Prime Real Estate Organization Plan: 3 Things to Consider, 4 Steps to Organize

In my last blog I helped you identify your home’s best organization locations (a.k.a. “prime real estate”). Without a favorable plan for that prime real estate, your space will suffer. Rarely is there enough prime real estate (i.e. easily accessible space) for all the items you and your family utilize throughout the year. Once you've confidently identified the prime real estate you have, it's time to put a plan in place for that space so you and your family can live your best organized life!

3 Things to Consider

#1 | Safety

If you’re not careful, the placement of your items can be a safety hazard—especially if you have children around. Make sure breakable or dangerous items have a designated space that is out of reach (e.g. medicines, cleaning supplies, glass and other delicate, breakable items). You also don’t want to injure yourself for the sake of organization, which brings us to consideration #2.

#2 | Weight of Your Items

You don’t want to throw your back out while storing or accessing something significantly heavy. Store heavier items on the ground or a lower location, when possible, for safe and easy access. If you must store a heavy item on a shelf, make sure the shelf is sturdy and properly reinforced. If it’s not, the weight can cause stress, warping, or breakage of the shelf over time.

#3 | Frequency of Use

Some items get used more often than others. If everything is given equal priority, it will all be placed in one location with no order in mind. This means things used daily are mixed with things used monthly (or even annually). Rarely is there enough prime real estate for all items used throughout the year. Therefore, when reaching for an item used daily, you’ll be required to dig through a sea of items. When you can’t easily see what you have, you waste valuable time [searching] and money [overstocking].

4 Steps to Ideally Utilize Prime Real Estate

Step 1 | Purpose

Decide the definitive purpose for the space. Ask yourself what needs to be conveniently stored here in order for the space to be easy to use and manage.

Step 2 | Purge

Pull everything out of the space and sort it all, putting similar items together in categories. This is also a great time to clean and wipe down the space.

Step 3 | Designate

Strategically designate areas for the items you’ve categorized. Select:

• out-of-reach spaces for items with safety concerns

• supportive and sturdy spaces for heavy items

• prime real estate spaces for your most used items

• harder-to-reach spaces for items used less frequently (or remove them from the space altogether, if a different "home" for them is more appropriate)

Step 4 | Place

It’s time to place all the items back into your space.

Once you apply the tips and steps from this blog and my last blog, you should find the space considerably easier to use, manage, and maintain. If you need some storage solutions for your space, I've curate 10 of my favorites for you in this free guide!