5 organising tips to help you get sorted!
Don’t tell me, you are either 1. back at work, or 2. at home with kids for the school holidays, either way you feel like you need another holiday! Holidays can sometimes be anything but relaxing, running around doing this and that and burning the candle at both ends. This usually means the house is an absolute mess and you can’t even think about facing the Christmas clutter. Don’t worry, l know exactly what you need… a little Declutterhome inspiration and some red hot tips!
TIP 1: CREATE DESIGNATED AREAS IN YOUR OFFICE
Wish your office looked more like the above pic. Well, it is achievable… just make sure you have a designated area for everything! A spot to file mail to action, paperwork to keep, paper to shred, stationery supplies, magazines to read, etc. And most importantly have a cut off point… if the shelf or filing cabinet is full, it’s time to assess and cull!
Image Source: Etherealroom
TIP 2: CREATE AN ORGANISED ENTRANCE AREA
An organised entrance can be a lifesaver. Doesn’t matter if you have a designated entrance area/mud room or not, the key is to have a spot for all your essentials. Know where items go and put them away in the right spot! Get that entrance area sorted and it will reward you with more time and less stress!
What essentials do you need access to as you are leaving the house each day? Keys, mobile, shoes, hat, coat, umbrella, hand bag, school bags, sunscreen, drink bottle? Add your essentials to the comments below.
Image Source: Better Homes and Gardens, US.
TIP 3: MAKE SURE ALL ITEMS HAVE A ‘HOME’
When organising your home, just remember that saying ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’. This is where most people get into trouble… getting busy and just putting stuff into the nearest drawer. Key tip here is to store all ‘like’ items together and label the storage or shelf. That way there are no excuses!
Image Source: Better Homes and Gardens, US.
TIP 4: KEEP IT ORGANISED
It’s all lovely when a Professional Organiser comes and declutters your home but the key is how to keep organised after the job is done! I suggest you setup a schedule and chores chart to keep on top of the daily clutter. Spend some time each day putting items away in their homes. If you need to create a new home for something, find a logical spot and label the storage.
Key to keeping organised is that daily effort. A little effort each day will keep things in check.
Image Source: Pottery Barn, US.
TIP 5: KEEP DECLUTTERING!
Decluttering isn’t a one off job, you need to cull regularly. Kids’ toys is a good example. New toys come into the home every Christmas and birthday so a regular cull is crucial. If you still find there are a lot of toys, setup a ‘toy rotation’ system. Simply store half the toys and rotate every couple of months.
I like the ‘one in one out’ rule. For example, if your kids receive 5 toys for Christmas help them cull 5 toys and give them to charity. It’s a great way to help others and keep your home from becoming a toy play centre!
Image Source: Better Homes and Gardens, US.
I’M HERE TO HELP
What room or area at your place causes you the most clutter chaos? Let me know by commenting below and l will give you some tips!
HAPPY ORGANISING
Tanya Lea, Declutterhome, Professional Organiser
Image Source: See above for image sources.
9 Responses to 5 organising tips to help you get sorted!
-
-
I’ve discovered ‘organising’ is very very expensive and a bit of hit or miss.
My home office is the place where its really not happening. I’ve attempted a declutter, purchased a whole heap of organising products so the room looks good. However, its the mail and what I’m working on that causes me the most grief. There’s personal mail for me and my kids, professional mail for me and others also. I have a tray system but all the envelopes end up in the same top tray until I have time to sort. I have nowhere to put them really because there’s so many to distribute so I end up going through the pile when I’m needing to give mail to someone.
Then there’s the current stuff I’m working on. I have a standup file organiser on my desk but I guess I still don’t know what to label the files. And I haven’t had time to figure it out so anything I’m working on goes there anyway so I kind of know where it is. The trouble with this is it takes up so much room on my desk and makes the desk look more messy than what it actually is but I can’t figure out what else would be neater and more streamlined. Maybe that’s why I haven’t labeled the files yet! I saw a tray system thingy at Officeworks that either stands the files up or flat but at almost $50 I don’t want to spend that much if that’s too big also.
Anyway, after spending quite a LOT of money at Officeworks, Howard’s Storage World & Kikki K I’m almost there but not quite.
The last issue is – I thought my office would ‘look’ better with all white folders and colour coding the labels. While it does look terrific, especially with white bins, the insert binders are a total fail for practicality. They won’t stand up straight when they are full so I’m constantly straightening them. After replacing 20 binders, 3 ring & 4 ring at between $5.99 and $7.99, with the addition of the hole punches, I’m really, really loathe to replace them. I discovered only after I did all this that Bantex now put out a white lever arch binder with a coloured edge which is perfect for my needs. I’ve replaced the worst ones because I couldn’t stand them any longer and wondered if I should purchase some every now and then so its not as big a spend. But what the heck do I do with the fortune in binders I’ve already invested in, even if I hate them passionately?????? The waste of money is literally depressing.
-
Hi Tanya my problem is not knowing where to throw things out. Aside from filling a skip I worry about things going into landfill. What do you do with all those textas, pens & pencils? Clothes that are no good for the salvos but could be used as rags. Any advice you have would be great. Thankyou
-
Hi,
Firstly, I read through your blog and must compliment you on the great work you have done here as regards decluttering.
My home would be in a total mess with things strewn here and there. When I read about how important it is to get organized, I started getting rid of all useless items. Shocking as it may sound, I felt so much better once all the junk was removed. Deculuttering gave me a great feeling. I now see an immense difference in my overall well-being. I feel more relaxed. My home is more presentable. My mind is more at peace etc.
So from all that I have read and experienced about decluttering and reorganization, here’s a quick tip to all friends who are struggling to get rid of clutter. Follow the, ‘Use it or lose it” policy. When it comes to decluttering, be merciless to a point.
Cheers!
-
We will always find our homes cluttered unless we do something about the problem. I highly agree with you that we need to keep on de-cluttering especially when there are kids in the house. Having storage places for all your things makes de-cluttering so much easier to do!
Leave a Reply
follow me on
Our apartment has very little storage so my partners tools are in the living room and there is clutter everywhere. Any tips on where to start? It’s not ideal to come home after a long day to what looks like chaos! Thanks