Does getting organized seem hopeless to you? Many individuals with ADHD spend lots of energy worrying about organizing their homes. That is why I wanted to share my four steps you need to go through when organizing any space, this can be remember by with the acronym L.A.S.T. Now I bet you are wondering what the L.A.S.T. stands for, so let me take you through each one.
Step 1- L stands for Like: This first step is organizing a space for items that you like. For instance, if you organize your pantry then you can put all the cans of veggies together or if you are organizing your closet you could put your jeans that you like together:
When you group everything together you will do the following more easily: –
–You will see what you have, how much of each item you have, put similar items together
-You will be able to go to one place to find what you need,
-You will be able to place things back when you are no longer using them.
The important thing here is to work with how you like to categorize things that make sense to you and how you live.
Step 2- A stands for Assign: Now you have more details about what there is to store, it is time to get more detailed about giving your items a proper home that will suit you and your family’s needs. It often helps to draw out a plan out the space you are organizing and label what you want to keep where. While doing this think of the following:
-Keep the items you use most easily accessible
-Keep the items less used a little more out of the way
-Who will use the space, and can they easily access it.
Finding the best home for your items is paramount to getting organized, as it will be to access it when you need it.
Step 3- S stands for Store: You now know what you want to store in a particular space, now is the time to make a reality. This is the only time that I am going to suggest looking at different products that can assist you in making the space to be as organized as possible for you. Here are a few of my tips to maximize your space
-Measure the space that you have so you will know that when you are buying organizing products you will know if they will fit or not
– Go through your home and try to re-purpose what you can do to save money.
-Allow extra space to leave some breathing room so that your items are easy to grab and put back
-Make your items easy to see and access
Step 4 T stands for Tag: Once you have organized your space and decided where you are going to put your items, it is time to tag or label all the space. After all if you or your family members take something off of a shelf and uses it how will they know where to put it, You can make your tags or labels as functional as you will like but the important thing is to show where things go. Here are some of my own personally tips to get you started:
-Label your items so that they are visual to whoever in your home uses them
-Use visual labels rather words if you have small children in your home
-Make sure that the tags/labels are on tight enough, so they don’t fall off.