You are fed up and want your whole house organized, but you don’t know where to begin. If this sounds like you, the method that I find works best is to start small. Focus on one category such as the bathroom, the coat closet, all clothing, or pots and pans and follow these organizing steps.
Organizing Steps
Sort Items
Once your area of focus has been determined, pull out everything in that category out and sort it. To sort pile similar items together. Put anything that doesn’t fit within the function of the space (such as paintbrushes in the kitchen) in a basket to be moved to a different location. The reason for putting it in a basket instead of just taking it to the other room is to minimize distractions. Your focus should be on the category chosen for the entire time you set aside for it. It is much quicker to carry the basket around your home at the end of your session and put the items in the appropriate locations rather than stopping and moving to a different room everytime you find something that doesn’t belong.
Declutter
Once everything is sorted, take stock of what there is and ask yourself if there is anything that no longer serves it’s purpose or has meaning to you. If you have multiples of the same item, consider ou really need multiples (often you don’t) and get rid some of them by donating, selling, recycling, or as a last resort, throwing out the ones you don’t need. Now that you have sorted everything that belongs in that space and gotten rid of everything that was unneeded, you have a clear idea of what needs to go back into the space. Hopefully your piles are small enough now that it doesn’t feel as overwhelming.Next is the fun part.
Visualize
Start visualizing the space, think of the way you can put these items back in a way that makes them easy for you and your family to get to them and put them back when done. The best way to organize the items is going to be different depending on the space, amount and type of things, and your personal style, among other variables. Generally you want the items used most often to be the easiest to access.
Put away
Once you have your plan visualized, it is time to start putting everything in its new place. If containers, shelves, or other organizing solutions are needed, this is a good stopping point. Take measurements, place your piles you just made in temporary boxes, baskets, bags, anything you have and purchase the items you need. I like to use simple fabric boxes from Ikea to store stuff while I wait for the products so I don’t have to re-do my sorting once the products arrive, just be careful to not let your temporary storage become long term!
Order your materials right away and once you get them, plan a time to install them and put your pre-sorted items away that week.
Conclusion
Tackling your organizing project once section at a time helps keep it manageable and will help spread the cost of any necessary or wanted items over a larger period of time.
I hope having these organizing steps gives you the confidence you need to start on your next organizing project. Of course, if you want to get organized but don’t have the time or desire to do it all yourself, a professional organizer can help! Give one a call and they will be able to work with you to go through the steps needed to get your home organized and help you feel less stressed and fed up with it along the way.
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