Where Do I Even Begin to Get Organized?

Hello y’all and welcome to my brand new blog!!! This is my first post – Yay! So excited! Anyway, bear with me as this is all new to me, and technology, sadly, is not my thing.

Okay, so you’ve decided to get organized. Yay you! It’s February – the new year has just recently started. This is as good a time as any to start getting you organized, you think. But…did you ever look around your home, throw up your hands and wonder “where do I dare to begin to organize this chaos?”. Trust me, you can’t tackle it all at once. If you try, you may get overwhelmed and throw up your hands and give up before you even begin. And we don’t want that (insert sad emoji here).

So, I’ve put together a little 5 step plan to tackle your home, one drawer, closet, and room at a time. Just keep telling yourself…”it’s a process”. And it truly is. It’s actually a process that never really ends, I hate to tell ya. But once you put in the time and do the big, time consuming work, it’s much easier to maintain. With one caveat: you have to really, really think about future purchases as you don’t want to clutter up your recently de-cluttered home! So, without further ado, here is the plan:

STEP 1

The first step involves assessing your current space and identifying areas that require organization. This will help you understand what items you have and what needs to be de-cluttered or organized. I would suggest tackling one area at a time. Start small and work up to larger projects. For example, begin with your junk drawer. This is a quick job, so you will gain some confidence and get immediate results.

STEP 2

STOP…DO NOT go out and buy bins and baskets and containers. I know you want to. Control yourself. Have some will power. You have to see what you currently own, what you want to throw away, and what you want to donate first. THEN, and only THEN, can you think about how you want to organize the space. So, with that being said, during the second step, you can begin the actual organizing process by sorting items into categories. This will help you see what you have and make it easier to decide what to KEEP, DONATE, or DISCARD. This is a very important step as you want to PARE down items, if possible. Who out there has more than one pizza cutter in your kitchen tool drawer? How about ice cream scoops? (I’m raising my hand right now.) Get rid of duplicates! Get rid of items you do not use or have not worn in ages. I know you spent money on them. I get it. But, you’ve got to be strong. Don’t give in. You can always donate the duplicate item. Maybe your kid is getting their first apartment and could use that ice cream scooper. Someone can, and it’s not you.

STEP 3

During the third step, you are going to need to MEASURE your space….TWICE, if not three times! Just to make sure you get it right. You don’t want to be spending a bunch of money on bins and baskets and whatnot, only to have them not fit correctly in your space. Measure those drawers, shelves, and don’t forget to measure DEPTH. Measure LENGTH x WIDTH x depth to make sure all of your items fit.

STEP 4

During the fourth step, you will begin to gather the necessary “equipment” to contain and organize your stuff. These could be bins, labels, caddies, over the door organizers and more. This is the fun part! Did you say The Container Store? There’s a ton of organizing tools out there – you just have to examine your space, measure, and find the tools that will help you to achieve your organizing goals. Check out Walmart, the Dollar Store, The Container Store, Ikea, and Amazon. These are great places to start shopping for containers. Once you have your containers, you can organize your space exactly how you want it. Then step back and enjoy – with a little maintenance of course (see Step 5 below). C’mon…you didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?

STEP 5

Finally, in the fifth step, you need to implement a MAINTENANCE PLAN to keep your space organized. Regularly review and adjust your organization systems to ensure they continue to meet your needs. Yes, things never stay the same and your life will continually evolve. Kids will get older, so sadly, at some point you will no longer need the toy bins. But, there’s sure to be a new and exciting stage of your life right around the corner that will require new organizational strategies! So stay on your toes! It truly never ends! There’s even an organizing method called Swedish Death Cleaning…but I digress…

About The Author

Susan

I’m a proud mama of three amazing college age kids. My husband and I are now empty nesters, but frequently enjoy visiting our kids in college. I’m recently retired from teaching Special Ed. I’m a former elite gymnast and attended Penn State University. Go Nittany Lions! I love to read, decorate and organize my home, my kids’ dorm rooms and apartments, and anyone else’s home! I discovered hot yoga a few years ago and am hooked! I’d love to learn to line dance. And I’d really love to start traveling – starting with Italy and Greece.

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