29 Convenient Essentials You Should Always Have On Hand

A cult-favorite expert within the organizing world, Judith Kolberg’s “Conquering Chronic Disorganization” changed the way I set up my home. Among other tips, she suggests sorting things in categories that make sense to your brain — no matter how weird they may sound to others. While we’re often encouraged to put like things together (i.e. a linen closet or a tool box), Kolberg says to think about how you think about your things, then make categories from there. This prompting drove me to create a “Stuff that’s always missing exactly when I need it” drawer, filled with scissors, a Sharpie, matches, tape measure, blank stationary cards and other odds and ends. A more intentional version of the age-old “junk drawer,” if you will.

It’s got things that, historically, I could only find when I didn’t need them, and could never find when I did. Now, having a designated home for them, based on my own lived experience not on the items themselves, I always know where they are.

Regardless of how you sort your own home, it occurred to me that “things you can never find the moment you need it” is a universal experience. Who among us hasn’t been leaving for a flight only to learn they don’t have a spare key for the pet sitter? Or perhaps taking a shower after getting their hair done and realizing that disposal shower cap they took from a hotel has simply vanished into the night?

So many things, you only think about when you need them, but when you need them, it’s too late to go buy them. So, buy them now and then you’ll have them when you need them.

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