Do you wish you were more organized but don’t know where to begin? We’ve all heard the saying, “Out with the old and in with the new.” But when it comes to home design, the motto is, “Out with the old, put the rest away.” The following tips will help you get and stay organized in your home or office.
Before starting to organize, it’s often necessary to purge. Ask yourself the following questions: Have I used the item in the last six months? Is it a seasonal item that I use part of the year? Does it hold sentimental value? Does it serve a functional purpose? Is it an aesthetic item that brings you joy?
If you answered no to all the above, then it might be time to part with the item. Determine a plan for the items you will purge. Will you hold a garage sale? Can you bring a bag of cosmetics or clothes to your next book club and let your friends rummage through them? Do you have what’s required to fix that broken trinket? Be realistic about your abilities.
Create designated piles for donating, throwing away, repairing, selling, returning to the proper owner or giving away. As you make your way through your house, determine if any of the piles will be added to. If not, execute your plan to remove the items from your home as soon as possible. The longer you hold on to a pile, the more likely it is that it will simply get relocated somewhere else in your space.
Once you’ve completed purging, take your time to decide on an organizational system that works best for the items you still have and that you can realistically maintain over time. Common forms of organization are alphabetical, numerical, seasonal, by color, by purpose, by formality or by how often the item is used. You may find that the first one you try doesn’t quite work for your particular space. Organizing is sometimes about trial and error.
After you’ve determined your strategy, you may need to invest in containers, dividers or other devices to hold items and keep categories separated. Never purchase containers before verifying how they will be used and measuring the space in which they will be stored.
The hardest challenge in purging and organizing your home is the long-term maintenance. As you continue to accumulate items, you must work your way through the steps all over again. It’s important to continuously ask yourself if you use everything you have or if some items are just taking up space. If you too many of a particular item that it no longer fits within the parameters of its storage space, it may be time to purge. Allowing things to overflow into other places is an easy way to find yourself unorganized.
Buy additional storage containers or dividers only as needed. Continue to organize alphabetically, by color or by whatever system you’ve chosen. Or, if that no longer works, consider changing to a different system.
If you’ve ever wondered how some people always have such tidy homes, the trick is that they purge and organize regularly. The job is never done.
By taking the guessing game out of where to begin, the process becomes a little easier. And here’s a secret: The more often you purge and reevaluate your organization, the faster and easier it becomes.
Sky Rumley is the director of operations for Gilbert-based interior design firm Casita & Co.