Home Organization 101: Staying Organized

I’ve been sharing tips and tricks on how to create an organized home through my blogging series, Home Organization 101, as well as my free email course, 5 Days to An Organized Home. So if you’ve been following along, you might be wondering how you stay organized once you do the hard work of organizing things.

It’s one thing to get things in place, but it’s entirely another thing to keep them there. So I wanted to give you a few ideas on staying organized. These are little habits or exercises that you can incorporate into your day easily to help you stay organized.

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A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place

The first thing you need to know about staying organized is that everything needs its own place. You’ll never be able to stay organized if you have those pesky things that don’t have a place, and are always floating from surface to surface. So my best advice—just do it! Choose where you will put each belonging, and if you truly can’t find a home for it, perhaps it doesn’t deserve to stay in your home?

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One In, One Out Rule

Once you have a home for everything, you’ll notice that tidying up goes much quicker, and that your main spaces will stay clean longer. However, there’s always the tricky bit of bringing new things into your home. One trip to Target can completely ruin your sense of organization. So why not adopt the rule of “one in, one out?”

It’s simple really—if you just bought five pieces of clothing, donate five pieces. If you’re bringing in new makeup, get rid of some old. You can either be strict with it by getting rid of the same amount you’re bringing in, or you can be a bit more relaxed… but either way, the idea is to not just keep bringing in new stuff without getting rid of the outdated, unused things you have.

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Set a Timer

We often don’t organize or clean because we just don’t have the time. But nearly everyone has five minutes. Or two minutes. So set a timer for a few minutes (or more if you can!) and go crazy on your house. Clear off your surfaces, put things in their rightful spot, load the dishwasher, hang up your clothes, throw in that load of laundry, organize a drawer, throw out expired food. Do whatever you can at high intensity in the amount of time you set, then when the buzzer goes off, get back to whatever you were doing before. You’ll be surprised by how much you can accomplish in a few minutes of focused organizing and cleaning!

 

Let me know if you try out any of these ideas! What are your best tips and practices for staying organized?

 

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Feeling like you need more organization inspiration and motivation? Check out my free email course—‘5 Days to an Organized Home.’ 

This free five day course includes a focus on five different areas of the home, with tips, must-have organization tools, and daily “Put it Into Action” steps you can take in your own home.

Enroll here for the free email course!

My hope is that you’ll walk away from the course feeling empowered and encouraged in your organizing endeavors, and that the tips and tricks I share will help you create a home that is both cozy and functional!