Where should I start to organize my home?
I really do think that it’s important to have your whole home organized but let’s be realistic here. Getting your whole home organized won’t happen all at once and something will always be disorganized. You live in your home, perhaps with other people who may not have the same standards of organization as you.
If you’re just getting started, this is the order that I recommend you follow to get your whole house organized.
Start with yourself. Your personal spaces such as your bedroom, bathroom, and closet. You really need to take care of yourself before you can properly take care of others and this includes organization. Think of it as leading by example.
Move on to the kitchen and pantry. These are the MOST UTILIZED spaces in your home and have the most traffic. We eat 3 times (at least!) a day and are constantly passing through this room with groceries, fetching a drink or eating a meal, and gathering with friends and family. When everything has a place in these areas, you’ll notice a dramatic difference in your sense of calm and quality of life.
Now let’s move on to Support Spaces. These are the rooms that you frequently use such as your home office, dining room, laundry room, and garage. These are what I call “support spaces” that need to be in order because they can help you live your best life. We all want clean clothes and a clear space to walk through to get to work. Plus we can FUNCTION better when we have clear, calm spaces to work in.
Public Spaces such as the living room and entrance are no less important but these will be super easy now that you’ve organized the other, more active spaces. These don’t have as many activities taking place so they’ll hopefully stay in order with less effort on your part. Plus you’ll feel more like having guests over and opening your home when your home is organized and you feel like it represents you.
While it may seem like I’m neglecting other areas like kids’ bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, and potentially basements, I’ve not forgotten them. In fact, they are frequent flyers on the Neatsmart list of rooms to organize because they tend to become dumping grounds and majorly chaotic.
BUT, they are usually disorganized because the other spaces are not organized first. For example, if your closet isn’t in order, you tend to drop things in other areas to deal with later. Once your closet is organized, you can tackle the less inhabited spaces.
Being organized means you know what you have and where it goes. If something doesn’t have a “home” it could be anywhere. Once you establish a home for everything, you know where it should be and where you should look to find it or return it. Setting up “homes” takes a little time and effort but is much easier once you get started.
Call me if you need help!