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If you want a clean and efficient home, you’ve got to keep things organized. While there’s no absolute right or wrong way to go about it, there are plenty of useful tips that can help you whip things into shape. Feel free to pick and choose the methods that work best for you.
1. First Things First
The kitchen is the heart of the home. If you can keep your kitchen organized, the whole house will run smoother. Isn’t that what we all want? Store items you use every day in the most accessible places. Keep pots and pans near the stove. Try storing mixing bowls under the counter where you usually use them. If you keep glasses and plates close to the dishwasher, they’ll be easier to put away.
2. Appliance Placement
Use the same principles for your small appliances as you do for the rest of the kitchen. Things you use all the time, like your coffee maker or toaster oven, are best kept on the counter. If you only use your blender once a week, you can keep it put away. A specialized appliance cupboard with pull-out shelves can help dramatically. Isn’t that much better?
3. Keep a Lid on It
Speaking of kitchens, a cheap CD organizer can do wonders for your plasticware cupboard if you use it to store lids. No more falling pieces when you open that door, and goodbye tupperware avalanche. Score!
4. Give Clutter the Boot — or Shoe
Hanging shoe organizers can help you organize much more than shoes. Hang one over the door in your bathroom, pantry, or sure…your closet.
5. Do the Drop Zone
Know how your kids come in, and by some evil magic their stuff ends up all over the house? Yeah, it happens here too. But if you can’t beat ’em, why not join ’em? Embrace the idea of having a drop zone…just give the area a little organizational finesse. Hooks, cute baskets, a storage bench…they can all help you make sense of the madness. It doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate to be neat.
6. In With the New? Then Out With the Old!
Do you have a collection in your house? Maybe it’s hats, toys, t-shirts, or thing-a-ma-bobs, but whatever it is, it can take over your house. Make a rule: you can’t acquire a new item without getting rid of one. I don’t know about you, but for me, getting rid of stuff is like…the best feeling EVER.
7. Tame the Plastic Bags
Those plastic grocery bags are fantastic for more than groceries. But who else has a pile of them dominating your closet or under the kitchen sink (guilty!) Tame the mess by storing them in empty wipe containers or tissue boxes. They’ll be easy to get to put out of the way.
8. Get Vertical
How much wasted space do you have between shelves? You probably have these empty voids lurking in your cupboards, linen closet, or even the garage. Why not divide the space and use more of it?
9. Keep Stuff off the Floor
Is your broom closet a mess? Do you even have a dedicated broom closet? Whether you keep mops, dustpans, and brooms in a closet or in your mud room, getting them off the floor and onto a wall can make a huge difference.
10. File It Away
If you haven’t invested in a filing cabinet, you should. You can even find them cheap at second-hand stores. Current items that need attention, such as bills or coupons, can go in a vertical file stuck to your fridge or wall. Older things that you need to keep should be neatly filed away.
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