Organization systems are not one size fits all. Your organizing personality, or what I like to call your type of logic, is truly the most important aspect to consider when organizing any room or project.
If you try to organize something that goes against your system of reasoning, then it will never, ever stick!
Thus, in my work as a professional organizer, I have identified four types of logic: Geometric, Positional, Chronological, and Categorical.
• Geometric or “How”
If you have geometric logic, then you like clean lines, right angles and symmetry. Do you feel more organized if…
– Your papers are stacked in a straight row on your desk.
– All book spines are perfectly aligned with the edge of a bookcase.
• Positional or “Where”
If you have positional logic, then you like things to be where they will be most useful. Do you feel more organized if…
– Your keys are always by the front door so they’re close by when you leave.
– Your laundry basket is located in your closet because that’s where you always change clothes.
• Chronological or “When” or “How Often”
If you have chronological logic, then you relate everything to a point in time. Your life is strictly based on a calendar of events or the time of day, month or year. Do you feel more organized if…
– Your records are filed according to date.
– Your weekly routine performs the same tasks on the same day of each week.
• Categorical or “What” or “Who”
If you have categorical logic, then you classify everything in a group. Do you feel more organized if…
– The furniture in your kitchen is ordered by type of food.
– Your music library is displayed by genre.
Most of your habits and patterns should be obvious to you, and you will hopefully relate strongly to one type of logic or another.
In some cases it could be a combination of all 4 types of logic. For example, you can arrange geometrically by shape, such as pants, skirts, shirts, and then categorically by color within each geometric element, such as white pants, brown pants, pink jeans and shirts, red shirts, black shirts.
These kinds of logic aren’t designed to make organization look difficult, nor should you spend a lot of time agonizing over what kind of logic that might be. These are just considerations to get you thinking about your likes and dislikes so you can create the best organization systems that support you and your lifestyle.
