I think I have figured out the real secret to being a tidy person. I have a whole blog post sharing how to keep your house tidy. These habits are easier to develop if we adopt this secret of being a tidy person. In my other blog post I share several habits you can cultivate to become a tidier person. Dealing with things immediately instead of setting them down to deal with later, having a cleaning routine that makes sense so you can stick to it, enlisting the help of other family members, and having a place for everything are all great habits that can help you to stay on top of clutter accumulating. But the real secret is the final tip I shared in that post – DON’T OWN A LOT OF STUFF!
The real secret of being a tidy person is that they don’t have extra inventory in their homes. They don’t keep things just in case. They don’t want to manage a lot of inventory. I think I came to this conclusion as my kids got older. Now that all of our children are adults, even though currently they are all living with us, I realize that there is a lot less stuff I need to manage. When they were younger there were toys, school papers, and sports equipment. Now that they are older they manage their own things.
In addition to that, over the past 7-8 years I have been pursuing minimalism. It is definitely a slow process for me decluttering my home and learning new spending habits, but less inventory in my home equals less to put away, clean, and organize.
I have a friend who openly admits she is not tidy. I would consider her a maximalist. She loves ALL the things! And I think that is totally fine! We are all different, and that’s what makes the world a beautiful place! I can go over to her house and appreciate all of the things she has surrounded herself with, but I personally could not live this way. If you’re someone who loves all the things, that is okay. But just know that the more you own, the more difficult it will be to be a tidy person. It comes down to what you value and what you can handle.
I am very affected by my external environment. My guess is you are too since you are reading this blog post and wanting to learn the secret to being tidy. Clutter and extra stuff around me definitely affects my anxiety and my mood. When my external environment is chaotic, I feel a bit chaotic in my mind as well. Everything we own takes up our energy and time. The less we own, the less we have to manage, the easier it is to keep a tidy home.
The more I simplify our home, the more I really see the benefits of living with less! Easily being able to tidy your home is one of those many benefits. I hope this post was helpful for you today!
Today I wanted to talk about digital organization. I have had this topic idea to share for quite some time, but have hesitated to share honestly because I feel like this is a space that I am the worst at keeping organized and decluttered. Much of our lives are now digital, so there is definitely a need to keep things organized and minimized. I will share with you what I would ideally do to keep this space under control, but I’m confessing that this is a struggle for me!
So first let’s talk about photos. This is one area that is so difficult to stay on top of! I’m pretty sure that currently as I write this I have over 5,000 photos on my phone! This is definitely something I need to deal with and learn to better stay on top of. A long time ago when digital cameras were first available, I was really good about removing the photos off of my camera, and putting them both on my computer and on a hard drive. As my kids got older and my schedule became chaotic, I found it difficult to keep up with this and eventually lost about a year and half worth of our family photos. Thankfully I was able to recover some of them as back then I used a website similar to Shutterfly to share photos with my extended family. This is definitely something I would suggest – to use an app that automatically backs up your phone’s photos. I personally use Google photos for this purpose. You can also use the Cloud, although I believe they cap the amount of data you are allowed to have stored there unless you pay an additional fee.
I recently learned about a thumb drive that can connect directly to your iPhone in order to dump photos onto it to clear off your phone, and that is what I plan to use to save my photos in another location.
If you have time to organize your photos, I like to organize mine chronologically and will create folders for each month, putting the year first, then the month to keep it all chronological. That way it is easy to find the photo you are looking for. However, Google photos has a search mechanism which works wonderfully for finding a photo of a specific person, location, or thing.
Next let’s talk about computer file organization. First, I like to use external hard drives to keep minimal files on my computer as this helps it to run better. Creating folders with like files helps to keep things organized. Everyone will have different types of files, so you will have to determine what makes sense for your specific files. Perhaps having separate external hard drives for different types of files would be wise. Maybe you have personal files and work files.
Evaluate which programs or apps you have on your computer and determine if there are any that are unnecessary and uninstall those. In general, it’s good to have a regular habit of decluttering files and photos you no longer need.
