What Area of Your House Needs Organization?

I would like you to think of what area of your house has been causing you the most frustration?

Some examples:

• Is it your cluttered kitchen or bathroom cabinets?
• Could it be your desk with piles of papers?
• Maybe your family room is not being used for it's fullest potential because clutter is taking up a lot of space.
• Can you relax in your bedroom area, or do you have disorganization with clothes and books lying around?
• Do you have unfolded clothes in laundry baskets sitting in your family room on the couch?
• Is it taking you too long to cook and prepare family meals because you can't find what you need inside of your disorganized, cluttered kitchen cabinets?
• Do you get frustrated just thinking about cleaning and maintaining the bathroom every week because you haven't figured out the appropriate storage for that area?
• Do you dislike walking into your basement because you have been storing so much of what you have accumulated throughout the years in boxes downstairs?
• Can you park your cars in your garage, or do you use that area to store extra boxes of items that you need to sort through?
• Does it look nice around the entrance of your front or back door, or do you have shoes, mail, magazines or pet supplies lying around?

I think you probably get the picture. I believe that you will begin to easily see a huge positive difference in even one small area in your home that you declutter. Hopefully, this will get you motivated to continue with your future home organizational plans!

After reading many of my examples, you may decide to start in the one area of your home that causes you the most frustration.

You will want to begin by planning your organizing or decluttering project.

Plan an appropriate amount of time for your individual projects. Four hours may be a great amount of time, but even if you have an hour or 30 minutes, you may accomplish a decent amount of work. 

After you become accustomed to decluttering and organizing your house, you may easily find that even 15 minutes a day may be helpful if you are busy.

Get your supplies ready such as: garbage bags, boxes for sorting, labels, etc. You will want to wait until you declutter to buy specific storage containers that you will need to use on a long-term basis.

It is helpful to decide in advance what you want to do with any items that you definitely decide to get rid of for sure. Some examples: local charity, local consignment store, junk removal service or a future yard sale. 

It is helpful to have items removed quickly after your organizing project is completed. It is always a good idea to completely finish one project before you begin another.

Remember to stick with one area that you are working on and do not jump into other rooms at the same time. Focus on one project at time to increase your efficiency.

Some people enjoy working with an accountable friend and they find that method to be motivating.

Others may have a need or desire to hire a Professional Organizer to help them develop specific organizing systems and storage solutions.

Here are a few stumbling blocks or excuses that people may commonly use when deciding on what to get rid of in their homes.

• People sometimes want to hold onto things because they think "they may need those items someday."  I am a strong believer that it actually becomes much easier and quicker to access items in your home after you get rid of what you don't use or want anymore.
• Many times, people just do not know what to keep, such as paperwork. I am planning on developing my Paper Management Workshop possibly in the future to discuss this separate topic. For now, here are a few examples of purposes for keeping paper: taxes, legal certificates/proof, property documents, legal agreements, receipts/claims.
• You may feel guilty about getting rid of an item that was given to you originally as a gift. However, it is important to remember that the "act of giving" is the factor involved. If you definitely do not like the item or need it, please don't feel guilty.
• We often save certain objects for sentimental reasons. An item may be associated with an familiar memory. You can decide to even take a picture of the object and keep that to help preserve the memory. One big excuse that people use to hold onto their "stuff" is because they paid decent money for an item. Please decide if the item is useful for your life today. You may decide to have a yard sale or even use a local consignment shop as an option.

Here are some excellent organizing principles for you.

• When you purchase a new item in a certain category, you may decide to donate or sell another item that you already have in that category. This is sometimes referred to as "the one in - one out" principle. So, you won't have a tendency to accumulate too much again in the future.
• Before you decide to buy a new item for your home, try to visualize where it will " live" or be placed in your home. If you can't figure that out, it may be better to hold off on the purchase at this time, if possible. 
• Buy containers after you declutter, so you know exactly how many you will need and the correct sizes.
• You can label your containers with name of the contents, so you and your family will be able to quickly find your items when needed.
• Focus on one specific area when you are organizing your home. If you happen to find certain items that belong in another room, you can collect them in a separate box and put them back where they belong when you are finished with your organizing project. This will save you some time and keep you from getting distracted.
• Finally, make sure you have a maintenance plan to keep your house organized.