Small Steps to Make Big Progress Organizing Your Home

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Organizing your home makes your space look more inviting and can significantly improve your living environment, increase productivity, reduce stress, and contribute to your overall quality of life. HSH.com, a mortgage data research firm, ranked homeowners’ pet peeves, with lack of storage space coming in first at 67%. While having ample storage space is important, it comes at a higher cost in the form of a larger home. This article will detail some strategies to keep you more organized and efficient regardless of the size of your home.

GETTING STARTED

If you want to see some results sooner rather than later, don’t make a color-coded list. Set a date to start your new organized life, or buy an organization planner. Those approaches may only serve as distractions, allow you to procrastinate, or lull you into believing you can accomplish something dramatically different in a short period of time. Instead – just dig in!

You will be amazed at how much progress you can make by simply working on an area for 15-20 minutes a day. In the time it takes to write down what you would like to do along with a to-do list and a timeframe, you could already have cleaned and organized a small space in your home. However, keep the following in mind as you begin.

DETERMINE YOUR PRIORITIES
Before deciding where to start, it may be worthwhile to stop and think about the areas of the home that are giving you the most trouble. Are you always losing your keys or sunglasses because you don’t know where you last set them down? Perhaps it’s the closet area that seems to spill out every time you open the door. Maybe you forgot that you already have several extra extension cords somewhere in the house, but because you need one RIGHT NOW, you run to the store to buy another one. It’s estimated that we will spend almost 3,700 hours of our lives searching for misplaced items. Whether it’s spending lots of time looking for things, not enjoying your possessions,or even knowing what you have because it’s tucked away somewhere and forgotten, or feeling overwhelmed by too much clutter, you need to figure out what troubles you the most and focus on that first.

TAKE INVENTORY
The general rule of thumb is that if you haven’t used or seen an item in one year, you don’t really need it. With that in mind, as you start to organize each area of your home, separate items into three categories: Keep, Donate, and Discard. Be honest with yourself as to whether or not you really need to keep it because it is estimated that we actually use only about 20% of what we keep around the home.

START SMALL
If organizing your entire home feels overwhelming, start small. Begin with a single dresser, desktop, or closet, and then tackle the rest of the room in stages before moving on to the rest of your home. It makes your task less daunting and more manageable. It also provides a more immediate sense of accomplishment.

INVOLVE EVERYONE IN THE HOUSEHOLD
Make sure everyone in your home is on board with the organization system and understands where items belong so that they can help reduce clutter, retrieve lost items, and keep the home tidy.

DIGITIZE WHEN POSSIBLE
Sometimes, you can reduce physical clutter by moving towards digital storage. It could apply to documents, photos, and even movies or music.

ORGANIZATION 101

ASSIGN A STORAGE PLACE FOR EVERY ITEM
Every item should have a place where it “lives.” This is where you will always find the item and, more importantly, put it back after using it. If something doesn’t have a home, it tends to contribute to clutter or, even worse, get lost. According to a survey by Pixie, these are the most commonly misplaced items in the home:

• TV Remote
• Phone
• Keys
• Glasses
• Shoes
• Wallet/Purse

If you want to keep an item but don’t have a place for it, perhaps a better storage solution or space may be what you need. A special bowl or container, a hook, or a space on a shelf often can solve this problem for you. A more digital approach is to place a Pixie tracking tag on the item and then use the app on your phone to find it – within inches! Whatever approach you use, make it a consistent practice to put the item back in its own place.

USE EXTRA SPACE
Remember, there is extra space on walls, under stairs, over doors, and more. Install shelves or hooks to hang items; this will free up more floor and counter space.

Where a little bit of extra space exists, think of creative ways to use it for organizing your things, and chances are that you will find a product that works for you.                      

CATEGORIZE
Finding something when you need it is easier when items are consolidated into logical categories. Whatever makes the most sense to you in terms of memory recall is how you should store your things. Here are some examples:

– all baking supplies in a certain kitchen cabinet
– all pet items (leashes, food, medications, etc) in a designated basket or box
– all holiday decor kept in a guest room closet

USE STORAGE SOLUTIONS
There are countless organization tools available, including bins, baskets, shelves, hooks, and more. Use these to keep your items tidy and organized. Label your storage boxes or bins in order to locate and return items in those containers more easily. For a complete list of organizational products that will make your life easier, check out each section below.

Kitchen & Pantry	Bedroom & Closet	Garage
Living Room	Shoes & Accessories	Seasonal / Holiday
Office	Bathroom	Outdoor
Kids’ & Play Rooms	Craft Room

UTILIZE MULTIPURPOSE FURNITURE
Furniture that serves multiple purposes can save a lot of space. For example, a storage ottoman can also serve as a coffee table or extra seating. A pet stairway can also double as a place to store leashes and pet toys. Benches, end tables, and bed frames with drawers underneath them can all serve more than one purpose.

REGULAR MAINTENANCE

ONE IN, ONE OUT RULE
To avoid accumulating too much stuff, consider adopting a “one in, one out” rule. Whenever you buy something new, get rid of the older version.

ROTATE SEASONAL ITEMS
Various items such as clothes, decorations, and sporting goods can be stored away when not in use and brought out only when needed.

SET ROUTINES
It’s good always to remember the old adage: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” Make it a habit to return items to their storage place after using them.

DAILY CLEANUP
Spend 10-15 minutes tidying up at the end of each day to help prevent clutter from accumulating.

DE-CLUTTER REGULARLY
Remember: Keep, Donate, or Discard. Start by reviewing your items and removing what you no longer need. It can be clothes, books, magazines, toys, or items you have not used in the last year. If they’re in good condition, consider donating or selling them. Keep a “Donate” bin somewhere handy and visible in your home so you can put them immediately in that bin as you come across those types of items. Once it is full, take it to your favorite charity and bring back the empty bin to keep the process going.  Here’s a long list of items you may never have thought of getting rid of.

The key is to keep each area of the home organized, and that can also be done in small steps. Designate an area of each room as a staging area where things that don’t belong can temporarily reside until you have finished in the room. For example, you can use the top of a dresser, a stair step, or the corner of a kitchen counter. As you move from one room to the next in the course of everyday living, grab anything from that staging area that will belong in the staging area of the room to which you are headed.

Remember, it’s not about having a picture-perfect home—it’s about creating a peaceful, functional, and enjoyable space for you. Everyone’s organizational system will differ, so don’t be afraid to tailor these steps to your specific needs and preferences!