Next I wanted to address email. I would suggest having a daily habit of deleting emails. Staying on top of emails will prevent that overwhelming feeling of having thousands of emails in your inbox. In addition to that, unsubscribe to emails from companies that you no longer need the information or are no longer helpful. I also suggest streamlining your email. Sometimes it is necessary to have more than one email address, but evaluate how many is really reasonable to have. It is far easier to keep up with just a couple email inboxes than several!
The next thing I wanted to address is passwords! Keeping track of all of the passwords you have for all of the websites you use can be an overwhelming task. Every website seems to have different specifications on what the password can be. I think it is important to find a password storage tool that is easy and safe. I use NordPass to store all of my passwords, making it easy to access at any time, and I don’t have to worry about remembering all of these different passwords! Every site has different specifications for your password, and honestly it’s more safe if you use different passwords for different sites.
I of course also wanted to address your phone! The digital clutter we have on our phones can be overwhelming. As I mentioned with your computer, it’s a good practice to make time to declutter your phone regularly. Evaluate which apps on your phone that you actually use and delete any that you are not. Categorizing your apps into folders will keep your home screen looking less cluttered, and it will make finding them easy. You can categorize them into folders based on type (like social media, photography, finances, ect.) I like to do it according to color – Home Edit style, because I find this more visually pleasing. This may seem inefficient, but your brain quickly learns where to find each app.
Adjacent to our phones is social media. First, evaluate which social media apps you really want to spend your time on, and delete any that aren’t serving you! You can also declutter the people you follow on each social media platform, only keeping around the people who are helpful. If there are people who make you feel sad or upset about your life, or just create more mental health issues, I would suggest hitting the unfollow button!
Using a digital calendar can be really helpful for reminders and to access your calendar from anywhere. I like to use both physical and digital calendars. Keep your calendar up to date by setting aside time each week or each month to update all of your appointments and commitments. If you need to also keep track of other family member’s schedules, I like to use a different color for each member of the family.
Lastly, I wanted to share that using sites like Google Docs and Google Sheets can help to keep things organized as well. There are functions within these sites/apps that allow you to create folders in order to keep things organized. You can then access these files easily on your phone through the apps. It also makes it easy to share files with others. I like to keep recipes in a folder in my Google Docs to access while I’m cooking!
Well, I hope this post gave you some inspiration or helpful information for you to get your digital space decluttered and organized today!
In today’s post I wanted to share with you some tips for moving! I thought summer is the perfect time to share these tips as a lot of people move during the summer months. I have been married for 26 years, and we have three adult children now. Over the course of our marriage we have lived in 4 states, 6 different apartments and 2 homes, so I have experience with packing to move! I hope these tips are helpful for you for a future move, or if a move is not in your near future you can pass this along to a friend or family member that might benefit from these tips!
{{1}} The first tip is to pack all non essential items well in advance. I always liked to pack non essential items even a couple months in advance to get this out of the way. When we begin the packing process, we don’t realize just how many belongings we own. At first it seems like it won’t take long at all to get everything packed, but the deeper into the packing process you get, you realize that you have A LOT of stuff and it is time consuming. Some examples of non essential items are home decor, throw pillow and blankets, picture frames, books, and holiday related items.
{{2}} My next tip is to color code labels to match the rooms they belong in. This tip is especially helpful if you have movers moving your belongings, but even if friends or family members help they will know which room each box goes to very quickly. You can even have a color sign in each room to indicate which boxes go in which rooms.
{{3}} Another tip is to use towels and blankets to pack fragile items. Using towels and blankets to pack fragile items will be efficient since you’re packing both items, but protecting the fragile items. Obviously you will want to take special care to wrap really fragile and special items with bubble wrap or newspaper.
{{4}} Speaking of newspapers, save newspapers to wrap breakables. If you don’t get newspaper you can buy non printed newspaper from moving stores. Using the non printed newspaper is nice for things like dishes and drinking glasses so they don’t get dirty from the printing.
{{5}} Another great tip is to ask local grocery stores or big box stores for boxes. Instead of purchasing new moving boxes, you can go to local grocery stores or places like Target or Walmart to ask if they have extra boxes you could take. They often have leftover boxes from unloading inventory and are happy to give them to you. Sometimes these boxes aren’t quite as sturdy as the moving boxes, so you will want to be careful with what you pack in them.
