Discover Your Organizing Style: The Ultimate Guide 

I got a free month! Thank you for sharing!

The best thing I did for my butterfly son was to add hooks. Hooks near his laundry hamper for things that had been worn, but not necessarily needed to be washed. Hooks in the bathroom for things he was taking off and putting on. Hooks for towels. Then if the hooks were full, he needed to deal with it. I know it sounds silly, but it really worked for him (he was 24 at the time).

@@barbborja1910 I put hooks in the bathroom for my daughter to hang her used towel since she didn't want to use the basket I have for dirty towels. It didn't work. I can got to the bathroom and pick up the towels off the floor and put them in the basket only for her to pull them out onto the floor. She has autism and it will take consistency her.

I feel that way with my hubby and his tools and garage

Go big. Big tray for stuff on counter. He dumps, you move tray to clean. Drawers, bigger baskets. He will drop and go. Do not use little organizers for anything. Butterfly will just drive you Bonkers Mrs. Bee. He organizes by big bucket method. Maybe buy pretty baskets not actual buckets but you know…Organize only your personal stuff like a happy buzz-buzz. ❤😂

Thanks to Cas, I learned that I am a butterfly and had to "unlearn" my cricket upbringing. As a bee, you understand that your husband needs to see his things, which is already helpful. What I learned about being a butterfly, is that it is mostly about how easy it is to put things away so I don't leave them out. So nothing with lids - I tried bins that are see througy with lids and it absolutely wasn't working. For everything on the counter (toothbrushes, comb, everyday stuff), I have one of these shower caddies now (that people usually use in the bath or shower for their shampoo, shower gel, etc). It has holes underneath, so can drain and when I clean, all I need to do is move the caddy. They can actually also be a compromise between bees and butterflies since they also some with compartments and even one side having several compartments and the other side only one big compartment. The other thing I have are over the door hangers everywhere. Those are also a great compromise between bees and butterflies because there can be some categories but it's still really easy to put things away. I have mesh ones for the bathroom and bigger stuff is in there, such as hair dryer Btw, the over the door hangers with small pockets over the pantry door are just perfect compromise between bees and butterflies for all those seasonings/herbs. Easy to find everything even when the butterfly just puts it back wherever but easy enough for the bee to do some small micro organizing/grouping together. Anyway, I agree - such a series would be amazing. I struggled so much in the beginning after finding out how I organize what to do so it would work for my family. I actually first thought that I am a bee but only when setting things up for my ladybug husband and butterfly kids, did I realize that I actually like macro organization for most things. That's why we have a lot of bee/butterfly compromises now 😊

Am I the only one who felt this description has me fitting in Every bug? It almost feels like a horoscope and tbh I prefer Cass's messy brain approach. It's more relatable.

I love this. 🎉

Same! I tried to help a friend organize their home office before learning about the bug categories. It was a total failure because I was trying to apply my own bee style to a butterfly's space. We recently had a do-over and it was a lot more successful.

Thanks for sharing!

totally agree! Cassandra's books and video's changed my life!

Agreed! Finding Cass literally changed my life!!!!

Exactly now I understand why I love bigger baskets and hidden lol

Totally agree! When I first heard her explain the Butterfly, it made me feel so much better about myself. I just called myself a slob my whole life (and family/friends always labeled me with that - slob or lazy😢). Cass has helped me stand up for myself!!

Lololol That's a good one! 😆 🤣 😂

Most people are a combination of styles.

Love that analogy lol

😂😂😂

This is hilarious! 😂🤣😅

I am not a fan of AI and the potential it has for harm when used by the megalomaniacs running this world. Anyway, not only did AI not create the organizing styles, I don't think it was any better at explaining them than Cas.🤷‍♀

She didn't blindly post whatever the AI said- of course she checked it to make sure it was saying the correct stuff and conveying what she hoped it would. And evidently it did a great job. I think AI can be a useful tool, but, like anything, can be exploited for nefarious purposes.

