Home Organization Tips

All of us like doing up our homes, we often purchase rugs, sofas, curtains, cushions, drawers, beds, cupboards, and clothes at a sale or even otherwise. I love doing that too, but I make sure that before I purchase something new, I get rid of what I do not want. Simple! This way my home stays organized and clutter free. I have been following this practice for some time now, and believe me when I say that I know where everything in my house is stored, if need be, I can even find something with the lights switched off!! It is possible to get a nice organized home, the kind you like to show off to friends, neighbors and not to forget that horrid lady across the street.

Here are some tips to help you organize your home:

• Begin your task by letting go of things you can do without.
• Designate places for important documents like insurance documents, birth certificates and passports. Keep your bills there too. This way when faced with an emergency you will know where to look.
• Planning is the key, make notes as you go through each room and decide what you want to change in them. You could also note down the time it would take, this will keep you focused on your goals.

Living Room

• Make sure the room is not cluttered with furniture.
• Designate space for each item like the television or music system.
• Keep a cute little basket for sweet wrappers etc.
• Keep the shelves or drawers clean. Use little boxes for this purpose. If opaque, you could also label them. This will be helpful to other members of the family too.
• Have a corner for coats and wet umbrellas.
• Keep all the keys in a drawer.

Bedroom

• If you use your bedroom for a variety of purposes, divide the room into zones.
• Position your bed in such a way that you can see the door while lying in bed.
• For the reading zone, bring in a comfortable chair and a table. Keep a basket to store magazines and books.
• Cordon off the exercising area with a decorative screen. Store smaller pieces of equipment under the bed.

Closet

• Take your clothes out of the cupboard and sort them into three separate boxes marked-keep, donate, or throw away.
• Before putting clothes into the box marked "keep," make sure you ask yourself a few questions. Have I worn this outfit in the last one year? Is this outfit still in fashion? Is it still a comfortable fit? Do I still look nice in it? Honest answers to the following questions will help you make up your mind.
• Now, you need to put the clothes back into your cupboard. You can divide the clothes into categories based on tops, pants, skirts and suits. If you like you can also base them on color.
• You can store accessories in shelves made for that purpose. Keep small baskets in the cupboard for your knickknacks.

Linen Closet

• Keep sheets sets inside their pillowcases. This not only keeps the closet neater, but also saves time when making beds.
• Each bed in the house could have two sets of sheets; this way there is no extra space being filled up in the closet.
• Rotate fresh linen so that one set does not look older than the other.
• While storing linen that is seldom used, fold them wrong side out, this way dust does not settle on the crease lines. Store these separately from linen you use daily.
• Try and store bed linens in the room where it will be required.
• Store seasonal linen in a box and place it in the attic or basement.

Kitchen

• Look around your kitchen and make a note of the items. Throw or give away the things you no longer use.
• Go through the things stored in the refrigerator. Look at the expiry dates, and throw away food that smells bad. This way, not only will your refrigerator be clean but you will be aware of the items that are stored there.
• Use wall-mounted racks to store containers.
• Label the containers, this way you will know what you are putting into the food!

Bathroom

• Begin work on the drawers first. While emptying the drawers separate the items you would like to keep.
• Use boxes or cosmetic containers to store the cosmetics. Place these in the drawers.
• Look out for repeat purchases and try and remove the clutter from the countertop.
• For storing towels you can use a rack that clips over behind the bathroom door.
• If you would like to remove the clutter from the shower area, install dispensers for shampoo, conditioners and liquid soap.

Garage

• To begin with, take out all the items from your garage and make a list of the necessary items.
• Dispose off all the things you do not need.
• After this, wipe all the items thoroughly, clean the floor and wipe the walls of the garage too.
• Install drawers and shelves to store items.
• Create zones for each item you store in the garage.