Getting Organised with OWNAMIC: A Place for Everything, Step by Step

Published by Adrian Vogel · Reading time: approx. 13 minutes · Last updated: October 2026

In short:

• You end up with a place for everything that you find in seconds.
• You need a marker, labels, boxes with lids and your phone.
• About an hour per area, then ten minutes a week.
• OWNAMIC only knows what you enter and moves nothing by itself.

Why an inventory needs structure rather than completeness is covered in Digital Inventory Management: Order That Holds Up When It Counts. This article is the practical part. It shows how to build an order in OWNAMIC where everything has a place. And it shows how to find the box in the attic in ten seconds.

What you should know

Organising guides largely agree on five principles.

Everything has a fixed place. The Swiss organising expert Dagmar Schäfer calls it "everything has its place". She says so in the German health magazine Apotheken Umschau. An item belongs close to where you use it. The post goes by the front door, the book in the reading corner. The tidying coach Selim Tolga speaks on Swiss broadcaster SRF of fixed "parking spaces". Ideally they are labelled. His rule "only handle it once" fits with this. Whatever you pick up goes straight to its place. It does not land on an in-between pile first.

Zones by use. What you need every day sits within easy reach. What you rarely need can go higher up, lower down or into the cellar. The US consumer magazine Consumer Reports shows this with the linen closet. Frequently used items sit at eye level. Bulky and seasonal ones go on the top shelf or in bins on the floor.

Discard first, then put away. This is one of Marie Kondo's six basic rules. First you finish discarding, then you give things a home. She also tidies by category rather than by location. The order is fixed: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous items (komono) and sentimental items last. The easy categories come first. That way you practise before it gets hard.

Containers need a label. Moving guides advise labelling every box. Put the contents and the destination room on it, on the sides as well. That way you can read stacked boxes. In the cellar the material matters, because cardboard absorbs moisture. A guide on the German site bau.de suggests plastic boxes with lids. They should have a gap to the floor and wall. The consumer advice centre of Rhineland-Palatinate (Verbraucherzentrale) gives a warning. Airing a cool cellar on a muggy day makes it damper, not drier.

Order helps, but it is no cure. In a study by Saxbe and Repetti (2010), 60 adults described their homes. Some women talked a lot about clutter and unfinished projects. Their levels of the stress hormone cortisol followed a less healthy pattern over the day. Their mood was lower too. That is a link. It does not prove that clutter makes you ill.

How order works in OWNAMIC

• Everything is an object. That goes for the home, the room, the shelf, the box and the fairy lights inside it.
• A container is a collection. A collection holds other objects. It does not count as an item itself. But it adds up the count and value of its contents.
• Places can sit inside each other. That gives you the path: My Home › Cellar › Shelf 2 › C-07 › Cordless drill.
• An object may have several places. It has one location plus any number of themes. The fairy lights sit in box A-03. They also belong to the collection "Christmas".

On an object's page you see both. Contains lists what lies inside it. Belongs to shows everywhere it belongs.

Preparation: sort first (an hour per area)

Do not put away what you actually want to get rid of. Take one area first, such as the attic. Split it into keep, give away and discard. Why that is so hard and what helps is covered in Why Letting Go Is So Hard.

In OWNAMIC the template "Order & Legacy" helps. It has the collections Keep, Sell or give away and Discard. You do not need it to get organised.

Have a waterproof marker and labels ready. For the cellar you need boxes with lids.

Step 1: Set up your home and its rooms

1. Tap Plus and, under Manual, choose Template.
2. Choose "Home" and give it a name, such as "My Home".
3. Under What goes in it? you already see Living Room, Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, Garage and Garden. Untick what you do not have. With Add your own you add hallway, study, storage room, cellar and attic.
4. Check the summary and tap Create Structure.

You then find the rooms in the Inventory list. The route is Home → More → Inventory list, then the Rooms view at the top. The Inventory view shows the whole tree. The Collections view shows all collections at a glance.

Step 2: Set up furniture, shelves and boxes as places

A room on its own is too coarse. You do not search "in the cellar" but "on the second shelf, red box".

1. In the inventory list under Rooms, open the cellar, for example.
2. Switch to the Details tab and tap To the object.
3. On the object's page tap Add Object and choose Collection.
4. Part of (optional) already shows the cellar. Enter a name and tap Create Collection.

For boxes a fixed naming scheme pays off. For example code, number, contents: "C-07 Electrical tools" for the cellar, "A-03 Christmas decorations" for the attic. Later you also write the number on the outside of the box. Duplicate names like five times "Box" make the search useless.

It is quicker in the inventory list itself:

1. Select the things that belong together.
2. Tap New collection and enter a name. Under Place, the place where the things currently lie is already selected.
3. Tap Create & put in.

The collection is then created in that place. The selected things are already inside.

Step 3: Put in what belongs inside

There are three ways. Which one fits depends on whether the things are already recorded.

