Now, now…there’s no need to roll your eyes and sigh at the thought. It is possible to organize your home without (too much) pain and suffering. You might even enjoy it! Follow these steps and see for yourself. We promise: the result will be well worth it.
PLAN YOUR CALENDAR
Image: Bich Tran
You don’t have to set aside a whole day to make a difference. Try working in 15-minute spurts to make progress without getting overwhelmed. “You don’t need to organize entire rooms, you can organize one drawer and it can still make a huge difference. Try a junk drawer, your makeup, or one category of clothing and move on from there,” suggests Carrie Higgins, author of Organization Hacks. On the other hand, if you’re working on a whole closet or room, you’ll want to be sure you have time to finish or you’ll be left with a bigger mess than you started with.
START WHERE YOU NEED IT MOST
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Ashley Murphy, co-founder of Neat Method, finds it’s best to choose a place that you use a lot in your house. In an article for Woman’s Day, she explains, “This will make a huge impact on your day-to-day life and give you the confidence needed to move on to other areas on your list.” Makes sense, right? Why waste time worrying about the state of the attic you see once a year, when you wake up to a hot mess in your bedroom every morning?
TAKE EVERYTHING OUT
“Everything” equals all the clothes out of the closet or all the food out of the pantry or all the whatever out of your wherever. Seriously, take out everything all at once until you have an empty space to refill. Why? 1) You don’t know what’s hiding in the back until you get it all out. 2) Getting everything out will help you put like things together, spot any duplicates, and determine if you should…
KEEP, DONATE OR TOSS
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Don’t think about this too hard, just do it. Otherwise you’ll agonize over every decision, wear yourself out, and be left with a pile of stuff still scattered all over the room. That said, here are a few thoughts to help you choose.
Is it broken, stained, ugly, worn out? Toss it. The stuff police will not cite you for getting rid of something you should have trashed long ago.
Is it still in good condition but you don’t need/want/use/like it anymore? Donate it. It’s okay to give away something you don’t need, want or like—even if it was expensive or a gift or an inheritance. Just because someone you love loved it doesn’t mean you have to. Set it free to be loved by someone else.
Is it something you use or love? Keep it. If, as declutter guru Marie Kondo says, it “brings you joy,” then by all means, hang on to it. Ditto for things you may not love—like a vacuum cleaner—but do use.
STASH AND LABEL
Image: Container Store
This is the fun part, when you can sort your things into pretty containers. You don’t have to spend a fortune on fancy storage pieces, though. Do what Abby Lawson from Abby Organizes does: “I’ve used shoe boxes and diaper boxes wrapped in pretty paper to store things in some spaces. I’ve added pretty tape to otherwise boring bins. Getting organized (in a pretty way!) definitely does not have to be expensive!” Don’t forget the labels; they help you see at a glance where everything is and keep you from digging through umpteen containers to find what you need.
Happy organizing!
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