How to Organize your Bedroom

Have you found yourself unable to see the floor of your bedroom because of the hoards of clothes, garbage, and who knows what?

Though it may be time saving to just throw your belongings anywhere in your room, it creates a stressful environment.

Do you keep hitting the snooze button and wake up with only 30 minutes to spare until you have to be at work, try finding a clean outfit. It’s about now you start wondering what in the heck you were thinking for not organizing your room.

Time and motivation might be an issue but when you get yourself in-the-zone, organizing your bedroom will fly by.

Keep the Following in Mind

After years of perfecting routines, I now help others professionally to clean and organize their bedrooms, closets and entire houses. Three key things that I keep in mind when organizing for clients are:

• functionality
• appearance
• serenity

So, take a moment and think how you can incorporate these three elements while you’re organizing.

Use a Hamper

A basic essential in organizing your bedroom is to make sure you have a hamper or dirty clothes basket. Having something handy to throw used clothes in eliminates piles (or trails) in your room or house.

Start the organization process with the hamper and tackling the dirty clothes. A couple of things to keep in mind when you use the hamper:

• Dirty clothes = hamper,
• Wear again clothes = put away, right away!
• Don’t let your hamper overfill. Even if you are out-of-this-world busy, take care of those dirty clothes. Stuffing your hamper to the brim only adds to the clutter in your bedroom. Plus, if it is too full, your clothes may start falling onto the floor once again and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.

No more throwing old, dirty clothes on the bed to deal with later. This will save time and be less stressful when you try to go to bed.

Organize Dresser and Nightstand Tops

I think bedrooms should be serene and inviting and cluttered spaces are neither.

• Only keep lamps, tissues, the current book you are reading, maybe a water carafe, and maybe a remote control for a television on your dresser or nightstand (“the essentials”).
• Clearing your nightstand of non-essentials will save you time and energy when you dust.
• You will also be able to find what you need much easier.

If you have trouble deciding what should stay on the dresser or nightstand, here’s an easy solution:

Take everything and place it in a box. You can use a shoebox or plastic container. Place it under your bed. If the item needs to be used, retrieve it and then find a spot for it. The items left in the box can stay there or you might decide to get rid of them.

Organize your Closets

Stuffed closets and drawers make you less likely to put clean clothes away where they belong. Overstuffing also gives you that “just rolled out of bed wearing my clothes look”.

Haven’t Worn it in a Year? Get Rid of it

If your closets and drawers are bulging, make some time to rid yourself of unwanted clothes.

• Donate clothes to charities so others can enjoy them.
• Take designer clothes to a consignment shop.
• Garage sale clothes for a little cash.

If you haven’t worn it in a year, chances are that it will go out of style by next year anyway. You need the space for your favorites.

One in, One Out

My mother taught me this tip and although it took a while to implement, it’s well worth the effort. This is how it works: If you buy a new black sweater, your old black sweater goes in the donation bag. If you don’t have another black sweater, pick another sweater or other item. If you follow this rule, your closets and dressers will never overflow!

Choose your Shoes

If your shoes are piled up in your closet, get an organizer. It will save you time finding a pair. There are many space saving organizers to choose from:

• Plastic or cloth shoe organizers that hang over doors
• Shoe bins that store under beds
• Wood or particle board shoe cubbies that fit on the floor of your closet
• Clear plastic bins to store shoes that you don’t wear as often such as formal shoes. I like clear so you can easily identify them without having to open the box.

If you need more room than these items hold, odds are you have too many shoes. It may be time to donate or throw some of the old ones out.

Morning Routine

A lot of people live by the rule that they lay out all of their clothes at night for the next day. I don’t lay out the clothes because I prefer to see clean, empty spaces, but I definitely plan what I am going to wear and plan ahead.

Having a system or organized routine will help you have a less stressful morning and you will have enough time to look your best and a little left over in case of an emergency or you need a second cup of coffee.

My routine includes:

1. Checking the night before and making sure that everything I will need is clean. You can pick your outfit and lay it out if you want.
2. In the morning before my shower, I lay out my clothes on a chair.
3. I also neatly fold the pajamas I wore if I’m going to wear them again that night.
4. If they need to go into the hamper, I put them there (not on the floor of the bathroom) and take out a clean pair from my dresser and place them on the made bed (you don’t have to be able to bounce a quarter – just pull up the sheets and comforter).

Following this routine gives me a great benefit. After coming home, I walk in to my neat room (with a made bed and a pair of pajamas all ready for that night) and I feel happy and relaxed, even if it was a hectic day.

Organize Your Books and CD’s

If you watch television or listen to music in your bedroom, any movies or CDs should be in their proper cases and neatly stacked like books. It is much less stressful than having to dig through stacks laying around; not to mention the dust and damage that can happen to them.

Options for CD Storage

• Free standing units come in all shapes and sizes; one is sure to fit your room
• Wall shelves are a great option for those that have very limited floor space
• Under the bed storage is great for limited space as well; it also limits the dusting!

If you prefer, you can organize them by alphabetical order. Anyway that keeps them organized and easy-to-find is great–alphabetized or not.

DVD’s, CD’s and books piled up on nightstands become the perfect dust collectors. Kind of takes away from a relaxed state when you are trying to rest.

I like to keep certain music CD’s in the bedroom on a wall shelf, but movies and most CD’s are kept in our TV room. If I watch a DVD in the bedroom late at night, I use the basket system below to keep them from piling up.

Organize with Baskets

An invaluable organizing element in bedrooms (or any room) is an empty basket refered to as a “dump” basket. Use these two easy steps:

1. Every time you see something in your bedroom that doesn’t belong there, put it in the basket.
2. Each night (before you get ready for bed), put the items in the basket away where they belong. If you are a morning person, you can schedule this first thing and you’ll start with a clean room.

At first it will take some willpower, but once you do it for a couple of weeks, it will become a habit that you just automatically do. This will keep your bedroom from getting cluttered with items from the rest of the house.

What Works Best For You

Bedroom organizing takes time, but once you get there it will take only a few minitues a day to stay that way. No more dredded bedroom muck-outs that take a whole day.

• So, don’t stress out by doing too much at once.
• Just find a method work best for you and get into a routine.
• Be patient with yourself: it takes 30 days to make or break a habit.

If you can achieve and maintain a level of organization that makes you more efficient and more relaxed, you will have a perfectly organized bedroom and achieved your goal.