Organizing Tips to
Feel Good About

Organizing tips to put your home in order, because an orderly home will give you a sense of well being it allows you to focus on what is important to you.

The best organizing tips are to begin small.

Carve out time on the schedule, even if it is for an hour and set a realistic goal to accomplish. It might start with a coat closet, or the junk drawer in the kitchen. Once you tackle the small areas you will be inspired to move forward.

Clear out all of the stuff and determine what you are going to keep. Be ruthless. Get rid of anything you haven't seen, used, or worn in a year. Chances are if you didn't miss it in a year you don't need it.

Get your kids involved with selecting toys that they no longer play with or have simply outgrown.

Throw away the things that are broken or stained, sell and donate the rest.

Ebay can be a great way to sell some of your more valuable items or consider organizing a neighborhood yard sale.

Organizing tips, "A place for everything and everything in its place"

Divide the items you are keeping into three groups.

• things you rarely use,
• things you need from time to time
and
• the essentials

• The things you rarely use should be clearly labeled and stored in the basement or the attic.
• Items you will need from time to time keep closer at hand on shelving, chests of drawers, cupboards, for use in halls, landings, alcoves, under the stairs.

  It is okay if it seems a little awkward because you only need to get to them every once in a while.

• The essentials are kept where you use the items the most. On kitchen shelves, bath cabinets, chests of drawers in bedrooms, attractive boxes and baskets placed around the house.

If something doesn’t have a home it is most likely going to get lost or just create more clutter and things that are always visible disrupts the harmony of your home.

Get creative and implement a stylish storage system that you are comfortable with. Make it pretty. If you like the way your belongings look, you will be more inclined to put things back and to stick with the system.

Get everyone in on the act and be sure everyone knows where things are.

Some storage options might include,

• hat boxes,
• baskets,
• colorful bins,
• apothecary jars,
• furniture on wheels for added mobility, (think butcher block kitchen cart)
• wheeled carts in the bath,
• wire shelving units,
• decorative trays of all sizes for jewelry, toiletries, to set up a bar,
• in and out trays,
• planters,
• urns,
• ceramic canisters,
• storage ottomans (as extra seating too)

Organizing tips, remind yourself what the room is used for. Not necessarily what it was intended for.

Remove anything that doesn't belong for the function of the room to be livable. Group all of the items into categories and keep together in one spot.

If your family hangs out and watches TV, reads, and plays board games in the family room you will want to have places to keep the things that are necessary for these activities.

• This would mean a place for magazines and books by the reading chair, the TV remote within easy access to the sofa, DVD’s in the media center, board games in a wall unit by a game table and chairs, etc.
• Create a kid’s corner in the family room with a child size table and chairs (if there is room) and designate a special section of the wall unit or bookcase for games, coloring books, crayons and more. A soft canvas container can be home to the larger play things.

Organizing tips, keep the books you use for reference or that are sentimental, and donate the others or pass them onto your reader friends.

• Keep the current issue of your favorite magazine then recycle the rest. If there are articles you want, clip them and file them in binders or in a file cabinet, or go on line as this frees up the paper clutter trail.
• School papers pile up quickly. File them in a binder or color-coded folder. Select a few (have your kids help you to decide) and display in a place of importance.

  You can frame them in a manner that the display can be rotated throughout the year.

• Contain photos in one central location. Scrapbooks are a great way to hold memories, movie or theater ticket stubs, holiday and special event photos, postcards and invitations. Put them in clear plastic sleeves in a three-ring binder if you are not the creative type. At least they will be in one place.

Select a few more meaningful mementos to have framed so you can enjoy them every day.

Organizing tips, if small photo frames are scattered all over the room, they tend to clutter a space.

Take advantage of the vertical space in the room and consolidate your photos in a collage frame to display on the walls. Another option is to store your photos on a digital frame.

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