I like my home to appear pretty, clean and organized.
But I don’t care enough to do this.
Right now my drawer o’wires suits me just fine. I’m sure it would drive normal people nuts.
I stole the title from Productivity 501 here’s a quote from the post::
some types of “messes” are actually more efficient than rigid organization
-Mark Shead
Is there something that works fine for you that others would see as chaos?
I have one kitchen drawer that I shove a lot of things that have no real home into when I’m tidying up for guests coming over. It’s got everything from fake Halloween blood to spare batteries in it, and it suits me just fine. =]
Oh my goodness….I thought I was the only person in the world with a “drawer o’ wires”! It’s worked for the past 3 years so I see no need to change it! :)
My drawers are somewhere in between the two…I call my system and organized mess. Not too ocd and not too messy :)
I have some crazy ways of keeping things organized with 5 children 10 and under in 2 small bedrooms.
As far as cords go, I lose all mine. I need to designate a cord drawer.
Thanks for the posts Nester!
I have certain times of the day that I take care of certain tasks. So when an unexpected guest stops by, they just have to deal with some toys on the floor and dishes in the sink if it’s too early in the day! ;o)
Have a great weekend, Nester!
I have a droor like that too. Now if I could just figure out what cord belongs to what electric appliance, I would be satisfied :)
Whew! Thats a relief to know…going to check out this article!
We’ll do you one better: we have a CRATE of wires! Although I did see something the other day (wish I could give it proper credit!) where someone had saved toilet paper rolls then placed them into a box honeycomb-style, and put each cord into it. I thought that was quite clever!
That is clever! I’m a geek-freak who has my wires carefully sorted. I group like types into large ziplock bags, and then label the bags with permanent marker. Then I chuck the bags into my drawer-o-wires all higgeldy piggledy! It’s heaps faster to find the cables I need, and they don’t get tangled.
My sewing table has various piles of stuff on it. Other people would view that area as messy but for me I know what is in each pile and why it is there not somewhere else. It did start off as a temporary area though and as it has been there a few months now I am considering making room in a cupboard and transferring my little piles to the shelves, out of sight. Isn’t it funny though how we tolerate our own piles of work in progress but not necessarily other family members’ mounds of mess….hehehe!
I never “properly” wind the vacuum cord around those hooks on the back. I just loosely bunch it on so I can just undo the cord in one motion. My husband, the perfectionist , winds it the way your “supposed” to.It drives me crazy!
Us, too!
We have a wire drawer too! In the dresser that’s in the LR! I even see some of the same chargers in your drawer. I thought it would drive me crazy, but I can’t see it, so it’s perfect.
I’ve got a junk drawer post planned. And I have a decorative tray full of all of my cords that unless someone is sticking their head under my kitchen cabinets, no one would know. Just looks like a nice tray sitting on the counter.
My kitchen towel drawer! I *gasp* don’t fold my dish rags, towels, etc. and just shove them all in one drawer. I’ve got five kids, we go through them fast, and it’s more important they’re there when I need them as opposed to having to go search out a laundry basket where they would sit waiting for their turn to be lovingly folded. ;o)
Haha I’m the person who has to have all the cords rolled & wrapped. I HATE cleaning bathrooms- I think they’re the most disgusting places ever, but I dislike a dirty one even more.
I have my greedy lil eyes on the scrub off & basic h. It’s already on my Christmas so a family member can ship it to me hehe.
I don’t believe that underwear or kitchen towels need folding. Both get thrown into their respective drawers. It is chaos!
edit: It is controlled chaos.
Cords are the worst. There is just no way around it. I don’t care what Martha Stewart says, there is just no way to make them look uncluttered, so you might as well just roll with it!
Sticking them in a drawer works for me!
I have a drawer o’ cords too! They used to be all jumbled up, too, but I went through a very rare organize-all-the-drawers phase a few months ago! I didn’t wrap them like in the picture above, but I did wind them and then secured them with rubber bands. Much easier!
My husband is a sound designer and so we have an entire ROOM full of wires- there are literally hundreds. He’s spent years trying to find a good system, and has come to the conclusion one doesn’t exist.
His studio has so far been the only place I haven’t tried to organise, but I think those days might be over. I have a Sharpie, a set of Kabletags (which are excellent) and a bunch of storage bags and boxes, and ladies and gentlemen, I am not afraid to use them!!
I use silver sharpie to write on the plug end of the cord so I have a clue which device it goes to.
The first thing that popped into my head was, my LIFE.
:-)
There is no way that is right for everyone. I agree! If it works for you and it’s organized…it works for you! It may not work for me or I prefer another way, but that’s ok.
