How do I Choose the Best Organizing Tools?

Choosing the best organizing tools usually means first considering different storage systems and what will work in your home. If you take some time to think about the ways in which your family or household is the most disorganized, coming up with the best solutions is much more possible. Even the simplest organizing tools such as storage boxes, calendars, file folders and a bulletin board can help keep you organized.

A small bulletin board hung on the back of an exit door as well as on the refrigerator can be an ideal tool for reminders. Placing notes and reminders in common areas of a home where others are likely to see them regularly can help everyone be better organized by posting changes in appointments, telephone messages, things to take to work or school and grocery items to buy. Bulletin board organizing tools are available in both push pin and magnetic varieties.

Some people like to use a small chalkboard rather than or in addition to a bulletin board. Painting a whole wall in blackboard paint to turn it into a giant chalkboard can be a fun way for families to communicate as well as express themselves artistically. Thick pieces of both white and colored chalk usually work well with this idea.

File folders are basic yet popular organizing tools, as they can be used to store any types of paper clutter from legal documents to recipes clipped from newspapers or magazines. Small filing cabinets designed for home office use are usually inexpensive and can hold many file folders for efficient paper taming. Using computer file folders can keep virtual documents, articles and information organized online. For all types of folders, use identifying titles you'll remember easily.

Some computer users like to keep a monthly calendar with click-on daily features as their main, or desktop, page. This can be one of the best online organizing tools if you check your calendar before doing anything else on the computer. Printing out a completed monthly calendar and placing it in a few other areas of your home can remind you of upcoming appointments and special occasions.

When choosing storage boxes to help you become better organized, it's best to plan what you need to avoid buying too many containers that won't suit your purpose. Going room by room to assess what items are needed and how they can best be stored can help you plan to select the size and looks to suit each particular living space in your home. For instance, kitchen organizing tools that will be stored behind cabinet doors to hold spices are likely to be very different from decorative rattan, wood or metal storage boxes that you could display in your living room.