but five, cherry pitters. No wonder we're always struggling for more drawer space. We have too much stuff, and we're always jamming that stuff into drawers. Either we're filling them until they can't shut, or we need crowbars to pry them open.
Photo: Corbis
We spoke to Sam Gosling, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, and Erica "The Spacialist" Ecker, a NYC-based professional organizer, to find out why many of us live in hoarder mode -- and how we can break clutter cycle.
WHY DO WE DO IT?
Well, for several reasons.
Ecker believes our drawers get jam-packed simply because we make conscious decisions to avoid editing their contents. "It's much easier to go do something else more enjoyable than to sit down and sort out a messy dresser, says Ecker. And as we continue to put off these necessary edits (while accumulating more things over time) drawers will naturally overfill.
And what about the notion of seeming like we're fated to repeat this collecting/overstuffin/editing behavior time and again? Hold on to your hat. We may just be. Gosling maintains that the items we keep hanging around in our personal spaces serve three fixed functions, which ultimately say a ton about who we are (total twist-tie junkies, perhaps?).
1. Identity claims. These items are "the statements we make to ourselves -- and others -- about the person we are in order to feel like ourselves. We tend to hold onto these things long after they have functional use," says Gosling.
Example: A home office file cabinet chock-full of report cards and medals from your winningest hockey intramurals.
2. Feeling regulators. "We keep them around because they get us pumped up, help us concentrate and make us think of happy times," Gosling says. They make us feel secure, relaxed and comfortable.
Example: A closet drawer filled with every moth-eaten sweater you wore throughout the 8th grade.
3. Behavioral residue. This echoes Ecker's idea that we're not deliberately overstuffing our drawers, but that the mess is just "an unintended consequence of our day-to-day actions" -- just "a byproduct of our lives."
Example: All the weird cooking gadgets we dump into our kitchen island.
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
If many of us are pre-wired for lives bursting with disordered drawers, can our time here be made more manageable?
Yes, according to Ecker. And thank goodness for gurus like her. Ecker's number-one editing rule of thumb? "The things you keep in drawers should always reflect your current lifestyle, and there should a little extra breathing room in them for more things you'll add later -- as far as two years down the road, ideally," she says. Sound too far outside your comfort zone? Just think about how tedious and time consuming any repeat edits will be.
And speaking of comfort zones, Ecker warns against pushing yourself too far, lest your drawers snap right back into a shambles. "Embrace your laziest self. It'll produce your best system," she says. "Some clients won't ever fold their shirts. Fine. Then throw them in a drawer unfolded. At least they're all in there together." Those clients certainly know their limits but are able make Ecker's systems work for them.
When Ecker is hired to revamp drawers she frequently uses the following tactics, all of which she says can work for nearly anyone, regardless of his/her organizational awareness.
o. Assign the "most valuable real estate" to the items you use most often. Meaning: The stack of guest quilts taking up space in your linen closet? Keep one or two handy, and relegate the rest to the attic, please. Everything you use on a daily basis should be easy to locate, and within immediate reach.
o. Set up clear divisions of space. These will help you take advantage of every inch of a drawer. Drawer dividers help corral bras, tights, socks, shapewear and underwear and enable you to see exactly what you have. Shallow and deep drawer organizers are good solutions in junk drawers, when odds and ends don't match and things tend to get thrown in willy-nilly.
o. Store like items with like items. Workout clothing gets one drawer. Underthings do as well. Don't mix pants with shirts. Make a rubber-band ball; stow loose paper clips in one compartment, next to your stapler and letter opener. Your toothbrush, floss and toothpaste go in the same area, too.
o. Install hooks once drawers are stuffed to the gills. Use walls, the backs of cabinet and closet doors and any other spaces that are being underutilized. (Hooks work exceptionally well for kids and men, too, who often find the "putting things in drawers" concept challenging.)
We know that unless you hire a professional organizer, some of these tasks may still seem daunting. Realize that the only solution to a successful edit isn't a weekend-long free-for-all.
"Take it slow and steady," says Ecker. She happily told us that "30 minutes after work, there, and two hours on a Saturday, there," produce the same results as a 12-hour marathon. "Plus," she adds, "You won't burn out or resent the process either." Hopefully. Good luck and god speed, organizers.
For more great ShelterPop stories, don't miss:
Brighten Up Your Hallway
Rescue Your Recycling Area
How to Organize a Closet: The Fun Way