A-Z Home Organization - Home Organization Strategies - Sort Now, Handle Later

Home Organizing and Home Organization

2007-11-27T18:40:00.004-08:00

Do you wish your house to be well organized, everything at the right place where it should be? A place where you don't have to spend hours looking for something, only to find it somewhere you had kept a few days back as your cabinets were full.Well,you can start right away. With a little organizer by your side you can arrange your house and make it a home.

Get rid of old stuff: First begin by taking out all the stuff. Write down in your organizer the stuff that are important, stuff you do not use often and stuff you do not need at all. You will be surprised to see a lot of stuff you had long forgotten as they were tucked somewhere inside. Put everything in all different boxes according to your needs and the box with the stuff you do not need, you can keep it in your garage to donate or you can even put up for sale. Donating useful but no longer needed items, getting rid of unwanted junk lets your personal spaces more welcoming instead of uninviting areas that make you want to run away. Once you've decided what you really want and need in each room, look around the room for areas of storage.
Tip! MAKE IT DOABLE. Choose home organization tasks that you can complete in short time spans.

Make space wherever you can: You need not worry if your house is small. Even small homes have space for storage. Under the bed, at the back of a closet, under the sink, all these spaces can be used to hold out-of-season clothes, toys, sports equipment, and unsightly trash bins. This way your bins will be out of plain sight, reducing both visual and floor space clutter. You can put up simple shelves as they are the most basic and useful forms of storage. Tucked into the back of a closet, at the end of a little used hallway, or in the corner of a child's bedroom, they provide an easy, classic clutter solution. You can hang a curtain if you want to cover them. You can enclose shelves and cupboards behind doors also. Instead of using an open one, make a bookcase with doors.
Tip! Karen Fritscher-Porter writes about home organization at http://www.EasyHomeOrganizing.

Right Furniture: You can expand your storage space choosing the right furniture. When you're shopping for furniture, think ahead to how you'll use the piece. An armoire offers lots of shelves, yet looks wonderful in almost any room of the house. A chest of drawers doesn't have to be large, but can provide more storage than a side table. A coffee table with drawers can hide things that a beautiful glass-topped table could. You can also use a bench with a hinged lid for the end of a bed or under a window, that way you use the space inside to store blankets, sheets, extra towels, out-of-season clothes, or toys.

Involve your kids: If you have children perhaps arranging their room would be the toughest task. You can involve them in organizing their room. Begin by getting out all the toys. They may quite enjoy it. Let him choose which toys he does not use anymore and put them in box to give away. Then select broken toys to toss or fix and store like items together like games, Lego's, doll clothes, and so on.

Arranging your house can be fun if you begin with a clear head and ask your family to help out. You can all treat yourselves after the job is done. Sometimes it may be difficult to give away old stuff you are attached to but you should know that they should go away, otherwise your stuff will only keep piling up and your house would never be organized. So, get your organizer and start now.
Tip! You can make these 10 clutter buster guidelines work for you to kick off your home organization goals with a little friendly competition involving immediate family members who live in your home. Have each family member do a walk through room-by-room in your home today with the list above.

Jeff Meier of Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.Jam727.com offers this information web site as well as many other great products and knowledge. http://www.Homespringclean.com will show you how to organize your home as well offer ideas and products to make it a better home.

Three Myths of Home OrganizationThree Myths of Home Organization

2007-11-27T18:40:00.003-08:00

There's a little misinformation about home organization and getting organized I need to clear up.

These are the myths of home organization...

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Myth #1: You have to be born organized to live organized, right?
Wrong! Some people mistakenly believe if you don't have organization in your blood, it's going to be nearly impossible to make the changes to how you live and enjoy the simplicity of being organized.
Tip! These are the myths of home organization..

For instance, my wife Megan definitely does not have organization in her blood. But she is a completely different person today than she was the day we got married. She's come over to my side and has proven to herself that being organized beats the heck out of living with the nasty side-effects of clutter.

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Myth #2: You have to spend a lot of money to have the right kind of storage.

That's definitely not the case.

