Organization 101

Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

The beginning of a new year usually sparks a desire to organize your home. 

TIP 1

Before you can even think of starting to organize your home, you must first start with the amazing task of DECLUTTERING! 

Trying to figure out where to actually start can be the most difficult part.  Consider these tips to get you on a roll!

1.  Start small. Pick one cluttered, but relatively small area to start with—maybe it’s your fridge or your shoe closet—and tackle that first. I actually started with my bathroom and cleared out the drawers that had incredibly too many bottles of old nail polish and makeup in it.

2.  Take a deep breath and remind yourself that it’s normal to feel like you’re facing an impossible task. Don’t try to do everything at once.

3.  If you begin to feel anxious while you’re in the midst of decluttering, try to do it short bouts of time like 15 minutes once a week, one hour every Saturday, or whatever works for your schedule.

4. Consider a Family Declutter Weekend. Why not make it a fun family affair? The more hands pitching in, the better. We started with just boxes and trash bags and created a pile for charity, a pile to sell, and a pile to trash. You might not get the entire house decluttered during the weekend, but you will make a big dent in it.

5. My friend told me about a 12-12-12 Challenge where you choose 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate, and 12 items to be returned to their proper place. This can be a really fun way to quickly organize 36 things in your house. You can make this a declutter competition once a month or even once a week.

6. Toss anything not used in 12 months. I know, it’s hard to let go of some things. Remember, if  you haven’t used an item in the last year, it is highly unlikely you really need it. Toss it.

ASK YOURSELF THESE SIMPLE QUESTIONS.

As you are going through each room, ask yourself these questions:

 Do I use this and how often?

 Is it worth the space it takes up in my house?

 Does this item fill a need?

 Does this item bring me joy? (Shout out to Marie Kondo!)

Asking yourself these important questions and actually answering them honestly will make a huge difference in how much you are willing to let go of in the process of decluttering.

Happy organizing!!