Do you feel overwhelmed and stressed in your home? Do you try to organize and don’t even know where to start? I’ve created a list of things you can do to get started and finally organize your home.
Start here
- Do NOT try to do it all at once
- Start small
- Set 2 hours timer
- Be consistent
- After the timer treat yourself
1. Get organized step by step, one area at a time
Step #1 Sort
It’s time to do the work. You have decided on one area you are going to organize today, you have your 2 hours timer set, and now start sorting. The strategy is – likes with likes. For now, do not think about the items, just sort.
If you start thinking about your stuff, you will not finish.
Examples of the piles you may have:
clothes
books
paper
office supplies (pens, clips…)
art/craft supplies
food
makeup
hair accessories
Step #2 Donate & throw away
Supplies needed:
Black trash bags for trash
Clear recycle bags for recycling
White trash bags or empty boxes for donations
How to decide what to purge?
With some items, you will know right away what to do and with others, you won’t be able to decide.
Throw away/donate if it is old, stained, too small, too big, doesn’t fit right, broken, you never use it, or don’t love it.
Still can’t decide? Put it in a box labeled “cannot decide”. Once you make progress in other areas of your home the box will fill up but you will also become better at organizing and that’s when you can come back and reassess the box.
Also, raise standards for the items that stay in your home. It should be of high quality and in good shape. But don’t waste things, use up whatever you can and buy smarter in the future.
Step #3 Where to put things?
This is the problem that everyone has the biggest trouble with and this is the moment that you might feel tempted to not continue with the organization and decide that you can’t do it. I encourage you not to give up.
Some things are obvious, like books and clothes. Most definitely a lot of things will simply not have a home and that is the reason why they are in the pile in the first place. If you come across an item that you have no idea where and how to store, simply search the web for “how to store…”, use Pinterest for ideas and inspiration, and of course, leave me a comment and I will try my best to find a solution for you.
The purpose is to have a visible result that will inspire you to keep going and will show you that you can do it. If you start doing everything at once you will get overwhelmed, stressed, and discouraged really quickly. It will seem that you’ve spent a few hours organizing and cleaning but nothing is done, and it won’t be done, but if you focus on one area you will finish it.
I suggest starting with a small project you can finish in 2 hours, like a bathroom. Check my “Quick organizing – Bathroom + supplies recommendations” to help you.