Yes me too. A breath of fresh air, was brought to my life thought I was in competent

That’s super smart! I do feel like different rooms I have a different style, I should try taking the quiz with a specific room in mind. I also want to be evaluated for ADHD so badly, but it’s such a long process and sadly can get expensive, especially in my area which is very rural and mental health resources tend to be very limited.

I need help as I am pretty sure I have adhd brain. What can I do to focus? I am about to retire early because of my daily fight to get work done.

Thisss!!!!!! Plus: - Visual vs hidden (pegboards and open shelving vs cabinets) - Macro vs micro organizing (aka easy to put away vs easy to find) - Aesthetic-focused vs functionality-focused (which I find is different than visual/hidden). I like things behind doors or in drawers, but they must be super easy to find. I don't mind folding, putting away, etc. because when I'm in an ADHD rush to get things done and leave the house or have company over or whatever, I need to find stuff immediately. Taking the quiz was confusing for me because I often selected visual, when my answer really is hidden (but very visual once uncovered). For items used daily, I like them at point of performance, functionality over aesthetics for me. I do macro organizing if I am dealing with a few items and micro organizing if there's a lot of things within a general category. I also feel like it matters how much "inventory" you have in your house... Do you tend towards minimalism or towards maximalism. The clutterbug matrix was super helpful, as well as the videos organizing the same space for the different bugs. Without those, I might still be lost.

@@mendozasyl yes! These are some excellent points. Functional vs aesthetic is a big one that I agree is very different than visual/hidden. Everything needs to be functional for me as well. My mom is the opposite, which is funny because she’s a cricket. But she will buy an organizer if the look of it appeals to her, whereas I have to think about okay where exactly will this go? What purpose will it serve? Is it functional for that location and that purpose? So I end up with a combination of hidden and visual organizers based on the functionality. And then absolutely agree on things also depend on whether you lean more towards minimalism or maximalism with inventory. I collect books, DVDs, coffee mugs, scarves, etc. so my inventory ends up leaning towards the maximalism side much more and because of that there are certain areas where I have to say, my inventory with this is too much to function in its current state, so I need to adjust and figure out a new system. For coffee mugs that looks like having a dedicated coffee corner in my dining room where I can display my collection of mugs. For DVDs that looked like getting a new shelf with our most watched movies on the open shelves and less watched movies behind cabinet doors. Scarves it looked like dedicating a little more space on my accessories wall in my closet (trust me it sounds more luxurious than it is lol) to be able to have them readily available to choose on any given day. I think the clutter bug system is wonderful and a huge stepping stone for so many of us, but I agree that each person still has a little more work to do in fine tuning their organization to suit these categories plus ones I’m sure we haven’t thought of yet.

This video didn’t make the styles clear. Made it confusing, thus hard to watch. It’s better when you save hidden vs. visual & macro vs. detailed.

I’m glad you said that, because I am now more confused about what I am than I before I watched this video 😂

Exactly! I don’t think Cas sucks at explaining at all!

Ps less is more! 😊

I am more confused too!!

Lol! Best description ever!

i love cube bins for my clothes and use easy access basket inside some cube bins for regularly used items with occasional use items such as thermals and thick tights underneath.

I am a butterfly with shades of bee. Makes me a butterbee 😂

Fellow bee here. I typically save vertical stacking for things I rarely use and storage cubes for lots of small items in a common category. (For example, all the random girls' Bible class craft items get separated into individual containers and those are dumped into the same cube) Labeling the random boxes shoved on the top shelf of the closet goes a long way when you only open them twice a year.

Hey! I have some duplicates and multiples too, for that reason! Chargers, pens, etc, and homes for them in each room thatI i use them in the most.

I married a butterfly and had butterfly children. They do notice if you move a piece of paper from one pile to another. I’m a cricket.

