organize your entire home this year!
Was one of your New Year’s resolution to finally organize your entire home? Now one month in, and you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? I know it can be daunting and very difficult to find time and energy to do it but these tips will help you get yourself organize first before you organize every space of your home.
CATEGORIZE IN SPECIFIC SPACES
Create a list of spaces that need to be organized in your house. By specific I mean instead of just writing “kitchen”, you can write “pantry”, or “fridge”, or “junk drawer”. Instead of listing “Master Bathroom”, categorize in “closet” or “bathroom cabinets”. Don’t categorize by rooms of the house as this will feel overwhelming and impossible to tackle in one day and you will end up giving it up altogether. It is also helpful to number them in order of priority.
LIST ALL STORAGE ITEMS YOU WILL NEED FOR EACH SPACE
After you create a list of specific spaces, create another list of all the materials you will need in order to organize each space. For example, if you are organizing the garage, your list might include plastic containers, bike hooks, and labels. If you are organizing the closet, you might need some hangers, drawer dividers, or a hamper basket. Make sure to have all these items ready before you start organizing each space.
MARK IT ON THE CALENDAR
Once you have both lists created, add each space on your list on the days that you can actually block some time for that. This can look like maybe a space every weekend or one space every other weekend depending on your schedule. Be realist and only block on the days that you know you can spend some quality time working on it. You can start with the priority order on your list or if you have just a couple hours one week and a whole weekend on the other, you can start with the spaces that don’t take that much time such as your junk drawer and tackle the whole garage on the weekend that you have more time. It is easy to mark on your calendar and then something comes up and you think you can do it later or it does not become a priority anymore but try to stick to the plan and consider this an important item on your to-do list just like an important work meeting you need to attend.
TACKLE ONE SPACE AT A TIME
Follow the plan on your calendar and tackle one space at a time. Within each space, follow these steps to create a new organized space:
1) Remove everything out of the space.
2) Separate all the belongings in five piles: “Discard”, “Donate”, “Fix”, “Doesn’t belong here”, and “Keep”.
3) Using storage solutions, sort all your items from the “Keep” pile in categories and label everything that needs to be labeled. Throw away the “Discard” items right away and place the “Donate” pile in a box or a trash bag and place it in your car so it is ready to be dropped off at a donation center.
4) Create a “Fix” box with everything that needs to be fixed and make sure to get that cleared out on your spare time. It might be too much planning but you can also mark on the calendar when to tackle the “Fix” basket.
I know that this organization planing has been working for me as I feel like I am guided to work on each space in my own time and I don’t get stressed over the places that are still not done yet because I know I will eventually get to them. We all have such busy lives and we need to be realistic about what we expect from ourselves so I believe that taking your time and tackling one space at a time is the best way to not give up it altogether and enjoy the process. If creating a calm and organized home is important to you, make it a priority and get it done!
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
