12 Home Organizing Tips That Make Your House Messier

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We’ve all been sucked in by those picture perfect organizing tips on social media — the home wrangled, everything in its place. The truth is, a lot of these organizing hacks don’t quite live up to their promises. In fact, some of these strategies can actually leave your house more of a mess than when you started with clutter seemingly out of control. The worst part? Sometimes you just don’t know these allegedly ‘helpful’ ideas are doing more harm than good.

And if you’ve been like ‘my efforts to get organized are shooting themselves in the foot’, don’t worry you’re not alone. These organizing blunders slip into our routines and before you know it, our homes have changed from the look of a magazine spread into the aftermath of a hurricane. Time to explore some common, but potentially misleading ways to organize that could be actively undermining your space.

Decorative Baskets For Stashing Everything

Beautiful wicker baskets perfect for corralling your things, but they get black holes fast. They’re just easier to put stuff in there and things start to pile up without them ever thinking. Before long you’re sifting through piles, looking for one small thing, leaving behind a mess trail.

Wrong Usage of Too Many Small Containers

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Many enthusiasts in the world of organizing recommend tiny containers for storing small items. Unfortunately, too many small containers can equal too much to handle, to the detriment of having more lids and compartments than you need. It’s also hard to keep track of what’s inside each container, which is frustrating and ironically leads to more clutter.

Going All in on Filling up Drawer Organizers

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Drawer organizers are handy for storing all sorts of stuff, from flatware to office supplies, but if you over fill them, the chaos ensues. If you cram too many things in each compartment they get tangled or stuck and it’s hard to open the drawers. Eventually, it’s possible you’ll find yourself heaving stuff into any corner it fits into, and that is hardly the orderly outcome you had actually anticipated.

Labeling Things Too Precisely

A Couple Packing Up Boxes With Labels — Image Credit: Blue Bird /Pexels

Getting specific is a good thing until you get too specific and burn yourself out. Ultra specific labels tend to cause streamlining, but can sometimes make it more difficult to make decisions of where things should go when an item doesn’t fit perfectly into any category. It makes for piles of “label less” items piling on surfaces and creating more clutter.

Declutter Before Buying Storage

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Before you even really declutter you start organising surprisingly with things like storage bins and containers. Without the time to sort your stuff, you end up taking too many storage items you may never even need. These extra containers, on the contrary, end up as clutter themselves, and take up valuable space instead of helping you stay organized.

Folding Clothes in Weird and Complicated Ways

Fancy folding looks nice in theory, but they can be hard to keep up. Those tiny little folds that make your drawers look so organized and proper, quickly disintegrate when you are in a hurry or just not in the mood. Sometimes simpler is better and just using simple folding techniques can actually save you time and keep things cleaner.

Adding Too Many Open Shelves

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If you don’t guard against it, open shelving can seem stylish and look a lot like a dust covered catch all for whatever happens to catch your eye. Open shelves can remain neat, only if you’re committed to doing so, and can look messier than if everything tucked away behind closed doors.

Keeping “Miscellaneous” Bins

Wicker basket Near a Window Pane — Photo credit: Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels

A “miscellaneous” bin could be so tempting—just throw it all in there and return to it later. In reality, these bins usually become bottomless pits for forgotten things. The more you throw in random bin, the harder to remember what’s in the bin and soon you would need to dig though a mountain of the odds and ends to find what’s in the bin.

Multipurpose Furniture With Hidden Storage

The idea that you can buy furniture with built in storage sounds perfect, but oftentimes it only leads to more stuff, out of sight. Hidden compartments can quickly fill with things you don’t and don’t need, and at that point become part of the problem. This isn’t decluttering, it’s just providing a place to store the clutter.

Changing the Shape of Small Spaces

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If you rummage anyone on organizing experts, they’ll suggest creating different ‘zones’ in each room, such as a reading nook, a craft station, and so on. However, if you have limited space, you might feel more about cluttering your space if you create multiple zones. Too many designated areas can cripple small rooms, turning them into an obstacle course, not a safe and well organized haven.

Clear Storage Containers for Everything

Some things like clear storage containers are nice for certain items, but when you use them everywhere your shelves can become a bit messy. The contents of every container won’t be seen and this only makes your space congested and overloaded if the items contained in them are not kept well arranged. Other times, more opaque containers or even storage boxes might work better in order to maintain a clean, uniform look.

Hanging Too Many Hooks and Racks

Some hooks and racks are meant to help keep things away from the floor, however, when you have too many, they become a magnet for clutter. With bags, hats and jackets hanging everywhere in every direction, overloaded hooks can give you the feeling of disorder. Rather than a streamlined look, you’re left with a wall full of chaos that is anything but organized.

Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.