When we first moved in to our new home, I had high hopes of keeping our place spotless and organized. In my head I imagined walking through the front door everyday to a lightly fragrant floral scent, everything would be in its proper place and the decor and furnishings would reflect my own (and husband’s) unique style. But somewhere along the line of working full time, taking care of a then 5 year old and being pregnant with our second child, I did not stick to what I had envisioned. Each day that our home was becoming more lived in (cluttered), I was becoming more frustrated trying to find things. I literally was at the point of taking so long to look for something that I forgot what I was looking for. My children couldn’t easily find supplies to complete their school projects and my husband often started sentences with “Have you seen the….?” Why did it have to be this difficult trying to do simple tasks around the home? Why was I wasting money buying the same things just because I couldn’t find where I put it. So, with all the frustration I decided to conquer the clutter and get our home organized room by room. And with a graphic design background, I wanted our place not only to be functional but stylish. I know what it feels like not knowing where to start. That’s why I’ve mapped out a plan that helped me achieve an organized home without feeling too overwhelmed. With the below tips, you’ll be able to have control over the clutter in any room in your home as well.
Count your coins
Try to resist buying any type of organizers at the moment. I find that when I get the urge to start organizing I want to head off to my favorite store and pick up all the sparkly shiny objects. The trouble with this is that without measuring the space you don’t know what you’ll be left to store after you have purged. What ends up happening is that you typically have to make multiple trips back to the store for returns/exchanges or if you’re feeling lazy, it just becomes another item in the home causing more clutter. Also, after all the cleaning, you may come across containers that can be repurposed into storage. So hold off on buying anything for now, but you may have to take a trip to the store when done.
Start off small
Staring at all the work that needs to be done in order to get my home clutter free felt as burdensome as getting my four year old to sleep in her own bed (that’s entirely a separate situation that I’m still working on.) My kitchen cupboards were overflowing with mismatched plastic containers and the drawers were stuffed with papers, birthday candles and old keys I have no idea what they could access. So in order to get started while remaining sane, I focused on easy wins. For example, if I’m organizing the kitchen I start with a junk drawer, then move on to the cutlery drawer, then next a cupboard. And before you know it, the kitchen is on its way to becoming clutter free. Start with an area that is manageable something as small as a drawer, a shelf or a cupboard. The success of organizing a small area within a space can be the launching pad and motivation to getting your room and home in order.
Sort, sort and sort
Create three piles (keep, toss and donate) and begin sorting. What I find most effective is to do this with a timer set for five minutes. If you are organizing drawers, then take five minutes for each drawer. Same with shelves or cupboards. If the area you’re working on is large, like a closet, try dividing the area in half or quadrants then take five minutes for each section. Why only five minutes? Well, it doesn’t give you much time to think about every single item. The goal is to go through this process quickly and decide in a short timeframe if it goes in keep, toss or donate. You may feel like everything is worth keeping. But be honest with yourself, do you really need to keep that medical statement from 2004? Or hold on to 32 dish towels? By deciding quickly which pile the item should go in, you move to each area with some speed. If you feel that five minutes wasn’t enough time, then reset for another five minutes, but stay focused and try to only use five minutes to sort. In terms of donating, there are plenty of organizations to donate to. Depending on the items and where you’re located, some non-profit organizations will pick up in front of your home. After you’ve sorted through for five minutes, start categorizing your items in the keep pile. Sort them by likeness or size. Find similarities that make sense for the items to be together. Set them aside and let’s move on to the next step.
Get Creative
This is where your inner designer shines through. You could easily put the consolidated items back in place and keep it moving, but why not add some artful elements to the space? Here you can infuse a bit of your personality to the cupboards by adding a decorative backing, a playful draw liner or paint a pop of color inside your closet walls. As you can imagine the opportunities are endless. If you do decide to go with some design touches keep in mind the overall look of the room, that way it looks intentional and put together. This is a nice added touch, but you don’t have to. In the words of 90s hip hop artists Black Sheep… “The choice is yours.”
No Place Like Home
Now for the fun part. Not to say the previous steps weren’t fun, cause I do actually enjoy throwing away items that serve no purpose for me (or donating for a great cause.) It feels like a weight has lifted and hopefully it feels the same way for you. In this step, everything starts coming together. If needed, find (or create) the right storage container for the space. As you start purging your home, you may find items to repurpose for storage. This is why I mentioned not to shop right away. Now that you see what you have, you know what you need exactly. If you’re purchasing something new, always measure the space first and take those measurements with you to the store or use them for online shopping. After you have found the right storage, begin placing items in its dedicated spot. Organize by putting the most frequently used items near by. Using the kitchen as an example, your newly organized spices may be more efficient in a drawer (or cupboard) close to the stove. Or you may place your socks on the top small drawer of your dresser. I’ll go more in detail with specific areas in upcoming posts, but the goal is that every item now has a home and items used often are within reach.
Taking small steps definitely helped me to stay focused at getting my rooms decluttered and looking good. Since I’m very frugal, I was able to organize my home on a budget. And because of my busy schedule, I tried not to burden myself by feeling like I had to get everything done in one Saturday. Maybe it took me a couple of Saturdays, but that’s okay. Move at your own pace and before you know it, you’ll be able to easily find items around your home with storage in place to keep things tidy.