{{6}} My next tip is to declutter, donate, and sell anything not worth moving. It is best to use the opportunity while you are packing things to move to declutter and donate or sell anything you are no longer loving or using. Depending on how much you have, this can be an overwhelming task and too time consuming to do in conjunction with packing to move, but it is wise to just leave behind anything that is no longer serving you.
{{7}} Next, have paper goods on hand for the last few days leading up to the move and the first few days in the new place. It is nice to have paper plates and bowls, and plastic cups and cutlery the last few days before a move so you don’t have to worry about doing dishes. In addition to that, then you can get your kitchen packed and ready to go! And it is nice on the other end, moving into a new place knowing you have something to eat on when you arrive without having to unpack.
{{8}} Something else that really helped me was to have a box or bin filled with all moving essentials – packing tape, sharpies, labels, scissors, AND know where it is (have a designated location for it). Often during a move everything is a bit chaotic. It’s easy to misplace things or not know where things are because everything is getting upheaved. If you have a designated bin for all of the moving essentials, and you know where it is located (maybe in a central location in the home), then it’s easier to keep track of those things and know where they are when you need them.
{{9}} The next tip some people may not think about, and that is to carefully label the last boxes. We often are just throwing a bunch of stuff together towards the end. Indicating in detail what is in the box will make it easier to know what is in it. In addition to that, write “last box” on them clearly so you know that it is a box you will also want to unpack first!
{{10}} Another tip I have is to enlist help. You can teach your children to pack! Most kids are excited to help with the packing process. You can allow them to pack their own things and give them ownership. Maybe a friend or family member can come over and help you pack or unpack as well. Working with friends and family is always so much more fun than working on your own!
{{11}} My next tip is to unpack essentials first. Maybe this is an obvious tip, but it can be overwhelming arriving at your new place and feeling like you don’t know where to start. Starting with bedding, bathroom essentials, and kitchen essentials is a great place to start. You will also have those last few boxes that you labeled “last box” which you will likely need right away as well. If you’re anything like me, the coffee will be the first off the truck!
{{12}} My final tip is to take breaks! Packing for a move, and moving in general is really exhausting, both physically and emotionally. Be sure to listen to your body and take breaks when you can.
Well, I hope this gave you some tips that will be helpful for your next move! If you’re interested, you can check out the YouTube video I made in conjunction with this post!
I have a problem. Clothes. This is the one area where I really struggle to keep minimal. I actually wrote a blog post a while back about why I no longer strive to create a capsule wardrobe. Because of my love of fashion, and therefore my plethora of clothes, it’s imperative that I stay on top of keeping this space organized and tidy. Today I wanted to share with you 7 tips for keeping your closet organized.
Tip number one is to DECLUTTER! Are you surprised that this is my number one tip? If you know me well, then you are not surprised! I always encourage people who want to get a space organized to first declutter! Getting rid of anything that no longer fits you, or has stains or holes is a good place to start. Keep only the clothes that you feel amazing in!
Tip number two is to KEEP A DONATION BIN in your closet for any clothes you want to declutter. If you are bringing new items into your closet, throw the items you are decluttering directly into the bin. Also, when you put something on and you don’t feel amazing in it, and you take it back off… don’t hang it back up! Put it directly into the donation bin. When the bin gets full, you can drop it off at your local donation center.
Tip number three is to BUY UNIFORM HANGERS. Having uniform hangers automatically makes a closet look more tidy and organized. My favorite type of hanger for aesthetic reasons is wood hangers. I have never owned the thin velvet type hangers, but I have also heard that these work really well because they fit more clothes into a space because of their thin design. Having uniform hangers also gives us natural boundaries on how many clothes we own (unless of course you go out and purchase more!) I have a set number of hangers and this helps me to stick to the “one in, one out” rule where I need to declutter items if I bring new items in.
Tip number four is to LABEL BINS you have in your closet. This is not a must, as you may already know what is in each bin, however labeling the bins makes it easier to identify each bin when you need to get something out.
