{Getting organized}
1) Don’t let organizing your home overwhelm you. The thought of organizing your whole house can be so overwhelming. Don’t let it be. Start small. Pick one drawer or area that’s really bothering you and start there. One way of tackling your house is to walk around and make a list. (I just love lists, don’t you?) Write down the spaces in each room that need to be organized and then pick one space/cupboard/drawer to work on whenever you have a minute. (I often organize while making phone calls.) Don’t start a new project until that space is finished. Just having a list will take some of the overwhelmed feeling away. Now your goals are written down and you have a place to start.
2) Use your space wisely. I store a lot of my holiday decor in high spots above closets because I only get them out once a year. On the other hand, my children’s most often used toys and games are stored low where it’s easy to get to them.
3) Give everything in your house a home. If you have created a specific place for everything in your home it’s much easier to put things away where they belong.
4) Organize things in a way that makes sense for your family and the way you live. For example, for a long time I had all of our baking supplies (flour, sugar, etc.) on the main shelf in my pantry. I also had a whole shelf dedicated to cook books. Cook books that had a layer of dust on them. I’ll be honest, I don’t love to cook and with my kids around, we are reaching for the crackers and pasta more than anything else in our pantry. It makes sense for us to have those items on the easy to reach middle shelf in the pantry and the baking goods up higher for the rare occasion that I actually use them. (I tossed out all my cook books except one or two that are stored in a drawer.) Someone who cooks and bakes a lot would organize their pantry another way. Websites and magazine articles are great places to get organization ideas, but don’t just copy what someone else is doing. Organize your home in a way that is functional for the way you live and it will be much easier to keep things organized.
{Staying organized}
1) Teach your family the importance of having a clean, organized home. If your family isn’t on board, forget about it! There is only one you and you will never be able to keep things organized on your own. Teach your kids how to put things away in the place you’ve created for them. My girls know that when it’s clean up time there is a select place for their barbies, books, dress-ups, etc. Time and time again I have gone over where we keep their things so that now it is second nature for them to put things where they belong. {Getting them to do this without being asked? Don’t have the answer for that one. :)} Assign clear responsibilities for keeping the house clean and give consequences when they’re not accomplished. (My girls’ toys get taken away if they aren’t put back where they belong.)
2)  Take the initiative to put things away where they go and teach your family to do the same. Keeping something organized takes constant work and upkeep. Once you’ve organized and made a place for something, put things away in that place! How many time do we set something down and think, “I’ll just put this here for now.” Resist the urge! It usually takes only a few seconds longer to put something away it its place vs. just setting it somewhere it doesn’t belong. Not procrastinating and consistently putting things away where they belong will lead to a clean, organized home.
3) Take a minute to straighten up your organized space the second it starts looking messy. If you do this, you will avoid having to completely re-organize your home time and time again. My fridge, for the most part, stays clean and organized. That is because every time I buy groceries, I do a “mini cleaning”. I pull out things that are getting old, wipe off a shelf or two, put new groceries in their designated spot, etc. When Kenny comes in with the mail I immediately go through it, toss out the junk mail and file everything else – or I bug Kenny until he does it. (Being a great organizer sometimes means being a great nagger ;)
4) Think before you buy new things. When I’m about to make a new purchase, I always ask myself two questions: Do I have space for this? Is it something that I will really use or will it just be more clutter in a few weeks? Many times I have put something back after asking myself these two questions (especially when I’m about to buy the girls a new toy!). Thinking ahead about how you’ll organize new things you buy will not only help you keep your house clutter free, it will also help you make smart purchases.
5) Choose every day to stay organized. Keeping things organized is a daily choice we make. It’s just like choosing what to eat. If you want to be healthy, you have to change the way you eat. You have to consistently make healthy food choices. Just like you can’t participate in a one time diet and expect to always stay thin, you can’t organize a closet and then pat yourself on the back and expect it to magically stay that way. (I know this because I’ve tried!) You have to consistently put things away where they go and take that extra minute to keep everything organized.
When your house is full of clutter so is your brain. Simplifying your home will bring so much peace. Life will run more smoothly and you’ll have more time and energy to focus on what’s really important – your family – the very ones who make it so incredibly difficult to keep things organized! :)
p.s. Â Want to see how I organize my home? Â
Click on the sun below for links to all of my organized spaces.