Capture new things straight into the box. Open the box. Tap Add Object and then Photo/Video. For a box's contents the Photo series works well. That is up to five pictures with many objects. Lay the contents out on a table, one photo per layer. You started from the box. So it is already noted as the place. Check this in the Sorting stage before you save.

Link what already exists. Open the box's page. Under Contains, tap Add more. Filter by name and tick the objects. Then tap Link now.

Put things away in the inventory list. The tree is on the left, the open object in the middle, the Tray on the right:

• Drag: whatever you drag onto another object then lies inside it. If you drop it on the path at the top, it moves up one level.
• Select: select several objects and tap Move to …. Then tap Move here at the destination. Take out removes things from the current place.
• Bring here: in the open box, use Bring here to search for the things that belong inside.
• Tray: on a phone, set objects aside with To tray. Then go to the destination and tap Drop here there.

A slip is no problem. Undo (or ⌘/Ctrl + Z) takes back the last step.

You do not have to record every screw. A box "Screws and wall plugs" as one object is enough. That holds as long as nobody looks for the single screw.

Step 4: Let OWNY suggest a place

Capture has a stage of its own called Sorting. There OWNAMIC asks where the findings belong. Tap the place at the top of the findings and choose OWNY suggests. OWNY looks at your collections and makes a suggestion. You decide with Yes, file it or Sort it myself.

Some things already lie loose without a place. For them there is Sort with OWNY. In the "Home & Inventory" edition you reach it via Home → More → Loose objects. You accept each suggestion with Accept or drop it with Dismiss. You can also tap Accept all. Each run costs credit points. The page shows how many beforehand. Filing by hand in the inventory list is free.

The video "OWNY räumt ein" in the help for the inventory list shows how this looks. You open the help at the top of the page via Help & Explain. The video tutorials currently exist in the German help only.

Step 5: Categories and tags across locations

The location tells you where something is. Often, though, you ask about a theme. What belongs to camping? What should go? For that you create collections with no place.

1. Tap Plus, then Manual and Collection.
2. Leave Part of (optional) empty. Enter a name such as "Camping" and tap Create Collection.
3. With Link existing objects you pick what belongs to it. Or open a single object and tap Add more under Belongs to.

The tent then stays in C-07 in the cellar. It also belongs to "Camping". The German video "Alles mit allem verknüpfen" (Linking everything with everything) in the same help shows how location and theme work together. It also creates a collection "Entsorgen" (Discard) as a category with no fixed place.

Tags are the lighter option. You enter them on the object's page in the Tags field, for example "seasonal", "can lend" or "from Grandma". The inventory list's search finds names, tags and descriptions. From ten different tags on, OWNAMIC unlocks Tag Analysis under My tags.

OWNY sets the object type, such as furniture, electronics or clothing, during capture. You see it under each name in the inventory list.

Step 6: Label boxes and find them again by QR code

The analogue part first. Write the number large on two sides of the box. Add a few words about the contents. Nobody reads the lid when three boxes are stacked on top.

To find things in the app you do not need a QR code. Type "fairy lights" into Search inventory… in the inventory list. The result shows its path: My Home › Attic › A-03 Christmas decorations. Now you know which box to fetch.

Sometimes you want to know the other way round. You stand in front of a closed box and wonder what is inside. Then a code helps. OWNAMIC has two kinds for different purposes:

The object QR code for yourself. Every object's page has the card Print & attach QR with the hint scan → straight here. Download QR Code gives you an image with the code and the name. You print it and stick it on. When you scan the code, the box's page opens with its contents. That works if you are signed in to OWNAMIC in your browser. Strangers cannot reach your data through it. For boxes in the attic and cellar this is the right code. There is no sheet for many boxes at once. You download the codes box by box.

The finder QR for things that can get lost. This is how you set it up:

1. On the object's page, open Finder QR and tap Create finder QR.
2. Print a sticker sheet gives you a sheet to go with it.
3. Under Label sheet (A4), choose a format, such as 70 × 37 mm with 24 labels.
4. With Print the object's name under the code the name appears below the code.
5. Tap Create stickers and Print. Set 100 % in the print dialog.

Every sticker says "Found it? Please scan." Whoever scans it can send you a message through OWNAMIC. They do not see your address. If you scan it yourself while signed in, OWNAMIC opens the object directly.

To be honest: you can use the finder QR for the attic box too. But it invites anyone who scans it to write to you. Its strength lies with things that leave the house. That means suitcases, bike bags and boxes on their way to a move or a storage unit. Each code stays valid until you turn it off on the object with Switch off. Objects protected by a personal passphrase cannot get a finder QR. A passphrase is a password of your own that adds extra protection to an object.

Step 7: Record moves within your home

When the floor lamp moves from the cellar to the living room, you move it in the inventory list. OWNAMIC only changes the link to the place you take it out of. Categories such as "Christmas" stay.