Tip number five is to CATEGORIZE CLOTHING BY TYPE. I know that it looks pretty to categorize clothing Home Edit style in rainbow order, however it is more practical to have different sections for different types of clothing. You can still organize each category in rainbow order, still making it look nice. In reality, we dress for activity or weather. It is easier to find what we need if all of our tank tops are together, all of the short sleeve shirts, all of the cardigans – you get the picture. It takes less time and brain space if we know what type of clothing item we need and then only look through that section to select something. I also like to keep my shoes organized by category and have each type of shoe grouped together.
Tip number six is to HAVE A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING. This tip is helpful really for your entire home! If you have a place for everything, it is much easier to put things back away quickly. If it is quick and easy to put things away, we are more likely to actually put them away instead of creating a pile of clothes in the corner chair, on a workout machine, or on the floor. If everything has a place, we are also more likely to stay on top of decluttering as more things come into the closet.
Lastly, tip number seven is to ADD GOOD LIGHTING to your closet. It is surprising what good lighting can do for your closet! When we moved into our home, our closet had no real light fixture, just a single bulb. Although I did not add brighter lighting, it did level up my closet to add an actual light fixture. I am in the process of looking for additional lighting to add to our closet so we don’t always have to turn on the overhead light. There are so many options for battery powered lights to add to your closet space!
Well, I hope these tips were helpful for you. In my opinion, closets can be the most difficult space to keep organized as there seems to be items coming in and going out frequently! Although I did say I’m not interested in creating a capsule wardrobe, I have decided to challenge myself in the month of February 2022 to live 28 days with 28 articles of clothing (not including pajamas, workout clothes, or accessories.) I will update you in March to let you know how that goes! I thought maybe trying it out without totally decluttering most of my wardrobe would give me a good picture of how I feel with less clothing options!
This is the YouTube video I made in conjunction with this blog post if you want to check that out!
It’s December! One of the busiest months of the year for most of us! But I wanted to encourage you to spend a little bit of time decluttering this month with certain items that make sense to evaluate in December!
The first item is TOYS! It is smart to declutter toys prior to the inflow of new toys from Christmas gifts. It can be difficult to find a home for all the new toys that arrive on Christmas morning, so evaluating which toys your children no longer play with, finding broken toys or toys with missing pieces will help make room for the new items. If you purchased toys for your children, you can determine which category they fit in and see if other toys in that category can go. It’s always good to involve your children when decluttering toys at the appropriate age. Helping them understand that there is limited space for their toys and they should choose toys they no longer love to make room for the new toys that they will get for Christmas. Perhaps if the toys are gently used you could find a women’s shelter to donate to, helping your children learn to be giving – which is perfect for this time of year!
Next up is Christmas decor. This is the perfect time to evaluate which decor did not go up this year and determine if perhaps it’s time for it to go! Oftentimes if we don’t put it up this year, it is even less likely we will display it in the future. Be realistic about if it makes sense to store these items away for yet another year!
The third category of items to declutter in December is wrapping paper and wrapping accessories. When you are done wrapping all of your gifts for the season, it is a great time to determine if it is worth holding onto the scrap ends, stray tags, and extra ribbon. Certainly some of it might be worth holding onto for the next year, but really evaluate if you would actually use it a year from now.
The fourth category is winter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. I know that in some parts of the country or world, you are well into the winter season with cooler weather! For me, here in Austin, the cool weather is just beginning! This is a great time to determine which coats and accessories you are wearing and which you are not. There might be a local charity for the homeless or perhaps a women’s shelter that would appreciate these items for the winter months.
The last category is kitchen items. During the holidays is probably when you are in the kitchen the most, using more of your kitchen items and gadgets than usual. Be honest with yourself if you are really using all the casserole dishes and spatulas that you own! Or perhaps you have holiday themed dishes that you had good intentions to use but never did. Now is a great time to declutter because you know if these items are actually useful to you!
Well, I hope this list of items you could easily declutter in December was helpful to you! Happy decluttering!
Here is the YouTube video I made in conjunction with this blog post!
