Take a deep breath – it’s time to get your hot mess room in order!
This is one of the most requested podcast topics for me to cover. If it helps, it was equally overwhelming for me to think about how I was going to inspire and motivate you to sort it out.
Over the next 4 podcasts, I’m going to tackle this head on. Buckle up and get ready for the ride!
Whether it’s the storage room, garage, spare bedroom, or even your entire house, there’s always going to be things that you just don’t know what to do with.
As things build up in one space, they become a jigsaw puzzle. It’s your job to try and work out what items should go where. To move forward, you need to realize what’s actually in there and then once you’ve achieved that, you can sort it out.
There’s two reasons why you have a hot mess room…
- You have a lack of time (and decision-making capabilities)
- You have a lack of space
Lack Of Time
There’s always something that will be more important to distract you from addressing the hot mess room.
The reason that things are in there in the first place is because you don’t know what you want to do with them. They’re all there because you don’t want to deal with them. If you did want to deal with them, you would have!
My podcast episode on how to sort a box is a great place to start when you’re thinking about addressing your hot mess room.
Lack Of Space
Your goal is to have a functioning and organized storage area. The logistics of this will depend on your individual situation.
If you have a garage and basement and lots of available space to fill, you may need to make tough decisions to reduce the amount of possessions you are storing.
If you live in a smaller space, the reason that you may have a hot mess room is because you literally don’t have a storage area at all.
When we pick houses, we often don’t make our purchasing decisions based on storage even though it’s something that we all need.
Storage is a natural by-product of life. We all need a certain amount of stuff and that is absolutely fine.
Depending on your circumstances, you may need an off-site storage facility. There’s nothing wrong with this.
Here are 3 good examples of when this may be necessary…
- When two families blend together, especially if children are involved
- When you downsize, but the kids are still using the house as a storage facility
- If you move to an area where you don’t have a garage or basement
Make Storage Work For You
Since I started offering physical products, I’ve really had to think about the organizational logistics for myself and the wider team. Initially, we used the Home Depot shelving in the garage to store everything and this very quickly expanded to include an off-site storage facility.
This worked, but it wasn’t ideal. As it got colder, we realized that a physical office with a door would be more appropriate for our needs.
In all of these spaces, we used the Home Depot shelving – there were lots of trips to the store!
The key to organization is to ensure that it works for your needs. If it doesn’t, change it, find a better solution, and move on.
The System
Whatever your system, start from an empty space for the optimum organization. The more uniform, the better. Your shelving and storage need to be neat, tidy, and clearly accessible.
I personally use the HDX ventilated 24” deep shelving from Home Depot. I love that it is heavy duty yet very flexible and lightweight.
It works for basements, storage facilities, garages, and even attics because it is so adaptable in height. It’s the system I LOVE for setting up a storage room.
If space is limited, you can place folding tables on the top of the shelving to make a countertop to work on, as you can see in this picture. It’s a great money-saving tip.
The beauty of this system is that you can find anything at any time. Color-coded bins will hold your items and the contents will all be indexed in a home reference binder. You will keep this in the house for when you need to use it.
Magical March
This is the best month to get organized. Take advantage of the natural organizational energy that flows in spring and put it into your hot mess room organization. It’s a time where we feel compelled to start, so just do it!