😄My daughter knows when I move stuff, she has autism. And I will admit to keep a half used paper towel. You would think I have a neat home, but I don't. I have a butterfly who rules the roost. 😆

@@chelinfusco6403 I’m also autistic and I think it’s cool how the urge/need we tend to feel to know where our things are at all times and be in control of how they’re organized can be dealt with in different ways depending on personality or clutterbug type. I have to put things back where they belong (and behind a closed door or drawer) or else I feel unsettled and chaotic, like I can’t relax or focus on anything at all until the “mess” is gone, but I also need to be able to see everything I own of a category at once because if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.

@@traczebabeI’m a butterfly and pretty sure my husband is a cricket. It’s no wonder that we drive eachother crazy 😂 fr though I am trying to get better about my chaos haha

Wow! I do the same thing with the paper towels. I thought it was just me.😅😅. Thank you for sharing .

that part had me ROLLIN so hard I had to pause it and explain to my husband why I was laughing so hard xD Thankfully he already knows about the bug styles so it cut down on some explaining time LOL

😂😂😂

I thought of the TV show "The Middle" and them storing their antique family quilt in oven.😂

@crystalsea72 lol I think mine was asleep at the time. He couldn't care less about the bugs, but would laugh and say he could see me doing something like that lol.

Lol!

If there's any space that just yours you totally can be! Even if its the spot you get ready in the morning that is just for you. Make that all you. GL!!! (from a bee in a butterfly house LOL)

Can relate sooo much!! My parents are both butterflies and I'm a cricket. I swear I would lock myself up in my room just to be able to breathe. Think my anxiety as an adult now comes from needing that zen so badly and not being able to have it for so long

@@crystalsea72 my clothing drawers are KonMari folded inside - _and breathe_ - but we live in a small apartment. Even the top of my dresser gets Hubby's hair gel/cologne and our son's library books&broken toys to repair creeping onto it 🤦🏻‍♀️ As for the living room, my bookcase has our son's Lego pieces displayed in front of my books, I only have to blink and the table is FULL of his colouring books&pencils, plus 5 other things he's started (like Cas said about the trail they leave)... The ADHD is strong with them both flitting around, but I'm an Aspie cricket with mad anxiety and routine, so the chat GPT profiles _kinda_ fit.

SAME!! It’s exhausting!

You are definitely not alone…I thought FOR SURE this video would clear things up, but I’m more confused than ever 🤪

You're NOT alone...me too!! 😉

​@@Half-BloodPrincessDiariessame here

Have you tried thinking about which one you're the least like?

Perhaps it's lucky that you're flexible with your style? Another commenter said they're different bugs in different places: at work vs bedroom vs bathroom vs basement. If an area isn't working for you, you can likely think about using a different organization style for that space and know if it'll work for you or not.

That would be definitely interesting

That sounds really interesting, but I doubt you could collect any useful data as both systems have people typing themselves or self reporting, and people struggle with that in both! A lot of people seem to think about the types as aspirational vibes, so that's how you get someone saying they're a Cricket INFJ, when in fact they're a Butterfly ISFP. A lot of people also have a hard time figuring out what the average is and seeing patterns of behaviour, and then comparing themselves to that, so they feel they relate to all types equally while they could probably be easily typed by an outsider with good pattern recognition. /Bee INTP

this is hysterical to me because I am a cricket INFJ 😂

Bee ISTJ checking in.

:)

Thanks for sharing!

There are a bunch of us like that, I've seen people call them 'bumblebugs' or 'ladybees', and I'm definitely one of them - I've really been leaning on the ladybug organizational style while I work on improving, and it's been going great - I wish you the best ❤️🖤💛

This is so interesting. I am a ladybug, but always aspired to be a cricket. But I don't have the patience to use detailed systems. I guess I need to keep decluttering!

@@jocelynsmyth6604 lol I guess I'm a bumblebug then 😀

Even as an adult (so no longer the butterfly kid that Cas often refers to when talking about organizing kids' stuff), before I decluttered, I was definitely a butterfly and my bee mom's attempts to "organize" my stuff just drove me insane because then I couldn't find anything, but once I started decluttering, I became a solid cricket - I don't think the change, or at least partial change, from one bug to another as we work through the process is as unusual as you might think.

