When you’re surrounded my clutter, do you tell yourself that you just don’t know where to start? I think that’s why so many people find themselves buried in their belongings. Feeling overwhelmed is common when dealing with a disorganized space. Let me help.
There are different options about where you can start.
1. If it’s a BIG mess, like an in-danger-of-twisting-an-ankle-or-misplacing-a-child kind of room, then I’d suggest just closing the door and walking away. Just kidding! If you do go that route, it will just cause more stress, even though you can’t see the mess through the door! You’ll know it’s there and the weight will be on your shoulders, or maybe a monkey on your back. I don’t know. I think monkeys would just make more of a mess, so let’s go with the weight. In a room like this, start small. Spend 10-15 a day on the room. Start by just clearing a path! Don’t get excited and try to spend hours at a time. You’ll burn yourself out. I promise you will see a difference with just a few minutes of work!
2. I like to start with the bedroom. I’ve mentioned it before. The bedroom is crucial. You spend 1/3 of your day in there, right? Your bedroom should be your retreat. You’ve heard the “no TV” rule about bedrooms. I’m hoping that one day my TV will be hidden, but I do want one in our room. If I didn’t have migraines, maybe I’d change my mind. Maybe not. I make my bed every day. I always thought that was such a waste of time when I saw my mom doing this every day when I was growing up. Why make it up if you’re just going to get back into it later? It just feels better, so do it!
3. I’ve read that some suggest starting in the kitchen. With it being the “heart of your home” and all, it leaves an impression on you to keep the rest of the house clean I guess. The kitchen is constant work with the cooking and cleaning. If it helps you to start there, then start there! My point is that there is no right way to organize. Do what works for you!
4. Another idea if you don’t know where to start, is to look at the laundry. Sometimes it just gets SO piled up that you can’t see your floor anymore. In cases like this, start there! I’ll admit, that I would be VERY embarrassed if you could see my bathroom right now!
5. Lastly, think about what the worst-case scenario would be if you didn’t organize. Would it be that all the belongings that are piled up on your basement floor would be ruined if the basement flooded? Or maybe your utilities would be cut off if you lost the bill and then forgot to pay it. Perhaps all the clutter in the laundry room is a fire hazard because of the way it is piled up? While this isn’t a very fun exercise, it may be what you need to think about in order to get motivated to organize and simplify your life!
Photo from Pottery Barn
I learned, on OnlineOrganizing.com, that this week is “Pay Your Bills Week”. I’ve written about ways to save money in an earlier post, and one easy way to save is to make sure you pay your bills on time. Interest charges and late fees add up very quickly! The most important part of bill paying is to make it a routine, or to have a schedule that you follow.
It took some trial and error before I found what worked for me. Even though my husband gets paid biweekly, I like to sit down with the bills and the budget every week just to keep my family and myself on track. I typically use Tuesday as my bill-paying day. I picked that day because it comes before my grocery and my errand days. Getting in the habit of this has made it a less mundane task. Also, paying your bills online can save a lot of time!
Another tip is to keep everything you need in one place: bill statements, stamps, addresses labels, calculator, check register, etc. I use my nifty bill organizer that I purchased at Target, my home away from home, last year. Before I bought that, I simply used a zippered pouch that I kept in the same 3-ring binder that I kept my budget in. You could also use an over-the-door shoe organizer to house all of your supplies. Those shoe organizers are handy for SO many things! What works for you?
What do you do with all that wonderful art your children create? I’ve tried the fridge thing, but that just got too cluttered for me. So now we have our own in-house Art Gallery! I often tease my husband that the laundry room is my “office” because I spend so much time in there, lol. But now it’s covered in art! This solution works great for us, and Savannah knows that I get to see her artwork every day! I think it turned out great!
There’s also art folders you can purchase, archival boxes, or maybe these cute art clips from
The Land of Nod. I love the idea from
The Petite Picasso about turning their creations into a book. You could probably do something like this at one of the photo processing websites too. What a great gift idea for the grandparents! I’ll have to remember that one!
Organizing for kids is a little different than organizing for an adult. Kids are all about easy access and knowing where things belong. That sounds simple, but they can get easily overwhelmed with a messy room. I know when my Savannah needs to clean up a big mess she just doesn’t know where to start and all of a sudden doesn’t “know where anything goes”. Here are some tips for the little ones in your life to use. Remember to purge through the stuff they no longer use or love!
1. Keep like items together. This makes it easy to find what they want, and best of all, easier to put away!
2. Use containers that are age appropriate and labeled. Remember the phrase “a place for everything and everything in its place”.
3. Make sure the items that they use most often are the most accessible. Under the bed storage boxes are great for this. They can be rolled away when the kids are done, and that also prevents other mysterious things from collecting under the bed!
4. Toys with small parts need to be kept together in a small container. I really like using the bowls from Rubbermaid or Ziploc for things like that.
5. Set up zones in their spaces. Think about a preschool or kindergarten class as an example. All the art supplies are in one area of the room, reading area in another, and so on.
6. For smaller kids and toddlers, use a bigger sized container so everything goes into one place. They’re too little to understand the sorting process. This makes it simple for them to know where everything goes and to feel like they’re helping. Heres a picture of little Phoebe’s corner of our living room.
7. Make straightening up a routine. In our house we do a “15 minute cleanup” every night before bedtime. It’s become such a routine that we rarely hear any complaints about it. It teaches them to put things away when they’re done and best of all the house is all cleaned up when we get down the stairs for us to finally relax!
