Organizing: Where to start?

It seems that organizing your home, is becoming The Thing, but you need to do it for yourself.  Getting organized can save you lots of time and money but where should you start?

On the contrary of what others might tell you, I do not want you to go out and buy some fancy organizational system. FORGET IT for the time being.

Remember, stuff you do not use, is taking valuable space in your home.  Maximizing the space you have is crucial to get organized.  For example, having a deep freezer will not make you more organized or save you time, if you are dumping food in it.  Even the deep freezer should be organized (but will come to that in another blog post).

Here are some tips to start decluttering and organizing process:

1. ‘Garbage Bag Therapy’ – simply grab a garbage bag, go round the house and collect items which need to be thrown away or which can be recycled, for example a tag from a dress recently bought left on the bedside table.  You will be amazed at how many items you will find.  You can do the garbage bag therapy as often as you need….get you family involved as well.
2. One drawer at a time, one room at a time – do not try to do the entire house at one go, you will be overwhelmed and discouraged.

   

3. Start from the bedroom – the best room to start with, is your bedroom.  It is the first and last thing you see.  A clean and organized bedroom gives the right mindset to start your day.
4. Move clockwise – whichever room being tackled, move in a clockwise motion.  Once you finish an area move to the next.
5. Take everything out and make three piles – take everything out and make three piles: keep, donate and trash.  Throw out any trash, the donate pile take out of your house as soon as possible, keep are the items that now need to be organized.
6. Everything has a home – put like things together for easy access.  In this manner everything will have a home and all your family will know where to find things.  Put items where you most need them for example if you frequently use pens in your kitchen, make sure you have a space for them so as to stay running all over the house to get a pen.
7. Contain – containers will help you to store like items together and have a uniform look to your space.  For example in the kitchen, I like to take out everything from the original container and put in clear containers.

   

8. One movement – ideally when reaching for an item, the are have to make one movement, as it is more likely to put it back in place.  Where ever possible avoid putting many things after each other, that in order to take the item at the back you have to take everything out.

   

9. Label – this might sound stupid, especially if you have clear containers, but visual reminders are always helpful.  If you have small children, it will teach them to associate a word with a particular item.

   

10. Evaluate – Once you are done, and start using your newly organized area evaluate the area after a couple of days, to determine whether it is working.  You might need some small adjusts or even major changes. Sometimes finding the right system that works for you and your family can take time.
11. Micro-organize – so you have organized your space and is working for your family.  Now you can micro-organize which means going into the larger categories and organize within a container, for example by putting into zip lock bags.  This kind of organizing might not be for everyone.
12. Maintain – now that you have decluttered and organized you need to maintain the system.  If it is the right system there would be little maintenance needed.  Every month go through it again and tidy up and purge further. 

You have come a long way and getting the right system in place can sometimes take time, so do not be discouraged if it did work out the first time round.    You definitely have less things then when you started, and finding things has become easier.  Everyday cleaning should now be easier as all you need to do is a quick tidy up.  However, every now and again, you should go back to a space and declutter and possibly reorganize.

Now that everything has a place and you have less items getting out of the house is easier and faster.

Everyone has a different organizing style, so what works for you does not necessarily mean it will work for your friend.  It is a trial and error until you find what works for you.

Your space might not be Pinterest perfect but what is important is that it is better than it was before.

Happy Organizing!!!

Love

Strugglingmum xxx