First off, there are so many discount stores fighting for your business some of the latest organizing systems are being practically given away and certainly will get the job done.

Secondly, storage doesn't have to be fancy. In fact I use more items from discount craft stores and yard sales for storage than I do from the big name stores.

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Myth #3: It takes a lot of energy and motivation to get your home organized.

This is absolutely false.

It's really only a matter of changing the way you do things and thinking differently about the excess of material things people today own.

And you certainly don't have to take it all on at once. There are some simple rules you can start to live by that will make disorganization a thing of the past.
Tip! You can make these 10 clutter buster guidelines work for you to kick off your home organization goals with a little friendly competition involving immediate family members who live in your home. Have each family member do a walk through room-by-room in your home today with the list above.

Even if you are not the cause of the clutter and it's a spouse or kids living with you, you can all learn what it takes and just make a few simple changes to live a better life...being organized.

About the author: Greg Payette is the founder of DiscoverOrganization.com and created a simple, step by step Home Organizing System so you can remove clutter and cut stress out of your home. Visit DiscoverOrganization.com for more information and to sign up for a Free Home Organizing Mini Course

Home Organization: How to Organize a Disorganized Family Member at Home

2007-11-27T18:40:00.002-08:00

Does your spouse keep his magazines and newspapers spread across the floors of your home? Is he constantly asking you if you've seen his keys or eyeglasses? Are you tripping over your child's toys? Is his or her disorganization driving you mad? You can stop the chaotic madness in your home. Heed this simple home organization advice to get your home or family member in order.

ASK WHY

Why do you want this family member to be more organized? Is this person's disorganization affecting you in a way that you can literally describe? For instance, perhaps you're tripping over your spouse's shoes. That's a safety hazard. Or maybe you have to drive your children to school a few days too many because they miss the school bus---because they can't find their report, clothes, lunch, etc. in a timely manner. That affects your schedule (and your gas tank!). Or maybe your husband (or wife) buys duplicate items because they forgot where they put (or that they already owned) the last one. That affects your family budget.

Those are all valid and good reasons to help a family member to be more organized around your home. And there are plenty more examples that you can add to that list. But if your reason to organize your spouse, kids, parents or even roommate is because YOU think it will help them function better in life or YOU think they'll appreciate having a more organized room (because you always do), you're just complicating your life. And home organization is about simplifying your life, not complicating it. Make sure you're helping someone to get organized at home because it helps them in some way THAT THEY WANT or because it helps you both with a shared goal that you express to them (e.g. You don't break your neck tripping over your husband's shoes in the future or you can find the shared car keys when you're ready to go to your appointment.)
Tip! Lack of time - You don't feel you have a day or a week to devote to organizing anything right now so you put off home organization---just until you have time to do it right.

NOW WHAT

In order to organize a function or task of a disorganized family member, you have to think like them. So that means you have to keep an open mind. For instance, you know your spouse or kids come in every day and automatically flip their shoes off the first moment they get. They're not doing this to annoy you. It's just them. Maybe their feet are hot! So make organization convenient for them. Put a shoe bench near the foyer. They can still immediately take their shoes off but they can put them right away there in the shoe bench. A shoe bench is cool because it's a piece of furniture that's part of your home decor. Yet you can't see the dirty shoes (You might want to throw a stick-on odor eater in the shoe compartment too.).

The same goes for items like keys, notebooks, backpacks, sunglasses, etc. Set up baskets, bins, tins, containers, etc. in convenient places where family members have a habit of laying things. It's convenient for them. Your home looks neater (and you can blend these organizational helpers into the decor). Everyone knows where these items are located when they need them because these items now have an official home (and a convenient home).
Tip! Think like the end user to create home organizational systems for your disorganized family members. You devise or buy organizational bins, baskets and shelving systems that are pretty and neat for your home while also buying ones that are functional for the intended user of the organizational item.

