We have never spent as much time in our homes as we have done in recent times. Our homes now have a multitude of functions that they may not have had previously. These can include: a place to school children, a place to workout or a place of work. This is in addition to the usual functions of being a safe place to retreat to and the hub of everybody’s lives. Our homes have certainly had to step up in recent times.
One thing is for sure, being organized at home is important in being able to cope with the strains that the current environment has put on us all, so let us take a look at some of the benefits that being organized can provide.
Being organized at home can simply make daily life a whole lot easier. When everything has its place, you know where items are and you are more efficient as you do not have to spend time looking for them. The saying ‘A tidy home, a tidy mind’ is very true. An organized and tidy home provides a calm and relaxed environment which in turn can make space for motivation and focus in other areas of life without being preoccupied.
If you know that your home is taken care of, you can concentrate on other areas of your life that need attention. Furthermore, an organized home can reduce conflict in the home between the family, this is due to there being less things to become stressed about because everybody knows where they stand and what is expected of them. It can provide the time to enjoy quality time together or to practice self-care and a positive environment to practice these in.
With so many benefits that being organized at home can provide, let us take a look at 15 simple and professional tips to be organized at home that you can start doing from today.
1. Plan
It is all in the planning, if your goal is to initially declutter and organize all aspects of your home, break down the work into small manageable tasks.
Firstly, divide each area of your home that you want to concentrate on into smaller chunks, write them down and set a schedule.
For example. if you want to tackle the kitchen, set out a plan to firstly sort out your fridge and then maybe next on your list sort out your cupboards and finally if you want to incorporate cleaning into your organizing then clean your oven.
Replicate this and make a plan for each area of the home that you want to tackle. Completed tasks will feel rewarding as you tick each one off your list and furthermore it makes sure that you do not get overwhelmed by the job at hand.
2. The Pareto Principle
Some professional declutterers incorporate the Pareto Principle into their work with their clients. The notion of this principle is the 80/20 rule, 80% of results will come from 20% of action. This can be applied to clutter and organization.
Most people only use 20% of items in their home, 80% of the time. Let us take shoes for an example, you may own 20 pairs of shoes but only wear 4 pairs most of the time.
When you are organizing a space, sort items into 2 piles marked: 80% – items used occasionally or not at all and 20% – items used most of the time. You can then sort through your 80% pile and decide on items that you will keep, throw away, recycle or donate.
The aim is to have more items in the dispose of pile than the keep pile. By deciding on which pile to put items in, you are being encouraged to be mindful, really think about that item and how much you use it or how much it really means to you.
3. Take Photographs
When decluttering your home, you may come across items that you are torn between keeping or disposing of. It is a fact of life that you may not be able to keep hold of everything as you just may not have the space, unfortunately this may include sentimental items.
One solution is to take photographs of items such as your child’s pictures that they have drawn or a particular piece of schoolwork that they are proud of. You can then keep these on your computer and make space in your home.
4. Allocate a Junk Drawer
Although one aim of organizing your home is to reduce items that are not needed or used, in practice, some junk is inevitable.
Allocate one drawer in the house for junk, once it is full – it is full and it is a sign that you need to sort through it. Having a junk drawer means that hopefully junk will not end up dotted around the house and you will be encouraged to sort through it periodically. This in turn means that you should not become overwhelmed and sorting of junk will not become a time consuming task.
5. Set Up a Family Meeting
Being organized in the home should involve the whole family. Set a meeting to discuss what is expected of the family as a whole and the benefits of working together as a team.
Discuss the tasks that each member will take on. Discuss with children the expectation of them helping with chores and being mindful of being organized in general.
If the whole family is on board, being organized at home should become a lot easier.
6. Set Up a To-do List
A to-do list breaks down tasks, it also helps to make visible how much progress you have made, this in turn gives you the motivation to keep going. It can help to put the list in a place that is visible to the whole family so that everybody knows what needs to be achieved. There are to-do list apps that can help you to keep on track too.
7. Prepare the Night Before
Preparation is key to being organized. In the evening, prepare lunches and set clothes out ready for the next day. This may only take 15 minutes but it makes sure that your morning can run smoothly and unexpected events can be dealt with the night before.
