Top 4 Home Organization Tips and Tricks

If your kitchen table has become more of a landing ground for the last 6 months of magazines, 2 weeks of mail, children’s projects and other assorted clutter rather than a place to enjoy family dinners, and the thought of opening a closet door or desk drawer makes you shudder then these four easy tips on home organization may be just what you need to reclaim your home.

1. Everything should have a home. In our busy lives it is easy to get in the habit of creating stacks and piles on the closest surface to us. We stuff things in drawers and closets for when we have time to get to our home organization. Finding a place for things in advance makes it easier to avoid this trap. If your mail goes in the basket by your front door every day, there is no need to think about where it will be put, or to go looking for a missing stack when a bill comes due. Organizing your tools so that the hammer goes in the same drawer every time makes it not only easier to put away but saves you time and energy when you need to use it. Wouldn’t it be nice to know just where to find something without having to try and remember when you used it last? As the old adage goes: A place for everything and everything in its place.

2. Decide how much room you are willing to give certain things in your home. If, for example, you receive magazines, have a basket where they are stored. When the basket is full it is time to purge the older or less interesting magazines. If you find yourself holding onto magazines for one recipe or workout routine you are dying to try out, remove the page. A folder with recipes you’ve collected or exercises you are going to use from ten different magazines will take up much less space in your home then keeping all ten magazines.

Closet space is a problem for many when it comes to home organization. Most of us only wear 20 percent of the shoes we own on a regular basis. If your space is limited, remove your off season or special occasion shoes. They can be stored in clear Tupperware on out of reach shelves or under beds. Creating dedicated space for your everyday shoes will help stop them from piling up in front of doors and in hallways. This sorting process can be a good time to ask yourself when was the last time I wore these? Are these shoes too worn out to be saved?

3. Create a system for areas of your home that become the most cluttered. If laundry creates predictable clutter and chaos in your home find a system for dealing with it, and stick to it. Sorting as you go will help make your laundry chore simpler.  If you typically sort in lights, darks, and whites provide three hampers in your laundry area. Children can pitch in too. Presorting makes it easier to do a load here and there as time allows, or eliminates a step for you if you prefer to do your laundry all at once. Keep what you will need to finish the job all in the laundry room, such as hangers and baskets. Hang things directly as oppose to folding them and then hanging them when they reach their destination. Separate family members’ laundry into different baskets. If everyone pitches in to put away their own items the job becomes faster and less tedious.

4. Make time for home organization every day. If you dedicate a small amount of time every day to moving through your home and putting stray items back in their place the job will become much less daunting. Create a habit out of it. If you are a morning person, find ten minutes before breakfast to do this task. If you can’t function well until noon, perhaps 10 minutes after dinner will suit you better. If cleaning up the stray clutter becomes a once a day event there will be much less of it to clear. You will find your home stays more organized and you will have more stress free time to enjoy with family and friends.