When creating an organized space, a common misconception is that more square footage or beautiful containers from The Container Store are ultimate solutions.

From my personal experience and working with clients, I’ve learned that an overabundance of bins, baskets and containers can lead to chaos rather than order.

More isn’t always better, there’s more to manage.  If the space is already cluttered or not working well, adding more space or purchasing organizing products will tend to magnify what’s not working well.

A suggestion that can be applied to many areas of your life is:  use what you already have.

From a simplistic perspective, here are four ways to leverage what you already have:

• Plastic shopping bags – Flatten out and place a few empty bags on the bottom of all trash bins. When the current bag is full, you’ll have an empty one ready to go. Put a few in your suitcase and use for packing shoes and dirty laundry.

• Gift cards – Gather all physical gifts cards and keep them together. Also, make a list of all gift cards, e-cards, store credits, etc. on a note taking app on your mobile device. Before swiping your credit card, check out your gift-card list and use what you have.

• Food – Check the expiration date on your dry food goods and make a plan to cook anything that’s due to expire soon. There are several food apps and websites that will help you find recipes with these ingredients.

• Gift wrap – Take inventory of your holiday gift wrap and use it this season. Moving forward, consider buying simple solid colors that can be used all year round. Apply the same concept with greeting cards and gift bags. Personalize your packages with event-related stickers, tags and ribbon. Use what you have – your creativity.

Use What You Have – Physical, Informational & Internal

• When working in a physical space full of items, if you do nothing else, do this: Gather, consolidate and remove all empty bags and containers from the space you are organizing. This immediately shifts the energy in the space – it instantly feels more open and breathable.

• Choosing beautiful and functional products that fit with your décor is important. As you continue your organizing project and discover that containers are needed, first shop at your own “container store.” Most likely you’ve already purchased the perfect item.

• Any time I have a question or want to research something of interest, I Google it… doesn’t everyone? Reminding myself to search my own database of stored information in Evernote first, is a way for me to utilize the research that I’ve already done.

• Recently I listened to an interview with a celebrity actress talking about meditation. At first she had a difficult time sitting still, but then learned a specific technique and began to practice regularly. Something shifted in a big way – she discovered her “secret superpowers.”  Accessing your intuition or superpower, through meditation or another discipline, is the ultimate example of using what you have.

With so many options it’s easy to fall into an organizing-tool-overload trap that can take you further away from your goal. What I’ve learned is this: The solution is always closer than I think it is.

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. Arthur Ashe

How do you use what you have to find solutions?

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