5 Organization tips from the queen of tidying, organizational expert Lauren Strohofer. Here are her tried and true methods for how to declutter your home.
5 Organization Tips
Here are the 5 simple rules I have come to live by when dealing with clutter. I’ve tried many routines, rituals, and tips & tricks for organizing my home and after extensive research (trying and failing at them all) here’s what actually works for me. My house is pretty small so organization is key for me. I’ve actually found a website that has a 3d shed builder, so I’ve currently building my dream shed. Once that’s complete, I’ll have lots of room for my belongings and I can’t wait to organize it all! For now, I’ll have to stick to these tips below…
- Does this make me happy? Yes or No. Decide right then and there if this “thing” brings you joy and if it does keep it. If it doesn’t… it goes. Next, decide if it’s trash, donation worthy, or if it’s worth selling (we’ll get to the selling part in a sec).
- Keep like items together. Do you have books all over the house? Gather them up and store them all in the same place. Light bulbs, pens, lipstick, towels… yep, pick a place and store them together. Ahhhh, no more searching for that tote bag in the closet, under the stairs or in the attic because it’s right where all the others are too (in the bin under the bed, Silly). Something like prefabe garages are great for storing items that you don’t need all year round like holiday decorations and tools, it can create space in your home for the every day items and ensure that everything has its place.
- Fall out of love with stuff. I mean in. If you’re looking to declutter then stop bringing more stuff in to your home. How do you think you got here in the first place?! When shopping from your list, you so diligently made before you went to the store, stick to it. Don’t veer. If something not on your list catches your eye decide if this is a “need” or just a “want” item. Do I need tissues? Perhaps. Do I need this bottle of nail polish? Probably not.
- Sell your junk. DO IT! It’s fun! There are so many easy ways to sell your stuff online or off. I recommend selling smaller items on ebay to keep shipping costs low and larger items on sites like Craig’s list or any of the Buy/Trade/Sell groups on facebook that are local to you. If you have the drive, go rent a space at the flea market. You’ll get less for your items but things tend to move faster.
- Act like you have company coming over in the morning. What? Who has company coming over every morning? Not me, but I like to pretend because I feel delightfully light and happy when I walk downstairs to a clean and organized home in the morning.
Work one or all of these organization ideas into your daily routine and bask in the glory of saving time and money.
Blog post notes:
For moms, click here for more organizing tips and ideas for how to declutter your home.
