If you're not sure where to begin, follow the guide below to help you be more organized.
1. Follow a plan that allows you to be more organized.
Photo / Josh Beggs
2. Create a home mail center.
Photo / Design Ideas
Perhaps the largest source of clutter in most home is paper clutter. This nefarious scourge is typically smuggled through the door in plain sight, via innocuous-seeming modes of transportation like backpacks, briefcases, hand bags, grocery bags, and the daily mail, where it then ends up next to the couch, under the newspaper, on the floor, and in stacks and stacks around the house where it's then set aside to "deal with later."
It doesn't have to be like this. I guarantee you can shred or recycle 90% of the paper coming through your front door so you never have to worry about those annoying piles of paper again.
3. Keep your "stuff" only as long as you need it.
Elizabeth Larkin
This one is a biggie! A huge contributor to clutter is not knowing how long to keep things. Think about all of those travel toiletries you've accumulated, or the pile of magazines you haven't read yet and aren't sure you'll get to. It's important to set a time limit on everything--from clothes and shoes to mail and paper work--so that it doesn't become clutter.
Now, I love paper, but I've learned the hard way that I can't old onto every piece of paper that crosses my threshold forever. Ditto for makeup, shoes and handbags. At some point, it's time to let them go, so working with some experts, I created a guide to how long to keep everything. Use this as a reference when you're decluttering and making decisions on what to toss, recycle or keep, or what to save and store.
4. Find a charitable organization and start donating to them regularly.
The first step in any home organization project--whether it's organizing your junk drawer, closet or garage--should be deciding what to do with all the stuff you’re going to recycle, discard or donate once you are done decluttering the space. Having a plan for donating items regularly is going to ease this burden each time you begin organizing a new space. Here’s how this works:
You: “I have something to donate. Where should I donate it?”
Other person: “You always donate to … organization.”
You: “Oh right, I’ll donate it there.”
End scene. Donating things regularly is another good habit to form because it takes the guesswork out of what to do with all your stuff, and automates the decision-making. Most charitable organizations will take a wide range of clothing, household items, and electronics. Choose one or two organizations you like and admire and start scheduling regular donations.
Donating
5. Get more done with a daily routine.
Photo / Hither and Thither
If you follow a daily routine, you spend more time getting stuff done and less time wondering what you should be doing. How does this work? Setting a schedule for yourself and then assigning tasks for those times will make your brain very, very happy. Your brain is constantly searching for patterns and it likes consistency. This means over time these actions will become automatic, meaning our brains will be working for us ween we’re not even aware of it, like the way you already go straight for the coffee pot after waking up, or right to the remote as soon as your butt lands on the couch.
And the great news is you can assign large or small times to each assignment on your to do list:
Examples:
- Very general like, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Work on widgets
- Very specific, 8:00 a.m. - Go jogging
Here's your Daily Routine reading list to find out more about how this works, how it will help you get more done, tips, and how to stick to your routine:
6. Commit once-and-for-all to closet organization.
Photo / Emily Schuman
The goal of closet organization is not to turn your closet into a showroom, it's to get you to the point where you have a general idea of where everything should be folded or hanging. In other words: You may not know *exactly* where your favorite black sweater is, but you know it's in one of those *two* piles so you do not need to rifle through everything in the closet in order to find that one item. That's closet organization.
This is not as painful a chore as you think it is, I promise! After several years of writing about the topic and helping people organize and streamline their closets, I can tell you what works and what doesn't work.
What does not work: Ignoring the problem, purchasing storage solutions that look good but do not work in your closet, cramming everything you own into one space, using the wrong hangers (read=wire), and keeping your winter coats mixed in with your sundresses.
What works:
- Regularly decluttering your closet;
- Purchasing storage solutions that fit your closet;
- Moving your most-worn clothing items to the front of your closet, preferably at eye-level;
- Choosing the right hangers; and,
- Moving out-of-season clothing either into a storage space, or higher up in your closet so it's out of the way.
If you can do just these five things, your life will improve significantly in the form of never wondering where your favorite shirt/sweater/pair of jeans are hiding.
