Sorting out Stuff...!

I've had a whale of a time sorting out my stuff and zoning it in my new basement flat...

I have a sort of love-hate relationship with my stuff - while I appreciate the sheer rationality of minimalism, in both a cost of living sense and a survivalist sense, i mean minimalism really does make SENSE, I also quite like the stuff I've still got.

And one of my favourite activities is categorising and zoning my stuff when I move into a new place....

Categories and sub categories of stuff....

I think what i love about this practice is that while there is some level of consensus about what types of stuff go together - I mean as in....

Kitchen stuff
bathroom stuff
clothes
tools

Etc. etc. there more certainly isn't 100% agreement on what kind of stuff goes in what category, there are some wonderful ambiguities...

For example...

First aid kit - Kitchen, bathroom, or some other utility cupboard..? This is a small item that defies easy classification - my intuition and rational brain tell me it basically has to be where ever is the most accessible in the house, so that will vary from house to house!
Day bags... hallway or bedroom, or even living room...? As in the bag or bags you take to work or out for a day trip (I have three different sized bags) where do these go...? hallway seems appropriate but bedroom or the office may make more sense as that's where you'll pack it in all probability.
Spare light bulbs and candles.... bedroom, living room cupboard, or utility room..? Again I guess somewhere you can find them in the dark if there's a power cut! But no hard and fast one on these.
Spare tea towels... hmmm - in a draw in the kitchen, or in the airing cupboard with the bath towels - these are both towels and a kitchen item after all!
Scissors..... kitchen, yes, toolbox, yes, office, YES! Fine, if you own three pairs of scissors, but if not, where do you prioritise....?

I mean I'm glad I don't have any kind of OCD because there are DOZENS of ambiguous items which don't obviously fall in one category, I mean not everything is a hammer or a bath towel for example, far from it!

Zoning macro and micro...

And then there's zoning, which is SO MUCH EASIER IN A LARGE HOUSE!

And for me there's up to THREE types of zoning....

By room as outlined above
Room into areas - for example I've got my office area and chill areas in the living room and my food and cutlery areas in the kitchen.
Micro-zoning - so within my office area I have computer station, in tray, stationary, charging area.

Number three really comes into play in the tool and useful stuff area - in my case a cupboard and the hallway (split across) if I had more room this would be an entire room, ideally a garage or a basement, but I don't have that so I have to think small...

This is where we get down to different tubs and boxes for different tools and items and I've even got a fishing box for just useful nick nacks - with old keys, needles and other sewing equipment (I don't personally do enough to warrant a whole box), a radiator key, spare card readers, electrical tape, basically anything useful that will fit in that I don't use that often!

Interestingly I don't mind if my areas cross over - for example in my living room I have the table I work at on one side and my book shelf on the other, the chill area (that is the sofa and well the floor with a rug on it) is in the middle.

I actually bought some of these for micro-zoning...

I put my important items in one - wallet/ phone/ cards, charging cables in another (like many I've got many!), and then useful but not used that often in another, and some stationary in another.

TBH I could do with another half a dozen of these they are so handy.