Home Organization Ideas

Home organization ideas to make your life easier, doesn’t that sound grand! As you know I’ve been downsizing and purging most of  my stuff, you can read about that HERE.

I’ve had so many people ask how I decluttered, purged and parted with my things. Today I wanted to share home organization ideas to help alleviate stress.

Before I share tips on home organization ideas, let me share a little about why it’s so easy for me to declutter.

When I was a kid probably five or six years old, my Dad told me to clean my closet. It was huge mess, I don’t think I had my clothes on hangers, but thrown in the closet along with my toys.

My Dad warned me that if the mess wasn’t cleaned up within a certain amount of time it would all end up in the trash. I panicked and made sure I picked it all up neatly.

That totally changed my life, because after that day I remember always taking care of the things I had. I was such a neat freak that I would reorganize my dresser drawers and closet at least once a year. And each week I dusted my furniture, yeah… I totally did!

Fast forward to being an adult and home owner I’ve always taken care of my home, being a little bit of a neat freak. I collected things over the years, but never got out of control with my collections. Until one day many years ago. I used to hoard collect magazines. I had many issues saved in a tote that I kept in our basement. Until one day as I was looking for something I noticed that my hoarding collecting of magazines was out of control. I seriously think I had 60-100 magazines.

That day I went through every magazine, kept 10 and got rid of the rest. And I never missed them at all!

Once I started being a professional blogger and working 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week, oh yes I do, I was stressing out trying to keep up with everything.

And the fact that I want to downsize in the next couple of years is another reason why I needed to implement my home organization ideas, and purge as much as possible.

How was I able to let go of stuff?

It’s easy, it’s just stuff, I have no connection to stuff as I once did. Life is short, and I’d rather enjoy life, travel, spend time with family, friends than to stress about all the crap I have in my house.

That’s the honest truth! I’m just sick and tired of being strapped down to a large house, and all the stuff inside. I felt like I was being smothered by it all. And who says you need lots of stuff in your home for it to look amazing, right?

I’m planning on making a few changes in my home, slowly preparing for selling our home. As I make changes I’ll share my home that has much less in it now. I cannot tell you how amazing it feels!

Yes, I sold my pink scale, see I have no emotional attachment!

 

Let’s Get Organized!

Are you ready, let’s discuss home organization ideas.

I promise that once you start to organize your home and life, you’ll feel so much better!

Don’t Overwhelm Yourself!

Start out small, work in a section at a time. Get totes or boxes mark each one labeling, keep, toss, donate.

Keep pile– Anything that’s special or pieces you truly love and bring you joy. Don’t hold on to pieces that you feel you think you love, but you’ve kept in a box for years. That’s not honoring or really enjoying it.

Here’s an example. Many years ago, I bought these dishes, I fell for the pink rim, the rose  and the shape and style of the cups. I purchased these 17 years ago. I’ve never used them, ever! I displayed them at one time, but never used them. For years I’ve had them tucked away in a china cabinet.  I just sold them at my sale and I’m thrilled to get rid of them. Now hopefully someone else will use and enjoy them.

Things To Keep-

Pieces or things that were given to you that are truly special, like photographs, or baby journals. Maybe it’s a piece that a relative or friend gave you and you cherish.

 Things To Donate Or Toss–

Broken or unrepairable pieces, cards, clothes that no longer fit. You get the idea, just keep things that are truly important.

Toss Pile– Anything that’s broken and can’t be repaired. Clothes with holes or stains.

Donate Pile– Anything that can be resold and reused is something that can be donated.

This shouldn’t take you long, don’t stress about your piles. The loner you think about each pile of stuff, the less likely you are to organize your home and life.

Once you go through your piles take your toss pile and put it out into the trash. Don’t wait to do this step, you need this out of your garage and home or you’ll end up keeping it, trust me on this one.

Next, take your donate pile, load up your car and drive it to a donation center. Again do this right away, don’t postpone this. Those centers are everywhere! After my sale I loaded up my truck with what I had left and drove to our donation center. I didn’t want any of it back in our house.

Anything you’re planning on keeping, start organizing!

(This photo was taken a few years ago, everything you see, except my daughter’s silhouette photos are gone!)

This mess below was my recent organization project, right after our sale.

I had this pie safe was in my laundry room, I just sold it at my sale. The pie safe was holding all of my laundry soap, cleaning supplies, hair supplies ( I’m a hair stylist), and misc other things. I needed to find a new spot for all of my stuff, but first it needed to get organized. To begin, I placed all of my crap in boxes, then I started sorting through each one as I listed above.

I had a keep, donate and trash pile. This photo was taken as I was done going through things, but started sorting things out. That bag is trash, the box was being emptied and organized into sections.

As I said, before I started this process, I had to figure out where I was going to put all of my stuff once it was sorted and started to organize it all.

My hair supplies are now in my upstairs closet that also has sheets, towels and upstairs cleaning supplies. I’m using an old sewing box and a tote to organize  my hair supplies.

Cleaning products are being stored under our kitchen sink, I don’t have much so it’s nice and neat. Our kitty supplies are stored in our pull out drawers that we have under our washer and dryer. Along with extra toilet paper, tissue and old rags.

Think about how you can declutter and organize your things by repurposing something. You can use old suitcases for storage, or crates. Or purchase small baskets or bins and label them. I’m too cheap to do that, so I’m using what I already had to organize, like my old sewing box.

The most important thing to remember is this

The less you have, the easier it is to organize and keep things neat! If you have clutter everywhere, you’ll never keep up with cleaning it. But once you go through and organize your home, and purge things, you’ll have a much easier time keeping up with cleaning and you’ll live in a stress free environment because clutter is very stressful!

I hope you’ll use these tips to organize your home. I promise once you organize your home you’ll feel like a weight has been lifted! That’s exactly how I feel since I purged so much of my personal collection!

Are you ready to get busy with these home organization ideas ?