How to begin organizing your home?
We all would love a home that is always organized and ready to be featured in a magazine. But that’s not a realistic! If you are like me, you are juggling work, a family and all the other things that life throws at us. What’s your priority? Happiness is mine! Sometimes ignoring the mess and reading a book makes me happy and sometimes, putting things back in their space makes me happy. Starting to organize your home can feel overwhelming, but breaking it down into steps can make the task more manageable.
Start small: Your progress will motivate you to keep going. It could be a junk drawer or that corner in a room that where you pile things up to deal with later.
Set a goal: Determine what you want to achieve with the space.
Declutter: Get three piles going- donate, keep, recycle. Sort through your belongings, getting rid of anything you no longer need, use or love, and put them in one of the three piles. This will free up space and make it easier to organize what you decide to keep. Being aggressive in this step of the process will set you up for success.
Assign a home to everything: Once you have decluttered, take stock of the things and try to create categories like writing instruments or large spoons. Categories can also be based on usage - daily, seasonally and infrequently. This is the step when you will realize if something is completely out of place and should be housed in another drawer/room. Assign a designated place for everything in the space. Don’t be afraid to modify your original plan. Remember, make the space work for you!
Use storage solutions: Before you buy, consider repurposing things like baskets and shelving you already have, to help you keep your items organized and in their designated place. If you need to purchase new storage solutions, be sure to take measurements first to avoid wasting time with returns.
Maintain the organization: Set aside a little bit of time each day or week or month to tidy up and put things back in their proper place. Setting up recurring reminders on your phone or on calendar app is a great way to to this.
The process of organizing your home is not an overnight task, but taking small steps consistently will eventually lead to a more functional living space.
