Decluttering Drawers: Bedroom

[rachelmanija]

Learning how to fold things so they are in horizontal rows rather than vertical stacks is definitely the point where this tipped over into "hobby." However, it does make stuff WAY easier to find.

These are before-and-after aerial shots of my T-shirt drawer:

Comments

[sholio]

That looks fantastic! Though I suspect the aspect where that would fall apart for me -- long-term, anyway -- is that sorting and hanging/putting away my laundry (as opposed to, say, procrastinating and leaving it in the dryer forever) is ALREADY a bit of an organizational challenge. Adding an extra 20 minutes of folding would probably result in laundry storage moving to some handy horizontal surface near the dresser in the hopes that someday it will move into the drawers on its own.

I can see the appeal, though.

[rachelmanija]

Ha! I fold things anyway - the chaotic state of my drawers previously was due to everything getting tossed around while I rummaged for the thing I wanted - so for me it doesn't add any extra time. Except for re-folding everything just this once.

You need a laundry brownie.

[sholio]

You need a laundry brownie.

YES I DO. Let me know if you know the appropriate offerings to attract one.

[rachelmanija]

I believe a saucer of milk next to the laundry hamper is traditional. If you do get one, whatever you do, don't gift them with a wee set of clothes.

[green_knight]

Anecdata:

I'm more likely to fold-and-put-away than I was to pick up a stack and transfer it wholesale, and the time it takes is maybe five minutes. (I fold on the clothes dryer, so there's a good workflow for me).

I started folding out of sheer orneryness: I asked myself 'what if I stopped whinging about how fucking ridiculous this system is and how it will never work and just FOLD MY CLOTHES THIS ONCE TO TRY IT?' Two years later, I'm still doing it.

Turns out, the time I save by picking the right shirt for any occasion, and knowing whether I need to do a particular batch of laundry by eyeballing my clothes drawers more than makes up for folding time.

[sholio]

I'm glad that works for you!

My own experience is that I, too, have tried folding. It results in either a wad of clothes being stuffed into wherever the folded clothes go, to be folded later (read: never), or the clothes being left in the dryer forever.

My current system, which involves making a neat stack of flat clothing while sorting and then laying it sideways in the drawer, works great for me: it's fast, I can see everything at a glance (... ish, I do have to move them a bit to see what's in the back), and for whatever reason the extra 2 seconds saved per item, or whatever, of laying them neatly out flat instead of folding them makes the difference to my hindbrain in actually doing it vs. not doing it.

It's good to figure out what works best for you, though!

[green_knight]

Hurray for finding a system that works. (Turning the stack sideways never occurred to me, so I'm filing it away in case I might need a reminder of 'hey, there's yet another way of doing this'.)

[havocthecat]

I, um. That does look easier to find things in, though. LOTS easier. Totally worth making it a hobby.

[rachelmanija]

It's SO EASY.

[havocthecat]

I might change my pants-folding technique for that. It's not hard, the way I do it. I mean, I don't shove that many in a drawer. But I might fit them better this way!

What I really need is a good jewelry organizer. Several good jewelry organizers.

Oh God. The hell ("hell") of being someone who loves jewelry and has been collecting it since age seven. Do you know how much jewelry I have that still sparks joy? Only some of it is organized, let me put it that way. I have ideas, but I have to put them into practical effect.

Mostly because I only literally just had the ideas while typing this comment and I'm at work - and I need to hunt down some proper organizers, and also now I need to rehome some of my scarves, mittens, and gloves in order to move the jewelry into that cabinet. (Uh, some of the jewelry. I mean, I have a lot of jewelry. I should really purge some of it, but everything is a potential LARP character piece too. So. Uh.)

I'm sorry, you've fallen victim to a slightly overcaffeinated brainstorm of mine in your comments.

Thanks for listening, though! But my brain has been chewing on this for years and I finally got a breakthrough!

[movingfinger]

*Sob* It's BEAUTIFUL!

I love that the Kondo method lets you get a shirt out without going through the other shirts.

[rachelmanija]

Isn't it great? I just opened my drawers this morning, and was able to instantly grab the things I wanted.

[monanotlisa]

Okay, shit. This is inspiring.

[rachelmanija]

Let me know if you try it!

[alchimie]

The having of my drawers (and even more importantly my children's drawers) in horizontal rows has vastly, vastly improved my life. I can find everything! They can find everything! I have a much better sense of what clothing they never wear because over time the unworn pieces migrate to the back of the rows, so I actually know how much functional clothing they have and when they need new clothing! Plus it is, for me, simply aesthetically more pleasing, and getting a positive aesthetic moment each time I open a drawer is really, really nice.