7. Learn how to properly store your stuff.
Ikea office storage
Most people (myself included) tend to store things only when absolutely necessary--like when your cadre of sweater dresses is still in the front of your closet and temperature is in the 80s. I want you to start thinking in the reverse: when you purchase a new item, think about where this will be stored when it’s not in use or out-of season. For instance, I’ve developed a system wherein I store sweaters, and all out-of-season clothing in a clear plastic containers in the basement.
Also, consider how long you will keep the item when choosing a storage space. You could continue to shove things under your bed, or you could follow this three steps process for learning how to store things:- Find out how long to keep things with my guide called how long to keep everything.
- Next, go through and declutter the area or room that needs decluttering.
- Finally, learn how to store everything in your home, from bikinis to wine.
8. Save time and money by planning your meals and grocery shopping in advance.
Photo / Pinterest
Meal planning was a skill that always eluded me, and I found little comfort or helpful instruction in the many magazines, blogs, and books that cover the topic. Most of these meal plans recommended you plan weeks or months out. This proved to be too big of a task for me in one sitting (I would literally end up in surrounded by a pile of Mark Bittman's, Barefoot Contessa's and Heidi Swanson's, with my Sharpie and legal pad full of chicken scratches), and completely crashed with my social life as I'm often out at night. After talking to experts and conducting some research, I decided to create my own plan with more flexibility.
I also aimed to tackle my other meal planning pet peeve: What to do with all that left-over parsley.
Most meal plans ask you to buy large quantities of the same meat, chicken or fish (or, "protein") to use in several different dishes a week, along with about five different herbs to "mix up" the meals. I'd had enough of herbs spoiling in my fridge, so my meal plan does the opposite: calls for you to buy a few different proteins--which are easier to buy in small portions (example="I'll take ½ pound of the grass-fed beef and 2 pounds of free-range turkey breast")--and only one or two herbs for the week.
Finally, I combined my meal plan with grocery shopping resources because that made sense to me. This way you can do everything in one swing: plan meals, make grocery list, shop, prep, cook, freeze, eat; and start a pattern for yourself that you can execute each week.
I call this plan: More flexibility, less spoiled parsley.
Here's your Meal Plan & grocery Shopping reading list to find out more about how this plan works, and how it will help you save time and money:
9. Commit to managing your shoe collection.
Shoe Storage from aliciainwonderlandphotos
I have found my shoes in so many strange places over the years it's hard to imagine how they got there. Some highlights include being wedged behind my TV stand, in one of my friend's guest beds (not on the floor in the guest room, actually in the bed) and I once had an apartment where I stored out of season shoes in the oven.
I will admit that organizing my shoe collection has reduced me to tears of frustration, mainly because I could never find a single storage solution that worked for all of my hoes at once. I finally decided to break them up in groups:
- Every day shoes I store by the front door.
- Out of season shoes I keep in a plastic storage container in the basement.
- Fancier shoes I keep in a small rack on my closet floor.
- How to Organize Your Shoes & Boots
- How to Declutter Your Shoes & Boots
- How to Plan Shoe & Boot Storage Solutions
- How to Maintain Shoe & Boot Organization
- How to Store Your Shoe Collection
- Where to Store Shoes
- Top Shoe Storage Solutions
- Install Your Own Shoe Shelving
- Find the Shoe Rack That Fits Your Shoe Collection
- See How Celebrities Store Their Shoes
- Store Shoes and Accessories Together in a Shoe Tower
- 5 Options for Boot Storage
- How to Store Every Kind of Boot You Own
10. Get your kitchen in good working order.
Photo / Martha Stewart Living
Achieving and maintaining order in your kitchen requires daily upkeep because the kitchen is the most highly trafficked area in your home. Everyone may have their own bedroom, and they may even have their own bath, but there's typically only one kitchen in the average home. I recommend decluttering your kitchen twice a week (via the Weekly Organizing Routine), and if you follow along with the Month-by-Month Home Organization Routine, you will organize your kitchen in February, July and November.
You can use these resources to get your kitchen in shape as-needed. Kitchens 10111. Tackle big projects monthly and declutter every day.
Over the Door Shoe Rack