Today I wanted to talk to you about the steps you should take before tackling an organizing project. It is important to prepare before organizing a space so you are efficient in getting your spaces organized.
{{ONE}} First, you need to remove everything from the space. If this is overwhelming, work section by section in a space. For instance, while organizing the kitchen, work one cabinet or one drawer at a time – removing everything from that section. Sometimes seeing everything out in the open can help you realize how much you have. It is also easier to organize things into a space that is a clean slate.
{{TWO}} Next, you need to declutter. Are you surprised?? Have I said this enough?? You must declutter prior to organizing. There is no need to organize items that are no longer needed or loved. It is also silly to buy organizing tools prior to decluttering because you will likely not need as much as you think.
{{THREE}} After you declutter, it is time to categorize. Keeping like items together usually makes the most sense when organizing a space. Once you group things together according to like items, you may be able to declutter even further if you see you have duplicates of items.
{{FOUR}} Once you have everything categorized, then you can decide how you would like to organize those items – in bins, baskets, boxes, or drawer organizers. You will then need to measure your space to determine what size of storage containers you will need. And you thought you would never use math again! Measure twice, buy once! It can take some research and shopping to find the right storage solution for your space.
{{FIVE}} Next, it’s time to purchase your storage solutions – whether it’s bins, baskets, boxes, or drawer organizers – find what works for your space. My favorite places for storage containers are The Container Store, Target, and Amazon. I know there are several other stores that have great storage solutions as well!
{{SIX}} This next step isn’t necessary, but I always like to deep clean a space before organizing it. If everything is already removed from the space, it’s the perfect time to clean it! It’s always nice to put items back into a clean space!
Well, I hope this post was helpful to you if tackling an organization project seems daunting to you. Taking these simple steps before trying to get organized will help to make your organization project go smoothly!
Here is the YouTube video I shared on my channel in conjunction with this blog post.
Today I wanted to share with you 6 of my all time favorite organizing tools as a professional organizer.
First up is BINS OR BASKETS. Anyone who has been to my home, or who has hired me to organize their home, can attest to my love of bins!! The number one thing you can do to get organized is to categorize. The easiest way to do this is with bins or baskets. My favorite bins are white plastic bins from The Container Store. They come in several sizes, are cost effective, simple, and durable.
Using UNIFORM HANGERS will always immediately make your closet look more organized. There are so many choices, from wooden to velvet or even plastic – as long as they are uniform it is just more pleasing to the eye.
Next is LAZY SUSANS. Using lazy susans throughout your home is such an efficient use of space to keep like items contained. They come in all sorts of sizes, and they can also come with a standard lip or a deeper one depending on what you are storing. I am currently obsessed with clear acrylic lazy susans!
I also love GLASS JARS. These are especially great for food storage like pasta, rice, or baking items. I love the Fido brand, but I also really like the simple Ball Mason jars as well. When using the Mason jars, I purchase white plastic lids to make taking the lids off and on easier.
Another item I love to use is UNIFORM CLEANING BOTTLES. Whether you choose clear or amber glass cleaning bottles, or even plastic ones, cleaning bottles look so much more streamlined and simplistic when they are all uniform.
What organization project is complete without LABELS? I love using labels for practical purposes so you know you know what is in the container, but I also just love the look of labels aesthetically! There are so many different options for labels! I love the label made by a Cricut, and I also love the look of just an old school embossed label!
Well, I hope this gave you some ideas on how you can take your home organization to the next level!
Here is the video I made with this information! It is a giveaway collaborating with several other YouTubers, so definitely go enter to win if you are reading this blog post close to the time it is posted! *Giveaway ends June 15, 2021*
Today I wanted to share with you how I keep our home organized room by room! There are several different organization tools that are helpful in keeping your home organized. But, there are also some everyday practices that will help in keeping your home organized.
