Organizing 101 -- Part 3

Ok, everyone! You're doing great!! You've cleared the clutter from your first space.

Now for Simple Organizing!

A Place For Everything, and Everything In It's Place

{I really would love to have a mud room! Someday! :) But in this home I have a deep yet small coat closet. Keeping my family's needs for coat, shoe, backpack, puppy, & purse storage in mind, and not wanting to spend much money, here's what I did! A basket for shoes keeps the pile off of the floor. Matching hangers work for big and little coats. Locker baskets for each family member's gear go on the shelf with a little tag showing the initial of each name. Hooks on the wall hold puppy gear. Too simple!!}

Keep your family in mind. Think about how your family uses the space. Make it easy for them to use your organizing system. For example, if items are always tossed on an entry table, use a system that enables your keys to be tossed into a pretty dish on the table. If your kids can't reach the hangers in the coat closet, install a few lower hooks for them to use. By keeping things simple and going with a system that works for your family & how they use the space, you'll ensure success!!

{I've never had my own master closet before! Our philosophy is that no matter the size of the closet, all of our clothes must fit inside it and the dresser. No more room, no more clothes!
Here I have "like" items together. All pants together, all tops together, all dresses together. And then organized by color. It makes finding my blue shirt so much easier! Sweaters are in insect free bins above, and purses line the shelf on the other side!}

Keep "like" items together. For example, in my kitchen I have just glassware in one cabinet, just dishes in another. Coffee & tea items including mugs, filters, scoops, sweeteners, etc are in their own little cabinet over the coffeemaker. By assigning each cabinet a specific "job" I have made it easier to find, use, and put away things in my kitchen.

The same thing works for just about anything in your home. Keep magazines in one holder & when it's full tear out the pages you want to keep, file them, & recycle the rest. Gardening things are placed together on a shelf in the garage. Keep it together!

{Puppy gear is stowed on hooks near the door where we take her "out"}

Keep items where you use them. Make it easy on yourself! If you always play games in the family room, why hide the games in the basement? Put them in a pretty basket and enjoy! This is the idea behind my "Coffee/Tea Station" above. By keeping all the coffee things where I use them (by the coffeepot), everything is quickly handy and easily accessible, and I'm not digging all around the kitchen for things on a daily basis!




K.I.S.S. -- Keep It Simple Sweetie!! Organizing a space does not have to cost a lot or be complicated! In fact, simple and low cost or FREE is best!

Don't feel like you have to have expensive bins and baskets in order to really be organized. Often, just placing an item neatly away in a space is enough. But if you have little things to corral, or items to separate into "like" things, sometimes you need a little something extra to help you stay organized.

Think about what you need for the items you're keeping and the space that you have. Then first look around your house for organizing options! Check thrift stores or dollar stores for baskets and plastic bins. Don't like the color? Just spray paint! If needed you can use a cute label or tag to help identify the items inside.

{This is my kids' playroom. They can easily and quickly put toys where they go with these inexpensive bins and wire shelving from T@rget. The bins each hold a different type of toy. Inside the bottom of the hutch holds dress up clothing. Just because it's a kid space doesn't mean it can't be attractive for the whole family!}

Stay Organized!

Once you have a place for things, everyone should know where to put them away! Every member of the family needs to be involved! Even quite young children can pick up toys or their shoes & toss them into a basket.

Make keeping this space neat & tidy a good habit! Getting organized is great, but keeping it that way takes just a little daily effort. It may only take a few extra seconds to hang a coat on a hanger or peg rack instead of tossing it on a chair, but it's so worth it!

For those things that don't get put away immediately during the day, we like to use a "10 Minute Clutter Cleaning" (click to read) method each evening to make sure the house gets picked up and the clutter stays under control.

The more you see and get used to a neat space, the more you'll want to keep it that way!

Beginning next week, I'm going to show you easy ways to tackle your clutter "Problem Areas" that you have mentioned to me! I'll be giving specific tips and be using lots of great pictures to help you out! :)

Happy Organizing!!!

ps---Thank y'all SO MUCH for all of your well wishes while I wasn't feeling my best this week! I just am so thankful for this blog community and all of the wonderful friends I've made here!! You're the best! :)