Thanks for sharing!

That's Me! Even our kitchen junk drawer needs to have everything in it arranged s9 that it can be seen and accessed as soon as I open it. I thought I was a butterfly/lady bug hybrid because I really don't want or need super detailed categories. But, I do need things in some order. And it has to look neat. I don't mind taking a minute or 2 to put things away right away or at the earliest opportunity, if taking that time means easy access when I need it again. I just hate spending huge chunks of time creating those categories in the first place. So, alot of the cabinets and drawers that I've already de-cluttered, are still in need of organising in my preferred way. What I've been doing for that is taking my zone cleaning sessions, and when I do a 15 minute deep clean in a zone, if I get inspired to do a quick re-orgsnisation of the spot I'm cleaning, I'll do it so that I don't have to come back later to do it. It's a slower pr9cess than re-organising a whole room or area, but it seems to be w9rking for me.

Adam Savage talks about "orders of retrievability". Things you can immediately grab are 1st order, open a drawer then grab is 2nd order, etc. I've found that super helpful when thinking about organization!

I'm 98% bee and 2% butterfly. The lid opening rage is real. I live with a ladybug and a cricket but also use the kitchen the most. When we upacked the kitchen, all the lids on the ladybug's storage bins went on top of the fridge. 😂 (They were ok with it)

@blazertundra lol I'm so glad there was no argument about where the go! Yes, I have few exceptions to the kids and closed containers. Needlework tools, food and sugar, logically need to be fully contained. That's about it. But that's just common sense no matter what your style. Trust me though. If it wasn't necessary to close those containers, they'd all be lids off and open bags lol.

Most people are a combination of organizing styles.

@@Clutterbug I would love a follow up video on the combinations. I am mostly butterfly, but then see some lady bug.

You're welcome!

I'm a cricket as I create piles and put everything away so its not visual in a fairly detailed way, bit not as extreme as a bee but love to display in my home the things I treasure to make my home feel lived in and cosy too. So maybe I'm a cricket with a bit of butterfly.

I too am a cricket. I love detailed and functional organization, much of it hidden. Although my home feels zen (others who walk into it say how good they feel in it), I am nowhere near a minimalist. I have beautiful art and special items in every room. I enjoy flowering plants and bookshelves arranged with plenty of books and attractive accessories. I love to use color and pay attention to the balance and flow of it from room to room. I care about aesthetics in each room, even the laundry room and bathrooms. Although I need that (ahem) perfect organization, my soul would shrivel in a minimalist home.

@@christineupchurch3714That's why I like Joshua Becker's definition of "minimalism" so much: "the intentional promotion of the things that bring you joy and the removal of those that do not" - nothing about how many numbers or colors are allowed or anything like that, just promoting things that make you happy and removing things that don't, and what those things are will vary from one person to the next.

@@SnowySpiritRubyI love this definition! That’s so very different than the usual interpretation of sparseness and neutrals, and describes me well. Thank you for sharing.

You sound totally like a Ladybug! I'm not super sentimental either

I felt the same way about this video. I have felt that I am a cricket for a long time but now seeing this video, I think I am all the bugs. I definitely struggle with perfectionism and am in no way zen or minimal, but I also like a pretty house that is sentimental and aesthetic yet functional and I am a bit of a multi-tasker. I live in a house full of butterflies and therefore I have to adapt to suit their needs as well. Super confused. I am a mega-bug of all of them?!?

@@melissawilliamson3218 I think I am just going to ignore the personality aspects. They are generalisations which won’t apply to everyone. Maybe 90% of ladybirds are sentimental and 90% of crickets are chill minimalists. Well we in the 10% that are not those things but we still ladybirds and crickets 😀

Glad I read these comments because I figured I was a Bee but this video had me doubting everything! 😂 Like, “I’m creative so am I a butterfly? But I like my house to FEEL cozy so am I a Ladybug?!”

