The #1 Rule in Organization

Although organizing a space takes quite a few steps, there is one thing that is most important in making a space look presentable.

Take items out of their packaging. Seriously.

I've always been the type of person to keep pens, pencils, highlighter, index cards, anything really, in the original box it came from. Colored pens had to go back into the exact same order they came in. Really OCD. But when organizing and prettifying a space, removing items from the packaging they were bought in is the key to going from a drawer like this:

to a drawer like this:

It applies to everything.

Such as pacifiers. Go from this:

to this:

Easy as pie. First of all, it makes it so much easier to grab something you need.

Pacifiers: Please tell me that when your baby is screaming because he lost his paci that you are going to want to have to pry open cardboard and plastic to get to a new one when you could just open a drawer and grab it instead.

Diapers: When your child (God forbid you have a boy that likes to pee everywhere the second he's uncovered) is on top of his or her changing table, half naked, do you really want to be scrambling to tear open the plastic container that the diapers are in?

Pens: Next time you're in the middle of an important phone call regarding your dream job, and your possible future employer is rattling off information about your interview, go right ahead and ask him or her to hold on so that you can grab a pen to write it down with.

I didn't think so. Remove your items from their packaging.

Obviously, the number two rule is to have something pretty and functional to put the item in. Although just having it rolling around in the drawer still makes for easier access than ripping open the box in a time of dire need, do you really want your mother-in-law (or whoever) to open your drawer looking for a pair of scissors and see the biggest pile of unorganized writing utensils in history?

Do you have any rules that help you whenever you're organizing a space?