“I regret organizing my home”, said nobody ever. A clean home is different from an organized one. A clean home may be a treat to the eyes but an organized one is a treat to the happy soul. Organizing a home is not a one day’s job but is achieved only with habits and here are what that worked for me to stay organized.
Find a home in your home
Raise your hand if you find old receipts, hair ties, coins, random keys in your kitchen drawer. The fundamental tip for an organized home is to find a home for every little thing in your home. The best way to do it is to designate a home as soon as a thing arrives home. Chaos begins when we don’t find something we are looking for at the right time. Giving a designated spot for little things like stationery, extra charging cables, photo prints, gift wrappers, keys etc will start getting things sorted and organized. Then comes the next big thing! Encourage everyone at home to make it a habit to drop each thing right in their place after use. It is hard at the beginning but a great time saver for everyone at home.
The garage is not your dump yard
Did the sight of your garage flash in your mind? Remember, a messier place starts from a messy one. Dumping things in the garage makes it a mammoth task to deal with later. Even if you want to use your garage for the miscellaneous stuff, make your garage a place for an organized mess. You could just put things (read dump) together in clear containers, label them and repeat Step 1 above to put things back in their places. Once you set this up, you will be amused to have a newfound party area/gym in your house, while your cars party outside.
Clean on the Go
All the cleaning at home need not wait for that one big day like a weekend or spring clean. Giving yourself little time to clean up a little bit every day is going to save you from a tedious deep cleaning later. You don’t have to clean everything every day. But things, like wiping off the kitchen countertops, washing the dishes, folding clothes as soon as the dryer beeps(I am being ambitious here), cleaning the bathroom counters, vacuum a room when you find it dirty, are surely little things to start with. Just to make sure I don’t go overboard, I set a timer for 25-30 minutes and finish up some cleaning/organizing within that time.
De-cluttering
This should probably top my list! If you know me, it has been my forever practice to discard, donate or recycle stuff that I longer use or stuff I haven’t thought about for the last six months. Remember, clutter in your home could be a luxury in someone else’s home. The best way to start decluttering at home is to choose a category and start working with it. Some categories for your reference are books, handbags, footwear, clothes (with each family member at once). I don’t follow any particular method. The best way is to choose what works best for you. De-cluttering everything in a day could be overwhelming. Check here, how donation bins worked me for as the best method of decluttering.
Mindful Lists
As many successful people say, to-do lists are the key to more organized, productive, and focused days. Apart from making personal to-do lists, I have a to-do list on our refrigerator for things to be tackled at home during the week. The list could include things like fold laundry, change batteries, mow the lawn, etc. Checking off each item once the task is completed not only spurs instant gratification but also provides an opportunity to pay attention to little tasks that often go unattended.
Do you already follow any of the above? I would love to hear from you if any other habits helped to stay organized.
Check this post for systems that worked for me to stay organized. Let me know your thoughts on this.
-Signing off
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