The first thing I wanted to talk about is decluttering. I won’t be-labor this point as I know I have several blog posts about the value in decluttering. When getting a space organized, there is no sense in organizing items that you no longer love or are no longer useful to you. I’m sure by now you have all heard of Marie Kondo’s Konmari method of decluttering. I don’t necessarily like everything about her methodology, however I do like the idea of decluttering by category. Some people get overwhelmed by pulling everything out in one category, so I suggest working one room or space at a time as well. Start with items that are easier to declutter – like kitchen items, which don’t have sentimental value and work your way up to sentimental items. Generally, the process of decluttering gets easier as you gain momentum. Also, it’s important to note that each room or space in your home will need to be revisited. Unfortunately, decluttering is typically not a one time event but rather a process as most homes continually accumulate items.
I wanted to talk a little bit about a system I learned many years ago from the book The Fly Lady. She has lots of great advice in her book, but the thing I have implemented into my routine is creating “zones” coordinating with different spaces or rooms in your home, and each week choosing one zone to deep clean and declutter. I have 12 zones in my home, and by choosing one zone per week my entire house gets deep cleaned and decluttered every three months. It’s not only important to stay on top of decluttering, it’s also important to stay on top of your organization systems as things can get misplaced or in disarray over time.
My number one advice for client’s is to have a place for everything. When each item in your home has a place, it makes cleaning up and putting things away more efficient and easy. I love to use bins, baskets, and lazy susans throughout my home to house items which are alike. For many of these bins, I use labels, making it easy for everyone in my family to know where things are and where they belong.
The first space I want to talk about is your entryway – whether it’s at your front door, back door, or both! Typically this is a “drop zone” – a place where everyone sets down their everyday items and takes off their shoes. You want to have organization tools which will accommodate this. Hooks for purses and backpacks, a shoe rack or baskets for shoes, a key holder for keys, and bins to hold things like hats, scarves, and gloves. Having a space for each type of item works well, or perhaps you can have a bin and or hook for each family member. These are items that are notorious for getting lost, however if you have a place for these items, each family member will know where they go and where to find their items.
The next location I wanted to talk about is the living room/family room. In this space, it’s important to have functional furniture to store different items that belong in the room, such as game consoles, video games CDs, movies, remotes, and blankets. Once again, if items have a place, everyone will know where to find them. Blankets can be stored in an aesthetically pleasing way such as in a basket, on a blanket ladder, or draped across the sofa. If you’re like me and like to have a variety of throw pillows, you can choose to purchase pillow covers when possible, making it easier to store when not in use. In addition to this, if you like using different decor for different times of the year, find creative ways to store these items. I have a dresser in my office where I store all my extra decor that is not in season. I do have two large bins storing my Christmas specific decor, which I store in the attic. A trick I like is to use dual purpose decor. I use wood bead strings around my Christmas tree as garland, but when it is not Christmas season I use the beads as decor in other areas of my home. Also, you can find a lot of versatile “Christmas decor” that will transition into the winter season.
TV Console with space for Living Room items.I store extra pillow cases in our side tables in the living room.I store my extra home decor in a dresser in my office.
The next space I will talk about is the kitchen. This might be one of the most important places in the home to find an organization system that works well for you as it allows you to be more efficient in meal planning, getting groceries, putting away the groceries, and meal prepping. It’s helpful to have your kitchen organized in a functional way. Store items where you use them. I have a corner of my kitchen where I do most of the meal prepping, and that is where all of my utensils and dishes are stored. Organizing your pantry and refrigerator/freezer space by category helps to keep everything contained and easy to find. I have chosen a variety of bins, boxes, and jars to store items in my pantry. Taking pantry items out of their packaging and decanting items into streamline jars and bins is a more efficient use of space. Using labels will make it easy to put things away, and allow family members to know where items go. It also just looks more appealing! In the refrigerator and freezer, you can use bins to keep things in order, and again using labels so everyone knows where things belong. This also keeps your refrigerator more clean, so if anything spills or leaks, it is contained in the bin. Lastly, using drawer organizers helps to keep drawers neat and easy to maintain.
