10 TIPS TO GET AND KEEP YOUR HOME ORGANIZED FOR THE NEW YEAR

Dedicate a block of hours, no more than a day, where you can focus solely on organizing. Begin with a smaller simpler room or space that, once complete, will give you confidence and momentum to tackle the bigger projects.

Start by decluttering. Before you spend money on any system, tools, or bins. You need to know what you have in order to know what to buy.

Take everything out of the space you are organizing and clean it.

You don’t have to just throw things out. Many local charities can benefit from items you no longer need. Discard items that are broken, stained, expired and unusable. You can also sell certain items either on an app or garage sale to offset the cost of any new tools you might need to purchase.

Now that you are left with what you will keep, it’s time to organize. Keep items you use often in a convenient and accessible place.

There is no doubt that open shelving and clear glass cabinets are beautiful. However, some items we own are functional and not attractive. Traditional solid cabinet space will allow you to store and hide those mismatched unattractive items. Save the open shelving for decorative items.

Sort, then group/categorize like items in a way that makes sense to you. Designate areas for these categories.

Take inventory, color code, and then label items, especially those inside large bins. Doing so will encourage you not to put miscellaneous items where they don’t belong.

Don’t purchase new items if you don’t have a designated space for it… unless you plan to get rid of something else.

Establish routines, create habits, and set goals that will help you maintain you newly organized space. For example, I will sort my mail daily and throw out the junk mail immediately.