How to Organize

I have a problem. Actually, a few problems. My house is constantly getting cluttered by all of the stuff that my husband & I bring home. I KNOW how to organize, it's just a matter of the time commitment!


So, here are a few ways to organize....First of all, if you have a space or room that is cluttered, here are some easy steps to take care of that:


1.  Throw stuff away. Seriously, do you REALLY need that birthday card from last year? What about that thing that broke 7 months ago that you're going to fix? Make some serious decisions here! Do you NEED it? Do you LOVE it? Will it make you money? The fact is, if you haven't looked at it or touched it (except to move it out of the way) in the last year, it needs to go. 


2. Put it away. The hubs will tell you this much: according to Jenna, everything has a place. When everything has a place, and is PUT in its place, it's much easier to find, use, and put back away! How often do you just throw stuff on top of stuff on top of stuff and they say "Where the heck is....????!!" If you put it away, you will know exactly where to find it.


3. Label. Label. LABEL. Honestly, I like labels. Actually, it goes beyond liking: I HEART LABELS! After you have thrown the unwanted out, and everything is put in its place, label it. Labels are ESPECIALLY important for bins, boxes, baskets, etc. I say this because we have all done this: grab a bin down from the verrrrry tippy top of the storage closet, and it's not what you want. So frustrating! There are many ways to make labels or you can buy some super cute ones, too. I think my favorites so far are the baskets with chalkboard labels from Target. There are desk organizers with chalkboard labels, and also file boxes with chalkboard labels from Target. Another option is to reuse those bins, baskets, and boxes and make your own chalkboard labels with chalkboard paint from Lowe's. You can make labels on your computer with Microsoft Excel or Word, or you can order some from places like organize.com, which is one of my most FAVORITE websites. Also try Etsy...that way, you can have them personalized.


Now, after you have organized your space, you can leave it all be, right? Wrong. I have organized, reorganized, and started over from scratch to organize spaces. I always come back to this: Why does it always come back to being messy? We put stuff back where it belongs. I realized it's because of our lack of time. I go to school full time, and I work two jobs. My husband works two jobs as well, so we are just WAY too busy to be constantly cleaning. So here is my solution to that:


Make a schedule. I mean, literally write out a cleaning schedule: who does what when, how often, etc. You can go to any store such as Walmart and buy a regular list notepad, or you can go as far as ordering personalized ones (I did!) from people like Jen Jones, of IHeart Organizing. 


Now, I can look at my list and know for sure that tomorrow I need to vacuum after school and before work, I need to clean the bathroom and do laundry on Sunday, Casey needs to clean the office on Saturday, and so on. It's such a great way to keep track of things! And, you can just glue some magnets onto the back of your list and hang it on the fridge! That way, you won't lose track of it.


I hope that these tips help out with future organizing...just remember, if all else fails, take a deep breath and just go through one item at a time!


Have fun!!