How to Make Dividers for Organizing Things

The Filing Cabinet

• 1

  Take out all of the file folders from the cabinet and separate into categories, which might include personal, financial and household.

• 2

  Go through each folder and get rid of what you don't need. Have a trash bag handy for papers that can be recycled and a box for documents that need to be shredded, such as bank statements and papers with Social Security numbers on them. In general, keep tax returns and backup tax records for seven years, credit card statements for three months and life insurance policies and warranties until they expire.

• 3

  Organize your papers into categories. Some common categories include medical, important documents, household, taxes and credit cards. Have file folders in a particular color for each category. For example, medical can have red file folders; household, green; and important documents, yellow.

• 4

  File your papers into the appropriately colored folders by subcategory. For example, subcategories for medical can include insurance policies, eyeglass prescriptions and receipts for copayments. The household section can have appliance warranties and home insurance policies. Important documents include birth certificates and passports.

• 5

  Go through your filing cabinet at least every three months to purge what can be recycled for shredded.

The Junk Drawer

• 6

  Dump your drunk drawer contents on a table and discard obvious trash, such as gum wrappers, expired coupons and old mint candies.

• 7

  Categorize your remaining contents into small piles. This might include paper clips, rubber bands and tacks in one pile, coupons in another pile and scissors, mini screwdrivers and a tape measure in another.

• 8

  Put away items that you will keep, but go in other places. Your nail polish and nail clippers go in the bathroom. The wrench goes in the toolbox. And the stray domino goes back in the domino game case.

• 9

  Throw away what you really don't need and what you don't want to put elsewhere. Do you really need five highlighters, 25 rubber bands and all those toys from the kids' fast-food meals? Probably not.

• 10

  Make a divider for the remaining items with a utensil tray or desk drawer organizer. The various cubbies in these trays can hold coins, paper clips, pens and pencils, scissors and bag clips.

The Makeup Drawer

• 11

  Dump the contents of your makeup drawer on a table covered with a towel.

• 12

  Divide the makeup into categories such as lipsticks, eyeliners and mascaras.

• 13

  Throw away old makeup. You can use the smell test for most makeup: If it smells old, you don't want to use it. In general, anti-aging treatments, powder eye shadows and lipsticks last about a year. Toss mascara and liquid eyeliners after three months.

• 14

  Get rid of superfluous items. If you're hanging on to that cherry-chocolate lip gloss after six months, you're unlikely to use it.

• 15

  Make dividers for your makeup by using a deep utensil organizer or small, plastic containers from your local dollar store. After using an item, avoid the urge to throw it in the drawer anywhere.