Shelves Organized 4 Ways!

Have you taken our quiz yet to figure out which organizing personality type you are?  If not, go here first to figure out your organizing style!  If you already know what type you are, then you know you will organize best in one of four ways.  It's super important to lean into your organizing type because you'll accomplish so much more without burnout!

To help show you how differently people organize, I've organized the same shelf in four different ways.  See which way looks and feels best to you, and I'm positive it will match up to your organizing personality type!  Check out the video here or keep reading to see if I'm right!

Two major things influence your organizing personality type:

  1. The speed or pace you like to go.
  2. Aesthetics

These two things combine to create four distinct organizing types.  Based on this quiz, you'll find that you are one of these four types.  And I'm guessing that one way I organize a jumbled shelf for each type will appeal to you much more than the others!

1.   Lavender– Steady, Functional, a Little at a Time

Lavenders care about how the space functions but not so much about how it looks.  And they need to do the work in small chunks, or they will burn out and not want to come back to organizing at all!  Here's how I would organize this shelf as a Lavender:

  1. Remove everything (15 minutes)
  2. Organize one square.  I don't use bins.  I just categorize the items.
  3. Do another square another day, which takes another 15 minutes.
  4. Do 1-2 more and finish over the course of a few days.

I didn't work so hard that I burnt myself out, and I didn't stress over finding perfect bins or making things look super pretty.  But because I categorized, I now know how to find everything I need.

2.  Cactus Blossom– Fast, Functional, and All at Once

If you're a Cactus Blossom, set aside 1-1.5 hours for this task, and get it done all at once.  Here's how things would go:

  1. Remove everything.
  2. Replace everything, categorizing as you go.
  3. You aren't using special bins.  You want structure, but the containers don't have to match.  So I used some repurposed (washed!) yogurt cups, and I will write directly on the container with a marker instead of taking the time to make fancy labels.
  4. I know where everything goes, and it was fast and cheap to organize.  I used what I had around the house, and it's good enough!

3.  Rose– Beautiful, Thoughtful, a Little at a Time

This flower type definitely cares how things look in the end.  A Rose will take the time to make perfect labels and buy matching bins.  The end look is highly motivating to a Rose.

  1. Empty everything off the shelves and categorize- 15 minutes.
  2. Organize each section using matching bins or something else that is pleasing to the eye- 15 minutes.
  3. Do a third section another day- 15 minutes.
  4. Do the final section in another 15 minute chunk.
  5. Add labels, and put pretty things on top for decor.  Items are hidden away in matching bins but labeled so you know what's inside.

The Rose is perfectly fine if the task takes a week or more as long as it is beautiful in the end!

4.  Sunflower– Bold, Beautiful, All at Once

This is my favorite type because it's me, LOL!  Sunflowers want to tackle things all at once, no matter how long it takes.  They throw themselves into the project, and they want it to be functional and beautiful in the end.  Basically, Sunflowers want it all, and they want it now!  If you're a Sunflower, set aside about an hour for this task:

  1. 1.  Take everything off.
  2. Categorize inside bins that hide everything.  Bins not only give hidden storage, but they create more space because you can stack more items without them falling over.
  3. Make pretty labels for the outside.
  4. Everything will match on the outside, even if it's less aesthetically pleasing on the inside of the bins.

You probably easily saw yourself in one of these shelves.  Which one appealed to you most, and did it match your organizing type?

Posted Under: Organizing, Organizing Your Spaces