Some Great Tips for Getting Your Home Organized

By: Andrea Hickey

• Remind yourself (and actually accept) that when there are children involved there will always be some sort of clutter and there is nothing you can do to make it all go away!

• First off, start with messes and/or clutter that you come across everyday. Work at organizing your kitchen and family room prior to your linen closet.

• Give everything in your house its own place. That way when someone in your family looks for something they want, they'll know where to get it and hopefully learn where to put it away.

• Apply this same idea to organize your silverware, with designated places for every fork and knife, or drawers for neckties, socks, and underwear. Use this same principle for every facet of your house. It will surely save you time as you want have to spend so much time looking for things. IThis will dramatically reduce the clutter of items that are left out "for now" or "until I find a place for it." Develop the new belief: everything has its own space and there is a a place for everything!

• Start a new rule for your house: Get rid of one old thing for every new purchase that comes into your home.

• Keep this idea in mind! You should never be going up or down stairs empty-handed.  Always pick up one or two items that belong upstairs and quickly put them in their while you are there.  Use the same principle when you are going down stairs. 

• Recognize where things accumulate in your house, and then find a place nearby that can become their official "place". You can often use baskets, shelves, and folders. They all work very well for this purpose. For instance, have a basket for all your family's mail, bills, and letters. Not only is this functional, but it adds a decorative touch.

• Start a collection of individual, well-marked folders for coupons, invitations, directions, and other important papers that tend to clutter your table and counters.

• Identify the items that are used on a regular basis and store them in places where you can get to them easily. Obviously, it will be more efficient to put them close to the places where they will be needed most often.

• Make good use of drawer dividers. They work well to separate and organize things like socks, underwear, lingerie, and other small items.

• Set up individual hooks for your keys and purse near the entry to your home. Each time you come you can hang them up, and will always know where to find them later.

• Establish one defined bookcase in your home, so when someone wants to read them there will be no need to search all over the house.

• This one may be hard, but it is important that you finally rid yourself of the growing collection of junk drawers. You should have just one that you clean out at least once a week. If you discover some of the items are being used on a regular basis, thne find a place specifically for those.

•  Look around your home for things that you no longer need and get rid of them.  Some good examples of these are:

• You will get a sense a relief once you are finally able to get rid of your clutter and add some organization to your home. This will help ease mind, and let you focus on daily chores. If you remember to be vigilant about cleaning at least once a month, you will find it much easier to keep up, week-by-week.