Reverse Organizing
Today we’re breaking down reverse organizing – and no, reverse organizing isn’t the process of your kids dumping all your bins on the floor and messing up everything you worked so hard to organize…unfortunately, I haven’t found a magic solution for that one yet!
Click the video below to learn about Reverse Organizing:
Reverse organizing is a method of organizing that I invented that is going to really help you maintain your space once you’ve finished organizing. Here’s how it goes:
What most people do when they go to organize a space, is they look at all the items they have that need a home, they figure out what containers their items fit well in and which containers fit well in their space, and they go from there. That’s a perfectly valid way to organize, I’ve done it myself, and often, it works just fine.
But there is an even better way to organize that is especially useful in spaces you use a lot, like your kitchen or your office.
Start by taking everything out of the space. Now, keep it down to a space rather than a room. I’m talking a desk, a pantry, or a closet. Ideally, physically remove everything. But if you can’t do that, then in your mind envision that there’s a blank slate in the space, with nothing there.
Then ask yourself “what items do I use most often when I’m in this space?” Whichever items are the answer to that question, find a convenient place for those things.
This is going to make life so much easier – it’ll be easy to access your most used items, but it will also be easy to put them away because their home will be located close to where they’re being used.
So, for example, maybe you have the perfect bin for organizing cords and cables that you store in your closet, but you use your computer charger every day. It’s quickly going to become tedious to lug that bin out of your closet every time you have to charge your laptop, not to mention to go back to your closet to put it away when your laptop is done charging.
With an item you use daily like your computer charger, I’m giving you permission to break the cardinal rule of organizing and to NOT put like items together. I know, I know…it’s kind of a shock.
But here’s the thing, while keeping like items together may make them look nice on the shelf, it could also be the single thing that’s hindering you from maintaining your beautifully organized space. Having a logical location for the items you need to access the most often is actually going to serve you far, far more than keeping everything “technically” organized.
So go ahead and stick that charger in your desk drawer, even if it’s the only charger in there. The goal is to be able to find what you need when you need it, and to put it away again when you’re done so you can find it the next time. If the desk drawer is the most logical place, then by all means, put it there!
If you go into your organizing project with this mindset shift, I know it’s going to make a big difference in how your spaces are organized and function.
Be sure to check out my post on Reverse Decluttering as well – it goes hand in hand with Reverse Organizing, and I know it’ll help you make your home a place of less stress and more peace!
Copyright 2025, Get Organized HQ.
Jessica Says
This goes very well with the concept of “making this the place”…. If you keep leaving your glasses on top of the microwave every night, make that their place. If your husband keeps dropping his dirty clothes right outside the bathroom, put a laundry basket there. If there’s always a pile of tissues and empty pill bottles in one corner, put a trashcan there.
Marie-France Lamothe Says
What a great organizing concept! I’ve done versions of this myself. For instance, I might have a place where most of my electronic cords are kept, but the ones that need accessing on a regular basis get their own home.
And I love Jessica’s concept as well of “making this the place”. I’ve done that with my hubby’s vitamins where they would just gather in a pile on our kitchen counter, so I put them all on a nice tray. Now it appears more organized and less messy!
Loryn Says
Ok, that’s a very clever way to think about it. I’m going to apply it to my desk and kitchen prep table this week!
Yolanda Says
Hi, where can I get the cable ties?
Dani Olson Says
I love these ideas! May I ask where you got those wide clear organizers on top? I love those!
Thank you!
Kari Lane Says
I definitely do this in the kitchen. Regular dishes at eye level. Also with my shoes…I have shoes in boxes and drawers (clear) and labeled…but the ones I wear the most are at chest to just above eye level.
But for cords…I have them everywhere I sit down and charge my phone. Then I never have to go looking. On my desk, on the island, by the sofa, in the car, at the bedside. I never have to look for one. for the ones out in “public” I have little command hooks to wrap them up and tuck them out of sight.
Chana Says
This has always been my method of organizing! It drives my husband bonkers! “Why must you take everything out of my closet?” In the end, though, he enjoys having the shirts, pants, and shorts that he wears daily, in their own special place. His closet is neater and it is easier for him to get his items ready to go to Goodwill.
It takes me a couple of days to declutter and organize but I always end up with large throw-away piles and small keeper piles. We now do quarterly Goodwill purges and that helps tremendously.
Nice to know that I am not weird! Thanks for the video and post.
LC Says
my favorite organized spaces definitely started with questions like “what do I want this space to look like, What is my aesthetic ideal given my realistic limitations?” “What do I absolutely need to have in this spot so I can function smoothly?” “What can I do to this ugly object to make it fit in with my aesthetic? And if that isn’t realistic, how else can I approach this?” “How can I store this so that I can get it out and put it away with one movement?” “This is valuable and a family heirloom… Is there any family member that would be upset if I got rid of it? Pack it up and send it to them.”
The big challenge comes when there are still a lot of things left of value, things I have plans for but little time to execute, and too much of the stuff for the space. And those things are lurking in my final dream spaces. A dream that is part nightmare because it has to accommodate ugly things, ugly functions, ugly storage objects, ugly tool things that cannot be fixed. It’s hard to get excited with those limitations competing for space. If only I lived in a place where storing things in the garage didn’t create hot steamy dank pest crevices!