Being that we have all been staying at home a lot more now than in the past, you may have purged a lot of “junk” from your home. But you also may have collected a few things with the intention to repurpose or to save money. It’s ok, you can own it. This is a safe place here. Admittedly, I am a project collector and you would think that with all of this shelter in place going on that I would have every project completed. Nope.
Maybe you guys are super on top of things, but I have been in a creative funk. Mix that funk with chaos of living with other people, a dramatic car accident that our oldest son was in, and preparing for him to go off to college and I am just not as project productive as usual.
Today we’re going back to the basics and getting organized. I always feel better when piles of stuff aren’t taking over horizontal spaces. Here are some of my organization tips that work for any space in your home.
The most difficult part of organizing is to get started. Check out this list to help you find your motivation and tackle the clutter.
Work on One Space at a Time
Don’t try to tackle the entire house in one day. Break it up into realistic tasks. For example, take on one room at a time. If that is too much, do one closet at a time. Or even one drawer. Whatever you can accomplish in a day that will help give you that boost of satisfaction to keep going.
Schedule Plenty of Time
Literally schedule a time on your calendar for this. Making it a priority helps to keep away excuses and keep other things from becoming obstacles to obtaining your goals.
Take Inventory
Do a quick basic sort first. Put things into different piles. Recycle or toss items that are in poor condition or are just trash. Donate or Sell items that are still usable but you have outgrown, are tired of, or no longer use. Keep items that you actually use or have use for. This isn’t the time for difficult decisions, that will come later. If you are on the fence about an item then put it in the keep pile for now.
Re-Evaluate Items
Once you have taken care of the other two piles, now is the time to go through the KEEP pile with a stronger resolve. It is the time to ask the tough questions. When was the last time you used this? Will you honestly use it again? Is the real estate in your home worth storing this item(s)? Space is valuable, don’t fill it with items you don’t love, need or use.
Locate Possible Storage Areas
Are there any unused spaces that can be utilized more efficiently? Could you create storage space on the side of a closet? On the inside of a cabinet door? At the top of a closet? Or perhaps under the bed or even under a sink? Look at your space and think of new way to use it that may be more useful than it is currently.
I had a closet under the stairs with only a small shelf and a closet pole. I added three custom shelves in the awkward side space under the stairs and in the closet. This created an accessible place to store my dehydrator, pressure cooker and all the canning supplies along with additional food storage. Adding a few heavy duty removable hooks to the walls allowed a space to store our stadium seat cushions for athletic events instead of having them piled on the closet floor.
Go Vertical
Utilize that wall space with shelving or racks or maximize the top sections of closets with bins. Put infrequently used items up higher. If an item is used frequently, it should be accessible.
Consider Types of Storage
There are many organizational items that are designed for one area but can be used in another. For example, I used an utensil tray in my bathroom drawers to organize hair ties and makeup.
Consider grouping like items in bins, baskets, totes, under the shelf racks, hooks, carts for portable storage, etc. There are lots of ways to group items. It doesn’t always have to look boring. Cute painted mason jars, covered boxes, or fun tags are all great ways to theme your storage and to give it useful personality.
Categorize by Topic
Keep similar items together. Divide the space by topic. Keep camping gear together in totes. Perhaps put your first aid supplies in the same bin so they are portable when someone gets injured. Put similar toys in the same bin to help reduce the dumping while searching for certain items. This makes clean up easier too!
Accessibility
If you use it often, make sure you can get to it easily. More importantly, make sure that it is easy to put away. That is key. If it is a pain to put away, everyone will leave it out. We don’t need that kind of frustration in our lives.
Versatility of the Storage System
Choose storage solutions that can be repurposed or reused as your needs change. Plastic totes for bulky toddler toys can be used later for snow clothing storage or for costumes.
Easy Identification
Color code bins for individuals, categories, or holidays to they are easy to identify right away. The orange and black bins? They hold our Halloween decor. The red and green bins? That would be Christmas decorations. I know what is in them at first glance. In addition, clearly labeled bins or clear containers allow contents to be easily identified.
Sub Categorize
This is one of my favorite steps in organization. What? That’s not weird.
Alphabetize, group by color, group by size, put in order of color spectrum, or put in order by expiration date. This is where my husband thinks I am crazy, but guess who knows where everything is? He always asks me to find things. Deep down he knows my ways are best. Haha.
For real, I alphabetize spices, cds, movies, etc. I group craft supplies by color. In my closet? Yep, arranged by category and then organized by color spectrum. Here are some quick photos that I didn’t even make perfect looking so you can see how easy it is to live with.
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like organization is an ongoing process. Perhaps it is because a houseful of growing kids is an ever changing lifestyle. What ever stage you may be in with your life, my hope is that this will help make organization a little easier. Take control over your things and feel the power of making a house a home. 💙
Be sure to follow me on Instagram at mytingedblue and join our Facebook page Tinged Blue to ask questions, post pictures for help and to add suggestions for future posts.
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