organizing tips from a nesting momma
I’m not quite sure if it’s because of the new year, or the fact that I have a baby coming any day now, but I have been on a cleaning and organizing rampage. Our apartment is littered with boxes to take to DI and almost every area of our home has gotten a much needed refresh. Since all I can think about is getting our home in perfect shape before a baby comes, I thought I would share with you my organizing tips.
Before you begin, I highly recommend reading “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo. While I don’t follow the Konmari method exactly, there are tons of good tips for beginning an organizing journey. My home organization style is loosely based on her book.
While Marie Kondo suggests going through categories, I like to go room by room. I start by making a checklist of every area of my home, listing every closet and cupboard as a separate area. When I’m done organizing an area, I can check it off my list. Start with something easy, like tossing out expired medications from the bathroom, and you will build up the confidence to tackle harder areas, like the closet no one has touched in years.
When I am organizing an area I start by removing everything one item at a time and placing it in piles. There’s the toss pile, which are items that need to be thrown away or recycled; the donate pile, for things that are in good condition, but I don’t feel inclined to keep; and two keep piles. One keep pile is for things that belong somewhere else in the home. The other keep pile is for the things that simply need to be put back.
After sorting through everything and deciding what to keep, it’s time to organize it all. I like to organize by convenience and sight, meaning I keep most used items in easy to reach places and organize everything by color and size. The main goal of organizing should always be to make finding, using, and putting the object back where it belongs easier. When I have to put multiple items on a shelf, I like to keep taller items in the back. Not only does it make it easier to see, but it’s usually easier to remove them over the shorter items.
Don’t ever feel like you need to purchase anything to get organized. When you organize by sight, you may find that you don’t really need to buy a bunch of fancy bins. The less stuff you own, the less organizing bins you need to keep it all together. Every once in a while though, you may find an area of your home is frequently getting shuffled around. These are good places to invest in some organizing bins or baskets to help them stay in their place. I let each area tell me what it needs to stay organized.
We are constantly accumulating stuff over time, so it’s a good idea to go through frequently and get rid of things. I like to keep a box or bag somewhere in our home for things we need to donate or get rid of. When I notice something that isn’t being used, I toss it in the box. Once that box gets full, I drop it off at my local donation center.
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