Home Organizing and Cleaning Tips

Do you really know how to organize your home? These days, we seem to pack more into our daily living than what we have time to do. Trying to balance the necessary, responsible things with entertainment, fun and a few carefree activities can be a real brain-buster. We need family time, relaxation, “me” time, and work time.

It may sound a little unbelievable, but living in an organized environment, an organized home, actually is conducive to organizing your life. We simply think better with structure in our daily lives.

Poor organization and poor planning not only causes undue stress, but it also costs money.

Consider this: your child announces at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning that he’s been invited to a birthday party at a friend’s home at 3 in the afternoon. Of course, you need to dash to the store for a gift, but do you know where your wrapping paper, scissors and tape are located? Can you grab them at the drop of a hat so that you can wrap the gift and get your child to the party on time? If not, you’ll have to buy the supplies at the same time you buy the gift, then kick yourself later when you discover plenty of tape and gift wrap at home. You just couldn’t remember where it was because you haven’t organized your home.

Take some time today to do a little planning. Here are some basic tips to help you get started at organizing your home and gaining peace of mind.

Home Organizing Tips

How To Organize Your Belongings

Organizing your home and belongings should not feel like an insurmountable task. Yes, it will be a job – particularly if you haven’t kept up with the old rule of “a place for everything and everything in its place.” Sometimes, that seems like an unrealistic dream and you’re not a failure if your home doesn’t meet that description.

We lead busy lives, responsibility takes up the bulk of our daily existence. Kids (and some grownups) are clutter-bugs. Getting them to pick up after themselves takes more energy than doing it ourselves.

The best advice we can give is this: evaluate your home’s needs; pick the area that looks the worst and assign priorities for making it look better. Pick one project per day or week – depending on what realistically fits your schedule. Don’t try to do it all yourself – if family members are available, require them to help with decluttering and cleaning tasks that is age-appropriate.

Reduce Clutter

Having a cluttered home does not mean you are a bad or dirty housekeeper. It just means you are not well organized. Reducing clutter and organizing is actually a pretty simple operation. It consists of keeping like items together and stored or displayed appropriately. Organizing is simple? Yes. Kitchen things belong in the kitchen; bathroom things belong in the bathroom; children’s toys belong in the playroom; paper, writing materials, etc., belong in the office area; craft supplies, glue, scissors, etc., belong in the area in your craft or sewing room. You get the idea. When things are properly organized, there’s no room for clutter. It sticks out like a sore thumb and you know where it belongs – put it there.

Clean Your Closets

Closets are real catch-alls. When we’re in a hurry to pick up a room because company is coming, it’s real easy to grab up a bunch of things that are out of place, toss them into the closet and close the door. While you still might have to do that once in a while, make a mental note to correct the situation at your earliest opportunity. You’ll find a lot of practical advise for cleaning and organizing closets on Mrs. Clean’s web site. For starters, go to Closet Organizing Tips. Use closet organizers to help you to keep your closets neat and so that everything has a home.

Clean Out The Drawers

Drawers are another convenient catch-all that turn into a disaster area just about overnight. Kitchen drawers are the biggest offenders. Take a look at your tableware drawer. Chances are you’ll find a lot of items that simply do not belong in with your knives, forks and spoons. I frequently find nuts, bolts, garden pot hangers, and even thread and needles hiding along side the silverware tray. Whenever you find something in a drawer that doesn’t belong there, take it out and put it where it belongs. If you make a practice of doing this, soon it will be a habit and you’ll be rewarded by being able to easily find the appropriate item in the appropriate drawer. It helps to get started on de-junking your drawers if you do one at a time. You’ll find a system that works for you. Just be consistent and dedicated to keeping your drawers organized.

Declutter The Counters

Clutter is the bane of counters and shelves. Take a moment and go through your kitchen and/or bathroom with a trash bag handy. Remove every item and piece of paper that can be thrown away. Put it in the trash bag and toss it. Then go back and take everything else off the counters and wipe the counter clean with a household cleaner or sanitizer spray. When it’s clean and sparkling, replace only the items that need to be on the counter or shelf. Put the rest away in the appropriate place. If you have a lot of knick-knacks on the shelves, consider keeping only those you really like. Perhaps another family member would appreciate receiving some of your mementos or donate them to a thrift shop.

Decluttering counters and shelves is a good thing. It’s so much nicer to get up in the morning to clean, shining counters and even nicer to come home to at night.