For example, if you have ran out of something that you need to make lunch, you can sort this in the evening rather than finding out in the morning. This prevents becoming stressed and rushing or being late for work. You can ensure that your morning is as stress free as possible.
8. Wake Up 10 Minutes Earlier
Waking up 10 minutes earlier will not have a negative impact on your sleep but it will have a positive impact on your morning. These 10 minutes extra can allow you to do a quick tidy as you go along in the morning and ensure that you come back to a tidy and organized home when you return from work. Wash your breakfast dishes, put your cosmetics away as you go along and most importantly, make your bed.
9. Do The Washing Up Straight Away
After each meal, do the washing up and dry the dishes straight away, if you put it off then the task will become overwhelming. Why not use this time as a family to work together?
You could ask your child to take the dishes to the kitchen and you and your partner can share the task of washing and drying. You can use this time to catch up as a family, the kitchen will be tidy and you can relax knowing that you have not got to get up and do three meals worth of dishes in the evening.
10. Do a Quick Evening Spruce Up Before Bed
Spend 10 minutes before bed to wash any cups or dishes used in the evening, fluff up the sofa cushions and put any bits and bobs in their place. Doing this will prevent a build up of clutter and you will have a tidy and organized home to wake up to in the morning.
Clutter and disorganization can create a stressed and cluttered mindset. By spending a short amount of time preparing your home for the morning, you can go to sleep knowing that there is one less thing on your mind that needs doing and you can wake up in the morning with a relaxed, calm and clutter-free mindset.
11. Make a Meal Plan For the Week
Organizing your meals can have a positive impact on your health, save you money and create more time for you. There is nothing worse than spending time looking through the cupboards for something to eat or walking aimlessly through the supermarket wondering what to pick.
Having a meal plan for the week can assist you in providing healthy meals for your family and you will not purchase items for the sake of it which will save money. Meal planning can also help everybody to know what meal they are having each day and you never know, they may even surprise you and take it upon themselves to make one of the meals. You can find tips on how to create a delicious and healthy meal plan here.
12. Set a Designated House Tidy Day
Set a day that suits your life and your family to work together to go through your home from top to bottom and do a full tidy and declutter. If you have kept up with some of the suggestions in this article and kept to a routine as you go along day to day, this task will not be as daunting and time consuming as you think.
Start from upstairs and work your way downstairs: clean the bathroom, make the beds, empty bins, dust where you haven’t throughout the week, change the towels, mop and open the windows to refresh the house.
Doing this at the end of the working week or on a Saturday morning can ensure that your weekend is relaxed and free of thinking what you have to do around the house. This leaves you time to spend with your family, practice self care or to just have a well deserved break.
13. Organize Your Paperwork
Set a designated place for your household paperwork to keep your environment clutter free and routinely discard any paperwork that is no longer needed.
Set up an archive folder and a to-do folder so that important paperwork is not missed. These tips should help you to be more productive and also save you time and stress when it comes to needing to get your hands on paperwork quickly.
14. Make Money From Your Unwanted Items
As motivation to organize your home and dispose of items that are no longer useful, sell your items online.[1] This may encourage your children to sort out their toys and games and you will be surprised at the value that others see in your unwanted items. You can look at ways to sell your unwanted items here.
15. Habit Forming
Make the routines suggested in this article a habit and your home will become more organized automatically. Rather than thinking that you have to do the particular routine and that it is laborious chore, change your mindset and make it a habit that promotes positivity.
For example: remember that the household chores are a benefit to you and all of your family, turn on some music when you are doing your cleaning and count it towards your daily activity or look on your time doing the washing up with your partner as a chance to catch up with each other.
Bottom Line
There are many benefits to keeping your home organized and this organization can have a positive effect on your mindset, your family and other areas of your life.
In the unprecedented times that we are living in at the moment, it is all the more important to keep homes organized due to the simple fact that all of us are spending more time in our homes than ever before.
There are many ways in which you can have an organized home and keep on top of the clutter, this article has hopefully shown you that it is also simpler than you may have originally thought.
The key to keeping your home organized is to make routines a habit. You will see the positive effect on your life immediately, so why not start organizing your home today?
Featured photo credit: Patrick Perkins via unsplash.com
Reference
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