The Easiest Way to Organizing Your Home

Today is the last day of 2020 and if you haven’t yet started, it is probably time to organize your home. Organizing your home helps you save time, energy, and lets you spend time doing the things you like to do. When you are organized, you spend less time looking for things or going behind your littles after they have “helped” you clean. 

What is organizing?

Organizing doesn’t mean that things don’t go out of place. It just means that there is a place for your things. Organizing is not cleaning. That is another blog for another day.  If you have lived in a place for more than 2 years, chances are it is time to re-organize that space. What you thought you may do in that space changes as you go through the seasons of your life and as you grow accustomed to how you use your space. Chances are, that in 2020, if you were fortunate to be able to work from home, or if you had kids learning from home, you have already had to redefine areas in your home. 

Why is organizing important? 

Organizing your home is not about Instagram perfection. It is about function. When your home is organized, you spend less time looking for things and less time straightening up. It is easier to delegate the cleaning responsibilities to other family members because you and they have the clarity or organization. If you are like me and a working mother, organizing your house is necessary to maintain it. 

But I am not a super organized person.

Neither am I. Ask my coworkers and they will tell you my desk is in usual disarray. Not really. I know and understand where all the files and important documents are. However, my desk is not a shared space. I, alone, need to use and find things there and only I need to understand the system. However, the house in which we live is for everyone. 

Putting things away is not Mom’s Job

I have had this conversation with my husband and my children. They use the things in this house. They are free to move any and everything about the house providing they also put these things back. By organizing your home, you are ensuring that everyone can participate in putting things back. My 2 year old son is very aware of where his toys and books go. He also knows where his clothes are and I can let him put his clothes away because their room is organized. 

How did I get to this place? 

It did take some time, but after many years of trying to find something that worked whether it was Home Edit or Marie Kondo, I finally perfected my process. As I mentioned before I am not the most organized person, but I love a good system. I appreciate the simplicity of Marie Kondo and the beauty of the Home Edit. My process for creating organized spaces in your home is only four steps. It really helps if you divide your home and not try to tackle every room at once.  This is a process for people who don’t have the time for the Kondo Method and who find the Home Edit beautiful, but unsustainable. 

My Organizing Process

There are 4 steps to organizing your home. My first suggestion is that you focus on one room or on one place in your room. I was able to tackle my walk in closet in one day, but it did take the whole day. I was also able to work on  our entryway, but that took a couple of weekends. It is completely ok for the process to take days. When you are done, it will be a more maintainable space. My entryway has remained organized since I completed the project in October. The kid’s have maintained their room and closets since November. When we go to bed at night, our home is clutter free and it is such a good feeling for our family. 

Also, include the family. As I mentioned before, it is not all mom’s responsibility and having the littles help will also assist you in defining their spaces and letting them have some ownership of where things go. Also, they will remember better when you tell them to clean up at the end of the day. They live in the space too and know how they use it. Everyone has a responsibility to help and including the littles shows them that they are also responsible.  

Step 1: Define the space. 

Once you pick the place you want to start. Begin with the end in mind. To figure this out, I ask myself some questions: 1. What is the purpose of this space? 2. What has been happening here? 3. What do you want here? 4. What makes sense for this season of my life? Knowing what the space is for and how you want to live in it, makes the next part of the process easy. 

Step 2: Declutter your items

Go through every single thing, piece of paper, random dodads and asked three questions: 1. Why am I keeping this? 2. Does this item have a purpose in my life in this season? 3. Does it have a home? Some items will be easy. Others not so much. What is important is that you keep the things that you want and need and let go of what doesn’t make sense anymore. The first two questions address the need of the item. The last question is a question of importance that I will cover in the next step.  ⁠

⁠Step 3: Designate a home. 

Everything that you keep needs a home. A home is simply the place you item belongs. As you are going through your items, move to its home. Since you are only tackling one area at a time, some homes may not be ready. In other words If you are working on the living room, you may have an item that should be in the bedroom but you haven’t made that place yet. No worries. Whether the home was ready or not, go ahead and move that item to its new place. I like to keep a box or a pile in the area so when I do get to that space, I will have a better idea of what I want that space to be. 

⁠Step 4: Design the space.

With the space defined, the items decluttered, and the items designated to live in this space, you are able to create a beautiful place that is functional for you and your family. Starting with function, you can make your area aesthetically pleasing. Whether you line up boxes from small to large or lay out your books by color and shape, because the function comes first, you have the opportunity to make your space functional and beautiful. 

⁠What happens next? 

While getting things, organized can take some time, ultimately, it will save you time in the end. If you are not able to dedicate a day, spread some time out over the week. Let others help too. Talk about the process and why you are doing each step. Putting in the work at the beginning of the year will make the end of the year a breeze as you move forward. 

Creating Routines 

As you are organizing your home, start a routine of taking 10 minutes at the end of each day to straight up. Now that your items have homes or places where they belong, it will only take 10 minutes for your littles and you to put things back. Four our home, we include picking up as part of the bedtime routine. It is the start of winding down and part of their getting ready for bed. You can do it anyway that works for you. Maybe you prefer to have a pick time as soon as you come home from work. Or maybe you prefer to take care of it in the morning. Any way you choose to do it, creating a routine for yourself and your family will ensure that you are able to keep the spaces and place you have organized, well, organized. 

Conclusion

Having an organized home can happen even if you are not an organized person. Even if you have small children, creating an organization system will help you save time and energy throughout the day. Choose one space at a time and follow the 4 step process: Define the area, Declutter your items, Designate homes, and Design your space. Include your littles in the process so that they can take responsibility and have ownership as well. As you are organizing, create a routine for picking up. You will be surprised how quickly you and the family will be able to maintain you home. 

Hopefully this helps you as we begin 2021 with fresh hearts, minds, and a renewed spirit. Make sure to follow me on Instagram for more tips and tricks on spending time with littles, eating (relatively) healthy, and finding the job of your dreams. 

Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are my own.