The Kitchen. I like it 5 minutes to clean. If I’m vigilant to keep the counters sparkly, then I get upset when I walk by and a dish is left over the dishwasher. A few in the sink and a couple on the counter for some reason sooths me. I know I can clean it in 5 minutes or less. :)
I am with you on the wires. Even if it tie them all nicely together the next family member who uses it does not…oh well. Same holds true for the “junk” drawer in the kitchen. I know where everything is in there and it is just impossible to keep all those little screws, pens, tape, paper etc completely organized so, rather than stress, I just live with it. funny how I can always find what I need in there.
Probably the bins of dollhouse toys that sit in our built-in bookshelves. The furniture is all sort of piled into two bins and the dolls/small accessories stuffed into the other. I know some organization junkies would prefer to see everything stacked nicely…but that’s the best I could do with the 4 year old and the 2 year old. ;)
So, so, so true. Our cords look exactly like that, all in a drawer. It may look like chaos when you open it, but they’re all there. And I like your analogy way better than the silverware one. It takes maybe 10 seconds to put silverware in it’s proper slot. It would take 20 minutes to wrap up cords all neat and proper. You can still identify them just as quickly when they’re shoved into a drawer than if you took the time to anally, I mean, neatly wrap them up. :)
♥ Amber
Silver Lining
Hey, I have a request: Can you incorporate cleaning hard wood (or in my case, laminate floors) quickly and easily. Mine are the BIGGEST pain in the butt. I need to find a good system. And a good product for vacuuming that doesn’t just shoot dust and dirt in different directions. Or take a million years cleaning all of the floors with the hose attachment. Thanks!
I have a draw ‘o wires that used to look exactly like yours. I couldn’t take it anymore! Each cord/wire is now in it’s very own sandwich baggy and labeled. I’m just nuts that way. :)
Me too! But I have so many doubles that my cords live in little family groups….
I can’t believe how many of us have draw o’ wires! I thought you snuck over and took a pic of mine! Love it! I was just thinking that this week I had to get that mess of snakes organized!
haha!
Yes, sometimes a mess isn’t a mess at all!
I’m not the tidiest of people, but those wires would drive me mad. Even looking at it made me want to reach into the screen and tie rubber bands around them!
It was a most liberating day when I gave myself permission not to fold the washcloths (as Mother always did) but just put them all in a bin. They work just as well, and are out of sight in the cabinet!
I have a basket (a pretty one) on top of our fridge that has all those wires in it. I always know where they are when we need to recharge something or plug something into the laptop. Organized chaos: I am really really good at it. :)
I am enjoying your series
I had a basket of wires, then I decided I was sick of untangling when we were in a hurry so I put each cord in a ziploc bag and throw it back in the big basket. I works so well, and it really saves untangling time.
Just a little thing, but for me a time saver just the same. Love your ideas, and I need BA (Baskets Anonymous) too, I love baskets!!!!
Yes, LOL! If it’s behind closed doors, it’s likely not very organized! I have two junk drawers in our kitchen. I organize them about once a year. That’s good enough. I just don’t care enough. There are more important things in life. I doubt that’ll be part of judgment someday :) LOL
We throw all our extra blankets in a pile in the bottom of the hall closet! The children use them practically daily and if I had to refold them every time, I would probably be a grump! This works well for all of us!
I don’t know if this counts, but I quit folding underwear a few years ago. I just stack them in the drawer. That might make some people crazy, it actually keeps me from the crazy.
I no longer neatly fold my daughters’ clothes. Their clothes are so little that it doesn’t really matter and they currently love to pull everything out of their drawers when I’m not looking, so several times a week I have to put everything back. Folding everything just isn’t worth my time right now.
BTW- do you have any good systems for grocery lists? I currently just jot everything down on a magnetic pad on the fridge, but sometimes I don’t get everything on the list (especially if the items need to be purchased from more than one store) and then the list with the remaining items winds up lost and then I can’t remember what the other items were until I’m mid recipe and realize I’m still missing cumin. Argh!
I use a small (4×6 maybe) spiral notebook. Write the store name on the top of a page and keep adding as needed til I go to the store. As I think of things from other stores I add them to different pages. I may have 3 or 4 stores on a separate page with only 1 or 2 items but they are there. When I go to the store I throw the whole notebook in my purse and away I go with ALL my lists. If I’m unable to find or get something it goes onto a new list for next time.
The only downside to this is having someplace convenient for the notebook.
what about gluing a magnet to the back so it can live on the fridge door until you’re ready?