Or let's say a family member has a hobby or collection of different items they use regularly. You often find these items on the floor. You know this person well so you know they'll never replace these items neatly in closed bins and put them back on that one assigned closet shelf (like you would). That'll never work for him or her. Instead, think like that person. What that person needs is open bins or baskets (no lids) on an open vertical shelving system. That way they can see exactly what is where at a glance without dumping everything onto the floor. And they can easily (even haphazardly) throw items back into the bins. And that's because there are no lids on them---the contents are viewable at a glance--and this is an organizational system for a person who wants to use their stuff not an organized person who wants their stuff to all look pretty. See the difference.
Tip! These are the myths of home organization..

Think like the end user to create home organizational systems for your disorganized family members. You devise or buy organizational bins, baskets and shelving systems that are pretty and neat for your home while also buying ones that are functional for the intended user of the organizational item.

THE REST OF YOUR HOME

If you have less organized family members who can't or aren't going to follow your detailed organization system, keep making it easy on them throughout your entire home. Give them something they can handle like a basket or container system. They don't have to organize and sort their toys, dirty laundry or other items. They just have to keep each set of different items in its designated container when not in use. It's up to them to dig through the stack in each container if they need something.
Tip! Those are just a few reasons why people might procrastinate when it comes to home organization. But you can conquer procrastination that prevents you from organizing your home.

No alphabetizing. No categorizing the items in each container. No color coding. Just put each group of items in a different basket, bin or container. A contained stack is much neater and still more organized than having things spread around the floor or counter. If it bothers you, put a lid on it, literally. And if you still find the occasional item on the floor when you're vacuuming, just toss it in the container (don't straighten it, fold it or try to put it just so in the container---just toss it in and move on).
Tip! Greg Payette is the founder of DiscoverOrganization.com and created a simple, step by step System to make home organization simple.

Try these tips with Mr. or Ms. Messy in your home and watch your home organization plan take shape quicker than you ever thought possible. And remember, you cannot transform a disorganized person into an organized person. But you can work their habits and personality into your home organization scheme with a little creative thinking and compromise (by both parties) as suggested in this home organization article.
Tip! Karen Fritscher-Porter writes about home organization at http://www.EasyHomeOrganizing.

Karen Fritscher-Porter publishes http://www.EasyHomeOrganizing.com where you can read hundreds of free tips with home organization solutions, shop for home organization products and subscribe to two free home organization newsletters.

Wicker Baskets For Better Home Organization

2007-11-27T18:40:00.001-08:00

One secret a lot of neat people keep form the disorganized, messy bunch of us is that the first rule of organization and cleanness is order, and that in any given space there should be a minimum of objects around to keep the job of cleaning and putting order as simple as possible. That's nice ha? Sounds right, and feels right, but its not that easy to maintain, not when just going over your clothes in the morning is enough to ruin any closet or room organization.The good news is that there is an item that can help you organize every room in your home, and even better, it helps create the appearance that you're a tidy housekeeper (even if you're not), this item comes in many different shapes, sizes, colors and materials and can be found in many local retail stores, including craft stores and discount retailers, and at flea markets and craft shows and well basically it's a universal item found all over the world. This item is a basket, an item like a basket will give you the space you need to keep the mess from spreading to the outside.
Tip! Greg Payette is the founder of DiscoverOrganization.com and created a simple, step by step System to make home organization simple.

Almost every organizing expert I talk with tells me that the very first place to start organizing a house from is the kitchen, a great idea for better organization in the kitchen is to use a hanging wall pocket baskets, which have flat backs, to store dry sponges, cleaning materials and scrubbers as well as pot holders, old towels, oven mitts, dry dish rags and spare kitchen hand towels.
Tip! Learn more about home organization with baskets and specific places to buy baskets at http://www.easyhomeorganizing.

Many people like to use a wicker basket in the salon or television room, a wicker basket adds some warmth to the space and is great if you got kids running around, its cheap and it durable so almost perfect for a young family. You can use a round or cylindrical shaped wicker basket on the coffee table to hold television or other electronic remotes.