No entry in the object's history is created automatically. Do you want to trace later when something went where? Then open the object and tap Add Event. Choose Location Change under Status & location. For things you lend out there are Lent and Returned. That way you still know a year from now that the drill is at the neighbour's.

Step 8: Bring your household along

Order only holds if everyone knows where things belong. This is how you bring your household in:

1. Open Shared Spaces and tap Create a new space.
2. Add "My Home" with its contents via Contribute objects.
3. Invite the others with Invite people.

Good to know: members see the contributed objects and their tree. But they cannot edit or move them. Everyone files their own objects. A space holds at most five people, including you. That is enough for "Where are the Christmas decorations?". It is not enough for putting things away together.

Routines that keep the order

• Straight back to its place. What you used goes back right away. It does not land on an in-between pile.
• File new things at once. During capture, do not skip the Sorting stage. A thing without a place is the first loose thing.
• Ten minutes a week. In the inventory list, check the top level of the Inventory view. Whatever lies there without a place, you file.
• When the season changes. Swap the summer and winter boxes. Move them in OWNAMIC too.
• Once a year. Walk through cellar and attic. Open the boxes and compare them with the list. Check for damp and sort out.

Common mistakes

• Too fine or too coarse. Nobody keeps up with recording every screw. A cellar without boxes does not help you search.
• Boxes without a number. Then the entry in OWNAMIC matches no particular box.
• Themes as places. "Christmas" is a theme. Create it without Part of. Otherwise it will seem to sit in a room.

What OWNAMIC does not do here

• OWNAMIC only knows what you enter. It does not track where a thing really is. If you repack a box without updating it, the path is wrong.
• Moving does not write an event. You add a location change to the object's history yourself.
• No sheet of private object codes. The sticker sheet exists only for finder codes. The private object QR only opens the object if you are signed in in your browser.
• No filter by object type in the inventory list. There you search by name, tag and description.
• Members of a shared space do not help file. They see what you contribute. They cannot move it.
• OWNY does not tidy up behind your back. It suggests, you confirm. The suggestions cost AI credit.

Checklist to take with you

• One area sorted out before putting it away
• "Home" template set up, cellar, attic, hallway and storage room added
• Shelves, cupboards and boxes created as collections in the right room
• Naming scheme fixed, e.g. "A-03 Christmas decorations", and the number written on the box
• Contents captured by photo series or linked with "Add more"
• Themes such as "Camping" or "Christmas" created as collections with no place
• Tags added for questions across locations
• Object QR downloaded and attached to attic and cellar boxes
• Finder QR created for things that leave the house
• Household invited to a shared space
• Weekly ten minutes and the yearly walk-through put in the calendar

Read on: Getting organised with OWNAMIC · Digital Inventory Management: Order That Holds Up When It Counts · One afternoon. 500 possessions. · Why Letting Go Is So Hard

Sources

• Apotheken Umschau: Immer Streit wegen Unordnung? (the "everything has its place" principle, Dagmar Schäfer; German): https://www.apotheken-umschau.de/news/wie-aufraeumen-die-beziehung-beeinflussen-kann-1142317.html
• SRF Puls: Fünf Tipps für mehr Ordnung (fixed parking spaces, labels, "only handle it once", Selim Tolga; German): https://www.srf.ch/wissen/puls-kompakt/puls-kompakt-25-fuenf-tipps-fuer-mehr-ordnung
• Penguin: Marie Kondo's six basic rules of tidying: https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/six-basic-rules-of-tidying-marie-kondo
• Utopia: KonMari-Methode (order of the categories; German): https://utopia.de/ratgeber/konmari-methode-minimalismus-marie-kondo-magic-cleaning-ausmisten_39513
• Consumer Reports: How to Organize Your Linen Closet (storage by frequency of use): https://www.consumerreports.org/home-organization/how-to-organize-your-linen-closet/
• selbst.de: Packing and labelling moving boxes (German): https://www.selbst.de/umzugsratgeber-umzugskartons-und-verpackungsmaterial-796.html
• immowelt: Packing boxes for a move (German): https://www.immowelt.de/ratgeber/umziehen/umzug-kartons-packen
• bau.de: Organising the cellar and creating storage space (plastic boxes, gap to floor and wall; German): https://bau.de/text/261008-keller-optimal-organisieren-stauraum-schaffen
• Verbraucherzentrale Rheinland-Pfalz: energy tip on airing the cellar in summer (reprint; German): https://www.vg-altenkirchen-flammersfeld.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Klimaschutz/Energiespartipps/230613-EnT-Kellerl%C3%BCftung-im-Sommer-VZRLP.pdf
• Saxbe, D. E. & Repetti, R. (2010): No Place Like Home. Home Tours Correlate With Daily Patterns of Mood and Cortisol. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 36(1), 71–81: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167209352864

Organising methods are practical experience, not rules. What suits your household depends on space, people and habits. The description of the features reflects OWNAMIC as of October 2026.