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How To Best Organize Your Home… Part 1

January/February is upon us and the skies in our area are gray, gloomy, with no sign of sunshine for a month or two to come.  It’s actually the perfect time, without the distractions of gardening and outdoor activity, to really consider the interior of your home.   One resolution people make is to be more organized, but how exactly do we achieve that, especially when we are overwhelmed just thinking about it.    The big “D” word can be cumbersome to think about, but “decluttering” is attainable if you follow some principles.  However, though this is the perfect time of the year to tackle these jobs with gusto, what may happen is you look at the clutter or mess in the home and feel overwhelmed, anxious, frustrated, even very angry about it.  How on earth did it get this way?  For the average household it just slowly got that way.  This article is for those who see the need to organize and declutter, but are not quite sure how to go about it effectively. 

Years ago I attended a 2 day seminar that was very helpful and gave me a lot of useful information about “keeping a home”.  I remember one line she said that stuck throughout my life “everything should have a place, and everything should BE IN its place”.  That has always helped me tremendously when I sometimes go to put things away that “aren’t in their own place”. 

Not everyone has a clutter problem, but for those of you who do, or would like to be a little bit more organized, I am hopeful these few tips will help you.  Part one is about identifying the problem, and then choosing a space to sort through, placing  items into four categories.  Part two of this blog will be about how to then store those  things properly.  First…  onto decluttering and sorting.

Why do I need to do this again?

Okay granted, most people’s homes do not look like this, but even the best of us can use a bit more help organizing our homes.

The Motive:  The first step is to identify that clutter and mess really has a negative emotional impact on you and your family.  Secondly, you realize you do not want to exist like this any longer.  It’s time for change.

Negative Impact:  Clutter and mess causes arguments, causes lost time in trying to find things that should be easy to locate.  It causes stress because there is a feeling that “the work is never done”.  It causes social isolation because we tend to not want anyone coming over if our house is always a mess… we fear judgment.  It causes marital stress and conflict.  How many times have you heard “I can’t find the dam _______!  Where is it?  Help me find it!”.  I have heard that in the past for sure.

Effect on Children:   Kids become very stressed out when their rooms are cluttered.  Areas where they should be free of distraction in order to do homework or study, if terribly messy or cluttered causes stress, frustration, inability to locate what they need, embarrassed to bring friends over to hang out, and worst of all an inability to process information as they should in a cluttered, messy environment.  Need I mention also, that clutter and mess breeds bacteria… think of the pile of laundry sitting in the closet or dishes going moldy, or the counter the cat was just on… etcetera etcetera and if those areas are not cleaned and tidied regularly, literally are a breeding ground for bacteria of all manner… ICKYY !!!.  Not to mention dogs on floors and carpets… another area of messiness that people tend to overlook.

Getting things under control in the house, helps to get things under control in life in general.  Changing how you view clutter and realizing its detriment to yourself and your family is the first step.  Ask yourself this question “does my home make me feel really comfortable as it is now?  Does this room bring me happiness?  Do I feel good in this space?  Seriously, things as simple as organizing a pantry can make a world of difference in our daily routines.  Assess the situation to get an overall impression of the current state of things.

Determine a desirable outcome.  i.e. I want to be able to find clothes more easily for work.

Identify what has worked for you thus far.  i.e. Folded laundry is much easier to store.

Identify what is not working… ie, cleaning supplies are organized by category in the laundry room, but the brooms and mops are a disorganized disaster in the closet.   Or… filing cabinet is helpful for storing paperwork, but the labeling of folders or not having folders creates an internal disaster. 

In contrast, being organized and tidy causes:

A feeling of order in the home

A feeling of serenity and an uncomplicated space

A feeling of accomplishment

Ability to locate anything in your home easily

A sense of freshness and peace about your space

A sense of comfort and enjoyment of your home.

Note: At this point, if you feel absolutely STUCK, and overwhelmed I would suggest calling an organizing expert to consult with to give you ideas for your space.  Professional organizers can come into your home and set up a system with you to help you declutter… if you chose to do it that way.  They are there to help.  If you feel you are capable of doing this yourself, start small, and work to the bigger jobs on the way up.  If you feel you can tackle it, let’s carry on.

Remember, it isn’t enough to be organized, you must think through the way you organize yourself and why it works. 

  Implementing The FOUR T’s.  Trash: Treasure: Tools: Toys

So you’ve now chosen ONE space to declutter and organize… great.  Start by getting four good size bins or boxes, label them Trash, Treasure,  Tools, Toys; one box for each category and repeat this process for each room once you move along.

Each item you pick up should fall into one of those categories.  Another thing I love and learned recently is how Marie Kondo asks you to pick up the item and ask “does this spark joy?” and if not, recycle it or give it away etcetera. 

Also, keep a box or bag called RECYCLE very close to you for every closet or room you declutter and organize. 

Anything that you feel is trash goes to the garbage box TRASH. 

Anything that is a tool and you MUST keep or is necessary is a TOOL (tools can be garage, kitchen, sewing, any tool you MUST have for your projects). 

Anything that is a treasure (family keepsake you absolutely feel you cannot part with or a piece of jewellery that is special, kids report cards, or art piece from preschool, a Ming Dynasty vase… okay just kidding) … those types of things if you must keep are Treasures. 

Toys would be considered the quad /motorcycle you have in your garage you never use, the ice skates you haven’t used in 20 years and likely never will again, the skis you have 9 other sets of and don’t really need, etcetera.  In the case of children, many toys are outdated or no longer useful. Plan to recycle them or give them away. Toys we often keep just because without realizing it, we don’t even use them or need them any longer.  Best to sell or recycle in order to offer them up to others. 

Following these four box rules will help you decide what is Trash, Treasure, Tools or Toys. These will be further sorted for storage, but for now it’s a good start to just start thinking about what surrounds you.

If the item no longer give you a sense of happiness to own, or have run out of usefulness (i.e. the shoes that no longer fit or jackets too small), then they go to recycling.  I did this recently with some items in my closet that I have hung onto for quite some time.  When I picked up each item, my first thought was “well, I might wear that again some day”.  I know you’ve done the same right?  Only we don’t, and another year goes by… then I asked myself “does this item bring me happiness?”  No, it did not, in fact it brought the opposite because I knew I likely would not ever wear it again, and so in the recycle bin it went.  For women this could be a purse, shoes, boots, scarves, suits, lingerie, clothing… and for men too.  I have a hubby who absolutely will not part with his shoes… he’s a “shoe horse” wait… is that a thing?  Anyway, he does definitely collect shoes and absolutely cannot part with them.  He’s on the hit list of “decluttering soon”.  For children, I think we all know how quickly excess and outgrown clothes can pile up. If saving them for another baby, store them away, if not, recycle.

Now that you have determined the Four Ts, and have your recycle bin full, take your recycling away, and begin the plan for reorganizing.  This will be another blog, part 2.  So get some bins and start sorting. We will discuss better how to actually store items, using another method of determining where things should go. Trust me, there is a rule and when followed it works!

See part 2 of this discussion for more ideas.