How to Organize Your Space

Are you running out of space? Do you feel you need to redesign your home? Is every nook and cranny filled with clutter?

If you’re like me, then you probably answered yes to every question above. I had such a difficult time finding anything in my home – it literally became a chore just to find the remote control or some new batteries.

I finally had enough when it took me twenty minutes of ransacking my house to find my other shoe – I nearly missed an important meeting, all because of how disorganized my home was.

I don’t know about you – but I want my home to be an organized, functional and happy place where my family can thrive. To get my space from point A to point B, I realized I had to have a plan and stick to it.

I figured clutter doesn’t have to be hard to beat. After all, if I created this disorganized mess, then I can surely clean it up.

Organizing doesn’t mean putting everything into the junk drawer, closet or a cabinet.

If you are in need of help organizing your home, no matter how much or how little, I’m here for you. Go team go!

Find a Starting Point

Before you begin organizing, you should ask yourself the following questions:

1. What are you looking to accomplish?
2. Are there any areas that need extra TLC?
3. Where does the clutter tend to accumulate?

Answering these questions will give you a better picture of the steps you need to take in order to achieve the results you desire.

Try to focus your attention on what items, areas or rooms need to be organized, how you will organize them and what steps you will take to keep an organizational system in place.

Create a Vision for Your Space

Try to envision how you want your home to look and function.

This can be difficult, especially since many of the places that need organized in our homes have been neglected. If you need some help getting your creative juices flowing, then I would suggest doing some “research”.

Besides the traditional resources of magazines and books, we now have the option of searching the Internet.

Here are a few sites that will be useful when coming up with a vision for your organized spaces:

• Pinterest
• Organizing Blogs
• Cleaning websites
• Shutterstock
• Getty Images

These are great for getting a visual on how you want a room to look. Paint color, furniture color and styles; organizing items for closets; reading about cleaning ideas, organizing options and so much more.

Print out the pictures that speak to you and create a collage. Tape the collage to the wall in the room you are organizing and refer to it whenever you need inspiration!

Too Much Stuff?

I made the mistake of thinking that I needed to get rid of all my clutter before I could organize my home. This way of thinking is great – if you never want to get anything done, that is.

There are many options of storage containers available for your clutter. So, once you’ve decided what to keep, you’ll have a better idea of what you need and the sizes you should get.

Garage Sale

The planning stage is also a good time to start thinking about whether or not you will have a garage sale for the items you will not be keeping. As you are cleaning and organizing your home, have a centralized location somewhere in the house or garage where you can put all items to be sold.

Remember: what doesn’t get sold does not go back in the house – it goes directly to the donation center.

Donating

There are plenty of charitable organizations where you can donate your items. Find one local in your area, drop them off, and don’t forget your tax receipt.

Get Your Supplies Ready

Having the right supplies will make organizing easier from the start.

• All-purpose cleaner
• Cleaning cloths
• Window cleaner
• Sponge, scrub brush, scrubby
• Vacuum
• Micro fiber duster (having an extension helps in those hard to reach places)
• Garbage bags
• Storage containers
• Labels

Moving Onward & Forward

Start where you feel most comfortable. Depending on the room you’re in, sort and organize by category.

Here are some of my categories:

• Each room will have a keep, donate/garage sale, toss it out piles
• Seasonal clothing
• Shoes
• Personal grooming items
• Make-up
• Towels
• Bedding
• Blankets
• Knickknacks
• Books
• Movies
• Music

Once you’ve sorted your items into categories, go through and decide what goes into which pile. Keep. Donate/garage sale. Toss it.

Once it’s there – keep it there – no take backs.

Reduce, Minimize and Eliminate

Be tough about evaluating your possessions. Organizing means reducing and minimizing what isn’t used or worn and eliminating for a cleaner space.

Extra “stuff” is clutter and makes the job of maintaining a clean and organized home that much harder. If the clothing is faded, buttons are missing, hasn’t been worn or used, or it’s in a repair pile (and has been for many months), it’s time to donate to charity or toss them out!

Go through the knickknacks, those books stacked in a corner, magazines you’ve been saving, old baby clothes, old movies, or whatever it is you hang on to.

Reduce, minimize, eliminate!

Keep Pen and Paper Handy

Even though you thought this out and bought your supplies, there may be some unforeseen things that will need to be done when you’re finished organizing a room. For instance:

• Hangers
• Repaint a wall
• Closet shelves

Keeping a list will help you remember what else you may need to purchase in order to complete a room.

Location and Accessibility

After all items have been categorized appropriately and gone through, you need to focus on putting the rest away in its proper spot.

Final Location

Assigning a place appropriate for an items use is an essential part of organization. Consider what it is used for before you determine the final location.

Have a good reason for storing something in a certain place.

If you save 15 seconds by not placing the items back to their proper place, you will be awarded with 15 frustrating minutes searching for it later.

The key to being organized is to keep things in their proper place.

There are some factors to consider such as the object’s size, whether or not it is fragile, and weight that should also be considered.

Don’t put heavy or breakable items on a high shelf. It may lead to damage when you need to retrieve it.

Make the best use of any deep desk drawers, cabinets and shallow shelves for these items.

Accessibility

Access to your belongings shouldn’t comprise much strain and effort. So the things that are used daily should be at a place that makes them easily accessible.

The items you use seasonally or once in a year should be placed on higher shelves or at the back of a closet.

Keeping on Top of Clutter

Storing Occasional or Seasonal Items

Don’t mix different things together if they don’t belong together. For instance:

• Holiday items such as Christmas, Halloween, or Easter (and so on) should be kept in separate containers.
• Seasonal clothing: fall, winter, spring, and summer should also be kept in their separate storage locations.

Placing a label of the contents on your storage bins will help you locate your belongings in the future, saving you time when you need to find something.

Be Diligent with Upkeep

You are not totally done once the organizing of your rooms is complete. If you are not diligent about keeping clean and organized, as your belongings increase, the clutter will become disorganized again, and chaos will sneak up on you if you are not careful.

It helps if you set some firm rules.

Never fill your drawers and cabinets to its fullest capacity. Leave a bit of space, then clean and organize occasionally, especially if you see these areas becoming over stuffed again.

Small tasks done each day can accomplish a lot to ensure the job does not get out of hand.

Keeping your home organized will give you a greater ability to function efficiently, within a less stressful environment.

Consider an organizing process that is ongoing, rather than an event, so it does not have a chance to get out of hand again.