Test really helped. See the website. I also asked others to do it 😂

Most people are a combination of styles.

I TOTALLY AGREE!!

This is me too.

:)

You're welcome!

Most people are a combination of styles.

Most people are a combination of styles.

Do you like most things hidden or on display. Do you leave toothbrush etc out on your bathroom and toaster, kettle etc on the kitchen counters?

I identify mostly as a ladybug but I’ve also noticed a few cricket traits in me as well. AI scares me a lot. I can see it being helpful but when you can’t distinguish reality from AI then it’s a problem for me. I love all your videos Cas and I’m glad you’re in Canada cause it makes it easier for me to find products you use ❤❤❤

I think this makes perfect sense! I think Cas even said this herself in a video, but I don‘t remember which one

Makes sense to me! I remember ages ago reading different systems for organization and I remember the "make it hard to find, but easy to put away" suggestion that has stuck with me. (Was that FlyLady? IDK.) Anyway, I remembered that particular thing and it has helped immensely with raising my kids. I'm definitely a ladybug, btw.

Fellow cricket here - my mom had a bad habit of calling my house "spartan" simply because I didn't have enough decorations for her bee liking, because in order to feel calm, I can't have very much out.

A family member recently told me I "need to stop behaving like a poor person" because I like getting rid of the excess all the time and my drawers are always half empty. I like being a minimalist, even if it makes me look cheap.

I do too. The more "white" space I see, the better I feel

Thanks!

You're welcome!

Lol. Most people are a combination of styles.

Hi . I found when I did the test, I changed bug every time. I realised it was dependent on which part of the house I was thinking of while doing the test. So I went back and did the test for each area and/or subject of my home.. that worked perfectly in classifying my organisation style. I am multiple bug styles.. different styles suit me in different areas. Maybe try that to?

@@rebeccarendle3706 that makes perfect sense to me because each room and contents might have a different workflow. If you work in a hospital you might have a crash cart in the ER, but if you work in the office, things like wire cutters or scissors might be put away out of sight. Is that what you mean? I'm going to try analyzing that for me home. Thanks!

😂

You're welcome!

Same! Quiz indicated I am a CRICKET, but I, too see some BEE in me!

Okay, so I’m not the only one! It’s hard to figure out if I’m a cricket or a bee. I think cricket either bee tendencies.

I feel like that too. Although after listening to this video I seem to have traits in all the styles

IKR?!

Yes. Some people are one style in one area of the house and another type in another part of a mixture all over the place. Also make sure you're focusing on how you ACTUALLY ARE, and now What you feel your ideal would be!

She has said in past videos that you can be a blend. According to the quiz I’m a bee but I see that I have strong butterfly tendencies so I call myself a butterbee.

I am 😊

Yes! Most people are predominantly one style with a little bit of 9ne or all of the others. Plus, everyone in tge house might be a different style, and in different areas of the home, we ,igut be a little more of one style, and a different style in another area, depending on what the room is used for. Casssays, each of us is on a spectrum of whatever style we are. i'm a bee/lady bug. I'M very visual with alot of things, but also hidden. I am not an extreme micro-organiser with my things, but I do need a bit of order. And even my hidden things in drawers or cabinets need to be easy to seem so clear and open containers and baskets are ideal for me. I am a little bit crickety/lady bug like with my needle work,tools though...lots if sharp objects, and I feel like they need to be very hidden and well-organised. Or they get lost and that's a safety issue. But with everything else, I'm definitely bes/lady bug.

​@@emmydollI thought I was a butterfly/lady bug, but I'm now realizing I'm more of a bee/lady bug. Opening a drawer and seeing my clothes just jammed in there in a messy pile stresses me out lol.

Exactly, I felt the same way when I watched the video.

Aw, thanks!