One place that almost always need more room to keep things is the bedroom, you can find great wicker products to place in your bedroom, they come in many different colors so you can almost always connect them to your bedroom furniture. A wicker hamper with a lid in the closet can store extra pillows and keep them dust-free. If you see openings in the wicker slats or don't like your linens snagging on the inside of the basket, line the hamper with a sheet or large gallon trash bag.

Baskets are just great for saving place and storing stuff, probably no product is so practical and useful as well as beautiful. Sometimes baskets are even handmade works of art that are functional. Using baskets you can literally put your most unique artwork into daily usage and daily view, and you can even consider taking a course or two and trying to make them yourself!.
Tip! You can make these 10 clutter buster guidelines work for you to kick off your home organization goals with a little friendly competition involving immediate family members who live in your home. Have each family member do a walk through room-by-room in your home today with the list above.

If you don't like the basket you got, or would like to change it a little to be just perfect for the task you have for it, you can dress up any of your baskets by gluing on your own garnishments. Be creative. You can personalize baskets with buttons or even plastic candy canes to miniature toy figures or mini cloth stockings.

Baskets are a great way of saving space, and helping you get organized, I hope you will try using baskets and that they will help you get your house organized.

Daniel Roshard is a designer fascinated by garden architecture, Wicker Furniture and Wicker art has long been a subject of his interest, he know writes wicker furniture buying tips and advice for http://www.ZupaTips.com

Home Organization is Different to Everyone

2007-11-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

Home Organization Means Different Things to Different People

First off, you need to know being home organizing is different for each of us.

Some folks don't have a lot of clutter and junk but need to know how to maintain organization and have a place for their stuff.On the other hand, some homeowners have piles upon piles...a big mess, and still think it's just a matter of needing storage.

When, in fact, storage is the last thing you need. The first step is getting rid of clutter, rather than adding more storage just to keep more stuff.
Tip! REWARD YOURSELF. Pay yourself for completing home organization tasks.

The thing is, once you experience organization in your home, you'll see how great and real the benefits are:

-It's reducing stress by having order and discipline.

-It's having more space by keeping clutter out for good.

-It's simplifying the way you live at home by creating useful systems that work for you personally.

-It's a way of being on time, and not feeling the strain of running against the clock.

Quite simply, when you finally start to make the simple changes of organization, it all adds up to give you more room to breath so you can enjoy your family and friends more.

Being organized isn't a matter of being rich or poor, young or old. We were never taught organization in school and, in fact, were taught to multi-task and go in too many directions at once.

This was how they told us to live.

Personally, I have always gone against the grain and never worried about keeping things we don't need. My wife Megan and I make sure if something is not being put to use or it's out-of-date... it's getting sold or thrown out.

We also utilize smart, affordable storage to keep only useful items and starting teaching our kids the value of being organized at a very young age. It makes it easier on them and on us to stay disciplined about organization.
Tip! Think like the end user to create home organizational systems for your disorganized family members. You devise or buy organizational bins, baskets and shelving systems that are pretty and neat for your home while also buying ones that are functional for the intended user of the organizational item.

The funny thing is I don't think I was raised to be organized. Nobody knew much about "organization" back then, although I was always a little "neat" as a kid.

But somewhere along the way I figured out it made the most sense. I like to be on time and being organized makes that possible. I don't like wasting time looking for things, like tools or ingredients for cooking or paperwork or bills.

Being organized makes it all a lot easier.

It's not going to make you rich, but it will certainly save you money by avoiding duplicate purchases and late bills.

It's not going to make you any younger, but it will certainly give you more time to do things you might think you don't have time to do.
Tip! Those are just a few reasons why people might procrastinate when it comes to home organization. But you can conquer procrastination that prevents you from organizing your home.

Being organized isn't going to give you a bigger house, but it will clear clutter and open up some space so you'll feel like you have a bigger house because there will be less congestion and "stuff" all over the place.

There may seem like there is a lot to getting organized and over the next few days I'm going to share with you even more tips and tricks to getting and staying organized.

Greg Payette is the founder of DiscoverOrganization.com and created a simple, step by step System to make home organization simple. Visit http://DiscoverOrganization.com for more information and to sign up for a Free Home Organizing Mini Course.