How To Organize your home

I’m one of those weird organizer people.

Yep, I said it.

I’m the person that when I walk out of a room and someone moves something in my absence,

I notice it immediately.  

Crazy, I know.  

My friends used to make so much fun of me.  

But you know what?  

Now they wish they were just as weird.   

Now we all have kids and crazy schedules, and they are wishing they had my crazy knack for organizing everything.  

So I decided that it would be a great idea to do an overall start to finish organizing your home post.

The Psychology of Organizing your home

It’s Monday morning, everyone is tired, and in a bad mood, your daughter can’t find her backpack, you can’t find your keys, and your anxiety is to the moon.  

Does this sound familiar?

When our home gets into a crazy mess, I can’t stand it.  

I can’t focus until I get everything back where it goes.  

That’s why I have a daily routine to keep our stuff managed.  

Then I can calm down, and get on with my day.  

Whew!

You’re thinking.

But you don’t know my schedule.

You don’t live with my kids or husband.

I’m in so deep it would take months for me to get it all straightened up.

Hey! I got it.  

My oldest daughter never ceases to amaze me in her ability to keep a filthy mess of a room.  

I kid you not, this girl wears all her clothes out of the laundry basket (that she never folds).  When she starts to run out of clothes, she will throw the dirty clothes back on top of what’s left of her clean clothes and rewash the entire mess.  

I once noticed that she had washed a dress that she wore to a school dance four times because she didn’t want to hang it up.

Now that’s devotion!!

Research

You know how clutter and disorganization make you feel, but did you know that there is psychological research on the effects of it.  

In their article called, “Why, Being Organized Matters,” Psychology Today states that “research shows that excessive clutter and mess is distracting and inhibits our ability to concentrate and focus.

Science has shown that getting better organized will have health benefits.  The stress that clutter and disorganization cause should be incentive enough to get you motivated to delve in and get your home in order.

Your home should be your sanctuary not a place of stress and distraction.  

You just need a good plan and the right motivation to make these changes.

 So let’s get started. Shall we?

Organizational Process

Decluttering

Before you can start organizing your home, you need to get your clutter under control first.  

Otherwise, you will just be moving the mess from one location to another.  

Not cool!  

Once you have cut down on the amount of stuff, it will seem like you have a bigger house, especially if you are a packrat.

I like to have a plan when I start a project like this.  

If you try to do the entire house at once, you will end up anxious and overwhelmed.

Start with the room you use and are in the most.  

For my family, that is the kitchen.  

The kitchen is also the room that you tend to buy things that you might never get around to using.  

For instance, we never used the juicer that I had to have because it would make us healthier.  

I should have done my research.  

Do you know how much fruit you have to put in one of those things, only to get one small cup of juice?  

Well, I didn’t.  lol, my bad the juicer had to go.

Create reasons to organize

So when we moved to our current house, I decided then that nothing would come with us that we didn’t need.  

First, we decided that we wanted all new furniture or at least new to us.  

I had been collecting stuff for twenty years, and I was just tired of it.

We were in luck, though, because every person that went through our house said, “I love your house, but if I put my furniture in here it won’t look like this.  

Neal and I looked at each other, and Neal said, “the furniture is for sale too.”  

That’s all it took because, by the time we moved, I

had about four pieces of furniture left!  My husband was so happy.  We were able to get everything to the new house using our pickup truck.

Next, I went through the house and pulled every last piece of decor I had that our buyer didn’t want.  

Every picture off the wall, every lamp, knickknack, etc. and put them all on the dining room table.  

I told my mom and friends to take what they wanted.  

That only left me with a few things for the Salvation Army.

Now I know that this is a bit extreme, but I tell you all of this to say, treat your house like you are moving.  

Don’t keep anything around that you don’t need.  

Now this will keep your clutter down to a manageable level.

Arrange into piles

Starting with the room you use the most, make three piles, or you can use boxes to keep it together.

• Label the first box Keep, the second box Give, and the third box Trash.
• Go through the room drawer by drawer dividing things into the three categories.
• You must think through each piece and sometimes make hard choices if you are to make any ground in this process.
• Keep going through each drawer cabinet etc until you have finished that room.

