Color–it’s not just for those who like rainbows–it’s for organizing, too!
Color coding is a system that organizes information, offers the eye instant recognition, and reduces the time searching for items your need–all useful when organizing a home, home office, or one’s schedule.
But, you don’t have to have a degree in art to organize with color. Here are some items found in the home that can easily be organized using color:
Papers
Are your piles growing as you sleep? Can’t find certain papers when you need them?
Start the color coding process by sorting your papers into different categories (such as finances, school, house, etc). Then, select a different color for each category. Hanging files and manila folders come in a rainbow of colors and can help you reduce the time spent looking for a particular document. If you designate ‘green’ as your color for ‘financial’ papers, you won’t waste time looking through yellow or blue folders for your last 401K statement.
If you’re not interested in spending money on colored folders, Avery makes adhesive colored circles that can be placed on hanging files or folders and have a similar effect.
Clothes Closet
If you look in home stores, you’ll find that hangers come in practically every color imaginable. Use colored hangers to differentiate the various types of clothing in your wardrobe. For example, hang work clothes on white hangers, work out clothes on blue hangers, and cocktail attire on purple hangers. If you keep up the system, you’ll never show up to the office in your yoga pants…
Let’s say you’re like me and you prefer to hang your clothes on crystal hangers. You can either tie a colored ribbon around the hanger or use those Avery colored circle stickers discussed above to differentiate between different clothing types.
Children
If you have more than one child, pick a specific color–that will be the color that will identify them. Some children’s items are easily organized by color: clothes, shoes, puzzles, sports equipment, backpacks, etc.
For example, ever wonder which of your kids left the wet towel on the bathroom floor? Assign each child a different colored towel and you’ll know who the culprit is very quickly…
Are you a busy family trying to keep track of everyone’s schedule? Color coding appointments on a calendar (planner/wall calendar/digital) is a quick visual cue to help you figure out which child has to be where on a particular day.
Computer
Is your desktop a jumble of files? Is your inbox filled with emails? Use color to save time and create consistency.
Color coding files by project enables your eye to focus when juggling multiple projects. For instance, label all files related to ‘The Smith Project’ (as well as it’s folder) a particular color. Time spent looking for documents or emails related to ‘The Smith Project’ will be drastically reduced if they are all the same color.
Color coding email messages can alert you to a message from a particular person (green = your boss, red = your spouse, blue = your kid’s school). Many email programs come with this feature–you just have to create the categories, enter the email addresses, and choose their corresponding colors.
Holiday Decorations
It is not uncommon for stores to carry plastic bins and tubs that come in colors corresponding to a holiday. Try purchasing orange bins for Halloween decorations and costumes storage. Red and green do the trick for Christmas, blue for Hanukah, and pastel colors for Easter egg painting supplies. It’s SO much easier to find a colored bin in an attic or garage!
Why not bring some color into your life? Using color as a part of your organization plan will save you time, money, and stress in the long run and just think about how colorful (and organized) your life will be!
Tell me–how do you get organized with color in your home?
Stacey is a Professional Organizer, Virtual Organizer, and Author in Bergen County, New Jersey specializing in home organizing, time, and paper management. She is the author of The Organized Bride’s Thank You Note Handbook: Let Systems and 101 Modern Sample Thank You Notes Take You From Overwhelmed to Organized.
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This is a great topic, Stacey. I find that some people love using color when organizing, and others don’t like it all. I will just ‘go with the flow’ with whatever the client wants. I did have one client who bought the colored bins from TCS for her holiday decorations, and I came home feeling a little envious. They were pretty neat. I probably use color most in paper filing. I will color code my tabs (as opposed to the folders themselves) for different topics. The reason I don’t color code the folders is because inevitably I need one more red one or one more blue one and then end up having to buy either another multi-pack or a whole box of one color. But printing colored labels is simple, so it works for me:)
‘Whatever the client wants’ is top priority! I like colored bins and often advise clients to purchase them around the holiday (and on sale after a holiday). You can’t miss them in an attic, basement, closet, or crawl space! And who needs to label a red and green bin? ?ou know your Fourth of July decorations are NOT going to be in there! 🙂
I once knew a woman that chose a specific color for each family member’s socks and underwear to speed up laundry sorting!
Wow! That’s a very colorful way of keeping the laundry organized and streamlined!
Color organizing is a tough one. I like it as long as it doesn’t get too complicated. I once organized files for a woman who wanted her hanging folders to be in purple, blue, green order which was fine, until she started created new files and the system got too hard to maintain. Or I love when folks feel motivated to buy the green/red or orange/black plastic tubs for their holiday decorations, but then when they amass more items and can’t find those color bins for their system, they feel stumped. Color in moderation, I guess!
You’re right, Sarah. If the color-coding becomes complicated, it no longer becomes an easy system to maintain. I do though, love those colored bins stores sell at holiday time. I have a few orange ones for Fall/Halloween items and a blue one for Hannukah. I think using colored bins as a large visual cue prevents people from having to spend time as in their attic, basement, or crawl space.
My kids have their own colors. My daughter is pink and my son’s color is green. My husband is blue and my color is orange. I use these colors with my calendar as well. It works wonderfully. Thanks for the additional options to organize with color.
I’m sure the color coding of your family calendar works very well! I use iCal and both of my boys are blue, my husband is gray, and I’m yellow. There’s a lot of blue on my calendar!
I use colored paper for certain forms so I can easily find them in client files. One form is always light blue for example so I can find it and update it easily in each file when needed instead of sorting through all my paperwork for that client.
I love that idea, Pam! i just may borrow that for my own business… A good idea for schools, non-profits, and brick-and-mortar stores, too. Thanks for sharing.
First of all, thank you for that bright, colorful photo to accompany your post. On a gray day like today, it really cheered me up. I’m a huge fan of color AND color-coding. Some clients are not color sensitive, so it doesn’t work for them. However, for the ones who are color-aware, color coding can work like magic to help them stay and enjoy organizing. I’ve found this to be especially true for setting up filing systems. Instead of having too many colors, we often go simply and make each the files in each file drawer a specific color to correspond to a large category (ie Personal, Business, Medical, Financial).
I’s happy to hear that my colorful photo cheered you up! I agree–simple is best when it come to organizing with color. There may be 64 crayons in the box with the sharpener but that doesn’t mean we need use that many when we color code!