I also wanted to talk about the office. This is probably one of the most difficult spots to keep organized, primarily because often offices become overrun with papers. Again, organization systems help to keep everything in its place. If you have drawers in your desk, invest in drawer organizers, which can be fairly inexpensive. Having little compartments in your desk drawers to store all the little office type items will help to keep your desktop clean of clutter. Dealing with paper clutter can be time consuming and overwhelming! Definitely invest in some sort of filing system for important documents, whether that’s a filing cabinet built into your desk drawer, or some sort of external accordion style filing folder. Additionally, you can use an app like Adobe Scan, a document scanning app, to keep digital records of your paperwork, eliminating a lot of the paper clutter! In my opinion, it’s so much easier to get work done in a organized and tidy space!
A couple of other spaces that often need organization systems are the laundry room and the bathroom linen closet. Having bins to house like items is definitely helpful in these spaces. I store all of our medicine in three separate bins which are labeled, making it easy for family members to find which type of medication they are looking for. Folding your sheets and towels in a uniform way will also help to keep your linen closet in order. I have a YouTube video where I show you the way I fold sheets so they will look neat in your cabinet! This might not work for everyone, but we own two bath towels per person, two hand towels per hand towel hook, and two sets of sheets per bed in our home. One for in use and one for in the laundry or in the cabinet. Having a system like this will cut back on clutter in this space.
The final space I wanted to discuss is the closet and/or dresser. This is another space that can be hard to stay on top of as we often have a constant flow of items coming in. Again, it’s important to make it a habit of going through your clothing items and donating anything you no longer wear or love, anything that is too small or too big, or anything that has a hole or stain. One of the easiest ways to make your closet look more organized is to invest in uniform hangers. It’s up to you to decide how many! Everyone is different in the amount of clothing they have space for and want to own. Also, finding storage systems for shoes, off season clothing items, and anything else you store in your closet is important. As far as the dresser goes, I want to mention the Konmari method again. I have found using the Konmari folding method to be the most efficient way by far to store clothing. More clothing fits in the space when folded this way, it’s easier to find what you are looking for, and once you learn to fold in this way it is very efficient to get your clothing folded. Once again, I have a tutorial YouTube video on how to fold Konmari style!
I hope this gave you some ideas or information on how you can get your home organized and functioning efficiently today!
Sometimes while talking to clients or friends they either allude to or say outright that their space can’t be organized. Recently one of my friends hired me to help with her pantry. She came over to my house to see how I had organized my own pantry, hoping for inspiration or maybe to gain some trust that I could in fact get her pantry organized? She said that I seemed to be more of a methodical cook than her, and she wasn’t so sure her pantry could function like my pantry. She still reluctantly hired me as I encouraged her that I was up for the challenge! In the end she was surprised that she did in fact have distinct categories in her pantry! Several weeks after I was finished with her pantry, she let me know how much easier it was to order and put away groceries now that her pantry had a system. She was shocked and surprised that there was a sustainable organization system that worked for this space!
This is my pantry
I share this story because I think people often think that their space (or spaces) cannot be organized. I told my friend that is why she needed to hire me! I had a vision that she couldn’t even imagine. We all have gifts and talents, and my brain just processes things in light of order. Organizing projects can feel overwhelming at first. Even for me, sometimes I feel overwhelmed before starting a project, but I know you just have to take things one step at a time no matter how big or small the project is!
Here is my friend’s before pantry picture
The first step to getting any space organized is always to declutter. You don’t want to organize items that you no longer need, use, or love.
The next step is to identify categories in the space. The best way to efficiently organize a space is by category. This is why I am a big fan of bins. This will help contain items for each category, making it quick and easy to put items away in the future.
After you have decluttered and identified your categories, you will need to measure your space and then go on a hunt for bins, boxes, baskets, or lazy susans that will fit the space and your style. This can be tricky at times. When we were looking for bins for my friend’s pantry, we were balancing a multitude of specifications. We were looking for bins of a certain size, style, and price point. You have to balance all of these specs and give weight to the importance of each. Just know that this can take time! You may have to scour the internet as well as stores in your local area. It’s not always a one stop trip! Don’t forget your labels too!
Next is the fun part!! Or at least for me!! You will need to remove everything from the space, and I always like to give it a good clean while the space is empty. Then you can begin organizing things into categories. Label each box making it easy to find homes for each of the items.