Access what you have

Remember that if you have not used the item in three years, you most likely will never use it.  

It needs to go.  

If you have cooking gadgets that you don’t use, get rid of them.  

Sell them and get some extra money.  

Or give them to a charity organization.  

You are not likely to become a world-famous chef and use this stuff if you hate to cook.  

So let it go.

Once you have finished that room, go on to the next room.  

The den, for instance, may have games that have missing pieces or your kids are in college now, and you will not be using them.  

Do you have pillows on your sofa that have seen better days? Odd pieces of furniture that are not used or broken?  

All of this stuff needs to go.

The master closet seems to be one of the places that people have issues with.  

I kept a pair of my favorite jeans because I just knew that I would get back into them again someday.  

It never happened though, and now they are gone.  

I had a little ceremony for them.  lol,

Get rid of everything that doesn’t fit or is out of style.  If you haven’t worn it in a couple of years, you are going to Let it go.  

You don’t have to get rid of things you love or need, but you do have to decide what those things are.

Pro Organizational Tip

One of the best things I do in my closet is to keep a plastic trash bag in the corner.  

Whenever I’m looking for something to wear and I see something that I no longer want to wear or no longer fits I put it in that bag.

When the bag is full I drop it off at the local Salvation Army and start another bag.  

Works great!

Do something Good!

You will not believe how good it feels to get rid of this stuff, and the best part is you can give it to your local Salvation Army or wherever you like to donate things, and it can help someone in need.  

Now, didn’t that feel great?

Access Your Homes Organizational Needs and Make a Plan

Now that you have the clutter under control walk through your home room by room and make notes about what goes on in each room and what items you will need for those activities.  

For instance, we watch TV, play games, and read in our den, so I would want to make sure that there is book storage, games, a blanket to curl up with to read a good book.  

These are just examples, but you get what I’m saying.  

Make sure to remove anything that doesn’t belong in that space.  

You are working on the den but keep the entire house in mind.

Gather Organizational Supplies

Now let’s access what you think you need to get all of your belongings put away and bring order to your home.  

Everyone has certain bins and baskets that they enjoy using.  

In fact, I got super organized in my kitchen and put everything into zones so that I could cut down on the amount of time I spend in the kitchen cooking.  

You can read about it here.  

I use these plastic bins that are great.  Nothing falls through them, they are easy to clean and budget-friendly.

Benefits of an Organized home

Now that everything in your home is with like things and in the room, it gets used in most.  

You will now know what you have and what you don’t.  

You will no longer purchase extra things simply because you can’t remember if you have it or not, and you will save money.

After having arranged all your items in piles and in drawers, etc. you will have a good idea if you need any organizational supplies.  

You may not.  

I am addicted to storage supplies so there is never a shortage in our home.  

There are some cool things out there to suit your taste.

Tips to keep you home organized

Now for a couple of the strategies that enable me to keep an organized home.

Create a Drop-Zone.  I have one in my mudroom and another at the bottom of our second story stairs.

Throughout the day if something is out of place it gets put in one of these drop zones.  Then at the end of the day before we go up to bed one of us will take the items where they belong.

The second strategy that helps keep my home in great shape is my morning routine.  

Every morning I like to pick everything up when I first get up.  I make my bed, and then I set a timer to make sure I stay focused.  

I walk around the kitchen and living room and make sure everything is in its place.  

Then I take the items in the drop zone upstairs with me and put them away.  If there are things in there for the kids, I drop them off in their rooms.  

This way, I start my day off on the right track and distraction-free.

You Got This!

I hope this helped to get you either inspired or motivated to get your home organized.  I wanted to leave you with some last tips that might help you further.

• Do this project as a team so everyone in your family has buy-in.
• Purge regularly
• Label everything
• You don’t know if you need more space until you have decluttered your current one.
• Clean up as you go – wash dishes and clean up as you cook.

Ok, now you are ready to take on the project.  Do it now!  Don’t procrastinate!

Have a great week!

Christy