Home Organization: A Room-by-Room Guide
If you frequently ask yourself, "How do I organize my home?" The easiest method to approach a house-wide decluttering and organization effort is in stages. Concentrate on one area, such as your kitchen cupboards, before moving on to the next one. While starting to clean and organize your home may at first seem overwhelming, it's vital to keep in mind that it's never too late to start.
The following will outline the requirements for each room, making it easier and perhaps even more fun and therapeutic to complete.
The Foyer, Mudroom, and Entry
It's likely that one of your home's entryways, mudrooms, or foyers—if not all—will serve as the first point of entry for you, your family, and visitors. Therefore, it's crucial to keep these areas organized, tidy, and clean. No matter how big or tiny these areas are, decluttering frequently is the simplest approach to make the most of them and guarantee optimal operation. Go through each drawer in your desk, console table, or side tables to reorganize or purge any superfluous stuff. Make sure the tops of these storage units are kept clear of debris and used for daily activities. Last but not least, spend some time cleaning up any closets you may have in the entryway, mudroom, or hallway.
The Family Room and Living Room
Whether one of these rooms or all three are present in your home, they are probably some of the hardest to maintain clean and organized. Even if you have enough of storage, your family probably uses these common areas on a daily basis. As a result, when organizing these places, it's crucial to remember two things:
Set aside permanent storage locations for frequently used things and make an effort to keep them there. Storage for periodicals, books, and remote controls may be part of this.
Regularly tidy up this area
The moment is now to select whether you will keep, donate, or throw any objects you clear out of your living room console or side tables, just like when you declutter your mudroom or entryway. Fold blankets and store cushions. Put away any stray books, magazines, or remote controls. A sectional sofa with built-in storage or a storage bench are also excellent choices for this. After completing this, turn to your electronics. Remove anything that isn't currently plugged into your home theater or sound system and decide whether you can keep it somewhere, whether it needs to go, and whether to donate it or get rid of it. If you have young children, the same logic also holds true for decorative things and toys.
If you don't have a lot of area, think about purchasing living room furniture that maximizes storage and seating. In order to keep stuff like books and picture frames that you don't necessarily use every day, think about placing ceiling or wall shelves throughout your area.
Kitchen
Similar to your living room, your kitchen is probably another important gathering spot in your house that can be challenging to keep tidy because of all the activities that go on there. There are several ways you can select to declutter your kitchen. For instance, you can decide to focus your decluttering sessions on particular categories, such cutlery, glasses, and utensils, among others. Alternately, you can decide to organize your space by zone, such as the cooking zone, the preparation zone, the eating zone, etc. Regardless of the approach, the first step in organizing is to empty each room, evaluate each thing, and then put it where it belongs, or decide whether to rehome it or donate it. Second, pay attention to your counter tops. Aside from the products you and your family use every day, remove as many objects on your counters and place them in storage.
Other general organization advice for the kitchen includes: Install a magazine rack within your cabinets to store your pot and pan lids conveniently. Create partitions inside your cabinets using tension rods. And to keep a running grocery list, paint one or two of your cupboard doors' interiors with blackboard paint.
Bathroom
Your bathroom needs to be maintained organized because there are many items there, including towels, bedding, cosmetics, hair products, and toiletries. A smart place to start is typically the medicine cabinet. Put back whatever you plan to keep, taking care to position your most used things at eye level, and take out any outdated products or prescriptions you no longer use. Then, proceed to the drawers and cabinets in your vanity or cabinet. Remove everything, much like when you declutter your medicine cabinet, and decide what you'll keep, what you'll give away, donate, or throw away. Fortunately, open shelving is being added more frequently to bathrooms and bathroom furniture, adding both fashion and utility. A new sink cabinet or vanity with more storage space may be another option for updating the bathroom's furniture. For storing common stuff, a bookcase or even a chest of drawers might be useful in a bathroom.
Your Bedroom
You'll undoubtedly want your bedroom to be a tidy, uncluttered, peaceful place where you can unwind. Make your bed, if you haven't already, as the first step to immediately improving the look and feel of your bedroom before you start any decluttering. After that, proceed to your nightstands and take anything out of place there. On a nightstand, a lot might gather that needs to be cleared away, including pencils, mail, and finished novels. Do the same with the tops of your dresses, vanities, chests, and bureaus, taking close attention to any strewn-about clothing or linens. Go through each drawer, select what you want to keep, what you want to give away or rehome, and then fold or hang anything you want to keep. The same reasoning holds true for any workstation or seating area you might have in your bedroom.
Add shelves to the vertical walls of your home, and spend money on under-bed storage. If you're in the market for a new bed, take into account a frame with integrated storage. As an alternative, you might choose to put closed containers under your bed or a storage trunk at the foot of your bed. Choose nightstands and bureaus with lots of drawers and storage space if you're in the market for new bedroom furniture. To keep your trinkets tidy, think about buying a jewelry box or armoire. A sleep chest or murphy bed with sliding doors and storage could be the ideal answer for a practical, multi-purpose space in a spare bedroom that serves as both your workplace and gym.
The Closets
Even though closets—with the possible exception of walk-in closets—are not necessarily rooms unto themselves, they may quickly become some of the messiest areas. Sorting through your closets by kind of clothing or item is the simplest method to start clearing out the clutter. For instance, if you're organizing the clothing in your bedroom closet, start with the shoes, then the dresses, and last the denim. The task won't seem overwhelming if you do this, especially if you have a lot of clothing! After going through each category of clothes, divide it into the following four piles:
Items that require storage. This can include things that may have been misplaced in the past, such a pair of socks that you thought were in your drawer or chest but were actually in your closet.
Things that should go into the wash. If you have any goods that need to be washed, place them in your laundry room or hamper, or if you need to bring them to the dry cleaners, store them in your hallway closet.
Things that require repairs. This can include cherished items that you'd like to preserve but may need a little TLC that you can easily bring to your tailor.
Things that should be donated. Make sure you donate or resell any clothing items to a nearby charity or consignment store if you have any that you just don't wear any longer or have outgrown.
Color-coding your clothing and arranging items of the same color together are two fundamental closet organization suggestions to keep in mind. Make sure to keep your most-worn or-used goods close to eye level. Finally, if space permits, think about investing in a new set of drawers or an armoire to place within your closet alongside a vanity to create different zones within your closet and dressing space if you're looking for additional useful furniture or to update your closet space.