Your home is supposed to be your sanctuary, the place where you can find comfort and peace away from the rest of the world, but even then it may be hard to relax in your own house if it’s cluttered and disorganized. It doesn’t have to be that way, though; you can learn how to get organized so you can find everything you need in your home easily and have an overall better experience with it. Here are some easy ways to declutter your home.
Why Organization is Important
Keeping your home clean and organized can make you happier, healthier, and more productive. The less time you spend cleaning up or organizing things that don’t matter, the more time you have for fun activities. Plus, when everything is in its place, it’s easier to keep everything looking neat and tidy.
And even if you’re not a neat freak, being disorganized just isn’t good. It wastes time, wastes money, and reduces productivity—not to mention how messy homes are stress-inducing! With a few tips for decluttering, some tricks for organization, and some tactics for making sure you keep everything as organized as possible (or at least cleaner than before), we can put an end to clutter and chaos once and for all!
Start With the Visible Areas
The first step in organizing any room is simple: evaluate your current state. Take a look around and see what you have, where it’s located, and how much of it is taking up space. Once you can visualize all that stuff, it’s easier to start asking yourself questions about how you want to use your space and how much clutter each item adds to your surroundings.
Start by organizing and putting away things that are sitting out visibly in your home. Any items that are sitting out and cluttering up your space and easy and quick to pick up and store away to create a visually pleasing space. Start with these items first, then move on to larger spaces like your closets or kitchen cabinets. You can’t assess how much clutter you have until you can see it all—so start from there.
Organize Your Office
As you clean out your home, begin by organizing your office. Whether you have a small space in your home or a separate room dedicated to work, you’ll want to start with these tips on decluttering and organizing your work area. It's important to have an organized office that will inspire productivity and keep distractions at bay.
File away necessary papers and recycle documents that you no longer need. Have only one place for each of your most frequently used items; if you have multiple storage spaces for pens, for example, find a central location where they will all be within easy reach. The less time spent looking for what you need, the more time can be dedicated to actually doing your work.
Organize Digital Clutter
With physical organization figured out, it’s time to tackle digital clutter. First, we highly recommend backing up your computer files just in case something gets lost or damaged in storage. If possible, switch over to an online file-storage system that you can access from any computer with an Internet connection (such as Dropbox).
Then scan through your email inbox and delete any emails without value so that you're not wasting time trying to sort through outdated or unnecessary correspondence later on. Last but not least, organize your desktop by creating folders for frequently used applications, documents, and shortcuts; if you haven't cleaned up your browser bookmarks recently, now's a good time to do so.
Next, you can organize your smartphone. It’s easy to get decluttered with apps, notes, and photos. Start by transferring your photos to a photo management application so you can remove them from your device and save storage space. A great photo management application is Google Photos to manage your photos easily. Next, go through your apps and delete the application that you have never used or are just taking up space.
Organize Your Kitchen
Organizing your kitchen is all about making sure you have items that you actually use on a regular basis, which will help ensure that your kitchen stays clutter-free. If you've built up a large collection of cups or plates, it may be time to donate some to the thrift store and only keep what you need and use.
It's also important to go through your refrigerator and freezer and discard any expired food that is taking up space. Utilize reusable storage containers for your food that makes stacking easier. By organizing your fridge, everything will be easier to access when it comes time to make meals. Also, you won't find yourself buying extras when you know exactly what you have.
The pantry can get cluttered easily, but it's important to make sure you have easy access to everything in it. You can utilize storage bins and containers in the pantry to organize by type, or designate each shelf for a different type of food item, like pasta, canned foods, chips, etc. Also, discard any expired foods or items that have gone stale.
Organize Your Closet
Organizing your closet can seem like a daunting task. Rather than focus on everything you need to put away, we recommend starting small with one section of your closet, so that it feels more manageable. Start by going through every item in that one area and asking yourself if you’ve worn it in over six months. If not, find a new home for it or donate it. No matter what you do, don’t stuff it back into your overcrowded closet. As with any organizing project, start slow and tackle one area at a time! After all: Slow and steady wins the race!
Once you have figured out what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of, you can organize your closet by type. One section can be shirts, tank tops, or coats. This makes it easier to find what you want to wear for the day and saves you time.
If you want to organize even further, you can organize each of these sections by color to create a visually appealing closet.
Organize Your Bathroom
Walk into most bathrooms and there’s one thing that stands out—the chaos. It’s not uncommon for a bathroom to contain over 30 cosmetics and personal care products, toothbrushes, razors, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner, soap, makeup, and more. The best way to organize your bathroom is by categorizing all of these items as well as any others you may use in your daily life. This will save time, effort, and energy when you get ready in the mornings.
Declutter the countertop by putting away all of the unnecessary items under the sink in categorized containers or bins or in the cabinet if you have one. You can organize toiletries by type in different storage bins such as hair products, makeup, skincare, and oral care.
Organize Your Storage Closets
A good way to organize your home is through storage closets. By purging and organizing these closet spaces, you’ll maximize your space and make it easier to find what you need when you need it. When done correctly, all items should have a place and not be thrown haphazardly into cabinets or drawers where they won’t be found again.
Put away items that aren’t being used for some time—like holiday decorations or seasonal clothing—to give more room for essentials. Ask yourself if an item can be better utilized somewhere else such as in the garage, shed, basement, etc. Consider donating unwanted decorations and other household items to charity that others could benefit from but are new enough that many individuals would appreciate them.
It's also a great idea to organize the cleaning appliances stored in closets like brooms, mops, and vacuums. When items are not in use, they should be stored neatly so that you can easily access them when you’re ready to clean. Consider using hanging storage solutions to hang brooms and mops to save space!
Hire a Cleaning Service
Decluttering and organizing your home can be a daunting task, hiring a cleaning company to clean your home can be a great way to motivate and support you as you work to get organized. By teaming up you get a feeling that change is happening and you won’t feel like it’s an uphill battle. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in please call Plan: B Cleaning today to schedule your service at (317) 572-8515 or visit planbcleaning.com.
Plan: B Cleaning services the Fishers, Indiana area, including Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Northern Indianapolis, and Hamilton County.
