Everybody loves sales! The thrill of the hunt. The excitement of the find. The bragging afterwards. As the old proverb says, “Bad, bad,” says the buyer, but when he goes away, then he boasts.
But what do we do with it once we bring it home? What about buyer’s remorse? Was it really a good find?
And what does this have to do with being organized?
One of the principles of organizing is keeping tabs on the things you bring into your space whether that is a home or office.
In other words, do you have criteria for what comes in?
And do you know where you are going to put it?
For example, I love sales because I have small little shops in my home where I can go shopping at any time of the year. I use sales to stock my shops.
Let me explain.
I don’t shop a lot. I actually don’t enjoy the process and am not one to shop for fun.
But I found that during certain times of year there are sales that I can’t miss such as back-to-school sales in the summer. This is when I buy my year’s supply of office supplies, things I know I will use.
Then throughout the year when I need pen or paper, I don’t need to go online and order some or go to the physical store. I can “shop” from my home supply.
Be aware that this can be dangerous though! It is possible to fill your home with sale items that you think you may one day need but never do. Before you try setting up your shops you must have criteria.
For example, I have two criteria for anything that is bought at a sale for one of my shops.
- It must fit in the designated space
- It must be an item that I know we will use in the future because we’ve used it in the past.
Here are a few of my “shops”:
Office Supply Shop
This is where I keep all of the miscellaneous school and office supplies in a tub and on a designated shelf. Back-to-school sales supply it and I “shop” throughout the year from it.
So does anyone in the family. They know at any time they can go to mom’s tub and shelf and pick out what they need.
This includes binders, paper, graph paper, pens, pencils, glue sticks, etc.
Gift Shop
This is where I keep one shelf in the house for any great gift items that don’t have an expiration date -think “non-food items” here-that I know would be good for general gifts.
Gift Wrap Shop
After each major holiday there are many sales on gift wrapping and cards.
Those go in the hanging bag that hold all the gift bags, bows, paper, tissue, ribbons, scissors, and tape. When it’s full, I don’t buy any more.
Bath Shop
This is my favorite shop. It has various handmade soaps and lotions picked up at festivals, as well as the basics such as deodorants, shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste.
I have a smaller container for these because some of these items do have an expiration date because I prefer natural ones.
Kids’ Toy and Clothing Shop
When my kids were younger this shop was a lifesaver. As people gave us things for the children, we put them in tubs and on the shelves and brought them out in rotation according to age appropriateness.
We lived in a small space so I had three tubs for three months’ worth of toy rotation.
For clothes, the ones that didn’t fit now went into a box for later.
No matter what the shop, everything is designated to fit into a certain amount of space. And I know that everything that goes into that space is something that we will use in the future.
So set up shops. Then go shopping. And then shop at home all year!