As a mom of 6 children with millions of socks in all, I recently ‘organized’ the sock mess with a family sock drawer. It won’t be featured on Martha Stewart, I’m sure, but it works for me and saves tons of time. Here’s the whole story on my blog: http://dayindayoutdayupdaydown.blogspot.com/2010/09/family-sock-drawer.html
I have a drawer of wires that look just like yours. It drives my husband crazy so he keeps his chargers all neatly wrapped and secured in another drawer.
xo, Sherry
We have a junk drawer with no baskets or organizational supplies. It works fine for me because I know exactly what’s in there. Other people would probably hate to open that drawer up! :)
I might not always wrap my cords up neat and pretty, but it was neat to learn how to do it. Thanks for that!
I’ve tamed the wires!! I bought a heavy duty shoe bag that hangs over the back of the closet door (any door will do) Its supposed to hold 12 pairs of shoes. But in my house it holds a million cords! I was bonkers with all the cords, and this tamed them COMPLETELY. I now have shoe bags over the back of my pantry door (spices, bags of gravy mix, 90 second rice), the door into the garage (tennis balls, dog toys, leashes) and the hall closet (mittens, scarves, beanies) and a random closet has all the out of season flip-flops, water shoes and sunscreen.
About chaos: I have a “sock bin” (big rubbermaid underbed drawer, stacked in the walk-in closet) where all the socks go, and everyone has to find some for themselves. If you plan ahead you can get a weeks worth matched together on Sunday and you’re set for the week. It’s every man for him or herself for that job.
My husband says my 2 desk drawers are messy. I think they are fine. Once I caught him try to organize mine like his, (and boy are his ORGANIZED) Too much organization makes me nervous, Besides, when I really start digging in my desk drawers, I am always promised a surprise…a long lost pen in a good color, a quote I wrote down, an e-mail address to a great website. Now, that’s way worth a little messiness!
I do actually wrap my cables and cords and other stringy stuff neatly. It is simply MUCH easier to retrieve that charger for the cellphone once a week, or that extra USB cable to transfer some pictures or get that extra pair of shoe laces when needed if they are all neatly wrapped around themselves, rather than tangled. Also, saves them from damage due to pulling them out of the wire nests impatiently. Wrapping them neatly takes just a few seconds…which I find to be worth it in the long run. Besides…there is something about opening an almost picture perfect organised drawer that just makes me smile and feel much better about myself even if the floors need a good scrubbing, and the sink does not shine. With that said…I really love my messy catch-all baskets too, found all over my home. Those kind of baskets where everything can just be thrown into them for the time being, to be sorted later. Without those…I would not be able to find my neatly folded strings and cords when I needed them since they would drown in papers and whatnot showed into the same drawers because there is space. So, I’m not a neat freak yet. Organisation for the sake of organisation is just time consuming (like sorting red pencils from blue pencils even if you just have three of each and can easily see which is which), but at the same time…that drawer of yours make me cringe just a little, thinking about trying to pull just one cord from there…:P
I have used the paper roll idea for years…. paper towel rolls not toilet paper. I use them full length for saving plastic grocery bags (just stuff them in) and cut in half for cords. This also makes it easy for me to take grocery bags to school when I need some for my class.
My cords are organzied using inexpensive non-reuseable nylon cable ties from the hardware store. I also use cable ties to shorten cords on lamps and electronics. The problem with junk drawers is that you can lose track of what is in them.
I have a friend, Forensic Quilter, that “files” the endless papers by throwing it ALL….receipts, paid bills, junk mail…..by wait for it……throwing it all in a big box in a spare room. I have to hand it to her, if you need something you *will* find it eventually. Toss N’ File.
Shudder…that would drive me INSANE! And sifting through junk mail to find an important paper is just silly, to me…just take 3 seconds a day to put it directly in the recycle bin before you throw the rest of the papers in the box. But that’s just me. I need to get a shredder so I can shred credit apps and our address on stuff RIGHT AWAY so I never have to touch it again….my goal is to touch each piece of paper as little as possible. Open it, recycle the envelope, pay it, file it. Not that it always happens that way ;)
I have found that I don’t need for it to be perfect for it to work for me. But my poor husband is slowly going insane because he would be very neat and organized if it weren’t for the rest of us mucking it up for him…LOL
Whenever I’m trying to “over organize” something my husband always says “That’s why houses have drawers and cabinets, so people won’t SEE what’s inside”. So shoving a bunch of cords in a drawers works JUST great, just put a label inside that says “cords”. Then it’s organized…LOL.
My wire drawer looks like The Nester’s! Woo Hoo!