Most people want to be more organized but aren’t sure where to start. When your home is well-organized and functional, you’ll be less stressed and more comfortable in your home. Here are a few tips and tricks to organize your home.
Begin with the Storage Spaces
Before tackling the main rooms of the house, start by organizing spaces you use for storage. In your home, this might be the basement, garage, closets, an attic, or shelves in a laundry room. When you’ve decluttered and cleaned your usual storage areas, you will have created additional space for stashing other belongings.
Decluttering Will Help You Organize Your Home
When cleaning your house, you may find it’s difficult to organize if you have too many belongings. Declutter by sorting things into three piles: things to keep, things to throw away, and things to donate. Move boxes of items to be donated to your car and drop them off the next time you run errands. With fewer belongings, you’ll have less to organize.
Organize Main Living Spaces in Your Home
Organize the Living Room
To organize a space, think about how you want to use the area. The living room might be great for watching television and a good space for the children to play, and maybe you prefer to do most of your online work from the sofa.
Organize to make the space more useful. Use a bench or ottoman that opens for storage to hide toys. Install shelving beside the television for books and magazines. Shelves can also be used to display artwork, framed pictures, and to organize video games. Use baskets on the shelves as attractive storage for remote controls or a stash of Legos. Baskets are also great for stashing magazines and to gather computer and phone chargers so they’re within reach.
Laundry Room
What do you typically store in your laundry room? Aside from detergents, stain removers, and dryer sheets, maybe you also keep linens in the closet or household cleaning supplies in the cabinet.
To organize the laundry room, sort items into groups. Store laundry cleaning products together on a shelf. Fold bed sheets and keep them inside the matching pillowcase. Install hooks on the wall to hang brooms, mops, and dustpans. A pedestal for the washer and dryer is a handy feature, especially for small laundry rooms. You can use the space beneath the machines for additional storage.
Organization Tips for the Kitchen
A well-organized kitchen is easy to use. Your cooking and cleaning habits will affect how you organize your kitchen area. Sort foods like canned goods and dry goods by age, moving the older groceries to the front of the cabinet, and putting newer items toward the back.
Cups, plates, bowls, and flatware should be stored in the same area; you don’t want to trek back and forth across the kitchen just to set the table. Keep utensils that you use frequently near the stove. Things like spatulas, wooden spoons, and tongs should be within easy reach. The same suggestion applies to herbs and spices that you’ll need while cooking. Use the cabinet closest to the cook-top to organize spices or install a spice rack on the countertop beside the stove.
Organizing your home will make things easier to find. Declutter before you begin organizing, then look for sensible ways to store often-used items. Having things in their places creates a functional, tidy, low-stress home.
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