5 Home Organization Tips

Organize your home and it will help organize your life. When your house is cluttered, your life feels cluttered. Putting a sense of order to your home can make things a little less stressful. Here are a few tips to help get you started.

1. Keep, donate, or toss. As you tackle your sorting and decluttering, one rule of thumb is, if it hasn’t been used in 6 months consider donating if it’s in good shape, or send it to the trash. Use two boxes, label one for trash, one for donations – then put everything else in it’s place. Mom always said, “A place for everything, and everything in it’s place!” You just may have to create places for some things.

2. Designate areas throughout the house with specific purposes. Have a central location for your mail, and where you pay your bills. Find storage places for off-season clothes, jackets and gear. Keep your overstock of canned and other grocery goods in a pantry, or designated storage area. Utilize clearly labeled bins or boxes for like items, placed or arranged in some order that works best for you and your family.

3. Use baskets, bins, or other containers in clutter hotspots to control piles. On your desk, keep a letterholder for incoming and outgoing mail. Cups or baskets for smaller items like hair clips or pens can help avoid clutter. We have a bowl we toss our keys in when we come in, so they’re easily located on the way out. A strategically placed basket on a stairway might ensure that things get taken upstairs too.

4. Hang it up. Stick on hooks are inexpensive and can help little ones keep jackets and towels off the floor. A hanging key-rack by the common entryway can keep keys from ever being lost again. Create a family photo collage for the wall, and clear some table, or mantle space. Keep kids most treasured artwork to frame, or hang somewhere for display. In our house it’s the pantry and basement doors.

5. Create a better “flow” in a room by rearranging the furniture. Relocate lamps, or other pieces that might serve another purpose in a different room. Mix it up! Sometimes just rearranging furniture can give the room a new sense of organization.