Organizing a space is certainly not a one size fits all, and it can’t always be done as quickly as a Home Edit Netflix episode. Be realistic, and have your expectations set so that you are not disappointed in how long this process can take.
If it all feels too overwhelming and you can’t hire a professional organizer, enlist a friend to help! Oftentimes it helps just to have accountability even if they are just as clueless as you!
Here is what her pantry looked like after!
Here is the YouTube video I made in conjunction with this blog post
I think most people would say they would like to be more organized, or they would like to be an organized person. Friends and family often ask me how I stay organized. They may even comment that I’m so lucky to just be naturally organized. People who seem naturally organized really just implement habits in their lives that lead to an organized life. Today I wanted to share with you 10 habits of people who are organized.
The first habit is that they have a place for everything. The number one advice I give to people who want to get organized is to have a place for everything. When everything has a place, over time you don’t even have to think about putting things away. Your brain makes neural pathways as you repetitively put the items away in the same location. Eventually you do it as second nature. Also, if something does not have a home, it just continues to float around your house and every time you use that item, you must think about where to put it down when you’re finished using it.
In addition to having a place for everything, organized people actually put things away in their place after they are done using it. I call this the “one touch rule.” When they are done with an item, they immediately put it back where it belongs. They don’t drop the towel on the bathroom floor, or kick off their shoes wherever they want to take them off. A great example – and a problem place for many people – is the mail creating paper clutter in that dreaded drop zone where everything seems to pile up in your house. Someone who is organized has a habit of immediately dealing with the mail. They make it a habit to get the mail when they have the time to go through and discard junk mail, pay bills, and file papers that come through the mail.
In order to be able to deal with things like mail, functional systems must be set up and used. An organized person has these systems, which they continue to tweek until it works well for them. They have a paper filing system, a place for shoes, hooks for backpacks and jackets, a location where dirty laundry goes (and family members know this as well), and any other organizing bins for everyday used items.
Along with functional systems, organized people have daily routines set up. Having routines will allow you to get things done almost without thinking about it. Not only general routines like exercise, daily Bible reading or meditation, and getting up and going to bed at approximately the same time each day; but also cleaning, decluttering, and organizing habits. We all have a fairly consistent inflow of things into our homes, whether it’s junk mail, kids artwork, or gifts. Having routines set up to deal with the inflow and the organic daily messes that are created, help to keep you organized.
Another habit of an organized person is that they are constantly decluttering. Like I just mentioned, we all have a constant inflow of items into our homes. No matter how minimalist someone appears to be, there is still a need to declutter items from the home.
To help make the decluttering process a bit easier, another habit of an organized person is that they are intentional about what comes into their homes. Some things we don’t have control over – mail sent to us or what our family members bring into our home is out of our control. However, an organized person closely evaluates their purchases to decide if the items will add value, particularly in the long run.
Along those same lines, organized people only own what they use and what they love and declutter the rest. The less stuff we have, the less stuff we have to organize. The less stuff we have to organize, the easier it is to be and stay organized.
Another habit of an organized person is that they keep lists. Keeping lists for different aspects of life help to keep things organized. If you get ideas or to dos out of your head and onto paper (or digitally if that is your thing), your head is clear and you won’t worry about forgetting anything. It’s great to keep separate lists for different aspects of life – a work to do list, a daily to do list, a long term to do list, and an ideas list to name a few.
Organized people create deadlines for themselves. Oftentimes we organically have deadlines – whether that’s for work, school, or things that must get done related to our children or our personal lives (like appointments, preparation for events, etc.) When an organized person doesn’t have a set deadline – like with home projects or cleaning, they make deadlines for themselves. Having a deadline helps motivate you to get tasks and projects done. Of course there is always room for grace when unexpected things come up!
Lastly, organized people don’t procrastinate. Oftentimes people put off decluttering, putting things away, or everyday tasks. People who are organized, deal with things immediately, and then tasks don’t pile up and get to the point where they are overwhelming. It’s easier to stay on top of things when we don’t procrastinate.
I hope this gave you some practical tips on how you can become a more organized person. It’s never too late to make changes in your habits!
Here is the YouTube video I made in conjunction with this blog post.
organized with joy 